Hydration heat and autogenous shrinkage of high-strength mass concrete

Abstract

In this study, to evaluate autogenous shrinkage of high-strength mass concrete with specimen size and hydration delay effects, the thermal deformation was calculated using thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) corrected by the maturity method, and was subtracted from measured total deformation. And the properties and relations of hydration heat and autogenous shrinkage at early ages were numerically analyzed. In test and analysis results, hydration temperature is affected by specimen conditions such as size and admixture, and change of hydration temperature could affect autogenous shrinkage; the higher hydration temperature and the greater autogenous shrinkage. There is a close relationship between hydration temperature and autogenous shrinkage at early ages, especially between HHV (hydration heating velocity) and ASV (autogenous shrinking velocity); the higher HHV, the higher ASV and the greater ultimate autogenous shrinkage. The points where hydration temperature and autogenous shrinkage start to increase rapidly are due to the consumption of gypsum in the cement hydration process, and are strongly related to the setting time.