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Buildings
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The Damage and Fracture Analysis in Rocks and Concretes
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The Damage and Fracture Analysis in Rocks and Concretes

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Structures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 3764

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiang Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Interests: numerical simulation; lifetime prediction; rock fracture; thermal shock in rocks; rock mechanics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Kewei Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410010, China
Interests: structural dynamic response and damage analysis; engineering static and dynamic numerical calculation and simulation; constitutive relationship of rock and soil materials; blasting analysis of geotechnical engineering; rock mechanics and engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rocks and concretes are main building materials widely utilized in the fields of underground mining, tunnelling, civil infrastructure constructions, etc. The damage and fracture process under natural and human-induced conditions are of particular importance for the aforementioned fields, and have therefore long been a research focus of scholars interested in rock mechanics and geotechnical engineering. In this context, this Special Issue features a variation in scales. For example, on a smaller scale, dislocations of the mineral crystal lattice and boundary cracks in rocks cause stress concentrations, which may be seen as the location of damage and serve as a potential source for further crack development. On a larger scale, large faults that may lead to earthquakes are also related to fracture issues. Uncertainty exists in describing the location, shape and condition of natural fractures in rocks, which in turn results in uncertainty in the initial stress fields. Regarding human-induced fractures, comprehensive knowledge of the fracturing processes and mechanisms is also of vital importance for human activities such as rock fragmentation in mining and rock cutting in tunnelling.

Dr. Xiang Li
Dr. Kewei Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • concrete
  • damage
  • fracture
  • mining engineering
  • geotechnical engineering
  • numerical model
  • time-dependent fracturing
  • stress corrosion
  • high temperature

