Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Using early age concrete properties to determine setting time

Thesis (PhD (Civil Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2024.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Kearsley, EP
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2024
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613528445157376
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Kearsley, EP
author_browse Kearsley, EP
author_facet Kearsley, EP
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD (Civil Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2024.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/95483
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:37:34.848Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/95483 Using early age concrete properties to determine setting time Kearsley, EP Mostert, HF UCTD Shrinkage Setting time Heat of hydration Early age concrete properties Strength development Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-11 SDG-11: Sustainable cities and communities Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09 SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure Thesis (PhD (Civil Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2024. When fresh concrete sets, it changes from a Bingham fluid to a solid, with strength and stiff-ness. Changes in concrete volume however starts taking place from the moment when water comes into contact with the cement, starting the hydration process. The chemical reaction be-tween the water and the cement cause shrinkage because the resulting product is smaller than the two reactants. The reaction is very slow in the beginning, but when it speeds up it causes an increased temperature that can result in an expansion of the mix. These volumetric changes increase in high strength concrete due to the reduced water/cement ratio, the increased cement content and the use of High Range Water Reducing Agents (HRWRA). It is important to know the exact setting time of concrete as volume changes that takes place after setting, will cause internal stresses, which could exceed the early age strength, resulting in the formation of cracks. Existing setting time test methods do not take into account the effect of changes in water/ce-ment ratio and concrete composition on the setting time. The aim of this study was to determine a setting time for concrete based on the point in time when the concrete starts behaving as a solid. A variety of test methods were used to determine and compare early age properties of concrete. The point in time when a rapid change in behaviour was observed was used as point from where early age shrinkage would have an effect on the stresses or strains that develops in the concrete. The measured shrinkage results were recorded from as soon as possible after casting but the influence of the shrinkage should be considered from this time onwards. The results of this investigation confirm that neither the initial nor final setting time typically recorded are representative of the time when the concrete starts behaving as a solid. The time that it takes concrete to change from a viscous liquid to a solid is not a constant, but depends on w/c ratio, specimen size, temperature, inclusion of admixtures and the type of test used. The use of HRWRA retards the temperature increase caused by heat of hydration as well as the initial strength and stiffness development, but this trend is reversed within 24 hours of casting. A comparison between the setting times calculated from load application (such as penetration testing) and other setting time methods (such as derivatives of heat of hydration measurements) show that HRWRA have an influence on the setting times. The mixes without admixtures gave similar setting times, when the average for the different tests were used whether calculated from load test data or from other setting time test methods. The use of HRWRA resulted in differences of almost 2 hours for w/c ratios below 0.45 between the different types of setting time measurements. This confirms that when load tests are used in mixes containing admix-tures, the time when concrete change from a Bingham fluid to a solid can be wrongly estimated. This incorrect assumption of setting time could cause an over estimation of the early age shrink-age that can cause stresses or cracking in high strength concrete. Civil Engineering PhD (Civil Engineering) Unrestricted Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology 2024-04-11T11:06:24Z 2024-04-11T11:06:24Z 2024-05-09 2024-02-13 Thesis * A2024 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/95483 https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.02411970.v2 © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Shrinkage
Setting time
Heat of hydration
Early age concrete properties
Strength development
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-11
SDG-11: Sustainable cities and communities
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09
SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Using early age concrete properties to determine setting time
title Using early age concrete properties to determine setting time
title_full Using early age concrete properties to determine setting time
title_fullStr Using early age concrete properties to determine setting time
title_full_unstemmed Using early age concrete properties to determine setting time
title_short Using early age concrete properties to determine setting time
title_sort using early age concrete properties to determine setting time
topic UCTD
Shrinkage
Setting time
Heat of hydration
Early age concrete properties
Strength development
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-11
SDG-11: Sustainable cities and communities
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09
SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/95483
https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.02411970.v2