Magazine of Concrete Research, 1999, 51, No.

3, June, 217±225

Scale effects in uniaxially compressed concrete

specimens
A. Carpinteri, G. Ferro and I. Monetto

The experimental nominal strength varies with specimen size. Such a phenomenon was investigated earlier by
Griffith and Weibull. Recently, several models have been proposed to predict strength reduction with size increase
in concrete structures. Confirmation was given of the proposed size effect laws, based on the extensive experimental
data that can be found in the literature. Direct tension, splitting, bending, shear and torsion tests have been mainly
considered. In particular, direct tension and bending have been recently analysed by Carpinteri et al. On the other
hand, the compressive behaviour of concrete, being very complex, has been disregarded. In this paper, which can
be considered as the continuation of the two previous ones published in this journal, where the multifractal scaling
law was used to explain the scale effects on flexural and tensile strength, scale effects on the compressive strength
of concrete specimens are analysed. The failure mode of compressed concrete specimens can be considered as
resulting from local tensile mechanisms, or from a combination of tensile and shear mechanisms, according to the
specimen geometry. It is thus possible to interpret some experimental investigations reported in the literature
through the multifractal scaling law as well as the Bazant's size effect law, where a tensile failure mechanism is
assumed. A comparison between the two best-fit methods is presented. From the interpretation of the experimental
results, a criterion to determine the specimen dimension minimizing the size effects is also proposed.

on the size effect in compression dates back to the

Introduction
The experimental results show that the quasi-brittle
materials, like concrete, rocks or ceramics, exhibit a
dependence of the nominal stress at the ultimate load
on the specimen size. Fracture mechanics has been
used to study this phenomenon, called the scale effect,
since it cannot be explained by the classical continuum
mechanics theories, like elasticity or plasticity.
1
Griffith, in the case of glass filaments, assumed the
existence of inherent microcracks of a size proportional
to the filament cross-sectional diameter as the basis of
2
the size effect on nominal tensile strength. Weibull
gave a purely statistical explanation of the same phe-
nomenon using the weakest link concept.
The effect of size on the mechanical properties of
concrete is important when small-scale models are used
to predict the behaviour of real structures. Early work
 Department of Structural Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso
Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
(MCR 679) Paper received 6 January 1998; last revised 27 July 1998;
accepted 28 October 1998
3
1920s. Gonnermann emphasized the size effects
through an extensive investigation into the compressive
strength of cylinders with a height/diameter ratio equal
to 2. After considering the influence of age, cement/
water ratio, relative consistency and maximum aggre-
gate size on the compressive strength, the author
concluded that the 6 3 12 inch (15:24 3 30:48 cm)
cylinder, generally used for compression tests of con-
crete, provides a satisfactory shape for the specimen in
order to obtain uniform results. On the other hand, in
order to evaluate the compressive strength of concrete,
the British Standard 1881 Part 108 suggests using
cubes of nominal size 100 mm for concretes with
aggregates having a nominal size not exceeding
20 mm, and cubes of size 150 mm for concretes with
aggregates not exceeding 40 mm. In addition, the UNI
Standard 6130 Part 1 provides cubes of nominal size
related to the maximum aggregate size as reported in
Table 1.
In recent years, several models have been proposed
to predict tensile strength reduction with size increase
in concrete structures. The assumption of multifractal-
ity for the damaged material microstructure represents
217

