CE6110: Advanced Concrete Technology 22/5/2024

Lecture # 03
Strength of Concrete

CE6110: ADVANCED CONCRETE

TECHNOLOGY

Lt Col Md. Jahidul Islam, PhD, Engrs

e-mail: [email protected]

INTRODUCTION
 The strength of concrete is the property most valued by
designers and quality control engineers
 The most important practical factor is the w/c ratio, but the
underlying parameter is the number and size of pores in the
hardened cement paste.

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INTRODUCTION
 In solids, there exists a
fundamental inverse relationship
between porosity (volume fraction
of voids) and strength
 Consequently, in multiphase materials
such as concrete, the porosity of each
component of the microstructure can
C. Lian, Y. Zhuge, S. Beecham, The relationship between
become strength-limiting porosity and strength for porous concrete, Construction and
Building Materials, Volume 25, Issue 11, 2011, Pages 4294-4298

 Concrete strength also depends on

factors such as
 Compaction, curing conditions
(degree of cement hydration),
aggregate size and mineralogy,
admixtures types, specimen geometry
and moisture condition, type of Multifunctional prefabricated walls made of UHPC and foam

stress, and rate of loading

CE6110: Dr M. Jahidul Islam
concrete in the SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
STRUCTURAL ENG, September 2016. Alexander Wetzel, Cristin
3 Prof. Dr.-Ing, Bernhard Middendorf
Umbach, Ekkehard Fehling

DEFINITION
 The strength of a material is defined as the
ability to resist stress without failure
 Micro structural investigations of ordinary
concrete show that unlike most structural
materials concrete contains many fine cracks
even before it is subjected to external stresses
 In concrete, therefore, strength is related to the
stress required to cause failure and it is defined
as the maximum stress the concrete sample can
withstand
 In tension testing, the fracture of the test piece
usually signifies failure
 In compression the test piece is considered to
have failed even when no signs of external
fracture are visible; however, the internal
cracking has reached such an advanced state that
the specimen is unable to carry a higher load.
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SIGNIFICANCE
 In concrete design and quality control, strength is the
property generally specified
 This is because, compared to most other properties, testing
of strength is relatively easy
 Furthermore, many properties of concrete, such as
 elastic modulus,
 water-tightness or impermeability, and
 resistance to weathering agents including aggressive
waters,
 are believed to be dependent on strength and may therefore
be deduced from the strength data

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SIGNIFICANCE
 The compressive strength of concrete is several times
greater than other types of strength
 Therefore, a majority of concrete elements are designed to take
advantage of the higher compressive strength of the material.
 Although in practice most concrete is subjected
simultaneously to a combination of compressive, shearing,
and tensile stresses in two or more directions
 The uniaxial compression tests are the easiest to perform in
the laboratory, and
 The 28-day compressive strength of concrete determined by a
standard uniaxial compression test is accepted universally as a
general index of the concrete strength

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STRENGTH POROSITY RELATIONSHIP

 In general, there exists a fundamental inverse relationship

between porosity and strength of solids.
 For simple homogeneous materials, it can be described by the
expression
 S = S0 e−kp
 where S = strength of the material which has a given porosity p
 S0 = intrinsic strength at zero porosity
 k = constant
 For many materials the ratio S/S0 plotted against porosity
follows the same curve
 Actually, the same strength porosity relationship is applicable
to a very wide range of materials, such as iron, plaster of
Paris, sintered alumina, and zirconia

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STRENGTH POROSITY RELATIONSHIP

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STRENGTH POROSITY
RELATIONSHIPCALCULATED
Powers found that the 28-day compressive strength f’c of
three different mortar mixtures was related to the
gel/space ratio, or the ratio between the solid hydration
products in the system and the total space:
𝑓𝑐′ = 𝑎𝑥 3
 where a is the intrinsic strength of the material at zero
porosity p, and
 x the solid/space ratio or the amount of solid fraction in
the system, which is therefore equal to 1 − p
 Powers found the value of a to be 34,000 psi (234 MPa)
 The similarity of the three curves in previous slide
confirms the general validity of the strength-porosity
relationship in solids

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STRENGTH POROSITY RELATIONSHIP

