Department of Civil Engineering,Sharif University of Technology
Abstract
Concrete is a heterogeneous material with a wide variety of usage in structural design. Concrete
under tension exhibits strain softening, i.e., a negative slope in the stress{deformation diagrams.
Di erent 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 newly
introduced 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 exponential
portion in the rest of the curve. A comparison of a \Quasi-fractal" softening curve with a set of
proposed experimental softening curves has been performed, which reveals good agreement.
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