CARPIUC Benchmark: Crack Advance, Reorientation, Propagation and Initiation Under Complex loadings

International audienceA series of experiments has been performed to build a benchmark for the numerical modeling of mixed mode crack propagation in concrete. Two tests are selected so that the propagation is almost always stable although the material is quasi-fragile. Moreover the variation of mode mixity enables the study of the reorientation of the crack, as well as more complex phenomena such as branching or link-up. To control stability and mode mixity, the loading is imposed with a 6-axis testing machine while the crack propagation is assessed by full-field measurement. In this paper, a description of the experimental setup is provided as well as numerical simulation results illustrating the sensitivity to boundary conditions and geometry. Links to data needed to perform numerical simulations of these benchmark experiments are given, together with references to publications giving full descriptions of the protocol and experiment results