Abstract: Concrete failure criterion is a key tool for evaluating the safety of concrete materials and structures. Application of the traditional failure criteria of maximum stress, strain, and energy criterion is limited in the evaluation of the concrete safety of water dams for the long-term coupling effect of mechanical and thermal loads as well as creep relaxation. Hence, a concrete failure criterion for complex sustaining loads should be established. Applying the energy principle, we derive a stress-and-strain based failure criterion for concrete in the general form of Hooke's law. To verify it, we conduct some creep failure tests using concrete specimens and mortar specimens, considering different curing ages, specimen dimensions, and stress levels. Comparing with the traditional criteria, the proposed criterion has a simpler mathematical expression, a clearer physical concept, and is easier to popularize in engineering application.