Continuum Microviscoelasticity Model for Aging Basic Creep

of Early-Age Concrete
S. Scheiner1 and C. Hellmich, A.M.ASCE2
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Abstract: We propose a micromechanics model for aging basic creep of early-age concrete. Therefore, we formulate viscoelastic
boundary value problems on two representative volume elements, one related to cement paste 共composed of cement, water, hydrates, and
air兲, and one related to concrete 共composed of cement paste and aggregates兲. Homogenization of the “nonaging” elastic and viscoelastic
properties of the material’s contituents involves the transformation of the aforementioned viscoelastic boundary value problems to the
Laplace-Carson 共LC兲 domain. There, formally elastic, classical self-consistent and Mori-Tanaka solutions are employed, leading to
pointwisely defined LC-transformed tensorial creep and relaxation functions. Subsequently, the latter are back-transformed, by means of
the Gaver-Wynn-Rho algorithm, into the time domain. Temporal derivatives of corresponding homogenized creep and relaxation tensors,
evaluated for the current maturation state of the material 共in terms of current volume fractions of cement, water, air, hydrates, and
aggregates; being dependent on the hydration degree, as well as on the water-cement and aggregate-cement ratios兲 and for the current time
period since loading of the hydrating composite material, allow for micromechanical prediction of the aging basic creep properties of
early-age concrete.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲0733-9399共2009兲135:4共307兲
CE Database subject headings: Micromechanics; Viscoelasticity; Concrete; Creep.

Introduction
Creep is the slow, progressive deformation of materials under
constant stress. In many cases, it can be conveniently described in
the framework of linear viscoelasticity, going back to fundamen-
tal works of Boltzmann 共1874兲, by means of a creep function
relating strain response to applied stress 共Gurtin and Sternberg
1962; Salençon 1983; Lakes 1999兲
␧共t兲 = J共t − ␶兲:␴H共t − ␶兲 共1兲
where ␧共t兲 = second-order time-dependent strain tensor of a mate-
rial sample; ␴ = corresponding second-order time-independent
stress tensor, and J共t − ␶兲 = fourth-order creep function tensor de-
scribing the time-dependent behavior of the material, which was
loaded at time instant t = ␶, as expressed by the Heaviside function
H共t − ␶兲.
However, the situation for concrete creep, discovered as phe-
nomenon by Hatt 共1907兲, is more intricate.
First, concrete exhibits time-dependent strains also under
stress-free conditions. These strains, referred to as shrinkage
strains, arise due to changes in the temperature 共thermal shrink-
1
Research Assistant, Institute for Mechanics of Materials and
Structures, Vienna Univ. of Technology 共TU Wien兲, Karlsplatz 13/202,
A-1040 Vienna, Austria. E-mail: Stefan.Scheiner@tuwien.ac.at
2
Associate Professor, Institute for Mechanics of Materials and
Structures, Vienna Univ. of Technology 共TU Wien兲, Karlsplatz 13/202,
A-1040 Vienna, Austria 共corresponding author兲. E-mail: Christian.
Hellmich@tuwien.ac.at
Note. Associate Editor: Dinesh R. Katti. Discussion open until
September 1, 2009. Separate discussions must be submitted for individual
papers. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and pos-
sible publication on October 25, 2007; approved on November 4, 2008.
This paper is part of the Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Vol. 135,
No. 4, April 1, 2009. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9399/2009/4-307–323/$25.00.
age兲 and/or to changes in the water content. The latter changes
result 共1兲 from consumption of water during the hydration process
共the chemical reaction between cement and water兲; and/or 共2兲
from drying of the material. The corresponding deformations are
termed 共1兲 autogeneous shrinkage 共Le Chatelier 1904; Lynam
1934; Aïtcin 1999兲; and 共2兲 drying shrinkage 共Bissonnette et al.
1999兲. Hence, classical creep tests on concrete give access to the
sum of creep and shrinkage strains, and additional shrinkage tests
共where the deformations of the material at given temperature and
humidity conditions are measured兲 are required to arrive at the
external load-induced creep strains in concrete.
Second, the creep strains are themselves sensible to tempera-
ture changes, leading to transient thermal creep 共Thienel and Ros-
tásy 1996; Hauggard et al. 1999兲, and to exchanges of moisture
with the environment, resulting in a phenomenon called drying
creep or Pickett effect 共Pickett 1942; Acker and Ulm 2001兲. This
has motivated substantial theoretical activities up to the present
day 共Bažant et al. 1997a,b; Hauggard et al. 1999; Sercombe et al.
2000; Lechner et al. 2001; Benboudjema et al. 2005; Gawin et al.
2006兲. Understanding of the origin of concrete creep requires
separation of the aforementioned governing factors to the largest
extent possible. This is the motivation to measure the deformation
behavior of concrete at constant temperature and without mois-
ture exchange between specimen and environment 共sealed condi-
tions兲, together with corresponding autogeneous shrinkage
strains. Such experiments give access to the basic creep of con-
crete 共Jordaan and Illston 1969; Laplante 1993; Persson 1998;
Tamtsia and Beaudoin 2000兲.
Still, even basic creep of concrete 共and of cementitious mate-
rials in general兲 does not follow Eq. 共1兲. This is related to a
phenomenon called aging, i.e., to changes in the microstructure of
the material 共Taylor 1997兲 during the time period when the creep
strains are observed. Accordingly, the concept of aging basic
creep was introduced 共Glanville 1933; Davies et al. 1934;
McHenry 1943兲. Therefore, the creep function J共t − ␶兲 in Eq. 共1兲

JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009 / 307

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

 was modified, resulting in an aging creep law of the form 共Gurtin
and Sternberg 1962; Salençon 1983; Lakes 1999兲
␧共t兲 = J共t,␶兲:␴H共t − ␶兲 共2兲
where J共t , ␶兲 is referred to as aging basic creep function. The
mathematical form of J共t , ␶兲 has been the topic of ongoing de-
bates: several empirical forms for this function have been pro-
posed, and continuously modified, see, e.g., Mitzel 共l967兲,
Granger and Bažant 共1995兲, Guénot et al. 共1996兲, and Bažant
共2001兲. However, these formulations are, as a rule, of restricted
applicability, so that no generally accepted formulation could be
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found.
This historical development supports the idea that the aging
creep function cannot be simply guessed, but needs careful inves-
tigation and understanding of the physical phenomena leading to
the microstructural changes governing aging basic creep of con-
crete. In this context, it is generally agreed upon that probably the
most important factor for the microstructural changes is the hy-
dration reaction, the precipitation of hydration products from an-
hydrous cement clinker and water. Accordingly, different creep
laws with the degree of hydration 共or solidification兲 as a govering
state variable in a thermodynamic setting, have been proposed
共Bažant et al. 1997a, b; Sercombe et al. 2000兲. Thereby, the so-
lidification theory-based creep functions are derived from the idea
that aging of concrete could be explained by the change of mi-
crostructures made up of nonaging constituents 共water, aggregate,
cement, and hydrates兲. Still, these creep functions were formu-
lated directly at the macroscopic level, i.e., at the level of engi-
neering samples of cementitious materials 共e.g., cement paste,
mortar, and concrete兲. This type of function formulation still re-
quires a certain amount of reasonable guessing. Therefore, it was
felt that the concrete microstructure needs to be resolved explic-
itly in the creep modeling endeavors, in order to sort out, at least
partially, nonaging constituents.
The first step in this direction was the introduction of compos-
ite models representing concrete as a two-phase material with
cement paste and aggregates as the constituents 共Wittmann et al.
1984; Roelfstra et al. 1985; Nilsen and Monteiro 1993; Baweja et
al. 1998兲. While the aggregates do not age and can be character-
ized by elastic properties only, the complicated aging creep be-
havior of cement paste bears most of the difficulties encountered
when modeling concrete through the aforementioned thermody-
namically consistent, reasonably guessed creep functions. Hence,
the resolution of micromechanical models of concrete had to be
refined.
Hua et al. 共1997兲 were the first who proposed to resolve the
microstructure of cement paste, in order to introduce mechanical
properties separately for cement, for water, for hydrates, and for
aggregates, and to account for the three-dimensional interaction
of these material constituents. In a similar vision, Lokhorst and
van Breugel 共1997兲 combined simulation of the geometrical de-
velopment 共van Breugel 1995兲 of anhydrous cement, cement gel
共hydrates兲, and water/air within hydrating cement paste, with a
somewhat simplified “bar model,” in order to predict the corre-
sponding composite material mechanics 共including basic creep兲
on the basis of the mechanical properties of cement and of gel. At
that time, however, no direct access to these constituent-specific
共presumably nonaging兲 properties was available. This fortunately
changed very soon, due to the introduction of micro- and nanoin-
dentation techniques in concrete science and technology 共Acker
2001; Velez et al. 2001; Constantinides and Ulm 2004兲. Soon
after that, Bernard et al. 共2003b兲 showed in the framework of
continuum micromechanics 共random homogenization theory兲 that
308 / JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009
J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323
the evolution of elastic properties of concrete with the degree of
hydration indeed results from the interaction of 共hydration-
dependently dosaged兲 nonaging constituents 共aggregate, cement,
water, different types of hydrates, and air兲. In other words, the
elastic properties of the constituents are nonaging, and what
changes with time are the volume fractions they occupy in a
material volume of cement paste, being itself a constituent of a
material volume of concrete, comprising, in addition, also aggre-
gates. The latter exhibit constant material properties and occupy a
constant volume fraction in a material volume of concrete. The
aforementioned volume fractions can be directly related to stan-
dard quantities of concrete technology, such as the water-cement
ratio or aggregate-cement ratio 共Acker 2001兲, which renders mi-
croelastic models for cement paste and concrete directly appli-
cable to real-life problems, e.g., in shotcrete tunnel engineering
共Hellmich and Mang 2005兲.
It seems logical to extend this micromechanical concept
to viscoelasticity, with the hydrates being the only creeping com-
ponents inside a material volume of cement paste, as shown
experimentally by Acker 共2001, 2005兲, since Laplace-Carson
transformation allows for relating the homogenization of vis-
coelastic properties to those of elastic properties. In this line, Le
et al. 共2005, 2007兲 have transformed a simplified version of the
elastic homogenization equations of Bernard et al. 共2003b兲 into
the Laplace-Carson 共LC兲 space, and have given corresponding
mathematical expressions. However, these expressions account
neither for the aging effect 共i.e., all volume fractions are constant
in time兲, nor for the disorder of the material phases within cement
paste. The aforementioned microviscoelastic model still also
awaits comprehensive experimental validation.
This calls for a careful extension of the homogenization-based
multiscale concept for concrete basic creep, which is the focus of
this contribution. In more detail, we aim here at development of a
micromechanically derived model for aging basic creep of con-
crete, with emphasis on early-age behavior where reliable creep
models seem to be particularly scarce 共Larson and Jonasson
2003兲. Therefore, we shortly recall the fundamentals of con-
tinuum micromechanics 共Zaoui 2002兲, the basic theoretical tool
for our research, including the concept of the representative vol-
ume element 共RVE兲. We then formulate viscoelastic boundary
value problems on two such RVEs, one related to cement paste
共composed of cement, water, hydrates, and air兲 and one related to
concrete 共composed of cement paste and aggregates兲. Following
the landmark work of Laws and McLaughlin 共1978兲, solution of
these problems allows for upscaling the creep properties of the
hydrates to those of cement paste and of concrete. The
polycrystal-type morphology of hydrates in cement paste, how-
ever, strongly motivates the formulation of self-consistent vis-
coelastic homogenization schemes, which requires realization of
numerical back-transformation of creep properties from the
Laplace-Carson “frequency” domain back to the time domain
where creep and relaxation functions need to be known in con-
crete engineering practice. All these developments hold for con-
stant volume fractions—thus, they need to be extended to the
aging case, where the volume fractions change. We propose here
to use the homogenized viscoelastic creep functions related to one
state of volume fractions, only at the time instant when this com-
bination of volume fractions really occurs—and to evaluate these
homogenized viscoelastic creep functions at the time elapsed
since the loading of the considered 共aging兲 RVE—e.g., of the
homogeneneously loaded concrete specimen. This process is re-
peated for all the time points in the time line of the loading
history of the RVE. Subsequently, the model is experimentally
     
