Interpretation of Tensile Softening in Concrete, Using Fractal Geometry

Concrete is a heterogeneous material with a wide variety of usage in structural design. Concreteunder tension exhibits strain softening, i.e.. a negative slope in the stress-deformation diagrams.Different softening curves have been proposed in the literature to interpret this phenomenon.In current research, a new softening curve for concrete has been proposed by using the newlyintroduced concept of fractal geometry. This new softening curve is denominated a Quasi-fractal softening curve and consists of two parts, a linear portion at the beginning and an exponentialportion in the rest of the curve. A comparison of a Quasi-fractal softening curve with a set ofproposed experimental softening curves has been performed, which reveals good agreement.