The

material
properties of
concrete are not
Mechanics constant as they
are for a
material like
steel. They
Concrete Stress-Strain depend upon
many factors
including: the
amount of
cement; gravel;
sand; and
especially the
amount of water
We must test a batch of concrete to determine its properties. added to the mix.

Conc Strs-Strn 2 Since concrete

properties vary
Concrete Cylinder Tests
so much from one
• Compression tests on the concrete cylinders batch to another,
are run to obtain: actual lab tests
need to be run to
§The ultimate strength of the concrete, f ’C truly determine
§The stress-strain curve to obtain the Modulus the material
of Elasticity of concrete, EC properties. The
cylinder
compression test
is the most
commonly run
test. In this test,
the concrete
cylinder is 12
It is tested by applying a compressive load until failure, and inches long and 6
inches in
measuring the stress and strain. The maximum stress that the
cylinder can take prior to failure is the ultimate strength. The diameter.
slope of the stress-strain diagram is the Modulus of Elasticity.
 Conc Strs-Strn 3 Here is
the equation for
Concrete Stress
stress for a 6
• The data collected included the applied load inch diameter
and the resulting change in length of the cylinder.
cylinder between the attached rings
• To get the stress, we divide the load by the
area
P P P
σC = = =
A πD 2
π6 2
4 4

Conc Strs-Strn 4 The

particular strain
Concrete Strain
measuring device
• The data collected included the applied load we used in this
and the resulting change in length of the test magnifies
cylinder between the attached rings. the displacement
by a factor of
• To get the strain we divide the change in two. This
length by the original length increases the
§ The displacement value, ∆, has been reading and
doubled by the measurement apparatus makes it
somewhat more
§ The distance between the rings was 6” accurate. The
∆ rings that
∆L
εC = = 2 attached to the
L 6 cylinders for
measuring the
displacement
were 6 inches
apart.
 Conc Strs-Strn 5

Concrete Strength
• Here is a plot of the resulting stress vs. strain
f ’c
Stress
(psi) You may have to
correct your data
around the zero point.
Graph starts at zero
stress and zero strain.
0
0 strain
• The maximum stress that the concrete can
take, the concrete strength, is called f’C
The strength is simply the maximum load divided by the area.
Note that after the maximum load is reached, the strain
continues to increase as the stress decreases. The f ’C is not
the stress at the end of the test, it is the maximum stress
applied to the cylinder, at the top of the curve.
To get this plot you will have to correct the deflection
data. There might be a lot of phony readings at the beginning.
Discard all data that was recorded before the load started to
increase. You also need to get rid of the data at the end of the
test. You just want the data that defines the curve similar to
the one shown. Also start the test with zero displacement by
subtracting out the reading at the start of the test.
 Conc Strs-Strn 6 Again, f ’C
is just the
Stress-
Stress-Strain Curve
maximum load
• Here is a plot of the resulting stress vs. strain divided by the
f ’c area. You will
Stress have a value for
(psi) the ultimate
strength even if
You will have a stress- you do not
strain diagram like this measure the
for each cylinder strain.

strain
• When you test several cylinders, you average
the values of f ’C

Conc Strs-Strn 7 Plot the

data without
Stress-
Stress-Strain Curve
symbols. If
• Here is a plot of the resulting stress vs. strain symbols are used,
f ’c they will be so
Stress close together
(psi) that they will
merge together
and look like a
very wide line.
Put a high order
trendline through
the data so that
strain
• You will have many data points. Do not it matches the
use symbols, and smooth the curve data well.
so it looks good and is meaningful
. You can check this trendline by plotting the data with symbols
and viewing the trendline, drawn with a light colored line, on top
of the symbols. When satisfied with the line, delete the
symbols and color the line appropriately.
 Conc Strs-Strn 8 As you can
see, concrete is a
Nonlinear Diagram
nonlinear
• Note that the curve is a nonlinear one material. As the
f ’c stress level
Stress increases, the
(psi) slope of the
curve decreases,
meaning that EC,
the modulus of
elasticity of the
concrete,
decreases. The
strain
Stiffness of the
• Since E is the slope of the diagram, we see concrete
that E changes with stress level decreases at
higher stress
levels.

Conc Strs-Strn 9 Since we

always design
Modulus of Elasticity
structures with a
• What should we use for EC, the modulus? factor of safety,
f ’c generally the
Stress stresses during
(psi) normal operation
of a concrete
structure will be
Somewhere in
in the region
this region
indicated on the
diagram. We try
to avoid stresses
strain
that approach
• During normal use, in what stress the failure level.
region is the concrete operating?
 Conc Strs-Strn 10 In this
region, the slope
EC-Modulus of Elasticity
of the stress-
• For the first half of the test, the stress-strain strain curve is
curve is pretty straight f ’c fairly constant.
Stress
(psi)
f 'c Ec
2

strain
• The slope of this line is taken to be EC

Conc Strs-Strn 11 To get the

slope of this line,
EC-Modulus of Elasticity
we choose the
• For the first half of the test, the stress-strain data points up to
curve is pretty straight f ’c about one half
Stress the ultimate
(psi) strength and
f 'c Ec perform a linear
2 regression to get
the best straight
line through the
data. The slope
of this
strain
regression line
• Do a regression (trendline) through these data (trendline) is the
points(below f’C/2). The slope is called EC value of EC.
 Conc Strs-Strn 12 This
equation is an
Approximate Modulus of Elasticity
empirical
• Based upon examining a series of concrete equation. It
cylinder tests, an equation for estimating the resulted from
Modulus of Elasticity of concrete was derived examining
numerous stress-
• This is simply an easy equation to use strain curves and
E Approx = 57000 f 'C finding an easy
formula that
§ f ’C in this equation must be in psi would
approximate EC.
• Compare the value from this equation to your Being an easy
measured values equation was
§ It is frequently not very accurate more important
than being
extremely
accurate.

Conc Strs-Strn 13 Make sure

that the units
Modular Ratio
are in agreement.
• We tested at least two cylinders for stress and With this
strain. Take EC to be the average of the modular ratio it
slopes of the two lines is now possible to
examine the
• Once we have EC, we can determine the reinforced
modular ratio, n concrete beam to
create the
E s 29000 ksi transformed
n= = section.
EC EC