International Conference On Concrete Engineering and Technology (2004) Universiti Malaya

PREDICTION OF THE DYNAMIC MODULUS OF ELASTICITY OF CONCRETE UNDER DIFFERENT LOADING CONDITIONS
Ala Malaikah*, Khalid Al-Saif** and Rajeh Al-Zaid*
*Civil Engineering Department ** Mechanical Engineering Department College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia e-mail: malaikah@ksu.edu.sa

Abstract. This investigation describes the estimation of the modulus of elasticity of plain and reinforced concrete cylinders subjected to axial loading. Several plain and reinforced concrete cylinders were prepared. The fundamental flexural frequency of the concrete cylinders for different boundary conditions was measured and then the dynamic modulus of elasticity was calculated. The influence of axial compressive stress on the dynamic modulus was also considered. A data acquisition system was designed to measure longitudinal as well as flexural frequencies of the concrete specimens with variable axial loading. Furthermore, the effect of the embedded steel bars in the concrete cylinders on the dynamic modulus was investigated. For the concrete mix design utilized in this study, no significant difference between the dynamic and the static moduli of elasticity was observed. This was contrary to the perceived general notion of having the dynamic modulus considerably higher than the static modulus. Discrepancies between the static and dynamic moduli of elasticity for the tested plain concrete cylinders may be attributed to possible formation of micro cracks.

1 Introduction
The static modulus of elasticity of concrete is usually determined through a standard compression test such as ASTM C469 [1]. The dynamic modulus of elasticity of concrete can be determined nondestructively using resonance tests as prescribed in ASTM C215 [2]. Such tests are based on measuring the fundamental transverse, longitudinal, and torsional frequencies of concrete specimens. It is generally perceived that the dynamic modulus will be considerably higher than the static modulus of elasticity. This is because the dynamic modulus is approximately equal to the initial tangent modulus while the static modulus is equal to the cord modulus [3]. This can be also attributed to the presence of applied stress in determining the static modulus of elasticity, which results in micro cracking and creep in concrete [4]. The main objective of this research is to investigate the dynamic and static moduli of concrete cylinders measured at the same stress level. The effect of stress on the dynamic modulus is also investigated for stresses not exceeding 40% of the concrete compressive strength. Furthermore, the effect of embedded bars in concrete cylinders is investigated and flexural resonance tests are employed to obtain frequency measurements. The frequency measurements are obtained through an in-house computer-based data-acquisition system.

2 Theoretical Background
The determination of the dynamic modulus of concrete specimens tested is based on the one dimensional wave propagation theory for both rods and beams. The longitudinal free vibration of rods or bars is described by the equation [5],
2 2u 2 u = b 2 t 2 x

(1)

where u = the displacement in the x-direction t = time x = the longitudinal coordinate

b =

= the bar wave propagation velocity

E = Youngs modulus = mass density. The wave velocity can be expressed in terms of resonant frequencies and wavelengths by,

 b = f n n
where fn = the frequency of the nth natural mode n = the wavelength associated with the nth natural frequency n = the mode number. The wavelength can be expressed in terms of the rod or bar length as: - for a free-free or fixed-fixed boundary condition

(2)

n =
- for a fixed-free boundary condition

2L n

n=1,2,3,,

(3)

n =
where L = the length of rod or bar.

4L n=1,3,5,, n

(4)

Hence the dynamic modulus can be back calculated by

2 E = b

(5)

The bar wave velocity, b , is determined by measuring the resonant frequency of the various modes and substituting in Eq. (2) with the associated wavelength corresponding to the boundary condition that resembles the actual condition. On the other hand, the equation of the lateral vibration of Euler type (i.e. neglecting rotary and shear effects) beams is given by [6]

c2
where

4w 2w + =0 x 4 t 2

(6)

c=

EI A

A = the beams cross-sectional area I = the moment of inertia of the beams cross-section about its centroid. It can be shown that the natural frequencies of the beam are [6]:

fn =

( n L) 2 2

EI AL4

(7)

From Eq. (7), the dynamic modulus of elasticity was determined as

E=

4 2 f n2 AL4 ( n L) 4 I

(8)

Values of (nL) for some common boundary conditions for the transverse vibration of beams are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Values of nL for common boundary conditions of beams

