a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: The assessment of the tensile properties of early-age concrete is essential for reducing the risk of cracking
Received 27 October 2013 due to restrained shrinkage. The tensile strain capacity of concrete, which was dened as a measure of the
Received in revised form 17 June 2014 ability of the material to withstand deformation without cracking, is useful but few data can be found in
Accepted 16 July 2014
available literature and the measure of the displacements of concrete is sometimes questionable. New
Available online 28 September 2014
direct tensile testing apparatus and experimental procedure were designed to provide reliable data on
concrete specimens. The measure of displacements was deduced from digital image correlation. They
Keywords:
enabled determining a stressstrain relationship of concrete before cracking. The results showed a very
Concrete
Tensile strength
rapid increase of strength from the end of setting. The evolution of the tensile strain capacity showed a
Early age minimum corresponding to the period that includes the setting time and early hardening, thus this is a
Tensile strain capacity critical stage for plastic shrinkage cracking. Even if the values are closely linked to the boundary condi-
Shrinkage tions and experimental procedure, the effect of aggregate type could be investigated.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2014.07.024
0958-9465/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
154 E. Roziere et al. / Cement & Concrete Composites 55 (2015) 153161
tensile strain capacity and the strength of concrete has been high- Dao also indicated a continuous decrease from 1 to 5 h. Mix design
lighted. Several direct tensile tests have been designed. is a very important parameter inuencing the minimum strain
The main characteristics of direct tensile tests are given in capacity and the time of minimum strain capacity. After this min-
Table 1. Referred studies deal with early age concrete (024 h) as imum (between 5 and 10 h), the strain at peak stress can be
well as hardened concrete. Tests on early age concrete mostly con- assumed to increase with time. Setting occurs during this stage
sist in horizontal uniaxial tests [3,4,711], as fresh concrete speci- and signicantly affects the properties of concrete. However some
mens cannot carry the loads due their own weight. From one day differences between values from different studies show the inu-
tests on hardened concrete are done vertically [12,13]. Concrete ence of the test procedure. The shape and size of the specimen,
specimens generally have a prismatic shape and a central part with curing conditions, loading rate, and boundary conditions actually
a reduced cross section to promote failure in the middle section affect the results. The other studies deal with concrete aged of
[3,4,711,13]. This reduction of the cross section is steep for tests 140 days [12,20,21]. The tensile strain capacity is about
rigs inspired by geotechnical testing [3,710,13], whereas tests rigs 100 lm/m and the variations between different sets of data are
inspired by materials science [4,11] show curved transitions which lower. The procedures mainly consist in direct vertical tensile tests.
reduce the stress concentration and allow a better assessment of The review shows relatively few data about concrete aged from
strains. The dimensions of the concrete specimens are of the same 7 to 24 h. Only 5 of the reviewed publications have data. A compre-
order of magnitude, namely: the cross-sectional area is about hensive data set of tensile properties of concrete from 2 to 24 h
10,000 mm2 and the total length is several hundreds of millime- could not be found in existing published data. This is not due the
tres. The gauge length to the width of the central part ratio is gen- lack of interest for knowledge about these properties, but this
erally between 1 and 2. comes from the experimental problems to be overcome in such
As far as early age concrete is concerned, several experimental studies. Further studies are needed and must concentrate on reli-
problems must be solved. As test rigs are horizontal, the frictions able measurements of the displacements of concrete specimens.
between the specimens and the frame must be reduced. Materials
with a low coefcient of friction and roller bearings [4,10] are gen- 2.2. Inuence of aggregates on concrete tensile behaviour
erally used. The most effective way would be using air-bearing
plates [9,11]. The published data only deal with hardened concrete. They
Several methods can be used to grip the specimens, namely: show a signicant inuence of aggregate properties on concrete
moulds with variable cross section [3,811], shear keys [9,10], tensile behaviour.
