Long term creep and shrinkage of nano silica modified high volume fly ash concrete

Abstract

The long-term creep and shrinkage behaviour of two High-Volume Fly Ash (HVFA) concretes incorporating nano silica with 65% and 80% replacement of cement has been investigated. This comprised a detailed analysis of the microstructure, pore structure and chemistry of the two HVFA systems up to a period of 450 days. The compressive strength and modulus of elasticity of HVFA-65 concrete increased from 32 to 73 MPa and 30.3 to 40.5 GPa, respectively between 7 and 450 days. The HVFA-80 concrete achieved compressive strength values of 22 and 71 MPa and elastic modulus values of 28.9 and 37 GPa. After a total loading period of 450 days, HVFA-65 and HVFA-80 concretes displayed creep parameters, which were significantly below the values predicted by AS 3600, ACI 209 and CEB-FIP standard model equations. After a total drying period of 450 days 28-day cured specimens showed significantly reduced shrinkage compared to 7-day cured specimens. On the other hand, HVFA-80 concrete displayed higher shrinkage compared to the HVFA-65 specimens throughout the period. All specimens except for 7-day cured HVFA-80 concrete were within the maximum permissible shrinkage of 800 microns recommended for Australian construction practices. HVFA-65 concrete showed a denser microstructure and a stronger, better packed interfacial transition zone (ITZ) compared to HVFA-80 at all ages. The XRD and FTIR analysis data identified the formation of hydration products including C-S-H and C-A-S-H which contributed towards both the strength gain as well as the creep and shrinkage properties displayed by the HVFA concrete by minimizing the total porosity and pore size.

Keywords:

• HVFA concrete
• creep
• drying shrinkage
• microstructure
• porosity

Acknowledgement

This research was conducted by the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Hub for nanoscience-based construction material manufacturing (IH150100006) and funded by the Australian Government, is gratefully acknowledged.

Compliance with ethical standards

 

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.