ISSN No: 2348-4845

International Journal & Magazine of Engineering,

Technology, Management and Research
A Peer Reviewed Open Access International Journal

Development of Compressive Strength Conversion

Factors for Concrete
Dr.V.Srinivasa Reddy

Sai Santosh Yakkali

Associate Professor,
Dept of Civil Engineering,
GRIET, Hyderabad.

B.Tech Student,
Dept of Civil Engineering,
GRIET, Hyderabad.

Abstract:
In the present study, concrete specimens, having different shapes and sizes have been studied for two differentstrength ranges cured in air and in water. Compressive
strength test was performed on cubic and cylindrical samples, having various sizes. The objective of this investigation is to develop conversion factors for compressive
strengths of different samples based on their shape and
size.

Keywords:
Compressive strength, cube, cylinder, shape and size,
conversion factors.

Introduction:
Compressive strength test is probably the most widespread
experiment, which is performed on concrete samples.Two
of the most important factors, which can influence the results of compressive strength test, are shape and size of
the specimens.According to different testing standards
adopted, for compressive and splitting tensile strengths,
there are two main shapes for testing specimens; cubes
and cylinders. While cylindrical specimens (150300
mm) are used mostly in Australia, Canada, France, New
Zealand and the United States, cubic specimens (150 and
100 mm) are used generally in India and Europe. Having
two main shapes and various sizes, testing specimens can
easily result in different and scattered results even if they
are from the same batch and tested at the same testing
condition.The effect of shape and size of specimens have
been widely studied previously. Various relations and
conversion factors have been proposed to understand the
effect of shape and size of concrete samples on their compressive strength. One of the first studies in this field was
conducted by Gonnerman (1925). In his research, cubes
of 150 and 200 mm and different sizes of cylinders were
tested. Conversion factors of 0.85 to 0.88 were obtained

for converting compressive strength of cylinders to compressive strength of cubes The effect of different curing
conditions on conversion factors of specimens was studied by Plowman et al. (1974).Size and shape effect and
the factors influencing them were also studied by Tokyay
and Ozdemir (1997). They also specifically focused on the
phenomenon of wall effect, according to which, in a concrete specimen there is more mortar between wall of the
mould and aggregates of the specimen, than the amount
of mortar between the aggregates (Neville, 2002). This
fact also influences the results of compressive strength,
as well as the conversion factors of different specimens to
each other. Size effect was specifically studied by Baant
and Planas (1998), proposing an equation, which indicates
that by increasing the size of the specimen, compressive
strength tends to decrease.In recent years, research studies about shape and size effect of specimens are mostly
concentrated on concrete of higher strengths. A research
has been done on investigation of effect of different shape
and size on compressive strengths of higher strength concrete samples, focusing on different fracture pattern and
stress strain behavior (Del Visoet al., 2008). Malaikah
(2009) also investigated the effect of size and shape of
specimens, focusing on conversion factors of cylinders
to cubes.In this study, the behavior of effect of different
shape and size of concrete specimens have been investigated, by mainly focusing on the conversion factors of
specimens for two different strength ranges of concrete
specimens.In order to provide the different strength ranges, concrete samples of two different mixtures have been
casted and cured at two different curing conditions.

Effect of Shape and Size of Concrete specimens on Compressive Strength:

The ratio between the compressive strength of cubic and

cylindrical concrete samples is around 1.25. This relationship between concrete strength measured using cubes and
cylinders depends on the effect of shape of specimens.
Cylinders are slender compared to cubes. The ratio of h/d
of cylinders is 2 while that of cubes is 1.

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A Peer Reviewed Open Access International Journal

This is one of the causes. It was found that the cube/cylinder strength ratio decreases by the increase in concrete
strength. This ratio reaches values above 0.9 for high
strength concrete.A ratio of 1.15 to 1.25 is expected for
normal concrete (25 to50MPa cube strength), while this
value reaches 1.1 for high strength concrete (55 to 85MPa
cube strength). These values provide some estimates for
design but they cannot be accepted for compliance criteria.The ratio of cylinder/cube increases for strength grades
above M70 and reaches 0.87 for grade M100. Generally
cylinder/cube compressive strength valueis close to 0.9
and 0.95 for stronger concretes. On the other hand, practically, the ratio between cylinder and cube strength is typically taken equal to 0.8 at lower to medium grades, and
increasing up to 0.87 for cylinder strength of 90 MPa.
Basically, the force supplied by a concrete compression
machine is a definite value. For normal concrete strength
application, say below 50MPa, the stress produced by a
150mmx150mmx150mm cube is sufficient for the machine to crush the concrete sample. However, if the designed concrete strength is 100MPa, under the same force
(about 2,000kN) supplied by the machine, the stress under
a 150mmx150mmx150mm cube is not sufficient to crush
the concrete cube. Therefore, 100mmx100mmx100mm
concrete cubes are used instead to increase the applied
stress to crush the concrete cubes.

