Concrete as a Material

• Concrete is a QUASI-BRITTLE material. Ideally brittle

materials have no reserve strength after cracking.
However, concrete has a very small amount of reserve
strength – hence the name QUASI-BRITTLE.
• In the design of RC structures, concrete is mostly
considered as a BRITTLE material.

(a) 15 cm diameter (b) 1×1 cm trabecular bone

CENG 6504 concrete specimenConcrete Structures
specimen 2
Brittle Ductile Quasibrittle

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 3

Failure in Unreinforced SS Concrete Beam
When a beam bends, there are
tensile stresses on one side and
compressive stresses on the
other. Because concrete is
“tension weak”, it fails in
tension. Note the brittle failure
of the beam. When the
concrete’s tensile limit strength
is reached on the bottom of the
beam, a crack propagates
through the entire cross-section.
Only one crack forms and that
crack causes failure.
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 4
 Mechanism of Cracking and Failure in
Concrete Loaded in Compression
Although concrete is made up of essentially elastic, brittle
materials, its stress-strain curve is nonlinear. This can be
explained by the gradual development of microcracking.
There are two types of microcracks:
• Bond cracks – occurs along the interface between

aggregate and paste

• Mortar cracks – those that cross the mortar b/n
pieces of aggregate

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 5

Mechanism of Cracking and Failure in Concrete
Loaded in Uniaxial Compression
There are four stages in the development of microcracking
and failure of concrete under uniaxial compressive loading.
 Shrinkage of the cement paste – has little effect on the
integrity of the concrete at low loads and stress-strain curve
remain linear up to 30% of the compressive strength.
 When concrete is subjected short-term stresses greater than
30-40% of its short-term compressive strength, bond cracks
will develop. These cracks are stable and propagate only if
the load is increased. Any additional load will be
redistributed to the remaining unbroken interfaces. The
redistribution causes the gradual increase in the compressive
stress-strain curve.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 6

 Mechanism of Cracking and Failure in
Concrete Loaded in Uniaxial Compression
 As the load is increased beyond 50 or 60% of the
ultimate, localized mortar cracks develop between
bond cracks. During this stage, there is stable crack
propagation. The onset of this stage of loading is
called discontinuity limit.
 At 75 to 80% of the ultimate load, the number of
mortar cracks begins to increase and a continuous
pattern of microcracks begins to form. The onset of
this stage is called the critical stress.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 7

Mechanism of Cracking and Failure in Concrete
Loaded in Uniaxial Compression

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 8

 Uniaxial Strength of Concrete
Generally, concrete strength
refers to the uniaxial
compressive strength as
measured by the compression
test of a standard test cylinder.
The standard acceptance test for
measuring the strength of
concrete involves short time
compression tests on 6 in. dia.
by 12 in. high cylinders made,
cured and tested per ASTM
Standards C31 and C39.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 9

 Uniaxial Strength of Concrete
Strength of concrete in a structure tends to be
somewhat lower than the strength of control cylinders
made from the same concrete. It is measured by cores
drilled from the structure. Corrections have to be made
to convert the core strengths to equivalent in-situ
strength by the following procedure.

f cis  f core  Fl / d  Fr  Fdia  Fmc  Fd 

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 10

 Uniaxial Strength of Concrete

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 11

 Uniaxial Strength of Concrete
Using the equivalent in-situ strength (fcis), compute the
equivalent specified strength (f’ceq), which is used in
design equations, from the following equation:

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 12

 Uniaxial Strength of Concrete

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 13

 Stress-Strain Curves for Concrete
Tangent and Secant Moduli of Elasticity
Frequently, the secant modulus is
defined by using the point
corresponding to representing service-
load stresses. ACI defines the modulus
of elasticity of concrete as follows:
NWC : Ec  57000 f c' psi
HSC : Ec  40000 f c'  106 psi
EBCS2 - 1995

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 14

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 15
 Stress-Strain Curves for Concrete
Stress-strain curves for normal weight concrete in compression

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 16

 Stress-Strain Curves for Concrete
Equations for Compressive Stress–Strain
Diagrams

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 17

 Stress-Strain Curves for Concrete
Equations for Compressive Stress–Strain
Diagrams

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 18

 Stress-Strain Curves for Concrete
Equations for Compressive Stress–Strain
Diagrams

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 19

 Stress-Strain Curves for Concrete

EBCS 2 - 1995

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 20

 Stress-Strain Curves for Concrete
The EC & new ES-EN uses the
Saenz formula:

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 21

 Analytical relation
Strength classes for concrete
/ Explanation

fck (MPa) 12 16 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 70 80 90

fck,cube (MPa) 15 20 25 30 37 45 50 55 60 67 75 85 95 105

fcm (MPa) 20 24 28 33 38 43 48 53 58 63 68 78 88 98 fcm = fck + 8 (MPa)

