The existence of specific expansive minerals in the clay soil related to the climatological conditions, seasonable variation of rainfall precipitation (wet and dry periods) and fluctuation of water table in Mediterranean countries, has resulted to induce unexpected shrinkage and swelling movements with all the unfavourable consequences. It was observed that light industrial structures and small...

High performance concrete (HPC) bridge decks are prone to premature cracking if movement is restrained. Internal curing (IC) can reduce shrinkage cracking in concrete structures, thus improving their performance and service life. However, there is very limited information available in the literature on the possible extension of service life due to internal curing. This paper addresses this ques...

Early-age cracking continues to be a significant problem for new concrete construction. Two of the major contributors to such cracking are the heat released by cement hydration during the first few days of curing and the autogenous shrinkage that often occurs during the same timeframe. In this paper, three potential alternatives for reducing these contributions by modifying the concrete mixture...

Early-age cracking during the plastic stage is unsightly and a cause of future durability problems. This paper investigates effects various simple curing methods used in practice to enhance early-age concrete performance, including covering with sheet wet hessian fabric, surface power floating use cold water mix. The benefits offered by three standard admixtures (Safecure Super concrete, Safecu...

ABSTRACT: Room temperature drying tests on silt slurry with free and constrained boundaries, reveal an initial phase with a significant shrinkage at full saturation. Hence, this shrinkage is linked to a mass loss of pore fluid through the external boundary. Shrinkage in the unsaturated phase is much smaller. A simultaneous porosimetry reveals a bi-modal pore size distribution with a distinct ev...

Reactive powder concrete (RPC) mixtures are reported to have excellent mechanical and durability characteristics. However, such concrete mixtures having high amount of cementitious materials may have high early shrinkage causing cracking of concrete. In the present work, an attempt has been made to study the simultaneous effects of three key mixture parameters on shrinkage of the RPC mixtures. ...

A new experimental method which allows the direct separation of the components of drying creep due to micro cracking and stress-induced shrinkage is developed, demonstrated and validated. The hasic idea is to compare the curL'CIture creep of heams suhjected to the same hending moment hut rery different axial forces. The results confirm that drying creep has two different sources: microcracking ...