Effect of water-to-cementitious materials ratio and silica fume on the autogenous shrinkage of concrete

This paper presents an experimental study on the autogenous shrinkage of Portland cement concrete (OPC) and concrete incorporating silica fume (SF). The results were compared with that of the total shrinkage (including drying shrinkage and part of the autogenous shrinkage) of the concrete specimens dried in 65% relative humidity after an initial moist curing of 7 days. The water-to-cementitious materials (w/c) ratio of the concrete studied was in the range of 0.26 to 0.35 and the SF content was in the range of 0% to 10% by weight of cement. The results confirmed that the autogenous shrinkage increased with decreasing w/c ratio, and with increasing SF content. The results showed that the autogenous shrinkage strains of the concrete with low w/c ratio and SF developed rapidly even at early ages. At the w/c ratio of 0.26, the autogenous shrinkage strains of the SF concrete were more than 100 micro strains at 2 days. For all the concretes studied, 60% or more of the autogenous shrinkage strain up to 98 days occurred in the first 2 weeks after concrete casting. The results indicated that most of the total shrinkage of the concrete specimens with very low w/c ratio and SF exposed to 65% relative humidity after an initial moist curing of 7 days did not seem to be due to the drying shrinkage but due to the autogenous shrinkage. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.