Civil Engineering Dimension
Vol. 18 No. 2 (2016): SEPTEMBER 2016

Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Specimen Size in Determining Fracture Parameters of Concrete

Atur P. N. Siregar (Civil Engineering Department, Tadulako University, Jl. Soekarno Hatta Km. 9, Palu, Sulawesi Tengah)
M. I. Rafiq (School of Engineering and Technology, University of Brighton)
M. Mulheron (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Oct 2016

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental results in investigating the effect of specimen size (ratio of beam width to aggregate size) on the value of stress intensity factor (KIC) and fracture energy (GF) using three-point bend (TPB). A test method recommended by RILEM was chosen to measure the KIC and the GF as fracture parameters. Three different specimen sizes of concrete beam with water/binder ratio of 0.2 and 0.30 were engaged in the experiments. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses based on the normalized stress against deflection curve, and the KIC and the GF were employed. Statistical analysis was carried out based on coefficient of variation of the measured value of fracture parameters in order to investigate the variability of corresponding results. It was found that specimen size have a relatively insensitive influence on the value of KIC, however, have a significant effect on the value of GF.

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