Concrete cracking strength can be defined as the tensile strength of concrete subjected to pure tension stress. However, as it is\ndifficult to apply direct tension load to concrete specimens, concrete cracking is usually quantified by the modulus of rupture for\nflexural members. In this study, a new direct tension test setup for cylindrical specimens (101.6mm in diameter and 203.2mm in\nheight) similar to those used in compression test is developed. Double steel plates are used to obtain uniform stress distributions.\nFinite element analysis for the proposed test setup is conducted. The uniformity of the stress distribution along the cylindrical\nspecimen is examined and compared with rectangular cross section. Fuzzy image pattern recognition method is used to assess\nstress uniformity along the specimen. Moreover, the probability of cracking at different locations along the specimen is evaluated\nusing probabilistic finite element analysis.Theexperimental and numerical results of the cracking location showed that gravity effect\non fresh concrete during setting time might affect the distribution of concrete cracking strength along the height of the structural\nelements.
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