UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM

DEPARTMENT OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

SD211: CIVIL ENGINEERING MATERIALS I

INTRODUCTION TO
THE STRUCTURE
AND BEHAVIOUR
OF BUILDING MATERIALS
LECTURE No. 4

1
1.6 STRENGTH
 1.6.1 General

 Strength is a mechanical property;

values of strength are influenced by
external/testing conditions, e.g.:
 Size of specimen
 Shape of specimen
 Method of loading
 Speed of loading
 Etc.
2
 Stress, σ, is defined as the load
per unit area:
 σ = F/A [N/mm2]
 Where: F is load, A is initial area of
cross-section

 Strength, f, is defined as
ultimate stress, or stress at
ultimate load:
 f = σult = Fult/A [N/mm2]
3
Ductility
 Ductile materials exhibit flow
deformations at the yield stress
(σy) before fracture occurs.
 Brittle materials fail without
yielding.

4
Fracture
 Type of fracture, whether brittle
fracture or ductile fracture, is
largely due to type of bonding
(inter-atomic: ionic, covalent,
metallic or inter-molecular: van-
der-Vaals)
 However temperature and rate of
load application also influence the
type of fracture
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 Influence of temperature on type
of fracture

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 Rise in temperature affects the
following:

 Thermal agitation of molecules increases.

 Bonding energy decreases due to
increased distance between
atoms/molecules.
 Material becomes more deformable, i.e.
becomes more ductile.
 Ultimate strength decreases less than the
yield strength.
 If the transition temperature is exceeded,
then the fracture will be ductile rather
than brittle.
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 Influence of rate of load
application on type of fracture

8
 Increasing the rate of load
application affects the following:
 The velocity of deformation increases.
 Resistance to yielding increases more than
the resistance to failure.
 If a critical loading velocity is exceeded
then the fracture becomes brittle rather
than ductile.
 A higher rate of load application hinders
elastic/plastic deformations, while at low
rates enough time allows some
elastic/plastic deformations to take place.
 Strength of a material is higher at higher
rates of load application; the fracture is
brittle 9
 1.6.2 Strength under short
term loading conditions
 Statical strength of material
specimens and structural elements
are generally given for short-term
loading conditions. Failure of a
specimen takes place within 1
minute of load application.

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 Strength is dependent on:
 Temperature
 Loading speed
 Size of specimen
 Shape of specimen
 Type of load

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Types of Load
 Direct tension
 Indirect tension
 Bending
 Splitting
 Compression
 Shear
 Torsion
 Bond
 impact
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 Compressive and tensile strengths
of some common materials

Material Strength [N/mm2]

compression tension
Cast iron 200 – 1500 100 – 500
Structural steel 300 – 900 300 – 900
Reinforcement steel 300 – 700 300 – 700
Aluminium 50 – 200 50 – 150
Normal concrete 5 – 80 0.5 – 5
Burnt bricks 10 – 100 1 – 10
Timber 4 - 70 2 - 140

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 The ratio of compressive strength
to tensile strength (fc/ft ratio) is
used to characterize certain
groups of materials:
 For non-metallic inorganic materials
such as concrete: fc/ft > 1
 For steel: fc/ft = 1
 For Timber: fc/ft < 1

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Compressive Strength Test
 Compression causes tensile
deformations in a direction
perpendicular to the compressive
force.

 Compressive strength test is

typical for determination of the
strength of concrete and many
other brittle materials.

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 Results of a compression test depend
on shape and size of a test specimen.
 Lateral strain development (tensile
deformation) is resisted by friction
between the load-bearing platens of
the testing machine and the surfaces of
the specimen.
 The result is a tri-axial (3-D) state of
stress with shear stresses super-
imposed with normal compressive
stress.

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Influence of specimen shape

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 If the specimen height-to-base ratio
exceeds 3, there is a midrange
(zone) with uni-axial state of stress,
which does not resist lateral
deformation. This leads to failure at
lower stress.

 With regard to size, results indicate

that the measured strength of
concrete cubes under compression
increases with decreasing specimen
size.
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Tensile strength, direct test
 In direct tensile test the specimen
is clamped/gripped at the ends,
which causes a 3-D state of stress
at those gripped ends.
 Stress is uniaxial at mid-range
 Therefore most specimens for
direct tensile tests are shaped such
that the area of cross-section at
mid-span is reduced, thus
increasing stress and facilitating
failure at the mid-range.
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 Direct tensile test specimens
for various materials

ft = Fult/A 20
 Tensile splitting test
(indirect tension),

 splitting action is due to

transformation of a compressive
load into tensile deformation in a
direction perpendicular to the
applied compressive load.
 The tensile deformation disrupts
the material.
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 Tensile splitting test on a
cylindrical concrete specimen.

The tensile stress is nearly constant

over a range, from 0.5d to 0.7d. 22
 Tensile splitting strength, ft,sp, is
given by:

ft,sp = (2 x Fult)/(∏ x L x
d)

 Since stress distribution is not

uniform over the whole fracture
area,
ft,sp > ft
(tensile splitting strength is grater than
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direct tensile strength)
 Tensile bending test
(indirect tension)

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 Stress distribution in a
bending test

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 Bending of a beam results in
compressive stresses at the top,
and tensile stresses at the bottom.
 Assuming linear stress distribution:
 σt = M/Z (Z is the section modulus;
it represents the
resistance of the
sample to bending)

 ft,b = Mult/Zt
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For concrete and similar brittle materials
(e.g. cast iron) stress distribution is not
linear; the tensile strength is much less
compared to compressive strength.
Hence the neutral axis is shifted
towards the compression zone.

For such materials,

ft,b > ft
For timber, compressive strength is less
than its tensile strength;
ft,b < ft
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Shear strength test

 Shearing tests are frequently performed on

bolted, riveted or glued structural members.
fsh = τult = Fult/A
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 Impact strength test

 Duration of loading is short

 Involves high-energy loading due to motion
fimp = W/A
= (Energy required to cause fracture)/
(Area of fracture) 29