 Whereas in hardened cement paste or mortar the porosity
can be related to strength, with concrete the situation is
not simple
 The presence of microcracks in the interfacial transition
zone between the coarse aggregate and the matrix makes
concrete too complex a material for prediction of strength
by precise strength porosity relations
 The general validity of strength-porosity relation, however,
must be respected because porosities of the component
phases of concrete, including the interfacial transition
zone, indeed become strength-limiting
 With concrete containing the conventional low-porosity or
high strength aggregates, the strength of the material will
be governed both by the strength of the matrix and the
strength of the interfacial transition zone
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FAILURE MODES IN CONCRETE

 With a material such as concrete, which contains void
spaces of various size and shape in the matrix and
microcracks at the interfacial transition zone,
 The failure modes under stress are very complex and vary with
the type of stress
 A brief review of the failure modes, however, will be useful
in understanding and control of the factors that influence
concrete strength
 Under uniaxial tension, relatively less energy is needed for
the initiation and growth of cracks in the matrix
 Rapid propagation and interlinkage of the crack system,
consisting of preexisting cracks at the interfacial transition
zone and newly formed cracks in the matrix, account for
the brittle failure
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FAILURE MODES IN CONCRETE

 In compression, the failure mode is less brittle because
considerably more energy is needed to form and to extend
cracks in the matrix
 In a uniaxial compression test on medium- or low-strength
concrete, no cracks are initiated in the matrix up to about
30 percent of the failure stress; at this stage a stable
system of cracks, called shear-bond cracks, already exists
in the vicinity of coarse aggregate
 At higher stress levels, cracks are initiated within the
matrix; their number and size increases progressively with
increasing stress levels
 The cracks in the matrix and the interfacial transition zone
(shearbond cracks) eventually join up, and generally a
failure surface develops at about 20° to 30° from the
direction of the load

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STRESS-STRAIN RELATION
 Very fine bond cracks exist at the interface between
coarse aggregate and hydrated cement paste even prior to
the application of load due to differences in stress-strain
behaviour, and in thermal and moisture movements.
 Stress-strain relations for the aggregate and cement paste
are linear, but the stress-strain relation for concrete
becomes curvilinear at higher stresses.
 At stresses above 30% of the ultimate strength, micro-
cracks begin to increase in length, width and number.
 At this stage strain increases at a faster rate than the
stress.
 At 70 to 90 % of the ultimate strength, cracks open
through the mortar matrix and thus bridge the bond cracks
so that a continuous crack pattern is formed.

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STRESS-STRAIN RELATION

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STRESS-STRAIN RELATION
 The ratio of lateral strain to  At this stage, the specimen
axial strain (i.e Poisson’s is no longer a continuous
ratio) is constant for body; there is a change
stresses below from a slow contraction in
approximately 30 % of the volume to a rapid increase
ultimate strength. in volume.
 Beyond this point, Poisson’s
ratio increases slowly, and
at 70 – 90% of the ultimate
strength, it increases
rapidly due to the formation
of mainly vertical unstable
cracks.

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COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH & FACTORS

AFFECTING IT
 The response of concrete to applied stress depends not
only on the stress type but also on how a combination of
various factors affects porosity of the different structural
components of concrete
 The factors include properties and proportions of
materials that make up the concrete mixture, degree of
compaction, and conditions of curing
 From the standpoint of strength, the relationship
between water-cement ratio and porosity is undoubtedly
the most important factor because, independent of other
factors, it affects the porosity of both the cement mortar
matrix and the interfacial transition zone between the
matrix and the coarse aggregate
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COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH & FACTORS

AFFECTING IT

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COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH & FACTORS

AFFECTING IT
 Direct determination of porosity of the individual
structural components of concrete—the matrix and the
interfacial transition zone—is impractical, and therefore
precise models of predicting concrete strength cannot
be developed
 Although the actual response of concrete to applied
stress is a result of complex interactions between
various factors
 To facilitate a clear understanding of these factors they
can be separately discussed under three categories:
 Characteristics and proportions of materials,
 Curing conditions, and
 Testing parameters
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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS
 Before making a concrete mixture, the selection of proper
component materials and their proportions is the first step
toward obtaining a product that would meet the specified
strength
 It should be emphasized again that, in practice, many
mixture design parameters are interdependent, and
therefore their influences cannot really be separated
 Some of the aspects that are important from the
standpoint of concrete strength are considered here
 Water-cement ratio
 Air entrainment
 Cement type
 Aggregate
 Mixing water
 Admixtures

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS - WATER-CEMENT RATIO
 In 1918, as a result of extensive testing at the Lewis
Institute, University of Illinois, Duff Abrams found that a
relation existed between water-cement ratio and
concrete strength
 Popularly known as Abrams’ water-cement ratio rule, this
inverse relation is represented by the expression
A
c = 1.5( w / c )
B
 where w/c represents the water-cement ratio of the
concrete mixture and A and B are empirical constants
 Typical curves illustrating the relationship between
water-cement ratio and strength at a given moist-curing
age are shown in the following figure
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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS - WATER-CEMENT RATIO
 In low- and medium-strength concrete made with normal
aggregate, both the interfacial transition zone porosity and
the matrix porosity determine the strength, and a direct
relation between the water-cement ratio and the concrete
strength holds
 For water-cement ratios under 0.3, disproportionately high
increases in the compressive strength can be achieved with
very small reductions in water-cement ratio
 The phenomenon is attributed mainly to a significant
improvement in the strength of the interfacial transition
zone at very low water-cement ratios
 Furthermore, with low water-cement ratio the crystal size
of the hydration products is much smaller and the surface
area is correspondingly higher

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS - AIR ENTRAINMENT
 For the most part, it is the water-cement ratio that
determines the porosity of the cement paste matrix at a
given degree of hydration;
 However, when air voids are incorporated into the system,
either as a result of inadequate compaction or through the
use of an air-entraining admixture, they also have the
effect of increasing the porosity and decreasing the
strength of the system
 At a given water-cement ratio, the effect on the
compressive strength of concrete of increasing the volume
of entrained air is shown by the following curves

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS - AIR ENTRAINMENT
 It has been observed that the extent of strength loss as a result of
entrained air depends not only on the water-cement ratio of the
concrete mixture, but also on the cement content
 In short, as a first approximation, the strength loss due to air
entrainment can be related to the general level of concrete
strength
 At a given water-cement ratio, high-strength concretes (containing
a high cement content) suffer a considerable strength loss with
increasing amounts of entrained air, whereas low-strength
concretes (containing a low cement content) tend to suffer only a
little strength loss or may actually gain some strength as a result of
air entrainment
 The influence of the water-cement ratio and cement content on
the response of concrete to applied stress can be explained from
the two opposing effects caused by incorporation of air into
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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS - AIR ENTRAINMENT
 By increasing the porosity of the matrix, entrained air will
have an adverse effect on the strength of the composite
material
 On the other hand, by improving the workability and
compactibility of the mixture, entrained air tends to
improve the strength of the interfacial transition zone
(especially in mixtures with very low water and cement
contents) and thus improves the strength of concrete
 It seems that with concrete mixtures of low cement
content, when air entrainment is accompanied by a
significant reduction in the water content, the adverse
effect of air entrainment on the strength of the matrix is
more than compensated by the beneficial effect on the
interfacial transition zone
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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS - CEMENT TYPE
 The degree of cement hydration has a direct effect on porosity
and consequently on strength
 At ordinary temperature ASTM Type III portland cement, which
has a higher fineness, hydrates more rapidly than other types;
therefore, at early ages of hydration (e.g., 1, 3, and 7 days)
and a given water-cement ratio, a concrete containing Type III
portland cement will have a lower porosity and correspondingly
a higher strength
 On the other hand, compared to ASTM Type I, Type II, and Type
III portland cements, the rates of hydration and strength
development with Type IV and Type V cements, and with
portland-slag and portland pozzolan cements are slower up to
28 days
 However, the differences usually disappear thereafter when
they have achieved a similar degree of hydration
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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS - AGGREGATE
 In concrete technology, an overemphasis on the
relationship between water-cement ratio and strength has
caused some problems
 For instance, the influence of aggregate on concrete
strength is not generally appreciated
 It is true that aggregate strength is usually not a factor in
normal strength concrete because, with the exception of
lightweight aggregates, the aggregate particle is several
times stronger than the matrix and the interfacial
transition zone in concrete
 In other words, with most natural aggregates the strength
of the aggregate is hardly utilized because the failure is
determined by the other two phases
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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS - AGGREGATE
 There are, however, aggregate characteristics other than
strength, such as the size, shape, surface texture, grading
(particle size distribution), and mineralogy, which are
known to affect concrete strength in varying degrees
 Frequently the effect of aggregate characteristics on
concrete strength can be traced to a change of water-
cement ratio
 A change in the maximum size of well-graded coarse
aggregate of a given mineralogy can have two opposing
effects on the strength of concrete
 With the same cement content and consistency, concrete
mixtures containing larger aggregate particles require less
mixing water than those containing smaller aggregate
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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS - AGGREGATE
 On the contrary, larger aggregates tend to form weaker
interfacial transition zone containing more microcracks
 The net effect will vary with the water-cement ratio of
the concrete and the type of applied stress

