TECHNICAL NOTES

Empirical Stress-Strain Model for Unconfined High-Strength

Concrete under Uniaxial Compression
Zhao-Hui Lu1 and Yan-Gang Zhao, M.ASCE2

Abstract: In this note, a number of empirical models available in the literature of the complete stress-strain curve for unconfined
high-strength concrete under uniaxial compression are reviewed and investigated using the published experimental data. Based on the
investigations, a new empirical model with emphasis on the softening branch is proposed to generate the complete stress-strain relation-
ship for high-strength concrete. An application of the new empirical model to published experimental data on normal weight concretes
over a wide strength range demonstrates that the present model gives a good representation of the mean behavior of the actual stress-strain
response.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲MT.1943-5533.0000095
CE Database subject headings: Stress strain relations; High-strength concrete; Compression.
Author keywords: Stress-strain relations; High-strength concrete; Compression.

Introduction searchers for generating the complete stress-strain relationship for

The use of high-strength concrete 共HSC兲 in civil and building
engineering systems is increasing around the world because it
offers many advantages over conventional concrete. A complete
stress-strain curve for unconfined HSC subjected to uniaxial com-
pression is necessary for the nonlinear analysis of structural mem-
bers and as a basis for the derivation of design curves. Moreover,
it can serve as the basis for the stress-strain relationships of HSC
under a biaxial or triaxial state of stress due to the active or
passive constraints from surrounding concrete or structural mem-
bers. A considerable volume of experimental and theoretical re-
search has been conducted, and several empirical models have
been proposed in the past few decades 共e.g., Wang et al. 1978;
Tomaszewicz 1984; Carreira and Chu 1985; Dahl 1992; Hsu and
Hsu 1994; Wee et al. 1996; Van Gysel and Taerwe 1996; Kumar
2004兲. These models usually show good agreement with some
experiments, especially with the results used for the model devel-
opment, but there is uncertainty whether they can provide satis-
factory predictions or not in many other cases.
Therefore, the main objective of the present note is to evaluate
the applicability of the existing models proposed by various re-
1
Associate Professor, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture,
Central South Univ., 22 Shaoshannan Rd., Changsha 410075, China; for-
merly, JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dept. of Architecture, Kana-
gawa Univ., 3-27-1 Rokkakubashi, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama 221-8686,
Japan. E-mail: Lzh2076@hotmail.com
2
Professor, Dept. of Architecture and Building Engineering,
Kanagawa Univ., 3-27-1 Rokkakubashi, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama 221-
8686, Japan 共corresponding author兲. E-mail: Zhao@kanagawa-u.ac.jp
Note. This manuscript was submitted on August 14, 2008; approved
on March 4, 2010; published online on March 6, 2010. Discussion period
open until April 1, 2011; separate discussions must be submitted for
individual papers. This technical note is part of the Journal of Materials
in Civil Engineering, Vol. 22, No. 11, November 1, 2010. ©ASCE, ISSN
0899-1561/2010/11-1181–1186/$25.00.
HSC and to propose a new model that can give a good represen-
tation of the mean behavior of the actual stress-strain response.
Available experimental data of stress-strain curves for unconfined
HSC under uniaxial compression published in the literature are
used for this purpose.
Review and Assessment of Existing Empirical
Models
In general, existing empirical models of stress-strain relationships
for normal weight HSC can be divided into two categories ac-
cording to their expressional forms. One category is based on
equations suggested by Popovics 共1973兲 and the other category
uses a form of equations proposed by Sargin et al. 共1971兲, which
are, respectively, listed in Tables 1 and 2. In these models, se-
lected parameters were included in the stress-strain curves and
then they were calibrated using the test results 共Lokuge et al.
2005兲.
According to the definition of ␤ in Tomaszewicz’s 共1984兲 for-
mula, when f ⬘c ⬎ 85 MPa 共12.33 ksi兲, ␤ will be less than zero.
That is to say, the use of the Tomaszewicz’s formula is limited to
f ⬘c ⬍ 85 MPa 共12.33 ksi兲, which is apparently not useful because
nowadays HSC with higher compressive stress is available for
structural applications.
A set of experimental stress-strain curves has been used by
Wee et al. 共1996兲 to assess the empirical models proposed by
Hognestad 共1951兲, Wang et al. 共1978兲, Comité Euro-International
du Béton-Fédération Internationale de la Précontrainte 共CEB-FIP兲
共1993兲, and Carreira and Chu 共1985兲. It was found that for HSC
with compressive strength higher than 60 MPa 共8.70 ksi兲, the
equation proposed by Hognestad 共1951兲 is no longer applicable
and the computation involved in generating the stress-strain
curves using the model of Wang et al. 共1978兲 is rather tedious and
complex since two sets of coefficients are used, respectively, for

JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / NOVEMBER 2010 / 1181

Table 1. Stress-Strain Models for HSC Based on Popovics 共1973兲
Researchers Equations
Popovics 共1973兲 f c = f c⬘␤共␧ / ␧0兲 / 关␤ − 1 + 共␧ / ␧0兲 兴;
␤

␧0 = 735共f c⬘兲0.25 ⫻ 10−6; ␤ = 1.0+ 0.058f c⬘

Tomaszewicz 共1984兲 0 ⱕ ␧ ⱕ ␧0, f c = f c⬘␤共␧ / ␧0兲 / 关␤ − 1 + 共␧ / ␧0兲␤兴;
␧ ⬎ ␧0, f c = f c⬘␤共␧ / ␧0兲 / 关␤ − 1 + 共␧ / ␧0兲k␤兴;
␧0 = 700共f c⬘兲0.31 ⫻ 10−6; ␤ = 8.32/ 关8.32− 共f c⬘兲0.475兴; k = f c⬘ / 20
Carreira and Chu 共1985兲 f c = f c⬘␤共␧ / ␧0兲 / 关␤ − 1 + 共␧ / ␧0兲␤兴;
␤ = 1 / 关1 − 共f c⬘ / ␧0Eit兲兴; Eit = 0.073 6w1.51共f c⬘兲0.3; ␧0 = 共1 , 680+ 7.1f c⬘兲 ⫻ 10−6
Hsu and Hsu 共1994兲 0 ⱕ ␧ ⱕ ␧d, f c = nf c⬘␤共␧ / ␧0兲 / 关n␤ − 1 + 共␧ / ␧0兲n␤兴; ␤ = 共f c⬘ / 65.23兲3 + 2.59
For 0 ⱕ ␧ ⱕ ␧0, n = 1;
For ␧0 ⱕ ␧ ⱕ ␧d, n = 1 if 0 ⬍ f c⬘ ⬍ 62 MPa; n = 2 if 62ⱕ f c⬘ ⬍ 76 MPa;
n = 3 if 76ⱕ f c⬘ ⬍ 90 MPa; and n = 5 if f c⬘ ⱖ 90 MPa
␧ ⬎ ␧d, f c = 0.3f c⬘ exp关−0.8共␧ / ␧0 − ␧d / ␧0兲0.5兴
Wee et al. 共1996兲 0 ⱕ ␧ ⱕ ␧0, f c = f c⬘␤共␧ / ␧0兲 / 关␤ − 1 + 共␧ / ␧0兲␤兴;
␧ ⬎ ␧0, f c = k1 f c⬘␤共␧ / ␧0兲 / 关k1␤ − 1 + 共␧ / ␧0兲k2␤兴;
␧0 = 780共f c⬘兲1/4 ⫻ 10−6; Eit = 10, 200共f c⬘兲1/3;
␤ = 1 / 关1 − f c⬘ / 共␧0Eit兲兴; k1 = 共50/ f c⬘兲3 and k2 = 共50/ f c⬘兲1.3

Table 2. Stress-Strain Models for HSC Based on Sargin et al. 共1971兲

Researchers Equations
Sargin et al. 共1971兲 f c = f c⬘关A共␧ / ␧0兲 + 共D − 1兲共␧ / ␧0兲 兴 / 关1 + 共A − 2兲共␧ / ␧0兲 + D共␧ / ␧0兲2兴;
2

