One of the purposes of this study is to show the relationship between the internal structural failure mechanism of concrete specimens and the confining pressure in multi-axial compression. Another one is to discuss the failure condition which may depend on the specimen confining method in loading.
In the study, the finite element simulation method was employed and a concrete specimen was divided into finite elements. Each element represents one of the fracture patterns (cracking or sliding) when the condition (Griffith's criterion or Coulomb's criterion with tension cut-off) is satisfied in the element. The fracture development and the accumulated behavior of the elements under increasing loading were discussed.
The numerical results gave some explanations of the fracture mechanism and failure conditions of concrete specimens under multi-axial compression.
