Shrinkage of Virginia Transportation Concrete Mixtures

Abstract

The purpose of this study was two fold: to observe the magnitude of shrinkage of typical Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) concrete mixtures; and to assess the accuracy of the existing unrestrained shrinkage prediction models. The results indicated the following conclusions: The portland cement concrete mixtures exhibited about the same amount of drying shrinkage as expected for mixtures with small differences in cement, water, and aggregate content and similar strengths; the mixtures containing fly ash exhibited greater drying shrinkage than those containing microsilica and slag cement; the CEB 90 model appears to be the best predictor of drying shrinkage for the VDOT portland cement mixtures; for the lightweight high strength concrete mixtures, the CRB 90 model ranked higher at early ages, while the Bazant B3 model ranked higher at later ages; and for the high strength concrete mixtures, the G/L 2000 model ranked higher than the other models.