Testing the Effects of Sample and Grain Sizes on Mechanical Properties of Concrete
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 30, Issue 5
Abstract
Concrete specimens used in this study as artificial rock samples were created to investigate the effects of grain size and specimen size on the mechanical properties of cementitious material. For this purpose, three concrete blocks were produced in which grain sizes of 12, 20, and 25 mm were used. The cylindrical specimens of diameter 56, 68, 72, and 94 mm were prepared. Nine concrete beams were created to determine the fracture toughness of the specimens. Results showed that enhancement in the uniaxial compressive strength of the specimens with diameter 56, 68, and 72 mm was monotonic as a result of the increased grain size, whereas it took a monotonic but decreasing trend in those 94 mm in diameter. Moreover, the results of bending tests indicated that fracture toughness and toughness factor increased with increasing grain size from 12 to 20 mm, whereas fracture toughness was found to decrease slightly when grain size increased from 20 to 25 mm. The findings presented here suggest that the SEL-I model predicted robust increases in strength with increasing size in specimens with a grain size of 12 mm, resulting in a fit of good quality for a grain size of 12 mm (), whereas the coefficients of determination of and were reasonably obtained for specimens with grain sizes of 20 and 25 mm, respectively. Moreover, tensile strength decreased monotonically with increasing length-to-diameter ratio, whereas an opposite trend was observed with increasing grain size.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank to Consulting Engineers of Azmouneh Foulad Co. and their employees for their support. The authors also wish to express sincere appreciation to Mr. Ebrahimi for his help during laboratory work.
References
Adey, R. A., and Pusch, R. (1999). “Scale dependency in rock strength.” Eng. Geol., 53(3–4), 251–258.
Alkilicgil, C. (2006). “Development of new method for model I fracture toughness test on disk type rock specimens.” M.Sc. thesis, Middle East Technical Univ., Ankara, Turkey.
ASTM. (1984). “Standard test method for compressive strength of cylindrical concrete specimens.” ASTM C39-83b, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2002). “Standard test method for flexural strength of concrete (using simple beam with third-point loading).” ASTM C78-02, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2003). “Standard specification for concrete aggregates.” ASTM C33-03, Philadelphia.
Bazant, Z. P. (1984). “Size effect in blunt fracture: Concrete, rock, metal.” J. Eng. Mech., 518–535.
Bazant, Z. P. (2004). “Scaling theory for quasibrittle structural failure.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 101(37), 13400–13407.
Bazant, Z. P., Lin, F. B., and Lippmann, H. (1993). “Fracture energy release and size effect in borehole breakout.” Int. J. Numer. Anal. Methods Geomech., 17(1), 1–14.
Bazant, Z. P., and Oh, B. H. (1983). “Crack band theory for fracture of concrete.” Mater. Struct., 16(3), 155–177.
Bazant, Z. P., and Pang, S. D. (2007). “Activation energy based extreme value statistics and size effect in brittle and quasibrittle fracture.” J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 55(1), 91–131.
Bazant, Z. P., and Planas, J. (1998). Fracture and size effect in concrete and other quasibrittle materials, CRC Press, London.
Bazant, Z. P., and Yu, Q. (2009). “Universal size effect law and effect of crack depth on quasi-brittle structure strength.” J. Eng. Mech., 78–84.
Bieniawski, Z. T. (1968). “The effect of specimen size on the compressive strength of coal.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 5(4), 325–335.
Broek, D. (1984). Elementary engineering fracture mechanics, 3rd Ed., Springer, Berlin.
Brook, N. (1985). “The equivalent core diameter method of size and shape correction in point load testing.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr., 22(2), 61–70.
Brown, E. T. (1981). Rock characterization testing and monitoring, ISRM suggested methods, Pergamon Press, Oxford, U.K., 111–116.
Carpinteri, A. (1994). “Fractal nature of material microstructure and size effects on apparent mechanical properties.” Mech. Mater., 18(2), 89–101.
Carpinteri, A., Chiaia, B., and Ferro, G. (1995). “Size effects on nominal tensile strength of concrete structures: Multifractality of material ligaments and dimensional transition from order to disorder.” Mater. Struct., 28(6), 311–317.
Carpinteri, A., and Mainardi, F. (1997). Fractals and fractional calculus in continuum mechanics, Springer, New York.