 
     


 

  
∀x ∈ Vcp : div σ(t) = 0

 


  

    

  
 


    
  
 

 
  



d
σ r (t) = [ ∗ εr ] (t)
 

r
   


∀x ∈ ∂Vcp : ξ(x, t) = Ecp (t) · x

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d
∀x ∈ Vcp : div σ ∗ (p) = 0
 

∀x ∈ ∂Vcp :
Fig. 1. Principle of multistep homogenization: properties of material ξ∗ (x, p) = E∗cp (p) · x
phases 共with characteristic length d兲 inside an RVE with characteris-
tic length ᐉ are determined from homogenization over a smaller RVE σ ∗r (p) =

∗
r (p) : ε∗r (p)
with characteristic length ᐉI 艋 d; separation of scales requires d Ⰶ ᐉ 
and dI Ⰶ ᐉI; figure shows 2D sketches of 3D situations
 

    

   
validated, based on the landmark tests of Laplante 共1993兲 and
Atrushi 共2003兲. Thereafter, model-predicted creep and relaxation
moduli are compiled as functions of the degree of hydration, of
the water-cement ratio, and of the aggregate-cement ratio. Finally,
characteristic model features are discussed and related to ongoing
nanotechnological research in concrete science and engineering.
Fundamentals of Continuum Micromechanics—
Separation of Scales
In continuum micromechanics 共Hill 1963, 1965兲, a material is
understood as a microheterogeneous body filling a macrohomo-
geneous RVE with characteristic length ᐉ, ᐉ Ⰷ d, d standing for
the characteristic length of inhomogeneities within the RVE; see
Fig. 1, and ᐉ Ⰶ L, L standing for the characteristic lengths of
geometry or loading of a structure built up by the material defined
on the RVE. In general, the microstructure within one RVE is so
complicated that it cannot be described in complete detail. There-
fore, quasi-homogeneous subdomains with known physical prop-
erties 共such as volume fractions and elastic/viscoelastic
properties兲 are reasonably chosen. They are called material phases
共Suquet 1997; Zaoui 1997, 2002兲. The homogenized 共upscaled兲
viscoelastic behavior of the material on the observation scale of
the RVE, i.e., the relation between homogeneous deformations
acting on the boundary of the RVE and resulting macroscopic
共average兲 stresses, can then be estimated from the elastic/
viscoelastic behavior of the material phases, their volume frac-
tions within the RVE, their characteristic shapes, and their
interactions. If a single material phase is microheterogeneous it-
self, its mechanical behavior can be estimated by introduction of
RVEs within this phase, with characteristic lengths ᐉI 艋 d, com-
prising again inhomogeneities with characteristic length dI Ⰶ ᐉI,
and so on; see Fig. 1. Such an approach is referred to as multistep
homogenization and should, in the end, provide access to “uni-
versal” phase properties at sufficiently low observation scales. As
regards concrete, we employ here a two-step homogenization
scheme; see Figs. 2 and 4.
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009 / 309
J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323
 
Fig. 2. Micromechanical representation of cement paste as polycrys-
tal 共dcp Ⰶ ᐉcp兲, composed of cement, water, hydrates, and air, compare
共Hellmich and Mang 2005兲; the viscoelastic boundary value problem
on RVEcp 共a兲 is Laplace-Carson transformed to a formally elastic one
共b兲
Continuum Microviscoelasticity Model for Cement
Paste „Homogenization Step I…
Micromechanical Representation
Cement paste is represented by a volume element 共RVEcp兲 of
characteristic length ᐉcp ⬇ 0.25– 0.50 mm, comprising the phases
“hydrates,” “unhydrated cement grains,” “liquid 共capillary兲
pores,” and “air pores” 共Bernard et al. 2003b; Hellmich and Mang
2005兲; see Fig. 2. Homogeneous 共“macroscopic”兲 time-dependent
strains Ecp共t兲 are imposed at the boundary of the RVEcp, ⳵Vcp, in
terms of displacements ␰共x , t兲, through
∀x 苸 ⳵Vcp: ␰共x,t兲 = Ecp共t兲 · x 共3兲
where x = position vector inside and at the boundary of the RVEcp;
and t = time variable. A kinematically admissible 共“microscopic”兲
strain field ␧共x , t兲 implies 共Hashin 1983兲 that the macroscopic
strain is the volume average over the microscopic strain field, i.e.
冕
1
Ecp共t兲 =
Vcp Vcp
␧共x,t兲dV = 兺r f r␧r共t兲 r 苸 关cem,hyd,air,water兴
共4兲
with Vcp = volume of the RVEcp; f r = volume fraction of phase r,
accounting for its dosage within the RVEcp; and ␧r共t兲 = spatial
average of microscopic strains over phase r. Analogously, homo-
geneous macroscopic stresses 兺cp共t兲 are the volume averages over
equilibrated microscopic stresses 关characterized by div ␴共t兲 = 0
throughout Vcp兴. Mathematically, this reads as
 ⌺cp共t兲 =
1
Vcp
冕
Vcp
␴共x,t兲dV = 兺r f r␴r共t兲 共5兲 µ  
  

η µ
with ␴r共t兲 denoting the spatial average of microscopic stresses
    


over phase r. η  

Constitutive Behavior of Viscoelastic Material Phases

          

The constitutive behavior of nonaging viscoelastic material    

         

phases 关as depicted in Fig. 2共a兲兴 can be expressed by a Riemann-

Stieltjes integral of the form 共Boltzmann 1874; Gurtin and Stern-
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berg 1962; Salençon 1983兲

冕
 

t
␴r共t兲 = rr共t − ␶兲:␧˙ r共␶兲d␶ = 关rr ⴱ ␧r兴共t兲 共6兲
            

            

−⬁





where ␧˙ r = temporal derivative of the strain tensor of phase r;



rr共t − ␶兲 = fourth-order tensorial relaxation function of phase r; ␶



                  


= integration variable related to the time instant when ␧˙ r was im-



posed onto phase r, and ⴱ represents the Stieltjes convolution
operator. Thereby, rr共t = ␶兲 refers to instantaneous elasticity, while
            

rr共t ⬎ ␶兲 refers to viscoelastic deformations. The special case of

              

rr = constant 共⳵rr / ⳵t = 0兲 refers to pure elasticity, i.e., rr = cr, with cr

as the fourth-order elastic stiffness tensor of phase r. Alterna-
   

tively, the local viscoelastic material behavior can be character- Fig. 3. Deviatoric viscoelastic behavior of hydrates represented by
ized by the creep function of phase r, jr共t兲, relating microscopic the 共a兲 Burgers model 共Burgers 1935; Alfrey 1948兲, i.e., by serial
strains and stresses of phase r by arrangement of Maxwell and Kelvin-Voigt models; 共b兲 Burgers

冕
t model-related temporal evolution of creep strains 共the constant creep
␧r共t兲 = jr共t − ␶兲:␴
˙ r共␶兲d␶ = 关jr ⴱ ␴r兴共t兲 共7兲 rate approximates early-age creep, whereas long-term creep is char-
−⬁ acterized by a decreasing creep rate, see “Discussion” section兲

