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Creep, Shrinkage and Cracking of Restrained Concrete at Early Age

Article  in  Aci Materials Journal · July 2001

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 Creep, Shrinkage and Cracking of Restrained Concrete at Early Age

Salah A. Altoubat and David A. Lange

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Urbana, IL 61801

ABSTRACT

Creep and shrinkage of concrete under restrained conditions during the first days after

casting have been characterized by experiments that provide data on shrinkage and tensile

creep strains, restrained shrinkage stress and the extent of stress relaxation by tensile creep

mechanisms. Effects of fiber reinforcement (steel and polypropylene), w/c ratio, drying

conditions and curing conditions on restrained shrinkage behavior of normal and high

performance concrete are discussed. It was found that tensile creep relaxed shrinkage

stresses by 50 % and doubled the failure strain capacity. Both the magnitude and time

history of the shrinkage stress influence the time of cracking, which in this study, occurred

at about 80% of the static tensile strength. Steel fibers substantially delay the shrinkage

cracking, but without influencing the stress at failure. Finally, it was found that sealing of

the concrete specimens did not eliminate the early age shrinkage, and that wet curing

effectively relaxed shrinkage stresses.

Keywords: tensile creep, shr inkage, cracking, early age behavior, fiber reinforcement,

restrained shrinkage, steel fibers, polypropylene fibers, shrinkage stress, curing

1
Salah A. Altoubat has received his Ph.D in civil engineering from the University of Illinois

at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2000. He received his MS in structural engineering from

the Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan in 1990. Currently he is a post-

doctorate at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UIUC. His current

research interest includes early age behavior of concrete, creep, shrinkage and cracking.

ACI Member David A. Lange is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern

University. He is a member of ACI Committees E802, Teaching Methods and Materials;

544, Fiber Reinforced Concrete; 549, Thin Reinforced Cement Products, and serves as

chair of Committee 236, Materials Science of Concrete. His research interests include

early age properties of concrete, microstructure of porous materials, water transport in

repair and masonry materials, and industrial applications of high performance cement

based materials.

RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE

Cracking of concrete under restrained conditions is a major serviceability problem

for field pavements and structures. Past research on restrained shrinkage has typically

focussed on stress development and pattern of cracking. However, shrinkage and tensile

creep are key factors in the stress development. The current data on tensile creep at early

age are very scarce, and even less common for restrained conditions. Uniaxial restrained

shrinkage tests were conducted to provide data on tensile creep and shrinkage strains,

shrinkage stress development, and stress at cracking. The results are useful for

characterizing and modeling concrete behavior, and calibrating existing cracking prediction

2
models. Such models benefit construction practice by helping engineers design concrete

materials for early age performance.

INTRODUCTION

Early age deterioration of concrete is a persistent problem that arises from rapid

complex volume changes such as autogenous shrinkage, drying shrinkage and thermal

deformation. These volume changes cause tensile stresses in the material when strength is

relatively low. There is a competition inside the material between the development of

tensile stress and the development of strength, which are evolving with time. At stake in

this competition is the potential for premature deterioration. The induced stresses may

cause immediate cracking or linger as “residual stresses” that serve to limit capacity of the

concrete material. Such premature deterioration affects integrity, durability, and long-term

service life of concrete structures.

Early age tens ile creep and shrinkage of concrete are important factors. Shrinkage

of concrete causes stresses in the material whereas tensile creep counteracts the shrinkage

as a stress relaxation mechanism. Although, the importance of tensile creep of concrete has

been long recognized when cracking is to be considered, only a few studies on early age

tensile creep are available in the literature [e.g. 1-5].

The risk of early age shrinkage cracking can be assessed by tests of restrained

specimens. Several methods reported in the literature such as the ring specimen test [6] and

the uniaxial specimen test [7] provide results limited to the measurement of stresses and the

potential for cracking. A restrained uniaxial test was developed to overcome limitations of

previous experiments, allowing the measurement of tensile creep in a restrained test [8,9].

3
This restrained uniaxial test reveals the real contribution of tensile creep in relaxing

shrinkage stresses, and provides valuable information for theoretical modeling. Currently,

existing models for shrinkage stress analysis and cracking use creep formulas derived from

compressive creep data, even though shrinkage involves tensile loading [10,11]. The

models assume similar creep behavior in both compression and tension. This assumption,

although inaccurate, is understandable given the lack of data and models for tensile creep.