The 100mm cubes are easier to handle and will result

in saving of materials andlabor. It will save storage and
curing space as well as testing time. The overall savings
can be significant in financial terms. However, engineers
and architects are reluctant to specify the use of 100mm
cubes because of the perceived greater variability in their
compressive strength over that of the 150mm cubes. Also,
there is a lack of compliance criteria for the 100mm cubes
as the General Specification provides acceptance criteria
based on 150mm cube strengths only.The compliance is
based on two criteria: the average strength and the individual strength. Take a Grade 30 concrete as an example.
The G.S. requires that the average strength of any four
consecutive test results shall exceed the grade strength by
a margin of 5 MPa (3MPa if the standard deviation of at
least 40 test results does not exceed 5MPa). Each individual test result shall be no more than 3 MPa below the
grade strength. This is similar to that specified in the British Standard (BS5328: Part 4, 1990).

For normal concrete strength, the cube size of

150mmx150mmx150mm is already sufficient for the
crushing strength of the machine.The 28-day strength
of 100mm cubes is on the average about 5% higher than
that of the 150mm cubes. This is close to the 4% reported
by Neville (1977). Higher strengths were obtained for
the 100mm cubes in all projects. The ratio of the mean
strength of the 100mm cubes to that of the 150mm cubes
varies from 1.03 to 1.09 with a mean value of 1.05.

Since concrete is composed of elements of variable

strength, it is reasonable to assume that the larger the
volume of the concrete, the more likely it is to contain
an element of weaker strength. As a result, for a concrete
specimen of the same batch, it is reasonable to expect that
its strength and its variability will decrease as the specimen size increases. Since the size effect is a result of the
in-homogeneity of the concrete, it follows that the more
homogeneous the concrete the smaller will be the size effect.Lessard ( 1990) found that the compressive strength
of cylinders of 150mm dia. by 300mm was about 94%
that of cylinders of 100mm dia. by 200mm. Baalbaki et
al. ( 1992) repeated the experiment on a total of 126 cylinders and found that the strength of the cylinders of I50mm
dia. was 93% that of cylinders of 100mm dia.. Neville
(1977) suggested that the strength of the 100mm cubes
was about 1.04% that of the 150mm cubes.

Most of the testing laboratories in India are equipped with

compression testing machines with a maximum loading
capacity of about 2000kN. These machines are capable of
testing 150mm cubes up to strength of 90 MPa. With the
development of high strength concrete, it is not uncommon that concrete of strength exceeding 140 MPa is specified for use in construction works. Testing such high concrete strength is beyond the capacity of these machines.
The wear and tear of the machine platens due to such a
high loading is also very high. The use of 100mm cubes
for compliance testing will alleviate such problems.

Apart from the small difference in strength between the

100mm and 150mm cubes, a slightly higher standard deviation in strength is also reported for the smaller specimens. From the results of Baalbaki et al (1992), it can
be stipulated that the standard deviation in strength of
the 100mm cylinders was on average 73% higher than
that of the 150mm cylinders.For concrete with a grade
strength below 20 MPa, the likely increase in strength of
the 100mm cubes over the 150mm cubes is negligible. It
is therefore proposed that in the criterion each individual
test result should not be less than the grade strength by

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ISSN No: 2348-4845

International Journal & Magazine of Engineering,

Technology, Management and Research
A Peer Reviewed Open Access International Journal

