Professional Documents
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ON CONCRETE
FATIGUE
A
s atrucatural design and analysis become more refined and as construction practices increase in efficiency there is an increased need for fundamental information on the behavior of concrete under loads
other than static. Particularly there is a demand for
more knowledge and understanding of concrete fatigue,
which refers to the phenomenon of rupture under repeated loadings each of which is smaller than a single
static load that exceeds the strength of the material. Fatigue is exhibited when a material fails under stress applied by direct tension or compression, torsion, bending
or a combination of these actions. Metal fatigue has
been under investigation for more than a century and a
considerable amount of knowledge about it has been
accumulated. But research on concrete fatigue is not
only far less advanced, but also considerably less conclusive.
Both structural and highway engineers are concerned
with the behavior of concrete under repeated stress.
Structural engineers have long used compression tests
as a means of quality control and as a basis of physical
properties for theoretical analysis of structures. Similar
tests have been used to study fatigue and to relate standard compression strength to concrete endurance.
Highway engineers appear to agree that concrete failure by cracking results from repetitive applications of
stress. Fatigue tests have been applied to modulus of
rupture specimens and those containing light reinforcement. The results of such tests are highly valuable in designing airport runways and taxiways, highway pavement and bridges.
A test for fatigue involves the repetition of loads of different levels of stress to a specimen and the observation
of the number of cycles needed to produce change at
each level. The nature of fatigue experiments require
that they be conducted over relatively long periods of
time. They usually necessitate repetitive loadings
through thousands of cycles and to be of maximum value require essentially identical tests on numerous varieties of concrete. Concrete quality itself is affected by the
proportion of cement and aggregate, the quality of the
mixing water, the thoroughness of mixing, care in placement, curing conditions and age. These factors can vary
from job to job and in some cases within one job. In addition studies of reinforced concrete involve the consid-
aggregate and curing. The percentage 50 to 55 also applies to the relationship between the fatigue limit of concrete in tension and the modulus of rupture. In some
studies intensity of load has been found to alter the
modulus of elasticity of concrete.
Other tests have indicated that concrete has a property that is similar to strain hardening in metal. Repetitive
loads at less than fatigue strength in some experiments
raised the fatigue strength and/or stiffened the specimen.
Of particular interest to contractors, tests have shown
that fatigue strength is vitally affected by age and curing. Concrete that is carefully cured and aged displays
greater resistance to fatigue than concrete inadequately
cured and aged. In addition, although data is not extensive, there are indications that concrete of a rich mix and
a low water/cement ratio has a slightly higher fatigue
strength.
Fatigue strength appears to be little affected by the
rate of testing above a certain cyclic frequency. Strength
seems to decrease at rates as slow as about 10 cycles per
minute. Tests have found the creep phenomenon to be
closely related to long-time fatigue loading and the effects of the two are not easily separated. Test results are
sketchy, but rest periods appear to increase the endurance of concrete and most permanent deformation
has been found to occur during a tests early stages, within the first few thousand cycles. The strain appears to
stabilize at fewer load cycles for properly aged and cured
concrete than for young material. A decreased range of
stress has been observed to increase substantially the
upper limit of fatigue strength.
Test results regarding bond have been erratic. Here
fatigue failures have occurred at loads less than 55 percent of the ultimate static pull-out strength. It appears
that strain increases at a decreasing rate with each cycle
of load. After some number of cycles, if the strain ceases
to increase then the failure of the concrete in fatigue is
improbable.
Recent experiments do appear conclusive regarding
the endurance limit of concrete. Many early tests assumed that the material possessed an endurance limit
similar to most metals. However it now appears that
plain concrete in flexure, given an acceptable level of
stress, possesses no endurance limit at least with loads
up to 10,000,000 cycles.
Because of the need to consider both steel and concrete, studies of fatigue in reinforced concrete thus far
present a far from complete picture. Fatigue may occur
either in the steel or in the concrete. In turn, concrete
fatigue may be due to bond, diagonal tension or flexure.
Fatigue in reinforced beams apparently is related to
severe cracking and possible stress concentration
and/or abrasion connected with the cracks. In some
tests the endurance limit of beams critical in longitudinal reinforcement seemed to be 60 to 70 percent of static ultimate strength. Sometimes fatigue has been found
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