Construction and Building Materials 47 (2013) 969–976

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Construction and Building Materials

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Paste and mortar studies on the influence of mix design parameters

on autogenous shrinkage of self-compacting concrete
Amjad Alrifai a, Salima Aggoun a, Abdelkader Kadri b, Said Kenai c, El-hadj Kadri a,⇑
a
Laboratoire de Mécanique et Matériaux de Génie Civil (L2MGC), Université de Cergy Pontoise, F-95031 Cergy Pontoise, France
b
Laboratory Sciences of Materials and Environment, Chlef University, Algeria
c
Geomaterials Laboratory, University of Blida, Algeria

h i g h l i g h t s

 Based on the CEM principle, our aim is to study the autogenous shrinkage of SCC by means of experiments at mortar level.
 Furthermore, autogenous shrinkage measures have been made at paste level.
 We have also studied the correlation between shrinkage of paste and mortar using the model developed by Le Roy.
 With obtained results, some known conclusions have been confirmed. These results are explained by studying paste porosity.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: By means of the concrete equivalent mortar (CEM) principle, concrete properties can be experimentally
Received 16 December 2011 studied at mortar level. Based on this principle, the objective of this paper is to study the influence of mix
Received in revised form 17 April 2013 design parameters on autogenous shrinkage of self-compacting concrete by means of tests at mortar
Accepted 4 May 2013
level. Furthermore, autogenous shrinkage tests have been performed at paste level, enabling to study
Available online 21 June 2013
the correlation between shrinkage of paste and mortar. For limestone filler based self-compacting con-
crete, the obtained experimental results indicate that autogenous shrinkage is increasing with decreasing
Keywords:
fines/cement ratio (A/C), although the influence of A/C is not as important as the influence of water/
Self compacting concrete (SCC)
Autogenous shrinkage
cement ratio (W/C). Furthermore, based on mortar and paste results, it is shown that the model devel-
Cement paste oped by Le Roy, describing the influence of aggregate properties and contents on shrinkage of cementi-
Concrete equivalent mortar (CEM) tious materials, is also valid for the autogenous shrinkage of limestone filler based self-compacting
Le Roy model cementitious materials.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and the surrounding environment. Following this exchange, as rel-

Self-Compacting Concretes (SCC) is a very fluid concrete with
environmental and economical advantages [1]. However, because
of the particular composition, often resulting in a higher volume
of fines and a higher paste volume, SCC could be more sensitive
to cracking than traditionally vibrated concrete (TVC). SCC used
nowadays contains about 80 l/m3 more volume of paste than
TVC. Consequently, there are systematic differences on hardened
material properties, for example shrinkage which can be higher
than ordinary concrete [2]. There are mainly two types of shrink-
age namely autogenous and drying shrinkage. Autogenous shrink-
age is the deformation of concrete during its hydration in adiabatic
conditions, without any exchange of humidity with the external
environment. Drying shrinkage is the deformation caused by
humidity exchange between the porous structure of the paste
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 1 34 25 68 31; fax: +33 1 34 25 69 41.
E-mail address: el-hadj.kadri@u-cergy.fr (E.-h. Kadri).
ative humidity of the environment is lower than in the paste, ce-
ment paste will contract [3–5].
For autogenous shrinkage in SCC, we can observe similar defor-
mations with those of vibrated concretes. Autogenous shrinkage of
SCC was found to be lower than or equal to that of vibrated con-
cretes [6]. The evolution of hydration reactions at the origin of this
shrinkage depends on the quantity of water available in concrete
for hydration reaction. Consequently, the importance of this
shrinkage will be directly related to the W/C ratio. In addition,
autogenous shrinkage is influenced by quantity and type of min-
eral addition used in this concrete [7]. Drying shrinkage is usually
more significant for SCC than for vibrated concretes [6,8]. Drying
shrinkage appears to be lower for higher G/S (gravels/sand) ratio
[6]. It is to be noted that it is a very difficult to compare directly
shrinkage of SCC and that of traditional concrete as the paste vol-
umes can be very different.
Some researchers [9–11] proposed models for predicting
shrinkage at early-age based on the hydration of cement paste.

