Author

LUIZ A. PEREIRA DE OLIVEtRA
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Beira Interior, Calgada Fonte do Lameiro, Coviiha, Portugal 6201-001

Abstract

This paper presents a method to evaluate the early shrinkage of the concrete infill from the time of its contact with the masonry units. The results agree with the adapted Ross equation and show the influences of the masonry unit porosity, the environment temperature, the aggregate’s specific surface area and the admixture on the concrete infill early shrinkage. 70% to 80% of the 28 day shrinkage occurs during the first eight hours due to concrete infill water loss. It was observed that the effect of the masonry unit porosity is more important than the hygrometry of the environment. A law for the shrinkage behaviour based on time and masonry unit porosity is proposed.