Magazine of Concrete Research, 1996, 48, No. 177, Dec.

, 361-375

Effects of loading frequency and stress reversal

on fatigue life of plain concrete
B. Zhang,*t D. V. Phillips* and K. Wu?
Universit-v of Glasgow

The effects of loading ,frequency and stress reversal on the fatigue properties of concrete were investigated by
conducting ,flexural ,fatiguetests on plain concretebeams.Anew
fatigue equationbased on theclassical AasJakobsen S-N equation is proposed which containstheaboveeffects.
This equationagrees well with previous
experimental results and proves to be suitable for some other loading states other than bending.

Introduction
Research
on
the
fatigue
properties
of
concrete
materials
began
at
the
end
of
the
last century,'32
because in manyconcretestructures,thefailurewas
often caused by the fatigue rupture of concrete. Since
then,variousfatigueequationshavebeenproposed.
Oneofthe
betterknownistheclassicalS-Nequation,
i.e.
stress-fatigue
life relationship,
put
forward by Aas-Jakobsen' in 1970 asfollows:
S,,

__ = 1 - ( 1

R)/?logN

(1)

.fc

relevant
static
strength;
N is the
where , f c is the
fatigue life; p isamaterialparameter
= 0.0685; R is
the stress ratio = S,,,,,,/S,,,; and S,i, and S,,, are the
minimum and maximum stresses, respectively. S,,,/ f c
plottedagainstlog N is known as the Wohler-curve.
Equation (1) is convenienttouseandhasbeen
accepted by boththeoreticalresearchersandpractical
engineeringdesigners.However,
it hassome practical
limitations in that it neglectstheeffectsofloading
frequencyandissuitableonlywhen
R b 0(i.e.no
stress reversals). Although other researchers have since
modifiedthis
equation: theeffectsofloadingfrequency
and
stress
reversal
( R 0) have
yet
to
be

* Department o f Civil Engineering. University o f Glasgow, Glasgow

GI2 ELT. Scotland U.K.
t Department of Materials
Science
and
Engineering,
Tongji
University. Shanghai200092,The
Peoples Republic of China
Paper received 7 December 1995: last revised I S March 1996;
accepted 2April 1996.

completely
resolved
and
properly
reflected
in the
fatigueequation.
Graf and Bret~nen"~ first studied the effect of loading frequency .f onthefatigue
life of concrete. They
foundthat .f = 4.5-7.5 Hz hadlittle effect onthe
fatigue life, but when ,f decreased below 0.16 Hz, the
fatigue life decreased.Hanson et al.' andMurdock8
suggestedthatwhen
S,,, waslessthan
75% of f c ,
frequenciesbetween I and 15 Hz had little influence.
Sparks et
showed that for S,,, between 75% and
100% of f c , f greatly affected N, but when S,,, was
smaller
than
the
long-term
strength,
frequencies
between 0.1 and100Hzhadno
effect on N. None
oftheseresultsweresatisfactorilydescribed
in the
fatigue
equation.
Furtak,"
however,
considered
the
effectofloadingfrequencyandproposedafatigue
equationcontainingafrequencyinfluencecoefficient
C, as follows:
S,,,

-- CN-A( 1

+ B log N ) C f

(2)

.fc

where C f = 1 f a( 1 - bR) l o g f ; A , B, C, a and b are

materialparameterswhichcanbedeterminedthrough
experiments. This equation is cumbersome and implies
acomplicatedinterdependencebetween
N , f and R
which is difficulttounravel.Amoredirectextension
ofequation(1)
is preferable so thattheinfluenceof
loadingfrequencyismoretransparent.This
will be
discussed in moredetail in Section 2.
Early
stress
reversal
tests
were
carried
out
by
Hatt"'andCrepps13whoconcludedthatstressreversal hadnoeffectonthe
fati ue life ofconcrete,and
by Clemmer14andClifford'whothought
it hada
smallinfluence.TepfersI6studiedstressreversalusing

361
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Zhang et al.
two loading combinations: constant compression in the
horizontal
direction
and variable
splitting
in the
vertical direction;andconstantsplitting
in thehorizontal direction and variable
compression
in the
vertical direction. He observed that thestress reversal
did affect thefatigue life but thoughtthattheeffect
wastoo small todescribe in the fatigueequation. He
actually
attributed
it to the low precision of
the
applied loads in thetesting
machine. HsuI7 systematically studied
the
fatigue
of
plain concrete. In
considering stressreversal,
however, he applied the
fatigueequationintended for R 3 0 to stressreversal
( R < 0) without sufficient experimental support, leading
conservative
to
results.
Cornelissen
and colleagues
alsoIn
realized the
detrimental
effect of
stressreversal
on thefatiguelife
ofconcreteand
carried outtwoseries
ofalternating
stressreversal
tests:directconcentrictension-compressiontests
on
concretecylinders
with
varied
sections;
and
threepointflexuraltests on concrete beams byusingaprestressing
technique.
They
proposed
the
following
fatigueequations:

loading rate. In general, the loading rate influences the

fatiguelife of concrete to acertaindegree,especially
for low-cycle fatigue ( N < lo3). For practical concrete
structures, if theappliedcyclicloadingrate
is less
thanthestandardloadingrate,theprediction
of the
fatigue life by equation (1) tends to be unsafe.Therefore,this equation should be modified to account for
this.
It follows that theterm
Sma,.,f; in equation ( 1 )
representsanominalstress
level, and not theactual
stresslevel.
To achieve the latter, ,fc should be replaced by the real strength ,fer measured at the same
loading rate applied to S,,,. Thus, equation (1) can
thenbewritten

a
Letting ,fcf = Cf.,fc, where C, is loading
coefficient,equation (4) can be rewritten as
~m,,
~

Cf[l - ( 1

R)[jlog NI

rate

(5)

.fc

SI,,,
S,,"
7.93 -- 2.59-

Loading j-eqzrency coqfficient

Staticloading
is actuallya
limit case of cyclic
(3a)
loading. If a staticloadingpathcovershalfasingle
smin
Smax
cycle andtakestime
T (in seconds), then theloading
- l .93 I
and for flexure, log N = 9.91 - 7.45
frequency
,/
is
related
to the
loading
time
by
.fr
./c
=
1
/2T,
in
hertz.
Also
since
T
is
related
to
the
(3b)
loadingrate then Cf couldbeinterpretedaseither
a
loadingfrequencycoefficient
or aloadingrate
coefwhere ,h, , f r and ,fS arethe
tensile
strength,
the
ficient.Theformer is more relevant here.
modulusof ruptureandthecompressivestrength
of
concrete, respectively. Fairly large scatters were obNow since Cf = f c f / , f c , it can be seen that Cf
tained, probably due to difficulties in applying concenexpresses therelative
concrete strength at different
tricloads in directtension-compressiontestsand
in
loadingfrequencies.
C , will increase with increasing
f: Also when J'approaches zero (i.e. the loadingtime
ensuring the correct prestressing load in flexure. They
also did not makeallowancefor loadingfrequency in
nearsinfinity),
Cf approaches the relativelong-term
strength under static loading.
the
proposed
fatigue
equations,
even
though
they
A suitable expression for
noticedthe existenceofsuch an effect.
C, embracing theseproperties is given by
The purpose of this paper is to examine loading freCf =
f
+c
(6)
quencyand stressreversaleffectsusingtheresults
of
flexural fatigue tests on plain concretebeams. Based
parameters
to be
where U , h and c are material
on Aas-Jakobsen's approach, a new fatigueequation
determined throughexperiments and 0 h < 1. When
which includes these effects is proposed and disf + 0 , Cf + c, therelativelong-termstrength
of
cussed.The resultswillbe
compared with other reconcrete
under
static
loading.
When ,/ equals
the
sults by previous researchers.
standardloadingfrequency
,fi for agivenstrength,
then C, = I , i.e. Jcf =
Finally by substituting
equation (6) into equation (5) we obtain

for direct tests, log

N = 9.36

.fi

.fc

,f

/c.

Loading frequency effects

Aas-Jakobson 'S fatigue equation
According to Aas-Jakobson's
original
idea,
when
thestaticloading
is applied there is only onecycle
and the maximum stress is equal to the static strength,
i.e. N = 1 and Sm,,/fc = 1. In actualfact,
under
staticloadingconditions, S,,, is not thesameas
jc,
because f c is material
a
constantdetermined
at a
standard loading rate,whereas S,,, willvarywith the
3 62

&,ax

__

.fc

'+

C)[ I -

(1 - R)[j log NI

(7)

Tests j a r determination o f C,
To determine Cf. both flexural static
andcyclic
tests were conducted on 500 X 100 X 100 mm concrete beams with an effective span of 450 mm. The
beams
were
tested
in a 250 kN Instron servocontrolledtesting
machine using a triangular waveMaguzinr of Concrete Reseurch. 1996, 48, No. Ill

Downloaded by [ Universidad de Costa Rica] on [16/12/15]. Copyright ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

Loading frequency and stress reversal effects on concrete fatigue

formforstaticloadingandsinusoidal
a
wavefor
cyclic
loading.
Special
apparatus
for
applying
the
loads,includingreversal,wasdesigned
(Fig. 1).
Theconcrete
was madefromamixofcement:
water:sand:gravel = 1: 0.45: 1.18:2.74
using
#525
ordinary
Portland
cement,
natural
river sand
and
gravelwithparticle
sizefrom
2.5 to15 mm.The
specimenshadbeencured
in thecuringroomfor
28
days, at 20 f 2Candrelativehumidityof90%,
beforetheyweremovedoutdoors.At
28 days,the
compressive
strength
was
50.7
MPa,
and
the
modulusofrupture,
f r , was7.19MPa.Thebeams
were
tested
months
3
later,
because
by
then
the
strengths
and
elastic
constants
of
concrete
would
changeverylittlewithfurtherageing.
At thistime,
,fh was 57.4MPaand fr was7.88MPa. Theelastic
constantsweremeasuredtobe:
E = 41. I GPaand
Poissons ratio v = 0.17.
Eleven groups of static
and
cyclic
tests
were
employed,each groupcontaining six identicalspecimens.Thefirstfivegroups
weretestedunderstatic
loading (i.e. R = 0, S,,,/.fc
= 1) with loading times
T
of
500,
120,
50,
I O and
seconds,
5
which
are
equivalent
loading
to frequencies
of
4.1 167 X
IOp2, 5 X
and IO- Hz, respectively. The
latter six groups were tested under cyclic loading, with
loadingfrequenciesof0.5,
I , 5, 10, 20and 30 Hz.
Thestress ratio R andthestress
level S,,,/ f r were
kept
constant
0.2
atand
0.80,
respectively,
and
representedtypicalconditions.

j:

Discussion of results
Fullresultsarepresented
in Appendix 1. Figure2
illustratestherelationshipobtainedbetween
C, and
It is clearlyseenthat
Cf increaseswith logf, or in
other words,thehighertheloadingfrequency,the
longerthefatiguelife.
For example,for
R = 0.2,
S,,,a,/,fc = 0.8, when .f = 0.5Hz,
Cf = 1,038and
N N 3900,whereaswhen
= 30 Hz, Cf = 1.077
and N x I O 400. This behaviour indicates less damage
is causedtotheconcrete
at highloadingfrequencies
and is related to the well-known observation that static
strengthincreaseswithrateofloading.
Usingthevariableiterativeoptimizationmethod,
thematerialparameters
a, h, c and p in equation (7)
werenon-linearlyestimatedas
,f:

,f

ir

= 0.249,

b = 0.920,

i. = 0.796,

1 - lnstron servo-controlled
testing machine

2 - Special loading apparatus

3 - Load cell

4 - Displacement transducer
5 - Specimen
I

I I

Fig. 1. General arrangement of static and cyclic loading

apparatus

75-80%
of
static
strength
obtained
searcher~.~~~

by other re-

Stress reversal effects

New definition of stress ratio R

The conventional stress ratio R = S,,,/S,,,

defines
the range of applied stress. Typically S,,, might representthedeadloadstressand
S,,, thedeadloadplus
live loadstress, (S,,, - S,,,) beingthestressrange.
In general, the larger this range, the shorter the fatigue
life N of concrete. It is also well established that N is
very
sensitive
to
this range
for
given
a
S,,,. In
practice N isoftenobtainedfromamodifiedGoodman diagram which is essentially designed for stresses
ofthe samesign,i.e. R 3 0.
Understressreversals,i.e.
R 0,theconcretewill
besubjected
to alternatetensionandcompression.
Sincethebehaviourofconcrete,andparticularly
its
strength, is significantly
different
under
these
two
stress states, it would be preferable to define the stress
ratio to reflect this. Thiscanbeachievedbyassociating
the
maximum
stress
S,,,
with
the
static
strength fc,,
which will dominate the
failure process,

a^ = 0-249

= 0.920

c^ = 0.796

= 0.0804

Thelinerepresentingthesevalueshasbeensuperimposedon Fig. 2 where it canbeseenthat

a very
goodfit is obtainedsimultaneouslythroughboththe
statictests ( R = 0, S,,,,,/,fc = 1 ) andthecyclictests
( R = 0.2, S,,,,/,fc = 0.8).Thissuggests
that the
fatigueequation
(7) may havegeneralapplicability.
Theresultsalsoshowthatthelong-termstrengthof
concreteunderflexuralloading
is about 80% of the
static strength,
which
is similar to the
value
of
Maguzine qf ConcreteResearch,

31 -

Loading frequencyf : Hz

Fig.2. Relationship between loading fpeqerenq, coeficient

and loading ,fi.equency

1996. 48, No. 177

Downloaded by [ Universidad de Costa Rica] on [16/12/15]. Copyright ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

363

Zhang et a1
and by associatingtheminimumstress
Sminwiththe
staticstrength f c m l n , whichplays a secondaryrole.
A suitable re-definition of the stress ratio for
R <0
is thenprovided by
~

o,7
2

subjecttothecondition

0:

that

R' = R for R

n = 19,C, = 8.2%

p = 0.0803

(9)
0.5
O'I

Replacing R by R' in equation (71, afatigueequation

whichincorporatesbothloadingfrequencyandstress
reversal is obtained,i.e.
.J c

Forflexuralstressreversals,tensionwillbedominantandcompressionsecondary.Hence
,fcmax = , f r ,
the static modulus of rupture and ,fcmin = f:,the static
compressivestrength.Thustheratioof
.fcmax/.fcmi,,
becomes
tension-compression
the
strength
ratio
.ftc

fi = 0-0806

=f r / f

n = 60,C, = 9.8%

Experimentaltests
In ordertoevaluate
thenewfatiqueequation
(10)
andassesstheinfluenceofstressreversals,a
total of
171
beams
were
tested
using
the
same
materials
and
loading
method
described
above
for
the
determination
of
Cf. Both
positive
repeated
loading
( R 3 0)andreversibleloading
( R < 0)werestudied.
Sevenstressratioswereselected:
R = 0.5, 0.2, 0,
-0.2, -0.5, -0.8 and -1. These were combined with
thirteenstress levels, Smax/,fr,
from 0.5to0.975.The
combinationsadoptedarelisted
in Table l . Loading
frequenciesof
1 Hzfor
low fatigue life ( N lo3),
5 Hz formiddlefatigue
life ( I O3 G N
IO5) and
20 Hz forhighfatiguelife
( N> lo5) wereapplied.
Theresultsarelisted
in Appendix 2 andshown
in
Figs.3and
4.

0.5

n = 22, C" = 6 1 %

10'

100

Discussion qf results

lo3

10'

lo4

lo5

10'

lo6

(C)

S-N curvesareplotted
in Fig. 3for
R 2 0 and
Fig. 4 for R < 0. In the latter case
tensiona
compression
strength
ratio
= 0.1373 has
been
,&

Table 1. FutiEue test desinn

R

Snu,

0.90

0.975
0.5
0.2
0
-0.2
-0.5
-0.8
-1

3
~

3
10
~

l0
5

The entries in columns 2.-14 arethenumber

364

3
~

2
~

0,925
0,8750.95 0.85
3

/.x

2
3

0.70
-

10 10
4
3
2
2
3

10
3
4
3
2
2

IO
3
3
2
2
3

0.750.650.80

0.60

3
3
2
3
2

3
2
3
3

0.55
~

0.50
~

3
~

of specimenstested.

M u g ~ i n rof Concwte Rescwrrh, 1996. 48, No. 177

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Loading frequency and stress reversal effects on concrete fatigue

30

"l

= 0.0811, n = 22, C, = 6.6 %

Normal distribution

20

ioolo5 lo4
10' lo3 lo2

lo6

0.09

0.08

lo7

0.10

0.11

0.12

(4

Fig. 5. Histogram for all values of

using equation (10)

used. Thevaluesof
p calculatedfromequation (IO)
forallcaseswasapproximately
0.08, therebeingno
significantdifferencebetween
R 2 0 and R < 0. By
statisticalanalysisofthe171setsofdata,themean
values
of all
was
obtained
as
0.0807 with
a
variance S of 0.0062 andavariablecoefficientof
7.7%. Thedistributionhistogramof
J3 is shown in
Fig. 5.
Figure 3 illustratesagoodfitbetweenequation
(7)
and the test results for all R 2 0, confirming that this
equationissatisfactoryfor
all cases.Figure 4 shows
that for R < 0, thereisasatisfactorycomparison
betweenthe test results and equation (10) but a poor
comparison with equation (7). If R = 0 is used instead
of its actualnegativevalue(one
of Clemmer'searly
con~lusions'~),
theequationboundstheresults
fairly
closelybutontheunsafe
side. However, if Hsu's
d e d ~ c t i o n is
' ~ adopted by substituting the actual negativevalues of R intoequation (7), thenthepredicted
behaviour is veryconservative,andgetsprogressively
worseas R decreases.
A familyof S-N curvesatdifferentstress
ratios
are shown in Fig. 6. When R' = R 2 0, the gradients

100
(W

10' lo3 lo2

lo4

lo5

lo6

lo7

R'=-0.1098 ( R =

loo

10'

lo2 lo4
lo3

lo5

lo6

10'

lo8

Fig. 6. Family of S-N curves .for dtferent stress ratios R

usingequation (IO)

365
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Zhang et al.
ofthe
lines decreasesignificantly
as R decreases,
whereasfor - 1 C R 0 or -ftc C R' 0, the gradients are contained in a much tighter band and have a
muchsmaller
rate ofdecrease.These
observations
givesomecredenceto
Tepfer's conclusion'" that the
influenceof stressreversal is small.

Comparison with other

general it should be applicable to other loading states,

such as compressionand direct tension. In this section, comparison will bemade with previousinvestigationsintocompressiveand
flexural loading,loading
frequency,positivestressratios
and stressreversal.
Conlpressive ,fatigue tests

Figure 7 comparesequation ( I O ) withthetestdata

from six separate studies of compressivefatigueloadingwithwidelydifferingattributes
as follows:

results

Although thecoefficients
in the fatigueequation
(10) wereobtainedthroughflexuralfatiguetests,
in

1.1 1

(a) Antrimand

McLaughlin":

tested two kinds of

1-1
Each point IS a logarithmlc
mean of several tests

R ' = 0 . 9 2 , f=0.167Hz

0-6

0.5

Normal-weight concrete f,' = 28

Non-air entrained
A
Air-entrained
o A Dld not fail
152 x 76 mm Cylinder In compression

0.4
lo4
100
lo3lo210'

105

0.5

iofi

10'

io8

10'

loo

lo3lo2

lo4

(b)

105

lo6

107

IO*

lo6

10'

lofi

Eq.(lO),f = 1.67 HZ,

Hz, R'=O22

l .o

0.8

o R' = 0, f = 0.014 HZ
A R' = 0.44, f = 0.025 HZ
R' = 0.92, f = 0.167 HZ
Normal-weight concrete, f; = 28 MPa
305 x l 1 2 x 1 1 2 mm Prlsm In compresslon

0.6 -

* *
0.7 - Normal-welght concrete
o dld not fail

0.5

f = 1.67 Hz (low-cycle fatigue)

f = 4-8 Hz (htgh-cycle fatlgue)

0.4
loo

10'

Normal-weight concrete
6 = 41 MPa
102 x 51 mm cyllnder in compression

0.5 -

0.4

lo2 lo8lo7
103
lo6lo5lo4

10'

100

10'

lo3

lo4

105

(d)
1.1

R' = 0.75
R ' = 0-14
f?' = 12 to 44 MPa, cube strength
500 x 100 x 100 mm prism in compression
o

0.5

0.4
loo
(e)

fc' = 12.7 to 33.4 MPa, 120 mm cube strength

400 x 130 x 130 mm prism In compresslon

10'

10'

lo4
lo3

105

lofi

lo7

0.4
loo

lofi

101

(1)

Downloaded by [ Universidad de Costa Rica] on [16/12/15]. Copyright ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

lo2

103

104 iofi
lo5

10'

lo8

Loading frequency and stress reversal esfects

152 X 76 mm diametercylinders,onewithair

1.1 I

entrainment and the other without. They used one

high-cycle loading frequency (1 6.7 Hz), one stress
ratio (R = 0.028) and
concrete
a
strength
.fk = 28 MPa.
Awad and HpiIsdorP2: tested 305 X 1 12 X 112mm
prisms using three different stress ratios
(R = 0,
three
corresponding
low-cycle
0.44, 0.92) with
frequencies (0.014, 0.025,
0,167
Hz).
Concrete
strength ,fL = 28 MPa.
Bennett
and
tested
203 X 76 X 76 mm
prisms using higher strength concrete varying from
f L = 41 to 59 MPa. They applied one stress ratio
(R = 0.22) withlow-cyclefrequency
(1.67 Hz)
and high-cycle frequencies (4 to 8 Hz).
24
Assimacopoulos et al. : tested small 102 X 51mm
diametercylindersusingaconcretestrengthof
41 MPa. Theyusedoneextremelyhighloading
frequency (150 Hz) withfivestressratios
(R =

1.0 -

on concrete fatigue
I

Eq.(lO),f = 7 HZ

0.9 -

.a

0.8

WE

0.7

0.6

-L

0.5 -

Normal weight concrete

f; = 31 MPa, cube strength
1626 x 152 x 152 mm prism inflexure

R=0~13-0.18av.0.15

0.4 I

lo8lo7lo6lo5lo4
100
lo3lozloi
(a)

0.15, 0.38, 0.60,0.77, 0.88).

Graf and Brenner56: tested relatively large

400 X
130 X 130 mm
prisms
using
low
to
medium
strength
concrete
varying
from
,fA = 12.7 to
33.4 MPa.Theyappliedtwostressratios
(R =
0.044 and 0.75) with one frequency (4.35 Hz).
Gaede25: tested 500 X 100 X 100 mm prisms using
low tomediumstrengthconcretevarying
from
f ; = 12 to 44 MPa. They applied two stress ratios
(R = 0.14 and 0.75) withonehigh-cyclefrequency (1 1 Hz).

0.5

0.4 I

lo8
100
lo7lo6lo5
10lo4lo3lo2
N

(b)

1.1

Flexural fatigue tests

0.5

-1

Murdock
and
Kesler
conducted
flexural
fatigue
testsonconcretespecimens
1626 X 152 X 152 mm in
sizeusingaconcretestrength
,fL of 31 MPa.Four
stressratioswereexamined
(R = 0.15,0.25,0.25,
0.75) withaloadingfrequencyvaryingslightlyfrom
6.7 to 7.3 Hz.Comparisonareshown
in Fig. 8 where
it canbeseen
that thetestdata
is well predicted by
equation (10). In thiscase,theequationcomparesfar
betterwiththehighstress
ratio of 0.75 thanunder
pure compression, although there is some bias towards
thehigherbound.

0.4

In general,equation (10) predictsthe test datawell

at all frequencies and for all concrete strengths except
athighstressratios
(R >0.75). For theseratios,the
equationoverestimatesthefatigue
life andbecomes
progressivelymoreinaccurateas
R approaches 1 .

lo8
loo
lo7lo6lo5
10lo4lo3lo2
N

(C)

1.1 r

Dry conslstency concrete

Wet consistency concrete

Loading frequency

The
capability
of
the
fatigue
equation
(10) to
predicttheinfluenceofloadingfrequency
is assessed
in moredetail by comparingaainwithsomeofthe
testdataofAwadandHilsdorfandAssimacopoulos
et al.24 Awad andHilsdorfexaminedthevariation
in fatigue life aat
high
compressive
stress
of
S,,, = 0.9,fA. They applied two stress ratios at various

F*

0.4

loiloo
(d)

lo6
IO*lo5lo4lo3

10

lo8

Fig. 8. Comparison of equation (10) with flexural tests of

Murdock and Kes[er26showing the influence of R: (a) R =
0.15; (b) R = 0.25; (C) R = 0.50; (d) R = 0.75

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367

Zhang et a1
frequencies: R = 0 with frequencies of 0.0014, 0.014
and 0.14 Hz, and R = 0.89 with frequenciesof
0.0125,0.125and1.25
Hz. Assimacopoulos et al.
compared a frequencyof8.33 Hz with the extremely
high frequency of 150 Hz at thesame stressratio of
R = 0.15.Thestress
level S,,,,, variedbetween approximately 0.65 and 0.75 of
,fE.
Thecomparisonsare
shown in Fig. 9. For R =
0.89, Fig. 9(a), theequationgrosslyoverestimatesthe
fatigue life,
which
is in line
with
the
previous
observations.Thefitiscloserfor
R = 0, Fig. 9(a)
and R = 0.15, Fig. 9(b), although in both cases the
fatigue life is underestimated. However, in all cases

1.1

1.o

R= 0

fEq.(lO),
= 0.014
HZ
f = 0.0014 HZ

..0.9 -

the trends are correctly predicted, which confirms that

loading frequency does influence the fatigue properties
of concrete.
High positive stress ratios

The above
results
show
that
equation
(10) is
suitable for R > 0 except when R is very large.
For R > 0.75,equation ( I O ) givescomparativelyunconservative predictions of the fatigue life of concrete,
because the cyclic loading tends towards
the sustained
loadingstate and theminimumstress
level S,,,,,, may
well exceed the long-term strength.
By considering the
relationshi
between
the stress
levels
and
loading
time, Hsu showed
that
the sustained
loading
can
become more critical than cyclic loading at high stress
ratios, by dominating thefatigueprocess.Thisclearly
must be considered when determining the fatigue life
ofconcrete ata
high stressratio.
For afullerdiscussion of thisproblem,referenceshould
be made
to Hsu.

P,

*U

WE

0.8

0.7

f = 0.0014 HZ
f = 0.014 Hz

f = 0.14 Hz

0.6
100

1o2

10

1o3

1.1 I

1o4

f = 1.25 HZEq.(lO),

1.0

0.9

WE

1o5

R = 0.89

f = 0.125 HZ

.
,

0.8

o,7

(a)

x x/ x

X O . . .

f = 0.0125 HZ

f = 0.0125 HZ

o f=0.125 HZ
f = 1.25 HZ
I

0-6
100

Stress reversal
McCall
tested
air-entrained
concrete beams of
368 X 76 X 76 mm under complete stressreversals
( R = - 1 ) using ,/ = 30 Hz. The testdata and S-N
curve using equation ( I O ) are plotted in Fig. I O . The
S-N curve closelymatcheseachlogarithmic
mean
value of fatigue life. Finally, comparison is made with
Cornelissensx
direct
tension-compression
tests on
300 X 120 mm
diameter
cylinders,
varying
between 0.4 and 0.9 and
between -0.05 and
-0.3 with afrequency
of 6 Hz. Four stress ratios
( R = -0.125,-0.25,-0.375
and -0.50) arepresented in Fig. 1 I , where it can be seen that equation
( I O ) predictsthe test resultsextremely well. Both of
these examples confirm that equation ( I O ) successfully
predicts
the
fatigue
life of concrete
under
stress
reversal statesusingotherexperimental
data.

10

1o3

10

1o4

1o5

N
1.1
1. l
1.o

Eq.(lO), R=0.15

Air-entralned concrete f, = 4.7 MPa

368 x 76 x 76 mm prism In flexure
R = -1 (reversal loading)
Logarithmlc mean of number of
cycles at each stress level
o Did not fail

1-0

0.9

0.9

-0

0.8

WE

0.7

0.6

>
F1=0.13-0.16av.0~15

0-4
100
(b)

0.7

o f=150Hz

0-5

f=833Hz
Normal-weight concrete, = 41.3 MPa
102 x 51 mm cylinder in compression

10

lo2

lo3

0.8

lo4 lo6
lo5

0.6

0.5

lo7

lo8

0.4

loo

10

10

lo3

lo4

lo5 lo8
lo7
lo6

Fig. 9. Comparison of equation (10) with compressive

jatigtre tests showing the influence of loading fieqwne~v,/l
(a) Awad und Hilsdoyfi22 (h) Assin~acopo~tlos
et al.

368

Fig. 10. Conlpurison of equation (IO) with McCuII:s

ftir .fIcwraI r~vrnvcrlloading
Mugcine

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of

Concrete Research, 1996, 48. No. 177

Loading frequency and stress reversal effects on concrete fatigue

1.1

1.1

.0.7 .L-

v:

0.6 0.5 - ( = 2.46 MPa (dry), 2.92MPa (wet)

f; = 47.3 MPa, cube strength
0.4 - R'= -0.1 11 to -0.167 av. -0.125
0.3
loo

10'

(a)

lo6
10'lo5lo4lo3

10'

io8

1.1

f =6Hz

.L-

0 0

0.6 -

0.5 - R' = -0.50

0 Dry consistency concrete
0.4 - m Wet consistency
concrete
o
Did not fail

m
I

loo

10'

(d)

Fig. l I . Comparison of equation (10) with Cornelissen i tests

-0.125; (b) R' = -0.25: (C) R' = -0.375: (d) R' = -0.5

Conclusions

18

Finally, the effects of other parameters which influence the fatigue properties of concrete, such as watercementratio,aggregatetypeandloadingsequence,
aswell
asthepracticalapplicationofthefatigue
equation (lo), will
discussed
be
in subsequent
papers.

10'

io6

for direct tension-compressionreversalloading:(a)

R' =

References
I.

Loadingfrequencyinfluencesthefatigue
life of
concreteandthiseffectcanbeexpressed
in the
fatigue equation.
Stressratiosignificantlyaffectsthefatiguepropertiesofconcrete.
For largepositivestressratio
( R ' > 0.75), the effect of sustained loading should
be considered.
Stressreversalcausesfatiguelife
of concrete to
decrease, but not as much as that for
R' 2 0. This
effectalsocanbeexpressed
in thefatigueequatlon.
A newfatigueequationcontainingtheeffectsof
loading frequency and stress reversal on the fatigue
properties of concrete is proposed. It agrees well
with previous test results for -1 < R' 4 0.75, and
is suitable for many different loading states.

io6
10'lo5lo4lo3

DE JOLY. La resistanceetl'elasticittdescimentsPortland.
Annales des Pons et Chaussees, Memoires, 1898, Vol. 16,

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Series7,198-244.
CONSIDERE
M.
Influence
des
armatures
metalliques
sur
les
proprietesdesmortiersetbetons.
Compte Rendu de L'Academic des Sciences, 1899, 127, 992-995.
K. Fatigueofconcretebeamsandcolumns.
AAS-JAKOBSEN
Bulletin No. 70-1, NTH Institutt
for
Betongkonstruksjoner,
Trondheim,Sept.1970.
TEPFERS
R. and KUTTI T. Fatiguestrength of plain,ordinary
andlightweightconcrete. ACI 1, 1979, 76, No. 5, May, 635652.
der
CRAF 0. and BRENNERE. Versuche zur Ermittlung
Widerstandsfihigkeit von Beton
gegen
oftmals
wiederholte
Druckbelastung (Experiments for investigating the resistance of
concrete under often repeated compression loads). Bulletin
No.
76,DeutscherAusschuss fur Eisenbeton,1934.
CRAP 0. and BRENNERE. Versuche
zur
Ermittlung
der
Widerstandsfahigkeit von Beton
gegen
oftmals
wiederholte
Druckbelastung (Experiments for investigating the resistance of
concrete
under
often
repeated
compression
loads).
2.
Teil,
Bulletin No. 83, DeutscherAusschuss fur Eisenbeton, 1936.
al. Considerationsfordesignofconcrete
HANSONJ. M.et
structures
subjected
fatigue
to loading.
Report
ACI
by
Committee215. ACI 1,1974, 71, No. 3, March,97-120.
MUDOCK,J. W. A critical review of research on fatigue of plain
concrete.Bulletin
No. 475,EngineeringExperimentStation,
UniversityofIllinois,Urbara,25,1965.

Magazine of Concrete Research, 1996, 48, No. 177

Downloaded by [ Universidad de Costa Rica] on [16/12/15]. Copyright ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.

369

Zhang et al.
9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.
15.
16.

17.
18.
19.
20.

SPARKS
P. R. and MENZIES
J.B. Theeffect of rate of loading
upon
the
static
and
fatigue
strengths
of plain concrete in
compression. Mug. Concr: Res., 1973, 25. No. 83. June,7380.
K. EinVerfahren zur Berechnung der Betonfestigkeit
FURTAK
C m . Concr. Res., 1984. 14,
UnterSchwellendenBelastungen.
No. 6,855-865.
HATT W. K. Fatigue of concrete. Proc.4th Annual Meeting.
Highwu.v Reseurch Board. 1924, Dec., 47-60.
HATT W. K. Report on experiments on extensibility of
concrete. Proc. 5th Annuul Meeting. H i g h w y Re.seurch Board.
1925,Dec.112-118.
CREPPSR . B. Fatigue of mortar. Pmc. ASTILI, 1923. 23, Part 11.
329-340.
CLEMMER
H. F. Fatigue of concrete. Proc. ASTM, 1922, 12.
Part I t , 1188-1222.
CLIFFORD
0. Highway research in Illinois. Funs. ASCE. 1924,
87, 329-340.
concrete
subjected
to stress
TEPFERSR. Fatigue of plain
reversals. ACI J., SpecialPublication,1982,
75, No. 9. 195215.
Hsu T.T. C. Fatigue of plain concrete. ACI J , 1981, 78. No.
27,July-Aug.,292-305.
CORNELISSEN
H. A. W. Fatigue failure of concrete in tension.
Heron,1984, 29, No. 4, 1-68.
FAN M. and ZHANGY. Basic of Optinzisutmn. Qinghua
University Press,Beijing, China, Nov. 1982.
R., GORLIN
J. andSAMUELSSON
T. Concretesubjected
TEPFERS
to pulsating load andpulsatmgdeformationofdifferentpulse

21.
22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

wave form. NordiskBetong, 4, Stockholm,1973,27-36.

ANTRIMJ. C . and MCLALJGHLIN
J. F. Fatigue studyofairentrainedconcrete. A C I J , 1959, 55. No. 1 I. May,1173-1182.
AWADM. E. and HILSDORF
H. K. Strengthand
deformation
characteristlcs of plain concrete subjected to high repeated and
sustamedloads. Civil EngineeringStudies,Structural Research
of
Series N. 372,Department of CivilEngineering.University
Illinois,Urbara.Feb.1971.
BENNETT
E. W. and MLIR S. E. St. J. Some fatiguetests of
high-strengthconcrete in axial compression. Mug. Concr: Res.,
1967, 19. No. 59.June. 113- I 17.
G E.
ASSIMACOPOULOS
B. M , , W A R h t R R. F., and E K R ~ RC.
High speed fatlgue tests on small specimens of plain concrete.
J Prestressed Concr: Inst.. 1959. 4, No. 2. Sept., 53-70.
GAELEK. Versuche uberdie
Festigkeitund
die Verformung
von
Beton
bei
Druck-Schwellbeanspruchung (Strength
of
deformation
characteristics
of
concrete
when
subjected
to
Deutscher
repeated
compressive
stress).
Bulletin No. 144,
Ausschuss fur Stahlbeton, Berlin,1962.1-48.
M~JRI)OCK
J. W. and K F S L ~ R
C. E. Effect of range of stress on
fatigue strength of plain concrete beams. ACI J . 1958. 55. No.
12,Aug., 221-231.
MCCALL.l. T. Probability of fatiguefailure of plain concrete.
ACI 1. 1958, SS. No. 2,Aug., 233-244.

Discussion contributions on this paper should reach the editor by

27 June 1997.

Appendix 1. Experimentalresults .for determination of C,

Test
number

I
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

T :S

500

120

(0.001)

(4.17 X IO-')

11

12

13
14
15
16
17

50

(0.01)

18

19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

370

10

(0.05)

N:
cycles

CI.

0.967
0.97 I
0.981
0.982
0.995
1 .00 1

0.967
0.97 1
0.98 I
0.982
0.995
1 .00I

0.984
0.99 I
I .006
1.008
1.014
I .023

0.984
0.99 1
1.006
1.008
1.014
1,023

0,979
0.985
1.007
1.015
1,023
1.037

0.979
0.985
1.007
1.015
1.023
I .037

0.987
I .00 I

0.987

1.005

1.001
1.005

1.017
1.035
1.048

1.017
1.035
1.048

0.995
1.018
1.031
I .035
1,045
1.046

0.995
1.018
I .03 I
1.035
1.045
1.046

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Loading frequency and stress reversal effects on concrete fatigue

Test
number

f:Hz

T :S

Cf

cycles

31
32
33
34
35
36

I707
2592
3628
3847
566 1
7900

1.010
1.025
1.038
1.040
1.055
1.068

37
38
39
40
41
42

1846
I952
4588
4936
5267
7900

1.013
1.015
1.047
1.049
1.052
1.068

43
44
45
46
47
48

3430
5026
7840
8223
9454
11 455

1.036
1.050
1.067
1.069
1.075
1.083

2790
4142
4700
9550
1 1 710
14732

1.028
1.043
1.047
1.075
1.084
1.093

4088
6946
7723
9110
13413
l7 322

1.042
1,063
1.067
1,073
1.089
1.100

3736
6210
10696
12718
22 260
22416

1.039
1.058
1.080
1,087
1.1 1 1
1.1 11

0.5

0.8

0.2

49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59

(0.05)

IO

(0.025)

20

h0
~

61
62
63
64
65
66

(0.0 167)

30

Appendi-w 2. Futigw test twu1t.s

Test
number

S,,,%
.f r

f : Hz

N:
cycles

I
2
3

0.975

50
66
69

0.0784
0.0732
0.0725

4
5
6

0.9 5

84
170
229

0.094 I
0.0812
0.0768

0.925

459
603
660

0.0860
0.0824
0.08 12

4950
5490
6300
41 760

0.0815
0.0805
0.0792
0.065 1

7
8
9

0.5

IO

II
12
13

0.9

Maguzine of Concrete Rrsearch, 1996, 48, No. 177

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371

Zhang et al.
Test
number
14
15
16

0.5

0.95

30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39

60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69

372

20

0.85

20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29

50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59

Hz

0,875

17
18
19

40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49

.f:

0.9

0.2

0.85

0.8

0.75
20

N:
cycles

io

40810
57310
57 800

0.0800
0.0775
0,0775

34 800
59 850
I7 6870

0.09 15
0.0870
0.0792

14
16
20
24
26
27
27
28
41
76

0.0988
0.0940
0.0870
0.0820
0.0800
0.079 I
0.079 1
0.0782
0.0702
0.0602

69
91
95
103
Ill
146
I63
204
462
600

0,094 I
0.0883
0.0875
0.0860
0.0846
0,0800
0.0782
0.0749
0.0649
0.0623

277
410
43 1
693
744
9x7
1052
I390
I948
2192

0.0953
0.089 I
0.0884
0.0820
0.08 I I
0.077x
0.077 1
0.074 1
0.0708
0.0697

2330
2640
3310
41 70
50 I O
7460
I0 050
l 3 230
l6980
24 330

0.0909
0.0895
0.0870
0.0846
0.0827
0.0790
0.0765
0.0743
0.0724
0.0698

20 550
22 030
28 1 I O
3 I 200
34 250
54 630
62 430
62610
152 490
I52 740

04872
0.0866
0.0846
0.0837
04830
0.0794
0.0785
04784
0.0726
0.0726

Muguzine of Concrete Research, 1996. 48, No. 1 l1

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Loading frequency and stress reversal effects on concrete fatigue

Test
number
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79

0.2

80
81
82
83
84

0.7

20

0.9

85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92

f: Hz

0.85

0.8

N:
cycles

82 890
99 220
137 150
168 100
208 750
219710
387 100
409610
467 990
1 407 700

0.0883
0.0870
0.0846
0.083 1
0.08 17
0.08 13
0.0778
0.0774
0.0766
0.0707

39
45
46
72
94

0.0870
0.0837
0.0833
0.0745
0.0702

121
168
175
3 64

0.0894
0,0837
0.083 1
0.0727

637
655
923
1327

0,0835
0.0832
0,0790
0.0750

2830
4280
4530

0.0846
0.0804
0.0799

13 150
18 320
66 360

0.0844
0.08 15
0.0721

93
94
95

0.75

96
97
98

0.7

99
I U0
101

0.65

72 880
77 800
86 360

0.081 1
0,0806
0.0799

IO2
103
I04

0.85

88
155
249

0.0932
0.0828
0.0757

105
I06
107

0.8

508
875
1600

0.0842
0.0775
0.071 1

853
2298
2816
4626

0.0937
0.08 I7
0.0796
0.0749

9220
15630
l8 670

0.0833
0.0787
0,0773

27420
44 160
67 960

0.0864
0,0826
0.0794

I08
109
110
Ill
112
I l3
I l4

I l5
116

20

0.75
-0.2

0.7

0.65
20

I l7
1 l8

1 l9

0.6

I20

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188 220
220 960
336 330

0.081 3
0.0803
0.0776

373

Zhang et al.
Test
number
121
122
123

S,,,,

fr
-0.2

0.9

126
127

0.85

I28
I29

0.8

cycles
20

0.55

124
125

N:

. f : Hz

398 380
831180
1 116880

0.0847
0.080 I
0.0784

33
54

0.0853
0.0748

0.084 1
0.0834

130
131
I32

0.0887
0.0798

0.0896
0.0822

-0.5
0.0752

3235

133
134

0.0758
0.65

I35
136

20

8860
l5 470

0.0804

5 0 520
IO4 300

0.0784
0.0735

I
137
138

0.6

139
I40

0.85

141
142

I43
I44
145
l46

0.75

0.7

-0.8

147
148
I49
150
151
I52

20

1 53
1 54

155

0.5

156
I57
158
159
l60
161

1
I

162
I63

I 64
165
166

0.7

374
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117350
125 770

0.0814
0.0809

8(1
I20

0.086 I
0.0807

0.0853
364

0.0X24

I046
I069

0.0842
0.0839

5650
I2 230

0.08 I5
0.0748

Loading frequency and stress reversal effects

Test
number

167
I68
169
170
171

-1

N:
cycles
0.65

14

20

0.6

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on concrete fatigue

20 500
58 070

0.0804
0,0728

590
93 860
I58 240

0.093 1
0.0779
0.0745

375