2.

1 PROPERTIES OF COCNCRETE AT HARDENED STAGE

2.3.1. General
The properties of fresh concrete are important only in the first few hours of its history whereas
the properties of hardened concrete assume an importance which is retained for the remainder
of the life of concrete. The important properties of hardened concrete are strength, deformation
under load, durability, permeability and shrinkage. In general, strength is considered to be most
important property and quality of concrete is often judged by its strength. There are, however,
many occasions when other properties are more important, for example, low permeability and
low shrinkage are required for water retaining structures. Although in most cases an
improvement in strength results in an improvement of the other properties of concrete there are
exceptions. For example, increasing the cement content of a mix improves strength but results
in higher shrinkage which in extreme cases can adversely affect durability and permeability.
Since the properties of concrete change with age and environment it is not possible to attribute
absolute values to any of them. Laboratory tests give only an indication of properties which
concrete may have in the actual structures as the quality of concrete in the structure depends
on the workmanship on site.
2.3.2. Strength
The strength of concrete is defined as the maximum loads it can carry. As the strength of
concrete increase its other properties usually improve in a certain extent and since the tests for
strength, particularly in compression, are relatively simple to perform concrete compressive
strength is commonly used in the construction industry for the purpose of specification and
quality control. Concrete is a comparatively brittle material which is relatively weak in tension.
The compressive strength of concrete is taken as the maximum compressive load it can carry
per unit area. Concrete strengths of up to 80N/mm2 can be achieved by selective use of the type
of cement, mix proportions, method of compaction and curing conditions. Concrete structures,
except for road pavements, are normally designed on the basis that concrete is capable of
resisting only compression, the tension being carried by steel reinforcement.
2.3.3. Tensile strength
The tensile strength of concrete is of importance in the design of concrete roads and runways.
For example, its flexural strength or modulus of rupture (tensile strength in bending) is utilized
for distributing the concentrated loads over a wider area of road pavement. Concrete members
are also required to withstand tensile stresses resulting from any restraint to contraction due to
drying or temperature variation. Unlike metals, it is difficult to measure concrete strength in
direct tension and indirect methods have been developed for assessing this property. Of these
the split cylinder test or cube are the simplest and most widely used. The flexural strength of
concrete is another indirect tensile value which is also commonly used.