Experimental investigation of size effect in concrete and sandstone under uniaxial tension

A series of uniaxial tension experiments has been conducted to investigate the size effect on strength and fracture energy of concrete and sandstone. This paper specifically deals with the variation of the nominal strength for specimens of six different sizes in a scale range of 1.32. Depending on the material and the curing conditions a stronger or weaker size effect on the nominal strength occurred in the tests. The observed size effect has to be attributed to a combination of statistical size effect and strain gradients in the cross section of the specimens, which were caused by the specimen shape, load eccentricity and material inhomogeneity. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.