.
fctm = 2.12 ln(1+(fcm/10)) ≥ C50/60
fctm (MPa) 1.6 1.9 2.2 2.6 2.9 3.2 3.5 3.8 4.1 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5.0
fctk,0.05 = 0.7x fctm
fctk, 0.05 (MPa) 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.5 2.7 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.4 3.5 5 % fractile

fctk, 0.95 = 1.3 x fctm

fctk, 0.95 (MPa) 2.0 2.5 2.9 3.3 3.8 4.2 4.6 4.9 5.3 5.5 5.7 6.0 6.3 6.6 95 % fractile

0.3
Ecm = 22[(fcm)/10]
Ecm (GPa) 27 29 30 31 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 41 42 44 (fcmin MPa)

See Figure 3.2

εc1 (‰) 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.25 2.3 2.4 2.45 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.8 εc1 (‰) = 0.7fcm
0.31
≤ 2.8
See Figure 3.2
for fck ≥ 50 MPa
εcu1 (‰) 3.5 3.2 3.0 2.8 2.8 2.8 εcu1 (‰) = 2.8 + 27[(98 - fcm)/100]
4

See Figure 3.3

for fck ≥ 50 MPa
εc2 (‰) 2.0 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 εc2 (‰) = 2.0 + 0.085[(fck-50)
0.53

See Figure 3.3

εcu2 (‰) 3.5 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.6 2.6 for fck ≥ 50 MPa
4
εcu2 (‰) = 2.6 + 35[(90 - fck)/100]

for fck ≥ 50 MPa

n 2.0 1.75 1.6 1.45 1.4 1.4 n = 1.4 + 23.4 [(90 - fck)/100]
4

See Figure 3.4

εc3 (‰) 1.75 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.2 2.3 for fck ≥ 50 MPa
εc3 (‰) = 1.75 + 0.55[(fck - 50)/40]

See Figure 3.4

εcu3 (‰) 3.5 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.6 2.6 for fck ≥ 50 MPa
4
εcu3 (‰) = 2.6 + 35[(90 - fck)/100]
22
 Stress-Strain Curves for Concrete
Normal-Weight Concrete in Tension
The stress–strain response of concrete loaded in axial
tension can be divided into two phases. Prior to the
maximum stress, the stress–strain relationship is slightly
curved. The diagram is linear to roughly 50 percent of the
tensile strength. The strain at peak stress is about 0.0001 in
pure tension and 0.00014 to 0.0002 in flexure. The rising
part of the stress–strain curve may be approximated either
as a straight line with slope Ec and a maximum stress equal
to the tensile strength f’t or as a parabola with a maximum
strain ϵ’t=1.8f’t/Ec and a maximum stress f’t.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 23

 Stress-Strain Curves for Concrete
Stress–Strain Curve for Normal-Weight Concrete
in Tension

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 24

 Uniaxial Strength of Concrete
• The tensile strength of concrete varies between 8
and 15% of the compressive strength.
• The actual value is affected by the type of test, the
type of aggregate, the compressive strength, and the
presence of compressive stress transverse to the
tensile stress.
• Two types of tensile test are:
o Modulus of rupture or flexural test (ASTM C78 or
C293)
o The split cylinder test (ASTM C496)

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 25

 Uniaxial Strength of Concrete

6M
f r  2 ; f r  7.5 f c ( ACI )
'

bh
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 26
 Uniaxial Strength of Concrete

2P
f sp 
 ld
f sp  6.7 f ACI
c
'

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 27

 Uniaxial Strength of Concrete
In RC members, beyond cracking, the stress in
concrete does not suddenly drop to zero because
the member does not simultaneously crack at all
locations, and concrete between cracked sections
still carries tension and reduces the steel strain.
This behavior beyond cracking is referred to as
tension stiffening effect. If bond stress
distribution is known, tension stiffening may be
estimated. Consider a concrete prism with a single
bar subjected to a tension force, T, as shown
below.
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 28
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 29
 Uniaxial Cyclic Compressive
Behavior of Concrete
Low-Cycle Fatigue
Generally, it has been found
that the monotonic curve is an
envelope to stress-strain curve
under cyclic loading. A
representative stress-strain
curve for cyclic loads is shown
below. In this figure, common
points are where the reloading
portion of any cycle crosses the
unloading potion.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 30

 Uniaxial Cyclic Compressive
Behavior of Concrete
Static Fatigue
If concrete is loaded to about 75% or more of its short-term static
strength, and if this load is sustained, the concrete will eventually
fail. This phenomenon is called delayed fatigue or static fatigue.
Unstable crack growths are attributed to this mode of failure.

