Creep

When concrete is subjected to compressive loading it deforms instantaneously. This

immediate deformation is called instantaneous strain.  If the load is maintained for a
considerable period of time, concrete undergoes additional deformations even without any
increase in the load. This time-dependent strain is termed as creep.
Creep is the gradual increase in a strain of a structural member which is subjected to
certain loading over a period of time. When the concrete is loaded in compression, an
elastic strain develops as shown in figure A. If this load remains on the member, creep
strain developed with time. The main factors affecting creep strain are the concrete strength
and mixture, the type of aggregate, curing, the relative humidity and the duration of the
sustained loading.

Drying shrinkage (often, simply shrinkage) is the reduction in volume of hardened

concrete due to loss of moisture by evaporation.

There are several similarities and dissimilarities between creep and shrinkage. First, the
source for both the effects are the same, which is loss of adsorbed moisture from the
hydrated cement paste. In shrinkage, the loss is due to difference in the relative humidity of
concrete and the environment, in creep it is due to sustained applied stress. Second, the
strain-time curves of both the phenomenon are very similar.

The factors that effect creep also effects shrinkage. They both increase with:
higher cement content, higher water content, lower aggregate content, low relative
humidity, high temperature, small thickness of the member, etc.

However, unlike creep, shrinkage is not dependent on the loading conditions. Shrinkage
strains can also be recovered to a great extent as can be seen in the above curves.
Shrinkage causes the development of tensile stresses in concrete when it is restrained in the
structural members leading to cracking.

Because the primary cause is the loss of adsorbed water, the affects of shrinkage and creep
can be mitigated to some extent by minimizing the water content in the concrete mix.

Shrinkage
Shrinkage is the contraction that occurs in concrete when it dries and hardens due to
moisture content evaporation. The aggregate contents present in concrete are the most
important factors influencing shrinkage. This is because the larger the aggregate, the lower
is the shrinkage and the higher is the aggregate content, the lower the water-cement ratio
and workability are. A decrease in ambient humidity also increases shrinkage.

Creep happens due to sustaining a load for extended periods of time. Creep in flexural
members [like beams and slabs] is also called long term deflection. It can be twice as much
as the immediate deflection and therefore should be accounted for in the original design.
As you see, shrinkage is almost immediate, while creep [or long term deflection] happens
through time.

Shrinkage of Concrete: 4 Types | Concrete

Technology
1. Plastic Shrinkage:
Plastic shrinkage takes place, soon after the concrete is placed in the form work, while the
concrete is still in plastic stage. The cement paste at this stage un-goes a volumetric
contraction. The magnitude of this volumetric contraction is of the order of 1% of the
absolute volume of the dry cement. The plastic shrinkage is caused by the loss of water by
evaporation from the surface of concrete or by suction by dry concrete below. The
contraction in volume induces tensile stress in the surface layers due to the restraint caused
by non-shrinking inner concrete. As the concrete is very weak in plastic state, plastic
cracking takes place at the surface.

Plastic shrinkage is directly proportional to the loss of water i.e., plastic shrinkage is greater,
the greater the rate of evaporation of water, which in turn depends upon the air
temperature, the concrete temperature, relative humidity of the air and wind velocity etc.
The rate of evaporation should not be greater than 0.5 kg/m 2 per hour of the exposed
concrete surface to avoid plastic cracking of the surface. A complete prevention of
evaporation from the concrete surface immediately after casting reduces plastic shrinkage.
As stated above, that the loss of water from the cement paste is responsible for the plastic
shrinkage. The plastic shrinkage has been found greater, for the larger cement content in
the mix and lower for larger aggregate content. The effect of cement aggregate ration is
shown in Fig 16.1.
2. Drying Shrinkage:
Withdrawal of water from hardened concrete stored in unsaturated air develops drying
shrinkage.

A part of this movement is irreversible. This part should be distinguished from the reversible
part or moisture movement. In case of reversible moisture part, if the concrete allowed to
dry in air of a given relative humidity is placed in water or at a higher humidity later on, the
cement paste will absorb water and win swell. This phenomenon has been shown in Fig.
16.2 (a).
The reversible moisture movement represents 40 to 70% of the drying shrinkage but it
depends on the age before the start of first drying. If concrete is fully hydrated before
exposing to drying the reversible moisture movement will form the greater proportion of the
drying shrinkage. On the other hand if drying is accompanied by extensive carbonation, the
cement will not allow movement of moisture content and irreversible shrinkage will be
larger.

