Full Paper

Proc. of Int. Conf. on Advances in Design and Construction of Structures 2012

Predicting 28 Days Compressive Strength of Concrete

from 7 Days Test Result
Ahsanul Kabir1, Monjurul Hasan2 and Md. Khasro Miah3
1

Bangladesh University of Engg. & Tech. /Dept. of Civil Engineering, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Email: akabir@ce.buet.ac.bd
2
Z H Sikder University of Science & Tech. /Dept. of Civil Engineering, Shariatpur, Bangladesh
Email: hasan.m.m.ce@gmail.com
3
Dhaka University of Engg. & Tech. /Dept. of Civil Engineering, Gazipur, Bangladesh
Email: mkhasro@duet.ac.bd
process becomes mandatory, which can be costly and time
consuming. For every failure, it is necessary to wait at least
28 days, thus the need for an easy and reliable method for
estimating the final strength at an early age of concrete is a
long felt necessity. Hence, a rapid and suitable concrete
strength prediction would be of great significance [1].
Many studies are being carried out to explore the behavior
of concrete and to make a better prediction of its characteristic
strength. In this paper a mathematical model to evaluate the
concrete strength from early age test results is discussed
which represents a relationship equation in between concrete
strength and its age [2]. A simplification of the model is also
proposed. The model is established based on the experimental
result of concrete cylinder tests made with stone aggregate
[3] and then checked for stone aggregate concrete prepared
and tested in a different laboratory of a different country [4].
Finally, the same model is used to predict 28 days strength of
concrete made with brick aggregates.

AbstractConcrete structures are designed on the basis of 28

days cylinder crushing strength. 28 days cylinder strength
actually represents the characteristic strength of the concrete.
It is mandatory to test the concrete cylinders at the age of 28
days as per almost all building code requirements. Though it
is quite time consuming to wait 28 days for such tests, it is
important to continue the construction work and ensure the
quality control process. This paper presents a simple
mathematical model to predict the compressive strength of
concrete at 28 day from early age (say 7 days) results. The
model is a simple equation (a rational polynomial) that consists
of only two constants and one variable which is the age of
concrete in days. It is found that the constants have the relation
of a surface polynomial with the strength of a particular day
(7 th day or 14 th day). This is further simplified with a direct
correlation of one of the coefficient with concrete strength
value. The mathematical model is developed based on the
analysis of stone aggregate concrete data collected from a
previous study and is validated with some experimental data
of cylinder tests performed in the Concrete laboratory of
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET),
Dhaka. The proposed model has a good potential to predict
concrete strength at different age with high accuracy. This
has been finally employed to predict 28 days strength of
concrete made with brick aggregates from their 7 days test
results.

II. BACKGROUND
Early prediction of concrete compressive strength enables
to know quickly about the concrete and its probable weakness
and decide to continue the construction or manage the
destruction program. Therefore, prediction of the
compressive strength of concrete has been an active area of
research. Several methods for early estimation have been
introduced in some previously published studies. These
attempts were made to predict the 28 days concrete
compressive strength from early days test results but those
had some limitations [5].
Many efforts are made on using different techniques as
computational modeling, statistical techniques. A number of
research efforts have concentrated on using multivariable
regression model to improve the accuracy of prediction. In a
recent study [6] multivariable power equation is chosen as
an effective model for prediction of strength of different ages
of concrete (Eq. 1). The general format of the equation is
given below:

Index Termsconcrete, compressive strength, brick aggregate

concrete, strength prediction.

I. INTRODUCTION
Concrete has its benefits of strength, availability,
durability, flexibility and economy. In case of designing a
concrete structure, the compressive strength of concrete is
an essential element. 28days compressive strength of
concrete is usually considered as the design strength. To
ensure this strength it is necessary to wait a considerable
time i.e. 28 days. It becomes mandatory because it also
represents the quality control process of concrete mixing,
placing, compaction, curing etc. Concrete mix design is a
process that uses code recommendation and blends with the
experience of the concerned engineer. Due to some error in
mix design or mix preparation at site the test results may fail
to achieve the designed strength, then repetition of the entire
Corresponding Author: Dr. Ahsanul kabir, Department of Civil
Engineering, BUET, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

