Comparison of Creep and Shrinkage of High-Strength Silica Fume Concretes With Fly Ash Concretes of Similar Strengths

Abstract

This paper describes how the specific creep and shrinkage of five high-strength concrete mixtures were monitored for 400 days at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. One 52.6 MPa (7630 psi) silica fume (SF) concrete was compared with a fly ash concrete of similar compressive strength, and SR concrete and fly ash concrete having compressive strengths of approximately 69 MPa (10,000 psi) were compared. A 106.6 MPa (15,450 psi) SF concrete was also studied in the paper. The creep of SF concretes was not significantly different from that of the fly ash concretes. Furthermore, the relationship between creep and compressive strength was consistent with that reported in the open literature for high-strength portland cement concretes. Several other concrete properties were studied, including slump retention, time of setting, compressive strength development for one year, split-tensile strength, modulus of rupture, and for the nominal 69 Mpa concretes only, rapid freezing and thawing durability and the hardened concrete air-void system.