Boundary condition Free-free or fixed-fixed Fixed-Free

1L 4.730041 1.875104

2L 7.853205 4.694091

For axially loaded prismatic beams, one can estimate the flexural natural frequencies according to the following equation [7]:

fn fn

P0 P =0

= (1 +

2 P 1 )1 / 2 ; n=1,2,3,, 2 Pb n

(9)

where

fn

P 0

= natural frequency in the presence of an axial compressive load

f n P =0 = natural frequency in the absence of an axial compressive load P = applied axial force
and

Pb = 2

4 EI = critical buckling load L2

(10)

It should be noted that the first two natural frequencies of the beam are insignificantly influenced by the axial critical load.

3 Experimental Program 3.1 Materials and mix proportions

The materials used for casting the test specimens comprised of Type I cement; crushed limestone coarse aggregate; and natural desert quartz fine aggregate. The water-cement ratio (w/c) considered in this study was 0.6. The compressive strength of the mix used was approximately 25 MPa. Details of the mix proportions are given in Table 2.
Table 2. Mix proportions per cubic meter of concrete

Material Cement, kg Water-cement ratio 3/4 Coarse aggregate, kg 3/8 Coarse aggregate, kg Fine aggregate, kg

Quantity 282 0.6 699 376 785

3.2 Casting and curing

For this work, standard and special cylinders were constructed. For compressive strength, three standard 150 x 300 mm cylinders were prepared and tested. Four special cylinders (150 mm in diameter and 600 mm in length) were cast of which two were plain and the other two were reinforced. The reinforcement was provided by a single 12 mm in diameter concentrically placed bar with 20 mm top and bottom covers. The concrete batching and testing were conducted under laboratory conditions. The actual dimensions and weights of these special cylinders were measured. The density of individual cylinders were calculated and presented in Table 3.
Table 3. Designations, dimensions, and densities of the special concrete cylinders

Cylinder NS-P-1/2 NS-P-2/2 NS-RC-1/2 NS-RC-2/2

Diameter, mm 151.5 151.8 151.2 151.6

Length, mm 610 611 610 610

Mass, kg 26.3 26.7 26.7 26.7

Density, kg/m3 2390 2393 2308 2425

Curing for all specimens started just after de-molding (24 hr after casting). All specimens were stored in the laboratory under potable water (standard curing method) for 28 days. Specimens were always kept under identical moisture conditions, since it is expected that moisture condition of concrete specimens would affect the measurements of the dynamic modulus.

3.3 Dynamic testing setup

The experimental set-up used to conduct the measurement of the resonant frequencies of the specimens is shown in Fig. 1. Accelerometers, with 250 mv/g sensitivity, are used to pick up the dynamic signals. The acquired time domain analog signal is then amplified and passed to a low pass filter with a 10 KHz cut-off frequency. The signal is then fed to 12-bit analog to digital converter for digitisation at a sampling frequency of 5000 Hz.

Subsequently, the digital time domain data is transformed to define the frequency, magnitude and phase content of the signal. Since the data is on digital format, the discrete Fourier transform should be used to construct the frequency spectrum of the sampled analog signal. From the frequency spectrum, the natural frequencies, flexural as well as longitudinal, of the tested specimen can be estimated. Once the frequencies are determined the dynamic modulus of elasticity can then be calculated based on Eqs. (5) and (8).

P flexural test
concrete Specimen

soft suspension model

soft material

Accelerometer

concrete Specimen

Accelerometer Hammer

Longitudinal test

Charge amplifier Gain 10 dB

Antialiasing filter

Analog to digital converter & Data acquisition software

Data analysis to obtain the dynamic Modulus Ed form fns

Natural frequencies (fns),

FFT

Figure 1. Experimental set-up Dynamic testing

To insure the accuracy of the test setup, initial trials were conducted on steel rods with known properties. It was found that the modulus of elasticity could be back calculated from longitudinal and flexural resonant frequencies with a fairly high accuracy.

4 Results and Discussion

Initially, a standard compressive strength test was performed on the three 150 x 300 mm cylinders to determine the actual compressive strength of the mix used. It was found that the average compressive strength of the three cylinders is 25.4 MPa. Since all cylinders are not to be loaded to stresses exceeding 40 % of fc`, the maximum permissible stress is limited to 10 MPa. Subsequently, the special plain concrete cylinders, NS-P-1/2 and NS-P-2/2, were tested dynamically under free-free boundary conditions with no loads imposed on them. The cylinders had to be supported in a manner as to permit free vibration. In order to achieve that, several types of soft foams and styrofoams supporting the cylinders in a horizontal orientation were compared. To obtain the fundamental flexural frequency, the accelerometer was mounted at mid-length of the cylinder and forced impact was performed on the opposite side. The preliminary tests did not show differences in the fundamental frequencies for the different soft foams used. The dynamic test results for the fundamental flexural frequency of the special plain concrete cylinders NS-P1/2 and NS-P-2/2 under free-free boundary conditions are shown in Table 4 (prior to loading case). The reported fundamental flexural frequency was obtained after performing the dynamic test at least three times to insure the

repeatability of the results. The fundamental frequency is employed in Eq. (8) to calculate the dynamic modulus of elasticity as reported in Table 4.
Table 4. Frequencies and moduli of concrete for free-free test, NS-P specimens

Cylinder

Prior to Loading After Loading

NS-P-1/2 NS-P-2/2 NS-P-1/2 NS-P-2/2

Fundamental Frequency, Hz 1278 1278 1200 1200

Dynamic Modulus Ed, GPa 29.71 29.83 26.2 26.3

Static Modulus Es, GPa 28.1 29.1 28.1 29.1

Ed/Es 1.06 1.03 0.93 0.90

4.1 Effect of stress level

Following the above tests, the special plain concrete cylinders NS-P-1/2 and NS-P-2/2 were tested to obtain the stress-strain curve up to a stress 0.4 f c` . This upper limit was used because it represents a limit which most concrete structures are designed for at service loads. The stress-strain curve is shown in Fig. 2. It should be noted that the stress-strain curve exhibits a linear behavior for the mix design used in this study. From this curve, the static modulus of elasticity was obtained and is shown in Table 4. It can be seen from Table 4 that the dynamic modulus for plain unloaded concrete is moderately higher than the static modulus, with a percentage difference of less than 6%. This would be expected because of the almost linear stress-strain curve shown in Fig. 2 which brings the tangent modulus to almost coincide with the secant modulus [8].

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 100 200 300 400 Strain x E-6

Stress, MPa

NS-P-1/2 NS-P-2/2

Figure 2. Stress-strain curves for the NS-P concrete cylinders (

0.4 f c` )

The NS-P cylinders were then removed from the compression-testing machine and tested to obtain the after loading dynamic modulus for free-free boundary conditions. The results are shown in Table 4 (after loading case). It can be seen that there is a decrease in the dynamic modulus, which may be attributed to micro cracking and creep of the concrete. The NS-P cylinders were placed again in the compression-testing machine and loaded at stress levels of 0.1 fc`, 0.2 fc`, 0.3 fc`, and 0.4 fc`. At each of these stress levels, the frequency spectrum was obtained and the natural frequencies were estimated, hence the fundamental flexural frequency was obtained. The dynamic modulus was back calculated considering that we have a cylinder subjected to a compressive load with a fixed-fixed boundary condition. It should be noted that the testing sequence in this study was considered. For instance, for one of the cylinders the dynamic testing was first performed, and then the stress-strain curve was obtained. While for the other cylinder the testing sequence was reversed to see if it would affect significantly the results. This was done by obtaining the stress-strain curve, and then performing the dynamic testing. It was found that the testing sequence did not significantly affect the measured results for the stress levels used in this study. The results are summarized in Fig. 3, which plots the variation of Ed/Es ratio in relation to the stress level. It can be seen for a stress level not exceeding 0.4 fc` the Ed/Es ratio is in the range of 10% to 10%. This is again is expected since an almost linear stress-strain curve for the stress levels considered was obtained.

