Materials and Structures/Mat&iaux et Construction, 1987, 20, 103-110

Influence of age of loading, water-cement ratio

and rate of loading on fracture energy of concrete
F. H. WITTMANN, P. E . R O E L F S T R A , H. MIHASHI
Laboratory for Building Materials, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland

YIUN-YUANG HUANG, XIN-HUA ZHANG

Materials Department, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

N. NOMURA
Department of Architecture, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

The applicability of linear elastic fracture mechanics to a composite material such as

concrete has always been questioned. Recently, a new approach to describe failure of
concrete has been developed. In this context a material is characterized by its fracture
energy and the shape of the descending branch of the strain softening diagram. So far little
work has been done to determine experimentally major influences on these material
parameters. In this contribution results of test series to study the influence of age of loading,
water-cement ratio, and rate of loading are presented. It is shown that a detailed evaluation
of the test data necessitates appropriate computer programs. Essentials of these modules are
briefly described. It is shown that failure of a beam under three-point bending mode can be
predicted in a realistic way if valid material parameters are incorporated in a numerical
analysis. Finally, it is pointed out that further studies are needed before a general
application of the new approach can be recommended.

1. I N T R O D U C T I O N shape of the descending branch, the descending branch

A large number of papers on experimental studies to
determine fracture toughness of concrete has been pub-
lished [1]. Recently, Hillerborg has shown that linear
elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) are not applicable to
describe crack formation and/or crack growth in con-
crete elements of usual dimensions [2]. To overcome this
difficulty Hillerborg and his coworkers introduced the
"fictitious crack model". In this model all energy is
assumed to be consumed in a small zone where the
macroscopic crack is being created. Several processes
such as microcrack formation, tensile creep, friction and
pull-out contribute to the total fracture energy.
A RILEM technical committee has prepared a
recommendation on the experimental procedure to
determine fracture energy Gv [3]. Following these
guidelines only one parameter, i.e. GF, is obtained.
The shape of the total stress-strain diagram, and in
particular the descending branch (strain softening), is
not determined but has to be assumed.
Fracture energy Gv is essentially meant to be used in
finite-element analysis. It has been shown, however,
that a given value of GF is not sufficient for a realistic
prediction of the failure process [4, 5]. The maximum
load-bearing capacity of a notched beam can vary from
one to almost two when the analysis is done with con-
stant GF and constant tensile strength but with variable
being assumed to be bilinear.
The aim of this contribution is to study the influence
of age of loading, of W/C-ratio, and of rate of loading
on the shape of the tensile strain softening diagram.
The shape of a bi-linear strain softening diagram is
characterized by four parameters: tensile strength, the
two coordinates of the break point and the ultimate
width of the fictitious crack.
2. SAMPLE PREPARATION AND TESTING
PROCEDURE
Following the RILEM recommendation [3], concrete
beams with two different geometries have been cast.
The smaller beams have the following dimensions:
length = 840 ram, width = 100 mm, and height =
100 mm and the larger beams have a length of
1190 ram, a width of 100 ram, and a height of 200 ram.
The span is 800 mm and 1150 ram, respectively. After
demoulding all specimens were water cured. A notch
with a length of half the height was sawn at midspan.
During the test the surface around the notch was
covered with a wet cloth and the beams were wrapped
in plastic foil to avoid drying induced stresses and crack
formation.
The mix proportions of the different types of con-
crete used in these test series are given in Table 1.
 104 Wittmann, Roelstra, Mihashi, Huang, Zhang and N o m u r a

Table 1 Concrete composition

w/c --- 0.40 w/c = 0.50 w/c = 0.60 w/c = 0.65

Cement 350 kg m-3 340 kg m-3 300 kg m-3
Aggregate
0/3 610 595 585 623
3/8 640 630 615 623
8/16 675 665 645 623
Water 140 170 198 195
Super
plasticizer 1.3% w.c. 0.65% w.c. -- --
(Rh6obuild 561)

