Microsoft Word - 2234 A. Spagnoli et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 47 (2019) 394-400; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.47.29 394 Focussed on “Crack Paths” Experimental investigation on the fracture behaviour of natural stone exposed to monotonic and cyclic loading Andrea Spagnoli Department of Engineering and Architecture, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy spagnoli@unipr.it, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0592-7003 David A. Cendon Franco Departamento de Ciencia de los Materiales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain dcendon@mater.upm.es, http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7256-0814 Antonio D’Angelo Department of Engineering and Architecture, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy dangeloa@pizzarotti.it, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4704-1048 ABSTRACT. The present paper is devoted to an experimental study on the fracture behaviour of natural stones, commonly used as elements for building cladding, under both monotonic and cyclic loading, with particular emphasis to white Carrara marble. The effect of progressive damage produced by in- service thermal fluctuations can be investigated through the application of appropriate cyclic mechanical loads. In the experimental tests conducted, some static mechanical properties of marble are characterized by means of three-point bending tests on edge-cracked prismatic specimens for the determination of Young's modulus, tensile strength and fracture energy. Moreover, cyclic three-point bending tests are conducted to determine the propagation rate of nominally Mode-I fatigue cracks. Finally, the fatigue behaviour of the marble is studied through a cohesive crack model, in which the direct tensile strength of the material is determined by a Brazilian test, and the behaviour is calibrated by means of a suitable FE model. The effect of crack path on the fracture resistance of marble is discussed. KEYWORDS. Fatigue crack propagation; Marble; Quasi-brittle behaviour, Thermal cycles. Citation: Spagnoli, A., Cendon Franco, D. A., D’Angelo, A., Experimental investigation on the fracture behaviour of natural stone exposed to monotonic and cyclic loading, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 47 (2019) 394-400. Received: 25.10.2018 Accepted: 12.11.2018 Published: 01.01.2019 Copyright: © 2019 This is an open access article under the terms of the CC-BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. INTRODUCTION he Carrara marble is a widely used material in the construction field, both in historical and monumental buildings and in recent constructions, for example in the cladding elements of ventilated facades [1]. Installed as coating of facades, the marble slabs are exposed to different actions that deteriorate the material, including temperature (daily T http://www.gruppofrattura.it/VA/47/2234.mp4 A. Spagnoli et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 47 (2019) 394-400; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.47.29 395 and seasonal excursions, through-thickness gradient), mechanical loads (wind, self-weight), chemical attacks (acid rain) and humidity changes. In particular, temperature may induce stresses due to thermal expansion (restraint effects of the anchorage system, non linear temperature fields and non uniform thermal expansion) and thermal fluctuations tend to cause a progressive damage of the material, sometimes accompanied by a curvature of the surface of the slabs [2]. Such bowing phenomenon can progress up to the collapse of the element, with consequences often critical on safety for the users of the buildings where these covering slabs are installed. Bowing is generally accompanied by an overall reduction of strength, which increases with increase in degree of bowing, while at the micro structural level of the material bowing is accompanied by a decohesion of calcite grains. The present paper is devoted to an experimental study on the fracture behaviour of natural stones under both monotonic and cyclic loading, with particular emphasis to white Carrara marble. The effect of progressive damage produced by thermal fluctuations can be investigated through the application of appropriate cyclic mechanical loads. In the experimental tests conducted, some static mechanical properties of marble are characterized by means of three-point bending tests on edge- cracked prismatic specimens for the determination of Young's modulus, tensile strength and fracture energy [3]. Moreover, cyclic three-point bending tests are conducted to determine the propagation rate of nominally Mode-I fatigue cracks [4]. Finally, the fatigue behaviour of the marble is studied through a cohesive crack model, in which the direct tensile strength of the material is determined by a Brazilian test, and the behaviour is calibrated by means of a suitable FE model [5]. The effect of crack path on the fracture resistance of marble is discussed. In particular, it is shown that different level of meandering in the intergranular cracking of marble is observed and correlated with the so-called xenoblastic or homoblastic texture of calcite grains [4]. EXPERIMENTAL TESTING UNDER MONOTONIC LOADING preliminary experimental campaign is carried out to quantify the resistance parameters of a Carrara marble under monotonic loading. Four prismatic specimens were tested under three-point bending. The nominal dimensions of the specimens are as follows: length L=220 