Fatigue
Concrete may fail under repeated loads that are not large enough
to cause failure in a single application. The concrete strength
decreases with an increase in the number of cycles.
For this purpose, the modified Goodman diagram shown on next
page may be used. This diagram is based on the observation that
the fatigue strength of plain concrete is essentially the same
whether the mode of loading is tension, compression, or flexure.
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 31
 Uniaxial Cyclic Compressive
Behavior of Concrete
For example, consider a
structural element
to be designed for one
million repetitions. If the
minimum stress is 15% of
the static ultimate
strength, then the
maximum stress that will
cause fatigue failure is
about 57% of static
ultimate strength.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 32

 Strength under Biaxial and Triaxial
Loadings

Biaxial state of Biaxial state of stress in

stress the web of the beam

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 33

 Strength under Biaxial and Triaxial
Loadings
Strength and modes
of failure of concrete
subjected to biaxial
stresses

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 34

 Strength under Biaxial and Triaxial Loadings
CEB–FIP MC 2010 gives a complete simplified model represented by the
three formulas:

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 35

 Strength under Biaxial and Triaxial
Loadings
The modes of failure for a number of different zones are:
• Biaxial tension – the strength is close to that in uniaxial
tension, as shown in Zone 1. Failure occurs by tensile
fracture perpendicular to the maximum principal tensile
stress.
• Tensile and Compressive Principal Stresses - When one
principal stress is tensile and the other is compressive, the
concrete fails at lower stresses than it would if stressed
uniaxially in tension or compression, i.e., regions A-B and A’-
B’. Failure occurs due to tensile fractures on planes
perpendicular to the principal tensile stresses. The failure in
this zone may be governed by a limiting tensile strain rather
than a tensile stress.
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 36
 Strength under Biaxial and Triaxial
Loadings
• Uniaxial Compression - Under uniaxial compression (also
points A and A’ and zone 3), failure is initiated by the
formation of tensile cracks on planes parallel to the direction
of the compressive stresses. These planes are planes of
maximum principal tensile strain.
• Biaxial Compression - Under biaxial compression (region A-
C-A’ and zone 4), the failure pattern changes to a series of
parallel surfaces on planes parallel to the unloaded sides of
the member. These planes are acted on by maximum
tensile strains. Biaxial (and triaxial) compression loads delay
the formation of bond and mortar cracks; therefore, the
strength of concrete under biaxial compression is greater
than the uniaxial compressive strength.
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 37
 Strength under Biaxial and Triaxial
Loadings

A simplified design
model proposed by
Tasuju, Nilson, and
Slate

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 38

 Strength under Biaxial and Triaxial
Loadings
If cracking occurs in
reinforced concrete under a
biaxial tension-compression
loading, and there is
reinforcement across the
cracks, the strength and
stiffness of the concrete
under compression parallel
to the cracks is reduced.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 39

 Strength under Biaxial and Triaxial
Loadings

f 2max 1       2 
 f 2  f 2max  2  2    2  
fc'
0.8  1701    0    0  
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures
Vecchio and Collins 40
 Strength under Biaxial and Triaxial
Loadings
Under triaxial loadings, the mode of failure involves
either tensile fracture parallel to the maximum
compressive stress and thus orthogonal to the
maximum tensile strain if such exists, or a shearing
mode of failure. The strength and ductility of concrete
under triaxial compression exceed those under uniaxial
compression.
Experimental studies show that the longitudinal stress at failure:

1  f  4.1 3
c
'

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 41

 Strength under Biaxial and Triaxial
Loadings

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 42

Axial stress strain curves from triaxial compression tests
 Confinement
Mechanical properties of concrete were seen previously
to be strongly influenced by confinement provided
actively by externally applied pressures. However,
concrete can also be confined passively by transverse
reinforcement with many of the same effects observed
for concrete confined by pressure, i.e., increases in
strength and ductility.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 43

 Confinement
Consider first a plain concrete
cylinder with a length to
diameter of say 3 to avoid
end restraint effects at the
loading plates. As load is
applied, the cylinder shortens
and it also tends to expand
due to the Poisson’s effect.
Initially, the Poisson ratio (ν)
is around 0.15 to 0.2.
When the stresses reach about 0.85 to 0.95f’c, internal cracking
increases significantly, thereby increasing the internal expansion.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 44

 Confinement
Cylinder Confinement

Taking a unit height,

2 f sp t
f2 
D
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 45
 Confinement
Spiral Reinforcement - We could attempt to achieve
the same effect as cylindrical sheet reinforcement by
using closely-spaced spiral binding (wire).