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.05.024
970 A. Alrifai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 47 (2013) 969–976

Grondin et al. [10] proposed a multi-scale approach for the cal-
culation of self-desiccation shrinkage of cementitious materials,
where the chemical shrinkage was calculated by chemical equa-
tions of hydration and the specific volume of phases. The autoge-
nous shrinkage was calculated according to the evolution of the
capillary pressure and the stiffness of the cement paste. Pichler
et al. [11] also presented a multi-scale model that determines the
early-age elastic properties, shrinkage of cement paste and creep
deformations.
The approach presented by Gawin et al. [9] allows the predic-
tion of shrinkage and creep of concrete maturing in sealed or dry-
ing conditions, and analysing hygro-thermal phenomena and
cement hydration at early ages.
Other researchers [12–16] proposed empirical approaches
based on experimental data and theoretical models in which con-
crete or mortar is considered as two-phase material and its mech-
anism of shrinkage is derived from the combination of the
properties of aggregate and the shrinkage of the matrix. Further-
more, some researchers were interested in the link between
shrinkage of concrete to that of cement paste [17,18].
Le Roy [14] proposed in his model of homogenization a concen-
tration g which is the maximum compactness. The unit cell
adapted is the same as that of Hashin [19] reversing the position
of the paste and the aggregates. The modulus of elasticity Emax is
calculated from the formula of Hashin by interchanging EP and EG
and interchanging g and g. Emax is then obtained by:
ð2  g  ÞEp þ g  EG
Emax ¼ EG
g  Ep þ ð2  g  ÞEG
Considering that in a concrete, the aggregate concentration g is
different from the maximum concentration (or maximum packing
density) g⁄ with g < g. EG is the modulus of elasticity of the aggre-
gates, EP is the modulus of elasticity of the cement paste.
The model of homogenization of Le Roy relates shrinkage of ce-
ment paste to shrinkage of concrete. This model was used by Khe-
irbek [20,21] to predict shrinkage of high performance concretes
and the results obtained were very interesting. The values of total
shrinkage provided by this model were close to experimental val-
ues and the average absolute deviation was <6%.
The objective of this paper is to study the shrinkage of SCC by
studying the shrinkage of paste and mortar and considering the
influence of the aggregate skeleton. The effect of mix design
parameters on autogenous shrinkage of cement paste and concrete
equivalent mortar resulting from SCC is analysed. The effects of
limestone filler/cement ratio (A/C) and water/cement ratio (W/C)
were investigated. Tests of microstructure are also carried out to
highlight the effect of porosity on shrinkage.
Correlation between shrinkage of mortars and corresponding
pastes was also studied. This correlation makes it possible to pass
from paste to mortar level or even to concrete. Shrinkage of SCC
could be predicted from the characteristics of the cement matrix
by using equations as proposed by Le Roy (Eq. (1)). A validation
of the model proposed by Le Roy for the case of SCC would make
it possible to study shrinkage of SCC by testing the representative
paste.
SCC-I is based on Portland cement of strength class 52.5 (C1), and SCC-II is
based on Portland cement of strength class 32.5 (C2), with properties as given
in Table 2. Cement C1 contains about 98% of Portland clinker, while cement C2
contains only 62.1% of Portland clinker, and further consists of slag and limestone
filler.
Both concrete mixes contain limestone filler. The limestone filler mainly con-
sists of CaCO3 (98.4%), and has a Blaine fineness of 755 m2/kg. The median particle
diameter is 3.5 lm. Gravel with a granular size of 6.3–20 mm, a specific gravity of
2.5 and absorption of 1.8% was used. The sand has a specific gravity of 2.4, absorp-
tion of 1.05% and granular size of 0–4 mm. A superplasticiser type modified poly-
carboxylate (Cimfluid Adagio 2020) was used. It has a specific density of 1.059
and solids content of 21%. The viscosity agent used was the ‘‘Collaxim L4’’ with
1.14 of density and 20% of solids content. Superplasticiser and Viscosity agent are
commercialised by AXIM Company.
Besides the basic mixes given in Table 1, several other mixes have been eval-
uated with a variable mix design. The various mixes of pastes and CEM-mortars
studied were obtained by keeping a constant volume of paste while varying the
ratios A/C (limestone filler/cement) and W/C (water/cement) according to Tables
3–5.
3. Test methods
Autogenous shrinkage measurements were performed on
mortar and paste by means of a vertical linear method. Flexible
and deformable polyethylene moulds have been used, as shown
in Fig. 1. For paste, the moulds had a length of 160 mm, an inte-
rior diameter of 20 mm, and a wall thickness of 2 mm. For mor-
tar, the moulds had a length of 160 mm, an interior diameter of
40 mm, and a wall thickness of 2 mm. The measurement caps at
the ends of the moulds are made of stainless steel, and have a
diameter of 20 mm and a length of 40 mm for cement paste,
ð1Þ
and a diameter of 40 mm and a length of 15 mm for mortar.
After filling the moulds, the specimens are placed in a rotating
device (Fig. 2) which turns at a speed of 2.5 rotations/min, in or-
der to prevent bleeding and segregation. The rotation is stopped
when the setting starts. The setting time for each composition is
determined by the Vicat test. Once rotation is stopped, the first
measurement takes place immediately. In this way, the applied
time zero [26] is considered to coincide with the onset of set-
ting. The mechanical deformation metre used for the measure-
ment of the shrinkage is a retractometer. The measurement
consists in comparing the length of the specimen with a refer-
ence metal bar. The accuracy of the measuring system is about
10 lm/m.
After the first measurement of autogenous shrinkage, the spec-
imens are stored for 24 h in a climate room with a relative humid-
ity of 98%. After 1 day, the specimens are demoulded in a wet
curing room, and wrapped in three layers of aluminium. Further
conservation and measurements are carried out in a room at tem-
perature of 20 ± 1 °C and relative humidity of 50 ± 5%.
To apply the model of Le Roy, elasticity modulus of the paste
needs to be known. This elasticity modulus was experimentally
determined by ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements. This meth-
od is based on the propagation of different wave modes whose
velocities are used to determine Young’s modulus E, according to
the following equation:
3V 2L  4V 2T
E ¼ qV 2T ð2Þ
V 2L  V 2T

