Concrete Production Plant Variables Affecting Flexural Strength Relative to Compressive Strength
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 26, Issue 8
Abstract
Some project specifications allow the substitution of compressive strength for flexural strength testing for the quality control of projects in which flexural strength is the critical type of strength, such as for pavements. There are certain errors during the production of concrete and aggregate in which the use of compressive strength quality control testing may not be sufficiently sensitive to detect significant changes in flexural strength. A survey of concrete production operations revealed that numerous production errors (variables) commonly occur in practice. Thirteen of these plant production variables were examined for their effects on changes in compressive strength relative to flexural strength. Combining the results of the present study with data reported from the literature indicated that compressive strength may be less sensitive than flexural strength to changes in aggregate particle shape and texture, gradation, maximum aggregate size, aggregate source mineralogy, mineral filler/dust content, deleterious material, and possibly aggregate coatings and water-cementitious material ratio. Thus, under certain conditions, it may be unconservative to use compressive strength testing in lieu of flexural strength testing for quality control.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express their gratitude and sincere appreciation to Dr. V.N. Samaranayake for assistance with the statistical analysis of the data and to S.M. Lusher for overall assistance.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 26 • Issue 8 • August 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 5, 2013
Accepted: Mar 10, 2014
Published online: Apr 22, 2014
Published in print: Aug 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Sep 22, 2014
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