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 Carpinteri et al.
Table 1. Standard sizes of concrete cubes depending on maxi-
mum aggregate size as prescribed by UNI 6130 Part 1
Maximum aggregate size 16 16 ÿ 31´5 31´5 ÿ 63 63 ÿ 125 .125
d max : mm
Standard cube size 100 150 200 250
d: mm
the basis for the multifractal scaling law (MFSL) pro-
4
posed by Carpinteri, in contrast to the size effect law
5
(SEL) of Bazant. The MFSL predicts an infinite ten-
sile strength for size scale tending to zero, according to
the Griffith results, whereas an asymptotic trend to-
wards the macroscopic value of the tensile strength is
depicted for very large specimens. On the contrary, the
SEL represents a gradual transition from the classical
strength criterion (small specimens) to the linear elastic
fracture mechanics (LEFM) criterion (large specimens),
and is effective only in the presence of homothetic
6 10
initial cracks or notches. Kim and Eo proposed a
modified SEL which takes into account the variation of
the crack length during the loading path. With the
modified law, the size effect becomes insignificant for
both very small and very large structures. Several ver-
ifications were made of the proposed size effect laws
through the extensive experimental work reported in
the literature. Direct tension, splitting, bending, shear,
torsion and eccentric compression tests have been con-
7±9
sidered. On the other hand, in spite of the pioneering
investigations by Gonnermann, a systematic survey of
the failure behaviour in uniaxial compression is not yet
available. In particular, the compression test is one of
the most important and used tests to evaluate the mech-
anical properties of concrete. The dependence of the
nominal compressive strength on the specimen size,
playing a fundamental role in structural design for real
structures, should be discussed.
Load
70%
Displacement
(a)
Fig. 1. Experimental evidence in a uniaxial compression test: (a) load±displacement diagram; (b) development of radial
pressures close to the specimen ends due to friction
218
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The aim of this paper is to consider the experimental
test results reported in the literature, to examine differ-
ent scaling laws and to establish their ability to predict
compressive failure.
300
Failure mechanisms
Concrete can be considered as a highly heteroge-
neous material because of its composite structure. Var-
ious aspects of the behaviour of concrete elements at
the rupture limit are explained by this heterogeneity.
Coarse aggregates embedded in the matrix greatly
affect the stress and strain fields, inducing stress con-
centrations and strain localizations. Furthermore, the
interfaces between coarse aggregates and matrix are
zones of very high porosity. Therefore, it follows that
interface bond microcracks exist in concrete before the
load is applied. Experimental investigations have shown
how the nature of the stress±strain curve is related to
these internal bond cracks. At about 70% of the ulti-
mate load, the bond cracks begin to increase in length;
the load±displacement curve deviates from linearity
(Fig. 1(a)).
Because of friction, some radial compressive stresses
develop close to the end faces of a compressed speci-
men. Before the beginning of any cracking in these end
zones, the central portion of the specimen undergoes
extensive cracking. When the microcrack density in the
central region becomes large enough, the cracks link up
to form one or more macrocracks which deviate from
the hourglass-shaped region, where the lateral pressure
keeps the vertical crack density rather low (Fig. 1(b)).
11
Paul first related the fracture mode along an obli-
que plane, observed in some compression specimens, to
the radial compressive stresses induced by friction at
the end faces, which are in direct contact with the
platens of the testing machine.
P (applied load)
(friction) Q Low microcrack
density zone
Regions under
radial pressure
High microcrack
density zone
Macrocrack
pattern
P
(b)
Magazine of Concrete Research, 1999, 51, No. 3