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In the above equation compressive strength of a particular
day (fage) is considered as the dependent variable on the
variables which has significant correlation with the strength
like the water-cement ratio (w/c), cement (C), water (W), sand
(FA), Aggregate (CA) content and density of concrete ()
and then the Eqn. 1 becomes:
(2)

it is expected that the strength gain pattern of brick aggregate

concrete would be quite similar to that of stone aggregate
concrete, the effectiveness of the proposed mathematical
model for strength prediction is also tested with these brick
aggregate concrete test results.
TABLE I. PROPERTY RANGES OF GROUP 1 AND GROUP 2 T EST DATA

The values of a0, a1, a2, a3, a4, a5 and a6 were determined
from regression of statistical data and able to predict the
strength of concrete for a particular age directly. To know
about the strength history of the corresponding day it is
required to identify the coefficients [a0, a1, a2] of the model
(Eq. 2) individually.
Alternatively, soft computing models namely Neural
Network, Fuzzy-Logic and Genetic Algorithm are used for
strength prediction but in this case training computation is
needed to form the model and to solve the problem [5, 7-8].
Some recent studies considered the early days strength
result as an important index for the prediction of concrete
strength [5, 8] and the aim of this study is also to predict the
concrete compressive strength from early days strength
result. Previously many parameters have been considered
for prediction of concrete strength which influences its
strength gaining characteristics. In this study, attempt is made
to predict the concrete strength from an early days concrete
strength test result. The model is developed by exploring the
concrete strength gain pattern with age.

IV. MATHEMATICAL MODEL

The mathematical model for predicting the compressive
strength of the concrete focused on the determination of a
general equation of strength gaining nature of concrete with
its age [2]. Investigation shows that all the concrete strength
maintains a correlation with its age according to the following
simple equation:

III. EXPERIMENTAL DATA

Total 56 sets of available Data (called Group-1) have been
used for developing the mathematical model which are taken
from a previous study by Garg [3] and the validation of the
model is done using the experimental data (called Group-2)
obtained from tests carried out recently in the Concrete
laboratory of BUET [4].
Ranges of material properties and concrete strengths
achieved for Group-1 and Group-2 data sets are summarized
in Table I. No admixtures or additives are used in either case
of study; only the general constituents of concrete
[Cement(C), Coarse-Aggregate (CA), Fine-Aggregate (FA)
and Water (W)] are used to evaluate the concrete
compressive strength. Different mix proportions of the
ingredients and different w/c ratio are used to study the
variations. All the specimens were immersed in water until
the day of testing and variation of temperature was negligible
so, the effect of temperature variation is neglected.
Group-1 and Group-2 experimental data are for stone
aggregate normal concrete made with ordinary Portland
cement. The experimental investigations are carried out in
two different laboratories of two different countries. Later,
some test results are made available for brick aggregate
concrete [9] which is widely used in Bangladesh. These are
also cast using ordinary Portland cement. Altogether 27 test
results for different sizes of cylinder molds are available. As

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(3)
where
= Strength of the concrete at Dth day (D =
1,2,3,..); D= Number of days; p and q are constants for
each curve but different for different data sets (curves). It
may be mentioned that this equation (Eq. 3) is similar to the
equation (Eq. 4) proposed by ACI committee ( ACI 209-71)
[10] for predicting compressive strength at any day based on
28 days strength.
(4)
Here, a and b are constants,
= 28-day strength
and t is the time in days and this equation (Eq. 4) can be
recast to similar form of Eq. 3. To utilize the derived equation
(Eq. 3), just value of two constants (p and q) are to be
determined. It may be mentioned that the constant q has the
unit of day and p has the stress unit to be consistent with the
expression.

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The values of p and q can be determined by putting strength
test results in Eq. 3 for any two days and solving it; but for
this, test results for at least two different days are required.
An attempt has been made to determine these values from
only one day test result [2]. It is observed that, all values of
p, q and strength of a particular day
for each set
maintain a correlation of polynomial surface. In other words,

(10)
Plots of Eq. 9 and Eq. 10 is shown in Fig. 1. Thus, the
ccorresponding p values can be obtained by putting known
7 days or 14 days concrete strength values in the Eq. 9 or Eq.
10. Then, q is computed from Eq. 3 using 7 or 14 days strength
value and the p-value just obtained in the last step. Finally,
the q and p-value determined can be used to find the 28 days
strength of concrete using Eq. 3

values of p can be expressed as the function of q and

[which fits well with a second degree polynomial surface
equation]. The equation of correlation is given below:
(5)
Where
= Strength of the concrete at Dth day. (D = 1,
2, 3 ) and a, b, c, d and e are the coefficients. This general
relation of p, q and
is valid for any days test result of
concrete strength. For different D days strength, just the
coefficients [a, b, c, d, e] of Eq. 5 will be different. As the
correlation is built up for 7th day test result of concrete [D=7],
the values of the coefficients becomes, a = -6.26; b = 0.7898;
c = 1.478; d = 0.0994; e = -0.0074.
Putting these values in Eq. 5 the following equation is
obtained:

Figure 1. Variation of p with the strength of Concrete.

