The effect of a fracture process zone on a model for crack growth in fibre-reinforced cementitious materials

Synopsis It is shown that it is comparatively simple to include a fracture process zone in a fictitious crack model for crack growth in fibre-reinforced cementitious materials if it is assumed that the crack faces remain straight. This model can he used to predict the crack-growth resistance curve for a particular specimen geometry and size if the stress-displacement relationship for the material is known. This curve is somewhat different to the curve obtained if the fracture process zone is not modelled. However, if the fracture parameters are obtained from a “master” experimental crack-growth resistance curve, there is little difference between curves obtained with and without modelling the fracture process zone.