Hydro-thermo-mechanical coupled peridynamic modeling of freeze–thaw fracture of concrete

This study proposes a coupled hydro-thermo-mechanical scheme for freeze–thaw fracture of concrete based on the intermediately-homogenized peridynamic model. The strain of three-dimensional concrete prisms predicted by the present scheme is closer to the experimental measurements, and the predicted temperature and pore water pressure are in acceptable agreement with the finite element results. In addition, the effects of permeability and aggregate volume fraction on the mechanical properties and fractures of concrete during the freeze–thaw process are investigated. The results indicate that higher permeability decreases pore water pressure, crystallization pressure, and freezing strain, leading to fewer cracks and less overall damage in the specimens. Moreover, the higher the aggregate volume fraction, the higher the maximum temperature and maximum strain, and the greater the number of cracks and overall damage of the specimen. Numerical examples show the model has a good performance in analyzing the fracture process and mechanism of concrete under freeze–thaw cycles.