Mitigating the autogenous shrinkage of ultra-high performance concrete by using rice husk ash

Abstract

Concrete made with Portland cement has good behaviour under compressive stress, but it is weak in tension. Cracking caused by tension is a typical problem in concrete practice. High autogenous shrinkage at early ages is one of the causes of cracking, especially in high/ultra-high performance concrete. In that stage shrinkage is strongly related to the decrease of relative humidity (RH) inside the concrete. To minimize the probability of cracking induced by autogenous shrinkage at early age, internal curing, which can provide moisture inside the concrete, has been proposed. Several internal curing agents, such as Super Absorbing Polymers (SAP) and saturated lightweight aggregate (LWA), are utilized in high performance concrete and have shown good results for mitigating autogenous shrinkage. The use of these agents, however, also have some drawbacks. Searching for an alternative internal curing methods for ultra-high performance concrete remains a challenge....