A finite strain formulation for the modeling of fresh concrete during hydration
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Recent advancements in concrete materials, including improvements in material strength and reinforcement techniques using fibers or textiles, enable the optimization of concrete structures towards slender and thin configurations while maintaining durability and reduced weight. To further develop these concepts and enable broader applications, advanced manufacturing and modeling approaches are required. Existing modeling efforts for concrete have primarily focused on the service-life stage, when hydration is complete and material strength is fully developed. In contrast, the fresh state has mainly been studied only at very early stages, where the material behaves as a fluid. The intermediate transition between these two states has received limited attention, despite the fact that manufacturing of structural components from fresh concrete takes place precisely during this period. Consequently, establishing reliable modeling approaches for material behavior in this stage is essential for optimizing manufacturing processes at minimal cost. Under mechanical loading, fresh concrete undergoes predominantly plastic deformation. At the same time, ongoing hydration leads to a continuous increase in strength due to skeleton formation. A constitutive formulation that captures this behavior must therefore account for both large plastic deformations and hydration-induced property evolution, while ensuring physically consistent stress responses and energy characterization under different loading scenarios. In this work, a constitutive formulation is proposed to describe the mechanical behavior of fresh concrete during hydration. Large plastic deformations are captured using a finite plasticity framework based on a logarithmic strain formulation following the work of Miehe and co-workers. Plastic softening is regularized by a micromorphic gradient-enhanced extension. The hydration-induced evolution of material properties is incorporated through the concept of recruitment. The capabilities of the proposed model are demonstrated using representative numerical examples, including application scenarios relevant to fresh concrete testing and manufacturing processes.
