DEFORMATION OF CONCRETE

• ELASTICITY DEFORMATION
• CREEP
• SHRINKAGE

PROF. MADYA IR.DR. MA CHAU KHUN

M46 - 312
 LEARNING OUTCOME
At the end of this lecture, students should be able to:

• Understand the properties of concrete other than strength

• Understand the mechanism of creep
• Effect of factors other than ‘load’ on deformation
• Shrinkage and factor influencing shrinkage
 THINK !!!
Is deformation of concrete structure good or bad ?
 DEFORMATION
OF CONCRETE

SHORT-TERM LONG-TERM

• TIME
• EXTERNAL LOAD • ENVIRONMENT
• SUSTAINED LOAD

STRESS-DEPENDANT STRESS-
NOT STRESS-
DEPENDANT DEPENDANT

ELASTIC DEFORMATION
• TEMPERATURE • LOAD
• HUMIDITY • TIME
• TIME

THERMAL SHRINKAGE CREEP

MOVEMENT
 DEFORMATION OF CONCRETE
Principal components of deformation:

• Elastic deformation- instantaneous; dependent on applied load

• Drying shrinkage- Long term; independent of stress
• Creep- long term; dependent on stress

The extent of deformation is depended on the environment

(humidity); age of concrete; mix proportions and constituent
materials.
Elastic Deformation

• Elastic properties of Aggregate

• Curing conditions
• Concrete age
• Mix proportions

Primarily related to the crushing strength of concrete.

Elastic Deformation

Mean Elastic Modulus (Ec) for Normal Strength concrete can be

calculated as follows:

Ec,28 = K + 0.2 f
0 cu,28

Where
E = Modulus elasticity of concrete at 28 days (GPa)
c,28

f = Characteristic cube strength at 28 days (MPa)

cu,28

K = Constant (=20 for NSC)

0
Typical Range for the STATIC MODULUS of Elasticity
at 28 Days of Normal Wt. Concrete

fcu (MPa) Ec,28 (GPa)

Mean Typical Range
20 24 18 – 30
25 25 19 – 31
30 26 20 – 32
40 28 22 – 34
50 30 24 – 36
60 32 26 – 38
Mean Elastic Modulus (Ec,t) for concrete at any age (t) can be
calculated as follows:

Ec,t = E [0.4 + (0.6 f / f

c,28 cu,t cu,28 )]

Where t ≥ 3 days

• The value of f / f
cu,t cu,28 can be obtained from Table 7.1 (BS 8110,
Part 2)
The accuracy in the design of structural elements are largely

dependent on the precision of modulus of elasticity !!!

 Types of Shrinkage

• Drying Shrinkage

• Plastic Shrinkage

• Autogeneous shrinkage

• Carbonation shrinkage
Drying Shrinkage

• Resulted from the removal of

moisture during the drying of wet
concrete.

• The shrinkage rate reduces with time

until the concrete reaches its
moisture equilibrium with the
environment.
Drying Shrinkage
Factors:
• Humidity
• Temperature of surrounding air
• Rate of flowing air over concrete
surface
• Concrete surface area to volume ratio
Drying Shrinkage

• Swelling of concrete happens when it’s exposed to wet

environment.

• Normally it is about 1/6 of the shrinkage.

Drying Shrinkage
• Shrinkage of reinforced concrete can be calculated as follows:

Δ = δ / (1+K𝜌)

Where:
δ = Shrinkage of plain concrete
K = coefficient taken as 25 for internal structure & 15 for external
structure
𝜌 = Reinforcement ratio
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 plastic shrinkage is caused by the loss of water by evaporation from the
surface of concrete or by suction by dry concrete below. 

Plastic shrinkage is directly proportional to the loss of water i.e., plastic

shrinkage is gre­ater, the greater the rate of evaporation of water.
Plastic Shrinkage

A complete prevention of evaporation from the concrete surface imme­

diately after casting reduces plastic shrinkage.
Autogeneous Shrinkage

This shrinkage is caused by the loss of water consumed or used up in the

hydration of cement.