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

31 pages, 8672 KiB  
Article
Enhancing the Mechanical Properties of Recycled Aggregate Concrete: A Comparative Study of Basalt- and Glass-Fiber Reinforcements
by Shibo Bao, Shuangjie Wang, Huahua Xia, Kewei Liu, Xugang Tang and Peng Jin
Buildings 2025, 15(10), 1718; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15101718 - 19 May 2025
Abstract
Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) holds significant promise for reducing the environmental impact of the construction industry. However, the poor mechanical properties of RAC compared to conventional concrete are mainly due to the porous and soft nature of recycled aggregates. While fiber reinforcement has [...] Read more.
Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) holds significant promise for reducing the environmental impact of the construction industry. However, the poor mechanical properties of RAC compared to conventional concrete are mainly due to the porous and soft nature of recycled aggregates. While fiber reinforcement has been proposed as a promising method to address this issue, existing studies primarily focus on steel and polypropylene fibers, with limited systematic comparison of alternative fiber types and dosages. In particular, the mechanical enhancement mechanisms of basalt and glass fibers in RAC remain underexplored, and there is a lack of predictive models for strength behavior. This study evaluates the effects of basalt and glass fibers on RAC through uniaxial compression, splitting tensile, and three-point bending tests. Nine mixtures with varying fiber types and volume fractions (1.0–2.5%) were tested, and results were compared to plain RAC. Key properties such as strength, energy absorption, toughness, and flexibility were analyzed using load–displacement curves and advanced toughness indices. Both fiber types improved tensile and flexural properties, with glass fibers showing superior performance, particularly at 1.5% content, where the splitting tensile strength increased by up to 40% and the flexural strength improved by 42.19%. Basalt fibers dispersed more uniformly but were less effective in enhancing toughness and crack resistance. Excessive fiber content reduced matrix homogeneity and mechanical performance. Optimal fiber dosages were identified as 1–1.5% for glass fibers and 1–2% for basalt fibers, depending on the targeted property. Predictive formulas for the flexural strength of fiber-reinforced RAC are also proposed, offering guidance for the design of structural RAC elements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Damage and Fracture Analysis in Rocks and Concretes)
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16 pages, 6662 KiB  
Article
Study on the Influence of Notched Empty Hole Parameters on Directional Fracture Blasting Effect
by Xiantang Zhang, Rongyan Ma, Yong Yang, Tonghua Fu, Yubing Tian, Haibo Yan, Deqing Wang, Xiangtuan Jiao and Hongmin Zhou
Buildings 2024, 14(12), 4077; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14124077 - 22 Dec 2024
Viewed by 786
Abstract
Placing empty holes between charging holes is widely used in blasting engineering to achieve directional fracture blasting. Studies have shown that the presence of a notch along the empty hole wall enhances stress concentration and supports improved control over crack propagation. The notch [...] Read more.
Placing empty holes between charging holes is widely used in blasting engineering to achieve directional fracture blasting. Studies have shown that the presence of a notch along the empty hole wall enhances stress concentration and supports improved control over crack propagation. The notch angle and length are the two main parameters influencing the impact of notch holes. Therefore, in this study, we used numerical simulations to investigate how varying notch angles and lengths influence the directional fracture blasting effect. The findings suggest that, among the different types of holes used in directional fracture rock blasting, notched empty holes have the most significant guiding effect, followed by empty holes, while the absence of empty holes yields the least effective results. In the directional fracture blasting of a notched empty hole, stress concentration occurs at the notch tip following the explosion. This alters the stress field distribution around the empty hole, which shifts from a compressive to a tangential tensile state. Additionally, this concentration of stress causes the explosion energy to be focused on that location, resulting in a directional fracture blasting effect. In blasting construction, selecting the appropriate notch hole parameters is necessary to achieve optimal effects and reduce damage to surrounding rocks. Based on the notch parameters assessed in this study, the optimal effect of directional fracture blasting is achieved when the notch angle is 30°. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Damage and Fracture Analysis in Rocks and Concretes)
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17 pages, 12872 KiB  
Article
Characterizing Splitting Failure of Concrete Influenced by Material Heterogeneity Based on Digital Image Processing Techniques
by Houquan Lin, Dong Li, Zheng Hu, Xiang Li, Zhaoxi Yan, Hui Li and Jiankun Liu
Buildings 2024, 14(6), 1856; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14061856 - 19 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1092
Abstract
Concrete, as a composite material, is subject to heterogeneity in its mechanical properties and damage characteristics responding to load. In this paper, a numerical approach for analyzing the heterogeneous characteristics and the mechanical behavior of concrete specimens in tensile splitting tests using DIP [...] Read more.
Concrete, as a composite material, is subject to heterogeneity in its mechanical properties and damage characteristics responding to load. In this paper, a numerical approach for analyzing the heterogeneous characteristics and the mechanical behavior of concrete specimens in tensile splitting tests using DIP techniques is introduced. The experiment involves the preparation of three types of concrete specimens with different strengths and performances of the tensile splitting test. The contour and position information of the different components in the split surface of a concrete specimen are reflected in the numerical model using the DIP techniques and the fracture of the split surface is realized by three types of cohesive elements in the finite element software ABAQUS. The results of the proposed numerical model are highly consistent with the experimental results with a maximum error of 4.77%, whereby the evolution of the splitting process is discussed. The simulation shows that the concrete fracture develops from the periphery towards the center of the concrete and the ITZ region splits first at similar strain levels, followed by the mortar region and finally the aggregate region. In addition, a simplified modeling scheme with faster computational efficiency and higher accuracy is proposed, which indicates that the shape of the heterogeneous components in concrete has a low effect on mechanical strength. The proposed model can accurately reflect the splitting fracture process of concrete which is instantaneous in the actual process, contributing to the understanding of the mechanism of the splitting fracture process and proposing a new methodology for simulating the fracture process of heterogeneous materials (e.g., concrete, rock). This work contributes to the understanding of the effect of material heterogeneity on concrete’s mechanical behavior and fracturing process and provides valuable hints for the research on the non-destructive prediction of concrete strength. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Damage and Fracture Analysis in Rocks and Concretes)
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19 pages, 8897 KiB  
Article
Optimizing the Support System of a Shallow Buried Tunnel under Unsymmetrical Pressure
by Yongsheng Liu, Kewei Liu, Xiang Li and Zhaoxi Yan
Buildings 2024, 14(6), 1825; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14061825 - 15 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1324
Abstract
In the construction process of tunnel inlet sections, the rock mass can sustain unsymmetrical pressure due to asymmetrical terrain on the two sides of the tunnel. The fact that the inlet sections are usually under shallow buried conditions with strongly weathered rock mass [...] Read more.
In the construction process of tunnel inlet sections, the rock mass can sustain unsymmetrical pressure due to asymmetrical terrain on the two sides of the tunnel. The fact that the inlet sections are usually under shallow buried conditions with strongly weathered rock mass exacerbates the issue. This paper discusses optimization strategies of the initial support of a shallow buried tunnel based on the analytical results of asymmetrical loading characteristics. Numerical simulation is performed with particle flow code (PFC) using the Jianshanji tunnel project as an example. The simulation results show that the bench excavation has slightly less total deformation than the full-section excavation but the deformation range is wider, especially in the tunnel arch. Both lining support and slope reduction treatments can effectively improve rock deformation, with lining support demonstrating better performance in controlling deformation and adjusting stress distribution. Based on the simulation results, the bench excavation and lining support are used in the actual project, and the corresponding optimization control measures were adopted to address deformation issues, including crushed-stone backfilling for compression resistance, advanced grouting reinforcement, and grouting. The field data show that the tunnel stability is effectively improved by adopting the optimization schemes, which further validates the effectiveness of the proposed unsymmetrical control method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Damage and Fracture Analysis in Rocks and Concretes)
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