Tests on Concrete

1. Some concrete specification requires the testing of compressive strength for both 7 days and 28 days. Why? 7-day compressive strength test results are usually not used for acceptance purpose but for information only. Instead, 28-day compressive strength test results are commonly adopted for acceptance purpose. 7-day compressive strength test results are often used to monitor the gain of early strength and they are estimated to be about 64% to 70% of the 28-day strength. As such, it serves as a warning signal to both concrete producers and contractors should the 7-day compressive strength test results are far less than 75% of the 28-day strength. Nowadays, most concrete placement schedule are very tight and it is of paramount importance for contractors to get to know as soon as possible the occurrence of low 7-day compressive strength test results. As such, the contractor could implement suitable measures promptly to get better quality control procedures at construction site and to monitor closely on sampling, molding, and testing of the test cubes so as to avoid the recurrence of the production of low-strength concrete in the coming concrete batches. 2. Is Schmidt hammer test a standard test for testing concrete strength? The Schmidt hammer test involves hitting the in-situ concrete with a spring-driven pin at a defined energy, and then the rebound is measured. The rebound depends on the surface hardness of the concrete and is measured by test equipment. By referring to the some conversion tables, the rebound result of the test can be used to determine the compressive strength of the concrete. Although past investigations showed that there is a general relationship between compressive strength of concrete and the rebound number, there is a wide range of disagreement among various research workers regarding the accuracy of estimation of strength from Schmidt hammer. In fact, there is about a variation of 15-20% in concrete strength measured by the method. Schmidt hammer is in not a standard test for acceptance testing of concrete strength. It is only a test used for estimating the strength of concrete in structure and it can hardly be considered as a substitute for compressive strength test. 3. In concrete compression test, normally 150mmx150mmx150mm concrete cube samples is used for testing. Why isnt 100mmx100mmx100mm concrete cube samples used in the test instead of 150mmx150mmx150mm concrete cube samples? Basically, the force supplied by a concrete compression machine is a definite value. For normal concrete strength application, say below 50MPa, the stress produced by a 150mmx150mmx150mm cube is sufficient for the machine to crush the concrete sample. However, if the designed concrete strength is

100MPa, under the same force (about 2,000kN) supplied by the machine, the stress under a 150mmx150mmx150mm cube is not sufficient to crush the concrete cube. Therefore, 100mmx100mmx100mm concrete cubes are used instead to increase the applied stress to crush the concrete cubes. For normal concrete strength, the cube size of 150mmx150mmx150mm is already sufficient for the crushing strength of the machine. 4. If concrete compression test fails, should Schmidt hammer test be adopted as an alternative test to prove the concrete strength? The Schmidt hammer test is based on the elastic rebound of hammer which presses on concrete surface and it measure the surface hardness of concrete. Since the test is very sensitive to the presence of aggregates and voids at the concrete surface, it is necessary to take more than 10 readings over the area of test. However, it should be noted that Schmidt hammer test measures surface hardness only but not the strength of concrete. Therefore, it may not be considered a good substitute for concrete compression test. 5. In carrying out compression test for concrete, should test cubes or test cylinders be adopted? Basically, the results of compression test carried out by using cubes are higher than that by cylinders. In compression test, the failure mode is in the form of tensile splitting induced by uniaxial compression. However, since the concrete samples tend to expand laterally under compression, the friction developed at the concrete-machine interface generates forces which apparently increase the compressive strength of concrete. However, when the ratio of height to width of sample increases, the effect of shear on compressive strength becomes smaller. This explains why the results of compression test by cylinders are lower than that of cubes. Reference is made to Longman Scientific and Technical (1987). 6. Explain why the tensile strength of concrete is much less than the compressive strength. What is the range of tensile strength of concrete? In concrete there exists numerous fine cracks which lower the tensile strength. When a compressive load is applied, the compressive stress can push up any crack in concrete and can be transferred through the cracks. On the other hand, when a tensile load is applied, tensile stress pulls up the concrete and can be transferred only through the uncracked concrete. The average tensile stress may be small; the actual stress in uncracked concrete is much larger. This further causes the cracks to lengthen which reduces the uncracked concrete area. Thus the tensile strength of concrete is much lower than the compressive strength. Tensile strength of concrete ranges from 10% to 18% of its compressive strength.

7. What is modulus of rupture of concrete? How is it measured? The normal tensile stress in concrete when cracking occurs in a flexure test is known as modulus of rupture of concrete. If it is measured by performing a flexure test on unreinforced concrete beam of specified size and span considering concrete to be homogeneous. In absence of the test, the flexural strength of concrete may be taken as 8. Why does cube specimen indicate more strength in comparison to cylindrical specimen? Explain. In case of cube the interface shear developed between machine platen and the specimen influences the whole specimen and almost the whole specimen is covered under restraining effect. In case of cylinder the central portion is unprotected and failure starts in this portion much earlier. Non destructive testing allows repeated testing and testing on actual structure. But as the specimen in this case is not taken to destruction the strength parameter can not be directly measured from this method. Hence some other Physical/Mechanical parameter is measured and then this parameter is linked with strength parameter. So this is an indirect way of measurent of strength. However this testing makes possible a study of the variation in properties with time. As this is indirect way of measurement of strength, it requires more judgement, experience and skill.

9. How would you determine tensile strength? Write factors affecting tensile strength. Flexure tensile strength is higher than direct tensile strength because

Why packing material is interposed between machine plate and cylinder while carrying out split test? Due to some inherent difficulties the tensile strength of the concrete cannot be measured directly. Firstly, it is very difficult to innovate a gripping device which will not introduce secondary stresses along with local stress concentration. Secondly, it is impossible to avoid eccentricity of loading due to non coincidence of specimen axis and load axis which will alter the stress pattern in the specimen. The third problem encountered is that the specimen generally fails near the end. This problem is generally overcome by reducing the cross-sectional area of the central portion of the test specimen. However, some attempts have been made in which steel plates are glued with epoxies to the ends of test specimen to facilitate direct pulling but without much success. Also all direct tension test methods require expensive Universal Testing Machine. Due to all these reasons tensile strength is generally not determined by applying direct tension. Loading rate in case of i) Cube test is 14 N/mm2/min ii) Beam test is 4 kN/min for beam size of 150 x 150 x 750 mm and 1.8 kN/min for 100 x 100 x 500 mm specimens. iii) Cylinder test is 1.2 N/mm2/min to 2.4 N/mm2/min What are the basic differences between Destructive Testing and Nondestructive testing? Under what circumstances each of them is used? In destructive testing the samples are taken separately from the manufactured concrete placed, cast, cured and tested separately simulating as far as possible the site conditions in the laboratory. The specimen even may not be tested as cast position though the structure will primarily loaded as cast position. Except that specimen as also the structure is made from an concrete, their placement, casting, compacting, curing and loading conditions are different, However as the specimen is taken to destruction, the destructive testing gives intrinsic strength of concrete. -----------------------------------The tensile strength of concrete is generally ignored in the ultimate limit state design, but is used in the serviceability limit state to determine cracking criteria, which in turn influences deflections. It is used in the design of liquid-containing structures where cracking is a major consideration. The tensile strength relates to the maximum stress which concrete can withstand when subjected to uniaxial tension. The tensile strength does not bear a constant relation to the compressive strength, but is approximately 10% of the compressive strength.