Behavior of Internally Cured Concrete under Severe Conditions: Fid-Bau Portal

Behavior of Internally Cured Concrete under Severe Conditions

Hamid, Waleed K. / Steinberg, Eric P. / Khoury, Issam / Walsh, Kenneth / Ahmed, Safiya / Al Rikabi, Fouad

Minimizing concrete shrinkage can decrease the cracking potential of the deck. Therefore, the use of internally cured concrete (ICC), which is a promising method to mitigate concrete shrinkage at an early age, has been increased. Therefore, the main objective of this research was to evaluate the behavior of the ICC and conventional concrete (CC) under severe conditions. The behavior of the ICC and CC subjected to heating and cooling cycles was investigated. This test was conducted using Ohio CTE Device (OCD). This device was used to surpass the limitations of the ASTM C531, CRD 39, and AASHTO TP60-00 by using a temperature range from 60^oC to -60^oC (140^oF to -76^oF) and a dry condition. A plastic shrinkage panel test was also used to determine the cracking potential under severe conditions. The specimens were exposed to air-flow using high-velocity fans for a duration of 24 h to ensure that cracks due to plastic shrinkage stabilized. In addition, the testing program determined compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, coefficient of thermal expansion, and free and restrained shrinkage. From the results, an internal damage was noted for the ICC specimens after one cycle of heating and cooling. This damage was not observed in the CC specimens. This behavior indicates that the pore structure of the lightweight fine aggregate in the ICC has a significant effect on the mechanism of damage in the concrete due to the freezing of water.