Experimental Investigation on Short- and Long-Term Deformations of Cracked Reinforced Concrete Ties

The current study reports the test results on deformations of cracked reinforced concrete (RC) ties. Four ties were tested under short- and long-term loading for 315 days. To perform the long-term tests, four testing rigs were constructed. The experimental results were compared with the Model Code 2010 predictions. It was revealed that the code overestimates the cracking load by 65-90%, and it is most likely due to the neglect of the shrinkage effect. It has been shown that 30-45% of the strain increment due to the long-term loading occurred during the first two-three days. The deformations of RC ties have practically stabilized after almost 300 days. The code quite accurately predicted the ultimate long-term strains. However, the prediction model was found to be too simplified to assess the increment of the long-term deformations.