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS
 Aggregate
 At lower water-cement ratios the reduced porosity of the interfacial
transition zone begins to play an important role in the concrete
strength
 Furthermore, since the interfacial transition zone characteristics have
more effect on the tensile strength of concrete compared to the
compressive strength, it is to be expected that with a given concrete
mixture any changes in the coarse aggregate properties would
influence the tensile-compressive strength ratio of the material
 For instance, a decrease in the size of coarse aggregate, at a given
water-cement ratio, will increase the tensile-compressive strength
ratio
 A change in the aggregate grading without any change in the maximum
size of coarse aggregate, and with water-cement ratio held constant,
can influence the concrete strength when this change causes a
corresponding change in the consistency and bleeding characteristics
of the concrete mixture
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CHARACTERISTICS
& PROPORTIONS
OF MATERIALS

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS
 Aggregate
 It has been observed that a concrete mixture containing a rough-
textured or crushed aggregate would show somewhat higher
strength (especially tensile strength) at early ages
 Stronger physical bond between the aggregate and the hydrated
cement paste is assumed to be responsible for this
 At later ages, when chemical interaction between the aggregate
and the cement paste begins to take effect, the influence of the
surface texture of aggregate on strength may be reduced
 Also, with a given cement content, somewhat more mixing water
is usually needed to obtain the desired workability in a concrete
mixture containing rough-textured aggregates
 Thus the small advantage due to a better physical bonding may
be lost as far as the overall strength is concerned

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS
 Aggregate
 Differences in the mineralogical composition of aggregates are
also known to affect the concrete strength. This may be due to
the higher interfacial bond strength with limestone aggregate at
late ages

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS
 Mixing water
 Impurities in water used for mixing concrete, when excessive,
may affect not only the concrete strength but also setting time,
efflorescence (deposits of white salts on the surface of concrete),
and the corrosion of reinforcing and pre-stressing steel
 In general, mixing water is rarely a factor in concrete strength
 Many specifications for making concrete mixtures require that the
quality of water used should be fit for drinking, and municipal
drinking waters seldom contain dissolved solids in excess of 1000
ppm
 As a rule, a water that is unsuitable for drinking may not
necessarily be unfit for mixing concrete

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS
 Mixing water
 Slightly acidic, alkaline, salty, brackish, colored, or foulsmelling
water should not be rejected outright
 This is important because of the water shortage in many areas of
the world
 Also, recycled waters from cities, mining, and many industrial
operations can be safely used as mixing waters for concrete
 The best way to determine the suitability of a water of unknown
performance for making concrete is to compare the setting time
of cement and the strength of mortar cubes made with the
unknown water with reference water that is clean
 Seawater, which contains about 35,000 ppm dissolved salts, is not
harmful to the strength of plain concrete

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS
 Admixtures
 By their ability to reduce the water content of a concrete
mixture, at a given consistency, the water-reducing
admixtures can enhance both the early and the ultimate
strength of concrete
 At a given water-cement ratio, the presence of water-
reducing admixtures in concrete generally has a positive
influence on the rates of cement hydration and early
strength development
 Admixtures capable of accelerating or retarding cement
hydration obviously would have a great influence on the
rate of strength gain; however, the ultimate strengths may
not be significantly affected
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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS
 Admixtures
 However, the ability of a mineral admixture to react at normal
temperatures with calcium hydroxide (present in the hydrated
portland cement paste) and to form additional calcium silicate
hydrate can lead to significant reduction in porosity of both the
matrix and the interfacial transition zone
 Consequently, considerable improvements in the ultimate
strength and watertightness of concrete are achievable by
incorporation of mineral admixtures
 It should be noted that mineral admixtures are especially
effective in increasing the tensile strength of concrete

