Technical Papers
Mar 26, 2024

Influence of Water Saturation on Dynamic Tensile and Compressive Behaviors of Concrete

Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 6

Abstract

This paper experimentally investigates the influence of saturation on dynamic behaviors of concrete under both tension and compression stress states. Two grades of concrete were saturated to 0%, 50%, and 100% by oven drying and water soaking procedures. Split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) tests, reaching the highest strain rate of about 170  s1, were carried out for dynamic compression. Dynamic splitting tensile tests were carried out by an Instron high-speed test machine, achieving the highest strain rate of about 40  s1. The test results show that concrete specimens with different saturation ratios are all strain rate-sensitive. Under tensile loading, the effect of free on viscosity is only found to affect concrete’s behavior when the strain rate is not very high. The strain rate sensitivity increases with water content when the strain rate is lower than about 3  s1. However, when the strain rate is greater than 3  s1, strain rate sensitivity of concretes with different saturations become similar. Under compressive loading, free water in pores reduces the rate effect because it increases the hydrostatic pressure inside the specimen and leads to hydraulic fracturing. The microcracks caused by the hydraulic fracturing effect in the specimen result in macroscopic strength degeneration.

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Data Availability Statement

All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from National Nature Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51938011 and 51908405.

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Go to Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36Issue 6June 2024

History

Received: Jul 4, 2023
Accepted: Nov 30, 2023
Published online: Mar 26, 2024
Published in print: Jun 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Aug 26, 2024

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Jian Cui, Ph.D. [email protected]
Associate Professor, Key Laboratory of Coast Civil Structural Safety of the Ministry of Education, Tianjin Univ., Tianjin 300072, China. Email: [email protected]
Yanchao Shi, Ph.D. [email protected]
Professor, Key Laboratory of Coast Civil Structural Safety of the Ministry of Education, Tianjin Univ., Tianjin 300072, China (corresponding author). Email: [email protected]
Graduate Student, School of Civil Engineering, Tianjin Univ., Tianjin 300072, China. Email: [email protected]
Xihong Zhang, Ph.D. [email protected]
Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Infrastructural Monitoring and Protection, School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Curtin Univ., Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Mei Li, Ph.D.
Lecturer, School of Civil Engineering, Suzhou Univ. of Science and Technology, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215011, China.
Xianglong Guan [email protected]
Ph.D. Student, School of Civil Engineering, Tianjin Univ., Tianjin 300072, China. Email: [email protected]

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