Normal Portland cement, CPN according to Swiss stan-
dards (corresponds approximately to type I, A S T M )
has been used. Aggregates consisted of rounded river
gravel from the R h o n e valley.
All beams were tested in three-point bending mode
according to the R I L E M - r e c o m m e n d a t i o n [3] with a
rate of deflexion ~ = 0.1 m m min -1, with the exception
of those beams which were tested at different rates of
deflexion. All tests were run in a deflexion controlled
way.
The load was measured by a load cell and the deflex-
ion with an inductive transducer. Both values were
simultaneously recorded together with the crack mouth
opening displacement.
3. T E S T R E S U L T S
A typical result for the m e a s u r e d force-deflexion dia-
gram is shown in Fig. 1. These experimentally deter-
1.2
1,1
1.0
mined relations will be further evaluated in the
following section.
GI: can be determined from relations such as the one
shown in Fig. 1 following indications given in the
R I L E M r e c o m m e n d a t i o n [3]
GF = (wo + m g ~)o)/Alig (1)
In this equation Wo represents the area under the curve
and mg the weight of the b e a m between the supports
plus the weight of those parts of the loading arrange-
ment which are not attached to the test machine. 60
stands for the final deformation at failure of the b e a m
and Alig for the ligament defined as the projection of
the fracture zone on a plane perpendicular to the b e a m
axis. The influence of age of loading on GF determined
in this way is shown in column 2 of Table 2. As can be
seen from Equation 1 the deflexion 60 at which the
force drops to zero is needed. Experimentally, this
value is not easy to determine accurately. In addition it
should be mentioned that Equation 1 is based on sim-
plifying assumptions. P a r a m e t e r s obtained in this way
must be considered to be a p p r o x i m a t e values. There-
fore in the next section a m o r e accurate analysis is
described.

0.9
Table 2 Experimentally determined values of fracture energy
according to the RILEM recommendation and a numerical
0.8 module "Fracture I" [6] for concrete at different ages
0.7
Age RILEM Recomm. Fracture I
0.6 (days) (Equation 1) (N m -1) (N m -1)

0.5 28 112.5 86.5

21 96.4 77.3
14 110.5 82.2
0.3
10 107.2 80.8
7 89.8 68.4
0.2 5 101.3 72.3
Q.!
2 80.6 60.1

o,J o.2 o,a o,q o,s o.s o.7 0.8 o.a l.o 1.1 1.a
Displacement (mm)
4. D A T A E V A L U A T I O N