Creep and relaxation function are related through Schwarzl

and Struik 共1968兲 and Knauss 共2003兲 order unity tensor, with components Kijkl = 1 / 3␦ij␦kl; and J = I

冕 冕
t t − K = deviatoric part of the fourth-order unity tensor. Moreover,
rr共t − ␶兲:jr共␶兲d␶ = jr共t − ␶兲:rr共␶兲d␶ = tI 共8兲 there is evidence for isochoric creep characteristics of the hy-
−⬁ −⬁ drates 共Bernard et al. 2003a兲, so that k*hyd共p兲 = const. and equal to
the elastic bulk modulus khyd. In the present contribution, we will
with I = fourth-order unity tensor with components Iijkl = 共1 / 2兲 show the relevance of the Burgers model for deviatoric hydrate
⫻共␦ik␦ jl + ␦il␦ jk兲; ␦ij 共Kronecker delta兲 = components of the creep; see Fig. 3共a兲, in the context of basic creep of early-age
second-order unity tensor 1, with ␦ij = 1 for i = j and zero other- concrete. The corresponding LC-transformed shear relaxation
wise. The convolution-type constitutive relations 关Eqs. 共6兲 and modulus reads as 共Ter Haar 1950; Vandamme and Ulm 2006兲
共7兲兴 become standard algebraic equations through the LC trans-
formation. The latter is defined as 共Donolato 2002兲
␮*hyd共p兲 = 冉 1
+
1
+
1
冊 −1
共13兲

冕
⬁ ␮hyd,inst ␮KV + p␩KV p␩M
f *共p兲 = C兵f共t兲其 = pf̂共p兲 = p f共t兲e−ptdt 共9兲 with ␮hyd,inst = instantaneous elastic shear modulus. The Burgers
0
model exhibits three regimes of evolving strains provoked by
where f *共p兲 = LC transform of the time-dependent function f共t兲; constant stress: 共i兲 an instantaneous elastic response, followed by
p = complex variable in the Laplace-Carson domain; and f̂共p兲
= Laplace transform of f共t兲. Application of Eq. 共9兲 to the relax-
Table 1. Intrinsic Isotropic Stiffness Values Concrete Constituents
ation law 关Eq. 共6兲兴 and to the creep law 关Eq. 共7兲兴 yields the alge-
according to Wesche 共1974兲, Laplante 共1993兲, Mehlhorn 共1996兲, Acker
braic constitutive equations 共Gurtin and Sternberg 1962兲
共2001兲, Constantinides and Ulm 共2004兲, and Graham and Toll 共2007兲
␴r*共p兲 = rr*共p兲:␧r*共p兲 共10兲 Bulk Shear Young’s Poisson’s
modulus modulus modulus ratio
and Phase k 共GPa兲 ␮ 共GPa兲 E 共GPa兲 ␯ 关⫺兴
␧*共p兲 = j*共p兲:␴*共p兲
r r r
共11兲 Cement 116.7 53.8 140 0.30
Water 2.3 0.0
Within an RVE of cement paste 共see Fig. 2兲, only the hydrate
Hydrates 14.1 8.9 22 0.24
phase is creeping 共Acker 2001兲, in an isotropic way, yielding
Air 0.0 0.0
r*hyd共p兲 = 关j*hyd共p兲兴−1 = 3k*hyd共p兲K + 2␮*hyd共p兲J 共12兲 Aggregate
Laplante 1993 54.2 25.0 65 0.30
where k*hyd共p兲 and ␮*hyd共p兲 = LC-transformed bulk and shear
Atrushi 2003 16.7 7.7 20 0.30
moduli of the hydrate phase; K = volumetric part of the fourth-

310 / JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

 共ii兲 a decaying creep response, and by 共iii兲 a constant-rate creep
response; see Fig. 3共b兲.
As regards the noncreeping phases, ␩KV → ⬁ and ␩M → ⬁,
so that Eq. 共13兲 reduces to a purely elastic response, kr*共p兲 = kr
= const., and ␮r*共p兲 = ␮r = const., with r = cem, water, air, see
Table 1 for experimentally determined elastic properties. Our next
task is to upscale these nonaging creep characteristics to the
scales of cement paste and of concrete, in order to check whether
interaction between hydration-dependent, time-evolving phases of
elastic and of Burgers-type viscoelastic nature can explain the
complex aging creep properties of early-age concrete.
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shape of phase r in a matrix characterized by the LC-transformed
relaxation function R0,*共p兲. Choice of R0,*共p兲 describes the in-
teractions between material phases. The present mutual interac-
tion of all disordered phases motivates us to set R0,*共p兲
⬅ R*cp共p兲 in Eq. 共19兲. Combination of this specification of Eq.
共19兲 with Eq. 共17兲 results in the so-called self-consistent scheme
共Hershey 1954; Kröner 1978兲, which allows for implicit determi-
nation of the desired homogenized relaxation modulus of cement
paste R*cp共p兲. For the spherical phases of Fig. 2, the latter is of the
form

R*cp共p兲 = 3k*cp共p兲K + 2␮*cp共p兲J 共20兲

Homogenized Viscoelastic Behavior of Cement Paste with the LC-transformed bulk relaxation modulus
Constitutive Eqs. 共11兲 and 共12兲 are formally identical to linear
elasticity. Hence, the superposition principle is valid in the LC
space, and the LC-transformed macroscopic strain
k*cp共p兲 = 冋兺 r
f rkrk*cp共p兲
k*cp共p兲 + ␣*cp共p兲共kr − k*cp共p兲兲 册
E*cp共p兲 =
1
Vcp
冕 Vcp
␧*共x,p兲dV = 兺r f r␧r*共p兲 共14兲 ⫻冋兺 r
f rk*cp共p兲
k*cp共p兲 + ␣*cp共p兲共kr − k*cp共p兲兲 册 −1
共21兲

is proportional to the LC-transformed strain in phase r where r = cem, water, hyd, air; and with the LC-transformed shear
relaxation modulus

冋兺
␧r*共p兲 = Ar*共p兲:E*cp共p兲 共15兲
f r␮r␮*cp共p兲
where Ar*共p兲 = LC-transformed fourth-order strain concentration ␮*cp共p兲 =
tensor of phase r. This formal identity of the LC-transformed r ␮*cp共p兲 + ␤*cp共p兲共␮r − ␮*cp共p兲兲
viscoelastic boundary value problem on the RVE 关see Fig. 2共b兲,
with the boundary value problem encountered when homogeniz-
ing elastic properties兴 is called viscoelastic correspondence prin-
+ *
f hyd␮*hyd共p兲␮*cp共p兲
␮cp共p兲 + ␤*cp共p兲共␮*hyd共p兲 − ␮*cp共p兲兲 册
ciple 共Read 1950; Sips 1951; Beurthey and Zaoui 2000兲; see
Laws and McLaughlin 共1978兲 for detailled proofs. Insertion of
Eq. 共15兲 into the LC-transformed constitutive relation Eq. 共11兲,
⫻ 冋兺 f r␮*cp共p兲
r ␮cp共p兲 + ␤cp共p兲共␮r − ␮cp共p兲兲
* * *

册
and averaging over all phases according to the LC-transformed
analogon to Eq. 共5兲, reading as f hyd␮*cp共p兲 −1
+ * 共22兲
␮cp共p兲 + ␤*cp共p兲共␮*hyd共p兲 − ␮*cp共p兲兲
⌺*cp共p兲 =
1
Vcp
冕 Vcp
␴*共x,p兲dV = 兺r f r␴r*共p兲 共16兲 where r = cem, water, air. In Eqs. 共21兲 and 共22兲, ␣*cp and ␤*cp are the
volumetric and deviatoric part of Eshelby’s tensor for spherical
yields inclusions in a matrix with relaxation tensor R*cp共p兲; they read as

⌺*cp共p兲 = 兺r f rrr*共p兲:Ar*共p兲:E*cp共p兲 = R*cp共p兲:E*cp共p兲 共17兲

␣*cp共p兲 =
3k*cp共p兲
共23兲
3k*cp共p兲 + 4␮*cp共p兲
with the LC-transformed homogenized relaxation tensor of ce-
ment paste, R*cp共p兲, defined as and

R*cp共p兲 = 兺r f rrr*共p兲:Ar*共p兲 = 关J*cp共p兲兴−1 共18兲 ␤*cp共p兲 =

where J*cp共p兲 = LC-transformed homogenized creep tensor of ce-
ment paste. Given the formal identity of the LC-transformed vis-
coelastic boundary value problem to the elastic one, the classical
matrix-inclusion problems of Eshelby 共1957兲 and Laws 共1977兲
can be used for estimation of Ar*共p兲, as given by Zaoui 共2002兲 and
Benveniste 共1987兲
0,
Ar*共p兲 = 关I + Pr *共p兲:共rr*共p兲 − R0,*共p兲兲兴−1
6关k*cp共p兲 + 2␮*cp共p兲兴
共24兲
5关3k*cp共p兲 + 4␮*cp共p兲兴
compare Eshelby 共1957兲 and Zaoui 共2002兲. For the relations be-
tween the bulk and shear relaxation moduli obtained from Eqs.
共21兲–共24兲, and the corresponding tensorial creep and relaxation
functions, J*cp共p兲 and R*cp共p兲, we refer to the Appendix.
Continuum Microviscoelasticity Model for Concrete

