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Introduction & Theory Experimental Discussion: Internal Relative Humidity and Drying Stress Gradients in Concrete

The document describes a study that aimed to model the drying stress gradient in concrete under free and fully restrained conditions. Sensors were used to measure the internal relative humidity gradient in concrete specimens, and tests were performed to measure free shrinkage, restrained stress accumulation, creep, and other properties. The results showed that mixtures with lower water-to-cement ratios exhibited more severe drying stress gradients, with steeper slopes in the surface layer that can lead to earlier tensile failure under restraint. A 1D model was developed to quantify the stress gradient based on the measured internal relative humidity gradient.

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Kent Thomas
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44 views1 page

Introduction & Theory Experimental Discussion: Internal Relative Humidity and Drying Stress Gradients in Concrete

The document describes a study that aimed to model the drying stress gradient in concrete under free and fully restrained conditions. Sensors were used to measure the internal relative humidity gradient in concrete specimens, and tests were performed to measure free shrinkage, restrained stress accumulation, creep, and other properties. The results showed that mixtures with lower water-to-cement ratios exhibited more severe drying stress gradients, with steeper slopes in the surface layer that can lead to earlier tensile failure under restraint. A 1D model was developed to quantify the stress gradient based on the measured internal relative humidity gradient.

Uploaded by

Kent Thomas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Free shrinkage

Tensile stresses in surface layer exceed tensile strength of material


Surface microcracking is likely result
Stresses in surface layer are highest at beginning of drying, decreasing as drying
progresses
Microcracks likely close up over time















Fully restrained shrinkage
Tensile stresses progressively increase as drying continues
The time to tensile failure appears to be dependent on the severity of the drying
stress gradient
In general, the lower w/cm materials exhibited more severe gradients and failed
at the earliest ages
Low w/cm lower permeability/diffusivity, which causes a steeper gradient in
the surface layer of the material
Steeper gradient in surface layer may lead to wider surface cracks and thus
earlier failure

Objective:
Create a 1-D model that quantifies the stress gradient in free shrinkage and fully
restrained drying concrete

Theory:
Drying stress gradient is caused by restraint of shrinkage
Restraint can either be internal or externally applied
Internal restraint is provided by the requirement for translational symmetry (section
remains planar)
Free shrinkage specimens have only internal restraint
Measured free shrinkage strain,
T
, consists of 3 components

sh
- potential free shrinkage strain (in absence of any restraint)

cr
- strain relaxed by creep

el
- remaining strain required for strain compatibility, this strain has an
associated stress through Hookes Law

T
=
sh
+
cr
+
el


Fully restrained shrinkage specimens have both internal and external restraint


















Internal relative humidity (RH) has a fundamental relationship to the reduction in pore
fluid pressure that leads to early-age drying shrinkage in concrete
Kelvin-Laplace equation:





Potential shrinkage strain,
sh
, can be determined by [1,2]:







Creep strain,
cr
, can be determined using the B3 model
So, the stress at any point across a free shrinkage specimen cross section is:





In a fully restrained specimen, the total measured strain is zero, so the stress across
the specimen cross section is:






INTERNAL RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND DRYING STRESS
GRADIENTS IN CONCRETE
Z.C. Grasley, D.A. Lange, M.D. DAmbrosia
Introduction & Theory
Experimental
Experimental methods
An internal RH measurement system designed at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign was used to measure the internal RH gradient
A special mold was used to cast RH sensors at incremental depths from the
drying surface
RH sensors are packaged in small plastic tube with Gore-Tex cap
Uniaxial test used to measure
Free shrinkage
Fully restrained average stress accumulation
Average creep of fully restrained concrete
Modulus of elasticity
Materials
Seven different concrete mixtures were tested for up to 7 days of age (6 days of
drying)
The mixtures included w/cm ranging from 0.32 to 0.44 and mineral admixtures
such as fly ash and silica fume

