Generic Form of Stress-Strain Equations for Concrete

Abstract

Advances in concrete technology over the years have made it possible to produce concrete of varying strengths, ranging from low to high, to meet the various demands of the concrete construction industry. The constitution of bulk concrete material is different for different grades of concrete. Their constitutive responses to applied loading are invariably different, and hence, it is anticipated that a single mathematical equation is not sufficient to represent the expected wide range of constitutive stress-strain behaviour of the concrete materials. This paper reviews the generic form of equations for the constitutive stress-strain relationship of different grades of concrete at monotonic uniaxial compression. These equations are shown to evolve from the general stress-strain equation developed by the author [21]. An experimental investigation has been conducted to verify the use of these generic forms of equations in representing the ascending branch of the stress-strain relationship of various grades of concrete.