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Predicting and testing the tensile relaxation of concrete

Includes abstract.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kizito, Nicholas Magera
Other Authors: Beushausen, Hans-Dieter
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Civil Engineering 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Kizito, Nicholas Magera
author2 Beushausen, Hans-Dieter
author_browse Beushausen, Hans-Dieter
Kizito, Nicholas Magera
author_facet Beushausen, Hans-Dieter
Kizito, Nicholas Magera
author_sort Kizito, Nicholas Magera
collection Thesis
description Includes abstract.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5036
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:31:53.390Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Civil Engineering
publisherStr Department of Civil Engineering
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5036 Predicting and testing the tensile relaxation of concrete Kizito, Nicholas Magera Beushausen, Hans-Dieter Moyo, Pilate Civil Engineering Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references. Tensile relaxation is an important property in structural concrete members such as concrete overlays and patch repairs under sustained imposed restraint. Tensile relaxation helps in reducing tensile stresses in concrete which leads to mitigation of cracking in restrained concrete members. Normally, it is assumed that tensile relaxation is influenced in a similar way by the same parameters that influence creep despite potential differences between the two. Moreover, relaxation is predicted from functions that link it to creep. Whereas it is easy to find published literature on creep of concrete, little can be found on the relaxation behaviour of concrete. More research is therefore needed to understand the factors that influence relaxation and its prediction. This study aimed at comparing the influence of selected factors on creep and relaxation to establish a correlation if any between the two. The parameters investigated include: w/c ratio, age of loading, initial stress-strength ratio and aggregate content. Tensile relaxation tests are difficult to perform and hence prediction models are often relied upon to predict relaxation. Two simplified approximate methods are suggested in the fib Model Code to obtain the relaxation function from the creep function. The Age Adjusted Effective Modulus method (AAEM) given in the MC2010 and the Approximate Relaxation Function (ARF) in MC90-93 are mentioned. Values from the two were compared with experimental relaxation results to verify their accuracy in predicting the relaxation potential of selected concretes. Results show that tensile relaxation of concrete, similar to creep is affected by parameters such as w/c ratio, age of loading and aggregate content. It is observed that the magnitude of tensile relaxation, with other factors held constant, was found to reduce with a reduction in w/c ratio, increase in age and increase in aggregate content. The initial stress-strength ratio does not seem to have a significant influence on relaxation. However, an increase in the initial stress leads to a small and un- proportional increase in relaxation. The use of models linking the creep function and relaxation function to predict low-age relaxation is probably valid. Although both the AAEM and ARF methods yield fairly good predictions of relaxation, the simplicity of the AAEM makes it a better option. 2014-07-31T10:28:20Z 2014-07-31T10:28:20Z 2013 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5036 eng application/pdf Department of Civil Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Civil Engineering
Kizito, Nicholas Magera
Predicting and testing the tensile relaxation of concrete
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Predicting and testing the tensile relaxation of concrete
title_full Predicting and testing the tensile relaxation of concrete
title_fullStr Predicting and testing the tensile relaxation of concrete
title_full_unstemmed Predicting and testing the tensile relaxation of concrete
title_short Predicting and testing the tensile relaxation of concrete
title_sort predicting and testing the tensile relaxation of concrete
topic Civil Engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5036
work_keys_str_mv AT kizitonicholasmagera predictingandtestingthetensilerelaxationofconcrete