A = Eit␧0 / f c⬘; D = 0.65− 7.25f c⬘ ⫻ 10−3; Eit = 5975共f c⬘兲1/2; ␧0 = 0.0024

Wang et al. 共1978兲
Comité Euro-International du Béton-Fédération Internationale
de la Précontrainte 共CEB-FIP兲 共1993兲
Van Gysel and Taerwe 共1996兲
f c = f c⬘关A共␧ / ␧0兲 + B共␧ / ␧0兲2兴 / 关1 + C共␧ / ␧0兲 + D共␧ / ␧0兲2兴
共Two different sets of coefficients are used for the ascending and descending
branches兲
0 ⱕ ␧ ⱕ ␧max, f c = f c⬘关共Eit / E0兲共␧ / ␧0兲 − 共␧ / ␧0兲2兴 / 关1 + 共Eit / E0 − 2兲共␧ / ␧0兲0兴;
␧ ⬎ ␧max, f c = f c⬘兵关␰ / 共␧max / ␧0兲 − 2 / 共␧max / ␧0兲2兴共␧ / ␧0兲2 + 关4 / 共␧max / ␧0兲 − ␰兴共␧ / ␧0兲其;
␧max = ␧0兵关Eit / 共2E0兲 + 1兴 / 2 + 关Eit / 共2E0兲 + 1兴2 / 4 − 关1 / 2兴1/2其
␰ = 4关共␧max / ␧0兲2共Eit / E0 − 2兲 + 2共␧max / ␧0兲 − Eit / E0兴 / 关共␧max / ␧0兲共Eit / E0 − 2兲 + 1兴2
␧0 = 0.002 2; Eit = 21, 500␣E共f c⬘ / 10兲1/3
0 ⱕ ␧ ⱕ ␧max, f c = f c⬘关共Eit / E0兲共␧ / ␧0兲 − 共␧ / ␧0兲2兴 / 关1 + 共Eit / E0 − 2兲共␧ / ␧0兲兴
␧ ⬎ ␧max, f c = f c⬘ / 兵1 + 关共␧ / ␧0 − 1兲 / 共␧max / ␧0 − 1兲兴2其
␧max = ␧0兵关Eit / 共2E0兲 + 1兴 / 2 + 关Eit / 共2E0兲 + 1兴2 / 4 − 关1 / 2兴1/2其
Eit = 21, 500␣E共f c⬘ / 10兲1/3; ␧0 = 700共f c⬘兲0.31 ⫻ 10−6

Fig. 1. Comparisons of stress-strain curves generated by the model of Wee et al. 共1996兲 with experimental data of Wang et al. 共1978兲 and Hsu
and Hsu 共1994兲

1182 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / NOVEMBER 2010

Fig. 2. Comparisons of stress-strain curves generated by the models of Hsu and Hsu 共1994兲 and Van Gysel and Taerwe 共1996兲 with experimental
data of Wee et al. 共1996兲

the ascending and descending branches. It was also shown that
the Comité Euro-International du Béton-Fédération Internationale
de la Précontrainte 共CEB-FIP兲 共1993兲 model predicts too steep a
drop in the postpeak region of the curve for HSC and Carreira and
Chu’s model 共Carreira and Chu 1985兲 does not adequately repre-
sent the descending portion of the stress-strain curves of HSC for
a wide range of concrete strengths.
Based on the same test data, Wee et al. 共1996兲 proposed a
modification of Carreira and Chu’s 共1985兲 equation. The agree-
ment between the predictions of this improved equation and the
experiment data mentioned above is very good. However, there is
a discontinuity of the tangent at the peak stress. Furthermore, as
shown in Fig. 1, an application of this improved model to the
experimental data of Wang et al. 共1978兲 and Hsu and Hsu 共1994兲
demonstrates its inapplicability and limitation for modeling the
strain softening behavior of HSC.
In order to investigate the models of Hsu and Hsu 共1994兲 and
Van Gysel and Taerwe 共1996兲, the complete stress-strain curves of
HSC with compressive strength f ⬘c = 80 and 100 MPa 共11.60 and
14.50 ksi兲 generated by the two models are depicted in Fig. 2,
compared with the experimental curves obtained by Wee et al.
共1996兲. Fig. 2 reveals that:
1. Both of the models can give a good representation of the

Fig. 3. Illustration of quantitative comparison of the proposed model with Wee et al.’s model 共Wee et al. 1996兲 and Van Gysel and Taerwe’s
model 共Van Gysel and Taerwe 1996兲

JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / NOVEMBER 2010 / 1183

 Fig. 4. Verification of proposed model against test results of Wang et al. 共1978兲

ascending branch of the experimental stress-strain curves of
HSC. However, neither of them gives a good fit for the de-
scending part.
2. The residual strength of Van Gysel and Taerwe’s 共1996兲
model at high strains tends to zero, which is contrary to the
experimental observations.
3. The tangent is discontinuous at the point ed, which seems to
be a shortcoming of the Hsu and Hsu’s model 共Hsu and Hsu
1994兲.
In view of the foregoing, it is necessary to propose a new empiri-
cal model to represent the complete stress-strain curves for HSC.
New Proposal for Complete Stress-Strain Curve
of HSC in Compression
As aforementioned, Van Gysel and Taerwe’s 共1996兲 model can
give fairly good prediction for the ascending portion of the stress-
strain curves. On the other hand, in order to avoid the shortcom-
ing in the model of Wee et al. 共1996兲, i.e., discontinuity of the
tangent at the peak stress, similar to the model of Van Gysel and
Taerwe 共1996兲, two equations are proposed to describe the stress-
strain relationship for two ranges of concrete strains. For 0 ⱕ ␧
ⱕ ␧L, where ␧L = concrete strain corresponding to a stress value of
0.8 f ⬘c on the descending branch of the stress-strain curve
strain relationship include the concrete strength f ⬘c , the initial tan-
gent modulus Eit, and the strain at peak stress e0, and needless to
say, all of these parameters can be obtained experimentally.
Typical stress-strain curves of normal weight concrete with
compressive strength f ⬘c = 50, 80, 110, and 140 MPa 共7.25, 11.60,
15.95, and 20.31 ksi兲 generated using the proposed empirical
model are shown in Fig. 3, together with those of the models of
Wee et al. 共1996兲 and Van Gysel and Taerwe 共1996兲. One can see
from Fig. 3 that:
1. The ascending branches predicted by all the three models are
in close agreement with each other.
2. Compared with the model of Van Gysel and Taerwe 共1996兲,
the present model decreases the steepness of the descending
part of the stress-strain curve for HSC.
3. The discontinuity of the tangent at the peak stress in the
model of Wee et al. 共1996兲 becomes more apparent as the
concrete strength becomes larger, i.e., it is slightly weak in
the region just after the peak. The present model eliminates
such a shortcoming and provides smaller residual stress at
high strains when compared with the model of Wee et al.
共1996兲.
Verification of the Proposed Model
In order to verify the new empirical stress-strain model for un-

冋 册
confined HSC under uniaixal compression, the stress-strain
共Eit/E0兲共␧/␧0兲 − 共␧/␧0兲
2
curves generated by the proposed model are compared with the
f c = f ⬘c 共1兲
1 + 共Eit/E0 − 2兲共␧/␧0兲 published experimental data on normal weight concretes over a
wide strength range. Figs. 4–6, respectively, show the verification
in which

␧L = ␧0 冋冉 1 Eit 4
+
10 E0 5
+ 冊 冑冉 1 Eit 4
+
10 E0 5
冊 册 2
−
4
5
共2兲

and for ␧ ⬎ ␧L, a correction factor, ␭ is introduced in the model of

Van Gysel and Taerwe 共1996兲 for decreasing the steepness of the
descending part of the stress-strain curve
f ⬘c
fc = 共3兲
1 + ␭关共␧/␧0兲 − 1/共␧L/␧0兲 − 1兴2共1−␭兲
The continuity of the complete stress-strain curves implies that
for the predefined value ␧ = ␧L, f c in Eq. 共3兲 will be equal to
0.8 f ⬘c . Therefore, ␭ can be determined as
1
␭= 4 共4兲
From Eqs. 共1兲–共3兲, one can clearly see that the most important Fig. 5. Verification of proposed model against test results of Hsu and
parameters with physical significance used to define the stress- Hsu 共1994兲