where q is the materials density, VL longitudinal velocity and VT

2. Materials and mix-design methods
In this study, tests were performed on cement paste and on concrete equiva-
lent mortar (CEM) resulting from two basic compositions of SCC (SCC-I and SCC-II)
as shown in Table 1. The principle of the CEM method is to design a mortar, de-
duced from the concrete composition. The mixture proportioning of CEM are de-
rived from their corresponding concrete mixtures by eliminating the coarse
aggregate fraction and replacing it by a certain mass of sand of the same surface
area [22–25].
transverse velocity.
Pore size distribution was determined on small drilled cores
(25 mm diameter  25 mm high) using a mercury porosimeter
with a maximum pressure of 200 MPa. The cored samples were ob-
tained from 40  40  160 mm prismatic specimens. The samples
were first dried in an oven at 105 °C and then immersed in mercury
under gradually increasing pressure.
 A. Alrifai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 47 (2013) 969–976 971

Table 1
Mix design compositions.

Group SCC-I SCC-II

a
Compositions SCC1 SCC2 SCC3 SCC4 SCC5 SCC6 SCC7a SCC8 SCC9 SCC10 SCC11 SCC12
3
Cement 52.5 (C1) kg/m 350 381 324 301 392 313 – – – – – –
Cement 32.5 (C2) kg/m3 – – – – – – 328 372 347 306 365 294
Limestone filler (A) kg/m3 130 103 152 172 130 130 225 186 208 245 225 225
Water (W) kg/m3 198 198 198 198 184 210 195 195 195 195 183 206
Sand (S) kg/m3 857 857 857 857 857 857 795 795 795 795 795 795
Gravel (G) kg/m3 742 742 742 742 742 742 745 745 745 745 745 745
Superplasticizer (Sp) kg/m3 6 6 6 6 6 6 4.08 4.08 4.08 4.08 4.08 4.08
Viscosity agent (Va) kg/m3 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.66 0.66 0.66 0.66 0.66 0.66
Paste volume L/m3 363 363 363 363 363 363 392 392 392 392 392 392
W/C – 0.57 0.52 0.61 0.66 0.47 0.67 0.59 0.52 0.56 0.64 0.5 0.7
W/Bb – 0.41 0.41 0.42 0.42 0.35 0.47 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.31 0.4
A/C – 0.37 0.27 0.47 0.57 0.33 0.42 0.69 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.62 0.76
a
Basic compositions.
b
B: binder (cement + limestone filler).

