Shrinkage performance and modelling of concretes incorporating crushed limestone sand with a high content of fillers for pavement slabs

Abstract

Because of the gradual depletion of gravel and river sand resources and restrictions on quarrying activities to maintain the ecological balance, limestone crushed sand with a high content of limestone fillers is being explored to be used, as an alternative source of supply, in Portland cement concrete (PCC) for rigid pavement. This paper aims to first present mechanical test results carried out on three types of PCC formulated with crushed limestone sand as fine aggregates, devoid of superplasticizers. Since shrinkage cracking is an important problem for rigid pavement, the shrinkage behaviour of these concretes is then experimentally investigated. Furthermore, three existing models (ACI-209, Eurocode2, and triple-sphere models) and a novel-developed model are used to estimate the mixtures’ shrinkage. Results showed that the designed mixtures exhibited normal shrinkage values. The shrinkage modelling revealed that the proposed model well fitted the experimental data. Besides, Eurocode2 and ACI-209 models may be adapted for the case of limestone concretes containing a high content of limestone fillers and then used to accurately estimate their shrinkage strains. However, the triple-sphere model was unsuitable for these concretes and overestimated their ultimate shrinkage since it does not take into account their high filler content. Nevertheless, by adjusting the paste shrinkage expression, the ultimate shrinkage strain values of the tested mixtures were improved.