embedded steel bars [4,1214], gluing and lateral gripping. It is The strength of concrete depends on the bonding between
worth to note that gluing is not recommended because of poor aggregates and paste and a linear correlation of compressive
bonding between steel plates and moist concrete. Whatever the strength with the adherence between paste and aggregates was
method, the fabrication and the preparation must be accurate observed [22]. The quality of bonding is inuenced by the petrogra-
enough to (i) reduce the stress concentration (ii) avoid load eccen- phy, the strength, and the roughness of aggregates [23]. The inter-
tricity and eliminate any bending moment during testing. Concrete facial transition zone (ITZ) between paste and aggregates has
specimens are generally cast in moulds in two parts that grip the actually been shown to have properties that signicantly differ
sample when the tensile load is applied. The measure of the dis- from the surrounding cement paste [24]. The properties of ITZ
placements on the specimen itself is difcult before or during the depend on the microstructure of aggregates and three kinds of
setting of concrete [9,10]. Thus external measures (on the mould) bonding can be distinguished, namely: physical, chemicalphysical,
are sometimes preferred to avoid damaging early-age concrete and mechanical bonding [25]. Physical bonding can be observed
[11], but they do not take into account the possible displacements when there is no chemical interaction between paste and aggre-
of the specimen in the mould. Measures without contact are rec- gates, such as quartz. This leads to poor bonding, thus the ITZ is
ommended. Because of the relative displacements between the the weakest zone of the material. The chemicalphysical bonding
concrete specimens and the mould, the actual tensile displacement is due to chemical reactions between paste and aggregates. This
rate is likely to differ from the controlled loading rate [10]. In pub- mainly occurs with limestone aggregates. Calci-carbo-aluminate
lished studies, the loading rate varies between 0.033 lm/s [4] and C3ACaCO311H2O is formed, which results in denser interfacial
20 lm/s [7]. These variations are likely to affect the results of ten- zone [26,27]. Mechanical bonding can be observed between rough
sile testing. Moreover the loading rate should be consistent with or porous aggregates and cement paste. The products of cement
loading due to shrinkage. Plastic shrinkage depends on the envi- hydration are actually formed in the pores of the aggregates.
ronmental conditions (temperature, RH, wind speed, etc.) and con- The properties of aggregates signicantly affect the tensile
crete mixture proportions (paste volume, water-to-binder ratio, strain capacity of concrete [19]. Crushed aggregates lead to higher
etc.). The order of magnitude of plastic shrinkage of concrete with tensile strain capacity than gravels. The tensile strain capacity also
high paste volume (such as SCC) is 1000 lm/m in 5 h or 200 lm/ depends on the aggregate type. Concrete made of limestone aggre-
(m h) i.e., 20 lm/h for a 0.1 m gauge length. Thermal shrinkage gate would show slightly higher tensile strain capacity than con-
can be due to the removal of formwork and the temperature gradi- crete made of quartzite. The modulus of concrete is actually
ent between air and hydrating concrete. A 25 C/h temperature affected by the aggregate type. The tensile strain capacity has been
drop can be observed in the case of massive concrete structures. shown to decrease linearly with the modulus of aggregate. Pub-
Assuming a thermal dilation coefcient of 2 105/C, this results lished data on the elastic modulus of various aggregate types are
in a thermal shrinkage of 500 lm/(m h) or 50 lm/h for a 0.1 m available [28,29]. The modulus of quartzite was 57 and 59 GPa
gauge length. Thus the tensile displacement rate of concrete would and the modulus of limestone ranged between 39 and 57 GPa.
be approximately 14 103 lm/s.
Some results of the cited studies are plotted in Fig. 1. Two sets 3. Experimental program
of data can be distinguished: three studies only deal with very
early age concrete [7,9,11], from 2 to 7 h and two studies were 3.1. Experimental procedures
extended to intermediate ages from 2 to 12 h [4,7]. The variations
of the tensile strain capacity are of several orders of magnitude. 3.1.1. Direct tensile testing
Kasai et al. reported a decrease of the tensile strain capacity during Fig. 2 shows the tensile testing machine. The load is applied
the rst hours with a minimum at 10 h. The results of Hannant and horizontally by an electric displacement-controlled actuator. The
E. Roziere et al. / Cement & Concrete Composites 55 (2015) 153161 155
load cell is placed between the actuator and the mobile part of the
mould. The mould actually comprised two halves with curved
in concrete
100 100 face was covered with PTFE and protected with thin polyethylene
et al. [12]
Vertical
86140
sheets during the test. The two parts of the mould are linked to the
1.63.2
1874
Prism
200
X
The concrete specimen was cast in the steel mould just after
mixing then vibrated in one layer. An external frame was placed
LVDT: relative displacements of on the plate to avoid displacements of the two halves of the mould
due to the vibration and pressure of fresh concrete. The specimen
was covered with a polyethylene sheet to avoid drying. The ambi-
ent temperature was 20 C. 1 h before the test, the polyethylene
Split steel mould
split steel mould
sheet was removed and the specimen was covered with white then
Dao et al. [11]
1 h356 h25
0.0010.089
3106722 black painting (Fig. 4). This resulted in a contrast that enabled the
0.520.60
Dog bone
70 100
70
rate of 0.5 lm/s was also applied to study the effect of the displace-
ment rate. The displacements of the mould and the concrete spec-
LVDT on cells embedded
0.0200.75
shear keys
0.04265
1, 7, 28 d
70 100
above the frame (Figs. 3 and 4). The failure actually occurred in this
200
60
any treatment were used as input data of DIC software VIC2D. Ini-
Control: 12.5
0.0020.160
in concrete
5025000
70 100
15 h
50
0.010.7
28 h
186000
et al. [7]
211 h
order to absorb the waves passing trough the mould and moving
mould
Horiz.
