An effective control over early-age behavior in concrete serves to guarantee successful applications on civil engineering project sites. CESAR-LCPC proposes analysis tools of these phenomena: rise of temperatures and stresses during concrete hardening.

The hydration reaction of the cement is highly exothermal. The concrete hardens by exposure to rising temperature, which may reach as high as 50°C within solid structures. Cement hydration represents a thermo-activated reaction, which signifies that the speed of this chemical reaction increases with temperature.

Moreover, concrete is an aging material, i.e. its mechanical properties (modulus of elasticity, strength) evolve as a function of the level of progress in the cement hydration reaction. The consumption of water during the hydration reaction leads to chemical shrinkage coupled with capillary shrinkage. When prevented, these various shrinkages, along with the temperature gradients, induce stresses of such intensity that they may wind up exceeding the tensile stress of the material undergoing maturation and hence lead to cracking. This cracking, in turn, affects the durability of concrete structures. 

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 Concrete at early ages analysis

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