Table 2 4.1. Influence of W/C ratio

Cement composition (in%).

Compositions C1 C2 The evolution of the autogenous shrinkage is presented in Fig. 3

CaO 63.67 58.98 for W/C ratio varying between 0.47 and 0.67 for paste-I and CEM-I,
SiO2 20.23 19.61 and in Fig. 4 for W/C ratio varying between 0.50 and 0.70 for paste-
Al2O3 4.29 4.78 II and CEM-II. The corresponding A/C ratios are given in Table 1.
Fe2O3 2.35 1.79 As expected, the curves show that the autogenous shrinkage is
MgO 3.88 2.86
more important for a lower W/C ratio. The influence of W/C ratio
SO3 2.80 2.83
C3S (%) 66.90 65.25 on the autogenous shrinkage has been evoked by many researchers
C2S (%) 10.70 11.80 [12,27–31]. The W/C ratio plays a predominant role in the reduc-
C3A (%) 8.40 7.67 tion of the relative internal humidity. For a lower W/C ratio, the
C4AF (%) 7.60 8.97
reduction of the relative humidity is more important due to the
Loss on ignition 1.63 7.45
Fineness (Blaine, m2/kg) 359 348 self-desiccation leading to a higher autogenous shrinkage.
Density 3.13 3.14 Tazawa and Miyazawa [30] clearly observed a levelling off of
Compressive strength At 28 days (MPa) 61.3 47.8 the long-term shrinkage. This is explained by the fact that the
hydration reaction stops due to a lack of water in the porous
network.
Table 3
Mix variations. 4.2. Influence of A/C ratio
SCC-I SCC-II SCC-I SCC-II
A/C A/C W/C W/C The curves in Fig. 5 show the evolution of the autogenous
0.27 0.50 0.47 0.50
shrinkage for mixes with a variable A/C ratio between 0.27 and
0.37a 0.60 0.57a 0.60a 0.57 for paste-I and CEM-I. The corresponding W/C ratios are given
0.47 0.70a 0.67 0.70 in Table 1. It is observed that the autogenous shrinkage decreases
0.57 0.80 with increasing limestone filler content. The same phenomenon is
a
Basic compositions. also observed on CEM-II and paste-II (Fig. 6) with A/C ratio be-
tween 0.5 and 0.8.
For CEM-I, the influence of the A/C ratio on the autogenous
4. Results and discussion shrinkage at different ages is shown in Fig. 5 too. A decreasing
autogenous shrinkage with increasing A/C ratio (i.e. with increas-
Before measuring autogenous shrinkage, slump flow of basic ing limestone filler content) is noticed. The important role of lime-
compositions of SCCI and SCCI and all CEM mixtures was mea- stone filler has already been reported by Poppe [32]. Based on an
sured. The SCCI and SCCII slump flows were 710 mm and extended number of self-compacting concrete mixes, Poppe re-
690 mm respectively. Slump flow of all CEM mixtures are shown ported that higher shrinkage values are obtained for increasing ce-
on Tables 6a and 6b. These values show that the CEM are regarded ment/powder ratio (C/P), where the powder content P is defined as
as self compacting. the sum of cement and limestone filler. As an increasing C/P ratio
The experimentally obtained autogenous shrinkage results as a coincides with a decreasing A/C ratio as defined in this paper.
function of time are shown in Figs. 3–7. Each curve is the average The results reported by Poppe are in agreement with the results
result obtained on three identical specimens. shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Although limestone filler is somewhat

Table 4
Various paste mixes.

Paste-I Paste-II
Paste1 Paste2 Paste3 Paste4 Paste5 Paste6 Paste7 Paste8 Paste9 Paste10 Paste11 Paste12
A/C 0.27 0.37 0.47 0.57 0.33 0.42 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.62 0.76
W/C 0.52 0.57 0.61 0.66 0.47 0.67 0.52 0.56 0.60 0.64 0.50 0.70
972 A. Alrifai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 47 (2013) 969–976

Table 5
Compositions of CEM-mortar.

Group CEM-I CEM-II

Compositions CEM1 CEM2 CEM3 CEM4 CEM5 CEM6 CEM7 CEM8 CEM9 CEM10 CEM11 CEM12
Cement 52.5 (C1) kg/m3 506 552 469 436 568 453 – – – – – –
Cement 32.5 (C2) kg/m3 – – – – – – 472 535 499 440 526 424
Limestone filler (A) kg/m3 188 149 220 249 188 188 324 267 300 352 324 324
Water (W) kg/m3 282 282 282 282 263 300 274 274 274 274 265 291
Sand (S) kg/m3 1271 1271 1271 1271 1271 1271 1176 1176 1176 1176 1176 1176
Gravel (G) kg/m3 – – – – – – – – – – – –
Superplasticizer (Sp) kg/m3 8.68 8.68 8.68 8.68 8.68 8.68 5.87 5.87 5.87 5.87 5.87 5.87
Viscosity agent (Va) kg/m3 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.95 0.95 0.95 0.95 0.95 0.95
Paste volume L/m3 521 521 521 521 521 521 558 558 558 558 558 558

-1500

Paste I
-1300

Autogenous shrinkage [µm/m]

-1100
W/C=0.47 Paste

-900 W/C=0.57* Paste

W/C=0.67 Paste
W/C=0.47 CEM
-700
W/C=0.57* CEM
CEM I
W/C=0.67 CEM
-500
Fig. 1. Types of the moulds used ((a) paste and (b) mortar).

-300

-100

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360

Time [days]

Fig. 3. Effect of W/C ratio on utogenous shrinkage of paste-I and CEM-I.

Table 6b
CEM slump flow values (Sf) as a function of A/C ratio.

Group I II
Mixes SCCI CEM2 CEM5 CEM6 SCCII CEM9 CEM11 CEM12
WC 0.57a 0.57a 0.47 0.67 0.6a 0.6a 0.5 0.7
Sf (cm) 71.1 40.25 35.75 45.50 69.0 40 35.25 44
a
Fig. 2. The system of rotation. Basic compositions of SCC and CEM.

4.3. Influence of cement nature

accelerating the hydration reactions, it remains almost chemically
inert [24,25,31,32,33,35]. Increasing the A/C ratio thus leads to a
relative decrease in hydrating materials. The decrease of A/C ratio
reduces the size of capillary pores and consequently increases the
intensity of capillary pressures leading to the self-desiccation, thus
a reduction an increase in autogenous shrinkage can be expected
[24,25,34,36].
Fig. 7 shows that the shrinkage of cement paste and that of CEM
resulting from the SCC-I is larger than the shrinkage of cement
paste and that of CEM resulting from the SCC-II. It can be easily ex-
plained by the difference in the cements used [27,31,37].
The autogenous shrinkage depends on the characteristics of the
cement, especially the chemical compositions and the fineness.

Table 6a
CEM slump flow values (Sf) as a function of W/C ratio.