Kasai
520
Steel
around the concrete sample (concrete volume: 450 cm3). The test
X
X
2008500
concrete
0.010.3
812 h
0.35
498
200
and shear wave velocities using Eqs. (1) and (2) [33,34] :
X
1
v 2p v 2s
tdyn 2 1
Steel mould
v 2p v 2s
Ravina and
Shalon [3]
100 100
0.010.15
0.51.05
Horiz.
Cubes
05 h
230
1 tdyn 1 2tdyn
Edyn v 2p qc
X
2
1 tdyn
Tensile strength: min
Compressive strength
displacements
(L H, mm2)
max (MPa)
Length (mm)
Measure of
(lm/m)
X: not given.
(MPa)
Gripping
The degree of hydration and the free water content of the stud-
Shape
Table 1
Age
10000
Tensile strain capacity, m/m
[4] [7]
[9] [11]
[12] [14]
[15] [16]
1000 [17] [18]
[19]
100
10
0.01 0.10 1.00 10.00 100.00
Age, days
Fig. 3. Measure of displacements on the mould and the concrete specimen.
Fig. 1. Tensile strain capacity from different sets of data. (See above-mentioned
references for further information.)
Dm145 C!600 C
wt 3
mC
msample
mC 4
1 W=C
1: Steel mould
2 3
1 4
2: Concrete specimen
6 4: Electric actuator
5: Load cell
6: LVDT2
contents were kept constant. The superplasticizer content was the minimum difference is 18% and the maximum is 46%. At 7
adjusted to reach a constant slump. and 10 h the concrete actually showed very brittle behaviour.
The displacement at failure is only a few times higher than the
4. Results and discussions accuracy of the measure of displacements (2 lm). This set of data
is not sufcient to conclude on repeatability. However this part
4.1. Analysis of testing data of the study mainly aims at showing that repeatability tends to
be better for strength than tensile strain capacity.
The control of the actuator did not allow the displacement- The duration of the test had to be much lower than the age of
control of the concrete specimens because displacements between concrete, but the speed had to be consistent with loading due to
the specimen and the mould were possible. Thus the data from the plastic or thermal shrinkage. The controlled loading rate of 5 lm/
test (Fig. 6) showed the response of a brittle material in tension. s was chosen. It resulted in actual speed of 0.032 lm/s, i.e., 56
The relative displacements in the central part of the specimen times higher than the early age shrinkage of concrete. Another con-
were assessed as the difference between displacements of regions trolled rate of 0.5 lm/s was used to investigate the inuence of
image a and image b. The assessment of the displacements of the loading rate. It resulted in actual speed of 0.021 lm/s. The data
specimen from the LVDTs would lead to overestimating the defor- are plotted in Figs. 9 and 10. The tensile strength was not affected
mations of the specimen. This would explain relatively high values by the loading rate. However the duration of the test signicantly
found in literature [11]. However LVDTs provided useful informa- increased (5900 s at 24 h), which made it impossible to obtain reli-
tion. When no bending occurred during the direct tensile test, able values of the tensile strain capacity. As early age concrete was
the LDVT curves were actually identical before cracking. studied, the autogenous shrinkage and the creep strain were likely
When the loading rate of the test was 0.5 lm/s, the actual load- to be of the same order of magnitude [39]. The results plotted in
ing rate in the central part of the specimen was 0.04 lm/s Fig. 10 actually showed that the tensile strain capacity signicantly
(150 lm/h), which is consistent with plastic shrinkage kinetics increased with a decrease in the displacement rate.
[6,37,38].