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CHARACTERISTICS & PROPORTIONS OF

MATERIALS
 Admixtures

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CURING CONDITIONS
 The term curing of concrete involves a combination
of conditions that promote the cement hydration,
namely time, temperature, and humidity conditions
immediately after the placement of a concrete
mixture into the formwork
 At a given water-cement ratio, the porosity of a
hydrated cement paste is determined by the degree
of cement hydration
 Under normal temperature conditions some of the
constituent compounds of Portland cement begin to
hydrate as soon as water is added
 The hydration reactions slow down considerably when
the products of hydration coat the anhydrous cement
grains
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CURING CONDITIONS
 This is because hydration can proceed satisfactorily
only under conditions of saturation; it almost stops
when the internal relative humidity drops below
about 80% and eventually strength development will
be arrested
 Such reduction will be greater in the case of high
strength concrete (low w/c ratio)
 Time and humidity are therefore important factors in
the hydration process controlled by water diffusion
 Also, like all chemical reactions, temperature has an
accelerating effect on the hydration reactions

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CURING CONDITIONS - TIME

 Time
 It should be noted that the time-strength relations in
concrete technology generally assume moist-curing
conditions and normal temperatures
 At a given water-cement ratio, the longer the moist
curing period the higher the strength assuming that
the hydration of anhydrous cement particles is still
going on
 In thin concrete elements, if water is lost by
evaporation from the capillaries, air-curing
conditions prevail, and strength will not increase
with time
 The evaluation of compressive strength with time is
of great concern to structural engineers
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CURING CONDITIONS - TIME

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CURING CONDITIONS - TIME

 ACI Committee 209 recommends the following
relationship for moist cured concrete made with normal
Portland cement (ASTM Type I)
 t 
f cm ( t ) = f c 28  
 4 + 0.85t 
 For concrete specimens cured at 20°C, the CEB-FIP
Models Code (1990) suggests the following relationship:

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CURING CONDITIONS - TIME

 The most desirable objective is to continuously moist cure
the concrete as long as possible. Obviously, this is seldom
a practical proposition
 Generally, moist curing for about 7 days will ensure that
the 28-day moist-cured strength will eventually be
reached
 The ACI Standard Practice for Curing (ACI 308) suggest 7
days of moist curing for most structural concrete or the
time necessary to attain 70% of the specified strength
 These recommendation are for concretes placed and
cured at temperatures above 4C

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CURING CONDITIONS – HUMIDITY

 Humidity
 The influence of the curing humidity on concrete strength is
obvious from the data, which show that after 180 days at a
given water-cement ratio, the strength of the continuously
moist-cured concrete was three times greater than the
strength of the continuously air-cured concrete
 Furthermore, probably as a result of microcracking in the
interfacial transition zone caused by drying shrinkage, a slight
decline of strength occurs in thin members of moist-cured
concrete when they are subjected to air drying
 The rate of water loss from concrete soon after the placement
depends not only on the surface/volume ratio of the concrete
element but also on temperature, relative humidity, and
velocity of the surrounding air

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CURING CONDITIONS – HUMIDITY

 Water is held in larger capillary pores by surface tension forces
below 100% RH
 The cement can draw on these water reservoirs for further
hydration
 But the rate will become slower as the RH within the paste is
lowered
 Water is used first within its localized area of the paste, and
those areas that hydrate more rapidly will become starved for
water
 Additional water will move to those areas rapidly in a fully
saturated system, but more slowly in a partially saturated
system
 Therefore, concrete that is sealed against moisture loss
hydrates and gains strength more slowly than concrete that is
continuously moist cured under water
 Water cannot enter the sealed concrete, and the consumption
of water during hydration lower the internal RH
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CURING CONDITIONS – HUMIDITY

 A minimum period of 7 days of moist-curing is generally recommended
with concrete containing normal Portland cement
 With concrete mixtures containing either a blended Portland cement or
a mineral admixture, a longer curing period is desirable to ensure
strength contribution from the pozzolanic reaction
 Moist curing is provided by spraying or ponding or by covering the
concrete surface with wet sand, sawdust, or cotton mats
 Since the amount of mixing water used in a concrete mixture is usually
more than needed for Portland cement hydration (estimated to be
about 30 percent by weight of cement), proper application of an
impermeable membrane soon after the concrete placement provides
an acceptable way to maintain the strength development at a
satisfactory rate
 However, moist-curing should be the preferred method when control of
cracking due to autogenous shrinkage or thermal shrinkage is
important

