Abstract:
Plastic shrinkage cracking occurs when fresh concrete is drying and restrained from deformation, which typically
results in cracking. The tensile stresses causing cracking result from the negative capillary pressure that develops
in the drying concrete. This study developed a model that uses live in-situ capillary pressure measurements in
fresh concrete to control the capillary pressure response to prevent plastic shrinkage cracking at any reasonable
evaporation rate, making it a valuable tool for preventing plastic shrinkage cracking.