Fig. 1 Characteristic force-deflexion diagram of concrete.
Fracture energy GF can be obtained from the area under the
curve after correction for the contribution of the weight of the
beam. Gv = 112.532 N m -l has been obtained by means of
Equation 1.
With the help of a finite-element p r o g r a m the failure of
a notched concrete b e a m under three-point bending
can be predicted. For this analysis the g e o m e t r y of the
b e a m , the Young's modulus, the Poisson ratio, and the
tensile strain softening diagram are needed. In order to
 Materials and Structures
take the work done by the weight accurately into
account the density of the material is also needed. A
special program called " F R A C T U R E I" has been
developed for this purpose [6].
In Fig. 2 the basic ideas of this analysis are shown
schematically. The validity of the results of this finite-
element analysis depends strongly on the constitutive
laws which are introduced. So far, however, we have
little information on the exact shape of the strain
softening diagram.
s
INPUT
t strength, FT, the coordinates of the break point in the
finite element analysis
6o
OUTPUT
Fig. 2 Flow-chart of a fracture mechanics analysis with pro-
gram FRACTURE I.
As shown in Section 3 the immediate experimental
result of the three-point bending test according to the
R I L E M recommendation is a load-deflexion diagram.
By means of a special finite-element code called
" S O F T F I T " [7] it is possible to evaluate an elastic
modulus and a bilinear (or multilinear) softening dia-
gram which leads to good agreement between
measured data and numerical analysis. This concept is
schematically shown in Fig. 3.
As an example a measured load deflexion curve is
shown in Fig. 4. For comparison the optimum relation
obtained with " S O F T F I T " is also plotted. In taking
into account the fact that non-linear elastic behaviour
105
and time dependent deformations are neglected, the
agreement obtained is satisfactory.
As a result of this analysis we obtain the constitutive
laws shown in Fig. 5.
5. F R A C T U R E M E C H A N I C S P A R A M E T E R S
5.1 Age of loading
A test series has been carried out with identical speci-
mens where the age of loading was varied between 2
and 28 days. The water-cement ratio was kept constant
at 0.5. All test data obtained were evaluated in the way
described in Section 4. Results are compiled in Fig. 6.
The directly evaluated value of GF is first given in Fig.
6a. Individual values are marked with small circles and
average values with big circles. The standard deviation
of the results obtained is indicated by the length of the
solid lines. Empirical formulae have been used to
represent the influence of age of loading on each indi-
vidual parameter. The modulus of elasticity, E0, tensile
descending branch of the strain softening diagrams, St
and W1, and the ultimate width of the fracture process
zone, W2, are shown in Fig. 6b to f. A least-squares fit
leads to the expressions given in Fig. 6 for each para-
meter. With these relations GF can be calculated as a
function of age of loading with the relation given in Fig.
6g. Finally, GF obtained in this way is shown in Fig. 6g.
5.2 W/C-ratio
In order to study the influence of water/cement ratio on
GF and on strain softening another test series has been
carried out. Results are presented in Fig. 7 in the same
manner as in Fig. 6.
5.3 Rate of loading
In Fig. 8 results of a test series run with different rates
of loading are shown. Hollow circles indicate values
obtained on small beams and full circles those obtained
on large beams. The water-cement ratio in this case
was 0.4.
Another identical test series has been carried out
using a lower quality type of concrete. Results observed
on specimens with a water-cement ratio of 0.65 are
compiled in Fig. 9.
6. D I S C U S S I O N A N D C O N C L U S I O N S
A detailed analysis of results of experiments to deter-
mine fracture energy and strain softening necessitates a
rigorous numerical analysis. This fact underlines once
more the importance of numerical methods in materials
science.
Material parameters determined in this way are in
reasonable agreement with results of conventional
tests. Tensile strength of concrete has also been deter-
mined in a centrifuge. For water-cement ratios of 0.40
106 Wittmann, Roelstra, Mihashi, Huang, Zhang and Nomura

|,2 I I l I I I [ I I

1.1

1.0

0.9

O,B

0.7

0.6

g 0.5

0,3

0,2
Fig. 3 Concept of program SOFTFIT.
0~

0.1 0.2 o.s o.~ 0.5 o.s i~.~ o.e o.9 1.o
Displacement (mm)
g diagram
Fig. 4 Measured force-deflexion diagram (curve with circles)
SlI and calculated relation after optimization of material para-
~ wl w2 meters (solid line). The parameters obtained are: FT = 4.755
Nmm-2; S1 = 0.715 Nmm-2; W l = 0.01814 mm; W2 =
Initialvalues 0.13241 mm; GF = 90.48 N m-t; E m = 27091 N mm -?.

+
P ~ 6 Pm(measured) w; w~v
C o r r e c t e d values
Pc(calculated)

o ~.5
loaddisplacementdiagrams

no

stress stress
o
,es

LV
Wl W2
W2
strain width of the fictitious crack

Final values
Fig. 5 Constitutive laws obtained by program SOFTFIT.
Materials and Structures 107

- x

II

rt

?
.... 9 9 . 9 , . . . . 9
, ~ & , , . I o
o o o
e,i
(L-w N) ~D (~_WLUN) ~,01, x 0g (~_ww N) • (~u~w N) ~S"

o
c~
+

II fl
u~ II
t~
9 c~

7,L- ,,.z
o

m.
"'c~ .... o'''' o "~ " ~ " :4. ' '&' ' ~ 6 .... o " :6 ~
e,i e,i ~i ,-: N ,= c~
(~_w N) ~,9 (~:_'"w N) ~,0L X ~ ( ~ _ w w N) ( ~ _ w ~ N) LS

+
+
co
d
+
qB,

II II I
II
II

o--e

i
C)-

' ~ ' 'o o 6 6 '

(~_w N) ~9 (~_LUW N) ~ (z- w w N) • (~_WUJ N) ~S

 108 Wittmann, Roelstra, Mihashi, Huang, Zhang and Nomura

._~ ~ =-~-~ ='~

- - ~ o 0
"u 0 ~ i=~ ~ > ~=
~ ~ " "~, ~ 2 - ~~ ~ ~" 0
0 .~ -- ~" "~' 0 -"

