Grade of Concrete

• Properties of Concrete
• Compressive Strength
• Tensile Strength
• Shear Strength
• Bond Strength
• Density
• Impermeability
• Durability
 Grade of Concrete is expressed in terms of Characteristic Compressive Strength.
It is measured using a Standard Size of Cube Specimen 150mm x 150mm
x150mm Cured for 28 days.
 Many other properties of concrete are inferred from the compressive strength.
Characteristic Strength
• The nonhomogeneous nature of concrete, makes
variability in the compressive strength, which
depends largely on the degree of quality control.
• The large variability is measured using statistical
parameters of Standard Deviation (σ) or
Coefficient of Variation (cov- ratio of standard
deviation and mean strength).
• Due to variability in strength of concrete the
design engineer needs assurance of minimum
Strength called characteristic Compressive
Strength

Characteristic Strength is defined as the strength

of material below which not more than 5 percent
of the test results are expected to fall.
Behaviour of Concrete Under
Uniaxial Compression
• The Uniaxial Compressive Strength of Concrete is
determined by loading under strain controlled i.e.
0.001mm/mm per minute on Standard Test cube to
failure in compression testing machine as per IS:516.
• In some countries Cylinder Compressive strength is used.
The Cylinder Compressive Strength is less than the cube
strength. But the cylinder Compressive strength is closer
to the True Uniaxial compressive strength of concrete.
• From the experimental the cross sectional dimensions
has pronounced effect on the compressive strength.
Size Effect (Explained
with Cylinder Specimen)
• Maintaining the 150mm diameter
specimen the strength increases by about
80% as the height/diameter ratio reduced
from 2 to 0.5
• Maintaining the height/diameter ratio of
2.0 the strength drops by about 17% as the
diameter is increased from 150mm to
900mm
• The reduction in compressive strength
while maintain the ration to 2.0 but
increase in size is due to size effect
Reasons for the Standard Specimen
(Cylinder Specimen)
• As per the St.Venant’s Principle, uniform distribution of compressive loading
is possible only if the height/width ratio of the specimen is sufficiently large.
• Uniaxial Compressive strength means the specimen should not have any
lateral restraint, i.e. due to the friction between the end surfaces. This is
called platen restraint. This effect is minimized only when the height to
width ratio greater.
• In the case of standard cube specimen where the height to width ratio is 1
will register higher compressive strength than the Cylinder specimen where
the height to width ratio equal to 2.0
• The Cube strength is found to be approximately 1.25 times the cylinder
strength
Stress Strain Curve of Normal
Concrete
• The curve is linear for the less than
0.001 strain value and become
nonlinear beyond 40% stress value.
• The maximum stress value is reached
when the strain approximately 0.002.
Beyond that stress decends.
• IS 456 limits the maximum
compressive strength equal to 0.67fck,
maximum failure strain in concrete
under direct compression equal to
0.002 and flexure is equal to 0.0035.
Stress Strain Curve of Lightweight
Concrete
Modulus of Elasticity and Poisson’s
Ratio
• Modulus of Elasticity is defined by
initial tangent modulus, tangent
modulus (at specified stress level) and
secant modulus (at specified stress
level).
• Secant modulus- It is the slop of a line
drawn from the origin to the point on
the stress-strain curve corresponding
to 40% of the failure stress. This is the
average value of Ec under service load
conditions.
• As per IS:456 takes the short term
static modulus of elasticity of concrete
Dynamic Modulus of Elasticity
• It corresponds to a small instantaneous strain.
• This can be determined by the non-destructive, electro-dynamic
method by measuring the natural frequency of the fundamental
mode of longitudinal vibration of concrete prisms as given in IS:516.
• The value of dynamic modulus of elasticity is generally 20%, 30%, and
40% higher than the secant modulus for high-medium and low
strength concrete.
• Dynamic modulus of elasticity has to be used when concrete is
subjected to dynamic loading (i.e impact and earthquake)
Poissons Ratio
• It is ratio of lateral strain to the longitudinal strain under uniaxial
stress.
• Poissons ratio widely varies from 0.15 to 0.25. A value of 0.2 is
suggested for design for conventional and High strength concrete
Behaviour Of Concrete Under
Tension
• Concrete is weak in tension and direct tensile strength, and its value is
between 8-11% of compressive strength of concrete of grade M25 and
above.
• Knowledge of tensile strength is required for the design of concrete
structural elements subjected to transverse shear, torsion and shrinkage and
temperature effects.
• Splitting tensile test as per IS5816 or third point flexural loading test i.e 150 x
150 x 700mm as per IS:516 is used to find the tensile strength.
• The theoretical maximum flexural tensile stress occurring in the extreme
fibres of RC beams , which cause cracking is referred to as the modulus of
rupture fcr clause 6.2.2 of IS:456
Behaviour of Concrete Under
Combined Stresses
• Biaxial
• Triaxial stresses influence on concrete