Abstract
Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) have been widely explored in concrete technology for their promising application as internal curing agents. SAPs reduce shrinkage deformation and the risk of early-age cracking. In this paper, the efficiency of SAPs is assessed with mechanical strain gauges and long-gauge optical fiber sensors embedded inside the matrix. Two commercial and two in-house developed SAPs are used. The commercial SAPs and one of the in-house developed SAPs completely mitigated the autogenous shrinkage of concrete and all four reduced in 30% the total shrinkage. The optical fiber sensors performed better than the mechanical strain gauges and identified crack formation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 117751 |
| Journal | Construction and Building Materials |
| Volume | 238 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors thank Tom Stulemeijer, Dieter Hillewaere, Peter Van Den Bussche and Tommy De Ghein for the help with the experimental work. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Research Foundation - Flanders ( FWO - Vlaanderen ), D. Snoeck would like to thank the founda-tion for the financial support ( 12J3620N ).
Funding Information:
The authors thank Tom Stulemeijer, Dieter Hillewaere, Peter Van Den Bussche and Tommy De Ghein for the help with the experimental work. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen), D. Snoeck would like to thank the founda-tion for the financial support (12J3620N). The work has been financed by SIM program SHE (Engineered Self-Healing Materials) within the ICON project iSAP (Innovative SuperAbsorbent Polymers for crack mitigation and increased service life of concrete structures).
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