Autogeneous shrinkage is not dis­tinguished 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.
Carbonation Shrinkage

Carbonation is the reaction of carbon dioxide CO2 present in the

atmosphere.

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.
Carbonation Shrinkage

The complete decomposition of calcium compounds in hydrated cement is

chemically possible even at low pressure of CO2 in normal atmosphere, but
carbonation penetrates beyond the exposed surface of concrete extremely
slowly.

The simultaneous reaction of CO2 with hydrated cement minerals in

concrete induces contraction of concrete, which is known as carbonation
shrinkage.
Carbonation Shrinkage

Carbonation shrinkage is caused by the dissolution of crystals of calcium

hydroxide and deposition of calcium carbonate in its place.

As the new product is less in volume than the product replaced, shrinkage
takes place.
Carbonation Shrinkage

Carbonation of concrete also results in increased strength and reduced

permeability, possibly because water released by carbonation promotes the
process of hydration and also calcium carbonate reduces the voids within
the cement paste.

As the magnitude of carbonation shrinkage is very small when compared to

long term drying shrinkage, this aspect is not of much significance
Creep

• Time-dependent phenomenon due

to continued application of stress

• Takes place over many months or

even years.
Creep

• Final creep strain in concrete is normally 30 years and can be

calculated by:

𝜖c,c = (Stress/ Et) x 𝜙

Et = elastic modulus of concrete at the age of loading, t

𝜙 = creep coefficient (Fig. 7.1 BS 8110)
Creep can be beneficial sometimes !!!
 RESULTS
What are the effects of shrinkage & creep on structural concrete?
• Continued deflection (excessive deflection with d <
span/250.
• Cracking on partition, cladding panel, floor slabs.
• Affecting the durability of concrete.
 RESULTS
What are the factors influencing shrinkage and creep?
• Size of members (the larger the member the smaller the
shrinkage & creep)
• Environment (the higher the humidity, the lesser the
shrinkage & creep)
• Strength of concrete (the higher the strength, the lesser the
shrinkage & creep)
• Types of aggregate.
 CRACKING OF CONCRETE

• DEFORMATION AND CRACKING

INDEPENDENT OF LOAD

DR. MA CHAU KHUN

M46 - 312
 LEARNING OUTCOME
At the end of this lecture, students should be able to:

• Effect of restraint and cracking

• Effect of factors other than load on cracking
 CRACKING DUE TO DEFORMATIONS

• Cracking resulting can be resulted from temperature,

shrinkage or differential movement in the structures.

• Cracking due to early thermal movements was once

commonly diagnosed a shrinkage cracking.
• A temperature gradient is developed when the
hydration heat of cement cannot be transmitted
efficiently to the surrounding air by the concrete
surface (Fig.1).

• A condition of self-equilibrating stresses is created,

with tensile stresses in the outer layers and
compressive stresses in the core (Fig.2).

Fig.1
• A temperature gradient is developed when the
hydration heat of cement cannot be transmitted
efficiently to the surrounding air by the concrete
surface (Fig.1).

• A condition of self-equilibrating stresses is created,

with tensile stresses in the outer layers and
compressive stresses in the core (Fig.2).

Fig.2
• Different from the cracking due to thermal
shrinkage, partition cracks are formed
normally penetrate the whole cross section
of the element (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3
 SHRINKAGE
• It is load independent, long-term
deformation of concrete.

• Decrease in volume due to drying.

• It resulted in the shortening of structural

elements, crack will develop if the
shortening is restrained from other
structural members.
• Differential shrinkage between the surface layer and concrete core
causes surface cracking.

• They’re mostly map cracking and normally cannot be

distinguishable from cracking due to temperature.
• Shrinkage is partially reversible and when there’s an increase in
surrounding humidity, significant swelling can occur.

• Shrinkage movements are not only happened at the early life of the
structure. A slight change in relative humidity at any time during
the life of a structure can be the cause of significant movements
and crack development.