mm; span S=180 mm; height W=60 mm; width B=30 mm (Fig. 1). One specimen out of the 4 ones is a smooth specimen. Notched specimens are characterised by a central edge notch machined by means of a water jet technique. Notches with different nominal dimensions are machined, so that the notch depth is between 6.9 mm and 8.1 mm (the notch width is kept equal to 1.5 mm due to some technical constraints). Tests were performed by means of an Instron testing machine. Three LVDT sensors were used to measure the rigid body motion- free mid-span deflection of the beam and a clip-on gauge to measure Crack Mouth Opening Displacement (CMOD). Tests on notched specimens were performed under CMOD control with a of less than 10-3 mm/min. Digital image correlation technique was adopted to capture full-field two-dimensional displacement maps on specimen surface in the notch vicinity. Figure 1: Geometrical and testing configuration of notched specimen under three-point bend loading. The rupture load of the smooth specimen is equal to 5.1 kN (corresponding to a nominal bending strength of 12.8 MPa, where the nominal stress  N is equal to 26 / (4 )PS BW ). For the 3 notched specimens, the mean bending stress at failure is equal to 6.7 MPa (corresponding to a mean rupture load of 2.7 kN), with a coefficient of variation equal to 0.13. In Fig. 2, the load against mid-span deflection is shown for two notched specimens, along with the corresponding curves of the nominal stress against the crack mouth opening displacement. A A. Spagnoli et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 47 (2019) 394-400; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.47.29 396 From the experimental curves related to notched specimens, fracture toughness of marble is calculated by using two different approaches. The first approach is based on the two-parameter model [6]. Note that a modified version of the two- parameter model has recently been proposed in order to take into account the possible crack deflection during the stable crack propagation [7-9]. Accordingly, the initial crack length a0 is assumed to grow steadily before the peak load is attained. This nonlinear stable stage terminates when the crack propagates to a critical extent and the SIF KI attains a value KsIC that differs from the nominal KIC (computed on the basis of a0). If the geometric and loading conditions are such that the stress intensity factor is monotonically increasing with the crack length (being the load constant), as occurs in the case of a 3-point bend beam with an edge crack, the critical condition explained before takes place at the peak load. From LEFM formulas and from two compliance experimental measurements, the equivalent crack length and the effective toughness KsIC are worked out. The second approach is based on the work-of-fracture method in Ref. [10] recommended by the RILEM technical committee. For 3-point bending tests on edge-notched beams, the method is based on the experimental determination of the work exerted by the applied mid-span force, which corresponds to the area underneath the complete load–displacement curve. Such a work is assumed to be fully spent to produce a mode I crack through the mid-span ligament of the beam. 0 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 Mid-span deflection, [mm] 0 1 2 3 0.5 1.5 2.5 L oa d, P [k N ] (a) Figure 2: Load vs mid-span deflection curves (a) and nominal stress-CMOD curves (b) for notched specimens under three-point bending. In the graph experimental results for two specimens (black thin lines) are reported along with numerical results (red thick lines). The mean value of fracture toughness according to the two-parameter model is equal to 1.90 MPam0.5 (coefficient of variation equal to 0.19). According to the work-of-fracture method, the mean fracture toughness is 1.91 MPam0.5 (coefficient of variation equal to 0.37). For the sake of completeness, a splitting test on four prismatic specimens (nominal dimensions D = 60 mm, L = 30 mm, B = 60 mm) was performed according to ASTM C496. The resulting indirect tensile strength (  2 / ( )t P DL ) is equal on average to 7.1 MPa (coefficient of variation equal to 0.11). EXPERIMENTAL TESTING UNDER CYCLIC LOADING leven three-point bending tests on notched specimens, with the same geometry as that adopted for monotonic loading and with the initial notch length a0 in the range 6.6 to 8.5 mm, under nearly pulsating loading were performed. Tests were carried out under load control mode, with blocks of cycles composed by a single square cycle with frequency of 0.1 Hz and by 125 sinusoidal cycles with frequency 2.5 Hz. Square cycles are introduced to take DIC photos at maximum load. Applied cycles have a loading ratio R = 0.1 and a maximum load expressed as a percentage of the mean failure load Pu of three-point bend notched specimens under monotonic loading (Pu=2.7 kN). SN-like data are N o m in a l s tr e ss , N [ M P a ] E A. Spagnoli et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 47 (2019) 394-400; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.47.29 397 reported in Fig. 3, where the load range level is expressed as the range of the applied SIF (calculated for a crack length equal to a0), normalized by the estimated SIF threshold  0.5, = 0.74 MPamI thK (see the last paragraph of the present Section). Run-out specimens (see open circle in Fig. 3) correspond to unbroken specimens after a number of loading cycles larger than N0 = 100,000. 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