On the existence of representative volumes for softening quasi-brittle materials - A failure zone averaging scheme

The concept of the representative volume element (RVE) for softening materials is revised in this contribution. It is demonstrated by means of numerical simulations that there exists a sample which is statistically representative for quasi-brittle materials with random microstructure like concrete. This finding is an important ingredient for homogenization-based multiscale modelling of softening materials. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.