A Microscopic Approach to Strain-rate Effect on the Compressive Strength of Concrete-like Materials

The micromechanical damage model proposed in Huang et al. (2002) [Huang C, Subhash G, Stanley JV. A dynamic damage growth model for uniaxial compressive response of rock aggregates. Mech Mater 2002;34:267277] is modified to predict the dynamic damage evolution of concrete subjected to dynamic axial compression loads under different lateral confinement conditions. It shows that the stress-strain response, the compressive strength and the damage growth rate are strongly influenced by the confining pressure. It is also found that when the strain-rate exceeds 10(4) s(-1), the compressive strength tends to be greatly depended on strain-rates.