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Preface
Introduction
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desired properties are attained. In poorly cured members, concrete may never reach the strength obtained from standardcured cylinders at 28 days [68].
In most concretes, aggregate strength is higher than the
concrete strength and does not adversely affect the strength
of concrete. In some lightweight and high-strength concrete,
however, aggregate strength may limit concrete strength.
The strength of coarse aggregates is determined mainly by
mineralogy and density. Beyond this, however, a smaller-sized
aggregate may have strength advantages in that internal
weak planes may be less likely to exist, and the smaller particles
reduce stress concentration effects at paste-aggregate interfaces.
Factors involving both the paste and aggregate will affect
the strength of the paste-aggregate interface. The bond between
paste and aggregate particles will be stronger for smaller-sized
aggregates, which have a higher surface area per unit volume.
Also, a rough, angular surface texture such as exists in crushed
aggregates increases interfacial bond strength [9]. The use of
pozzolans such as fly ash or silica fume results in denser hydration products and increases the strength of the paste-aggregate interface [10,11]. Coatings, such as clay, on the aggregate
surface reduce interfacial strength. When concrete bleeds, the
rising bleed water is often trapped beneath coarse aggregate
particles, thus weakening the interfacial zone.
Other factors that affect the strength of concrete include
degree of mixing of the constituent materials and consolidation
of the concrete. For a given set of materials, there is an optimum
proportion of ingredients that yields the most economical mixture with the desired properties. Once the proportions have
been selected, the materials must be mixed adequately to
achieve a homogeneous mixture. The concrete must then be
placed in the molds and thoroughly consolidated; this can be
achieved through rodding or vibration. Inadequate consolidation will reduce strength. Self-consolidating concrete, however,
does not require any consolidation effort during placement
[12]. Excessive bleeding and segregation of fresh concrete can
also lead to reduced strengths, especially in the top portions of
test specimens, which will have a higher w/cm due to the rise of
bleed water. The use of cardboard or plastic cylinder molds in
preparing specimens has been reported to result in lower
measured strengths compared with the use of rigid steel molds
[13,14]. In practice, however, single-use plastic or cardboard
molds are used widely for economic reasons. Also, concrete that
has been damaged due to mishandling of specimens or inadvertent application of loads may also show reduced strength.
Molded Specimens
Current ASTM test methods for measuring strength call for
specimens in the shape of cylinders or beams. Preparation of
these specimens in the field is governed by ASTM Practice for
Making and Curing Concrete Test Specimens in the Field (C
31/C 31M), and under laboratory conditions by ASTM Practice
for Making and Curing Concrete Test Specimens in the Labo-
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The loading to which the concrete member has been subjected may also affect the measured core strength. Cores taken
from highly stressed regions, where microcracking is likely to
have occurred, have lower strength than those from unstressed
regions [19,24].
The inclusion of reinforcing steel in the specimen is not
permitted by ASTM C 42/C 42M since there are insufficient
data to demonstrate the effect of embedded steel on measured
strength. The effect of reinforcement on compressive strength
is variable. The presence of reinforcement in the tensile region
of flexural beams or in splitting tensile strength specimens has
pronounced effects on measured strengths.
Moisture conditioning of cores affects measured strengths.
Early work showed that specimens tested dry had higher
strengths than cores with two days of moist conditioning prior
to testing [22]. Recent work on the effect of moisture conditioning practices has shown similar results leading to changes
in ASTM C 42/C 42M [25,26]. The moisture conditioning procedures adopted in 2003 are intended to preserve the moisture of
the drilled core and to minimize the effects of moisture gradients introduced by wetting during drilling and specimen preparation. Cores are to be placed in sealed plastic bags or nonabsorbent containers after the surface drill water evaporates or
within 1 h of drilling. If water is used for subsequent end preparation, the specimens are sealed again after surface drying.
Cores are kept in the sealed condition for at least five days after
being last wetted and before testing. Unless specified otherwise,
cores are to be tested within seven days of drilling.
Fig. 2Planes of weakness due to bleeding: (a) axis of specimen vertical and
(b) axis of specimen horizontal.
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ASTM C 39/C 39 M states that the ends of cylindrical specimens to be tested must not depart from perpendicularity with
the specimen axis by more than 0.5 (approximately 1/8 in. in
12 in. or 1 mm in 100 mm), and that the ends must be plane
to within 0.002 in. (0.050 mm). If the specimen does not meet
these tolerances, the ends shall be sawed or ground to meet
those tolerances, or capped in accordance with either ASTM C
617 or ASTM C 1231. ASTM C 31/C 31M and C 192/C 192M on
specimen preparation allow for depressions or projections
on finished surfaces of cylinders and beams of up to 1/8 in.
(3.2 mm). Formed surfaces of beams are to be smooth and
plane such that the maximum deviation from the nominal
cross section shall not exceed 1/8 in. (3.2 mm) for crosssectional dimensions of 6 in. (152 mm) or more, or 1/16 in.
(1.6 mm) for smaller dimensions. ASTM C 42/ 42M allows projections of up to 0.2 in. (5 mm) from the core ends and
requires that ends of cores do not depart from being perpendicular to the specimen axis by a slope of more than 1:8D or
(1:0.3D), where D is the average core diameter in inches (or
millimetres). The purpose of the latter requirement is to avoid
exceeding maximum cap thickness specified in ASTM C 617.
The purpose of specifying end condition requirements of
planeness and perpendicularity is to achieve a uniform transfer of load to the test specimen. Surface irregularities will lead
to local concentrations of stress even in specimens that are
capped to meet the planeness requirements [15]. The effect of
cylinder end conditions prior to capping on strength test
results has been reported by several authors [2730]. In general, specimen ends that do not meet the specified requirements prior to capping cause lower strength test results, and
the degree of strength reduction increases for higher-strength
concretes.
ASTM C 617 covers procedures for capping with materials
that bond to the cylinder ends. Freshly molded cylinders may
be capped with a neat cement paste that is allowed to harden
with the concrete. It is important to keep the cement paste caps
moist, since they are susceptible to drying shrinkage and possible cracking. Hardened cylinders and drilled cores may be
capped with either high-strength gypsum cement or sulfur mortar. The requirements on the strength of the capping material
and the thickness of the caps for concrete strengths below and
above 7000 psi (50 MPa) are given in ASTM C 617. Sulfur mortars are permitted if allowed to harden at least 2 h before testing
for concrete with strength less than 5000 psi (34.5 MPa). For
concrete strengths of 5000 psi or greater, sulfur mortar caps
must be allowed to harden at least 16 h before testing, unless a
shorter time has been shown to be suitable. The caps shall be
plane to within 0.002 in. (0.05 mm), shall not depart from perpendicularity with the specimen axis by more than 0.5, and
shall not be off-center with respect to the specimen axis by more
than 1/16 in. (2 mm). Generally, capping materials must be at
least as strong as the concrete, unless there are data showing
satisfactory performance even though the cube strength of the
capping material is lower than the compressive strength of the
concrete. This is possible because bonded caps are under a state
of triaxial compression and can withstand higher stresses than
the unconfined cube strength [31]. Caps on hardened concrete
specimens should be approximately 1/8 in. (3 mm) thick, but no
more than 5/16 in. (8 mm) thick, and well bonded to the specimen end. Thick caps can reduce the measured strength [32].
Unbonded caps have a thickness of 1/2 1/16 in. (13 2 mm]
and the diameter is not more than 1/16 in. (2 mm) smaller than
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standard compressive strength tests may not represent inplace behavior. Tests of standard-cured specimens are used as
a basis for quality control of batching, mixing, and delivery
operations; determination of compliance with specifications;
and for evaluating effectiveness of admixtures and other constituent materials.
Tests of field-cured specimens are intended to provide
information on the in-place concrete. There are, however, limitations on the ability of field-cured test specimens to be representative of in-place concrete. Temperature-matched curing
eliminates some of these limitations, but not all of them
because molded specimens are not consolidated the same as
in-place concrete.
Drilled cores provide representative samples of in-place
concrete. Several factors, however, contribute to the uncertainty of measured core strength as being truly representative
of the in-place strength. These factors include, among others,
presence of moisture gradients resulting from water-cooled
drilling or saw cutting of ends, undefined damage introduced
by the core removal process, and differences in size and L/D
value compared with standard molded specimens.
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test method for rock cores, ASTM D 2936. In it, cylindrical test
specimens are loaded in axial tension through the use of metal
caps bonded to the specimen ends. The direct tensile strength
is determined by dividing the axial load at failure by the specimen cross-sectional area. Care is required during specimen
preparation to ensure application of a tensile load with minimum eccentricity. This test procedure is not widely used for
concrete specimens and ASTM Subcommittee C09.61 is not
pursuing standardization at this time (2004).
bearing block of the testing machine is shorter than the cylinder, a bearing bar or plate shall be used that is at least as thick
as the distance from the edge of the machine bearing block to
the end of the cylinder, at least 2 in. (51 mm) wide, and plane
to within 0.001 in. (0.025 mm). Plywood bearing strips at least
as long as the cylinder and 1/8 in. (3.2 mm) thick and 1 in. (25
mm) wide are placed between the specimen and the loading
faces to accommodate minor surface irregularities. The load is
applied so as to produce a spitting tensile stress rate between
100 and 200 psi/min (690 and 1380 kPa/min).
Failure of the cylinders occurs along a vertical plane containing the specimen axis and the applied load. As shown in
Fig. 10, the loading configuration of this test method induces
a nearly uniform tensile stress perpendicular to the vertical
plane over approximately three-fourths of the specimen diameter. The actual stress distribution on the vertical plane is
affected by the width of the uniformly applied load [52]. The
value of the uniform tensile stress at failure is the splitting tensile strength and is approximated by the following equation:
2P
fsp
LD
(1)
where
fsp
P
D
L
The formulas in ASTM C 78 and ASTM C 293 for computing flexural strength (modulus of rupture) are based on several assumptions that are approximations when testing concrete
beams to failure [53]. One assumption is that the concrete behaves as a linear-elastic material throughout the test, which is
not true at stresses approaching failure. The flexural stress
equations apply to long, shallow beams, whereas the actual test
specimens are short and deep. The failure stress calculated
using the two test methods is higher than the actual extreme
fiber stress due to the simplifying assumption that the stress distribution over the depth of the beam is linear. It is likely, however, that compared with the variability inherent to concrete
strength, this approximation is not significant. Various other
factors have been found to affect flexural strength test results
obtained using either third-point or center-point loading. These
will be discussed.
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at a location other than midspan corresponds to a lower extreme fiber stress than exists at midspan. Thus, when failure
stress is calculated using the bending moment at the fracture
plane, the flexural strength of the specimen is lower than when
calculated using the bending moment at midspan [55,57].
ASTM C 293, however, does not require making note of the location of fracture. ASTM C 78, on the other hand, requires that
if fracture occurs outside of the maximum moment region but
within a distance of 5 % of the span length, the flexural strength
is based on the bending moment at the location of the fracture
plane. If fracture occurs outside of the maximum moment region by a distance of more than 5 % of the span length, the test
results are to be discarded.
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Strength Relationships
Due to the convenience of performing compressive strength
tests, empirical strength relationships have been developed so
that other strength properties may be estimated from results
of compressive strength tests. The relationship between compressive and tensile strength has been found to be influenced
by many factors, including concrete strength level, coarse
aggregate properties, testing age, curing, air entrainment, and
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Fig. 13Schematic of cyclic load history and fatigue strength curve of concrete.
of the ultimate strength; the fatigue limit decreased with increasing biaxial stress ratio. Similar to normal strength concrete, the fatigue life of high-strength concrete increases with
decreasing maximum stress-strength ratio and stress range, and
wet specimens fail at less cycles compared with dry specimens.
Cyclic loading of the specimens below the fatigue limit increased the uniaxial static strength on the order of 40 %.
Whereas normal-strength concrete is reported to have a fatigue
limit of approximately 55 % of its static ultimate strength, the
corresponding value for high-strength concrete was found to be
slightly lower, in the range of 4752 %.
Structures such as bridge decks and pavements undergo numerous load cycles under normal service conditions. Thus, it is
important to understand the response of concrete to cyclic loading. Over 100 references are given in the ACI report on considerations for design of concrete structures subjected to fatigue
loading, including references on biaxial stress states and highstrength concrete [77]. Furthermore, since factors such as the
magnitude of applied load, the stress state, loading frequency, duration of rest periods, and concrete moisture condition are
largely unknown under actual service conditions of the structure,
information obtained from laboratory studies can only give general information about a very complex phenomenon.
Summary
This chapter has reviewed the standard practices and test
methods used to measure concrete strength. These standards
are under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee C09.61. The discussion has stressed the limitations of the results obtained
from tests on small specimens in estimating properties of the
concrete in the structure. Nevertheless, with a thorough
knowledge of their limitations and the factors that affect measured strengths, results obtained from correctly performed
standard test procedures will provide useful information.
In concrete construction, strength tests have three main
purposes: (1) research, (2) for acceptance of concrete and
quality control by testing specimens subjected to standardcuring conditions, and (3) for evaluating in-place properties of
concrete. While the tests discussed in this chapter appear to be
simple, strict adherence to specified procedures and tolerances is necessary for obtaining meaningful results and ensuring reproducibility between laboratories. It is essential that the
purpose of the test be defined, and that those factors that will
influence test results be understood and controlled in accordance with the applicable standards.
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