Investigation on key properties controlling early-age stress development of blended cement concrete

Age dependent mechanical and kinetic properties including Young's modulus, early-age creep, autogeneous and thermal deformations, and heat of hydration were investigated for concrete made of blended cements. These are among the key properties that control the early-age cracking behavior in hydrating concrete members. Among the main goals of the investigation were to provide the experimental data and to study the effect of adding mineral additives such as fly ash (FA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBF), and silica fume (SF) on the aforementioned properties. The age-dependent behavior of Young's modulus, creep compliance, and autogeneous shrinkage as functions of heat of hydration were modeled. We emphasized on mathematical modeling the viscoelastic properties of concrete. The equations obtained can be used as inputs needed to calculate the early-age stress development in concrete members. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.