Influence of a combination of expansive and shrinkage-reducing admixture on autogenous deformation and self-stress of silica fume high-performance concrete

High-performance concrete (HPC) is characterized by its low water-to-cementitious materials (w/cm) and improved properties but also it exhibits high internal capillary tensile stress because the development of autogenous shrinkage which could result in early-age cracking risk and premature deterioration. Since the use of HPC in structural elements has gained wide acceptance in the last decades, the large magnitude of early-age autogenous strains and stresses has to be mitigated to enhance the durability of concrete structure. In this paper, internal stress development induced during the development of autogenous shrinkage strains, especially at early-age was investigated on three different types of HPC cured with a combination of two shrinkage-compensating admixtures. Binary HPC made with blended cement containing 10% of silica fume (SF) has been used with three different low (w/c + sf) of 0.15, 0.23, and 0.30. Shrinkage-reducing agent (SRA) and an expansive additive (EXA) were combined and added to the HPC mixtures to minimize autogenous shrinkage magnitude. The results indicate that the greater the autogenous shrinkage developed, the higher the induced internal tensile stress. It has been found that for the reference mixes, more than 90% of the ultimate magnitude of both autogenous shrinkage and self-tensile stress was developed during the first 24 h. However, the addition of a combination of SRA and EXA has resulted in a significant reduction and a gradual development of both autogenous shrinkage and self-tensile stress as compared to the rapid development and large magnitude in the reference concretes. Moreover, a high dimensional stability was obtained for the 0.30 and 0.23 HPC mixtures containing the combination of expansive and shrinkage-reducing admixtures. On the other hand, a slight decrease of the compressive, of the splitting tensile strengths and the modulus of elasticity was observed.