However not all the initial drying shrinkage is recovered even after a prolonged storage in
water. For usual range of concrete, the pattern of moisture movement under alternating
wetting and drying is a common occurrence in the practice. It has been shown in Fig.16.2
(b). The magnitude of this cyclic moisture movement depends upon the duration of the
wetting and drying periods, but drying is very much slower than wetting. Thus the influence
of long dry weather can be reversed by a short period of rain.

The movement of moisture also depends upon the following factors:

1. Range of relative humidity.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

2. Composition of the concrete.

3. Degree of hydration at the time of initial drying.

Concrete made with light weight aggregate has a higher moisture movement than normal
weight aggregate concrete.

The irreversible part of shrinkage is associated with the formation of additional chemical and
physical bond in the cement gel when adsorbed water has been removed.

When concrete dries, first all the free water present in capillaries or pores evaporates and
gets lost i.e., water present in concrete pores or capillaries which is not physically bound is
lost. Thus under drying conditions, the gel water is lost progressively over a long time, as
long as concrete is kept in drying conditions. This loss of free water does not cause any
significant volumetric contraction of the cement paste. Due to the loss of free water, an
internal relative humidity gradient is induced within the cement paste structure.
As the time passes water molecules are transferred from the large surface area of calcium
silicate hydrate into empty pores or capillaries and then out of the concrete. This
phenomenon causes contraction in cement paste. This reduction or contraction in cement
paste is not equal to the volume of water removed due to the internal restraint caused to
contraction by the calcium silicate hydrate structure and also due to the negligible effect of
free water loss on the change of volumetric contraction.

The loss of free water from the hardened concrete does not cause any appreciable change
in volume. It is the loss of water held in gel pores that causes change in the volume of
concrete. Fig. 16.3 shows the relationship between loss of moisture and shrinkage. Under
drying conditions the gel water is lost progressively over a long time as long as the concrete
is kept in drying conditions.

Theoretically it is estimated that the total linear change due to long time drying shrinkage is
of the order of 10,000 x 10–6, but actually this change has been observed upto 4,000 x 10 –6.
Fig. 16.4 shows a typical apparatus for the measurement of shrinkage.
Further it has been observed that cement paste shrinks more than mortar and mortar
shrinks more than concrete. Concrete made with smaller sized aggregate shrinks more than
the concrete made with bigger size aggregate. The magnitude of drying shrinkage is also a
function of the fineness of gel, the finer the gel, greater the shrinkage. The high pressure
steam cured concrete with low specific surface of gel, shrinks much less than that of
normally cured concrete.

Magnitude of Shrinkage:
If no other reliable data is available, the magnitude of shrinkage can be estimated by the
formula suggested by Schorer.

εs = 0.00125(0.90 – h) …(16.1)

where.

εs = shrinkage strain

h = relative humidity expressed as a fraction. If the average humidity is 50%, then h = 0.50.
If average humidity is 100%, then h = 1.0.

In these conditions, shrinkage is given as:

(i) If h = 0.5, then εs = 0.00125 (0.90 – 0.5) = 0.00125 x 0.4 = 0.0005
(ii) Uh = 1.0, then εs = 0.00125 (0.9 – 1.0) = – 0.00125.
-ve sign indicates swelling.
The rate of shrinkage decreases with time. It has been observed that 14 to 34% of 20 years
shrinkage takes place in two weeks’ time. Whereas 40 to 70% in 3 months and 66 to 80% in
one year.

3. Autogeneous Shrinkage:
If no movement of water to or from the set paste of concrete is allowed, then the shrinkage
developed is known as autogeneous shrinkage. This shrinkage is caused by the loss of
water consumed or used up in the hydration of cement. Autogeneous shrinkage is not dis-
tinguished from shrinkage of hardened concrete due to the loss of water to the outside
except for massive structures as interior of concrete dams. The magnitude of this shrinkage
is very small of the order of 50 x 10-6 to 100 x 10-6. Hence is not of much significance.
4. Carbonation Shrinkage:
In addition to drying shrinkage, concrete also undergoes carbonation shrinkage. Many
experimental data include both types of shrinkage, but their mechanism is different.

