Mechanical Analysis of Concrete Specimen under Restrained Condition

1IntroductionAcharacteristic feature of high-strength concrete islowwater to cement ratio and lowporosity of the cementpaste.These types of concrete have also proved to resultin some problematic properties1].Alowwater-binder ra-tio combined with an addit…

Mechanical analysis of concrete specimen under restrained condition

In order to quantify the development of the tensile stresses and obtain a reliable estimation of the cracking risk, the concrete was subjected to restrained conditions. The fully restrained condition was achieved by keeping the length constant of a concrete specimen. Comparing the free shrinkage with the restrained shrinkage, tensile creep could be discriminated from shrinkage. The testing method was introduced in details, and the mechanical behoviors under tensile lond were analyzed. Results show that conerete exhibits a pronounced viscoelasticity. Under restroined condition, the self-induced tensile stress increases with time. The lower the water to cement ratio, the larger the tensile stress at the same age. The tensile creep of hardening concrete is much larger than that of hardened concrete. The relationships among autogenous shrinkage unter free condition, elastic strain and creep under restrained condition are described, and the mathematical model for the calculation of elastic strain and creep is propased.