Mitigation of Shrinkage Cracking in Ordinary Portland Cement Concrete with Magnesium Oxide Admixture
Open Access
Author:
Bechtold, Andrew M
Area of Honors:
Civil Engineering
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Aleksandra Radlinska, Thesis Supervisor Eric Todd Donnell, Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Magnesium Oxide Concrete Cement Shrinkage
Abstract:
Early-age shrinkage cracking in concrete is one of the most detrimental events that occur in portland cement-based concrete. However, chemical admixtures can mitigate this type of cracking. One common admixture is magnesium oxide, which exists in a powder form and is expansive when reacting with water, which helps to offset early-age shrinkage. This work aimed to test a newly developed magnesium oxide-based expansive admixture and its ability to mitigate shrinkage cracking. Tests were conducted measuring restrained shrinkage (ASTM C 1581-2016), linear shrinkage (ASTM C 157-2016) and compressive strength (ASTM C 1314-2016) on portland cement-based mortar specimens.