In this study, uniaxial restrained shrinkage tests were conducted on plain and fiber

reinforced concrete samples to provide data on shrinkage stresses, shrinkage strain and

tensile creep at early age. The influences of w/c ratio, fiber reinforcement and curing

conditions on restrained shrinkage behavior of concrete were investigated.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

Test Technique

A uniaxial restrained shrinkage test was developed based on a system suggested by

Kovler [9]. The dimensions of the specimen accommodated a maximum aggregate size of

25 mm. The basic idea of the system is to test two identical “dog-bone” specimens exposed

to drying conditions. One specimen is restrained and the load developed by drying

shrinkage is measured, and the other specimen is unrestrained and the shrinkage

deformation is measured. Each specimen is 1000 mm long and 76.6x76.6 mm in cross-

section. The specimen cross section is gradually enlarged to fit into the end grips that are

designed to provide full restraint and to minimize stress concentration at contact surfaces.

A general view of the experimental device is shown in Figure 1. Stresses in the restrained

specimen were self- induced by restraining shrinkage, which, with time, increased and led

4
to fracture. Separation of creep from shrinkage was made possible by comparing the

results from the two companion specimens. The experiment is controlled by a closed loop

system with high accuracy and smooth loading. Reliability of the system and

reproducibility of test results were extensively examined, and satisfactory results were

obtained [12,13].

The restrained condition was simulated by maintaining the total deformation of the

restrained sample within a threshold value of 5 µm. The computer- controlled test checked

shrinkage deformation continuously, and when the threshold was exceeded, an increase in

tensile load was applied by the actuator to restore the specimen to its original le ngth. In this

way, a restrained condition was achieved and the stress generated by shrinkage mechanism

was measurable.

Comparison of the free shrinkage results with the shrinkage of the restrained

specimen enabled discrimination of creep strain from shrinkage strain. Figure 2 shows how

creep strain can be calculated from the restrained and free shrinkage test. The free

shrinkage was measured from the free shrinkage specimen and the restrained shrinkage was

based on the recovery cycles by which the specimen was loaded to restore its original

length. Thus, each recovery cycle consisted of shrinkage and creep strain recovered by

instantaneous elastic strain that was induced by incremental tensile load applied by the

actuator. The sum of the elastic strain at any time is equal to the combined shrinkage and

creep strains. Knowing the free shrinkage component, the creep strain can be quantified.

A variety of mechanical properties of concrete at early age such as components of

strain, shrinkage stress, moduli of elasticity and creep coefficient were determined by this

experiment.

5
Materials and Test Program
Normal concrete (NC) and high performance concrete (HPC) were tested under

drying conditions. Plain and fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) were considered. Materials

used were Type I portland cement, crushed limestone aggregates with maximum size of

25.4 mm, and natural sand. The gradation of coarse and fine aggregates satisfied ASTM

C33 requirements, and the fine aggregates had a fineness modulus of 2.2. The HPC mixture

included silica fume and superplasticizer. Two types of fibers were used in the FRC

mixtures: steel fibers (SF); 30mm long and 0.4mm in diameter, and polypropylene fibers

(PP). The fiber volume fraction was held constant at 0.5 % for all FRC mixtures.

Normal concrete and HPC were tested in this study. The normal concrete mixtures

had a paste volume fraction of 0.35 and w/c ratio of 0.4 and 0.5. The HPC mixture had a

paste volume fraction of 0.40 and a w/c ratio of 0.32. Proportions for the concrete mixtures

are presented in Table 1.

A series of restrained shrinkage tests were conducted for the seven mixtures

considered in this study. All mixtures were tested under drying conditions of 50 % RH and

23o C. Moreover, the NC-0.5 and HPC-0.32 mixtures were tested under drying conditions

of 80 % RH and 23o C to examine the effect of drying environment on early age restrained

behavior of concrete. Samples from the NC-0.5 and SF-0.5 mixtures were also tested under

two additional curing regimes. First, under the sealing/drying regime the samples were

initially sealed under restrained conditions for the first three days, and then exposed to a

drying environment. Second, under the drying/wetting regime the samples were subjected

to drying for the first three days, and then wetting for one day before re-exposure to drying.

This condition was applied to the SF-0.5 mix to examine the effect of wetting on shrinkage

stress relaxation and behavior at early age.

