Shrinkage is defined as “deformation in fresh and hardened concrete that occurs due to loss of moisture”. Shrinkage is not dependent on load.
When a homogenous mixture of concrete is made than at the same time hydration and evaporation begins, as the time passes hydration products formation starts and with this formation a heat releases from concrete. This heat evaporates water with itself and creates deficiency of water with in concrete. Now when water content will be less than less water will be available for hydration of concrete. And due to this concrete volume decrease which we call as shrinkage in concrete.
Shrinkage is a time dependent property of concrete. Shrinkage can be control by curing fresh concrete until a complete hydration.
Types of concrete
There are different types of shrinkage in concrete depending upon the loss of water at different stages.
- Plastic shrinkage
- Drying shrinkage
- Autogenous shrinkage
- Corbonation shrinkage