12
More recently, Kotsovos investigated the effects of
the testing techniques on the behaviour of plain con-
crete elements, under increasing uniaxial compressive
load. He found a pronounced dependence. Similar re-
sults on cubes and prisms with varying height and
constant cross-sectional area were reported by van
13
Mier. The softening branch of the load±displacement
curve is shown to be a characteristic of the whole
structure rather than a consequence of the material
constitutive behaviour. The experimental results re-
vealed that failure occurs in a very localized zone as a
shear or axial cleavage fracture. The phenomenon is
more or less evident according to the specimen size, as
14
observed by Jansen and Shah, where the concept of
localization during the post-peak response as a cause of
possible catastrophic snap-back instabilities is analysed
in detail. The same trend for the post-peak response
15
was also found by Carpinteri and Ferro in tensile
tests. The peak load and the structural response appear
to be related not only to the material, but also the
dimension of the tested samples.
16
Neville related to the strengths of concrete speci-
mens (cylinders, cubes and prisms) to one another by
simple expressions in terms of volume, height and
maximum lateral dimension of the specimen. Desayi
17
and Viswanatha observed that the concrete fails under
a load less than that of its ultimate strength as given by
a short-time compression for load sustained for a suffi-
18
ciently long time. Tokyay and Ozdemir observed for
a small specimen size a significantly low apparent
strength when compared with those of standard speci-
mens and they attributed this phenomenon to the `wall
effect', these specimens having a high lateral surface
19
area to volume ratio. Muller and Hilsdorf posed the
question of whether the scatter of test results on con-
crete is caused by the test procedure or by the material
itself.
In conclusion, three aspects seem to influence the
concrete failure in compression:
(a) the type of contact, depending on the utilized
platens;
(b) the element shape, defined in terms of the ratio
between the height h of the specimen and the
characteristic size d of its cross-section;
(c) the characteristic specimen size scale d.
In fact, friction affects the stress field, inducing ra-
dial compressive stresses close to the ends; the higher
the ratio h=d, the more rapidly these effects vanish far
from the ends. For an essentially homogeneous state of
stress, failure occurs as splitting along axial planes. On
the other hand, at the interface between regions charac-
terized by different crack densities, an oblique shear
failure is expected (Fig. 1(b)).
Finally, it is worthwhile mentioning a new physical
20
approach to the problem proposed by Rossi et al. in
order to explore the possibilities of concrete behaviour
numerical modelling.
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Scale effects in compressed concrete specimens
Scale dependence of nominal compressive
strength
In elasticity and plasticity, geometrically similar
structures behave in the same way as the strain energy
release occurs in the volume. On the contrary, a global
scale-dependent behaviour can be explained in the
framework of LEFM, which contemplates energy dis-
sipation over fracture surfaces.
As is well known, the nominal stress ó N at failure
varies as d ÿ1=2 for all the LEFM solutions, so that 1=2
turns out to be the slope of the strength versus size
decrease in a bilogarithmic diagram. According to
21
Carpinteri, the most dangerous defect proves to be of
a size proportional to the structural dimension and this
corresponds to very disordered materials (presenting a
considerable dispersion in the statistical microcrack
size distribution). In the case of less random materials,
the slope is lower than the absolute value of the power
of the LEFM stress singularity and vanishes for per-
fectly ordered materials. Slope values higher than 1=2
represent such a high degree of disorder that it cannot
be found in real materials.
The internal nature of a structured material can
be taken into account by introducing a more complex
fractal model where the self-similarity property is
4,22
extended to the whole defect population. The resist-
ing section of a disordered material at the peak load
could be represented as a fractal domain of dimension
á ˆ 2 ÿ d ó (with 1 , á < 2 and 0 < d ó , 1), where
the dimensional decrement d ó may be due to the pre-
sence of cracks and voids that weaken the ligament
(Fig. 2). In fact, if we consider a sequence of scales of
observation, it is possible to write
íPu ˆ ó 0 A0 ˆ ó 1 A1 ˆ ó 2 A2 ˆ ::::::::: ˆ ó nÿ1 A nÿ1
ˆ ó n A n ˆ :::::: ˆ ó 1 A1 (1)
íPu being the equivalent lateral tensile load due to
transversal expansion. The first scale of observation
could be considered as the macroscopic one, with
ó 0 A0 ˆ ó N A, where A is the nominal resisting section.
On the other hand, the asymptotic scale of observation
could be considered as the microscopic one, with
ó 1 A1 ˆ ó  A , where A is the measure of the fractal
set that represents the net resisting section, and ó  has
the physical dimension [F][L]2ÿd ó and represents the
renormalized strength. Equating the first and last mem-
ber of equation (1) and considering a square cross-
section of side d, we can write
ó ˆ ó  (A =A) ˆ ó  (d 2ÿd ó =d 2 ),
N (2)
from which a monofractal scaling behaviour can be
derived (Fig. 3). This behaviour does not adequately
reproduce the experimental results. A vanishing nom-
inal compressive strength would be predicted for the
largest sizes, in spite of an asymptotic finite value of
ó N revealed by the tests.
219
 Carpinteri et al.

