Determining early-age cracking potential in restrained concrete elements using a load and resistance factor design (LRFD) approach

Title: Determining early-age cracking potential in restrained concrete elements using a load and resistance factor design (LRFD) approach
Author(s): Aleksandra Radlinska, Jason Weiss
Paper category : conference
Book title: 2nd International RILEM Symposium on Advances in Concrete through Science and Engineering
Editor(s): J. Marchand, B. Bissonnette, R. Gagné, M. Jolin and F. Paradis
Print-ISBN: 2-35158-003-6
e-ISBN: 2351580028
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Publication year: 2006
Nb references: 26
Language: English

Abstract: Early-age cracking occurs all too often in concrete structures. Substantial research efforts have been devoted to developing new materials and construction procedures to minimize the potential for cracking. In addition, several predictive models have been developed to better estimate the combination of conditions that can cause cracking to occur. The majority of these predictive models rely on the comparison of time-dependent residual stress development and the time-dependent strength development (or fracture resistance) since the time of cracking can be expressed as the age at which the residual stresses exceed the material’s tensile strength. However, it should be noted that inherent variability exists in the factors that contribute to both the stress and strength development.
Previous research demonstrated that a Monte Carlo simulation approach could be used to assign variability to the material property inputs (based on assumed statistical distribution), thereby enabling a probabilistic distribution of the predicted time of cracking to be obtained. While the use of the Monte Carlo method is a positive step forward to incorporate a stochastic approach in the description of the risk of cracking, it can result in time consuming computations. This paper presents an alternative approach in which statistical material property (elastic modulus, shrinkage, strength) and loading (relative humidity, temperature) information is directly used to obtain the confidence level associated with the modeling predictions. This approach is similar in concept to the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) approach used in structural design. The method presented here enables the probability of cracking to be determined for a given level of material variability.

Online publication: 2006-08-02
Classification: 3.2 Theme 2: From Fresh to Hardened Concrete
Publication type : full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00
doi: 10.1617/2351580028.074