Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mechanism of early age shrinkage of concretes

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Materials and Structures Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Moist curing improves the properties of concrete. However, shrinkages at early ages are found to increase with increased curing. The reason for this phenomenon is studied with four binders and two types of curing. The binders are comprised of Portland cement/slag blends with 0, 35, 50 and 65% of slag. Initial moist curing times of 1 and 7 days were studied. The samples were then exposed to standard drying conditions (23°C and 50% RH). During drying, the moisture losses in 7-day cured concretes were about 50% less than in 1-day cured concretes; however, the early age shrinkages were significantly higher in 7-day cured concrete. Pore size distribution tests and analyses showed that the pore radius where meniscus forms during drying is smaller in 7-day cured concrete due to finer pores, as compared to 1-day cured concrete. Further, good correlation can be seen between the meniscus radius and shrinkage, regardless of the binder and curing types. This provides the explanation for the increased early age shrinkage with increased curing. Further, this study demonstrates that the capillary tensile force is the governing mechanism for early age shrinkage.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Neville AM (1998) Properties of concrete, 4th edn. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  2. Juenger MCG, Jennings HM (2002) Examining the relationship between the microstructure of calcium silicate hydrate and drying shrinkage of cement pastes. Cem Concr Res 32:289–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Young JF (1988) Physical mechanisms and their mathematical descriptions. In: Bazant ZP (ed) Mathematical modelling of creep and shrinkage of concrete. Wiley, Chichester, pp 63–98

    Google Scholar 

  4. Young JF (1988) A review of pore structure of cement paste and concrete and its influence on permeability. Permeability Concr ACI SP 108(1):1–18

    Google Scholar 

  5. Czermin W (1980) Cement chemistry and physics for civil engineers, 2nd English edn. Foreign Publications Inc., New York, 58 pp

    Google Scholar 

  6. Roy DM, Idorn GM (1985) Relation between strength, pore structure and associated properties of slag-containing cementitious materials. In: Young JF (ed) Proceedings of materials research symposium on very high strength cement-based materials, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, pp 133–142

  7. Zhou J, Ye G, van Breugel K (2006) Hydration of Portland cement blended with blastfurnace slag at early stage. Proceedings of RILEM symposium, September 11–13, Quebec City, Canada, 2006

  8. Sanjayan JG, Sioulas B (2000) Strength of slag-cement concrete cured in place and in other conditions. ACI Mater J 97:603–611

    Google Scholar 

  9. ACI committee 308m (1998) Recommended practice for curing concrete. MCP, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, USA

  10. Bentz DP (2007) Internal curing of high-performance blended cement mortars: autogenous deformation and compressive strength development. ACI Mater J 104:408–414

    Google Scholar 

  11. Saric-Coric M, Aitcin P-C (2003) Influence of curing conditions on shrinkage of blended cements containing various amounts of slag. ACI Mater J 100(6):477–484

    Google Scholar 

  12. Cook RA, Hover KC (1993) Mercury porosimetry of cement-based materials and associated correction factors. ACI Mater J 90:152–161

    Google Scholar 

  13. Shimomura T, Maekawa K (1997) Analysis of the drying shrinkage behaviour of concrete based on the micropore structure of concrete using a micromechanical model. Mag Concr Res 49(181):303–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Shimomura T (1998) Modelling of initial defect of concrete due to drying shrinkage. Proceedings of CONSEC ‘98 concrete under severe conditions, Norway, pp 2071–2083

  15. Collins F, Sanjayan JG (2000) Effect of pore size distribution on drying shrinkage of alkali activated slag concrete. Cem Concr Res 30(9):1401–1406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Tazawa E, Miyazawa S (1995) Experimental study on mechanisms of autogenous shrinkage of concretes. Cem Concr Res 25(8):1633–1638

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. IUPAC (1972) Manual of symbols and terminology, appendix 2, part 1, colloid and surface chemistry. J Pure Appl Chem 31:578

    Google Scholar 

  18. Mackenzie JK (1950) The elastic constants of a solid containing spherical holes. Proc Phys Soc A 224:526–544

    Google Scholar 

  19. Bentz DP, Garboczi EJ, Quenard DA (1998) Modelling drying shrinkage in porous materials using image reconstruction: application to porous vycor glass. Model Simul Mater Sci Eng 6:211–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Independent Cement and Lime Pty Ltd (ICL) (Industry Partner) and the Australian Research Council (Linkage Project Grant No. LP0349121) for this research project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

    Tarek Aly

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia

    J. G. Sanjayan

Authors
  1. Tarek Aly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. G. Sanjayan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. G. Sanjayan.

Additional information

The work presented in this paper was carried out when Tarek Aly was a research student at the Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Aly, T., Sanjayan, J.G. Mechanism of early age shrinkage of concretes. Mater Struct 42, 461–468 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-008-9394-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-008-9394-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation