PSI - Issue 66

Ram Lal Riyar et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 66 (2024) 181–194 Ram Lal Riyar et. al./ Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2025) 000–000

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A material's fracture toughness may be improved by increasing the diameter of the reinforcing bar, which can lead to an increase in fracture resistance and a reduction in crack length, as shown in Figure 7. The reinforcing bar may serve as a barrier in crack propagation and aid in distributing the stress placed on the material. By absorbing part of the stress and pressure in the fracture tip, the reinforcing bar may prevent a crack in a material from spreading further. (a) (b) (c)

Fig. 7. Fracture energy versus crack length curve for (a) Small, (b) Medium, and (c) Large beams with varying percentages of reinforcement.

The reinforcing bar's capacity to withstand fracture propagation and its diameter are improved. Therefore, the material's ability to propagate a breakthrough in the reinforcement will need more energy, improving fracture resistance. Additionally, the reinforcement's higher fracture propagation resistance might lead to a lower crack length by preventing additional crack propagation. 3.3. Fracture properties at critical point The critical point for analyzing fracture properties has been taken at peak load in this study. The specimen loses strength at this point, and fracture propagation is more prominent. The length of crack reduces as the bar diameter increases and increases with the size of the beam increases. In general, increasing the beam size will tend to increase the crack length. This is because larger beams are typically more rigid and less able to accommodate the stresses and strains that can lead to cracking. As a result, any cracks that do form are likely to be longer than those that form in smaller beams. On the other hand, increasing the reinforcement diameter can help to decrease the crack length. This is because larger diameter bars are generally more effective at resisting the forces that cause cracks to form and can help distribute those forces more evenly throughout the beam. As a result, any cracks that do form are likely to be shorter than those that form when smaller diameter bars are used, as shown in Figure 8.

Fig. 8. Variation of fracture toughness (K IC ) vs Bar diameter for small, medium, and large beams at critical point.