more than 2 MPa.For concrete with a grade strength of

20 MPa or above, the individual result of 150nun cubes
should not be less than the grade strength by more than
3 MPa. The likely minimum increase in strength, if the
100mm cubes are used, is 1 MPa. It is therefore proposed
that for this category of concrete, each individual test
result of the 100mm cubes should not be less than the
grade strength by more than 2 MPa.Compressive strength
of 100mm cube is greater than the compressive strength
of 150mm. The reason is that in the cube having a small
dimension like 100 X 100 X 100 mm3 the bonding is
very good than the 150 mm3 cube and also as the size of
the cube increases the void spaces in it also increases. If
there are voids, the concrete is unable to take moreloads.
So, small dimension cube will have more compressive
strength than the larger one.
During testing, the platens of the loading machine restrain the lateral expansion of the concrete in parts of the
specimen near its ends. This restraint is dependent on the
amount of friction developed. Under normal conditions,
with friction, an element within the specimen is subjected
to a shearing stress as well as to compression. With an
increase of distance from the platen, the magnitude of
the shearing stress decreases and the lateral expansion
increases. This shear stress has the confining effect of
increasing the axial load for failure. The restraining effect of the platens of the testing machine extends over the
entire height of the cube but leaves a part of the cylinder
unaffected due to this increase in aspect ratio. Therefore
compressive strengths of cubes are expected to be higher
than those of cylinders made from the same concrete.
In reality; there is no unique relationship among the cube
and cylinder made with different proportion. The interrelation varies also with age factors; the compressive
strength of core concrete is affected by many parameters.
These parameters are; the magnitude of core compressive
strength itself, core diameter, core diameter over height
ratio, coring orientation, core moisture condition at the
time of testing and presence of reinforcement within the
concrete core. Cylinders are believed to give a grater uniformity of results for nominally similar specimens because their failure is less affected by the end restraint of
the specimen, their strength is influenced by the properties of the coarse aggregate used in the mix , and the stress
distribution on horizontal planes in a cylinder is more uniform than on a cube specimen. The use of rigid and nonrigid moulds affects their strength.

In case of identical concrete, dry cubes give higher

strength than wet cubes. Dry cube may have undergo drying shrinkage which will ultimately caused some amount
of drying shrinkage cracks and bond failures The strength
of cube specimen cannot be same as that of the member
because of the differences with respect to the degree of
compaction, curing standard, uniformity of concrete,
evaporation and loss of mixing water etc

Concrete cubes may be loaded in the direction perpendicular to casting while cylinders are always loaded in
the direction of casting. Since these concrete cubes and
cylinders are casted in multiple layers, their strength will
differ based on direction of loading. Lower the rate of application of load, the lower will be the recorded strength;
the reason for this is probably the effect of creep. If the
load is applied slowly, or if the there is some time lag,
the specimen will undergo certain amount of creep which
will increase the strain due to creep will be responsible for
failure of sample.

Experimental program:
The experimental part of thisresearch was planned in order to study the effect of size and shape of the specimens
on strength for different strength levels (or ranges) and
curing conditions. In other words, the goal of this investigation is to find out variations of strength by changing
the shape and size of concrete samples having different
curing conditions and different strength ranges.d

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A Peer Reviewed Open Access International Journal

During the experimental program, two different concrete

mix designs were carried out. These mix designs were
aime to have two different compressive strength levels
as, Level I and Level II. Level I consist of compressive
strength ranges between 30 and 50 MPa and Level II consist of compressive strength ranges between 50 and 70
MPa.Before starting the main experimental program, in
order to ensure the target strength levels, trial mixes were
made and tested. In Table 1, different mix design proportions have been shown for strength level I and II. Also,
range in the table, shows the strength range of each of
the levels. Two different curing conditions, namely water
curing and air curing, were applied for concrete specimens until the specified testing ages.For casting the concrete samples, totally five different moulds were utilized,
which were three different sizes of cubes and two different sizes of cylinders. The cubic moulds were 100, 150
and 200 mm. The cylindrical moulds were 150300 and
100200 mm. It should be explained that in this research,
cross sectional area of concrete samples were highlighted
to find out a relationship between size and shape effect on
compressive strength of concrete samples.

Table 1: Mix design for different strength

ranges:

Material Properties and Test Procedure:

As explained before, two different mixes were designed for
this experimental program. Silica Fume of 8 % by weight
of cement) and super plasticizer (Glenium B233) was
used for strength level II of concrete samples.For casting
all the specimens, locally produced Portland pozzolaniccement was used.As it is shown in Table 1, strength level I
has the higher ratio of water to cement (0.56) and strength
level II has a water to cement ratio of 0.35. This variation
in water to cement ratios and also difference in aggregate
fraction makes the concretes give different compressive
strength levels.The process of designing the mixes and
constructing the concrete samples was according to Indian standard codes.Concrete was poured in cubic and cylindrical samples in three layers and compacted by using
vibrating tables. After this process, the filled molds were
taken to the curing room and cured for 24 h at a humidity
of more than 90% and air temperature of around 21C.
After 24 h the specimens were taken to water tankor air
room, regarding their pre-specified curing conditions and
kept in their places until their testing age.In Table 2, the
utilized moulds and their sizes have named.Compressive
strength test wasperformed on both cubes and cylinders.
To minimize the errors in results of the experiments, all
of the processes of casting concrete, vibrating and conditions of curing were controlled precisely according to the
relevant standards. In addition, for each testing condition,
three samples were casted and the results used in analyses
are the average of the obtained results.After calculating
the average values of the results, conversion factors were
calculated.