(6)
Similar equation is developed for 14th day strength results
[D=14] and can be expressed as follows:

V. PERFORMANCE
The performance of the proposed equations was
evaluated by three statistical parameters, mean absolute error
(MAE), root mean square error (RMSE) and normal efficiency
(EF); their expressions are given below.

(7)
Now, if the 7 days strength value is put in Eq. 6, it becomes
a linear equation in p and q. Thus, solving two linear equations
(Eq. 3 and Eq. 6), values of p and q are obtained for each case.
Finally, after finding the values of p and q the complete
equation for the particular case can be formed which can
effectively predict the compressive strength of 28th days.
Eq. 5 contains five constants which need to be
determined, before solving the prediction problem. These
constants can be evaluated by regression with sufficient data
of test results of a particular day. From the study, it is observed
that the p value which is obtained by solving Eq. 3 and Eq. 6
for 7 days strengths maintains a systematic correlation. This
correlation can be expressed in a general form as given by
the following equation (Eq. 8). It simplifies the problem of
prediction significantly
(8)

(11)

(12)

(13)
Here, Ai = Actual value; Pi = Predicted value; n = number of
data (1, 2, 3 ).
A. Test for Stone AggregateConcrete
The model is basically developed using Group-1 test data
made available by the study of Garg [3] where crushed stone
are used as coarse aggregates. The test results of Hasan [4]
(Group-2 data) for stone aggregate concrete is used to validate
the prediction capability of the proposed model. Some twenty
three data (each average of 3 sets) are employed and from
there arbitrary seven results are tabulated here in Table II.

th

Where
= Strength of the concrete at D day and m
and r are the coefficients.
Using the available 56 test data [3], these coefficients are
determined from best fit equation. With slight rounding off it
is found that, m = 3.0; r = 0.80, goes quite well with the 7 days
strength results. Thus the Eq. 8 becomes:
(9)
Using 14 days concrete strength the general correlation
equation (Eq. 8) may be expressed as,
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TABLE V. PREDICTION O F C OMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF B RICK AGGREGATE
CONCRETE

TABLE II. PREDICTION OF CONCRETE STRENGTH (GROUP -2 DATA)

The overall effectiveness of the proposed model considering

all the 56 test data of Group-1 and 23 test data of Group-2 is
summarized below in Table III.
TABLE III. EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROPOSED MODEL FOR G ROUP-1 &
GROUP -2 DATA

C. Discussion on Results
This study is carried out for normal weight concrete
having no admixture and the ordinary Portland cement (OPC)
used as binder for concrete mixing. The model is developed
for the strength results of concrete made with stone aggregate
(Group-1) and the efficiency is found to be 90%. Observed
RMSE, MAE and avg. Pi/Ai are 3.23, 2.68 and 1.03 respectively,
which may be considered as quite satisfactory. Next the
developed model is validated for the data sets of concrete
strength which are cast in a different country with local
ingredients (Group-2) and for these concrete specimens made
with locally available crushed stone chips, the same good
performance is observed. Table III shows the prediction
efficiency for both Group-1 & Group-2 data. The comparison
demonstrates that the RMSE (3.23, 2.53), MAE (2.68, 2.12)
and avg. Pi/Ai (1.03, 1.04) are very close to each other.
Finally, the proposed model was further checked for
concrete made with brick aggregates. In some countries like
Bangladesh use of brick chips as the coarse aggregate is a
common practice. The nature of strength gain of brick
aggregate concrete with age follows similar trend like that of
stone aggregate concrete if ordinary Portland cement is used
as a binder in either case. So, the proposed model is expected
to perform well. As expected, the results of prediction for
brick aggregate concrete shows equal accuracy as that of
the concrete made with stone aggregate. The efficiency of
prediction is about 92% and the average Pi/Ai is very close to
unity. The RMSE [2.26] and MAE [1.92] are within acceptable
range considering the level of scatter usually exhibited by
concrete strength.

