Experimental study of the fatigue behavior of high strength concrete

In this study, cylindrical concrete specimens with various strength levels were tested to investigate the fatigue behavior of concrete in compression. Selected test variables were compressive strength with 4 levels (26 Mpa, 52 Mpa, 84 Mpa, 103 Mpa) and maximum stress with 4 levels (75%, 80%, 85%, 95%), 160 specimens (phi 100 x 200 mm) were cast for the test. The reference for the fatigue strength was the ultimate static strength acquired just before the fatigue testing. The moisture contents of specimens were preserved during the fatigue testing. In fatigue tests, the first cycle of loading was loaded at standard rate, and the other cycles were loaded in the frequency of 1 Hz. Test results show that the fatigue life decreased with increasing the concrete strength, and a model for S-max-N-f relationship considering the effect of the concrete strength was proposed. While fatigue strain of high strength concrete was smaller than that of low strength concrete, the rate of fatigue strain increment of high strength concrete was greater than that of low strength concrete. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd