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Experimental investigation on tensile strength of hollow concrete blocks

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Abstract

In this paper, an experimental and statistical analysis was carried out from hollow concrete blocks. Firstly, 30 blocks were tested under compression force (vertical-direction). After, 60 blocks were studied under the splitting test from ASTM–C–1006 and, later a direct tensile test was applied to other 60 blocks. The blocks, in the direct tensile test, were subjected to a tensile force in the horizontal directions (30 in each directions). For the direct tensile test, a special test procedure was developed. The results show that, independently of the test procedure applied (direct or splitting), the tensile strength has a significant statistical difference between both horizontal directions (x and y), evidencing the non–isotropy character from the hollow concrete blocks. Splitting method results was significantly smaller in the x–direction than by the direct method, contrary in the y–direction. A statistical analysis of parametric and non-parametric hypothesis tests was used to determine the significance levels between both test procedures. In addition, this article concludes with a discussion between the compressive and tensile strength relationships in the orthogonal directions of the hollow concrete blocks.

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Abbreviations

\(E_{{C_{g} }}\) :

HCB compressive modulus over gross area in the z direction, MPa

\(E_{{C_{n} }}\) :

HCB Compressive modulus over net area in the z direction, MPa

\(f^{\prime}_{{C_{g} }}\) :

HCB uniaxial compressive strength over gross area in the z direction, MPa

\(f^{\prime}_{{C_{n} }}\) :

HCB uniaxial compressive strength over net area in the z direction, MPa

\(Ft_{{D_{x} }}\) :

Direct Tensile force in the x direction, kN

\(Ft_{{D_{y} }}\) :

Direct Tensile force in the y direction, kN

\(ft_{{D_{gx} }}\) :

Direct Tensile Strength over gross area in the x direction, MPa

\(ft_{{D_{nx} }}\) :

Direct Tensile Strength over net area in the x direction, MPa

\(ft_{{D_{nxE} }}\) :

Estimated Tensile strength from the curve fit in the x-direction

\(ft_{{D_{gy} }}\) :

Direct Tensile Strength over gross area in the y direction, MPa

\(ft_{{D_{ny} }}\) :

Direct Tensile Strength over net area in the y direction, MPa

\(\varepsilon_{tDx}\) :

Direct Tensile Strain in the x direction

\(\varepsilon_{tDy}\) :

Direct Tensile Strain in the y direction

\(\varepsilon_{tDx,U}\) :

Direct Ultimate Tensile Strain in the x direction

\(\varepsilon_{tDy,U}\) :

Direct Ultimate Tensile Strain in the y direction

\(Et_{{D_{gx} }}\) :

Direct Tensile Modulus over gross area in the x direction, MPa

\(Et_{{D_{gy} }}\) :

Direct Tensile Modulus over gross area in the y direction, MPa

\(Et_{{D_{nx} }}\) :

Direct Tensile Modulus over net area in the x direction, MPa

\(Et_{{D_{ny} }}\) :

Direct Tensile Modulus over net area in the y direction, MPa

\(Ft_{{S_{x} }}\) :

Splitting Tensile force in the x direction, kN

\(Ft_{{S_{y} }}\) :

Splitting Tensile force in the y direction, kN

\(ft_{{S_{x} }}\) :

Splitting Tensile Strength in the x direction, MPa

\(ft_{{S_{y} }}\) :

Splitting Tensile Strength in the y direction, MPa

\(l_{x}\) :

Split length in the x direction, (mm)

\(l_{y}\) :

Split length in the y direction, (mm)

\(E_{MAE}\) :

Mean absolute error (%)

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the School of Civil Engineering (FIC) and the Structural Engineering Department of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), as well as the PRODEP: 511-6/2019.-10151 (Program for Teacher Professional Development), and the PAICYT: IT1350-20 (Support Program For Scientific And Technological Investigation).

Funding

PRODEP: 511–6/2019–10151 (Program for Teacher Professional Development), PAICYT: IT1350–20 (Support Program for Scientific and Technological Investigation).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Facultad de Ingeniería Civil, (FIC-UANL), Av. Universidad S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, 66455, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

    José Álvarez-Pérez, Milena Mesa-Lavista, Jorge H. Chávez-Gómez & Gerardo Fajardo-San Miguel

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  1. José Álvarez-Pérez
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  2. Milena Mesa-Lavista
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Project administration, funding acquisition: J. Álvarez-Pérez. Validation, Data Curation Methodology, Writing—Original Draft, Visualization: M. Mesa-Lavista. Methodology, Resources, Project administration, funding acquisition: J. Chávez-Gómez. Formal analysis, Writing—Review & Editing: G. Fajardo-San Miguel.

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Correspondence to Milena Mesa-Lavista.

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Álvarez-Pérez, J., Mesa-Lavista, M., Chávez-Gómez, J.H. et al. Experimental investigation on tensile strength of hollow concrete blocks. Mater Struct 54, 164 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-021-01761-3

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