Abstract
Unlike the notched specimens for conventional concrete fracture tests, this paper introduces a deformation-controlled uniaxial tensile test on an un-notched specimen. The surface of the dog bone-shaped specimen is a second order parabolic curve, and the gradual change in the specimen shape does not lead to extreme stress concentrations. Another significant feature of the tension test set-up is that it is built with three hinges, to accommodate the alignment of the specimens. The specimen preparation, test conditions, and the tension test set-up are explained in detail. The fracture energy of the concrete is determined by the obtained complete softening curves. The fracture energy is found to increase with age, going towards a horizontal asymptote as concrete hardened in a tested age range of 1 day to 90 days. Moreover, the rate of development of the fracture energy was found to be higher when compared to tensile strength and stiffness.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 496 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-15 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Materials |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Keywords
- Early age concrete
- Fracture energy
- Un-notched specimen
- Uniaxial tensile test