Chen, B., and Liu, J. (2004). “Effect of aggregate on the fracture behavior of high strength concrete.” Constr. Build. Mater., 18(8), 585–590.
Darlington, W. J., and Ranjith, P. G. (2011). “The effect of specimen size on strength and other properties in laboratory testing of rock and rock-like cementitious brittle materials.” Rock Mech. Rock Eng., 44(5), 513–529.
Diederichs, M. S., and Kaiser, P. K. (1999). “Tensile strength and abutment relaxation as failure control mechanisms in underground excavation.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 36(1), 69–96.
Eberhardt, E., Stimpson, B., and Stead, D. (1999). “Effects of grain size on the initiation and propagation thresholds of stress-induced brittle fractures.” Rock Mech. Rock Eng., 32(2), 81–99.
Elices, M., and Rocco, C. G. (2008). “Effect of aggregate size on the fracture and mechanical properties of a simple concrete.” Eng. Fract. Mech., 75(13), 3839–3851.
Fredrich, J. T., Evans, B., and Wong, T. F. (1990). “Effect of grain size on brittle and semibrittle strength: Implications for micromechanical modeling of failure in compression.” J. Geophys. Res., 95(B7), 10907–10920.
Gokhale, K. V., and Rao, D. M. (1981). Experiments in engineering geology, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi, India.
Griffith, A. A. (1921). “The phenomena of rupture and flow in solids.” Philos. Trans. Royal Soc. London, 221A(582–593), 163–198.
Griffith, A. A. (1924). “The theory of rupture.” Proc., 1st Int. Congress of Applied Mechanics, Delft, Netherlands, 55–63.
Haimson, B. C., and Cornet, F. H. (2003). “ISRM suggested methods for rock stress estimation. 3: Hydraulic fracturing (HF) and/or hydraulic testing of pre-existing fractures (HTPF).” Int. J. Rock. Mech. Min. Sci., 40(7–8), 1011–1020.
Hatroz, Y. H., and Palchik, V. (1997). “The influence of grain size and porosity on crack initiation stress and critical flaw length in dolomites.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 34(5), 805–816.
Hawkins, A. B. (1998). “Aspects of rock strength.” Bull. Eng. Geol. Environ., 57(1), 17–30.
Hodgson, K., and Cook, N. G. W. (1970). “The effects of size and stress gradient on the strength of rock.” Proc., 2nd Congress of the Int. Society of Rock Mechanics, Belgrade, Serbia, 3–5.
Hoek, E., and Brown, E. T. (1990). Underground excavations in rock, 1st Ed., Spon Press, London.
ISRM (International Society for Rock Mechanics). (1978). “Suggested methods for determining tensile strength of rock materials.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr., 15(3), 99–103.
Jackson, R., and Lau, J. (1990). “The effect on specimen size on the laboratory mechanical properties on the LAC DU Bonnet grey granite.” Proc., 1st Int. Workshop on Scale Effects in Rock Masses, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 165–174.
JSCE (Japan Society of Civil Engineers). (1984). “Method of tests for flexural strength and flexural toughness of steel fiber reinforced concrete.” JSCE-SF4, Tokyo, 58–61.
Koifman, M. I. (1969). “Investigation of the effect of specimen dimensions and anisotropy on the strength of some coals in Donets and Kuznetsk Basin.” Mechanical properties of rocks, Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Israel, 118–129.
Kozul, R., and Darwin, D. (1997). “Effects of aggregate type, size and content on concrete strength and fracture toughness.”, Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
Li, L., Lee, P., Tsui, Y., Tham, L. G., and Tang, C. (2003). “Failure process of granite.” Int. J. Geomech., 84–98.
Masoumi, H., Saydam, S., and Hagan, P. C. (2015). “Unified size-effect law for intact rock.” Int. J. Geomech., 1–15.
Meddah, M. S., Zitouni, S., and Belaabes, S. (2010). “Effect of content and particle size distribution of coarse aggregate on the compressive strength of concrete.” Constr. Build. Mater., 24(4), 505–512.
Mogi, K. (1962). “The influence of dimensions of specimens on the fracture strength of rocks.” Bull. Earth Res. Inst., 40(1), 175–185.
