Material Properties

CHAPTER 3 1
Concrete in Uniaxial Compression
The designer needs to be knowledgeable about the properties of the concrete, the
prestressing steel, and the reinforcing bar used in construction of prestressed
concrete structures. This chapter will summarize those material properties which
are of particular importance to the designer.

The response of concrete in uniaxial

compression is usually determined by
loading a cylinder of concrete, 150 mm
in diameter and 300 mm long. The
standard loading rate is such that the
maximum stress is reached in 2 to 3
minutes.

For prestressed concrete applications, higher strength concrete is required

for the following reasons.
1) To sustain the high stresses at anchorage regions. 2
2) To have higher resistance in compression, tension, shear and bond.
3) To have higher stiffness for reduced deflection.
4) To have reduced shrinkage cracks.
Concrete in Uniaxial Compression
For the type of concrete usually used for
prestressed ( f c of 30MPa to 60MPa) the
relationship between longitudinal stress f c,
and the strain caused by this stress,  cf , is
reasonably accurately represented by the
simple parabola shown in figure and given
by equation.
fc  
 2 cf  ( cf ) 2
f c  c  c
The initial slope, Ect , of the parabolic stress-
strain curve, is given by: f c
Ect  2
 c
Ect  5500 f c (MPa unit)
For relatively low compressive stresses (say f c / f c  0.6 ) it is frequently accurate
enough to approximate the parabolic stress-strain relationship by a straight line and
take:
f c  Ect  cf 3
If we wish to find the strain caused by a certain stress:
 cf   (1  1  f c / f c ) ε‘ should be ε‘c
Cyclic Loading of Concrete

If the concrete is unloaded prior to

reaching its peak stress, the unloading
response will be approximately linear,
with a slope equal to about Ect .
Unloading after the peak results in
unloading and reloading lines which
are less stiff and demonstrate more
pronounced hysteresis. The envelope
curve to the cyclic loading response is
typically almost identical to the stress-
strain curve obtained from a single
continuous load application.
Concrete has a very substantial ability to resist many cycles of repeated loading.
Consequently the fatigue resistance of prestressed concrete structure will typically
be governed by the fatigue of the reinforcement rather than the fatigue of the
concrete.
4
Creep of Concrete
The stress-strain response of concrete
depends upon the rate of loading and the
time history of loading. If the stress is held
constant for some length of time the strain
increases, a phenomenon referred to as
creep. If the strain is held constant for some
length of time, the stress will decrease, a
phenomenon referred to as relaxation.
We will account for creep by using reduced
initial stiffness,Ec ,eff , to define the parabolic
stress-strain curve. That is, the strain at
which the stress peak will be increased when
dealing with long-term loads.
In a typical creep experiment, a stress is
applied to the concrete some days after the
concrete has been cast ( ti days) and is then
held constant over time. The strain that
occurs upon initial loading is called the
5
“elastic strain” while the additional strain
that develops with time is called “creep
strain”.
 Creep of Concrete
The ratio of creep strain to elastic strain t days after casting for concrete loaded ti days
after casting is called the creep coefficient,  (t , ti ).
H 0.118 (t  ti ) 0.6
 (t , ti )  3.5k (1.58  )ti
120 10  (t  ti ) 0.6
Where H is the relative humidity
in percent and k is a factor which
accounts for the influence of the
volume to surface ratio of the
member.

To calculate Ec ,eff , the following equation may be used:

Eci
Ec ,eff  Eci  Ect at time ti
1   (t , ti )
To calculate the strain t days after casting, we could use the following linear 6
approximation: f ci
 cf (t , ti ) 
Ec ,eff
 Example Calculation of Creep
The plain concrete prism was subjected to a compressive stress of 15 MPa 10 days
after casting the concrete at which time the concrete strength was 35 MPa. The prism
had been steam cured for 1 day. Estimate initial strain caused by the stress and
magnitude of this strain after the prism has been loaded for 100 days in an
environmental where the relative humidity was 70%.