再兺 冎
„Homogenization Step II…
0, −1
: f s关I + Ps *共p兲:共rr*共p兲 − R0,*共p兲兲兴−1 共19兲
s A typical material volume of concrete 共RVEconc兲, with character-
istic length ᐉconc ⬇ 1 − 5 cm, consists of purely elastic, spherical
In Eq. 共19兲, index s denotes the material phases building up aggregate inclusions embedded in a viscoelastic, polycrystalline
cement paste, i.e., s = cem, water, hyd, air. The fourth-order cement paste matrix, see Fig. 4. Thereby, the elastic properties of
0,
LC-transformed Hill tensor Pr *共p兲, related to the fourth-order the aggregates are accessible from experiments, see Table 1, and
Esh, Esh,
LC-transformed Eshelby tensor Sr *共p兲 through Sr *共p兲 the viscoelastic properties of cement paste follow from the first
0,*
= Pr 共p兲 : R 共p兲 共Zaoui 2002兲, accounts for the characteristic
0,*
homogenization step. The arrangement of the cement paste phase

JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009 / 311

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

     

 

        

Inversion of the Laplace-Carson Transformation—


 

∀x ∈ Vconc : div σ(t) = 0 Determination of Creep and Relaxation Functions
in the Time Domain
σ r (t) = [

r ∗ εr ] (t)
  



We are left with back-transformation of the complex relaxation

d



 
and creep functions of concrete, R*conc共p兲 and J*conc共p兲 according
to Eqs. 共25兲–共27兲, into time-dependent homogenized relaxation


and creep functions Rconc共t兲 and Jconc共t兲. However, due to the
implicity of the self-consistent scheme in homogenization step I,
∀x ∈ ∂Vconc : ξ(x, t) = Econc (t) · x
     

the LC-transformed homogenized material functions are only

pointwisely available, for arbitrary values of the complex variable

    

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d
 

∀x ∈ Vconc : div σ ∗ (p) = 0 p. Consequently, the inversion of the LC transformation 关see

σ ∗r (p) = ∗
: ε∗r (p) Eq. 共9兲兴 needs to be performed numerically. To meet this require-
r (p)
ment, we follow the line of Li et al. 共2006兲 in applying the Gaver-

Wynn-Rho 共GWR兲 algorithm in the form presented by Abate and

        

Valkó 共2004兲 and Valkó and Abate 共2004兲. Notably, successful

         

∀x ∈ ∂Vconc : application of the GWR algorithm requires that numerical values


 

ξ(x, p)∗ = E∗conc (p) · x of the LC transforms, being functions of the complex variable p,
can be computed to a precision depending on the desired accuracy
     

 


    

of the back-transformation 共Abate and Valkó 2004; Valkó and

Abate 2004兲; namely, an increase of the back-transformation ac-
Fig. 4. Micromechanical representation of concrete as polycrystal- curacy increases the required computation precision of the LC
line cement paste matrix 共the mechanical behavior of which is deter- transforms. Thus, a multiprecision computational environment is
mined in homogenization step I, ᐉcp 艋 dconc Ⰶ ᐉconc兲, with aggregate needed for determination of the LC transforms. Hence, the calcu-
inclusions, compare 共Bernard et al. 2003b; Hellmich and Mang lations presented in the sections on experimental validation and
2005兲; the viscoelastic boundary value problem on RVEconc 共a兲 is on the influence of the concrete mixture on model-predicted creep
Laplace-Carson transformed to a formally elastic one 共b兲
functions are carried out with the software tool Maple 共Maple
2005兲, which meets this requirement.
The GWR algorithm is based on the famous Post-Widder for-
and of the aggregate phase, together with the isotropy of both mula 共Widder 1946兲, which constitutes an analytical expression
phases, implies isotropy of the relaxation tensor of concrete whose limit 共k → ⬁兲 tends to the inverse of the LC-transformed
function f *共p兲, i.e., to the time-dependent function f共t兲
R*conc共p兲 = 关J*conc共p兲兴−1 = 3k*conc共p兲K + 2␮*conc共p兲J 共25兲
共− 1兲k k+1 dk
The composite-type morphology of concrete motivates the use f k共t兲 = p f̂共p兲 → f共t兲 for k → ⬁ 共28兲
k! dpk
of a Mori-Tanaka scheme 共Mori and Tanaka 1973; Benveniste
1987兲 to estimate the homogenized bulk and shear relaxation where f̂共p兲 = Laplace transform, being related to the LC transform
moduli of concrete, reading accordingly as
by f *共p兲 = pf̂共p兲; see Eq. 共9兲. Since the higher-order derivatives in

冋 册
Eq. 共28兲 may be awkward to compute, Gaver 共1966兲 proposed a
f̄ aggkaggk*cp共p兲 discrete form of these derivatives, in terms of the so-called Gaver
k*conc共p兲 = f̄ cpk*cp共p兲 + * functionals
kcp共p兲 + ␣*cp共p兲共kagg − k*cp共p兲兲

⫻ 冋 f̄ cp + *
kcp共p兲 + ␣*cp共p兲共kagg − k*cp共p兲兲
f̄ aggk*cp共p兲
册 −1

共26兲 f k共t兲 =
共− 1兲k␣共2k兲! k
tk!共k − 1兲!
⌬ 关f̂共k␣/t兲兴 共29兲

and where p has been substituted by p = k / t; ␣ = ln共2兲; and ⌬⫽forward

difference operator ⌬f共nx兲 = f关共n + 1兲x兴 − f共nx兲. Furthermore, ex-

␮*conc共p兲 = 冋 f̄ cp␮*cp共p兲 + *
f̄ agg␮agg␮*cp共p兲
␮cp共p兲 + ␤*cp共p兲共␮agg − ␮*cp共p兲兲
册 pansion of the difference operator 共Abramowitz and Stegun 1973兲
in Eq. 共29兲 yields

冋 册
k
−1 ␣共2k兲! k!f̂关共k + j兲␣/t兴
⫻ f̄ cp + *
f̄ agg␮*cp共p兲 f k共t兲 = 兺
tk!共k − 1兲! j=0
共− 1兲 j
j!共k − j兲!
共30兲
␮cp,cst共p兲 + ␤*cp共p兲共␮agg − ␮*cp共p兲兲
共27兲 The convergence of the Gaver functionals can be improved by
means of an acceleration algorithm. According to the Wynn-Rho
with f̄ cp and f̄ agg as the volume fractions of cement paste and algorithm 共Abate and Valkó 2004; Valkó and Abate 2004兲, the
aggregates within RVEconc, with k*cp共p兲 and ␮*cp共p兲 as given in approximation of f共t兲 reads as
Eqs. 共21兲 and 共22兲, and with ␣*cp共p兲 and ␤*cp共p兲 as given in
Eqs. 共23兲 and 共24兲. For the relation between the bulk and shear f共t兲 ⬇ f共t,M兲 = ␳共0兲
M 共31兲
relaxation moduli, see Eqs. 共26兲 and 共27兲, for the corresponding
tensorial creep and relaxation functions, J*conc共p兲 and R*conc共p兲, we where the “order of approximation” M is an even integer, and ␳共0兲
M
refer to the Appendix. can be determined recursively by

312 / JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

 冦 冧
0 for k = − 1


 
 

ξ2
f n共t兲 dJ1111


J1111 ξ = ξ1
for k = 0

J1111 ξ = ξ2
␳共k兲
n = 共32兲 dt
共n+1兲 k
 t2
␳k−2 ξ1
+ 共n+1兲 共n兲 for k 艌 1 dJ1111
␳k−1 ␳k−1


−
dt
t1 t1 t2
with n 艌 0, for k running through k = −1 , 0 , . . . , M − n, for each n
out of n = M , M − 1 , . . . , 0. The approximation accuracy increases
  
  

with the magnitude of M, i.e., f共t , M兲 → f共t兲 for M → ⬁. However,

 

this accuracy is limited by the computing precision of the LC-

transformed homogenized material functions. Thus, a precision
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requirement must be formulated, defining which computing pre-

cision is needed for a chosen M. According to Abate and Valkó

aging
共2004兲 and Valkó and Abate 共2004兲, the computational precision dJ1111

J1111
requirement reads as dt







t2

aging
number of precision decimal digits 艌 2.1M 共33兲 dJ1111
dt
Numerical back-transformation of the components 共59兲–共66兲 t1
of the LC-transformed macroscopic tensorial material functions,
R*cp共p兲 , R*conc共p兲 , J*cp共p兲, and J*conc共p兲 , R*共p兲 = 关J*共p兲兴−1, yields t1 = t(ξ1 ) t2 = t(ξ2 )
numerical approximations 关Rcp兴共0兲 共0兲 共0兲
M 共t兲, 关Rconc兴 M 共t兲, 关Jcp兴 M 共t兲, and
共0兲

  

关Jconc兴 M 共t兲 of macroscopic viscoelastic constitutive relations of

cement paste or concrete, Rcp共t兲, Rconc共t兲, Jcp共t兲, and Jconc共t兲; Fig. 5. 共a兲 Component J1111 of the aging creep function tensor of
R共t兲 ⫽ 关J共t兲兴−1, up to the desired precision M. For the computa- concrete, derived from creep rates of 共b,c兲 nonaging creep functions
tions reported in the sections on experimental validation and on related to different material compositions 共i.e., different degrees of
the influence of the concrete mixture on the model-predicted hydration兲, each held constant through time: e.g., 关dJaging 1111 / dt兴t1
creep functions, M = 10 delivers appropriate approximations = 关dJ␰1111
1 / dt兴 and 关dJ aging / dt兴 = 关dJ ␰2 / dt兴
t1 1111 t2 1111 t2
关Jcp兴共0兲 共0兲
M 共t兲 and 关Jconc兴 M 共t兲. These functions define the macro-
scopic time-dependent creep or relaxation; reading for an RVE of
concrete with time-fixed volume fractions of the phases as and water, with ␰ = 0 representing the state at which no hydration