The stress was deduced from the measured load and the cross 4.3. Inuence of aggregate type on tensile strength and strain capacity
section (100 105 mm2). It was actually assumed that the stress
distribution was uniform over the central cross section. The Fig. 11 shows the evolution of the peak stress of specimens of
stressstrain can be deduced from the data recorded before the concrete made of different aggregate types (Table 4). The tensile
failure of the specimen (Fig. 6). The loading rate of the test corre- strength increased very rapidly from the age of 7 h, which approx-
sponding to Fig. 6 was 5 lm/s. This curve was used to determine imately corresponded to the end of setting (assessed from the Vicat
the tensile strength ft and the tensile strain capacity ectu. test). The Vicat test was carried out according to the EN 196-3
Only the rst part of the curves (before the failure) was used. standard on mortar samples extracted from fresh concrete using
Complete stressdisplacement curves were given but these studies a 5-mm sieve and a vibrating table. The end of setting was dened
were done at earlier ages (before 7 h) [9,11]. At 10 h, the materials as the time when the Vicat needle rst stopped at height higher
began to show a brittle behaviour and it was not possible to mon- than 38 mm (i.e., less than 2 mm below the top surface of the mor-
itor the post-peak stage. tar sample). The gravel type did not signicantly inuence the ten-
sile strength. The compressive strengths of the three concrete
4.2. Repeatability and inuence of displacement rate mixtures were actually very close (Table 4). Limestone aggregates
are reported to improve the tensile strength of hardened concrete
The results showed in the following section deal with the effect by chemicalphysical effects on the ITZ. However the kinetics of
of aggregate type. Thus it is necessary to investigate the repeatabil- the chemical reactions is not known and the reaction is likely to
ity of the test in order to be able to conclude on signicant effects. remain limited at early age. Finally, the strength of early age con-
Two series of tensile tests were carried out at 7, 10, 15, 20 and 24 h. crete would be mainly inuenced by the evolution of the cement
The tensile strength curve is plotted in Fig. 7. The loading rate of paste, whereas the aggregate type or the bonding between paste
the tests corresponding to Fig. 7 was 5 lm/s. The average differ- and aggregates would not have a signicant effect.
ence between two strength values at the same age was 6%, the The evolution of the tensile strain capacity is plotted on a log
minimum difference is 2% and the maximum is 11%. The maximum scale in Fig. 12. Whatever the aggregate type, the tensile strain
difference will be plotted on following strength curves. capacity decreased of several orders of magnitude between 3 and
The tensile strain capacity is given in Fig. 8. The average 7 h. This had been observed in previous studies [4,9,11]. During
difference between two strength values at the same age is 21%, setting, the development of hydration products actually links the
cement grains and the aggregates to form a continuous solid skel-
eton. A minimum strain capacity of 2030 lm/m was measured at
7 and 10 h. Then it increased to reach 152, 180 and 185 lm/m at
24 h for porous limestone, siliceous (quartz), and dense limestone
aggregates respectively. These values are consistent with pub-
lished data [12,19]. Also, it was observed that the tensile strain
capacity (measured from 1 day to 28 days) was not signicantly
affected by either the mix proportions or the curing age of concrete
[12]. Published data shows that the tensile strain capacity depends
on the proportion of coarse aggregate and the mean size of aggre-
gate [20]. The three concrete mixtures S, L1, and L2 were designed
keeping the mean size and volume of coarse aggregate constant
(Table 4).
As a consequence the most interesting result is the minimum of
the tensile strain capacity vs. age curve. These ages correspond to a
Fig. 5. FreshCon device [32]. (a) Computer with DAQ card, (b) amplier, (c) critical stage for the risk of cracking of concrete at early age. More-
piezoelectric sensor, (d) container, and (e) preamplier. over the aggregate type was expected to inuence the modulus,
158 E. Roziere et al. / Cement & Concrete Composites 55 (2015) 153161
Table 2 1.8
Properties of aggregates.
1.6 ft = 1.70 MPa L1
Mineralogy Water absorption WA24 Density 1.4
Stress, MPa
(%)
1.2
Sand 0/4 mm 1
Sea sand Diverse 0.6 2.58
Crushed limestone Dense 0.8 2.65 0.8
1 limestone 0.6
Gravels 4/20 mm 0.4
Siliceous Quartzite 0.8 2.59 Tensile strain capacity
Crushed limestone Dense 0.7 2.65
0.2 ctu = 201 m/m
1 limestone 0
Crushed limestone Porous 3.2 2.46 0 100 200 300 400
2 limestone Strain, m/m
Table 3
Properties of Portland cement CEM I 52.5.
