Assessing Drying Shrinkage Induced Deterioration of Concrete Stored at Distinct Exposure Conditions

Abstract

Drying shrinkage is a damage mechanism that may potentially lead to the deterioration of concrete infrastructures. As the moisture content of concrete decreases over time, it undergoes a process of drying shrinkage, which subsequently induces a volume reduction, mass loss, and microcracks to the material. Although many studies and approaches to evaluate drying shrinkage have provided significant insights on the mechanism developments, the use of advanced microscopic techniques holds the potential for a more detailed and comprehensive evaluation of the generation and propagation of induced cracks. The damage rating index (DRI), a microscopic damage assessment protocol, has been proven to be an effective method to appraise and comprehend crack generation and propagation induced by the internal swelling reaction (ISR) mechanism. However, this procedure has never been used to assess shrinkage. Therefore, this work aims to assess the influence of relative humidity and temperature on the drying shrinkage mechanism and to assess the efficiency of using DRI to evaluate the deterioration of drying shrinkage on concrete according to the length change of concrete specimens with distinct exposure conditions. Furthermore, the cracks in cement paste (CCP) induced by drying shrinkage are investigated for the association with pores and interfacial transition zone (ITZ) in concrete.