B. Test for Brick-AggregateConcrete

The proposed model was developed on the basis of
compressive strength of concrete cylinder made with stone
aggregates. However, it is also validated here with test results
of compressive strength of concrete cylinders made with brick
aggregates [9].
TABLE IV. PREDICTION EFFECTIVENESS FOR B RICK AGGREGATE CONCRETE

Table IV shows the summary of the prediction

effectiveness with all the 27 concrete test results of brick
aggregate concrete made in different size concrete molds and
Table V represents the predicted values of compressive
strength for sixteen concrete cylinders (150x300mm size) made
with brick aggregates. The predicted 28 days compressive
strength for concrete made with brick aggregate from 7 days
test result is quite satisfactory.
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CONCLUSIONS

[2] Hasan M.M. and Kabir A., Prediction of Compressive Strength

of Concrete from Early Age Test Result. Proceedings of 4th
Annual Paper Meet and 1st Civil Engineering Congress, Dhaka,
Bangladesh, December 22-24, 2011, pp. 1-7.
[3] Garg R., Artificial Neural Network for Concrete Mix Design.
Masters of Engineering thesis, Department of Civil Engineering,
Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, 2003.
[4] Hasan M., Concrete mix design using artificial neural network.
Bachelor of Engineering thesis, Department of Civil Engineering,
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka,
Bangladesh 2012.
[5] Hamid-Zadeh N., Jamli A., Nariman-Zadeh N. and Akbarzadeh
H., A Polynomial Model for Concrete Compressive Strength
Prediction using GMDH-type Neural Networks and Genetic
Algorithm. Proceedings of the 5th WSEAS International
Conference on System Science and Simulation in Engineering,
Canary Islands, Spain, December 16-18, 2006, pp. 13-18.
[6] Zain M.F.M., Suhad M. Abd, Hamid R. and Jamil M., Potential
for Utilizing Concrete Mix Properties to Predict Strength at
Different Ages. Journal of Applied Sciences, Vol. 10(22), 2010,
pp. 2831-2838.
[7] Neshat M., Adeli A., Sepidnam G., Sargolzaei M., Comparative
Study on Fuzzy Interference System for Prediction of
Concrete Compressive Strength, International Journal of the
Physical Sciences, Vol. 7(3), 2012, pp. 440-455.
[8] Alilou V.K., Teshnehlab M., Prediction of 28-day compressive
strength of concrete on the third day using neural networks,
International Journal of Engineering, Vol. 3(6), 2010, pp. 565575.
[9] Islam Md. M., Islam Md. Z. and Shahabuddin, B. M, Effect
of Specimen Sizes on the compressive strength of Brick
Aggregate Concrete, Undergraduate thesis, Department of
Civil Engineering, Dhaka University of Engineering &
Technology (DUET), Gazipur, Bangladesh, 2008.
[10] ACI COMMITTEE 209, Creep Shrinkage Temperature in
Concrete Structures (ACI 209-71), American concrete
Institute, Detroit, Michigan, 1971, sp. 27-13, pp. 258-269.

This paper simplifies the mathematical model to estimate

the 28 days compressive strength of concrete from just only
one parameter, 7 days test results without considering the
other index properties of concrete [e.g. water, cement, w/c
ratio, FA, CA, density ()] and gives an initial idea of the 28
days strength with reasonable accuracy. In this study,
modeled concrete strength gain characteristic with age is
simplified and a simple mathematical (power) equation is
introduced which replaces the polynomial surface equation.
The proposed equations predicts well the 28 days strength
for concrete made with stone aggregate and has potential to
predict the strength of concrete made with brick aggregates.
The proposed technique can be used as a reliable tool for
assessing the design strength of concrete from quite early
age test results. Besides predicting 28 days strength for
ordinary Portland cement concrete, expected concrete
strength at any age (say 21, 60 or 360 days) can be determined
from the proposed model.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank the technicians of the Concrete
laboratories of Bangladesh University of Engineering &
Technology (BUET) and Dhaka University of Engineering
and Technology (DUET). This work was supported by the
Civil Engineering departments of the two universities.
REFERENCES
[1] Kheder G.F., Al-Gabban A.M. and Suhad M.A., Mathematical
model for the prediction of cement compressive strength at
the ages of 7 and 28 days within 24 hours. Materials and
Structure. Vol. 36, 2003, pp. 693-701.

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