Large Ring Test for Evaluation of Restrained Shrinkage Cracking: Calibration and Experimental Trial

The durability of shotcrete tunnel linings is significantly affected by restrained shrinkage cracking. Given the unique characteristics of shotcrete applied in tunnel linings, especially when dealing with accelerated shotcrete containing reinforcement fibres, it is necessary to upscale the ring test...

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Main Authors: Zhongyu Xu, Lucija Hanžič, Harry Asche, Jurij Karlovšek
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-01-01
Series:Advances in Civil Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/6698625
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author Zhongyu Xu
Lucija Hanžič
Harry Asche
Jurij Karlovšek
author_facet Zhongyu Xu
Lucija Hanžič
Harry Asche
Jurij Karlovšek
author_sort Zhongyu Xu
collection DOAJ
description The durability of shotcrete tunnel linings is significantly affected by restrained shrinkage cracking. Given the unique characteristics of shotcrete applied in tunnel linings, especially when dealing with accelerated shotcrete containing reinforcement fibres, it is necessary to upscale the ring test commonly used. This paper presents a comprehensive experiment using large ring tests with cast concrete to investigate the impact of upscaling ring test geometry. The two ring specimens demonstrated comparable cracking age (22 days) and strain measured in the steel ring, suggesting that consistent results can be obtained through the proposed instrumentation, calibration, and correction methods. Moreover, the estimated induced tensile stresses of the concrete rings (2.8 and 2.7 MPa) are slightly lower than the predicted tensile strength (3.3 MPa) at the age of cracking, which indicates that some driving forces contributing to restrained shrinkage cracking were not indicated in the strain gauge readings. Furthermore, the study identified multi-crack formation and additional potential causes for crack initiation, which include self-restraint due to the moisture gradient in the vertical direction, deflection of the concrete ring caused by its self-weight, and friction on the contact surface of the support. Therefore, optimising the geometry of the ring specimens and the apparatus is imperative to minimise additional driving forces and unmeasurable restraints for crack initiation, especially when employing the stress rate method to assess cracking potential.
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spelling doaj-art-27b9ff27ebb84b8db0969f1b9cff79dd2025-08-20T03:17:59ZengWileyAdvances in Civil Engineering1687-80942024-01-01202410.1155/2024/6698625Large Ring Test for Evaluation of Restrained Shrinkage Cracking: Calibration and Experimental TrialZhongyu Xu0Lucija Hanžič1Harry Asche2Jurij Karlovšek3School of Civil EngineeringSlovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG)School of Civil EngineeringSchool of Civil EngineeringThe durability of shotcrete tunnel linings is significantly affected by restrained shrinkage cracking. Given the unique characteristics of shotcrete applied in tunnel linings, especially when dealing with accelerated shotcrete containing reinforcement fibres, it is necessary to upscale the ring test commonly used. This paper presents a comprehensive experiment using large ring tests with cast concrete to investigate the impact of upscaling ring test geometry. The two ring specimens demonstrated comparable cracking age (22 days) and strain measured in the steel ring, suggesting that consistent results can be obtained through the proposed instrumentation, calibration, and correction methods. Moreover, the estimated induced tensile stresses of the concrete rings (2.8 and 2.7 MPa) are slightly lower than the predicted tensile strength (3.3 MPa) at the age of cracking, which indicates that some driving forces contributing to restrained shrinkage cracking were not indicated in the strain gauge readings. Furthermore, the study identified multi-crack formation and additional potential causes for crack initiation, which include self-restraint due to the moisture gradient in the vertical direction, deflection of the concrete ring caused by its self-weight, and friction on the contact surface of the support. Therefore, optimising the geometry of the ring specimens and the apparatus is imperative to minimise additional driving forces and unmeasurable restraints for crack initiation, especially when employing the stress rate method to assess cracking potential.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/6698625
spellingShingle Zhongyu Xu
Lucija Hanžič
Harry Asche
Jurij Karlovšek
Large Ring Test for Evaluation of Restrained Shrinkage Cracking: Calibration and Experimental Trial
Advances in Civil Engineering
title Large Ring Test for Evaluation of Restrained Shrinkage Cracking: Calibration and Experimental Trial
title_full Large Ring Test for Evaluation of Restrained Shrinkage Cracking: Calibration and Experimental Trial
title_fullStr Large Ring Test for Evaluation of Restrained Shrinkage Cracking: Calibration and Experimental Trial
title_full_unstemmed Large Ring Test for Evaluation of Restrained Shrinkage Cracking: Calibration and Experimental Trial
title_short Large Ring Test for Evaluation of Restrained Shrinkage Cracking: Calibration and Experimental Trial
title_sort large ring test for evaluation of restrained shrinkage cracking calibration and experimental trial
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/6698625
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AT harryasche largeringtestforevaluationofrestrainedshrinkagecrackingcalibrationandexperimentaltrial
AT jurijkarlovsek largeringtestforevaluationofrestrainedshrinkagecrackingcalibrationandexperimentaltrial