Group I II
Mixes SCCI CEM1 CEM2 CEM3 CEM4 SCCII CEM7 CEM8 CEM9 CEM10
a a a a
A/C 0.37 0.27 0.37 0.47 0.57 0.7 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Sf (cm) 71.1 38.25 40.25 41.25 42.0 69.0 39.50 39.25 40 41.0
a
Basic compositions of SCC and CEM.
 A. Alrifai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 47 (2013) 969–976 973

-1000 -1200

Autogenous shrinkage (µm/m)

Paste II
-900 Paste-II
-1000
Autogenous shrinkage [µm/m]

Paste-I
-800 CEM-II
-800 CEM-I
-700

-600 -600

-500 W/C=0.50 Paste

W/C=0.60* Paste -400
W/C=0.70 Paste
-400 W/C=0,50 CEM
CEM II
W/C=0.60* CEM -200
-300 W/C=0.70 CEM

-200 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
-100 Time (days)

0 Fig. 7. Autogenous shrinkage of paste and CEM.

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
Time [days] by multiple regressions of these compositions with degree of
hydration of mineral for respective cements at respective ages
Fig. 4. Effect of W/C ratio on autogenous shrinkage of paste-II and CEM-II. (Eq. (3)).

eas ðtÞ ¼ 0:012aC 3 SðtÞð%C 3 SÞ  0:070aC 2 SðtÞð%C 2 SÞ

þ 2:256aC 3 AðtÞð%C 3 AÞ þ 0:859aC 4 AFðtÞð%C 4 AFÞ ð3Þ
-1500
Paste I where eas (t) is the autogenous shrinkage at age t, a(t) the degree of
Autogenous shrinkage [µm/m]

-1300 hydration of mineral at age t, (%C3S) is the C3S content, and so forth.
As is obvious from Eq. (3), the absolute values of the coefficients
-1100 for C3S and C2S are as small as 1/10–1/20 of those for C3A and C4AF,
A/C=0.27 Paste
A/C=0.37* Paste and have opposite signs. This suggests that autogenous shrinkage
- 900 A/C=0.47 Paste
A/C=0.57 Paste
greatly depends on the contents and degree of hydration of C3A
A/C=0,27 CEM and C4AF.
- 700 CEM I A/C=0.37* CEM
A/C=0.47 CEM
Tazawa and Miyazawaa [31] showed also that the fineness af-
- 500 A/C=0.57 CEM fects the autogenous shrinkage. When the Blaine fineness is higher,
the autogenous shrinkage of cement increases.
- 300 In this paper, the fineness of cement C1 (in the specimen of
paste and CEM of the SCC-I) is higher than of cement C2 (in the
- 100 specimen of paste and CEM of the SCC-II) which increases the
hydration rate.
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
Tazawa and Miyazawaa [31] showed that the increased rate of
Time [days] hydration causes a decrease in the amount of water in the cement
paste, a decrease the internal moisture content, and an increase in
Fig. 5. Effect of A/C ratio on autogenous shrinkage of paste-I and CEM-I.
shrinkage. Nawa and Horita [29] explained that the acceleratory
period of autogenous shrinkage of cement paste may be closely
linked with the hydration of tricalcium silicate in cement. Calcium
-1000
Paste silicate hydrates produced at the acceleratory period in the hydra-
Autogenous shrinkage [µm/m]

-900 tion of tricalcium silicate in cement promote a decrease in the

-800 humidity of cement paste, thereby inducing shrinkage.
Furthermore, the cement content in SCC-I is larger than in SCC-
-700
A/C=0.50 Paste II. It should also be kept in mind that cement C1 contains about
A/C=0.60 Paste
-600 98% of Portland clinker, while cement C2 contains only 62.1% of
A/C=0.69* Paste
-500
A/C=0.80 Paste
A/C=0,50 CEM
Portland clinker, and further consists of slag and limestone filler.
CEM II A/C=0.60 CEM In general, the slag has a role of increasing the shrinkage when
-400 A/C=0.69* CEM
A/C=0.80 CEM it replaces a part of cement [31], but its proportion in C2 (about
-300 15%) equals the proportion of limestone in cement, and it is much
-200 less important compared to the proportion of clinker in C2.
-100
0 5. Relation between shrinkage of mortar and cement paste:
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 Application of the model developed by Le Roy
Time [days]
Based on homogenisation techniques, Le Roy [14] developed a
Fig. 6. Effect of A/C ratio on autogenous shrinkage of paste-II and CEM-II. model connecting the shrinkage of cement paste to the shrinking
of mortar and concrete by the following relation:

Tazawa and Miyazawaa [31] showed that the mineral composi-

eC ¼ UG eP ð4Þ
tions of the cements can be calculated from the chemical composi- with eC is the shrinkage of concrete, eP the shrinkage of the ce-
tions by the Bogue method, and autogenous shrinkage is obtained ment paste, and UG is the granular coefficient, given by:
974 A. Alrifai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 47 (2013) 969–976

  
 4EP ð1g Þ g -1500
1 þ EEGP þ 1  gg þ  G EP g
E

Autogenous shrinkage [ µm/m]

g þE ð2g Þ
UG ¼  G ð5Þ -1300
1 þ gg þ EEGP 1  gg
-1100
A/C=0,27 Paste
where EG is the modulus of elasticity of the aggregates, g the gran- A/C=0,57 Paste
-900
ular concentration, EP the modulus of elasticity of the cement paste, A/C=0,27 CEM_exp
g: optimal granular concentration. -700 A/C=0,27 CEM_mod
The modulus of elasticity of the aggregates (EG = 78 GPa) is ob- A/C=0,57 CEM_exp
tained from data of Le Roy by considering the type of sand used in -500 A/C=0,57 CEM_mod
the mortars (siliceous limestone aggregates). -300
The aggregate is semi-crushed siliceous limestone (0/4 mm)
with 2458 kg/m3 for real density and 1% for coefficient of water -100
absorption.
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
The modulus of elasticity of the paste is experimentally deter-
mined by ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements (Section 3). Time [days]
Caquot [38] proposed a simple law to evaluate the maximum
Fig. 9. Comparison between the experimental results and the calculated values by
packing density of the aggregates g:
the model for the autogenous shrinkage according to A/C ratio paste I and CEM I.
 0:20
d
g  ¼ 1  0:47 ð6Þ
D
Table 7
with d and D are respectively the minimal and maximum diameter Comparison between K and Ug according to A/C ratio and W/C ratio (for paste I and
of the aggregates. CEM I mixes).
The modified formula proposed by Le Roy for g is obtained by
Group I Group II
the following:
A/C K Ug A/C K Ug
 0:22
 d 0.27 0.252 0.221 0.5 0.302 0.232
g ¼ 1  0:39 ð7Þ
D 0.37 0.272 0.220 0.6 0.256 0.229
0.47 0.234 0.214 0.7 0.185 0.219
In the tested mortar compositions (CEM I and CEM II), the gran- 0.57 0.214 0212 0.8 0.213 0.228
ular concentrations are 49% and 45%. According to Le Roy, when W/C K Ug W/C K Ug
the volume proportion of aggregates is lower than 66%, the model
0.47 0.343 0.226 0.5 0.211 0.252
predicts values higher than those measured [16]. So a coefficient b 0.57 0.272 0.220 0.6 0.185 0.251
has to be applied to correct the predicted deformations of the hard- 0.67 0.188 0.208 0.7 0.123 0.250
ened concrete. This coefficient is defined by the ratio of the theo-
K is the experimental results of autogenous shrinkage paste/mortar ratio.
retical property of SCC considered, with the corresponding U is the calculated values by the model of Le Roy for the autogenous shrinkage
property of the virtual concrete made with aggregates of compara- paste/mortar ratio.
ble nature and a volume proportion of aggregates g0 equal to 66%.
eðgÞ vðg; g  ; EG Þ developed by Le Roy can be applied for the prediction of autoge-
b¼ ¼ ð8Þ
eðg 0 Þ vðg 0 ; g  ; EG Þ nous shrinkage of mortar based on experimental results obtained
By applying the model developed by Le Roy to the various paste on paste.
and mortar (CEM) mixtures tested in this study, results are ob- Fig. 10 shows the comparison between the measured shrinkage
tained as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. It can be noticed that a good and that calculated by the model for all the mixtures.
agreement exists between the experimentally obtained shrinkage
ratios paste/mortar and the ratios predicted by the model devel- 6. Influence of porosity on shrinkage
oped by Le Roy (Table 7). It can thus be concluded that the model
The cement paste is a porous material having active pores with
size of micrometre to nanometre. To study the porosity of the ce-
-1500
Autogenous shrinkage [µm/m]

