La réaction alcali-silice est une réaction endogène du béton qui peut contribuer à diminuer la durée de vie d'ouvrages coûteux. La modélisation est nécessaire pour pouvoir évaluer la durée de vie restante des ouvrages atteints. L'alcali-réaction provoque un gonflement du béton dû à une fissuration microscopique sous pression de produits de réaction qui sont des gels gonflant par absorption d'eau. Si le béton est chargé, la fissuration microscopique se développe en fonction du chargement local du béton, ce qui induit une anisotropie de comportement et de déformation du béton. L'objectif de notre travail est de simuler, à partir d'hypothèses simples sur les mécanismes réactionnels en jeu, pour une classe de granulats à réactivité rapide, le déroulement de la fissuration du béton au niveau microscopique, de façon à estimer les déformations et les propriétés mécaniques du béton attaqué. Nous utilisons pour cela une description micromécanique du béton qui nous permet de calculer les propriétés mécaniques et les déformations en fonction de l'état de fissuration, et un critère énergétique de fissuration de façon à faire évoluer l'état de fissuration. Le fonctionnement du modèle est testé sur de nombreux cas qui font apparaître que l'utilisation d'un critère de rupture énergétique en micromécanique est bien adaptée à l'alcali-réaction. L'identification des paramètres du modèle sur des essais en laboratoire donne de bons résultats pour des chargements en dessous de 10 MPa, mais conduit à des estimations très élevées des énergies mécaniques. Le modèle a en effet une tendance à surestimer l'anisotropie du gonflement qui est compensée par l'augmentation de l'énergie surfacique de fissuration / The alkali-silica reaction is an endogenous chemical reaction affecting concrete. Therefore, it is important to model the effects of the reaction so as to estimate the life span of the attacked structures. The reaction leads to a microscopic cracking, due to the pressure of the reaction products which swell by absorption of water, inducing swelling of the concrete. If the concrete is mechanically loaded, the orientation of the microscopic cracking is affected by the local stress state, which induces anisotropy of the mechanical properties and deformations of the concrete. Our work aims at simulating, starting from simple assumptions about the reaction mechanisms, and for a class of fast-reacting aggregates, the development of cracking at the microscopic scale, so as to estimate the deformations and mechanical properties of the attacked concrete. In this purpose, we use a micromechanical description of the concrete, thanks to which we can compute the mechanical properties and deformations from the state of cracking of the concrete. In addition to that, we use an energy fracture criterion to determine the evolution of cracking as the attack progresses. We tested our model on numerous cases. These tests show that this description is well adapted to studying alkali-silica reaction. The identification of the parameters using laboratory experiments yielded good results as far as compression stresses are below 10 MPa. However, the fracture energies identified are greater than accepted values for concretes. We think that our model overestimates the anisotropy of the reaction, which is balanced by higher fracture energies in the identification

Several critical issues in the mechanics of the interface between the fibers and matrix in ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are studied. The first issue is the competition between crack deflection and penetration at the fiber/matrix interface. When a matrix crack, the first fracture mode in a CMC, reaches the interface, two different crack modes are possible; crack deflection along the interface and crack penetration into the fibers. A criterion based on strain energy release rates is developed to determine the crack propagation at the interface. The Axisymmetric Damage Model (ADM), a newly-developed numerical technique, is used to obtain the strain energy in the cracked composite. The results are compared with a commonly-used analytic solution provided by He and Hutchinson (HH), and also with experimental data on a limited basis. The second issue is the stress distribution near the debond/sliding interface. If the interface is weak enough for the main matrix crack to deflect and form a debond/sliding zone, then the stress distribution around the sliding interface is of interest because it provides insight into further cracking modes, i.e. multiple matrix cracking or possibly fiber failure. The stress distributions are obtained by the ADM and compared to a simple shear-lag model in which a constant sliding resistance is assumed. The results show that the matrix axial stress, which is responsible for further matrix cracking, is accurately predicted by the shear-lag model. Finally, the third issue is multiple matrix cracking. We present a theory to predict the stress/strain relations and unload/reload hysteresis behavior during the evolution of multiple matrix cracking. The random spacings between the matrix cracks as well as the crack interactions are taken into account in the model. The procedure to obtain the interfacial sliding resistance, thermal residual stress, and matrix flaw distribution from the experimental stress/strain data is discussed. The results are compared to a commonly-used approach in which uniform crack spacings are assumed. Overall, we have considered various crack modes in the fiber-reinforced CMCs; from a single matrix crack to multiple matrix cracking, and have suggested models to predict the microscopic crack behavior and to evaluate the macroscopic stress/strain relations. The damage tolerance or toughening due to the inelastic strains caused by matrix cracking phenomenon is the key issue of this study, and the interfacial mechanics in conjunction with the crack behavior is the main issue discussed here. The models can be used to interpret experimental data such as micrographs of crack surface or extent of crack damage, and stress/strain curves, and in general the models can be used as guidelines to design tougher composites. / Ph. D.

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The master’s thesis deals with a numerical simulation of failure of ceramic foams with open-cell structure and with understanding of conditions required for the failure of the structure under various mechanical loading conditions. To this purpose, the so-called stress-energy coupled criterion was utilized. The motivation for this thesis was to create a model able of the most accurate prediction of the ceramic foam strength in comparison with experimental observations. First part of the thesis is focused on the theoretical background required for solving the problem. More specifically there are mentioned methods of the foam material modelling, Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanic (LEFM) and coupled stress-energy criterion used for definition of the crack initiation. In the second part of the thesis, numerical Finite Element Analyses (FEA) whose main purpose was to determine critical conditions necessary for the initiation of strut failure within the foam structure, were performed. These pieces of knowledge were then used for creation of the numerical simulation algorithm of the mechanical test of foam material with regular cell pattern. Outputs of numerical simulations were at the end of this work compared with experimental results (of the compression test) made on the real Al_2 O_3 foams prepared by 3D printing technology and provided by the Institute of Physics of Materials Czech Academy of Science. It can be concluded that a good agreement between results of both approaches was reached and the prediction of the ceramic foam mechanical strength using the developed model is in the meanwhile the most accurate estimation from recently published approaches.

The presence of the compressive or tensile thermal residual stresses in layers of a ceramic laminate induced due to different volume change of each layer´s material during the cooling from the sintering temperature can considerably affect resistivity of ceramics against contact damage. Within this work 2D parametric FEM models were created, in order to study the effect of the surface layer thickness, residual stress values and indenting body dimension on the initiation and propagation of the cone crack in the surface layer of the laminate. For the analysis of the critical conditions for the crack initiation, the coupled stress-energy criterion was used and for the determination of the direction of crack propagation we used the maximum tangential stress criterion. The results show that compressive thermal stresses in the surface layer increase the critical force for the crack initiation, shorten the crack distance from the contact area and shorten the occurred crack itself. Moreover, the compressive stresses enlarge the angle of the crack declination during the propagation process which cause an earlier crack arrest. The tensile thermal stresses have exactly the opposite effect. Results of simulations were compared to experimental results but due to lack of available measurements, the verification is partially limited.