Chapter 3

STRENGTH

RESISTING STRESS
WITHOUT FAILURE
What is failure? • Brittle materials like
• Large deformation? concrete do not show
• Cracking? large deformations as
ductile materials like
• Fracture? metals.
• Concrete contains
cracks (although fine)
even before loading.
• Failure is fracture for
concrete.
 Concrete strength is the maximum stress it can withstand
without fracture.

1
 FRACTURE
• Ideally, the strength of a solid depends on
the STRENGTH OF ITS ATOMIC BONDS.

Uo

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

2
 FOR SHARP CRACKS, THE
STRESS AT THE CRACK TIP
WOULD BE VERY LARGE.

Difficulties in application of FM
to Concrete
• Large specimens are required;
• Aggregates’ role in crack blunting;
• Effect of compression.

• SO WE WILL CONTINUE IN A MORE

CONVENTIONAL MANNER!

3
• STRENGTH IS IMPORTANT.
• HOWEVER, BY NO MEANS IT IS THE ONLY
IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC.
• DURABILITY AND DIMENSIONAL STABILITY
MAY BE EQUALLY SIGNIFICANT.
• GENERALLY, STRENGTH (usually
compressive strength) IS USED AS AN
INDICATION OF CONCRETE QUALITY.
• THIS MAY BE MISLEADING SOMETIMES.

Why strength is used as

an indication of quality?
• Compared with other tests, strength tests
are easier to perform.
• Under normal conditions, most other
properties such as modulus of elasticity,
resistance to abrasion, permeability, etc
may be related to strength.

4
 Effect of porosity on strength
• Strength of a solid is inversely proportional
to its porosity.
• For homogeneous solids,
kp
S  So e
Where S: strength at a given porosity p
So: intrinsic strength at p=0
k: constant

A.M. Neville, Properties of Concrete, 1981.

0.8
0.7
Relative strength

0.6
0.5
Fe
0.4
PoP
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Porosity (%)

0.98e-0.0705p for iron specimen Also, a logarithmic expression is

proposed:
0.96e-0.0722p for plaster of paris S=q log(Pr/P) where, Pr:porosity at S=0.

5
 T.C.Powers, J. Am. Ceram. Soc., V. 41, No. 1, pp. 1-6, 1958

250

Comp. Strength (MPa)

f c  ax 3
200

150

100

50

0
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1
Gel-space ratio (x)

Where,
x: solid (gel)-space ratio (amount of solid fraction in the system = 1-p)
a: intrinsic strength at zero porosity (234 MPa)

C-S-H C-S-H occupies 50-75% of the whole hydrated

paste volume. It has a layered structure with a
surface area of 100-700 m2/g.

Model of C-S-H.
x: interlayer water
o: adsorbed water
C: capillary pore
Microstructure development in hydrated PC Interlayer space is 5-25Å

6
 CH

Calcium hydroxide occupies

about 20% of the paste volume

www.mssmat.ecp.fr/IMG/jpg/portlandite_sein.jpg

Calcium sulfoaluminate hydrates

Cement and Concrete Research

www.fhwa.dot.gov/.../04150/images/fig175.gif Volume 34, Issue 6, June 2004, Pages 977-989

Calcium sulfoaluminate hydrates (ettringite and

monosulfate form) constitute ~10% of the paste
volume.

7
 Other components
• Unhydrated cement • Pores
particles (yellow)

Large Capillary pores (50-10000nm) affect

www.fhwa.dot.gov/.../04150/images/fig185.gif
strength.
Medium capillary pores (10-50nm) affect
strength, permeability, shrinkage.
Gel pores (<10nm) affect creep and
shrinkage.

Gel-Space Ratio
1
 p

Gel pores are not considered detrimental to strength. Since the surface
areas of the hydration products are very large the sum of the van der Waals
forces between them is sufficiently large.
However, capillary voids and microcracks (which are always present in
paste) are responsible for the stress concentrations and start of rupture.
Therefore voids are detrimental.
The volume of capillary voids in a cement paste depends on
- amount of mixing water and
- degree of hydration.