6
 In each test, two specimens were cast and the side molds were stripped off at the

age of 12 hours. The top surface of the sample was sealed with self-stick aluminum foil to

allow symmetrical drying from the sides of the specimen. Both specimens were left

unrestrained for a period of 2 hours to minimize the effect of thermal shock; an abrupt

cooling associated with removal of formwork [14]. So, the test, in which one sample is

restrained and the other is unrestrained, started at the age of 14 hours and measurements

continued until the restrained sample failed. In addit ion, direct tensile strength and split

tensile strength tests were conducted to determine the tensile strength evolution. A

summary of the test program is presented in Table 2.

TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Drying Tests

The shrinkage and creep strains and the shrinkage stresses for the plain and fiber

reinforced concrete are presented in Figures 3-6.

Free Shrinkage
The free shrinkage was measured from the unrestrained specimen. Figure 3 presents

the results for plain concrete mixtures. In the early hours of exposure, the concrete samples

experienced either no shrinkage or minimal expansion. This period varied between 0 hours,

in the case of HPC samples and 7 hours for the NC-0.5. This behavior is not widely

discussed in the literature. It is probably related to hygrothermal disturbance during the first

hours of exposure, through which evaporative cooling by 3 to 5 degrees C was typically

measured. After this cooling, the specimen temperature rises to room temperature, possibly

explaining the slight expansion observed in the beginning of the test. The deformation in

the first 10 hours seems to be driven by a combination of thermal and drying (internal and

7
external) effects. When the thermal effect dominated this period (e.g. the case of w/c-ratio

of 0.5), slight expansion occurred, but if drying dominated the period (e.g. the HPC

sample) shrinkage occurred.

After that period, shrinkage occurred at a rapid rate until the age of 50 hours and the

rate decreased afterward. The shrinkage strain reached 100, 125 and 160 microstrain at the

age of 50 hours, corresponding to 46.8 %, 50.4 % and 76.2 % of the shrinkage at failure for

the mixtures with w/c-ratio of 0.5, 0.4 and 0.32, respectively. The high rate of shrinkage

during the first 50 hours is attributed to the synergistic effect of autogenous and drying

shrinkage.

Fiber reinforcement had only a minor effect on shrinkage. Typical free shrinkage

curves of fiber and plain concrete mixtures are presented in Figure 7. The addition of steel

fibers (SF) did not influence its shrinkage, and the difference in the results is within the

intrinsic scatter of the measurement. In contrast to the steel fibers, the addition of

polypropylene fibers (PP) slightly increased the free shrinkage of the concrete. A possible

explanation for this increase is related to the ability of polypropylene fibers to control

plastic shrinkage cracking; a type of cracking that can affect the integrity of the concrete

surface. If the surface is microcracked, the drying shrinkage stress may be relieved in part

by opening or extension of the microcracks. If the surface is not microcracked, it is likely

that greater shrinkage strain at the macro-level will be observed. The damage in the plastic

stage degrades the stiffness, and explains the higher modulus of the PP samples. The

control of microcracking by the PP fibers is related to the fact that PP have a much smaller

cross-section than steel fibers, and are therefore more numerous and have closer fiber

spacing for a given volume fraction.

8
Restrained Shrinkage Stress

The tensile stresses developed in the restrained samples are shown in Figures 5 and

6 for plain concrete and FRC, respectively. The tensile stress developed at early age was

substantial, and led to fracture of all restrained specimens. However, the time to fracture

varied from one mixture to another. Failure occurred earlier when the w/c ratio of the

mixture was lower as shown in Figures 5 and 6. This behavior is primarily due to the high

rate of shrinkage for the low w/c-ratio mixtures, which led to a rapid stress development.

The restrained stress and age at cracking are presented in Table 3.

The steel fiber reinforcement delayed the fracture of restrained concrete, and the

delay was more pronounced in the mixtures with low w/c-ratio. For example, the fracture

was delayed by 44.6 %, 20.8 % and 13.5 % for the mixtures with w/c-ratios of 0.32, 0.4

and 0.5, respectively. Steel fibers tend to lower the rate of stress development, which

suggests that the fibers improve stress relaxation by creep mechanisms and engage greater

volume of the matrix in stress transfer and reduce damage at the micro- level. The early

failure of the polypropylene fiber samples is related to the high rate of shrinkage exhibited

by the PP mixture, which causes a rapid stress development. Moreover, the high stiffness of

the PP concrete compared to that of the plain concrete promoted the high stresses.

Cracking of Restrained Concrete

Tensile stress is not the only factor governing the cracking of restrained concrete.

