Review Of Methods Of Testing The Tensile Strength Of Concrete PDF Download

Tensile stresses may exist in many engineering structures, such as rigid and flexible pavements, and within dams and embankments. The existence of tensile stresses in these structures is not harmful; however, these stresses generate tensile strains and if the failure tensile strain is exceeded, the integrity of the structure might be threatened. Most previous research concerned with the behavior of materials under tensile stress has been conducted on brittle materials, such as concrete and rock, while materials such as soils have received little or no attention. Three factors can be considered as the major contributors to this neglect: (a) stability analysis and design practice assume soil to resist compression and shear only, (b) lack of adequate theory which can describe soil behavior under tension with reasonable accuracy, and (c) reliable testing devices which can impose and measure tensile stress and strain have not yet been developed. While information on the tensile behavior of soils is lacking, there exists a relatively large amount of data on the tensile strength of brittle materials as discussed in this report. (Modified author abstract).