8
Calculation of volumes of hydrated
cement components
• There are two types of water in hydrated
cement pastes: (a) Evaporable water and
(b) Non-evaporable water.
• Evaporable water contains capillary water
and water in gel pores (may contain some
of the bound water from calcium
sulfoaluminates)
• Non-evaporable water (Wn) is the
combined water in the hydration products.

• Porosity and strength can be related to

each other in pastes and mortars.
However, the situation in concrete is too
complex for such a prediction.
• The microcracks in ITZ between the
aggregates and the paste makes that
prediction almost impossible.
• Nevertheless, the general validity of P-
relation must be respected.

9
 Compressive Strength
• Strength is largely dependent on capillary
porosity. However, Pc cannot be
measured or predicted easily.
• Nevertheless, Pc and w/c are interrelated:
0.09 0.14 0.24
0.17 0.34 0.44
0.13 0.26 0.64
0.26 0.26 0.26
0.26
0.49 0.65 0.68 0.68 0.68 0.68 0.68

0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 1

w/c

Gel Gel pores Cap pores Uhyd C

Strength is related to w/c

Abram’s ¨Law¨, 1918.

k1
fc  w c k s are empirical constants

k2
or
A
fc  w
A=96.6 Mpa
B=4
1 .5
B c

10
 Concrete
Strength

Specimen Strength of Loading

Parameters the component Parameters
Dimensions
Stress type
Geometry phases Rate of loading
Moisture state

Matrix porosity
W/C Transition zone porosity
Mineral admixtures Bleeding characteristics
Degree of hydration Aggregate porosity Agg. Grading, Size, Geometry
Time, Temp., Humidity Degree of compaction
Air content Agg-matrix chemical interaction

Factors affecting
compressive strength
• Water-cement ratio is the most important factor
since it affects the porosity of the matrix and ITZ.
• The response of concrete to applied stress is
the result of complex interactions between
various factors which can be grouped into 3:
- characteristics and proportions of ingredient
materials,
- curing conditions,
- testing parameters.

11
Characteristics and proportions of
ingredient materials/water-cement ratio
0.09
0.13
0.17
0.14
0.26
0.24
0.26
0.34
0.26
0.44 0.64 • In high strength concrete
(w/c<0.3), high increase
0.26
0.26
0.49 0.65 0.68 0.68 0.68 0.68 0.68

0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 1

in strength can be
w/c attained by small
Gel Gel pores Cap pores Uhyd C
decrease in w/c.
The strength reducing effect of
• ITZ is improved.
increasing w/c can be explained by • Crystal sizes of hydration
the weakening of the matrix
products are reduced to
caused by inceased porosity.
result in higher specific
surface areas.

Examples on w/c effect

Strength-w/c relationship for normal Strength-w/c relationship for high

strength concrete. strength concrete.

12
 Characteristics and proportions of
ingredient materials/air entrainment

Example for the influence of air- Example for the influence of air-
entrainment on strength for different entrainment on strength for different
w/c. cement contents.

Characteristics and proportions of

ingredient materials/cement
• Chemical composition • Fineness

C3S contributes to early strength Fraction of sizes less than 3 m

contribute to 1D strength.
C2S contributes to late strength
3-30m fraction is influential on
28D strength.

13
 Characteristics and proportions of
ingredient materials/aggregate
• Generally, the strength of aggregate is not a critical
factor for the strength of normal strength concretes.
• The strength of aggregate in normal concrete is hardly
utilized (except for lightweight aggregate concrete). Its
strength is far more than those of the paste and the
interface. Therefore, failure is determined by these two
phases rather than the aggregate.
• However, there are certain aggregate characteristics
such as size, shape, surface texture, grading,
mineralogy, etc. which affect the strength of concrete in
varying degrees.

Characteristics and proportions of

ingredient materials/aggregate
• Usually, the effect of aggregate characteristics
on strength of concrete are related to the
changes they cause on water-cement ratio.
• However, it is not the only effect which results in
strength change. Independent of w/c, aggregate
characteristics would influence the
characteristics of the interfacial zone and
therefore affect concrete strength.

14
 Grading-w/c

Dmax-cement content-strength
45
40
Comp Strength (MPa)

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175
Dmax (cm)

390 kg/m3 280 kg/m3 170 kg/m3

15
• Larger aggregates require less water.
• However, they tend to form weaker ITZ,
containing microcracks.
• Increasing Dmax has a more pronounced
effect in stronger concretes because ITZ
plays a more important role in lower w/c
concretes.

