Three-Dimensional Numerical Evaluation of Lightweight Aggregate Compressive Strength

Abstract

It is well known that the mechanical behavior of Lightweight Aggregate Concrete (LWAC) is strongly influenced by the Lightweight Aggregate’s properties. A number of these properties - such as the LWA’s failure strength - are rather difficult to measure experimentally. Taking this fact into consideration, researches has developed analytical procedures in order to identify the LWA’s strength through iterative homogenization approaches, showing good agreement with experimental data.
The present work aims to present the results of a numerical program in which the compressive behavior of LWAC’s samples was simulated through 3D models using the Finite Element Method. The samples were modeled so as to reproduce an experimental program extracted from in the literature: the material was considered as biphasic, composed of mortar - for which the mechanical properties were experimentally measured - and LWA, for which the properties obtained analytically by Ke et al. (2014) were adopted. Numerical results showed fair agreement with experimental data, encouraging further applications with a higher level of complexity concerning geometrical and mechanical aspects.