Does the fatigue resistance really decrease with higher concrete strength?

High-strength concretes enable filigree concrete structures which are prone to cyclic loading. Regarding the design of concrete structures under compressive fatigue loading, the fatigue resistance is increasingly reduced for higher concrete strengths in guidelines and standards, such as Model Code 2020 or Eurocode 2, accounting for the fear of increased fatigue sensitivity with increasing strength and brittleness of the concrete. This reduces their potential dramatically in fatigue-loaded structures. The discussion concerning the influence of the concrete strength on the fatigue resistance has been ongoing for decades. Controversial results are documented in the literature. However, several results show that concretes with higher strengths do not have a reduced fatigue resistance. Nevertheless, the strength-dependent reduction of the concrete’s fatigue resistance is still included in standards and guidelines. The influence of the concrete strength on the fatigue resistance has been investigated for several years within different projects at the Institute of Building Materials Science, Leibniz University of Hannover. Accordingly, concretes of different strengths have been investigated. Furthermore, our own test data and around 2,100 data points available in literature were analysed together to fundamentally answer the question of whether highstrength concretes have a reduced fatigue resistance. Data from our own tests are shown comparatively and the results of the overall analyses of data from literature are presented and discussed in this paper. Altogether, a clear result was obtained: The fatigue resistance of concrete does not decrease with increasing concrete strength. Thus, the design regulations have to be approved to significantly increase the potential of high-strength concrete in fatigue-loaded structures.