FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING & EARTH RESOURCES

CONCRETE LABORATORY

SUBJECT CODE BAA 1931

SUBJECT ENGINEERING LAB. I

EXPERIMENT TITLE DESTRUCTIVE TEST:COMPRESSION TEST

DATE OF 16th MAY 2018

EXPERIMENT

GROUP NUMBER 5

SECTION 01G

GROUP MEMBER:
1) AA17105 – LOKE CHEE HOU
ID NUMBER & NAME 2) AA17018 – NUR ATIKAH BT SAMSUN
RAHMAN
3) AA17025 – MAZNIE BT MADRI
4) AA17021 – ENGKU AQILAH SYAKIRAH BT
ENGKU ROSLY
5) AA17030 – MUHAMAD FAIS BIN MOHMAD
RAFI

PERSON IN CHARGE ENCIK HJ MUHAMMAD NURUL FAKHRI RUSLI

REMARKS

ENDORSEMENT
 TABLE OF CONTENT

CONTENT PAGE NUMBER

i) INTRODUCTION 1

ii) OBJECTIVE 2

iii) APPARATUS AND PROCEDURE 3-4

iv) RESULTS 5-7

v) DISCUSSION 8- 9

vi) CONCLUSION 10

vii) REFERENCE 11

viii) APPENDICES 12
INTRODUCTION

CONCRETE COMPRESSION TEST

The most common test for hardened concrete is the compressive strength, at a
particular period of time, from the time of casting the concrete cubes. It is very important for
engineers and technicians to obtain accurate results of compressive strengths of concrete.
Compressive strength over a period of time also indicates the extent of quality control being
exercised at the site.

In compression test, concrete specimen is subjected to the compression load at

specified rate. The specimen that is tested to its failure and the maximum load achieved is
considered as such the ultimate load for future strength calculation. The satisfactory of
specimen, equipment, and procedure during the testing process is indicated through the
observation on the mode of failure.

1
OBJECTIVES

1) To determine the compressive strength of hardened concrete specimen with reference

to the standardized method.

2) To prescribe the compressive strength of the specimens.

2
APPARATUS

1. Compression testing machine and accessories

2. 150mm x 150mm x 150mm concrete cube.

3
PROCEDURES

1. The dimension and weight of each specimen is weighted

2. The bearing faces of upper and lower bearing plates and of the specimen is wiped
clean
3. The specimen is placed at the center of bearing plate and the upper and lower plain
surfaces are positioned properly are ensured.
4. The end surface that do not confirm with the required planeness are capped properly
before further compression test if cylinder specimen was used
5. The continuous load is applied until the specimen fails without shock
6. The maximum load carried by the specimen during the test, type of failure, and the
appearance of specimen is recorded.
7. The compressive strength of the specimen is calculated
8. The process from steps (i) to(viii) is repeated for other specimen

Note : For concrete cylinder specimen, if the specimen length to diameter ratio is 1.75 or
less, the compressive strength result obtained is corrected by multiplying the appropriate
correction factor shown in table 2

L/D Factor
1.75 0.98
1.50 0.96
1.25 0.93
1.00 0.87
Table 2 : correction factor for cylinder specimen

4
RESULT

Calculate the compressive strength of the specimen by dividing the maximum load
carried by the specimen during test by the average cross-sectional area and express
the result to the nearest 0.1 MPa (N/mm²).

𝑃
𝑓=
𝐴
Where:

𝑓 = compressive strength of concrete specimen (N/mm² or MPa)

P = maximum load carried by the specimen during test (N)
A = average cross sectional area of the specimen (mm²)

Record the appearance of concrete specimen after testing and refer to Figure 1 and
Figure 2 for the example of satisfactory an unsatisfactory failures respectively.
Unsatisfactory failures are commonly caused by the insufficient attention to the
procedure detail, particularly during the sample preparation and testing procedure. For
example: improperly moulded specimen, incorrect placement of the specimen in the
testing machine, or anomalous loading during the test.

5
 Table 1: Compression Test Results
Characteristic Specimen
A B C
Weight (kg) 7.6258 7.7711 7.6658
Date of mix 13/4/2018 13/4/2018 13/4/2018
Sample age (days) 33 33 33
Sample length (mm) 150 150 150
Sample width (mm) 150 150 150
Load (kN) 771.515 854.979 916.036
Length x Width 22500 22500 22500
(mm²)
Compressive Strength 39.290 38.000 40.713
(N/mm²)
Type of Failure N N N
Average Compressive (39.290+ 38.000 +40.713) / 3 = 39.334 N/mm²
Strength (N/mm²)
Average Density (7.6258 + 7.7711 + 7.6658) / 3(3.375x10³) = 2277.798 kg/m³
(kg/m³)

6
CALCULATION

Compression test

- Surface area of cube = sample length x sample

= 150 x 150

= 22500 mm²
- Compressive strength = load / length x width
Sample A = 771.515 / 22500 = 0.0343
Sample B = 854.979 / 22500 = 0.0380
Sample C = 916.036 / 22500 = 0.0407
- Average compressive strength = total compressive strength / 3
= (39.290+ 38.000 +40.713) / 3
= 39.334 N/mm²
- Average density = total weight cube / 3(3.375x10³)
= (7.6258 + 7.7711 + 7.6658) / 3(3.375x10³)
= 2277.798 kg/m³

7
DISCUSSION

Does the compressive strength result obtained comply with the designed characteristic
of strength?