1184 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / NOVEMBER 2010

 Fig. 6. Verification of proposed model against test results of Wee et al. 共1996兲
of the proposed model against experimental results of Wang et al.
共1978兲, Hsu and Hsu 共1994兲, and Wee et al. 共1996兲. It can be seen
from Figs. 4–6 that although the new proposed empirical model is
simple, generally, it represents the mean behavior of experimental
data quite well for both ascending and descending branches.
Conclusions
A new empirical stress-strain model for unconfined HSC under
uniaixal compression with emphasis on the softening branch is
proposed. An application of the proposed model to published ex-
perimental data on normal weight concretes over a wide strength
range demonstrates that the present model gives a good represen-
tation of the mean behavior of the actual stress-strain response.
Acknowledgments
This study is partially supported by the start-up funds from Cen-
tral South University, the “Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research
共Tokubetsu Kenkyuin Shorei-hi兲” from the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science 共JSPS兲 共No. 19 07399兲 and the Joint Re-
search Fund for Overseas Chinese, Hong Kong and Macao Young
Scholars 共No. 50828801兲 from the National Natural Science
Foundation of China. The support is gratefully acknowledged.
Finally, the writers wish to thank the reviewers of this note for
their critical comments and suggestions.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / NOVEMBER 2010 / 1185
Notation
The following symbols are used in this technical note:
共f c , ␧兲 ⫽ coordinates of any point in the stress-strain
curve;
f ⬘c ⫽ unconfined concrete compressive strength;
Eit ⫽ initial tangent modulus of elasticity;
E0 ⫽ secant modulus at peak stress 共E0 = f ⬘c / ␧0兲;
k , k1, and k2 ⫽ correction factors;
n , ␤ ⫽ material parameters;
w ⫽ concrete unit weight;
␣E ⫽ coarse aggregate coefficient 共1.20 for basalt,
dense limestone aggregates, 1.00 for quartzite
aggregates, 0.90 for limestone aggregates,
and 0.70 for sandstone aggregates兲;
␧d ⫽ strain corresponds to a stress value of 0.3 f ⬘c
in the descending part of the stress-strain
curve;
␧max ⫽ concrete strain when concrete stress is equal
to 0.5 f ⬘c on the descending part of the
stress-strain curve;
␧0 ⫽ peak strain of unconfined concrete strength
f ⬘c ; and
␰ ⫽ coefficient.
References
Carreira, D. J., and Chu, K. H. 共1985兲. “Stress-strain relationship for plain
concrete in compression.” ACI J., 82共6兲, 797–804.
Comité Euro-International du Béton-Fédération Internationale de la Pré-
contrainte 共CEB-FIP兲. 共1993兲. CEB-FIP model code 1990, Thomas
Telford, London.
Dahl, K. K. B. 共1992兲. “A constitutive model for normal and high-
strength concrete.” Rep. No. R 287, Dept. of Structural Engineering,
TU Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark.
Hognestad, E. 共1951兲. “A study of combined bending and axial load in
reinforced concrete members.” Bull. Ser. No. 399, Univ. Illinois En-
gineering Experimental Station, Champaign, IL.
Hsu, L. S., and Hsu, C. T. T. 共1994兲. “Complete stress-strain behavior of
high-strength concrete under compression.” Mag. Concrete Res.,
46共169兲, 301–312.
Kumar, P. 共2004兲. “A compact analytical material model for unconfined
concrete under uni-axial compression.” Mater. Struct., 37, 585–590.
Lokuge, W. P., Sanjayan, J. G., and Setunge, S. 共2005兲. “Stress-strain
model for laterally confined concrete.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 17共6兲,
607–616.
1186 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / NOVEMBER 2010
Popovics, S. 共1973兲. “A numerical approach to the complete stress-strain
curve of concrete.” Cem. Concr. Res., 3共5兲, 583–599.
Sargin, M., Ghosh, S. K., and Handa, V. K. 共1971兲. “Effects of lateral
reinforcement upon the strength and deformation properties of con-
crete.” Mag. Concrete Res., 23共75–76兲, 99–110.
Tomaszewicz, A. 共1984兲. “Betongens Arbeidsdiagram.” SINTEF Rep. No.
STF 65A84605, Trondheim.
Van Gysel, A., and Taerwe, L. 共1996兲. “Analytical formulation of the
complete stress-strain curve for high strength concrete.” Mater.
Struct., 29, 529–533.
Wang, P. T., Shah, S. P., and Naaman, A. E. 共1978兲. “Stress-strain curves
of normal and lightweight concrete in compression.” ACI J., 75共11兲,
603–611.
Wee, T. H., Chin, M. S., and Mansur, M. A. 共1996兲. “Stress-strain rela-
tionship of high-strength concrete in compression.” J. Mater. Civ.
Eng., 8共2兲, 70–76.