For example, the tensile stress at the age of 70 hrs for the mixtures HPC-0.32 and NC-0.4 is

almost equal as shown in Figure 5. However, the HPC sample failed at that age while the

NC sample sustained the stress for a longer period of time. Moreover, the tensile strength

of the HPC at the age of 70 hrs is higher than that of the NC-0.4 concrete, yet the former

9
failed despite the almost equal stresses at that age. Therefore, it is inadequate to base a

prediction of cracking on a simple analysis of tensile stress/strength ratio with time. The

other important factor that must be considered to predict shrinkage cracking time is the

stress history, particularly at the very early age. The results in Figure 5 reveal a high rate of

stress evolution in the HPC during the first 24 hours. A tensile stress of 1.0 MPa was

induced in the HPC at the age of 24 hours, whereas the stress developed in the NC-0.4 was

around 0.3 MPa. The high stress at this early age suggests that permanent damage at the

micro-level had occurred, which led to the cracking sooner than predicted by a simple

strength criterion. Thus, the stress development in the very early ages influences the

performance of the material in the long run, even if the material sustains the stress without

fracture. The contribution of fibers in this scenario is to reduce the rate of stress evolution

by improving relaxation characteristics, redistributing the internal stresses and hence,

minimizing the subsequent microstructural damage.

Another important observation is that the failure stress was always lower than the

nominal tensile strength of the material. The results in Table 3 indicate that the ratio of the

stress to the direct tensile strength at failure is approximately 0.75 to 0.8. The reduction in

strength is related to static fatigue and internal damage accumulation under sustained loads.

Static fatigue involves a slow crack growth under sustained load that eventually leads to

failure. This experimental observation is important because strength alone is often

considered as a criterion for cracking. However, for concrete subjected to sustained load,

such as from drying shrinkage under restrained conditions, a strength reduction factor must

be applied for prediction of time of first cracking.

10
Effect of Relative Humidity (RH) on Shrinkage

The early age stress evolution was not highly sensitive to the two drying conditions

considered in this work. The stress at failure in the case of 80 % RH was higher by only 14

% than that in the case of 50 % RH, because the higher RH slightly reduced surface micro-

cracking. Moreover, the failure of the normal concrete was delayed only by 14 % when the

relative humidity increased from 50 % to 80 %, while the HPC samples failed at almost the

same age. The free shrinkage of the NC-0.5 mixture at 50 % and 80 % RH is shown in

Figure 8. The free shrinkage results also reveal only a slight influence of the drying

conditions on early age shrinkage. The data from the two drying conditions suggests that

the stress evolution in the early age is not driven by external drying only, particularly for

HPC. Instead, a complex combination of internal drying, external drying and thermal

effects seems to exist.

Tensile Creep

The restraint of shrinkage leads to stress development, which in turn causes the

material to creep. The tensile creep for the plain concrete mixtures is presented in Figure 3.

The test results reveal that creep strain is a significant portion of the concrete deformation

at early age. The creep strain at the time of cracking reached 100, 150 and 110 microstrain

for the concrete mixtures with w/c-ratios of 0.32, 0.40 and 0.50, respectively. The

corresponding elastic strains at failure for the same mixtures were 110, 100, and 106

microstrain. Since creep strain is approximately equal to the elastic strain, one can infer that

tensile creep doubles the shrinkage cracking strain capacity of the restrained concrete.

Creep coefficient is conventionally defined as creep strain divided by elastic strain.

In our study, creep coefficient is defined as cumulative creep strain divided by cumulative

11
elastic strain at any point in time. This clarification is warranted because loading and elastic

modulus of concrete are changing through time in our restrained test, and creep is known to

progress more slowly under gradually increasing loads [15]. Therefore, the creep

coefficient as used here reflects the history dependence of creep behavior since the creep

coefficient at any point in time includes the contribution of the previous stresses and time

steps.

The results for the plain concrete mixtures are shown in Figure 9. The creep

coefficient increased rapidly in the first two days due to the high rate of shrinkage stress

development, and then increased at a lower rate. At the time of failure, it reached 0.9, 1.5,

and 1.0 for the mixtures with w/c-ratios of 0.32, 0.4, and 0.5, respectively. This indicates

that the tensile creep approximately doubles the shrinkage cracking strain capacity of

restrained concrete irrespective of its w/c-ratio.

