Author(s)

Petr Rericha

Abstract

Fracture energy is the most appropriate material parameter to predict the energy dissipation due to cracking although in reinforced concrete the appli- cation is not straightforward. Standard test methods for concrete fracture energy fail in fast loading conditions. A test arrangement and instrumenta- tion has been proposed and set up for this purpose. The principal idea is to measure not the concrete fracture energy directly but the energy spent in a reinforced concrete specimen. The calibration procedure assumes a kind of a crack pattern in the specimen. The proposed testing method does not yet yield the absolute values of the fracture energy with satisfactory relia- bility but in spite of it the strain rate effect on the fracture energy may be explored. The loading

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