σ0 5 σN σ1 σ2 σ3 σ*

Pu

α52 α 5 2 2 dσ

A0 A1 A2 A3 A*

Pu
Microcrack array
(lacunar fractality)

Fig. 2. Topological hypothesis for the resisting cross-section at the peak load

log σ N It is worth noting that in direct tension tests the

ligament can be clearly defined; on the other hand, in
uniaxially compressed specimens the pseudo-ligament
changes with respect to the specimen shape. Fig. 4
qualitatively shows the transition from crushing (hori-
zontal ligament) to splitting (vertical ligament).
dσ
1
Multifractal scaling law for nominal
compressive strength
As stated in the previous section, in the case of a
log d heterogeneous material like concrete, the mechanical
properties are strictly connected with the considered
Fig. 3. Scale effects according to the monofractal assumption scale of observation. For larger scales, the influence of

h
h d d
d

d d d

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 4. Pseudo-ligaments for uniaxially compressed specimens: (a) crushing failure; (b) oblique shear failure; (c) splitting
failure

220 Magazine of Concrete Research, 1999, 51, No. 3

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disorder progressively vanishes. At the macroscopic
level of real structures, the influence of disorder disap-
pears and a localized fracture develops. Therefore, it
appears appropriate to deal with a continuous variation
of the fractal dimension against the observation scale
length.
On the basis of these considerations, it is possible to
23
extrapolate the MFSL proposed by Carpinteri et al. to
the problem of the scale effects of uniaxially com-
pressed concrete specimens. The analytical expression
of the MFSL can be given by (Fig. 5)
r
lch
óN ˆ fc 1 ‡
d
where ó N is the nominal compressive strength. The
constants f c and lch represent the nominal compressive
strength of an infinitely large specimen and an internal
material length, respectively, and can be determined in
each case by means of a non-linear least-squares fitting
algorithm from the experimental results related to geo-
metrically similar specimens of various sizes.
The MFSL represents a gradual transition from
LEFM, which is supposed to govern the collapse me-
chanism of an unnotched material, when the character-
istic flaw size becomes comparable with the specimen
dimension, to limit analysis, which becomes consistent
when the disordered microstructure is homogenized at
the larger scales. The internal length lch represents the
abscissa of the intersection of the two asymptotes (Fig.
5). For structural sizes d smaller than lch , a strong size
effect is evident (fractal regime) and the disorder plays
a fundamental role. On the contrary, for structures with
characteristic size larger than lch , the influence of the
microstructural disorder vanishes and an asymptotic
value f c of the compressive strength can be obtained
(homogeneous regime). The ratio á ˆ lch =d max , be-
tween the characteristic length lch and the maximum
aggregate size d max , is the coefficient providing the
minimum specimen size to be adopted for the design of
real structures, in order to obtain a constant value of
the compressive strength. From the structural point of
view, the interaction between the external size d and
the characteristic length lch is responsible for the ex-
perimentally observed size effects on the compressive
strength.
log σN
Fra
cta
l re
LE gim
FM e
1/2
Homogeneous regime
1 LEFM
log f c
Limit analysis
log lch
Fig. 5. Scale effects according to the MFSL
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Scale effects in compressed concrete specimens
On the other hand, in the case of the SEL,5 a con-
stant asymptotic value of strength is reached for small
sizes (Fig. 6). The analytical expression of the SEL is
as follows:
â ft
óN ˆ p (4)
[1 ‡ (d=ë0 d max )]
where ó N is the nominal strength, f t a strength para-
meter, â and ë0 two empirical constants that can be
determined by fitting experimental data and d max the
maximum aggregate size.
5
Bazant obtained his formulation by referring to ini-
tially notched specimens and supposing that the notch
(3) size is scaled proportionally to the structural size.
When the SEL is applied to unnotched specimens, this
hypothesis fails and a too severe strength reduction
down to zero is expected for very large specimens,
which is absurd from the physical point of view.
Interpretation of the experimental results
The MFSL is used herein to analyse the scale effects
in uniaxially compressed concrete specimens and to
interpret some experimental results. A comparison with
the SEL is also made in terms of the correlation coeffi-
cient R, quantifying the error of the non-linear fitting
performed by means of the Levenberg±Marquardt
method. The results obtained by statistical analyses
performed with MFSL and SEL are summarized in
Table 2.
A great amount of experimental research on uniaxial
compressive strength has been carried out, although
few test results spanning over sufficiently large scale
ranges are available. A scale range of one order of
7
magnitude should be necessary to analyse the effective
trend in the bilogarithmic plane ó N versus d, where
MFSL and SEL show opposite trends. When the scale
range is less than 1 : 10, the two laws present the same
tangential slope in correspondence with the experimen-
tal data range, but no information on the right asymp-
tote (the most important feature for design) can be
obtained.
The largest scale range on cylinders was presented
by Blanks and McNamara at the Bureau of Reclama-
log σN
Limit analysis
1
1/2
log d
log d
Fig. 6. Scale effects according to the SEL
221
 Carpinteri et al.

Table 2. Results obtained by statistical analyses performed with MFSL and SEL
Authors Specimens Scale range d max : mm R (MFSL) R (SEL) f c : MPa lch : mm á ˆ lch =d max
1:6 38´10 0´958 0´802 21´65 92´5 2´43
24
Blanks and McNamara Cylinders (h=d ˆ 2) 1 : 12 19´05 0´943 0´934 22´29 34´5 1´81

1:9 9´52 0´981 0´892 22´70 32´2 3´38

25
Jishan and Xixi Cubes 1:4 d=3 0´975 0´992 18´41 101´8 2´20

Prisms (h=d ˆ 3) 1:3 d=3 0´932 0´970 14´95 241´2 4´20

6´00 0´993 0´753 20´55 17´8 2´97

26
Bocca and Carpinteri Cylinders (h=d ˆ 1) 1:2 8´00 0´977 0´992 19´28 59´7 7´46

14´00 0´906 0´950 26´44 33´2 2´37

24
tion in the USA. Different mixtures obtained by sim-
ply varying the maximum size d max of the coarse
aggregate were tested for various sizes of h=d ˆ 2
cylinders, within reasonable limits of the ratio d=d max .
24
From the reference, only three different concrete mix-
tures have been considered (termed B-8, B-9 and B-
10). The considered mixture data, the geometrical spe-
cimen sizes and the relative nominal compressive peak
stress ó c are reported in Table 3 for each specimen.
The results concern the three different mixtures, for
cylinders characterized by a ratio between the length h
and the diameter d equal to 2 and with the scale ranges
of 1 : 6, 1 : 12 and 1 : 9. In the case of the B-8 mixture,
the smallest specimen is not considered in the present
analysis, its size being smaller than three times the
maximum aggregate size. The corresponding diagrams
in the bilogarithmic ó N versus d plane (Figs 7±9), with
the correlation coefficients related to the MFSL and to
the SEL, show that the former is in good agreement
with the experimental data. The opposite trends of the
two curves are evident outside the range of the experi-
mental data. The MFSL parameters lch and f c, charac-
teristic internal length and compressive strength for
d ! 1, respectively, are reported in Table 2. From
these values, compared with the experimental ones in
Table 3, the following considerations can be extrapo-
lated:
(a) The values of á ˆ lch =d max are of the same order
of magnitude between 1´8 and 3´4.

Table 3. Concrete mix data, geometrical specimen sizes and nominal compressive peak stresses for the tests by Blanks and
24
McNamara.
Mix data Cylinders h=d ˆ 2 Asymptotic strength f c
No. w=c d max : mm Scale range d: mm d=d max ó c : MPa f c : MPa ó c= f c: %
(76´2) 2 (25´17) (14´0)
152´4 4 27´92 22´5
203´2 5 25´72 15´8
B-8 0´53 38´10 1:6 304´8 8 24´75 21´65 12´5
457´2 12 22´89 5´4
609´6 16 23´44 7´6
914´4 24 23´30 7´1
50´8 3 27´99 20´4
76´2 4 27´72 19´6
152´4 8 25´86 13´8
B-9 0´55 19´05 1 : 12 203´2 11 23´92 22´29 6´8
304´8 16 23´30 4´3
457´2 24 23´17 3´8
609´6 32 22´13 ÿ0´7
50´8 5 29´03 21´8
76´2 8 27´10 16´2
B-10 0´54 9´52 1:9 152´4 16 24´48 22´70 7´3
203´2 21 24´89 8´8
304´8 32 24´34 6´7
457´2 48 23´03 1´4

