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Factors contributing to early age shrinkage cracking of slag concretes subjected to 7-days moist curing

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate all the factors contributing to early age shrinkage cracking in concrete, namely, shrinkage, tensile creep, tensile elastic modulus, tensile strength of concretes, and to study the effect of slag as a binder on these factors. The above-mentioned factors were measured in early age concretes made with 0, 35, 50 and 65% level replacement of ordinary Portland cement by slag. All the concretes studied were moist cured for 7-days. It was found that, at lower slag replacement levels (0, 35 and 50%), the tensile strength decreased with increasing slag replacement. However, this is more than compensated by decreasing tensile elastic modulus and shrinkage. There was no significant change found in tensile creep with the changing slag levels. The study shows that the influence of the tensile elastic modulus is a major consideration for early age cracking of slag concretes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Independent Cement and Lime Pty Ltd (ICL) (Industry Partner) and the Australian Research Council (Linkage Project Grant No. LP0349121) for this research project. Special thanks are due to Michael Byrne and Tom Wauer of ICL. Laboratory Assistance and Technical guidance provided by Graeme Rundle, Jeff Doddrell and Kevin Nievaart are also gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia

    Tarek Aly & Jay G. Sanjayan

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  1. Tarek Aly
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  2. Jay G. Sanjayan
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Correspondence to Jay G. Sanjayan.

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Aly, T., Sanjayan, J.G. Factors contributing to early age shrinkage cracking of slag concretes subjected to 7-days moist curing. Mater Struct 41, 633–642 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-007-9269-2

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