Produced with funding from CONSTRUCT and filmed at Imperial College London.

This video shows the behaviour of a high-strength concrete cylinder in compression. The concrete in this sample is made from 52.5 high-grade cement.

Tests such as these are a standard way of testing the compressive strength of concrete. The test demonstrates:

• The ultimate strength of high-strength concrete
• That high-strength concrete has a similar failure mechanism to ordinary strength concrete

Students should compare the behaviour of this high-strength concrete cylinder with the behaviour of a ordinary concrete in compression by watching the video ‘Cylinder (ordinary concrete) – compression failure’.

Download the datasheet for this demonstration:

• Compressive behaviour of a high-strength concrete cylinder (PDF, opens in new tab)