Size Effect Studies on Concrete Made of Natural and Artificial Sand

Objective: An experimental investigation was carried out to study the size effect on concrete specimens. Methods: In order to study the size effect compressive and split tensile test were conducted on standard and high strength concrete (M₃₀ and M₆₀) specimens of two different sizes of cubes (150 x 150 x 150 mm and 100 x 100 x 100 mm) and cylinders (150 x 300 mm and 100 x 200 mm) made of natural and artificial sand. In addition to this, the flexural strength test was also conducted for beam (500 x 100 x 100 mm) to compare the flexural strength of the beams made of natural and artificial sand. Findings: The result showed that the larger size concrete specimen fails at a lower stress than a smaller one and it was also observed that there was no significant variation in the strength with two sizes considered. The mechanical properties obtained with natural sand and artificial sand indicates that strength obtained for artificial sand was higher than that of natural sand for both M₃₀ and M₆₀ grade of concrete. Applications/Improvements: From this study, it was concluded that the standard cube of 150 x 150 x 150 mm and 100 x 100 x 100 mm can be used interchangeably for the test purpose. Similarly, for split tensile strength, standard cylinder of 150 x 300 mm and 100 x 200 mm can be used interchangeably.