... ~.
,
i o .
~ ~
~ ~,,.
~}-'" u---
~ o~'~ o =
0
,.,.
o
.~'~
~ . - :

~
o
~
.
~
= ~
II
,.-

0 OB'~ 9 ~

._ 0a o ;, ,.. ,.~ ~ ~.. =

r~ s ~"u =,.- >

;-F. ~ , - o
+ +
+
~. ~ _o

o o

II II II
r" r., t"~ ~ ~_..

i.~ c,i
"~ E . 2 o

.--/-. 1
,=;
~ ~-~

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g ,g : ~ : s ~
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,'-- ~' "=
( w ~ ) ~A4 (w~u) ~A4 (~_LU N ) ~ D
=_oa_~r

r~ bid
,,-. ,--.

+ + +
.~.~
II
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II .~.~
e" ~

-& ~2
~ o~

...~ .=_

~2
9, 0

A
~o E
~.__..~
8 ~ 0

d
Materials and Structures 109

Fig. 9 (a) Fracture energy as determined directly from load-

(a) GF= 0.670(1/6) ~176 + 80.66oo+9 deflexion diagrams by means of "SOFTFIT" as a function of
140 rate of loading for specimens with a water-cement ratio of
0.65; (b) and (c) elastic modulus and tensile strength; (d) to
'E
Z (f) parameters St, Wt, and W2 of strain softening; (g) fracture
L~ 90 energy as determined using the parameters shown in (c) to (f)
in the given equation. Full circles ( e ) represent data of large
specimens (span=1150 ram) and hollow circles (o) those of
40 small specimens (span=800 mm).

3.2. (b)
?
E 2.8~ and 0.65 values of 5.0 N m m -2 and 3.8 N mm -2 have
E been found, respectively. These values compare well
z 2.4:
with results shown in Fig. 7c.
• The influence of rate of loading on tensile strength as
u~ 2.o2
Eo = 2.666 ~ x 104 documented in Fig. 8 corresponds well with theoretical
1.6 predictions and results of conventional tests [8]. It is
worth mentioning that fracture energy as a function of
8.0
rate of loading passes through a minimum at interme-
diate rates. The increase toward higher rates can b e
~E 6"0 explained essentially by an increase of tensile strength
E
and of the deformations W1 and W2 (see Figs 8 and 9),
z At very low rates of loading the deformations Wt and
LC 4.0
W2, i.e. the widening of the fracture process zone,
become more important and thus lead to an increased
2.0. : :::::::: i :::::::: : ::::::~ ~ :::~:::,. - :~:--.,. 9 ,,,,,,,~ : , : ..... fracture energy.
2.0 In many cases fracture energy GF will not be avail-
(d) = 0.7426 ~176176 able for a given type of concrete. In such cases it is

+i
S;

E 1.0 necessary to introduce estimated values in a numerical

z , .8 + -++,
analysis. In Fig. 10 GF is plotted as a function of the
c5
0.0, compressive strength. A least-squares fit leads to the
following linear relation
0.04-
(e) w, = 0.002(1/6)~176+ 0.01660.099 GF = 0.97 Fc + 41.8 (2)
0.03
if compressive strength is given in N mm -2 and fracture
energy as N m -1.
E 002
The estimated value of GF can be used only if we
0.01
have a realistic assumption on the stress-process zone
widening diagram. From results presented in this paper
o.oe it can be seen that parameters $1, W1 and W2 do not
0.25
(f) w2 = 0.006(1/6) 0.330 + 0.1246 ~176
LGO.
0.20

s
0.15

0.10
120. I
I lOG.
0.05 E
Z
O0.

(g) GF = O.5(FTVV; + S; W2)

140 60."

i
E L0."
Z
,3 90.
lg. 2Q. 30. ~0. .50. riO.

