ON THE PREDICTION OF NON-LINEAR CREEP STRAINS

In the short term, the Euorocode-based techniques will be implemented as the main design specifications for structural engineers from the member-states of the European Union instead of the national standards. Therefore, it is of primary importance draw attention to the observed inaccuracies, particularly, in predicting non-linear creep strains according to EC-2. The analysis performed was mainly focused on an inconsistency elimination observed in the original EC-2 approach, when transition from the linear to non-linear creep laws for a constant compressive stress is required. A recent CEN corrigendum eliminating the observed inconsistency was also discussed in detail. In this context, similar techniques which were reported in the literature for predicting the creep non-linearity function were analysed to account for the results obtained. It was particularly demonstrated that the recent CEN amendment results in an extremely enhanced creep strain for low strength concrete. A comparison of the creep non-linearity functions with experimental test results was also considered.