Section 6.

Long-Term Volumetric Changes in Concrete

Concrete is made with aggregates, cement, and water. Without applied stress, the aggregates are dimensionally stable but the cement paste is not. In an environment with relative humidity lower than 100%, the paste shrinks. The shrinking o the cement paste is attributed to the loss o adsorbed water. In engineering applications, shrinkage re ers to the change in volume o concrete that occurs without application o e!ternal orce. "nder stress, there is an additional source o dimensional instability attributed to the same phenomenon o loss o adsorbed water rom the hardened paste. The volume change that occurs as a unction o the applied stress is called creep. It is e!pected to be linearly related to the instantaneous strain i the applied stress is less than appro!imately hal the compressive strength o the concrete. #oth shrinkage and creep depend on many actors. What we know about them comes rom e!perience and e!periments. In the ollowing, we shall re er to the approach adopted by the $uropean Concrete Committee %&$'( to note the main actors that a ect the rate and magnitude o volume changes attributed to loss o adsorbed water. )s we discuss the numbers o ered by the $uropean Committee, the student should keep in mind that the best source o in ormation or a structural engineer is the observed behavior o concrete in buildings built using the same materials and under similar environmental conditions as the one she*he intends to build. I the student is ever re+uired to estimate volumetric changes o concrete, she*he should remember that, in general, shrinkage unit strain is on the order o 0.000, % ,00 microstrains( and the additional strain caused by creep is rom one to three times the instantaneous strain. -eventy. ive percent o the volumetric change in concrete occurs within one year a ter setting, or shrinkage, and one year a ter loading, or creep.

Shrinkage
The main variables a ecting shrinkage are/ . 0umidity . 1olume to sur ace ratio %the shape o the cross section o the structural element( . )mount o cement . Water*cement ratio The 'igure 2 .1 shows the variation o total shrinkage strain %sh( with humidity. The data plotted were obtained or/ . plain concrete made with 200 to 340 lb o cement Figure 6-1 per yd 5 . concrete at room temperature . ratio o volume to sur ace appro!imately e+ual to 2 in. 6the ratio or a 7, in. ! 7, in. column6 %shrinkage strain increases almost linearly with decreasing ratio o volume to sur ace, shrinkage strains at a volume to surface ratio of 3 in. being approximately 4/3 of those given (. . water.cement ratio o appro!imately 0.,4 %shrinkage increases with increasing water.cement ratio, shrinkage strains or a water cement ratio o 0.2 being close to 40% higher than those given( sh ! 104

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The reader should reali8e that the ranges within which the data shown are applicable are narrow. )nd yet, within those ranges, the spread o the data is large. 'or, say, a relative humidity o 30 %, the mean estimate o shrinkage strain is appro!imately 0.00014 %140 microstrain( but, even i we ignore e!treme values, we observe that the shrinkage strain can be as high as 0.0005 %500 microstrain( and as low as almost 0. In any case, what is o importance, again, is to reali8e that the shrinkage strain is unlikely to be much larger than 0.000, %,00 microstrain(.

Creep
Creep is +uanti ied as the ratio o additional strain %caused by creep( to instantaneous strain o at stress levels below 40 % o compressive strength. This ratio is called 9creep coe icient: o and it too is sensitive to relative humidity %$rror/ &e erence source not ound(. We note that the mean value o the creep coe icient varies rom appro!imately 1 to appro!imately 7.4. )t 30% relative humidity %within the 4. to ;4.percentile limits( it ranges rom 1.4 to 7. Creep varies with thickness and water to cement ratio, as in the case or shrinkage. The values shown in $rror/ &e erence source not ound apply to
!ree" !oe##icient o dry 80% 60%
)oadin&

1.0 0 100%

Figure 62

. plain concrete made with 200 to 340 lb o cement per yd 5 and loaded 7 to 2 weeks a ter it is cast . concrete at room temperature . ratio o volume to sur ace appro!imately e+ual to 2 in %the creep coe icient increases with decreasing ratio o volume to sur ace, creep coefficients at a volume to surface ratio of 3 in. being approximately 6/5 of those given(. . water.cement ratio o appro!imately 0.,4 %shrinkage increases with increasing water.cement ratio, shrinkage strains or a water cement ratio o 0.2 being close to 20% higher than those given( The important conclusion we make about the creep strain is that it too is a ected by the relative humidity, shape o the concrete element, the cement content, and the water*cement ratio. In addition, its magnitude is sensitive to age at loading. "sually, the creep coe icient does not e!ceed 5. It is also important to know that, although it is proportional to the initial applied stress,
% e# or m at io n (nloadin& recovery durin& unloadin& $otal , *nitia l.1/ 0
o