冕
t has occured yet, while ␰ = 1 accounts for fully hydrated concrete
Econc共t兲 = 关Jconc兴共0兲 共0兲
M 共t − ␶兲:⌺̇conc共␶兲d␶ = 兵关Jconc兴 M ⴱ ⌺conc其共t兲
with no cement left, i.e., 0 艋 ␰ 艋 1. Mathematically, the depen-
−⬁ dence of the phase volume fractions on the degree of hydration
共34兲 reads as

f r共t − t0兲 = f r关␰共t兲兴 f̄ s共t − t0兲 = f̄ s关␰共t兲兴 共36兲

Consideration of Concrete Aging through Temporal It is instructive to consider Eq. 共35兲 for the simple case of a
Changes in Phase Volume Fractions classical creep test with loading at t = ␶, yielding

Homogenized constitutive relations Jcp共t兲 and Jconc共t兲 关see ⳵关Jconc兴共0兲

M
Eq. 共34兲兴 allow for description of the temporal evolutions of Ėconc共t兲 = 共f r关␰共t兲兴, f̄ s关␰共t兲兴,t − ␶兲:⌬⌺conc共␶兲 共37兲
stresses and deformations in the microstructures given in Figs. 2 ⳵t
and 4, characterized by time-independent, fixed volume fractions Thus, the overall creep response can be attained through compi-
of the material phases. In aging concrete, however, these volume lation of creep rates defined by Eq. 共37兲, and adding the instan-
fractions change, and Eq. 共34兲 remains valid only for infinitesimal taneous response at t = ␶
short time intervals, i.e., for derivatives of Eq. 共34兲 with respect to
time variable t
⌬Econc共␶兲 = 关Jconc兴共0兲
M 共f r关␰共␶兲兴, f̄ s关␰共␶兲兴,0兲:⌬⌺conc共␶兲 共38兲
Ėconc共t兲 = 关Jconc兴共0兲
M 共f r共t − t0兲, f̄ s共t − t0兲,0兲:⌺̇conc共t兲
yielding

冕 ⳵关Jconc兴共0兲
t
M
+ 共f r共t − t0兲, f̄ s共t − t0兲,t − ␶兲:⌺̇conc共␶兲d␶
−⬁ ⳵t Econc共t兲 = 关Jconc兴共0兲
M 共f r关␰共␶兲兴, f̄ s关␰共␶兲兴,0兲:⌬⌺conc共␶兲

共35兲
冕 ⳵关Jconc兴共0兲
t
M
+ 共f r关␰共␨兲兴, f̄ s关␰共␨兲兴,␨ − ␶兲:⌬⌺conc共␶兲d␨
with r 苸 关cem, water, hyd, air兴, and s 苸 关cp, agg兴. In Eq. 共35兲, the −⬁ ⳵␨
differentiation rule for parameter integrals 共Bronstein et al. 2005兲
共39兲
has been employed, and the creep function and its rate 关Jconc兴共0兲 M
and ⳵关Jconc兴共0兲
M / ⳵t, now relate to the volume fractions f r and f̄ s,
where the variable ␨ is related to the temporal compilation pro-
reached at time 共t − t0兲 after concrete casting at t = t0. These vol- cess; see also Fig. 5. We can further specify Eq. 共39兲 for a
ume fractions depend on the degree of hydration ␰, which indi- classical uniaxial creep test with ⌬⌺conc共␶兲 = ⌺conc,11e1 丢 e1. The
cates the progress of the chemical hydration reaction of cement uniaxial aging creep function Jaging
conc,1,111 then reads as

JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009 / 313

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

 冋 共0兲
conc,1,111 = e1 · 关Jconc兴 M 共f r关␰共␶兲兴, f̄ s关␰共␶兲兴,0兲:共e1 丢 e1兲
Jaging
0.08

 

冕 ⳵关Jconc兴共0兲
t
M 0.07
共f r关␰共␨兲兴, f̄ s关␰共␨兲兴,␨ − ␶兲


+


⳵␨


0.06

册
−⬁



0.05




:共e1 丢 e1兲d␨ · e1 共40兲

,1111
0.04


0.03



We can also extend the idea 关Eq. 共39兲兴 of compiling creep rates



         




关see Eq. 共35兲兴 to the case of arbitrary load histories, which yields

J 
0.02
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the following aging creep law: 0.01
    
 

     
 

冕再
0 20 40 60 80 100
t
Econc共t兲 = 关Jconc兴共0兲
M 共f r关␰共␨兲兴, f̄ s关␰共␨兲兴,0兲:⌺̇conc共␨兲


 

冎
−⬁

冕

 

0.1
t
⳵关Jconc兴共0兲
M
+ 共f r关␰共␨兲兴, f̄ s关␰共␨兲兴,␨ − ␶兲:⌺̇conc共␶兲d␶ d␨
−⬁ ⳵␨
0.08


共41兲



0.06


Experimental validation of this micromechanical model for aging





basic creep of concrete is dealt with next.

,1111
0.04





         





Experimental Validation

         

J 

0.02
   
 

    
 

Creep Tests on Sealed Specimens

     
 

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
The microviscoelasticity model for aging basic creep is validated
by means of uniaxial compressive creep tests on sealed concrete


 

specimens of different compositions, originating from different
 

laboratories, and loaded at different ages: 0.1

• Laplante 共1993兲 loaded cylindrical concrete samples of
160 mm diam and 1,000 mm height, with a cement content of
0.08
342 kg/ m3, a water-cement ratio of w / c = 0.5, and an



aggregate-cement ratio of a / c = 5.47, at ages of 20 h, 27 h,




3 days, 7 days, and 28 days; and held the load constant for up 0.06



to 500 days, while measuring basic creep strains at numerous

,1111

time instants tI; see Fig. 6. In addition, Laplante 共1993兲 reports 0.04
the temporal evolution of the uniaxial compressive strength f c






         

under isothermal conditions at 20° C, and represents it through





J 

         

an empirical function reading as 0.02
   
 

    
 

冋 冉 冊册

     
 

␤
0
ti 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
f c共t兲 = f c,⬁ exp − 共42兲
t J 







,1111




     

with f c,⬁ as uniaxial compressive strength at complete hydra-
tion, f c,⬁ = 51.9 MPa; with ti = time instant at which the
strength evolution exhibits a point of inflection, ti = 49.2 h, and
with coefficient ␤ = 0.70.
• Atrushi 共2003兲 loaded cylindrical concrete samples of 150 mm
diam and 300 mm height, with a cement content of
390 kg/ m3, a water-cement ratio of w / c = 0.4, and an aggre-
Fig. 6. Experimental validation of the microviscoelasticity model: 共a,
b兲 model-predicted and experimentally obtained uniaxial aging creep
functions; and 共c兲 model-predicted uniaxial aging creep compliances
of concrete versus corresponding experimentally obtained values of
Laplante 共1993兲, r2 = 91%

再 冋冉 冑 冊册冎
gate-cement ratio of a / c = 4.80, at ages of 1 day, 2 days,
3 days, 4 days, 6 days, and 8 days; and held the load constant 28
for up to 12 days, while measuring basic creep strains. In par- f c共t兲 = f c共t = 28d兲 exp S 1 − 共43兲
t − ti
allel, the temporal evolution of the uniaxial compressive
strength f c was monitored and represented through an empiri- with f c共t = 28 d兲 as uniaxial compressive strength at a concrete
cal function proposed in CEB-FIP 共1993兲, reading as 共Atrushi age of 28 days, f c共t = 28 d兲 = 81.0 MPa, with ti = 11 h, and with
2003兲 coefficient S = 0.173.

314 / JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

 Sample-Specific Composition Data Table 2. Viscoelastic Properties Governing Hydrate Creep 关Compare
Eq. 共13兲兴 Determined by Means of a Two-Membered Evolution
Strength measurements over time allow for a good approximation Algorithm
of the evolution of the degree of hydration. When considering
the quasi-linear dependence of f c on ␰ 共Byfors 1980兲, the evolu- ␩M
opt
1.0324⫻ 108 GPa s
tion of ␰, ␰共t兲, can be approximately back-calculated from experi- ␩KV
opt
1.9880⫻ 106 GPa s
mentally obtained strength evolutions by Ulm and Coussy 共1996兲 ␮KV
opt
6.9303 GPa
and Hellmich et al. 共1999兲
f c共t兲 crete samples of Laplante 共1993兲, ␳agg,L = 2.5 kg/ dm3, see, e.g.,
␰共t兲 = ␰0 + 共1 − ␰0兲 共44兲
f c,⬁ Solís-Carcaño and Moreno 共2007兲.
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where ␰0 ⬇ 0.05= percolation threshold 共Acker 1988; Ulm and

