Modelling early age shrinkage of concrete

Abstract

During past decades the concrete has been developed by low water-cement ratio, addition of superplasticizer etc to improve the properties and lifetime of a structure. Despite of the imporved properties it introduces the shrinkage which leads to cracks and reduces serviceability and durability of structure or material. Therefore the study of shrinkage becomes a challenge. In this study, the autogenous shrinkage of concrete mixtures at early age is modelled using analytical models for different water-cement ratios for different ages. The main objectives of the study are review of literature on autogenous shrinkage of concrete, comparative study of different models for autogenous shrinkage of concrete using experimental data available in literature, Identification/development of an analytical model for prediction of autogenous shrinkage of concrete, and probabilistic analysis of the autogenous shrinkage are discussed.