Tensile Tests and Failure Analysis of Concrete

Abstract

The tensile strength of concrete is receiving an increasing amount of attention since the loading capacity and durability of structures are being studied more thoroughly, and since nonlinear fracture mechanics and numerical methods require a complete stress deformation relation. The theoretical background of the application of the tensile strength of concrete in fracture analysis is given. Test results are presented that were obtained from deformation‐controlled uniaxial tensile tests under static and cyclic loading of lightweight and normalweight concrete. The results have been used to establish material models for finite element calculations. Numerical examples show the usefulness of these models for static and cyclic loading conditions.