Effect of Internally Stored Water on Creep of High-Performance Concrete

The study examined internally stored water's effects on high-performance concrete's (HPC's) long-term deformations on 150 compressive strength specimens and 130 creep and shrinkage specimens. Creep and shrinkage monitoring was performed on sealed and unsealed concrete specimens for 500 days using either lightweight or normalweight aggregate with different initial moisture conditions. Prewetted lightweight aggregate use, when compared with air-dried lightweight aggregate mixtures, decreased creep by approximately 45%. Prewetted lightweight aggregate HPC experienced 10% lower creep than that obtained in a similar normalweight granite aggregate HPC. It is proposed that prewetted lightweight aggregate creep reduction is due to inhibition of water seepage, expansion afforded by internal curing, and hydration enhancement.