The mechanical properties of a complex composite material formed by steel and hardened concrete, are studied. A technique of operative quality control of new credible concrete and reinforcement, both in laboratory and field conditions is developed for determination of the strength and strain characteristics of materials, as well as cohesion forces determining their joint operation under load. The design of the mobile unit is presented. The unit provides a possibility of changing the direction of loading and testing the reinforced element of the given shape both for tension and compression. Moreover, the nomenclature of testing equipment and the number of molds for manufacturing concrete samples substantially decrease. Using the values of forcing resulting in concrete cracking when the joint work of concrete and reinforcement is disrupted the values of the inherent stresses and strains attributed to the concrete shrinkage are determined. An analytical relationship between the forces and deformations of the reinforced concrete sample with central reinforcement is derived for axial tension and compression, with allowance for strains and stresses in the reinforcement and concrete resulted from concrete shrinkage. The results of experimental studies are presented, including tension diagrams and diagrams of developing axial deformations with an increase in the load under the central loading of the reinforced elements. A methodology of accounting for stresses and deformations resulted from concrete shrinkage is developed. The applicability of the derived analytical relationships between stresses and deformations on the material diagrams to calculations of the reinforced concrete structures in the framework of the deformation model is estimated.