Discussion
1-D Drying stress gradient can be modeled from the internal RH gradient
In fully restrained concrete, the drying stress gradient appears to affect the time
to tensile failure (cracking)
Materials that exhibit a more severe drying gradient may fail sooner
Materials that are less permeable/diffusible may have a more severe drying
gradient, with a steeper gradient slope in the surface layer
Results
Conclusions
v
RT RH
p p
) ln(
' "
p= vapor pressure (constant)
p= pore fluid pressure
RH= internal RH
R= universal gas constant
T= temperature in kelvins
v= molar volume of water
t
p
sh
v
v
k k
pS ]
3
1
3
1
[
0

p= reduction in pore fluid pressure
S= saturation factor
K= bulk modulus of hardened cement paste
k0= bulk modulus of solid hydration products
skeleton
vp= volume of paste
vt = volume of concrete
concrete cr concrete sh T el
E E ) (
T = measured free shrinkage strain
sh = potential free shrinkage strain
cr = creep strain from B3
Econcrete = modulus of elasticity of concrete
cr concrete sh el
E
scr = stress relaxed due to drying stress gradient
and applied restraint
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Specimen width (mm)
S
t r e
s
s
( M
p
a
)
3 day
5 day
7 day
Free shrinkage stress gradient evolution (mixture A-44)
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Specimen width (mm)
S
t r e
s
s
( M
p
a
)
3 day
5 day
7 day
Restrained shrinkage stress gradient evolution (mixture A-44)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Specimen Width (mm)
I n
t e
r n
a
l R
H
c h
a
n
g
e
( %
)
A-44 3 days
A-44 5 days
A-44 7 days
32 3 days
32 5 days
32 7 days
Internal RH gradient evolution for 2 mixtures
ft
Free shrinkage
drying stresses
Applied tensile
load or restraint
Overall stress
gradient in restrained
concrete
Separation of free shrinkage drying stress gradient and applied restraint
ft represents the tensile strength of the concrete
Small, digital internal RH sensor

Sensor encased in a plastic tube with
GoreTex cap, ready to be cast in concrete

Schematic of the twin uniaxial specimens
(fully restrained and free)
Special mold for casting RH sensors at incremental
depths in concrete prism
Schematic of moisture gradient, deformation and surface cracking, and capillary
pressure in different stages of progressively drying hardened cement paste (from [3])
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Specimen Width (mm)
S
t r e
s s ( M
P
a
)
A-44
A-44 Average
B-44
B-44 Average
C-44
C-44 Average
D-44
D-44 Average
41
41 Average
38
38 Average
32
32 Average
Restrained shrinkage stress distribution at time of failure
(load removed from B-44 prior to failure)
Failed at 3.5 days
Failed at 7.7 days
References
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Failure Age (Days)
D
i f f e
r e
n
t i a
l S
t r e
s s ( M
P
a
)
A-44
B-44
C-44
D-44
41
38
32
Correlation between failure age and drying stress
gradient severity in restrained, drying concrete
1. Mackenzie, J.K., The Elastic Constants of a Solid Containing Spherical Holes, Proc Phys Soc B
683 (1950), 2-11
2. Bentz, D.P., Garboczi, E.J., Quenard, D.A., Modelling Drying Shrinkage in Reconstructed Porous
Materials: Application to Porous Vycor Glass, Modelling Simul Mater Sci Eng 6 (1998), 211-236.
3. Hwang, C.-L., Young, J.F., Drying Shrinkage of Portland Cement Pastes I. Microcracking During
Drying, Cem and Conc Res 14 (1984), 585-594.

Affect of increasing stress gradient slope on the width of
surface cracking in fully restrained, drying concrete
ft
wcrack
el
cr Average Stress
ft
wcrack
el
cr Average Stress
Increasing slope of
gradient at surface
ft
wcrack
el
cr Average Stress
ft
wcrack
el
cr Average Stress
Increasing slope of
gradient at surface
Schematic of strain components in free shrinkage and
restrained concrete
sh
cr
el
Drying Stress (surface)
T
cr-app
el-app
Applied Load-Restraint
T T
cr-app
el-app
Cumulative Stress
sh
el
cr
Surface Strain Schematic
T
cr
el
Drying Stress (core)
T
cr-app
el-app
Applied Load-Restraint
sh sh
cr-app
el-app
Cumulative Stress
T
el
cr
Inner Core Strain Schematic
sh
cr
el
Drying Stress (surface)
T
cr-app
el-app
Applied Load-Restraint
T T
cr-app
el-app
Cumulative Stress
sh
el
cr
Surface Strain Schematic
T
cr
el
Drying Stress (core)
T
cr-app
el-app
Applied Load-Restraint
sh sh
cr-app
el-app
Cumulative Stress
T
el
cr
Inner Core Strain Schematic

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