Compressive behavior of concrete under different loading rates: experimental analysis

The purpose of the experiments presented in this paper is to gain a better understanding of dynamic property of concrete, including randomness, nonlinearity and rate-dependency. 418 prismatic specimens are designed in the same size (150x150x300mm), of which the strength grade ranges from C30 to C60. By using the MTS servo hydraulic testing system, the behavior of concrete at 8 different strain rates from 10(-5) s(-1) to 10(-1) s(-1) is studied experimentally. The mean value and standard variation of the uniaxial compressive stress-strain curves, as well as the statistical characteristic values of compressive strength and peak strain of concrete with different strength under different strain rate, are obtained through the experiments. Experiment results indicate that the strain rate has a significant influence on the mean value of peak stress while other properties rarely change with strain rate.