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CURING CONDITIONS - TEMPERATURE

 With moist-cured concrete the influence of temperature on
strength depends on the time-temperature history of casting
and curing
 In the temperature range 5 to 46°C, when concrete is cast and
cured at a specific constant temperature, it is generally
observed that up to 28 days, the higher the temperature the
more rapid the cement hydration and the strength gain
 On the other hand, it has been observed that the higher the
casting and curing temperature, the lower will be the ultimate
strength
 From microscopic studies many researchers have concluded
that, with low temperature casting, a relatively more uniform
microstructure of the hydrated cement paste (especially the
pore size distribution) accounts for the higher strength

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CURING CONDITIONS - TEMPERATURE

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CURING CONDITIONS - TEMPERATURE

 It should be noted that curing at low temperatures can result in a
higher ultimate strength, even though the initial rate of strength is low
 Thus, as a rule, the higher the initial temperature of the concrete, the
lower its later strength
 For 28-day strengths, the optimum initial temperature is 4C for a Type
I cement
 In general, the tensile strength is similarly affected by the curing
temperature

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CURING CONDITIONS - TEMPERATURE

 Since the hydration reactions of Portland cement
compounds are slow, it appears that adequate
temperature levels must be maintained for a sufficient
time to provide the needed activation energy for the
reactions to begin
 This enables the strength development process that is
associated with progressive filling of voids with hydration
products, to proceed unhindered
 The influence of time-temperature history on concrete
strength has several important applications in the concrete
construction practice
 The curing temperature is far more important to the
strength than the placement temperature

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TESTING PARAMETERS
 It is not always appreciated that the results of concrete
strength tests are significantly affected by parameters
involving the test specimen and loading conditions
 Specimen parameters include the
 influence of size, geometry, and the moisture state of
concrete;
 loading parameters include stress level and duration,
and
 the rate at which stress is applied

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TESTING PARAMETERS
 Specimen parameter

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TESTING PARAMETERS
 In the United States, the standard specimen for testing
the compressive strength of concrete is a 15- by 30-cm
cylinder
 While maintaining the height/diameter ratio equal to 2, if
a concrete mixture is tested in compression with
cylindrical specimens of varying diameter, the larger the
diameter the lower will be the strength
 The average strength of 5- by 10-cm and 7.5- by 15-cm
cylindrical specimens was 106 and 108 percent,
respectively, as compared to the standard specimen
 When the diameter is increased beyond 45 cm (18 in.), a
much smaller reduction in strength is observed

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TESTING PARAMETERS

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TESTING PARAMETERS
 Moisture State
 Because of the effect of moisture state on the concrete
strength, the standard procedure requires that the specimens
continue to be in a moist condition at the time of testing
 In compression tests it has been observed that oven-dried
specimens show 10 to 15 percent higher strength than
corresponding specimens tested in a saturated condition
 The reason for this are not completely understood
 It may be due to change in the structure of C-S-H on dying
 It may simply represent a change in the internal friction and cohesion
on a macroscopic level; that is moisture may have a “lubricating”
effect, allowing particles to slip by each other in shear more easily
 The lower strength of the saturated concrete is attributed to
the development of internal pore pressure as a load is applied

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TESTING PARAMETERS
 Moisture State
 The effect of moisture content on strength becomes an
important consideration when testing drilled cores
 ASTM C 42 recommends that concrete core be conditioned
to a moisture state most representative of the state of
the in-place concrete
 Drying of the cores as specified will most commonly lead
to specimens with a moisture gradient from the outside to
the center
 This will lead to lower measured strengths than those
obtained on specimens with a uniform moisture content

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TESTING PARAMETERS
 Temperature
 For reasons that are also not fully understood, the
temperature of the specimen at the time of testing will
affect the strength
 Higher test temperature will result in lower strengths,
even for concretes that were identically cured in standard
conditions

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INTERPLAY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING THE

CONCRETE STRENGTH

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