The initial stiffness of the concrete:

Ect  5500 35  32540 MPa
The short term parabolic stress-strain curve
would peak at a compressive strain of:
 c  2(35) / 32540  2.15  103
Compressive stress of 15 Mpa would result in an initial compressive strain of:

 cf  2.15  10 3 (1  1  15c / 35c )  0.525  103

To estimate the long term strain we need to first calculate the creep coefficient. For
this calculation we need the volume/surface area ratio for the prism. 7
Volume 300  300  1200
  75 mm
Surface Area 4  300  1200
 Example Calculation of Creep

The correction factor for shape and size, k, is 0.69. The creep coefficient with an
effective age at initial loading of 7+9=16 days, is:
70 1000.6
 (116,16)  3.5  0.69(1.58  )16 0.118
 1.06
120 10  100 0.6

The reduced initial stiffness is:

32540
Ec ,eff   15800 MPa
1  1.06
The parabolic stress-strain relationship which includes the creep deformations would
therefore peak at a compressive strain of:

 c,eff  2  35 / 15800  4.43  103

The parabolic stress-strain relationship would predict that the total compressive strain
due to stress is:
 cf (116,16)  4.43  103 (1  1  15c / 35c )  1.08  103
If the approximate linear expression were used, then: 8

 cf (116,16)  15 / 15800  0.95  103

 Concrete in Uniaxial Tension

The stress-strain response of concrete in uniaxial

tension is nearly linear up to cracking and the
cracking occur at relatively low stresses. Because
it is difficult to test concrete in pure axial tension,
the cracking strength is usually determined from
an indirect test. The modulus of rapture, f r , is
determined from a bending test or the splitting
strength, f sp , is determined by splitting a concrete
cylinder with a line load.

9
 Shrinkage of Concrete

Unless kept under water or in air at 100% relative humidity, concrete loses moisture
with time and decrease in volume, a process known as shrinkage. The amount of
shrinkage depends strongly upon the composition of the concrete with the total
amount of water in the mix being especially important.

Approximate prediction of shrinkage strain:

Moist-cured
t
 sh   k s kh ( )0.51 103
35  t

Steam-cured t
 sh   k s kh ( )0.56  10 3
55  t Factor k h

t = time in days that concrete has

been exposed to drying
k s = factor for size
kh = factor for relative humidity
10
 Stress-Strain Response of Confined Concrete

Lateral confining pressures greatly increase the strength and stiffness of concrete
cylinders and dramatically increase the strain at which the peak stress is reached.
Based on a research, it was suggested that the peak compressive strength for confined
concrete, f c,con, be taken as:

f c,con  f c  4.1 f con

The very large increase in

energy absorbing capacity
provided by even small
confining pressure is useful in
increasing the ductility of
reinforced concrete.

11
 Reinforcement Properties

Prestressed concrete structures can be reinforced with prestressing tendons, deformed

reinforcing bars and welded wire fabric. The required characteristic of prestressing
tendons are summarized in tables.

12
Production of Seven-Wire Strand
The most commonly BASE MATERIAL
used type of prestressing
steel is seven-wire
strand. The process used
in manufacturing seven-
wire strand is PATENTING

summarized in figure.
As cans be seen two
different types of strand
are produced: stress-
relieved strand and COLD DRAWING

low-relaxation strand.

STRANDING

STRAIN
STRESS RELIEVING TEMPERING
13
Response of Seven-Wire
The cold-drawing and stranding operation
result in significant residual stresses in the
strand. These residual stresses cause the
stress-strain response of the strand to be
very rounded. Stress relieving removes
residual stresses and results in a strand
with a much higher proportional limit.
Strain tempering is even more effective in
improving the stress-strain characteristics
and has the additional advantage of
substantially reducing the time-dependent
losses due to relaxation of the strand.

Non-stress-relieved welded wire,

particularly for the smaller wire sizes,
may fail near the welded intersections
Stress-relieved wires are more ductile.
14
Stress-Strain Response of Reinforcement
The figure compares the stress-
strain response of three different
types of reinforcement. While all
reinforcements have essentially the
same initial stiffness, the strength of
the steels used for prestressing is
substantially greater than that used
for non-prestressed reinforcement.

Bilinear stress-strain response for non-

prestressed reinforcement:

f s  Es sf  f y

Approximate bilinear stress-strain

response for prestressed reinforcement: 15
f p  E p pf  f py
Relaxation of Prestressing Steel
The force required to hold a highly stressed steel tendon at a given elongation will
reduce with time, a phenomenon referred to as relaxation.

For low-relaxation strands:

fp log t  f p 
 1   0.55 
f pi 10  f py 

t = time under load
fp = stress in prestressed tendons
fpi = initial prestressing stress
fpy = yielding stress of tendons

• Negligible relaxation for f pi  0.55 f py

• Large part of relaxation occurs within the first few hours
• Temperature greatly influences the magnitude of relaxation
f
• Relaxation can be accounted by reduced stiffness E p ,eff  p E p 16
f pi