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 46

 Confinement
Spiral Reinforcement – Using equilibrium:

2 As f sp
f2  ; f c max  f c'  4.1 f 2
Ds
As f sp
f c max  f  8.2
c
'

Ds
volume of lateral steel  DAsp 4 Asp
 ''   
volume of confined core  D s / 4
2
Ds
 f c max  f c'  2.05  '' f sp

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 47

 Confinement
Spiral Reinforcement
Assumptions:
• The strength quality of concrete (given by f’c) is
the same in confined area as in the standard
compression cylinder.
• Spiral provides sufficiently uniform confinement
for the core.
• Stress applied by spirals is equivalent to that
applied by hydrostatic pressure, i.e., 㨱㨮㨸㨬㩃 ᩛ
㨱㨮 ᩟ ‫ڸ‬Κ‫ ڵ‬㨱‫ڶ‬.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 48

 Confinement
Experiments by Iyengar
(1970) and others indicate
that spiral reinforcement
has the same effect on
maximum stress as
hydrostatic pressure IF fsp
is taken as f”y, as
illustrated in the fig.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 49

 Confinement
Tie Reinforcement – Let’s look at the effectiveness
of rectangular hoops, which are found in tied columns,
as confinement. Rectangular hoops do not provide a
uniform confining stress. Unsymmetrical nature of
confinement can be illustrated by looking at various
free body diagrams.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 50

 Confinement
Tie Reinforcement –

2 As f sp As f sp
f2  f2 
Ds Ds

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 51

 Confinement
Tie Reinforcement – Either the bars stresses are
varying rapidly or stress field in concrete is non-
uniform. The latter is really the case. There are two
main problems: (a) concrete is not confined far from
hoops, and (b) concrete is not well confined away
from the corners. These issues are illustrated below.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 52

 Confinement
Tie Reinforcement

Read the models on

confined concrete

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 53

 Models for Confined Concrete

Several models have been developed to simulate the

expected behavior of confined concrete. The most
commonly used models are:
• Modified Kent-Park (Park et al., 1982)
• Sheikh and Uzumeri (1982)
• Mander, Priestly, and Park (1988)
• Saatcioglu and Razvi (1992)

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 54

 Models for Confined Concrete

Modified Kent-Park (Park et al., 1982)

This model was developed for square tied columns.
Confined Concrete

Note slope of the descending part

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 55

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 56
 Models for Confined Concrete
Sheikh and Uzumeri (1982)
The following equations are used to describe the stress-strain
relation for confined concrete for a square column with
uniformly distributed longitudinal reinforcement.

The slope of the descending branch

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 57
 Models for Confined Concrete

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 58

 Models for Confined Concrete

Mander, Priestly, and Park (1988)

A unified stress-strain approach was proposed. The model is
applicable to both circular and rectangular shaped transverse
reinforcement.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 59

 Time Dependent Volume Changes
Shrinkage - is the decrease in the volume of concrete
during hardening and drying under constant
temperature.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 60

 Time Dependent Volume Changes
The total deformation due to shrinkage is made of two
components:

 cs   cd   ca
Drying shrinkage strain slowly develops after migration of
water trapped in hardened concrete towards the outside.
Autogenous shrinkage strain develops during hardening of
concrete itself during the first days after casting. The drying
shrinkage law can be represented by the following
mathematical model
 cd  t '   cd  g s  t '
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 61
CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 62
 Time Dependent Volume Changes
Shrinkage
• The ultimate drying shrinkage strain, for a 6-by-12-in. cylinder
maintained for a very long time at a relative humidity of 40
percent ranges from 0.000400 to 0.001100 (400 to 1100 * 10-
6 ), with an average of about 0.000800.

• In a structure, however, the shrinkage strains will tend to be

less for the same concrete, for the following reasons:
1. The ratio of volume to surface area will generally be larger than for
the cylinder; as a result, drying shrinkage should be reduced.
2. A structure is built in stages, and some of the shrinkage is dissipated
before adjacent stages are completed.
3. The reinforcement restrains the development of the shrinkage.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 63

 Shrinkage
The general expression for the development of
shrinkage strain in concrete that is moist-cured for 7
days and then dried in 40 percent relative humidity is:

t
 sh t   rh vs  sh u
35  t
where (ԑsh)t is the shrinkage strain after t days of drying and
(ԑsh)u is the ultimate value for drying shrinkage.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 64

 Creep
Concrete is an elastoplastic
material, and beginning with
small stresses, plastic strains
develop in addition to the
elastic ones. Under sustained
load, plastic deformation
continues to develop over a
period that may last for
years.
This slow plastic deformation under constant stress is
called creep.

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 65

 Creep
Factors affecting creep
 Level of stress

 Duration of loading

 Strength and age of

concrete
 Ambient conditions

 Rate of loading

 Size of the concrete

mass

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 66

 Creep
For a stress σc applied at time t0 and remaining constant
until time t, the creep strain between time and t is:

where Ec (28) is the modulus of elasticity at the age of

28 days

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 67

 Assignments
1. Reading: Chapter 3 of text, Ch. 2 of
Park & Paulay, Chapter 1 of Toniolo

END

CENG 6504 Concrete Structures 68