Figure 63

stored in

2.0

very dry
$ime

humid

3.0

95% Percentile mean 5% Percentile

*niti al

+ddit ional , *nitia l - o

ater

40% 20% Relative Humidity

lon&'term recovery "ermanent de#ormation

5,

the additional strains caused by creep do not disappear when the stress is removed. This is illustrated in $rror/ &e erence source not ound. The total de ormation in an element loaded over a long period o time is the product o the initial de ormation and %1< o(. When the element is unloaded, part o the total de ormation is recovered immediately, another part is recovered over time, and the rest never disappears.

Shrinkage and Creep vs. Time

The rate o change with time o shrinkage and creep is represented by a coe icient t, which indicates the strain at a given time as a raction o the total strain. It is interesting to observe that, according to the e!perience summari8ed in $rror/ &e erence source not ound, one cannot make the claim that the time.dependent volume change ever stops. We also note that almost ;0 % o the time. dependent strain should occur within the irst two years %i there is no strong change in humidity and, in the case o creep, in load(. The total strain at a given instant is/ t = o < tx%sh< oxo( %2.1(

Figure 64

Remember: 1. 2. Longer curing helps reducing shrinkage strain and prevents cracking. Do not remove shoring too early because that would result in larger creep strain.

Figure 65

Example 1
) column supports a load o 700 kips. $stimate the order o magnitude o the total shortening o the column a ter ive years. )ssume $c = ,,000ksi. Solution The instantaneous strain is/

0 =

f
c

P* A
c

700 kip*%70in. 70in.( 0.0001 ,000 ksi

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We know that the shrinkage strain is not likely to e!ceed 0.000, by much, so we assume/ sh = 0.000, The creep coe icient is not likely to e!ceed/ o = 5 )nd a ter 4 years most o the long term de ormations are likely to have taken place %=1(/ t = o < tx%sh< oxo( = 0.0001<1x%0.000,< 5x0.0001( = 0.000> = >00 microstrain. The total shortening is there ore likely to be on the order o / = 0.000> ! 1,, in = ?1*> in.

Example 2
The two.story parking lot structure shown is to be built monolithically with ,000psi concrete. The slabs are 17.in. thick and columns have 70!70.in. s+uare cross sections. We are asked to estimate the orces induced by shrinkage in columns #1, #7 and C1 %numbers and letters re er to column lines(. )ssume that the sti ness o the slab is much larger that the sti ness o the columns. )ssume the columns do not crack %or remain elastic(. Solution We know that the shrinkage strain is not likely to be much larger than 0.000,. We use this value to estimate the lateral movement o the columns at the level o the loors. )ssuming that both slabs shrink the same amount and that shrinkage is uni orm through each slab, we compute the displacement at each loor level to be/ 'or column #1/ = 0.000, ! 50 t ! 17in.* t = ?0.1,in. I both slabs shrink the same amount, all o this de ormation is concentrated in the irst story. Column #7, being in the center, would not move i shrinkage is uni orm. Column C1 moves more because the distance orm it to the center %the point we assume not to move( is larger/ 0.000, ! 50 t ! 7@0.4 ! 17in.* t = 0.7in. Figure 66

We are asked to assume the slabs to be much sti er than the columns. We can there ore assume the bending moment diagram to be as shown in $rror/ &e erence source not ound and the shear orce in each column to be/

! = "

where " = 17 c # g = $5

17 5, 200 ksi

70in. %70in.(5 17 = 740 kip*in. %1,,in. 17in.(5

0 is the clear height o the column %e+ual to the story height minus the slab thickness(. I g is the moment o inertia o the cross section. Abserve that displacements in Column #1 take place along one o the principal a!es o its section. Column C1, on the other hand, de orms along one o the diagonals o its cross section. The moment o inertia I g is computed about di erent a!es or #1 and C1. The result, however, is numerically e+ual. That is, the moment o inertia o a s+uare with respect to one o its principal a!es is e+ual to its moment o inertia with respect to one o its diagonals. The estimated orce induced in #1 is there ore/ 740 kip*in x 0.1, in = 54 kip. The estimated orce induced in C1 is/ 740 kip*in x 0.70 in = 40 kip. These orces would take place in the irst story. Bo orces would be induced in columns in the second story.

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Exercise
&epeat $!ercise 1 assuming that we do not remove the shoring very soon. &epeat $!ercise 7 assuming the curing period is long enough.

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