Coussy 1996兲, and f c共t兲 = uniaxial compressive strength of con-
crete at time instant t. ␰共t兲, w / c, and a / c allow for determination
of the paste constituent volumes normalized to that of cement at
␰ = 0, V̂r共␰兲 = Vr共␰兲 / Vcem共␰ = 0兲, reading as 共Acker 2001兲
V̂cem共␰兲 = 1 − ␰
␳cem
V̂water共␰兲 = 具w/c − 0.42␰典
␳water
␳cem
V̂hyd共␰兲 = ␰ 共47兲
␳hyd
V̂air共␰兲 = 兺r V̂r共␰ = 0兲 − 兺s V̂s共␰兲
V̂cp = V̂cem共␰兲 + V̂water共␰兲 + V̂hyd共␰兲 + V̂air共␰兲
In Eqs. 共45兲–共49兲, index r represents the cement and water
phases, index s represents the cement, water, and hydrate phases;
V̂cem, V̂water, V̂hyd, V̂air, V̂cp are the normalized volumes of cement,
water, hydrates, air, and cement paste; and 具·典 represents McAuley
brackets with 具x典 = 1 / 2 · 共x + 兩x兩兲; the constituents’ mass densities
are ␳cem = 3.15 kg/ dm3, ␳water = 1 kg/ dm3, ␳hyd = 1.46 kg/ dm3
共Tennis and Jennings 2000; Acker 2001; Hellmich and Mang
Sample-Independent Elastic and Viscoelastic
Properties
Intrinsic elasticity constants of cement, water, hydrates, and air
are published in the open literature, see Table 1. Herein, we con-
sider elastic constants of cement as published by Acker 共2001兲.
共45兲
As regards micrometer-sized hydration products, the material
constants of low density hydrates are regarded as being represen-
共46兲 tative of all hydration products 共Hellmich and Mang 2005兲. At a
more elaborate stage, they might well be determined from addi-
tional homogenization steps, encompassing low-density and high-
density hydrates 共Tennis and Jennings 2000; Bernard et al.
2003b兲, which, in turn, are built up by nanometer-sized elemen-
tary bricks 共Ulm et al. 2004; Sanahuja et al. 2007兲.
共48兲 Reliable measurement of viscoelastic properties on the hydrate
level seems still out of reach, so that we first back-analyze one set
of Burgers parameters for hydrate creep, which are representing
共49兲 all basic creep test results of Laplante 共1993兲 in an optimized
way. Therefore, we maximize the square of the multiple correla-
tion coefficient r2 共Spiegel 1990兲, between model predictions of
the aging uniaxial creep function and corresponding experimental
results. Thus
r2共␩M,␩KV,␮KV兲
兺I 关JLaplante
conc,1111共tI兲 − Jconc,1111共␩M,␩KV,␮KV ;tI兲兴
aging 2

2005兲. The normalized volumes of Eqs. 共45兲–共49兲 allow for de- =1− → max
termination of the phase volume fractions within an RVE of ce- 兺I 关JLaplante
conc,1111共tI兲 − J̄conc,1111兴
Laplante 2

ment paste 共RVEcp兲

⇒ ␩M
opt opt opt
,␩KV,␮KV 共53兲
V̂r共␰兲
f r共␰兲 = r 苸 关cem, water, hyd, air兴 共50兲 conc,1111共␩M , ␩KV , ␮KV ; tI兲⫽model-predicted uniaxial aging
where Jaging
V̂cp共␰兲 creep function of concrete according to Eqs. 共20兲, 共34兲, 共59兲, and
Within an RVE of concrete 共RVEconc兲, the subvolumes of aggre- 共40兲, evaluated for Laplante’s mixture characteristics defined
gates 共Vagg兲 and cement paste 共Vcp兲 remain constant over time 关so through Eqs. 共42兲 and 共44兲–共52兲, at time instants tI of experimen-
that Vcp = Vcem共␰ = 0兲 + Vwater共␰ = 0兲兴. Accordingly, the correspond- tal measurements, see Fig. 6; JLaplanteconc,1111共tI兲 are the values of the
uniaxial concrete creep function that were measured experimen-
ing phase volume fractions of aggregates and of cement paste f̄ agg
tally by Laplante 共1993兲; and J̄Laplante
conc,1111 is the mean of these ex-
and f̄ cp read as 共Bernard et al. 2003b兲
perimental values. For the optimization process of Eq. 共53兲, we
a/c use a two-membered evolution algorithm 共Schwefel 1977兲. The
Vagg ␳agg resulting viscoelastic properties of hydrates, ␩M opt
, ␩KV
opt
, ␮KV
opt
, are
f̄ agg = = collected in Table 2. Their relevance is underlined by a squared
Vcem共␰ = 0兲 + Vwater共␰ = 0兲 + Vagg 1 w/c a/c
+ + correlation coefficient between model predictions and experimen-
␳cem ␳water ␳agg tal data of r2 = 91%, see also Fig. 6 for a graphical representation.
共51兲
and Independent Model Check through Sample-
and Time-Specific Creep Rates
f̄ cp = 1 − f̄ agg 共52兲
As a further check for our model’s relevance, we model-predict
where the mass density of aggregate ␳agg is explicitly given by concrete creep rates based on Eqs. 共20兲–共34兲 and 共59兲 and on the
Atrushi 共2003兲, ␳agg,A = 2.66 kg/ dm3, and where we take a stan- phase properties of Tables 1 and 2, for the composition of
dard value for calcareous aggregates when considering the con- Atrushi’s samples represented by the volume fractions defined

JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009 / 315

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

 x 10
−3 through Eqs. 共43兲–共52兲; and compare these model predictions to
4 the corresponding creep rate measurements of Atrushi 共2003兲.
They agree very well, which is underlined by r2 = 96%, and by

   


3.5
   
 

   
 

relative errors between model predictions and experimental val-

ues, being as low as 3.87⫾ 15.44% 共mean value⫾ standard devia-

   
 

3
· )−1 

   
 

   
 

tion兲, see Fig. 7.



2.5



2
( 

,1111

Influence of Concrete Mixture on Model-Predicted

1.5
Creep Functions—Lookup Plots




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1

J˙ 

The fact that creep tests at different ages on two different concrete
0.5 mixtures from two different laboratories could be reasonably pre-
0 dicted on the basis of one mixture-independent set of Burgers
0 1 2 3 4 model parameters for hydrate creep suggests that the microvis-
−1
J˙ 





,1111
  

(
   · )
 

x 10
−3
coelasticity model has the capability to reliably predict aging
creep function tensors for arbitrary concrete mixtures. A subse-
Fig. 7. Experimental validation of the microviscoelasticity model: quent series of calculations shows to which extent variations in
model-predicted versus experimentally obtained uniaxial creep rates concrete mixtures influence the model-predicted tensorial con-
of Atrushi 共2003兲, r2 = 96% crete creep and relaxation functions, inclusive of the 共instanta-

Fig. 8. Model-predicted elastic response, evaluated in terms of 共a兲 bulk modulus kconc共t = ␶兲 关GPa兴; 共b兲 shear modulus ␮conc共t = ␶兲 关GPa兴;
共c兲 Young’s modulus Econc共t = ␶兲 关GPa兴; and 共d兲 Poisson’s ratio ␯conc共t = ␶兲 关⫺兴; for hydrating concrete 共0 艋 ␰ 艋 1兲 with a mixture defined by
0.4艋 w / c 艋 0.7, a / c = 5

316 / JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

 −1 −1

  107 × ∂J1111 /∂t      

 107 × ∂J1212 /∂t      






(t − τ )

(t − τ )
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ξ
  ξ
 

Fig. 9. Model-predicted creep rates for concrete mixture I 共w / c = 0.40, a / c = 5兲: 共a兲 ⳵J1111 / ⳵t 关10−7 GPa−1 / s兴; 共b兲 ⳵J1212 / ⳵t 关10−7 GPa−1 / s兴

neous兲 purely elastic material behavior, which we illustrate of kconc共t = ␶兲 with increasing ␰ is followed by an increase of
separately. kconc共t = ␶兲 with increasing ␰, see Fig. 8共a兲. Econc共t = ␶兲 and
Elastic material behavior is described in terms of the instan- ␮conc共t = ␶兲 increase with increasing ␰ and decrease with increas-
taneous bulk and shear relaxation moduli, kconc共t = ␶兲 and ␮conc共t ing w / c, see Fig. 8共c兲, as has been earlier shown in the context
= ␶兲, and alternatively through Young’s modulus Econc共t = ␶兲 and of microelasticity 共Bernard et al. 2003b; Hellmich and Mang
Poisson’s ratio ␯conc共t = ␶兲 2005兲. For ␰ ⬍ 0.6, ␯conc共t = ␶兲 increases monotoneously with
9kconc共t = ␶兲␮conc共t = ␶兲 increasing w / c, see Fig. 8共d兲, while for ␰ ⬎ 0.6 the dependence
Econc共t = ␶兲 = 共54兲 of ␯conc共t = ␶兲 on w / c exhibits a minimum, i.e., a decrease of
3kconc共t = ␶兲 + ␮conc共t = ␶兲
␯conc共t = ␶兲 with increasing w / c is followed by an increase of
and ␯conc共t = ␶兲 with increasing w / c; see Fig. 8共d兲.
The aging viscoelastic response of three concrete mix-
3kconc共t = ␶兲 + 2␮conc共t = ␶兲
␯conc共t = ␶兲 = 共55兲 tures, characterized by w / c = 0.40, a / c = 5; w / c = 0.50, a / c = 5;
6kconc共t = ␶兲 + 2␮conc共t = ␶兲 and w / c = 0.60, a / c = 5; is illustrated in terms of the temporal
illustrated as functions of w / c共0.4艋 w / c 艋 0.6兲 and of the degree derivatives of the creep tensor components of the Appendix,
of hydration ␰, for a constant a / c = 5, see Fig. 8. The model- ⳵J1111,conc / ⳵t and ⳵J1212,conc / ⳵t, as function of the time since load-
predicted instantaneous bulk modulus kconc共t = ␶兲 decreases with ing, t − ␶, and of the hydration degree ␰; see Figs. 9–11. The creep
increasing w / c, and for w / c ⬍ 0.48, kconc共t = ␶兲 increases with in- rates are always monotoneously decreasing with time. The mag-
creasing ␰, see Fig. 8共a兲. For w / c ⬎ 0.48, however, the de- nitude of the decrease, however, depends strongly on the consid-
pendence of kconc共t = ␶兲 on ␰ exhibits a minimum, i.e., a decrease ered combination of values for ␰ and w / c.

−1 −1

  107 × ∂J1111 /∂t      

 107 × ∂J1212 /∂t      







(t − τ )

(t − τ )

ξ
  ξ
 

Fig. 10. Model-predicted creep rates for concrete mixture II 共w / c = 0.50, a / c = 5兲: 共a兲 ⳵J1111 / ⳵t 关10−7 GPa−1 / s兴; 共b兲 ⳵J1212 / ⳵t 关10−7 GPa−1 / s兴

JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009 / 317

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

 −1 −1

  107 × ∂J1111 /∂t      

 107 × ∂J1212 /∂t      

4 4
10 10

0.033
0.04
.0175

.0750.075
0.015
.02 0.02

034 0.035

.03
.035

.031
0.05
.011

.01

0.045
0250.025

.014

032
013
0.05

02

0.1
0.012

0.029
0.034

0.032

0.03
0.013

0.01

0.031
0.0175

0.011
0.014

0.033
0.04
0.05
0.015

02

0.1

0.045
0.05

0.012

0.029
0.03
0.02

0.03
3 3
10 10

0.0

0.
0.

4
0.

03
0.03 0.03

01
0.011

25
07 1

2
0.014 5 0.033

3
0.0175 5 0.04
0.015 0.012
0.013 0.05 0.045
0.0175 0.014
0.015 0.1 0.05 0.04
0.045
0.0250.02 0.0250.02 0.075



0.1 0.05 80. 0.2 0.1 0.075
0.05 4 6 0.1



0.05 0.2

0.2 0.1 0.4 0.2
0.3 0.1 0.9
1.1
(t − τ )

(t − τ )
1.2 0.4
2 0.2 2 1.5 0.6 0.4
10 0.5
0.3 0.2 10 1 0.8 0.6
0.75
0.8 2.25 1.6 0.9
0.6 0.4 0.3 1.7 1.3 1.1 1 0.8
1.8 1.2 0.9
1.2 0.65 1.9 1.4
0.5 0.4 1.5 1.1 1
0.7 2
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1.4 5 1.3 1.2

3 1.6
0.6 1.4
1.5 0.95 0.85 0.5 4
1.7
1.1 2.5 1.5
0.9 1.8
1 1.3 1 1
10 0.75 0.65 10 1.9
1.6
0.8
0.7 2.25
0.6
2

0 0
10 10
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
ξ
  ξ
 

Fig. 11. Model-predicted creep rates for concrete mixture III 共w / c = 0.60, a / c = 5兲: 共a兲 ⳵J1111 / ⳵t 关10−7 GPa−1 / s兴; 共b兲 ⳵J1212 / ⳵t 关10−7 GPa−1 / s兴

From a practical viewpoint, insertion of values read off ␮*hyd共p兲 = ␮KV + p␩KV 共57兲
from Figs. 9–11 共or taken from a corresponding database possibly
extended to a larger number of mixture characteristics relevant is not able to account for the instantaneous elastic response of the
for civil engineering兲 into Eq. 共41兲 allows for simple use of hydrates in shear; while the “three-parameter model” 共that is a
the microviscoelasticity model in structural computations 关e.g., “degenerated Burgers model” with ␩M → ⬁兲, also referred to as
of shotcrete tunnel shells 共Hellmich et al. 2001兲兴—without per- Boltzmann or Zener model 共González and Abascal 2004兲
forming the rather expensive numerical Laplace-Carson back-
␮hyd,inst共␮KV + p␩KV兲
transformation given in Eqs. 共28兲–共34兲. ␮*hyd共p兲 = 共58兲
␮hyd,inst + ␮KV + p␩KV
does not show any long-term creep response. Thus, choosing the
Discussion and Conclusion Burgers model for description of the hydrate creep behavior
seems reasonable, in particular for “short-term” creep of up to
From a conceptual viewpoint, the fact that creep tests at different several days or weeks duration; see Fig. 6共a兲. In case of very
ages on two different concrete mixtures from two different labo- long loading durations, the currently employed, constant hy-
ratories could be reasonably predicted on the basis of one
mixture-independent set of Burgers model parameters for hydrate
creep proposes that the microstructural representation of Figs. 2 0.05
and 4 is indeed relevant for the basic creep behavior of concrete,
and that the Burgers model 共based on “nonaging” model param-
eters兲 turns out as a good approximation of the viscoelastic be- 0.04
havior of hydrates. This is further corroborated by basic creep



tests on cement paste, such as the ones performed by Granger and



0.03


Bažant 共1995兲 and by Tamtsia and Beaudoin 共2000兲: these re-




searchers report creep rates over a time duration of at least several

,1111

days, which are consistent with the predictions of our model at 0.02


the cement paste level. However, direct validation at this level,

          
     !








     

as done at the concrete level, is out of reach, due to lack of

J 

information of the evolution of ␰ in the aforementioned cement 0.01      

   

         

pastes. To our knowledge, the creep behavior of hydrates has not       

been studied over time durations of several days, so that we 0

had to resort to back-analysis of the creep properties of hydrates 0 500 1000 1500 2000
共Table 2兲, based on the simplest possible creep model 共with 

 

“nonaging” parameters兲. Namely, models simpler than the Bur-

gers model cannot capture all relevant creep features at the con- Fig. 12. Creep functions of concrete, predicted by the microvis-
crete level; see Fig. 12. The Maxwell model coelasticity model, based on Eqs. 共20兲–共34兲, 共59兲, and 共40兲, evaluated
for the phase properties of Tables 1 and 2, and for the composition of
Laplante’s samples 共with w / c = 0.5 and a / c = 5.47兲 represented by the
␮hyd,instp␩M
␮*hyd共p兲 = 共56兲 volume fractions defined through Eqs. 共43兲–共52兲; with hydrate creep
␮hyd,inst + p␩M represented by Burgers model—Eq. 共13兲, by three-parameter
does not produce a short-term creep response; the Kelvin-Voigt model—Eq. 共58兲, by Kelvin-Voigt model—Eq. 共57兲, and by Maxwell
model model—Eq. 共56兲

318 / JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

 drate viscosity ␩M cannot capture the experimentally shown de- 2
crease of creep rates 共Bažant et al. 1997b; Ulm and Acker 1998; R*1122共p兲 = R*1133共p兲 = R*2233共p兲 = k*共p兲 − ␮*共p兲 共63兲
3
Sercombe et al. 2000; Acker and Ulm 2001兲. In this case, loga-
rithmic approaches are normally deemed beneficial 共Lokhorst and
R*1212共p兲 = R*1313共p兲 = R*2323共p兲 = ␮*共p兲 共64兲
van Breugel 1997; Bažant et al. 1997b; Larson and Jonasson
2003兲. whereas k*共p兲 and ␮*共p兲 can be substituted either by k*cp共p兲 and
Still, from a physical viewpoint with focus on nanostructural ␮*cp共p兲 or by k*conc共p兲 and ␮*conc共p兲, depending on the desired ob-
research, the Burgers model 共as well as any logarithmic model for servation scale 共cement paste or concrete兲. The components de-
description of hydrate behavior兲 remain “phenomenological” in fined in Eqs. 共59兲–共64兲 build up the LC-transformed tensorial
nature: these models represent complicated restructuring events at creep and relaxation functions
the nanolevel, concerning “prestressed sheets” 共Bažant et al.
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冤 冥
1997b兲, “globules” 共Jennings 2004兲, or “bricks” 共Garrault et al. * 共p兲 J* 共p兲 J* 共p兲
J1111 1122 1122 0 0 0
2005; Sanahuja et al. 2007兲, which build up the hydrate phase. In
our case of basic creep, these events stem from macroscopic load- J*
1122
共p兲 J1111
* 共p兲 J* 共p兲
1122 0 0 0
ing, while in more general cases they may also stem from drying * 共p兲 J* 共p兲 J* 共p兲
J1122 0 0 0
1122 1111
phenomena 共Jennings 2004兲. Clearly, the Burgers parameters 共as J*共p兲 = * 共p兲
0 0 0 J1212 0 0
well as parameters in logarithmic hydrate models兲 do not directly
relate to nanostructural and nanomechanical quantities. However, 0 0 0 0 J*
1212
共p兲 0
once the intensive nanoscientific research on concrete would re- 0 0 0 0 0 J*
1212
共p兲
veal the nanomechanical origin of hydrate creep, a truly nanome-
chanical creep model for the hydrates 共possibly distuingishing 共65兲
between different forms of calcium silicate hydrates兲 could pos- and

