Effect of moisture content on static compressive elasticity modulus of concrete

• Published in: Construction & building materials 2014-10, Vol.69, p.133-142
• Main Authors: Liu, Bao Dong, Lv, Wen Juan, Li, Lin, Li, Peng Fei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Concrete; Elasticity; Elasticity modulus; Experimental; Immersion time; Mechanical properties; Moisture content
• ISSN: 0950-0618
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.06.094

•Concrete specimens are immersed with a series of time.•Moisture content concerns different immersion time, strength and curing conditions.•Increasing moisture content will increase elasticity modulus of concrete.•A formula indicating elasticity modulus of concrete versus moisture contents is proposed. For concrete under humid conditions, the mechanical properties of concrete are significantly affected by the moisture content, which differs in terms of different immersion times. This paper presents an experiment to investigate the dependence of the moisture content on the immersion time and the influence of the moisture content on the static compressive elasticity modulus. The results show that the saturated moisture content declines with increasing concrete strength grades and also declines with increasing area–volume ratios. The moisture content is slightly higher for specimens cured under the natural conditions than ones cured under the standard conditions in the same immersion times. The elasticity modulus increases with the moisture content increasing. The elasticity modulus of the fully saturated concrete has an increase of 30% over the fully dry concrete. Besides, a slight reduction occurs in the elasticity modulus for the specimens cured under the natural conditions than the ones cured under the standard conditions when the moisture content is almost the same. Based on the experimental data and the analytical results, a formula for the moisture content effect on the elasticity modulus of the concrete is proposed.