Experimental Study on Cracking Property of Self-Compacting Concrete

Taking free shrinkage as the key parameter in evaluating cracking of concrete, the cracking properties of self-compacting concrete with strength grade of C35 and C50 were investigated based on ring and slab restraint tests. Meanwhile, the ultimate tensile strain of self-compacting concrete was studied by using flexural test. Experimental results show that the shrinkage of self-compacting concrete is lower than that of normal concrete. Self-compacting concrete cracks later than normal concrete with the same strength grade. Although the ultimate flexural tensile strains of self-compacting concrete in 7 d and 28 d are a little bit lower than that of the normal concrete, it can still be concluded from the research that the cracking property of self-compacting concrete can be greatly improved by using proper mix proportion.