Drying shrinkage cracking of concrete kept under dry air conditions from early age

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for predicting cracking due to drying shrinkage of concrete. The drying shrinkage cracking tests for normal concrete were carried out according to the draft of the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS). Since a clear relationship between the age at the start of drying and the cracking time was not observed, stress analysis using the finite element method was also carried out. The calculated results agree well with the experimental data on the mean water loss and mean drying shrinkage strain. The stress distribution in the restrained concrete was also calculated. A calculation system for the drying shrinkage stress in a concrete specimen, kept under room temperature and controlled humidity since an early age, has been developed.