A Meso-Scale Computational Framework for Predicting Fracture Mechanisms in 3D-Printed Bouligand Cementitious...

The inherent brittleness of cementitious materials presents a fundamental limitation for advanced structural applications. While bio-inspired Bouligand architectures have demonstrated remarkable damage tolerance in natural composites, their systematic translation to brittle inorganic binders via 3D concrete printing (3DCP)-and the development of high-fidelity meso-scale models to quantitatively map the resulting strength-toughness design space-remains underexplored. This study aims to decouple the intrinsic topological toughening potential of helicoidal Bouligand architectures from the stochastic defects inherent to additive manufacturing, through a meso-scale finite element (FE) framework. To physically validate the model, a nano-clay-assisted rheological strategy was utilized to enable the support-free fabrication of these helicoidal prototypes. Computationally, a meso-scale FE framework integrating the concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) model with three-dimensional cohesive zone elements was developed to explicitly resolve inter- and intra-layer interfacial crack kinematics. Coupled physical compression tests and numerical simulations indicate that the 15° Bouligand architecture achieves a computationally predicted 16.3-fold increase in volumetric energy absorption (experimentally: 13.7-fold) compared to the 0° unidirectional baseline, with a modest ~11% reduction in compressive strength (from ~33.0 MPa to ~29.5 MPa in simulations; ~12% experimentally). Furthermore, numerical parametric studies across the complete pitch-angle design space reveal an optimal topological window at 15-30°, wherein the competing effects of crack deflection and structural integrity are balanced. Imperfection sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the topological toughening mechanism is relatively robust: even with a 30% reduction in inter-filament bonding strength, the work of fracture remains 12.4 times higher than that of the 0° control. These findings suggest that spatial toolpath programming offers a viable, geometry-driven strategy for developing damage-tolerant cementitious composites, complementing conventional material-level reinforcement approaches.