Experimental Results of Fatigue and Sustained Load Tests on Autoclaved Aerated Concrete

The fatigue strength of concrete is lower than its static strength. An attempt was made to accelerate the destabilisation process due to microcracking by the application of fatigue loads. The aim of this was to get ready access to information about concrete's sustained loading strength. The fatigue strength of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) was observed by applying cyclic loads to unreinforced cylinders. AAC was found to be less sensitive to fatigue loads than lightweight concrete. The fatigue tests were supplemented by tests using sustained loads. It could be assumed that the behaviour under both static and fatigue loads was comparable with that of lightweight and normal concrete. A substantial influence of load duration was found, especially at high load levels.