The tensile creep induced by drying stresses was proportional to the free shrinkage

strain. Hence, the interaction of creep with shrinkage at early age is an important element in

the deformation analysis of restrained concrete, and it can be expressed as the ratio between

the tensile creep strain to free shrinkage strain. Typical results of the creep/shrinkage ratio

for the plain concrete mixtures are presented in Figure 10. The creep/shrinkage ratio is a

meaningful index because it reflects reduction of the development of tensile strain in the

restrained concrete, and consequently, the degree of stress relaxation. The results of this

research indicated ratios on the order of 0.5 to 0.6 at cracking for all mixtures. However,

the evolution of the creep/shrinkage ratio with time was typically high during the first two

days of exposure and then decreased afterward to approach a stable value.

12
 The creep/ shrinkage ratio at time of cracking for concrete in restrained conditions

is around 0.5 regardless of the mixture’s w/c-ratio. Given the elastic failure strains for the

plain concrete mixtures, an analysis based on free shrinkage strain alone would predict

failure at 35, 45, and 50 hours for the mixtures with w/c-ratios of 0.32, 0.4, and 0.5,

respectively. However, since the creep reduced stresses far below tensile strength at those

ages, the failure times were actually 70, 145 and 160 hours, respectively. The failure time

was doubled for the HPC mixture and tripled for the other mixtures due to creep. The role

and importance of tensile creep as a relaxation mechanism is clear from the results, and it

must be considered in the analysis of shrinkage stresses and prediction of shrinkage

cracking. Neglecting tensile creep would result in a severe loss of accuracy in the analysis.

The ratio of creep to shrinkage in the restrained test is a good parameter to account for the

creep in a coupled creep-shrinkage analysis.

The creep/shrinkage ratio for fiber reinforced mixtures is shown in Figure 11.

Figures 10 and 11 indicate a slight increase in the creep/shrinkage ratio due to fiber

reinforcement for the NC-0.5 mixture, but no clear influence is seen for the NC-0.4 and

HPC mixtures. Consequently, the delay in fracture observed in the steel fiber mixtures is

not immediately explained by the ma gnitude of creep. Instead, the authors suggest that the

fibers influence a particular component of tensile creep related to microcracking.

Therefore, the separation of tensile creep into basic and drying creep components, and the

evaluation of drying creep mechanisms may explain the influence of fiber reinforcement on

tensile creep and the subsequent delay in fracture. This subject will be the topic of a future

paper.

13
Effect of Initial Curing on Creep and Shrinkage

The total tensile creep and shrinkage of FRC were not greatly different from that of

plain concrete as discussed in the previous sections. To further examine the role of fibers,

tests were conducted on concrete that was sealed for 3 days before exposure to drying, to

promote hydration and improve fiber-matrix bond. At the age of 14 hours, the concrete

samples were restrained under sealed conditions for three days, and then unsealed and

exposed to drying while restraint was maintained until failure. The stress evolutions of the

initially sealed samples are presented in Figure 12. The shrinkage stress during the sealed

period was low compared to the unsealed tests, but was not eliminated because sealing

could not suppress internal drying. However, the sealed samples surprisingly failed earlier

than the unsealed samples. Though, the failure stress was similar in all cases. This trend

was observed in both the plain and the fiber reinforced concrete mixtures.

Upon unsealing, the stress increased rapidly for two possible reasons. First, the

sealing increased the elastic modulus of concrete by enhancing the hydration of cement and

subsequent shrinkage strains causes higher stress. Second, the exposure shock accelerates

the shrinkage (Figure 13) regardless of the age at exposure. So, the initial sealing improves

strength and stiffness of the material and reduces the early age shrinkage, but the

magnitude of stress and the potential of early cracking when exposed to drying is increased.

The balance between these aspects must be considered in order to optimize the strength

while reducing the risk of cracking.

Clearly, the sealing of concrete samples reduced the initial rate of free shrinkage,

but it did not eliminate the shrinkage because of internal drying. The autogenous shrinkage

after the first three days composed at least 30 % of the total shrinkage for the NC-0.5

14
mixture. This indicates that sealing concrete in the field (e.g. protective curing compounds)

is unlikely to eliminate the development of shrinkage stresses in the very early age.

At the time of cracking, the total tensile creep of the sealed samples was smaller

than that of unsealed samples; 80 microstrain versus 110 microstrain for plain concrete and

99 microstrain versus 134 microstrain for FRC. The initial sealing did not alter the increase

in tensile creep due to fiber reinforcement. In both cases (sealed and unsealed) the FRC

mixture exhibited similar level of increase in total tensile creep, and similar level of delay

in fracture.

