Conference Agenda

Lattice modelling of quasi-brittle materials such as concrete is a discrete, meso-scale, description of the material in which constitutive relations are prescribed at a lower scale compared to the scale at which continuum-based constitutive relations are written usually. The mesostructure of the material is represented explicitly. Over the years, lattice models have become more and more efficient. Complex nonlinear responses at the macro-scale are obtained today, while keeping the constitutive model at the meso-scale simple compared to macro-scale ones. Prediction capabilities and accuracy of the description of the mechanical response at the global level are, in many cases, better than those obtained with continuum-based models, although at the price of an intensive computational effort. In this work, we intend to draw a parallel between the Lattice Discrete Particle Model (LDPM) and a macro-scale damage model. For this, we implement first a coarse graining approach based on averaging the equations of conservation to convert lattice results into coarse-grained, continuumbased, stress versus strain responses. Because stresses and strains are coarse-grained independently, their relationship yields a database of macroscopic continuum responses. These data are then used to calibrate a non-local damage model.