Determination of Tensile Creep and Stress Relaxation of Concrete by Ring Test

Abstract

The understanding of stress relaxation and tensile creep behavior is extremely important in accurate stress analysis and crack prediction of early-age concrete. The free shrinkage deformations of concrete with different strength grade were examined. The early-age tensile elastic modulus of concrete was investigated through temperature-stress testing machine. The tensile creep and shrinkage stress were obtained through the modified restrained ring test. The results indicate that the development of free shrinkage coordinates well with the inner strain of steel ring. Tensile creep decreases as water-binder ratio increases. Creep counteracts tensile stress of concrete by 28%~40% , decreases the possibility of cracking of concrete at early ages.