4o6 = Compressive strength (N mm-2l

1~-''1o ~-3 lO:~ io:~ lO 0 lo +
Fig. 10 Measured values of fracture energy as a function of
Rate o f Deflection (turn rain-') corresponding compressive strength.
 110 Wittmann, Roelstra, Mihashi, Huang, Zhang and Nomura

Table 3 Estimated values for fracture energy and tensile can be significantly higher than predicted by this
strength for concretes having different compressive strength method. It has been shown elsewhere that the diameter
of the maximum aggregate has a strong influence
Compressive Fracture Tensile on W2 [7].
strength, energy, strength, The relation shown in Fig. 11 indicates that the fail-
Fc (N mm-2) GF (N m -1) Ft (N mm-2)
ure process of concrete can be tentatively subdivided
30 71 2.2 into two stages. The first steep descending branch until
50 90 4.5 the break point characterizes the failure of the inter-
faces and the mortar matrix, whereas the subsequent
flat part of the relation can be attributed to the pull-out
vary much with concrete quality. Therefore, for a behaviour of large aggregates.
rough estimation, the following values can be used Further research is needed to understand fully the
different mechanisms involved in the failure process.
St = 0.80 N mm -2
WI = 0.017 mm
W2 = 0.13 mm (3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
If GF is estimated from the compressive strength and The authors thank Mr Ph. Simonin for his substantial
St, W1 and W2 are known, the total stress-widening of help and his steady interest in this project.
the process zone relation is known. In this case the
tensile strength is obtained by the following formula
REFERENCES
Ft - GF - 52 1. Mindess, S., The Cracking and Fracture of Concrete: An
8.5 (4) annotated Bibliography 1928-1981, in Fracture Mecha-
In Table 3 values for fracture energy and tensile nics of Concrete, edited by F.H. Wittmann (Elsevier
strength are given for two concrete qualities, i.e. con- Science Publishers, Amsterdam, 1983).
crete with compressive strengths of 30 and 50 N mm -2. 2. Hillerborg, A., Analysis of one Single Crack, ibid. (Else-
vier, 1983) pp. 223-249.
Then the approximate stress-widening of the process
3. RILEM-Draft-Recommendation (50-FMC), Deter-
zone relation can be plotted. Relations obtained with mination of the Fracture Energy of Mortar and Con-
the example given in Table 3 are shown in Fig. 11. crete by means of Three-Point Bend Test on notched
This simple procedure for obtaining estimated values Beams, Mat&. Construct. 18 (1985) 285-290.
for a numerical analysis cannot be valid generally. It 4. Roelfstra, P.E., and Wittmann, F.H., Some Aspects of
may be justified, however, for an estimation of material the Concept of Total Fracture Energy, in Vortriige der
parameters of concretes similar to those which have 17. Sitzung des Arbeitskreises Bruchvorgiinge, Ed.
already been studied in detail. It has been shown that Deutscher Verband ftir Materialpr0fung, Berlin
for a concrete used for construction of a large dam, GF (1985).
5. Rots, J.G., Strain-Softening Analysis of Concrete Fracture
Specimens, to be published in Fracture Toughness and
Fracture Energy (Elsevier Science Publishers, Amster-
dam, 1986). [See also preprints of an International
Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete, Lau-
sanne Oct. 1-3, 1985, Vol. I, pp. 115-126.]
I 4
E 6. Roelfstra, P.E., and Sadouki, H., Fracture I, Theory ana
E Applications, (Laboratory of Building Materials, Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, 1986).
~.1 FT 1301 7. Roelfstra, P.E., and Wittmann, F.H., Numerical Method
g, , to Link Strain Softening with Failure of Concrete, to be
published in Fracture Toughness and Fracture Energy
(Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, 1986). [See
also preprints of an International Conference on Frac-
ture Mechanics of Concrete, Lausanne Oct. 1-3, 1985,
0.0 W1 0.05 0.10 W2 0.15
Vol. I, pp. 127-i37.]
Deformation (mm)
8. Mihashi, H., and Wittmann, F.H., Stochastic Approach to
Fig. 11 Average stress-widening of the process zone relation Study the Influence of Rate of Loading on Strength of
for two types of concrete. B50 and B30 represent concretes Concrete, Heron (The Netherlands) 25 (3) (1980).
with compressive strengths of 50 and 30 N mm-2 respectively. 9. Wittmann, F.H., Neue Wege zur Beschreibung des Versa-
FT = (GF - 52)/8.5. gens yon Beton (to be published).