Investigation of shrinkage of concrete mixtures used for bridge construction in Lithuania

Abstract

The present paper reports results of the investigation on shrinking of the concrete mixture which is often used for casting the new bridges. The study is based on the experimental results obtained in three research projects which were performed under financial support provided by the Lithuanian State Fund of Research and Studies at the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University from 2005 to 2009. The accuracy of the most popular shrinkage prediction techniques was analysed using the test data. The analysis has shown that the Eurocode 2 method has given the most accurate predictions. The attention was also pointed on the analysis of the steel fibres influence on the shrinkage deformations of the structural concrete. The performed statistical analysis has indicated that the steel fibres application as admixture significantly reduced the free shrinkage strains. The paper has concluded that utilisation of the steel fibres is very effective way of increasing the service properties of concrete bridges.