1.8
Chemical analysis (%) 1.6 L1 (1)
250 2.0
Tensile strain capacity (ctu), m/m
L1 (1) 1.8 S
Fig. 8. Tensile strain capacity from two series of tests. Fig. 11. Peak stress of concrete.
L1 - 5 m/s
1.6 The evolution of the hydration degree was deduced from TGA
L1 - 0.5 m/s analyses on the cement paste of concrete L2 (Fig. 15). As the three
1.4
concrete mixtures had the same cement content and W/C ratio, the
1.2
evolution of the degree of hydration was assumed to be the same.
1.0
The variations of the Youngs modulus and the tensile strength
0.8
are plotted as a function of the degree of hydration on Fig. 16. The
0.6 modulus increased from degree of hydration of 0.2, whereas the
0.4 tensile strength signicantly increased from degree of hydration
0.2 of 0.3. The tensile strain capacity actually decreased during this
0.0 stage (Fig. 17). The minimum was reached at degrees of hydration
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 of 0.26, 0.26, and 0.24 for concrete mixtures S, L1, and L2
Age, hours
1000
Tensile strain capacity (ctu), m/m
500
L1 - 5 m/s
400 L1 - 0.5 m/s 100
300 S
10 L1
200 L2
1
100 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28
Age, hours
0
Fig. 12. Evolution of the tensile strain capacity.
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28
Age, hours
50
Fig. 10. Inuence of the loading rate on the tensile strain capacity.
45 S
40 L1
35
L2
Edyn, GPa
100 1000
L2
10 S
10
L1
L2
1
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50
1
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 Degree of hydration
Age, hours
Fig. 17. Variation of tensile strain capacity with degree of hydration.
Fig. 14. Evolution of the tensile strain capacity assessed from the tensile strength/
elastic modulus ratio. modulus is due to the elastic properties of newly formed hydration
products. The degree of hydration of 0.2 corresponds to approxi-
mately 4 h (see Fig. 15). From the initial setting time, a percolation
0.60 threshold has been reached and continuous paths of solid products
can actually be found in the microstructure of cement paste [43].
L2 As the hydration of cement goes on, capillary voids are replaced
0.50
Degree of hydration
L1 - Edyn 1.6
30 L2 - Edyn A new experimental procedure has been developed to measure
1.4
S - ft tensile strain capacity, tensile strength and tensile E-modulus of
Edyn, GPa
25 1.2
L1 - ft concrete during the rst 24 h of age. A special feature is the use
20 1.0 of digital image correlation (DIC) to measure deformation.
L2 - ft
15 0.8 The results showed a rapid increase in the tensile strength of
0.6 concrete between 7 h (end of setting period according to Vicat
10
0.4 test) and 24 h. The experiments were carried out in endogenous
5 0.2 conditions. The device would enable experiments in drying con-
ditions, which could be more representative of real exposure
0 0.0
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 conditions.
Degree of hydration The evolution of the tensile strain capacity showed a minimum
corresponding to the period that includes the setting time and
Fig. 16. Variation of Youngs modulus and tensile strength with degree of early hardening. This evolution was conrmed by indirect
hydration. assessment of the strain capacity using continuous dynamic
monitoring of the elastic modulus. The signicant increase of
the modulus actually appeared earlier than the signicant
respectively. Then the tensile strain capacity increased and the increase of the tensile strength, thus the strain capacity rstly
aggregate type had no signicant inuence on the evolution. decreased. Then it increased with the tensile strength.
The strength of concrete evolved faster than the stiffness, thus The aggregate type had a limited inuence on the evolution of
the results are in accordance with previous studies [40,41]. The the tensile strength, and the elastic modulus of early age con-
evolution of the microstructure of hydrating cement paste could crete increased with the modulus of aggregates. Finally the ten-
explain why the properties of concrete become measurable at dif- sile strain capacity was not signicantly affected by the
ferent degrees of hydration. Hydration results from the dissolution aggregate type.
of cement particles and precipitations of solid products, such as The assessment of the tensile strength was more accurate than
ettringite, portlandite and CSH. The early increase of the elastic the strain capacity and it was less affected by the loading rate.
E. Roziere et al. / Cement & Concrete Composites 55 (2015) 153161 161
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