Experimental Investigation on the Shrinkage and Creep Performance of Self-Compacting Lightweight Concrete

Several experimental investigations were conducted on the autogenous shrinkage and creep performances of two types of designed self-compacting lightweight concrete (SCLC). In order to explore the difference in long-term performance between SCLC and normal aggregate concrete, normal aggregate self-compacting concrete (SCC) and normal concrete (NC) are also designed in this study. The results indicate that the designed SCLC exhibits lower autogenous shrinkage at early age, even slight expansion during the first 10 days. After 6 months, the autogenous shrinkage of SCLC increases nearly equal to those of normal aggregate concrete. Compared with the reference concretes NC and SCC, the 360-day creep coefficient of SCLC is lower, but the specific creep is higher. It is also found that long-term creep coefficient and specific creep decrease with the increase of compressive strength of SCLC.