ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the modeling of stress transfer across cracks based on the microphysics of face-to-face contact of cracks. As discussed in Chapters 2 and 7, the stress transfer model plays a crucial role in the fixed crack approach. In the modeling of joint interfaces as discussed in Chapter 8, crack face contact provided the principal physics for the shear transfer mechanism. In this chapter, much attention is given to the micro-mechanics of crack stress transfer, although the constitutive equations will be computationally simplified via an explicit stressstrain formula suitable for finite element computation. The interface stress transfer model will first be derived as a discrete crack model, and later extended to a smeared crack model applicable to reversed cyclic loading.