Dmax-w/c-strength
60
Comp Strength (MPa)

50

40

30

20

10

0
10 100
Dmax (cm)

0,40 0,55 0,70

16
 Characteristics and proportions of
ingredient materials/aggregate
• concrete mixture containing a rough-textured or
crushed aggregate would show somewhat
higher strength (especially tensile strength) at
early ages than a corresponding concrete
containing smooth or naturally weathered
aggregate of similar mineralogy
• At later ages, when chemical interaction
between the aggregate and the cement paste
begins to take effect, the influence of the surface
texture of aggregate on strength may be
reduced.

Curing conditions/Time

Under normal temperature conditions some of the

constituent compounds of portland cement begin to
hydrate as soon as water is added, but the hydration
reactions slow down considerably when the products
of hydration coat the anhydrous cement grains. This
is because hydration can proceed satisfactorily only
under conditions of saturation; it almost stops when
the vapor pressure of water in capillaries falls below
80 percent of the saturation humidity.

17
 Curing conditions/Time
 t 
f cm (t )  f cm  
(ACI, for OPC)

 4  0.85t 
  28  
 s  1 

  t  
f cm (t )  e f cm (CEB-FIP)

fcm(t): compressive strength at t days

fcm: compressive strength at 28 days
s: 0.20 (HESC), 0.25 (OPC), 0.38 (Slow hardening cements)

Influence of moist curing

conditions on strength.

18
 Influence of curing
temperature on strength
• In the temperature range 5 to 46°C, when
concrete is cast and cured at a specific
constant temperature, it is generally
observed that up to 28 days, the higher
the temperature the more rapid the
cement hydration and the strength gain.
• At later ages, when the differences in the
degree of cement hydration disappear, so
do the differences in the concrete strength.

Behavior under
uniaxial compression

Linear upto
75% of
ultimate
stess.

19
 • Between 30 and 50% of the
ultimate strength, the microcracks
at the ITZ show some extension
due to stress concentrations at the
crack tips. However there are no
cracks in the matrix. The crack
growth is stable. They reach their
final values under a constant
stress.
• At about 75% of the ultimate
strength unstable crack growth
starts.
• Above critical stress, the behavior
is time-dependent.
• When the stress is 90% of the
ultimate fracture occured in 1h.
However, at 75% of the ultimate,
fracture occured in 30 years
[Price, 1951].

Rate of loading
• Generally agreed that as rate of loading
increases the apparent strength increases.
• 0.25 MPa/s [ASTM C469].
• However, within the ranges of customary
testing, this effect is not that significant.

20
 Impact
• Increase in apperant strength due to
impact :

f cimp
 impact stress rate
1 ( 5 0.9 fcm )
f cm
Impact strength is affected by the character of ITZ. It increases with
the angularity and the surface roughness of the aggregate and
decreases by the increasing aggregate size.

Tensile Strength – Splitting

2P
T
ld

21
 Flexural Strength

d
bd3
I=
c 12
b
M=Pl/4

Mc (Pl/4) (d/2) 3 Pl
σ= = =
I bd3/12 2 bd2

P/2 P/2

(Pl/6) (d/2) Pl
σ= =
bd3/12 bd2
M=Pl/6

22
 d

Pl The formula is valid if fracture occurs at the middle 1/3 of the

σ= span. If the fracture is outside by not more than 5% of the
bd2 total span length,

3Pa Where a: distance between the line of fracture and the

σ= nearest support.
bd2
WHEN FRACTURE IS OUTSIDE THE MIDDLE 1/3
SPAN BY MORE THAN 5%, THE TEST RESULT IS
REJECTED.

CEB-FIP
2
f  3
f ctk min  0.95 ck 
 10 
2
f  3
f ctk max  1.85 ck 
 10 
2
f  3
f ctm  1.40 ck 
 10 
MPa 

23
 Tensile-Compressive Ratio
• Decreases with increasing age
• Decreases with decreasing w/c
• Increases with improved ITZ
characteristics.
• Increases with reduced aggregate size

24