Effect of Alternate Drying/Wetting on Shrinkage and Creep

The behavior of restrained concrete under alternate drying and wetting was

examined for the SF-0.5 mixture. For this purpose, the concrete samples were subjected to

drying conditions during the first 3 days, then covered with wet cloths for one day, and then

uncovered and exposed to drying for the rest of the test duration. The stress evolution is

presented in Figure 14. In the first three days, the shrinkage stress developed as usual and

reached a value of 1.44 MPa. Upon wetting, the stress relaxed at an extremely high rate

down to 0.08 MPa in 23 hours. The shrinkage stress then increased upon re-drying, but at a

lower rate than that in the first drying. For example, the stress required 50 hours to reach

1.4 MPa in the first drying, whereas 72 hours were required to reach the same stress once

again upon re-drying. This result is of practical interest because it impacts curing practices

at early age. The key to prevention of early age microcracking is to prevent the built-up

stress from exceeding 50 % of the tensile strength at every point in time. A strategy

involving periodic wetting could be sufficient to achieve this goal. Curing compounds are

commonplace in concrete construction today, and continuous moist curing is considered to

15
be expensive and labor- intensive. However, sealing the concrete does not suppress early

age stresses, particularly for HPC as discussed in the previous section. Thus, a curing

program of periodic wetting can be an alternative approach to avoid early cracking of

concrete.

The rate of shrinkage in the first drying is high, but a high rate of shrinkage

recovery was exhibited upon wetting as shown in Figure 15. The wetting reduced the

shrinkage strain from 142 microstrain down to 69 microstrain in 23 hours i.e. 51 % of the

initial shrinkage was recovered. This indicates a significant recovery of early age

shrinkage, which caused the stress to drop off significantly. Upon re-drying, the rate of

shrinkage was lower than initially observed in the first drying. For example, the free

shrinkage strain increased from 69 microstrain to 126 microstrain in 72 hours of the second

drying, whereas it increased from 0 to 142 microstrain in 54 hours of the first drying.

Clearly, the first drying is a critical phase in the very early age and the potential for

cracking can be reduced if it is controlled.

The total tensile creep was also affected by wetting. It reduced from 75 microstrain

to 45 microstrain upon wetting (40 % of the total creep) as shown in Figure 15. This

reduction is attributed to the decrease in the tensile stress and the associated recovery of

tensile creep. Thus, drying/wetting cycles influenced both the restrained shrinkage and

creep behavior at early age. However, further investigation is required to support extensive

commentary because only limited tests were conducted in this study, but there are many

parameters involved such as time of re-wetting, duration and number of cycles.

16
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This study reveals the complexity of the early age behavior of concrete. The shrinkage

of normal concrete and HPC is driven by a complex combination of internal and external

drying, and causes significant stress within the first two days.

The uniaxial restrained shrinkage test reveals how shrinkage stresses develop and how

creep mechanisms reduce shrinkage strain in the restrained specimen. The shrinkage stress

in the early days after casting is substantial and impacts the material performance and

cracking. The results suggest that the rate and history of stress evolution are important

factors that influence the time of cracking and the failure stress. These parameters must be

considered in the analysis for accurate prediction of shrinkage cracking. A failure analysis

based on strength criterion, which is often implemented for estimating time of first crack, is

not accurate if considered alone, because failure in restrained concrete occurs at a stress

level less than the static tensile strength. A strength reduction factor of 0.8 was typically

obtained.

The tensile creep at early age forms a substantial portion of the time dependent

deformation. Its role in reducing the shrinkage strain and relaxing the shrinkage stresses

can be expressed as the ratio of total creep to free shrinkage. This creep/shrinkage ratio is

an important index and was roughly in the range between 0.5 and 0.6 for all mixtures

irrespective of their w/c ratio. Thus, the tensile creep relaxes shrinkage stresses by at least

50 % for normal and high performance concrete. The tensile creep extends the time to

fracture by two to three times than that would be predicted based on free shrinkage alone.

The effect of fibers (0.5 % by volume) on early age creep and shrinkage of concrete

was investigated. The fiber reinforcement caused a slight increase in the total tensile creep

17
for normal concrete. However, the steel fiber reinforcement substantially delayed the

fracture of restrained concrete, particularly in concrete with low w/c ratio. The large delay

in fracture seems inconsistent with the minor improvement in tensile creep alone, and other

factors must exist. These factors are likely to be related to drying creep mechanisms

associated with microcracking.

