SOME NOTES
ON CONCRETE
FATIGUE
A s atrucatural design and analysis become more re-
fined and as construction practices increase in effi-
ciency there is an increased need for fundamental in-
formation 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 re-
peated loadings each of which is smaller than a single
static load that exceeds the strength of the material. Fa-
tigue is exhibited when a material fails under stress ap-
plied 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 con-
clusive.
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 stan-
dard compression strength to concrete endurance.
Highway engineers appear to agree that concrete fail-
ure by cracking results from repetitive applications of
stress. Fatigue tests have been applied to modulus of
rupture specimens and those containing light reinforce-
ment. The results of such tests are highly valuable in de-
signing airport runways and taxiways, highway pave-
ment and bridges.
A test for fatigue involves the repetition of loads of dif-
ferent 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 val-
ue require essentially identical tests on numerous vari-
eties 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 place-
ment, curing conditions and age. These factors can vary
from job to job and in some cases within one job. In ad-
dition studies of reinforced concrete involve the consid-
eration of compression, diagonal tension in the shear
zone, strength of the reinforcing steel and strength of
bond between concrete and steel. Interrelationships of
these elements are complex and thus far no theoretical
explanation of them has been derived even for static
loads. Consequently much fatigue experimentation has
been exploratory and based on limited hypotheses.
Fatigue investigations of plain and reinforced con-
crete, prestressed as well as ordinary, have sought to de-
termine the effect of repeated tensile, compressive and
flexural loads on ultimate strength and strain or deflec-
tion. Some studies have investigated bond resistance
and some have been concerned with the resistance of
concrete composed of lightweight aggregate. Research
has been wide in scope, but much of it has been neither
comprehensive nor conclusive. However enough exper-
iments have been conducted to justify certain conclu-
sions, however tentative, regarding the phenomenon of
fatigue.
Stress repetition and not the rate of strain appears to
be the critical factor in fatigue. Although fatigue can re-
sult from static loadings of a cyclic nature as well as from
dynamic loadings, statically applied stresses are seldom
repeated sufficiently often to produce it. On the other
hand, millions of cycles of stress can result from dynam-
ic loadings of the oscillating type.
Investigations to date on plain concrete subjected to
repeated compressive loads ranging from zero to maxi-
mum compression indicate that resistance is 50 to 55
percent of the static ultimate or the ultimate crushing
strength. Concrete subjected to repeated flexural loads
has a similar resistance, although there has been found a
variation from 33 to 64 percent depending on moisture,
aggregate and curing. The percentage 50 to 55 also ap-
plies to the relationship between the fatigue limit of con-
crete 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 proper-
ty 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 speci-
men.
Of particular interest to contractors, tests have shown
that fatigue strength is vitally affected by age and cur-
ing. Concrete that is carefully cured and aged displays
greater resistance to fatigue than concrete inadequately
cured and aged. In addition, although data is not exten-
sive, 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 ef-
fects of the two are not easily separated. Test results are
sketchy, but rest periods appear to increase the en-
durance of concrete and most permanent deformation
has been found to occur during a test’s early stages, with-
in 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 per-
cent 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 as-
sumed 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 con-
crete, 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 longitudi-
nal reinforcement seemed to be 60 to 70 percent of stat-
ic ultimate strength. Sometimes fatigue has been found
in diagonal tension but bond and shear combination
problems obscured the real cause of the difficulty. Ex-
tensive fatigue loading of reinforced beams has in cer-
tain tests produced accumulated residual deflection but
recovery during rest periods has also been observed.
Fatigue in prestressed concrete has been found to be
essentially similar to that in conventionally reinforced
beams, and localized in the compression zone or in di-
agonal tension, in the prestressing steel, in bond, and for
post-tensioned beams at the points of anchorage and
splice. Fatigue of prestressed concrete appears to differ
in one important respect: the variations in stress are
small in the working load range but they seem to vary
about some high mean stress in both the steel and the
concrete.
Fatigue tests on prestressed concrete have been less
numerous and extensive than those on other types of
material. For the most part they have been concentrated
on the resistance of bond stresses and self-anchorages to
fatigue loadings. No tests thus far reported produced
concrete fatigue. Working stresses currently in use ap-
pear to render adequate protection. Metal fatigue rather
than concrete fatigue was the reported cause in all fail-
ure observed. Where there was no fatigue in prestressed
beams the ultimate strength for static loads appeared
unaffected by repeated loadings. For most of the beams
tested safety factors appear to be about 2 against fatigue.
Prestressed beams appear to display greater resistance
to fatigue loading than do conventional beams. Howev-
er none of these conclusions can be viewed as final inas-
much as tests have not been extensive or exhaustive.
Exploratory research on fatigue has been particularly
valuable in revealing factors on which additional inves-
tigation is needed. Experiments on the fundamental
properties of fatigue aimed to describe its mechanism
are especially needed. An understanding of why fatigue
occurs will aid immeasurably in the interpretation of da-
ta that now exists and in planning further experiments.
In addition much work is needed on the influence of
moisture, curing, rest periods, freezing and thawing,
temperature cycles, admixtures, air entrainment and
many other factors.
The importance of greater understanding of concrete
fatigue lies in the potential economic returns. Savings in
construction could be considerable and translated into
better customer service if the life of concrete subject to
oscillating were increased.
PUBLICATION #C620293
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