Damage of Colliding Concrete Cubes

Abstract

Recent failures of breakwaters have been attributed to low impact strength of armor blocks. The simultaneous loss of individual weight and interlocking ability that follows failure of slender units rekindled the interest in cubic blocks. Data generated at the site of Sines, where storms in 1978/1979 caused severe damage to a breakwater, are utilized. The study reports results found in an ongoing program that examines aspects of materials behavior associated with repetitive impact loading of concrete cubes. A simplified version of the continuous damage theory is utilized to study coaxial collisions, leading to determination of parameters such as the speed that causes fracture in a single shock and the damage incurred for collisions at lower impact speeds. Estimates of fatigue‐like effects and accumulated damage on the strength of the cubes are also presented.