1 0 Creep of Concrete ‘This chapter deals exclusively with creep of plain concrete, which, together with clastic deformation, shrinkage, and thermal movement, designers have to take into ac- ‘count to analyze reinforced and prestressed concrete structures to ensure long-term serviceability. Creep of concrete is a manifestation of the fact that the relation between sires and strain isa function of time and, since moisture movement readily occurs in concrete under normal ambient storage conditions, there are different types or cate~ gories of creep. In the frst instance, those categories are explained before proceeding. to discuss in detail the many influencing factors affecting creep in compression: type and content of aggregate, water/cement ratio, stress/strength ratio, type of cement, age at loading, size and shape of member, storage environment, type of load, time under load, chemical and mineral admixtures, and temperature. After dealing with revers- ibility of creep or creep recovery and Poisson’s ratio, creep under different types of loading is discussed: tensile, eyclic, and other types of load. Standard methods of pre- dicting creep under static loading and drying shrinkage are given in Chapter 11 Categories of Creep ‘The complete spectrum where creep is possible for concrete subjected to any level of sustained, constant loading expressed as a fraction of the ultimate short-term strength is illustrated in Figures 10.1 and 10.2. The stress—strain curve for short- term compressive strength test in Figure 10.1 yields the elastic strain for any level ‘of stress. At stress levels greater than approximately 0.5, there is a likelihood of nonlinear elastic behaviour as explained in Chapter 4. Selecting a level of stress and sustaining it yields the characteristics shown with creep continuing at a decreasing rate for up to SO years. For sustained stresses up to approximately 0.5 of the short-term strength, creep is assumed to be proportional to stress (linear creep), but at higher stress, nonlinearity gradually increases until ata stress/strength ratio beyond approximately 0.8, time-dependent failure is likely, Le., creep rupture ‘occurs. Experimental results corresponding to Figure 10.1 for concrete loaded in ‘compression were obtained by Rusch (|. Concrete subjected to tensile loading be- haves essentially in the same manner but with a lower failure threshold of approx- imately 0.6 (2 Figure 10.2 shows the strain-time curves corresponding to the stress—strain curves ‘of Figure 10.1. The stress-strain curve leading to failure by creep rupture is charac- terized by three stages: initial rate of creep (primary), steady rate of creep (secondary), and finally, creep with unstable crack growth (Iertiary). For stresses below the failure threshold, primary and part-secondary stages occur, but the latter does not lead to creep conta Sry Moron ip ae IGN.on Concrete and Masonry Movernents Shortt strength Lang-enn strength or reep rupture cewelope So-yearfongtenm ‘laste pls ereep strain ——— ‘Strala ——> Figure 10.1 Schematic representation of stress~clastie strain plus ereep behaviour of conerete under different levels of sustained loading up to failure. rupture and, in fact, like shrinkage, creep proceeds for many years [3]. This chapter is cconcemed with factors influencing linear creep of concrete, ie, for sustained stresses below the limit of proportionality, so that creep can be quantified as creep per unit sess, namely, specific creep or creep compliance, with units of 10° per MPa. A re- view of experimental results confirming linearity of creep for stresses up to approxi- mately 50% of the strength is given by Neville etal. (4) In consequence, creep is defined as the increase in strain with time undera sustained ‘constant stress and is reckoned from the initial elastic strain given by the secant modulus of elasticity (see p. 72) at the age at loading, as illustrated in Figure 10.2. Strictly speaking, however, creep should be reckoned from the elastic strain at the time when creep is determined, since the elastic strain decreases with age due to an increases in modulus of elasticity (see Chapter 4). However, for simplicity and conve- rience, this effect is assumed to be small and ignored. It may be recalled in Chapter 4 that since the curvature of the short-term stress—strain curve for conerete is rate- dependent, the demarcation between the start of creep and elastic strain is not clearly defined. For this reason, total strain per unt of stress or creep function or compliance (elastic strain plus creep) is used to quantify creep by some methods of prediction (Chapter 11). Other methods use the term creep coefficient or creep factor, which ex- presses creep as a fraction of the elastic strain,(Creep of Concrete 28 cep Semi Creep pure 09 Ssuengh w 50 years IL Wy | Figure 10.2 Schematic representation of erp behaviour of conerete for different levels of sustained loading from age Age log scale) 5 Iv there are other time-dependent deformations occurring at the same time that are not associated with the applied stress, then they have to be taken into account when determining creep, viz. shrinkage, swelling, and thermal movement due to temperature ‘changes. This is illustrated by considering the following situations in which concrete is loaded to a compressive stress oat the age f, and sustained until some later age r. In all, ‘cases, concrete is cured in water until age f, and subsequently creep tests carried out in different storage environments, which induce load-independent deformations other than creep. Suppose the secant modulus of elasticity is E at the age , then the elastic strain at loading in all cases is o/E. 1. Concrete sealed from the age t, Avage tthe measured strain (¢,) is comprised of elastic stain (o/E), creep (c). and autog- ‘enous shrinkage (S,). Hence, creep is: (=~ $-Se In this case, sealed concrete simulates mass or large volume concrete in which moisture loss cio.) to the environment is minimal. Here, creep is often categorized as basic creep sinceont Concrete and Masonry Movernents taulogenous shrinkage is small particularly for normal-strength concrete. However, for bigh- strength concrete, autogenous shrinkage is far more significant, especially for concrete loaded at early ages (see Chapter 6). 2 Concrete Allowed to Dry from Age fe Atage 1, the measured strain (¢) is comprised of elastic strain (0/E), creep (cy) and drying shrinkage (Si). Hence: sy 102) This situation is common for structural concrete members, such as beams and columns stored in drying indoor and outdoor environments Here, creep i usually much greater than basic creep in case (1) and itis known as total creep since it consists of drying creep as a consequence of moisture loss, as well as busi creep. 3 Concrete stored in water from age fe At age r, the measured strain, ¢, is comprised of the same elastic strain as inthe previous cases, creep ¢ and swelling S,. Since swelling is an expansion: fe = eB 4Se 103) Compared with drying shrinkage, swelling of normal weight aggregate concrete is much smaller, so that this case is often regarded as approximating to basic creep. However, this ‘may not be the case for lightweight concrete. In practice, case (3) corresponds to submerged concrete, such as dams and bridge piers pally submerged in water. Inthe laboratory, itis often convenient to determine basic ereep of concrete by using specimens immersed in water (see Chapter 16) 4. Concrete sealed and subjected to arise in temperature from age Assuming autogenous shrinkage to be negligible, the measured strain, e, is comprised ofthe same initial elastic strain, creep ¢y, and thermal expansion Sy. Hence: y= ES 04) In practice, ase (4) represents normal-strength mass concrete undergoing a temperature rise ddue to heat of hydration, concrete used in nuclear shields, and eonerete exposed to fie. In rnormal-strength concrete the assumption of negligible autogenous shrinkage is vali, but that is not the casein high-strength concrete, so that Sr would probably include some aulogenous shrinkage, From the above expressions, itcan be seen that in order to determine creep, separate measurements of S,, Si, Sy and Sate required on load-free specimens. An interesting, fact is that creep is defined on an additive basis, ie, itis assumed that those deforma- tions of load-free specimens also occur in the specimens under load and are not affected by stress. If this assumption were correct, then creep in all four cases would. be the same; however, as it will be demonstrated later, this is not the case. For example, in case (2) it has already been mentioned that creep is greater than in case (1) even. though drying shrinkage has been taken into account. In general, the order of creep is ep > er > Gy > Ce