Effect of size and shape of specimen on compressive strength of glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC)

Concrete is a versatile material with tremendous applications in civil engineering construction. Structural concrete elements are generally made with concrete having a compressive strength of 20 to 35 MPa. Lately, there is an increase in use of high strength concrete (HSC) in major construction projects such as high-rise buildings, and bridges involving members of different sizes and shapes. The compressive strength of concrete is used as the most basic and important material property in the design of reinforced concrete structures. It has become a problem to use this value as the control specimen sizes and shapes are different from country to country. In India, the characteristic compressive strength is usually measured based on 150 mm cubes [1]. But, the ACI code of practice specifies the design compressive strength based on the standard 150x300 mm cylinders [2]. The use of 100x200 mm cylinders gained more acceptance as the need to test high strength concrete increases [3]. In this context the size and shape of concrete becomes an important parameter for the compressive strength. In view of the significance of compressive strength of concrete and due to the fact that the structural elements of different sizes and shapes are used, it is proposed to investigate the effect of size and shape of the specimen on the compressive strength of concrete. In this work, specimens of plain as well as Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) specimens are cast in order to carry out a comparative study.