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 Scale effects in compressed concrete specimens

1.60 (b) If we consider the strength of the specimen with

MFSL
d  10d max , an increase of about 10% with re-
R 5 0.958 h/ d 5 2
spect to f c is obtained.
1.50 h
(c) If we consider the relative specimen size
(d=d max ), the compressive strength of the largest
specimen is 7% higher than f c for B-8 (relative
log σN

1.40 SEL d
R 5 0.802
size equal to 24d max ) and 1´4% for B-10
(48d max ). From that, we could affirm that relative
specimen sizes less than 10 give compressive
1.30
Mix B-8 strengths overestimated with respect to the asy-
Scale range 1:6 mptotic value.
1.20
1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 The second example considered herein refers to the
25
log d
tests performed by Jishan and Xixi on cubic and
prismatic specimens, for small scale ranges (1 : 4 for
Fig. 7. Multifractal scaling behaviour in the bilogarithmic cubic specimens and 1 : 3 for prismatic ones), as re-
24
plane for the B-8 mixture tests ported in Table 4. The bilogarithmic MFSL and SEL
curves are reported in Figs 10 and 11. In these cases,
as noted earlier, the two curves approach around their
common tangent. It is symptomatic how, when the scale
range decreases, the two laws tend to overlap over the
1.50 experimental data, and in that interval they present the
MFSL h/d 5 2 same slope.
R 5 0.943 26
The compression tests by Bocca and Carpinteri,
1.45
h performed on h=d ˆ 1 cylinders and prepared with
SEL three different mixtures (indicated as BC-1, BC-2 and
R 5 0.934
BC-3 in Table 5) for a scale range of 1 : 2, are also
log σN

1.40
d considered. The curves resulting from the non-linear
fittings for BC-1 and BC-2 are shown in Figs 12 and
13. It is evident that the minimum scale range of these
1.35
Mix B-9 tests does not suggest any interesting information on
Scale range 1:12 the trend of the strength reduction over the entire scale
range.
1.30
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 It is worthwhile noting that for the tests shown in
log d Figs 7, 8, 10 and 11, the ratio between the minimum
characteristic dimension of the specimens and the
Fig. 8. Multifractal scaling behaviour in the bilogarithmic
24 maximum aggregate size (d=d max ) is less than or
plane for the B-9 mixture tests
equal to three. In these cases, the homogeneity

Table 4. Concrete mix data, geometrical specimen sizes and

1.60 nominal compressive peak stresses for the tests by Jishan and
25
MFSL Xixi
R 5 0.981
Mix data Cubes and prisms Asymptotic
1.50 h /d 5 2 h
strength f c
w=c d=d max Scale h=d d: mm ó c: f c: ó c= f c:
range MPa MPa %
log σN

SEL
1.40 d
R 5 0.892
70´7 28´41 35´2
100 26´04 29´3
1:4 1 150 24´60 18´41 25´2
1.30 200 23´40 21´3
Mix B-10
Scale range 1:9 250 21´66 15´0
0´63 3´0 300 20´41 9´8
1.20
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 100 26´67 43´9
log d
150 25´04 40´3
1:3 3 200 23´58 14´95 36´6
250 20´91 28´5
Fig. 9. Multifractal scaling behaviour in the bilogarithmic
24 300 18´80 20´5
plane for the B-10 mixture tests
Magazine of Concrete Research, 1998, 51, No. 3 223

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 Carpinteri et al.

1.60 1.50
MFSL
Mix BC-1
R 5 0.975 MFSL
1.50 1.46 Scale range 1:2
R 5 0.993

1.40 1.42

log σN
log σN

h /d 5 1 h
SEL
d
1.30 1.38 R 5 0.753
d

d
1.20 1.34
SEL
Scale range 1:4
R 5 0.992

1.10 1.30
1.00 1.40 1.80 2.20 2.60 3.00 1.00 1.40 1.80 2.20 2.60 3.00

log d log d

Fig. 10. Multifractal scaling behaviour in the bilogarithmic Fig. 12. Multifractal scaling behaviour in the bilogarithmic
25 26
plane for tests on cubes plane for the BC-1 mixture tests