NS-P-1/2

NS-P-2/2

load removed 1/2

load removed 2/2

1.4 Ed / Es 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 fc / f 'c

Figure 3. Effect of stress level on Ed/Es ratio for the NS-P concrete cylinders

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

4.2 Effect of reinforcement

The previous tests were also performed on the special reinforced concrete cylinders NS-RC-1/2 and NS-RC2/2. The same sequences of tests applied to the NS-P cylinders were also applied to the NS-RC cylinders. The stress-strain curves are shown in Fig. 4. The stress-strain curve again exhibited a linear behavior for the mix design used in the study. The dynamic and static moduli are compared in Table 5 and plotted in Fig. 5. Comparison of the dynamic modulus prior to loading to the dynamic modulus after loading indicated that the dynamic modulus is independent of the loading. It seems that the presence of the single bar made the specimen less susceptible to micro cracking.

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 100 200 Strain x E-6 300 400

Stress, MPa

NS-RC-1/2 NS-RC-2/2

Figure 4. Stress-strain curves for the NS-RC concrete cylinders (

0.4 f c` )

Table 5. Frequencies and moduli of concrete for free-free test, NS-RC specimens

Cylinder

Prior to Loading After Loading

NS-RC-1/2 NS-RC-2/2 NS-RC-1/2 NS-RC-2/2

Fundamental Frequency, Hz 1200 1200 1200 1200

Dynamic Modulus Ed, GPa 26.30 26.55 26.52 26.55

Static Modulus Es, GPa 29 29 29 29

Ed/Es 0.91 0.92 0.91 0.92

Also it can be seen from Fig.5 that, for a stress level not exceeding 0.4 fc`, the Ed/Es ratio ranged between 0.91 and 1.07 for NS-RC-1/2, while for NS-RC-2/2 the same ratio reached up to 1.24. It can be perceived that the presence of steel has an influence on the Ed/Es ratio. To draw more conclusive results, further tests should be carried out on specimens having more than one embedded bar. The bars need to be eccentric to provided more effect on the sections moment of inertia.

NS-RC-1/2

NS-RC-2/2

load removed 1/2

load removed 2/2

1.4 Ed / Es 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 fc / f 'c 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Figure 5. Effect of stress level on Ed/Es ratio for the NS-RC concrete cylinders

5 Conclusions and Recommendations

This paper described the determination of the dynamic modulus of elasticity of concrete cylinders subjected to an axial compressive load from the fundamental flexural frequency for free-free boundary and fixed-fixed boundary conditions. The tests were performed on the cylinders prior to and after an axial loading. Based on the results obtained in this study the following conclusions can be drawn: 1. The designed data acquisition system employed in this study utilized the fundamental flexural frequency to measure the dynamic modulus of concrete easily and accurately. 2. For the mix design used in this study, it was found that the dynamic modulus of elasticity and the static modulus of elasticity are almost close, when measurement are taken for similar stress levels below 0.4 fc`, since the stress-strain relation exhibited a linear behavior in that range. This was contrary to the perceived general notion of having the dynamic modulus considerably higher than the static modulus. 3. The presence of micro cracks seemed to lower the dynamic modulus of the plain concrete specimens as compared to reinforced specimens. 4. The effect of reinforcement on the fundamental flexural frequency needs further investigations considering more and eccentric bars. 5. Other parameters affecting the dynamic modulus like moisture content, temperature, and mix proportions need to be investigated.

6 References
[1] [2] ASTM C469, Standard Test Method for Static Modulus of Elasticity and Poissons Ratio of Concrete in Compression, Annual Book of ASTM Standards, American Society for Testing and Materials,1994. ASTM C215, Standard Test Method for Fundamental Transverse, Longitudinal, and Torsional Frequencies of Concrete Specimens, Annual Book of ASTM Standards, American Society for Testing and Materials, 1991. Mindess, S., and Young, J., Concrete, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1981, 671 pp. Neville, A. M., Properties of Concrete, Fourth edition, Addison Wesley Longman Limited, 1998, 844 pp. Richart, F. E., Jr., Hall, and J. R., Jr., Woods, R. D., Vibrations of Soils and Foundations, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1970, 414 pp. Rao, S., Mechanical Vibrations, Second edition, Addison-Wesley, 1990, 718 pp. Robert Blevins, Formulas for Natural Frequency and Mode Shape, Wiley, 1975. Mesbah, H. A., Lachemi, M., and Aitcin, P.-C., Determination of Elastic Properties of High-Performance Concrete at Early Ages, ACI Materials Journal, V. 99, No. 1, Jan.-Feb. 2002, pp. 37-41.

[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]