This experiment was done to determine the compressive strength of hardened concrete
specimen with this concrete cube compressive strength test.

No, but the compressive strength results that we got from our experiment is almost near
the designed characteristic strength in 33 days. There is one cube reached the targeted
compressive strength which is 40.713 N/mm2 but there are two cube did not reach the targeted
compressive strength, which is 39.290 N/mm2 and 38.000 N/mm2 respectively. This may due
to minor error in this experiment. There are a few reason why the cube does not achieve the
desired compressive strength result. Which includes the mixing time, personal error / handling
and its water – cement ratio.

a) Make sure the mix is mixed properly in the machine. When the time of the concrete mixing
is too short, it will lead to segregation and clump in the mix.

b) Make sure to carry out the experiment carefully . This is to avoid the error from occuring
during the experiment in order to achieve accurate result.

c) Lower water – cement ratio will cause lower the compressive strength of the concrete . So,
to achieve the designed characteristic strength, make sure that the water - cement ratio is on
optimum ratio, not to low and not to high.

8
Elaborate the significance of adopting non – 28 – day strength in the characterization of
concrete strength.

The hydration process changes the fresh concrete to solid or hardened state enabling the
development of the concrete. Strength of concrete grows faster in initial days and this process of
gaining strength slow down with time.

Theoretically, if kept in a moist environment, concrete will gain strength forever, however,
in practical terms, about 90% of its strength is gained in the first 28 days. In the industry, 28 days
strength were adopted as the reference point. The specification often refer to compression test
of concrete which are crushed 28 days after they are made. So the increase in the time of curing,
the higher the strength of the concrete.

Comparison between theoretical and experimental:

 Theoretically, all the hardened concrete of same proportion of materials should have similar
ultimate strength. However, the ultimate strength of each cubes that we get from experiment
are different.

Causes and error during experimental:

 Do not dry the hardened concrete after taken out from the fresh water.

 Do not place the concrete cube properly in the compression testing machine.

Precaution and safety measure during experiment:

 Wipe away the extra concrete before weighing so that there is no water content or concrete
on the surface of the mould of the concrete.

 Label each concrete cube so that we can differentiate each cube.

 Make sure the concrete cube is placed at the center of bearing plate of compression testing
machine and the upper and lower plain must be positioned properly.

9
CONCLUSION

In conclusion, at 33 days, our cube compressive strength should be bigger and equal
to 40 Mpa. However, only one specimen passed the expected compressive strength which is
specimen 3 that achieve 40.713 Mpa. The other two specimen did not achieve the expected
compressive strength. Specimen 1 achieved 34.290 Mpa while specimen 2 achieve 38 Mpa.
This could be because of the wrong mix proportion of various mix proportions of various
materials were used to get the desired strength.From this experiment we were able to achieve
the objective which is to determine the compressive strength of hardened concrete specimen
with reference to the standardized method.

There are several steps to reduce the error in this experiment. When making cubes,once
a specimen has been compacted, it should not be left standing on the same bench as another
specimen that is being compacted. If this is done, some vibration will be passed on to the first
specimen and it will be more compacted than the other. To avoid this, make sure the specimen
is placed at a place that does not vibrate. The compressive strength of cubes gives us the
information of the potential strength of the concrete mix from which it is sampled.It helps in
determining whether correct mix proportions of various mix proportions of various materials
were used to get the desired strength.It helps in determining the rate of gain of strength of
concrete samples if cubes from the samples are crushed at different periods of time.

10
REFERENCES

1. https://www.testresources.net/applications/test-types/compression-test/
2. https://www.engineeringcivil.com/compression-test-on-concrete.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressive_strength
4. Civil Engineering Laboratory Manual (3rd Edition), Faculty of Civil Engineering &
Earth Resources, 2018.
5. http://www.ce.memphis.edu/1101/notes/concrete/section_3_properties.html

11
APPENDICES

Figure 1 Figure 2

Figure 1 and 2 show that our concrete cubes have been taken out from water after 33 days to
be taken to do compression test.

Figure 3 Figure 4

Figure 3 and 4 show that the concrete cube is being compressed by the compression machine.

12