冤 冥
sibly be developed and validated. In the present context, it would
* 共p兲 R* 共p兲 R* 共p兲
R1111 0 0 0
simply substitute the herein employed, hydrate-related Burgers 1122 1122
model, while leaving unchanged the rest of the presented consti- * 共p兲 R* 共p兲 R* 共p兲
R1122 0 0 0
1111 1122
tutive framework, i.e., the upscaling of early-age basic creep R* 共p兲 R1122
* 共p兲 R* 共p兲 0 0 0
1122 1111
properties from the scale of several micrometers to that of several R*共p兲 = * 共p兲
0 0 0 R1212 0 0
centimeters—this was the focus of our work.
0 0 0 0 R*1212
共p兲 0
0 0 0 0 0 * 共p兲
R1212
Acknowledgments
共66兲
Financial support by “TUNCONSTRUCT—Technology In-
novation in Underground Construction” 共Project No. IP011817- Notation
2兲, sponsored by the European Commission, is gratefully
acknowledged. The following symbols are used in this paper:
Ar ⫽ microscopic fourth-order strain concentration
tensor of phase r;
Appendix. Components of Tensorial Creep a / c ⫽ aggregate-cement ratio;
and Relaxation Functions agg ⫽ aggregate;
cem ⫽ cement;
It is useful to recall, e.g., for application in structural simulations, cp ⫽ cement paste;
the relations between bulk and shear relaxation moduli kcp,est * 共p兲 cr ⫽ microscopic fourth-order stiffness tensor of
and ␮cp,est
* 共p兲 on the level of cement paste, as well as k*
conc,est
共p兲 phase r;
d ⫽ characteristic length of inhomogeneities within
and ␮conc,est共p兲 on the level of concrete, with the related tensorial
*
the RVE;
relaxation and creep functions. The latter are formally identical to
E ⫽ macroscopic second-order strain tensor;
those of compliance and stiffness tensors in linear elasticity, read-
Econc ⫽ macroscopic second-order strain tensor of
ing as 共Fung 1965兲
concrete;
3k*共p兲 + ␮*共p兲 Ecp ⫽ macroscopic second-order strain tensor of
J*1111共p兲 = J*2222共p兲 = J*3333共p兲 = 共59兲 cement paste;
9k*共p兲␮*共p兲
e1 ⫽ unit base vector;
f air ⫽ volume fraction of air in an RVE of cement
3k*共p兲 − 2␮*共p兲 paste;
J*1122共p兲 = J*1133共p兲 = J*2233共p兲 = − 共60兲
18k*共p兲␮*共p兲 f c ⫽ uniaxial compressive strength of concrete;
f c,⬁ ⫽ uniaxial compressive strength of concrete at
1 complete hydration;
J*1212共p兲 = J*1313共p兲 = J*2323共p兲 = 共61兲 f cem ⫽ volume fraction of cement in an RVE of cement
␮*共p兲
paste;
and f hyd ⫽ volume fraction of hydrate in an RVE of cement
paste;
4 f k共t兲 ⫽ kth order Post-Widder approximation of f共t兲;
R*1111共p兲 = R*2222共p兲 = R*3333共p兲 = k*共p兲 + ␮*共p兲 共62兲
3 f r ⫽ volume fraction of phase r;

JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009 / 319

J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323

 f共t兲 ⫽ time-dependent function;
f water ⫽ volume fraction of water in an RVE of cement
paste;
f *共p兲 ⫽ Laplace-Carson transform of f共t兲;
f̄ agg ⫽ volume fraction of aggregate in an RVE of
concrete;
f̄ cp ⫽ volume fraction of cement paste in an RVE of
concrete;
f̂共p兲 ⫽ Laplace transform of f共t兲;
H ⫽ Heaviside function;
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hyd ⫽ hydrates;
I ⫽ fourth-order unity tensor;
Iijkl ⫽ components of the fourth-order unity tensor;
conc,1111 ⫽ uniaxial aging creep function of concrete
JAtrushi
measured experimentally by Atrushi 共2003兲;
Jaging ⫽ model-predicted uniaxial aging creep function of
conc,1111
concrete;
conc,1111 ⫽ uniaxial aging creep function of concrete
JLaplante
measured experimentally by Laplante 共1993兲;
J̄Laplante
conc,1111 ⫽ mean of the measured values of JLaplante
conc,1111;
J ⫽ macroscopic fourth-order tensorial creep
function;
Jconc ⫽ macroscopic fourth-order tensorial creep function
of concrete;
Jcp ⫽ macroscopic fourth-order tensorial creep function
of cement paste;
J ⫽ deviatoric part of the fourth-order unity tensor;
jr ⫽ microscopic fourth-order tensorial creep function
of phase r;
K ⫽ volumetric part of the fourth-order unity tensor;
kr ⫽ bulk modulus of phase r;
kagg ⫽ bulk modulus of aggregate;
kair ⫽ bulk modulus of air;
kcem ⫽ bulk modulus of cement;
kconc ⫽ bulk modulus of concrete;
kcp ⫽ bulk modulus of cement paste;
khyd ⫽ bulk modulus of hydrates;
kwater ⫽ bulk modulus of water;
L ⫽ characteristic length of the geometry or loading
of a structure built up by the material defined on
the RVE;
LC ⫽ Laplace-Carson;
ᐉ ⫽ characteristic length of the RVE;
ᐉconc ⫽ characteristic length of an RVE of concrete;
ᐉcp ⫽ characteristic length of an RVE of cement paste;
M ⫽ integer defining accuracy of approximation ␳共0兲
in the course of the Gaver-Wynn-Rho algorithm;
Pr0 ⫽ fourth-order Hill tensor of phase r embedded in
a matrix with relaxation tensor R0;
p ⫽ complex variable in Laplace-Carson domain;
R ⫽ macroscopic fourth-order relaxation tensor;
Rconc ⫽ macroscopic fourth-order relaxation tensor of
concrete;
Rcp ⫽ macroscopic fourth-order relaxation tensor of
cement paste;
RVE ⫽ representative volume element;
RVEconc ⫽ representative volume element of concrete;
RVEcp ⫽ representative volume element of cement paste;
r ⫽ index denoting phases;
r2 ⫽ square of the multiple correlation coefficient;
rr ⫽ microscopic fourth-order relaxation tensor of
phase r;
320 / JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS © ASCE / APRIL 2009
J. Eng. Mech., 2009, 135(4): 307-323
rhyd ⫽ microscopic fourth-order relaxation tensor of
hydrates;
S ⫽ coefficient in empirical strength evolution
function, Eq. 共42兲;
SrEsh,0 ⫽ fourth-order Eshelby tensor of phase r embedded
in a matrix with relaxation tensor R0;
s ⫽ index denoting phases;
t ⫽ time variable;
ti ⫽ time instant when concrete strength evolution
exhibits point of inflection;
t0 ⫽ time instant of concrete casting;
Vagg ⫽ subvolumes of aggregates in RVEconc;
Vcem ⫽ subvolumes of cement in RVEconc;
Vcp ⫽ subvolumes of cement paste in RVEconc;
Vr ⫽ volume of phase r;
Vwater ⫽ subvolumes of water in RVEconc;
V̂air ⫽ normalized volume of air;
V̂cem ⫽ normalized volume of cement;
V̂cp ⫽ normalized volume of cement paste;
V̂hyd ⫽ normalized volume of hydrates;
V̂r ⫽ normalized volume of phase r 共with respect to
the volume of the cement phase兲;
V̂water ⫽ normalized volume of water;
w / c ⫽ water-cement ratio;
x ⫽ position vector;
␣ ⫽ constant in the Gaver functional, Eq. 共29兲;
␣cp ⫽ volumetric part of Eshelby’s tensor of cement
paste;
␤ ⫽ coefficient in empirical strength evolution
function, Eq. 共42兲;
␤cp ⫽ deviatoric part of Eshelby’s tensor of cement
paste;
⌬ ⫽ forward difference operator;
⌬⌺ ⫽ stress increment;
␦ij ⫽ Kronecker delta;
␧ ⫽ microscopic second-order strain tensor;
␧r ⫽ microscopic second-order strain tensor of phase
r;
␩KV ⫽ Kelvin-Voigt-type viscosity of hydrates
共parameter of the Burgers model兲;
␩M ⫽ Maxwell-type viscosity of hydrates 共parameter of
the Burgers model兲;
␮KV ⫽ “delayed” shear modulus of hydrates
共Kelvin-Voigt-type parameter of the Burgers
model兲;
M ␮air ⫽ shear modulus of air;
␮agg ⫽ shear modulus of aggregate;
␮cem ⫽ shear modulus of cement;
␮conc ⫽ shear modulus of concrete;
␮cp ⫽ shear modulus of cement paste;
␮hyd,inst ⫽ instantaneous shear modulus of hydrates;
␮r ⫽ shear modulus of phase r;
␮water ⫽ shear modulus of water;
␯r ⫽ Poisson’s ratio of phase r;
␯conc ⫽ Poisson’s ratio of concrete;
␰ ⫽ degree of hydration;
␰0 ⫽ percolation threshold;
␰ ⫽ displacement field;
␳r ⫽ mass density of phase r;
␳agg ⫽ mass density of aggregate;
␳cem ⫽ mass density of cement;
 ␳hyd ⫽ mass density of hydrates;
␳water ⫽ mass density of water;
␳共0兲
M ⫽ approximation of f共t兲, determined by the
Gaver-Wynn-Rho algorithm up to accuracy order
M;
⌺conc ⫽ macroscopic stress tensor of concrete;
⌺conc,11 ⫽ uniaxial macroscopic stress of concrete;
⌺cp ⫽ macroscopic stress tensor of cement paste;
␴ ⫽ microscopic second-order stress tensor;
␴r ⫽ microscopic second-order stress tensor of phase
r;
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␶ ⫽ time instant of load application;
1 ⫽ second-order unity tensor;
: ⫽ second-order tensor contraction;
ⴱ ⫽ Stieltjes convolution operator;
丢 ⫽ dyadic product;
dk共.兲 / dpk ⫽ kth derivative of quantity 共.兲 with respect to p;
共 ˙. 兲 ⫽ temporal derivative of quantity 共.兲;
共.兲* ⫽ Laplace-Carson transform of quantity 共.兲;
关共.兲兴共0兲
M ⫽ Mth order approximation of Laplace-Carson
back-transformation of quantity 共.兲;
具共.兲典 ⫽ McAuley brackets, 具共.兲典 = 1 / 2 · 关共.兲 + 兩共.兲兩兴; and
兩共.兲兩 ⫽ absolute value of quantity 共.兲.
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