Carbonation is the reaction of carbon dioxide CO2 present in the atmosphere, with the
hydrated cement minerals in the presence of moisture. The action of CO 2 takes place even
in small concentrations such as present in rural air, where the content of CO 2 is about
0.03% by volume. In an un ventilated laboratory the CO 2 content is about 0.1%, where as in
the atmosphere of big cities, the carbon dioxide content exists about 0.3% and in
exceptional cases it may go up to 1.0%. The rate of carbonation increases with the increase
in the concentration of CO2 especially at high water/cement ratio.
In the presence of moisture, CO2 forms carbonic acid, which reacts with Ca(OH) 2 to form
calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Other cement compounds are also decomposed, producing
hydrated silica, alumina and ferric oxide The complete decomposition of calcium
compounds in hydrated cement is chemically possible even at low pressure of CO 2 in
normal atmosphere, but carbonation penetrates beyond the exposed surface of concrete
extremely slowly. The simultaneous reaction of CO 2 with hydrated cement minerals in
concrete induces contraction of concrete, which is known as carbonation shrinkage.
Factors Affecting the Rate of Carbonation:
The actual rate of carbonation depends on the permeability of concrete, its moisture content
and on the content of CO2, relative humidity of the ambient medium and size of the
specimen , grade of concrete, depth of core, whether the concrete protected and time. As
the permeability of concrete is governed by the water/cement ratio, the inadequately cured
concrete will be more prone to carbonation i.e., the depth of carbonation of inadequately
cured concrete will be more. The effect of following factors has been found more
pronounced.
i. Effect of Relative Humidity:
The highest rate of carbonation occurs at a relative humidity of 50 to 70%.

ii. Effect of Time:

The rate of carbonation depth is approximately proportional to the square root of time. It
doubles between 1 and 4 years and then again doubles between 4 and 10 years. This
process repeats upto about 5-years. However periodic wetting of concrete by rain slows
down significantly the progress of carbonation.

iii. Effect of w/c Ratio:

The depth of carbonation is directly proportional to the increase of water/cement ratio i.e.,
the depth of carbonation increases with the increase in water/cement ratio. It has been
observed that depth of carbonation at w/c ratio 0.4 is half that of at w/c ratio 0.6 and at w/c
0.8, it is 50% higher than that at w/c ratio 0.6.

iv. Effect of Cement Content:

It has been observed that higher the cement content lesser the depth of carbonation. The
depth of carbonation is found about 50% with cement content of 500 kg/m 3 of that having
cemented content of 310 kg/nr. At cement content of 180 kg/m 3 it has been found twice that
of a cement content of 310 kg/m3.
The extent of carbonation can be determined easily by treating freshly broken surface with
phenolphthalein. The portion containing free Ca(OH) 2 turn pink by soaking it in
Phenolphthalein, whereas carbonated portion remains unaffected.
Effects of Carbonation on Concrete:
Following effects of carbonation are observed:
Carbonation of concrete is accompanied by:
(a) Increase in the weight of the concrete.

(b) Shrinkage in concrete known as carbonation shrinkage. Carbonation shrinkage most

probably is caused due to the dissolving of crystals of Ca(OH) 2, while under a compressive
stress imposed by the drying shrinkage and depositing CaCO 3 in the voids of cement paste.
Thus the compressibility of cement paste is increased and the carbonation of the hydrates
present in the gel does not contribute to the shrinkage.
(c) Carbonation results in increased strength.

(d) Carbonation results in reduced permeability. These changes possibly are due to the
water released by carbonation, which promotes the process of hydration. The calcium
carbonate produced reduces the voids with in the cement paste. This applies to concrete
made with Portland cement only. In case of super sulphated cement the strength of
concrete decreases with carbonation. However this decrease in strength is not structurally
significant.

(e) The most important effect of carbonation is the neutralization of alkaline nature of
hydrated cement paste. The pH value reduces from 12 to 8. This reduction in p H value
provides protection to steel from corrosion. However, if full depth of reinforcement cover is
carbonated and oxygen and moisture can penetrate into the concrete then corrosion and
cracking of concrete may take place. This is a very significant development. Fig. 16.5 shows
the drying shrinkage of mortar specimen dried in CO 2 free air at different relative humidities
and also the shrinkage after subsequent carbonation.
It has been observed that carbonation increases shrinkage at intermediate humidities, but
not at extreme limits of 100 and 25%. In the latter case there is no sufficient water present
in the pores with in the cement paste for CO 2 to form carbonic acid. On the other hand at
100% humidity when the pores are full of water, the diffusion of carbon dioxide into paste
will be very slow.
Thus carbonation is greater in concrete protected from direct rain, but exposed to moist air,
then concrete periodically exposed fully to rain.

The sequence of drying and carbonation, greatly affects the total magnitude of shrinkage.
Simultaneous drying and carbonation produces lower total shrinkage than when drying is
followed by carbonation. Carbonation shrinkage of high pressure steam cured concrete is
very small. Concrete subjected to alternate wetting and drying in air containing CO 2,
carbonation shrinkage becomes progressively more apparent.
The total shrinkage at any stage is greater than drying the concrete in CO 2 free air. Thus
carbonation increases the magnitude of irreversible shrinkage and crazing of exposed
concrete mass occurs. However carbonation of concrete before exposure to alternate
drying and wetting reduces moisture by about 50%.