Multiscale simulations of concrete mechanical tests

In civil engineering, computational modeling is widely used in the design process at the structural level. In contrast to that, an automated support for the selection or design of construction materials is currently not available. Specification of material properties and model parameters has a strong influence on the results. Therefore, an uncoupled twostep approach is employed to provide relatively quick and reliable simulations of concrete (mortar) tests. First, the Mori–Tanaka method is utilized to include the majority of small aggregates and air voids. The strain incremental form of MT approach serves for the prediction of material properties subsequently used in the finite element simulations of mechanical tests. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.