Test Results:

Table 2: Specimen shape and size

In this part, the results of compressive strength test and

the relevant analyses which were carried out on the results
have been shown. The cross sectional area of each of the
samples was calculated. The results are shown in Table
3.

Table 3: Cross-sectional area of specimens

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International Journal & Magazine of Engineering,

Technology, Management and Research
A Peer Reviewed Open Access International Journal

Regression analyses have also been done, to obtain a relation between conversion factors and cross-sectional area
of the samples.InTable 4, the results of conversion factors,
for samples of strength level I have been revealed.Conversionfactors of strength level II concretes are shown in
Table 5.

Table 4: Conversion factors for strength level

I (M30-M50)

Table 5: Conversion factors for strength level

II (M50-M70)

Discussion:
In this section, obtained results will be discussed. As the
results of analyses of this research, strength conversion
factors were obtained. It is known that the influence of
curing condition on concrete specimens is mainly viewed
as its effect on strength gain rate of concrete; in a way
that air cured samples have a lower strength gain rate
than water cured samples. According to the analyses, this
fact seems to have influence on the conversion factors
of cylindrical and cubic samples as well. In other words,
changing the curing condition influences the strength gain
of cylinders and cubes in different manners and rates, especially if the effect of extra hydration of water cured
samples is considered.
To convert compressive strength of the specimen to the
strength of other specimens (with different cross sectional area), the specimens compressive strength should be
multiplied by the values which were obtained from the
curves and tables.One of the significant outcomes of these
analyses can be the fact that there are two different trends
for water cured and air cured samples.Generally, it can
be said that any factors which can influence compressive
strength of the samples in different ways, can also influence conversion factors as well.

Conclusion:
Based on experimental investigation carried out, the following conclusions are drawn:
1.According to the test results, behavior of conversion
factors against the cross sectional areas of concrete samples alter by changing the curing conditions.
2.The reason of different factors for water cured and air
cured samples could be the different influences of curing conditions on strength gain of different shaped specimens.
3.The mentioned reason may be more notable, if the lateral surfaces of cubic and cylindrical samples are considered.
4.It can be said that any factor, which influences the
strength level of concrete specimens, in a deviated manner, can have influence on conversion factors of samples.

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A Peer Reviewed Open Access International Journal

6.Neville, A.M., 2002, Properties of Concrete 4/E. John

Wiley and Sons, NY.

References:
1.Baant, Z.P. and J. Planas, 1998,Fracture and Size Effect in Concrete and Other Quasi-brittle Materials, CRC
Press, Boca Raton and London, Vol. 16.
2.Del Viso, J., J. Carmona and G. Ruiz, 2008, Shape and
size effects on the compressive strength of high-strength
concrete, Cement Concrete Res., 38(3): 386-395.

7..Plowman, J., W. Smith and T. Sheriff, 1974,Cores,

cubes and the specific strength of concrete,Struct. Eng.,
52(11): 421-426.
8.Teychenn, F.E., 1997,Design of Normal Concrete
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Garston, Watford.

3.Elwet, D.J. and G. Fu, 1995,Compression Testing of

Concrete: Cylinders vs. Cubes, Transportation Research
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Transportation, Albany.

9.Tokyay, M. and M. Ozdemir, 1997,Specimen shape and

size effect on the compressive strength of higher strength
concrete, Cement Concrete Res., 27(8): 1281-1288.

4.Gonnerman, H.F., 1925, Effect of size and shape of

test specimen on compressive strength of concrete, Proc.
ASTM, 25: 237-250.

10.Zheng, J.J. and C.Q. Li, 2002,Three-dimensional aggregate density in concrete with wall effect, ACI Mater.
J., 99(6): 568-575.

5.Malaikah, A.S., 2009, Effect of specimen size and

shape on the compressive strength of high strength
concrete,Pertanika J. Sci. Technol., 13(1): 87-96.

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