Effect of aggregate on the fracture behavior of high strength concrete

Aggregate is an important ingredient in concrete, which can be regarded as the skeleton of concrete. The properties of aggregate have great effect on the fracture behavior of high performance concrete. In this paper, the effect of aggregate size distributions and the volume fraction of aggregate on the fracture parameters of high performance concretes with strength 50-80 MPa were investigated under three-point bending test. The effect mechanism of aggregate on the fracture properties of concrete on meso level was also studied by AE technique. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.