Mogi, K. (2007). Experimental rock mechanics, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Moseley, M. D., Ojrovic, R. P., and Petroski, H. J. (1987). “Investigated the influence of aggregate size on fracture toughness of concrete.” Theor. Appl. Fract. Mech., 7(3), 207–210.
Myer, L. R., Kemeny, J. M., Zheng, Z., Suarex, R., Ewy, R. T., and Cook, G. W. (1992). “Extensile cracking in porous rock under differential compressive stress.” Appl. Mech. Rev., 45(8), 263–280.
Neville, A. M. (1966). “A general relation for strengths of concrete specimens of different shapes and sizes.” ACI J. Proc., 63(10), 1095–1109.
Olsson, W. A. (1974). “Grain size dependence of yield stress in marble.” J. Geophys. Res., 79(32), 4859–4862.
Otsuka, K., and Date, H. (2000). “Fracture process zone in concrete tension specimens.” Eng. Frac. Mech., 65(2), 111–131.
Pratt, H. R., Black, A. D., Brown, W. S., and Brace, W. F. (1972). “The effect of specimen size on the mechanical properties of unjointed diorite.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 9(4), 513–516.
Pretorius, J. P. G., and Se, M. (1972). “Weakness correlation and the size effect in rock strength tests.” J. S. Afr. Inst. Min. Metall., 72(12), 322–327.
Sabnis, G. M., and Mirza, S. M. (1979). “Size effects in model concretes?” J. Struct. Div., 105(6), 1007–1020.
Saouma, V. E., Broz, J. J., Bruhwiler, E., and Boggs, H. L. (1991). “Effect of aggregate and specimen size on fracture properties of dam concrete.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 204–218.
Sim, J., Yang, K., and Jeon, J. (2013). “Influence of aggregate size on the compressive size effect according to different concrete types.” Constr. Build. Mater., 44(2), 716–725.
Singh, S. K. (1988). “Relationship among fatigue strength, mean grain size and compressive strength of a rock.” Rock Mech. Rock Eng., 21(4), 271–276.
Stacey, T. R. (1981). “A simple extension strain criterion for fracture of brittle rock.” Int. J. Frac., 18(6), 469–474.
Sukontasukkul, P. (2004). “Toughness evaluation of steel and polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete beams under bending.” Int. J. Sci. Tech., 9(3), 35–41.
Taponnier, P., and Brace, W. F. (1976). “Development of stress-induced microcracks in Westerly granite.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr., 13(4), 103–112.
Thuro, K., Plinninger, R. J., Zah, S., and Schutz, S. (2001). “Scale effect in rock strength properties. 1: Unconfined compressive test and Brazilian test.” ISRM Regional Symp. on Eurock: Rock Mechanics—A Challenge for Society, Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, Netherlands, 169–174.
Tuncay, E., and Hasancebi, N. (2009). “The effect of length to diameter ratio of test specimens on the uniaxial compressive strength of rock.” Bull. Eng. Geol. Environ., 68(4), 491–497.
Villeneuve, M. C., Diederichs, M. S., and Kaiser, P. K. (2012). “Effects of grain scale heterogeneity on rock strength and the chipping process.” Int. J. Geomech., 632–647.
Weibull, W. (1939). “A statistical theory of the strength of materials.” Proc., Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science, Vol. 151, Stockholm, Sweden, 1–45.
Whittaker, B. N., Singh, R. N., and Sun, G. (1992). Rock fracture mechanics—Principles, design and applications, Elsevier Science, New York.
Wong, H. C. R., Chau, K. T., and Wang, P. (1996). “Microcracking and grain size effect in Yuen Long marbles.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 33(5), 479–485.
Yoshinaka, R., Osada, M., Park, H., Sasaki, T., and Sasaki, K. (2008). “Practical determination of mechanical design parameters of intact rock considering scale effect.” Eng. Geol., 96(3–4), 173–186.
Zhan, L. (2004). Drilled shafts in rock analysis and design, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Zietlow, W. K., and Labuz, J. F. (1998). “Measurement of the intrinsic process zone in rock using acoustic emission.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 35(3), 291–299.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 30 • Issue 5 • May 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 22, 2017
Accepted: Oct 24, 2017
Published online: Feb 16, 2018
Published in print: May 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Jul 16, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.