Fluid-Pressured Test to Measure Tensile Strength of Concrete

Abstract

A fluid-pressured test has been developed as an alternative to measure tensile strength of concrete. This test method covers the determination of the tensile strength of cylindrical concrete specimens with a centered internal hole where a radial internal fluid pressure is applied until failure occurs. This loading condition induces tangential stresses on the specimen; the maximum fluid pressure sustained by the specimen is affected by appropriate geometric factors to obtain a measurement of the tensile strength. Preliminary experimental data suggests that the tensile strength measured with the proposed method is about 17% greater than the tensile strength obtained from splitting tensile tests. Additionally, results of the tensile pressure strength were on average 11% of the compressive strength.