Control of Cracking with Shrinkage-Reducing Admixtures

Author(s):  
Surendra P. Shah ◽  
Shashidhara Marikunte ◽  
Wei Yang ◽  
Corina Aldea

Shrinkage cracking can be a critical problem in concrete construction, especially for flat structures such as highway pavements, slabs for parking garages, and bridge decks. One way to reduce the shrinkage cracking is to provide reinforcement in the form of wire mesh to resist tensile forces. In recent years, short, randomly distributed fibers have been used to control shrinkage cracking. The efficiency of shrinkage-reducing admixtures (SRAs) in controlling restrained shrinkage cracking of concrete is reviewed. A ring-type specimen was used for restrained shrinkage cracking tests. The SRA selected for this investigation was a propylene glycol derivative, which was used at 1 and 2 percent by weight of cement. Free (unrestrained) shrinkage, weight loss, compressive strength, and fracture toughness were also investigated. The results of SRA concretes were compared with that of plain concrete with the same water-to-cement ratio. A theoretical model based on nonlinear fracture mechanics was developed for predicting transverse cracking of the concrete ring specimen caused by drying shrinkage. The model prediction of time to cracking compared well with the experimental data. The model can be extended to different geometries and dimensions than those considered in this research.

2016 ◽  
Vol 711 ◽  
pp. 1027-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriano Reggia ◽  
Sara Sgobba ◽  
Fabio Macobatti ◽  
Cristina Zanotti ◽  
Fausto Minelli ◽  
...  

After more than fifty years from the opening of the largely discussed “Autostrada del Sole” Highway in 1964, the infrastructure system in Italy appears marked by the passing of time, similarly to what observed in several other countries worldwide. The great heterogeneity of the Italian landscape has determined a great variety of construction types, such as large span concrete bridges over the northern rivers and large arch concrete bridges over the valleys of the central region. Increment of vehicle traffic and new seismic regulations are setting new requirements to adapt the existing infrastructure, which should be otherwise replaced. Moreover, reinforced concrete (RC) aging and deterioration have led to structural and material degradation, including severe cracking and corrosion. Specialized materials such as High Performance Concrete (HPC) could represent a viable convenient solution for repairing, strengthening and retrofitting of RC structures as both structural capacity and durability can be refurbished. However, alongside high mechanical performance, HPC is characterized by a high cracking sensitivity at very early age, due to its high stiffness and shrinkage. Restrained shrinkage cracking, particularly significant in repaired structures where the existing concrete generates a considerable restraint against the free movement of the repair material, may represent a limit to the effective application of these materials. For this reason, shrinkage compatibility of HPC with the existing concrete substrate needs to be experimentally and numerically assessed. A study is herein presented where, based on experimental tests, different numerical models are developed and compared to assess and eventually minimize the risk of shrinkage cracking in bridge piers strengthened with HPC.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Gesoglu ◽  
Erhan Güneyisi ◽  
Hatice Öznur Öz ◽  
Mehmet Taner Yasemin ◽  
Ihsan Taha

This paper addresses durability and shrinkage performance of the self-compacting concretes (SCCs) in which natural coarse aggregate (NCA) and/or natural fine aggregate (NFA) were replaced by recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) and/or recycled fine aggregate (RFA), respectively. A total of 16 SCCs were produced and classified into four series, each of which included four mixes designed with two water to binder (w/b) ratios of 0.3 and 0.43 and two silica fume replacement levels of 0 and 10%. Durability properties of SCCs were tested for rapid chloride penetration, water sorptivity, gas permeability, and water permeability at 56 days. Also, drying shrinkage accompanied by the water loss and restrained shrinkage of SCCs were monitored over 56 days of drying period. Test results revealed that incorporating recycled coarse and/or fine aggregates aggravated the durability properties of SCCs tested in this study. The drying shrinkage and restrained shrinkage cracking of recycled aggregate (RA) concretes had significantly poorer performance than natural aggregate (NA) concretes. The time of cracking greatly prolonged as the RAs were used along with the increase in water/binder ratio.


Reinforced concrete structures located on coastal landfill frequently adjoin sea-water environment, and are exposed to sea water and humid environment during construction. Particularly, in the case of large-scale structures like dams, their drying shrinkage is accompanied by fatal cracking, and thus chlorine ion penetration becomes easier. The present study develops a salt damage-resistant agent (SRA) to which aluminum salts, oligomer condensate, and amino alcohol derivatives with the alkyl group are applied as binding inducers. SRA performs the roles of reducing the drying shrinkage of cement composites, binding chlorine ions, and preventing erosion by sulfate ions. This study tests and evaluates its resistance to degradation factors that may occur to structures constructed on coastal landfill and so on. As a result of evaluating shrinkage cracking properties by performing the restrained shrinkage cracking test, SRC showed the shrinkage reduction compared with BSC. As for the performance of resistance to chlorine ion and the chemical sulfate erosion rate, SRC showed the highest resistance performance, followed by BSC and OPC, regardless of the concentration of aqueous solutions for immersion. In addition, as for the rate of mortar weight change by sulfate erosion, the SRA-intermixed SRC mixture showed a weight reduction rate at the level of 1/3 of BSC and 1/6 of OPC, respectively


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