-1300
-350
Shrinkage measured [µm/m]

y = 0,80x - 21,61
-1100 W/C=0,47 Paste -300 R 2 = 0,91
W/C=0,67 Paste
-900 W/C=0,47 CEM_exp -250
W/C=0,47 CEM_MOD
-700 -200
W/C=0,67 CEM_exp
W/C=0,67 CEM_MOD -150
-500

-100
-300
-50
-100
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 0 -50 -100 -150 -200 -250 -300 -350
Time [days] Shrinkage calculated [µm/m]

Fig. 8. Comparison between the experimental results and the calculated values by Fig. 10. Comparison between the experimental results and the calculated values by
the model for the autogenous shrinkage according to W/C ratio of paste I and CEM I. the model for all mixes.
 A. Alrifai et al. / Construction and Building Materials 47 (2013) 969–976 975

35% Thus, the pressure of the liquid decreases and the solid is increas-
ingly compressed, which results in a contraction called autogenous
shrinkage which is more significant when the size of the pores and
33% porosity increase [39]. In contrast, the reduction in the size of the
pores and in the total porosity decreases the exchange of humidity
with the external environment which results in a less significant
31% drying shrinkage.
Porosity

29%
7. Conclusion

Self compacting concrete is commonly considered as a material

27% Paste I
exhibiting a high shrinkage magnitude, but numerous experimen-
Paste II
tal results presented in the literature are conflicting, due to various
25% mineral admixtures used influencing concrete behaviour. The
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 objective of this paper is to propose an approach to greatly im-
A/C prove the accuracy of predicting autogeneous shrinkage by testing
cement paste and concrete equivalent mortar (CEM) obtained from
Fig. 11. Influence of A/C ratio on the total porosity. the concrete.
For traditional vibrated concrete, Le Roy developed a model
relating the autogenous shrinkage of concrete to the shrinkage of
the representative cement paste, considering a granular coefficient,
35% taking into account the elastic properties and the concentration of
the aggregates. In this paper, the validity of this model for the case
of self-compacting concrete has been studied experimentally. It is
33% concluded that the model developed by Le Roy can be applied to
predict the shrinkage of SCC, based on the shrinkage of the paste.
31%
Furthermore, based on the obtained experimental results, some
Porosity

known conclusions have been confirmed. Autogenous shrinkage

29%
27%
25%
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
W/C
Fig. 12. Influence of W/C ratio on the total porosity.
ment pastes, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) was applied. In-
deed, the structure of the pores of the cementitious matrix be-
comes finer for lower A/C and W/C ratios, these resulting in a
reduction in internal relative humidity [12].
Hua [39] explained quantitatively the relation between poros-
ity, capillary forces, relative humidity and autogenous shrinkage:
rh ¼ /Pc Ah
rh is the pressure in water, / the total porosity, Pc the capillary
depression, and Ah the coefficient which depends on the internal
relative humidity.
The deformation resulting is simply the shrinkage which is then
written:
e ¼ /Pc Ah =E
For better understanding the effect of W/C and A/C ratios on
the shrinkage, the total porosity of the cement paste was ex-
pressed according to these ratios. Figs. 11 and 12 show that
when A/C and W/C ratios increase, total porosity increases as
well.
It could be concluded that the porosity plays a significant role in
the shrinkage phenomenon. Indeed, when cement is hydrated, it
consumes water, then decreasing the meniscuses of the pores.
increases with decreasing water/cement ratio (W/C) or decreasing
limestone filler/cement ratio (A/C). This effect can be explained by
studying the porosity of the paste. The decrease in porosity is
PasteI
accompanied by an increase in autogenous shrinkage. This result
PasteII agrees with the influence of W/C and A/C ratios. When these ratios
decrease (means low porosity), the autogenous shrinkage
increases.
1
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