Factors Affecting Strength

Water/Cement (w/c) Ratio -- The capillary porosity of a properly compacted concrete

is determined by the w/c ratio. If concrete is not properly compacted it may contain
voids which will contribute to its porosity. At low w/c ratios where full compaction is
difficult to achieve, the relationship between w/c and strength is invalid.

There are some problems associated with using the w/c ratio as the primary
indicator of strength. For example, if finer cements and admixtures are used, 7and 28-day strengths may not represent the true quality of the cement. However,
until some other field test is available, w/c ratio remains the best indictor of
strength and durability.
Time -- The rate of strength gain depends of the w/c ratio, low w/c ratio mixes gain
strength faster than high w/c ratio mixes. As a general rule the ratio of 28-day to 7-day
compressive strengths lies between 1.3 and 1.7, and is generally less than 1.5. These
ratios are not valid if accelerators or extreme curing temperatures are used.
The Maturity Concept -- The hydration of cement is greatly affected by both the time
and the temperature of hydration, therefore, strength gain is controlled by these two
factors. The concept of "maturity" is a function of the product of curing time and
temperature. The assumption is that concrete of different mixes, curing times, and
curing temperatures will have about the same strength at the same level of maturity. A
datum or reference point below which no concrete will gain strength is commonly a
value of -100C. The general trend is that as maturity increases compressive strength
increases, especially at low maturity values.

There are a number of limitations on the use of maturity for predicting

compressive strength. (1) humidity of curing is not considered, (2) only ambient
temperature is considered; the contribution of heat of hydration is ignored, (3)
maturity functions are not useful at low values (time should be calculated from
when concrete actually begins to gain strength not at mixing and casting), (4)
invalid over large curing temperature variations, (5) cement characteristics and
w/c ratio affect strength, and (6) invalid for accelerated concretes.
*** Nevertheless, the maturity concept may be useful in establishing "after the
fact" strength estimates of concrete.
Cement -- From our previous study we known that the chemical composition and
fineness of cement affect the strength of concrete. Early strength comes from C3S and
later strength from C2S. Cement that hydrates more slowly will have lower initial
strength but higher ultimate strength. The degree of fineness also affects the strength;
the rate of hydration increases with the increase of fineness.
Aggregate -- Second to w/c ratio, aggregate is an important factor affecting concrete
strength. The most important properties of aggregate are shape and texture and the
maximum aggregate size. Since aggregate is generally much stronger than cement paste
the strength of the aggregate is less important. Texture affects both the bond and the
stress level at micro-cracks. This type of behavior will affect the tensile strength but
will not affect the compressive strength. Compressive strength depends on the strength
of the aggregate itself.

Maximum aggregate size affects strength in several ways: larger particles reduce the
specific surface area of the aggregate which leads to a reduction in bond strength; also,
larger particles tend to restrain volume changes in the cement paste and therefore
induce some internal stress which will weaken the concrete. These effects can be offset
by reducing the water content, therefore the net effect of aggregate size is small. In
general, at a constant w/c ratio, higher strength can be obtained by using a leaner
mixture. If constant workability is maintained, strength will increase with cement
content.

Factors Affecting the Measured Compressive Strength

Compression tests assumed that a pure state of uniaxial loading. However, this is
not the case, because of frictional forces between the load plates and the
specimen surface. The affect is to restrain the specimen from expanding. As
specimen length to diameter ratio decreases the end effects are more important
resulting in higher apparent compressive strengths. The use of rubber of lubricant
between the specimen and the loading plate can induce lateral tensile load at the
end of specimen. This will cause vertical splitting and reduce apparent strength.
A hard or stiff plate will concentrate stress at the outer edges whereas a softer
plate will have higher stress at the center. This same concepts of hard and soft at
applicable to the testing machines themselves. A soft machine will release the
stored energy of its deformation to the specimen as it fails whereas a hard
machine will not.
As l/d decreases below a value of 2 the strength increases. At ratios above 2 the
effect is more dramatic. Also, this phenomena is significant in high-strength
cement.
Specimen size is important for the simple fact that as the specimens become larger
it is more likely to contain an element that will fail at a low load..
Rate of loading as discussed above is quite important to the test compressive
strength. In general, the higher the loading rate the higher the measured strength.
The reasons for this are not completely clear, however, it is thought that under
slow loading rates more subcritical cracking may occur or that slow loading allows
more creep to occur which increase the amount of strain at a given load.
Most concrete specimens are tested in a saturated state. Concrete that has been
dried shows an increase in strength, probably do to the lack of lubricating effect
moisture has on the concrete particles. Higher temperatures at the time of testing
will lower the apparent strength of the concrete.

Tensile Strength
There is as yet no standard test for directly determining tensile strength. However
there are two common methods for estimating tensile strength through indirect
tensile tests. The first, is the splitting test carried out on a standard cylinder
specimen by applying a line load along the vertical diameter. It is not practical to
apply the a true line load to the cylinder because the side are not smooth enough

and because it would induced high compressive stresses at the surface. Therefore,
a narrow loading strip made of soft material is used.
Another way of estimating tensile strength is the flexural test. A specimen beam 6
x 6 x 20 inches is molds in two equal layers each rodded 60 times, once for each 2
in2 of top surface area. The beam may be vibrated and should be cured in the
standard way. This test tends to overestimate the true tensile strength by about
50%. This can be explained by the fact that the simple flexural formula used is
based on a linear stress-strain distribution whereas concrete has a nonlinear
distribution. This is an important test because it model how a concrete beam is
normally loaded.

