Discontinuous Bifurcation Analysis in Microplanes Theory

Abstract

Conditions for discontinuous bifurcation in limit states of thermodynamically consistent microplane theory for cohesive-frictional materials like concrete are evaluated by means of analytical methods. Explicit solutions for brittle failure conditions in the form of discontinuous bifurcation are proposed. Numerical analysis are comparatively assessed for different limit stress states regarding both microplane and macroscopic response. Macroscopic critical values are computed by analytical and geometrical methods. The results in this work illustrate the capabilities of the thermodynamically consistent microplane theory to reproduce localized failure modes in uniaxial tension, uniaxial compression and simple shear regimes of cohesive-frictional materials like concrete.