Curing practices in the early days after casting is important when early age shrinkage,

creep and cracking are to be evaluated. For example, sealing the concrete against drying

neither eliminates the early age shrinkage nor enhances the role of fibers on modifying the

restrained shrinkage and creep behavior. Moreover, the potential for cracking of the

initially sealed concrete when exposed to drying is generally increased as the initial curing

improves stiffness of the concrete. The balance between the improved strength and stiffness

of concrete and the increased risk of cracking must be therefore considered. Another

example is the effect of alternate drying and wetting on the restrained shrinkage behavior.

The shrinkage stress relaxed rapidly upon the first wetting and developed once again upon

re-drying, but at a lower rate than initially observed in the first drying. Creep and shrinkage

recovery of restrained concrete is also influenced by wetting/drying application. The results

suggest that periodic wetting can reduce the risk of early age cracking. This is of practical

interest for construction of pavement, bridge decks and parking garages.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research project was supported by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Center

of Excellence (COE) at the University of Illinois and by the National Science Foundation

( CAREER Award # CMS-9623467).

18
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11 Yang W., Wang K. and Shah S. P., “Prediction of concrete cracking under coupled

shrinkage and creep conditions,” Proc. of the 4th Materials Conf., “Materials for the

new millennium”, ASCE, Vol. 1, Nov. 10-14, Washington, D. C, 1996, pp. 564-573.

12 Altoubat S. A., “Early age stresses and creep-shrinkage interaction of restrained

concrete,” Ph.D thesis in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Univ. of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign, 2000.

13 Lange D. A. and Altoubat S. A., “Early Age Shrinkage and Creep of Fiber Reinforced

Concrete” Proceeding of International Conference on Engineering Materials, Ottawa,

Canada, Vol. 1, June 8-11, 1997, pp. 343-355.

14 Kovler K., “Shock of evaporative cooling of concrete in hot dry climates,” Concrete

International, No. 10, 1995, pp. 65-69.

15 Bazant Z. P., “ Prediction of concrete creep effects using age-adjusted effective

modulus method,” ACI Journal, Vol. 69, 1972, pp. 212-217.

20
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Proportions of concrete mixtures

Table 2 Test Program

Table 3 Shrinkage stress and age at cracking

Table 1: Proportions of concrete mixtures

Constituents HPC-0.32 NC-0.4 NC-0.5
3
Coarse Agg. kg/m 974.1 925.8 925.8
Fine Agg. kg/m3 622.8 741.8 741.8
3
Cement kg/m 533.1 480 421.4
Silica fume kg/m3 117.0 ---- ----
3
Water kg/m 208.0 192.0 210.7
3
Superplasticizer ml/m 954.8 565.1 ----
Fiber Dose: Steel: 39.2 kg/m3 , Polypropylene: 4.55 kg/m3

Table 2: Test Program

Concrete Drying Test @ RH Tensile Additional Tests
Mix 50 % 80 % Strength Combined Curing
NC-0.5 X X X Sealing / Drying
SF-0.5 X X Sealing / Drying
Drying / Wetting
PP-0.5 X X
NC-0.4 X X

21
 SF-0.4 X X
HPC-0.32 X X X
HSF-0.32 X X

Table 3: Shrinkage stress and age at cracking

Concrete Stress (MPa) Age (hrs) Direct Tensile Stress/Strength Delay
Mix Strength (MPa) factor
HPC-0.32 1.759 69.5 2.325 0.757 NA
HSF-0.32 1.898 100.5 2.465 0.770 1.446
NC-0.4 2.130 144.7 2.649 0.804 NA
SF-0.4 2.221 174.8 2.790 0.796 1.208
NC-0.5 1.782 159.5 2.214 0.805 NA
SF-0.5 1.767 181.0 2.307 0.766 1.135
PP-0.5 1.887 134.5 2.083 0.906 0.843
HPC: High performance concrete, NC: Normal plain concrete, SF: Steel fiber, HSF: HPC
with steel fiber; PP: Polypropylene fiber, Delay factor = FRC fracture time / PC fracture time

22
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 General view of the experimental setup

Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the test mechanism

Figure 3 Shrinkage and creep strains for plain concrete mixtures

Figure 4 Shrinkage and creep strains for fiber reinforced concrete mixtures

Figure 5 Shrinkage stress for plain concrete mixtures

Figure 6 Shrinkage stress for fiber reinforced concrete mixtures

Figure 7 Shrinkage strain of plain and fiber reinforced concrete

Figure 8 Shrinkage strain at different drying conditions

Figure 9 Creep coefficient for plain concrete mixtures

Figure 10 Creep-shrinkage ratio for plain concrete mixtures

Figure 11 Creep-shrinkage ratio for fiber reinforced concrete mixtures

Figure 12 Effect of initial sealing on stress evolution and shrinkage cracking

Figure 13 Creep and shrinkage under sealing/drying conditions

Figure 14 Shrinkage stress under drying/wetting conditions

Figure 15 Creep and shrinkage under drying/wetting conditions

23
 Free Shrinkage Sample

Restrained Sample

Figure 1 General view of the experimental setup

Free Shrinkage

Creep
Strain

Creep + Shrinkage
Threshold
Recovery cycle

Drying Time

24
 Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the test mechanism

200
Creep HPC-0.32 NC-0.4
100
NC-0.5
Strain (µm / m)

-100

-200 NC-0.5
Shrinkage
HPC-0.32 NC-0.4
-300
0 50 100 150 200
Age (hrs)

Figure 3 Shrinkage and creep strains for plain concrete mixtures

200
SF-0.4
Creep HSF-0.32
100 SF-0.5
Strain (µm / m)

0
PP-0.5
-100

-200 SF-0.5
Shrinkage HSF-0.32
SF-0.4
-300
0 50 100 150 200
Age (hrs)

Figure 4 Shrinkage and creep strains for fiber reinforced concrete mixtures

25
 2.5

Shrinkage Stress (MPa) 2

HPC-0.32 NC-0.4
1.5
NC-0.5 Failure
1

0.5

0
0 50 100 150 200
Age (hrs)

Figure 5 Shrinkage stress for plain concrete mixtures

2.5
Shrinkage Stress (MPa)

SF-0.4
2
HSF-0.32 PP-0.5
1.5
Failure
SF-0.5
1

0.5

0
0 50 100 150 200
Age (hrs)

Figure 6 Shrinkage stress for fiber reinforced concrete mixtures

26
 50

Free Shrinkage (µm / m)

0
-50
NC-0.5
-100
-150 SF-0.5
-200
HPC-0.32
-250
-300 PP-0.5
HSF-0.32
-350
0 50 100 150 200
Age (hrs)

Figure 7 Shrinkage strain of plain and fiber reinforced concrete

50
Free Shrinkage (µm / m)

0
RH = 50 %
-50
RH = 80 %
-100
W/C = 0.5
-150

-200

-250
0 50 100 150 200
Drying Time (hrs)

Figure 8 Shrinkage strain at different drying conditions

27
 1.5
NC-0.4
Creep Coefficient NC-0.5
1
HPC-0.32

0.5

0
0 50 100 150 200
Age (hrs)

Figure 9 Creep coefficient for plain concrete mixtures

0.7
NC-0.4
0.6
HPC-0.32
Creep / Shrinkage

NC-0.5
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 50 100 150 200
Age (hrs)

Figure 10 Creep-shrinkage ratio for plain concrete mixtures

28
 0.7
0.6
Creep / Shrinkage
0.5
0.4
SF-0.4
0.3 SF-0.5
0.2 PP-0.5
0.1 HSF-0.32

0
0 50 100 150 200
Age (hrs)

Figure 11 Creep-shrinkage ratio for fiber reinforced concrete mixtures

2
W/C = 0.5
Shrinkage Stress (MPa)

1.5

0.5 NC-drying
SF-drying
0 NC-initially sealed
Sealing period SF-initially sealed
-0.5
0 50 100 150 200
Age (hrs)

29
Figure 12 Effect of initial sealing on stress evolution and shrinkage cracking

100
Creep NC-0.5 SF-0.5
50
Strain (µm / m)
0
-50
NC-0.5 SF-0.5
-100
Shrinkage
-150
-200 Sealing Drying

-250
0 50 100 150 200
Age (hrs)

Figure 13 Creep and shrinkage under sealing/drying conditions

2
Drying Re-Drying
Shrinkage Stress (MPa)

1.5
Wetting

0.5
W/C = 0.50
0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Age (hrs)

30
 Figure 14 Shrinkage stress under drying/wetting conditions

100
Creep SF-0.5

Strain (µm / m) 50
Wetting
0
Drying Re-Drying
-50

-100
Shrinkage
-150
0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Age (hrs)

Figure 15 Creep and shrinkage under drying/wetting conditions

31

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