Bond Between Concrete and Reinforcement

For bond between steel reinforcement and concrete to be effective, there must be
an adequate frictional bond between the two materials. As concrete ages and
shrinks there may be a decrease in bond strength, or if the concrete cracks or is
very permeable, some corrosion of the steel may take place. There are not
standard test for reinforcement, however, a pull-out test has been developed for
comparison of different concretes (ASTM C234). The test consist of a 6 inch cube
with a No. 6 (19-mm-diameter) deformed steel bar embedded in it. The bar is
loaded at a rate not greater than 5000 lb/in^2/s. The load and slip at recorded at
intervals until (1) the steel is yielded; (2) the concrete splits; or (3) a slip of at lest
2.5mm occurs at the loaded end

Nondestructive Quality Test

This test are useful to: (1) quality control; (2) determination of the time for form
removal; and (3) help assess the soundness of existing concrete structures.
Surface Hardness Methods -- One of the oldest nondestructive tests, developed
in Germany in the 1930's. Basically, the surface is impacted with a mass and the
size of the resulting indention is measured. The accuracy of these type of tests
is only 20 to 30%.
Rebound Hardness -- The most common nondestructive test is the rebound test.
The test measures the rebound of a hardened steel hammer impacted on the
concrete by a spring. This method has the same limitations as the surface
hardness tests. The results are affected by: (1) surface finish; (2) moisture
content; (3) temperature; (4) rigidity of the member being tested; (5)
carbonation of the surface; and (6) direction of impact (upward, downward,
horizontal). Most useful in checking the uniformity of concrete.
Penetration Resistance -- Resistance of concrete to penetration by a steel
probe driven by a given amount of energy is measured. This test is not affected
by surface hardness or carbonation as the above tests, however, the mix
proportions and material properties are still important.
Pull-Out Test -- Pull-out test determine the force required to pull a steel insert
out of concrete which it was embedded during casting. This test is a measure of
the shear strength of the concrete which can be correlated with compressive
strength. This test is better than those previously discussed, however, the test
may be planned in advance and the assembly embedded in the concrete during
casting.
Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity -- This test is based o the fact that the velocity of
sound is related to the elastic modulus. The device is accurate to about + 1%.

The position of the testing equipment can affect the measurement, method A
given the best results. There are several factors which affect this test: (1)
surface smoothness; (2) travel path of the pulse; (3) temperature effects on the
pulse velocity; (4) moisture content; (5) presence of steel reinforcing bars; and
(6) age of concrete.
Creep of Concrete
Creep of concrete resulting from the action of a sustained stress is a gradual
increase in strain with time; it can be of the same order of magnitude as drying
shrinkage. As defined, creep does not include any immediate elastic strains caused
by loading or any shrinkage or swelling caused by moisture changes. When a
concrete structural element is dried under load the creep that occurs is one to two
times as large as it would be under constant moisture conditions. Adding normal
drying shrinkage to this and considering the fact that creep can be several times as
large as the elastic strain on loading, it may be seen that these factors can cause
considerable deflection and that they are of great importance in structural
mechanics.
If a sustained load is removed, the strain decreases immediately by an amount equal
to the elastic strain at the given age; this is generally lower than the elastic strain on
loading since the elastic modulus has increased in the intervening period. This
instantaneous recovery is followed by a gradual decrease in strain, called creep
recovery. This recovery is not complete because creep is not simply a reversible
phenomenon.
It is now believed that the major portion of creep is due to removal of water from
between the sheets of a calcium silicate crystallite and to a possible rearrangement
of bonds between the surfaces of the individual crystallites.
Factors Influencing Creep
Concrete that exhibits high shrinkage generally also shows a high creep, but how the
two phenomena are connected is still not understood. Evidence suggests that they
are closely related. When hydrated cement is completely dried, little or no creep
occurs; for a given concrete the lower the relative humidity, the higher the creep.
Strength of concrete has a considerable influence on creep and within a wide range
creep is inversely proportional to the strength of concrete at the time of application of
load. From this it follows that creep is closely related to the water-cement ratio.
There is no doubt also that the modulus of elasticity of aggregate controls the
amount of creep that can be realized and concretes made with different aggregates
exhibit creep of varying magnitudes.
Experiments have shown that creep continues for a very long time; detectable
changes have been found after as long as 30 years. The rate decreases
continuously, however, and it is generally assumed that creep tends to a limiting
value. It has been estimated that 75 per cent of 20-year creep occurs during the first
year.
Effects of Creep
Creep of plain concrete does not by itself affect strength, although under very high
stresses creep hastens the approach of the limiting strain at which failure takes
place. The influence of creep on the ultimate strength of a simply supported,
reinforced concrete beam subjected to a sustained load is insignificant, but deflection
increases considerably and may in many cases be a critical consideration in design.

Another instance of the adverse effects of creep is its influence on the stability of the
structure through increase in deformation and consequent transfer of load to other
components. Thus, even when creep does not affect the ultimate strength of the
component in which it takes place, its effect may be extremely serious as far as the
performance of the structure as a whole is concerned.
The loss of prestress due to creep is well known and accounted for the failure of all
early attempts at prestressing. Only with the introduction of high tensile steel did
prestressing become a successful operation. The effects of creep may thus be
harmful. On the whole, however, creep unlike shrinkage is beneficial in relieving
stress concentrations and has contributed to the success of concrete as a structural
material.