1.60 1.60
MFSL
h/d 5 3
R 5 0.932 1.56 Mix BC-2
1.50 SEL Scale range 1:2
R 5 0.970 1.50

1.40 h 1.45
h /d 5 1
log σN

log σN

1.40
d MFSL
1.30
1.35 h R 5 0.977
d

1.20 1.30
SEL
Scale range 1:3 d
1.25 R 5 0.992
1.10
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 1.20
1.00 1.40 1.80 2.20 2.60 3.00
log d
log d
Fig. 11. Multifractal scaling behaviour in the bilogarithmic Fig. 13. Multifractal scaling behaviour in the bilogarithmic
25
plane for tests on prisms plane for the BC-2 mixture tests
26

Table 5. Concrete mix data, geometrical specimen sizes and latter is obtained with reference to initially notched
nominal compressive peak stresses for the tests by Bocca and specimens.
26
Carpinteri
Mix data Cylinders h=d ˆ 1 Asymptotic
strength f c
Conclusions
No. d max : Scale d: mm d=d max ó c : MPa f c: ó c= f c:
mm range MPa % The experimental behaviour of concrete in compres-
28´0 5 26´2 21´6 sion is usually very complex and highly dependent on
BC-1 6´0 1:2 40´0 7 24´9 20´55 17´5 several parameters. The failure mode of concrete speci-
60´0 10 23´3 11´8 mens can be considered as resulting from local tensile
28´0 4 33´7 42´8 mechanisms, or from a combination of tensile and
BC-2 8´0 1:2 40´0 5 31´3 19´28 38´4 shear mechanisms. Like the structural response, it de-
60´0 8 26´8 28´1
pends on the characteristic structural dimension and on
28´0 2 38´3 31´0 the boundary conditions, such as the presence of fric-
BC-3 14´0 1:2 40´0 3 37´4 26´44 29´3 tion forces acting between the end faces of the speci-
60´0 4 32´1 17´6
men and the loading machine platens.
For a fixed specimen geometry, the variation of the
assumption is not valid. The bond cracks cannot nominal compressive strength with the sample size is a
be regarded as diffused microcracks but they must be common trend in all the references found in the litera-
considered as initial macrocracks. Therefore, the size ture. This phenomenon plays a fundamental role in de-
effect trends should be closer to the SEL, because the termining the suitable sample size to be assumed by
224 Magazine of Concrete Research, 1999, 51, No. 3

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Standard Codes, in order to extrapolate the compressive
strength to be used in the design of real structures, which
are normally much larger than the laboratory specimens.
Based on the results obtained in this paper and
neglecting the possible important influences resulting
from the typical properties of two-phase systems (mod-
ulus of aggregate and matrix, brittleness of matrix, vol-
ume of matrix), the following can be stated:
(a) The considered SEL and MFSL, the only two
size effect laws available in the literature at the
moment, provide opposite predictions. The SEL,
theoretically based on an energy balance of simi-
lar initially notched specimens with notch size
proportional to the specimen dimension, predicts
that the very large structures do not resist any
load. On the other hand, the MFSL, based on a
topological hypothesis for the resisting section,
provides a finite value of strength for structural
sizes tending to infinity.
(b) From the application of the MFSL to the experi-
mental results, it is possible to affirm that the
asymptotic strength value for large sizes provided
by the MFSL is about 10% less than the value
obtained experimentally from the largest specimen
size. This gap should be reduced if the relative
specimen size (d=d max ) increases. For d  48d max
(Fig. 9) an overestimation of 1´4% appears. The
compressive strength obtained from specimens with
d  10d max is overestimated approximately by 10%
with respect to the asymptotic value f c .
(c) The suggestion for the Standard Codes that arises
from this research could be the following: the com-
pressive strength is to be measured from specimens
with a dimension greater than 10d max . In such a
case, a scale effect safety coefficient of 1´1 should
be adopted in the design of real structures.
Acknowledgements
The present research was carried out with the finan-
cial support of the Ministry of University and Scientific
Research (MURST), the National Research Council
(CNR) and the ECTMR Contract No. ERBFMRXCT
960062.
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225