Concrete early-age cracking control in engineering structures

Early age shrinkage and cracking of cement-based systems is receiving renewed attention with the development of High-Strength/High-Performance Concrete. It is of great importance to control and monitor the level of concrete thermal and mechanical properties. Concrete structures are characterized by a complex interaction of internal drying, external drying and thermal effects at early age. Several test methods and measuring devices are developed and introduced into this paper. The suitable and effective test programs are designed to achieve the system data and system identification. Based on the degree of hydration concept, early age shrinkage of concrete structures is calculated, taken into account environmental humidity and concrete creep. The risk of cracking can be estimated for modern concrete structures according to the test results.