JCI1

Shrinkage cracking resistance of blast furnace slag blended
cement concrete - Influencing factors and enhancing

measures
Tetsushi Kanda, Haruki Momose, Keiichi Imamoto
Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology, volume 13 ( 2015 ), pp. 1-14
Stochastic Approach to Shrinkage Cracking Control for Reinforced Concrete Structural Elements
Tetsushi Kanda, Haruki Momose , Keiichi Imamoto, Hirozo Mihashi

Enhanced model and simulation of hydration process of blast furnace slag in blended cement
Yao Luan, Tetsuya Ishida , Toyoharu Nawa , Takahiro Sagawa

Effects of PFA and GGBS on Early-Ages Engineering Properties of Portland Cement Systems
Xiangming Zhou, Joel R. Slater, Stuart E. Wavell, Olayinka Oladiran

Enhanced Shrinkage Model Based on Early Age Hydration and Moisture Status in Pore Structure
Yao Luan , Tetsuya Ishida

Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology Vol. 13, 1-14, January 2015 / Copyright 2015 Japan Concrete Institute
Scientific paper
Shrinkage Cracking Resistance of Blast Furnace Slag Blended Cement

Concrete Influencing Factors and Enhancing Measures
Tetsushi Kanda1*, Haruki Momose2 and Keiichi Imamoto3
Received 31 August 2014, accepted 23 December 2014
doi:10.3151/jact.13.1
Abstract
Use of blast-furnace slag fine powder blended cement is an important option for lowering carbon emission in the concrete
construction sector. However, concrete with blended cement (hereafter denoted as BFS concrete) has been believed
vulnerable to shrinkage cracking and its use in building construction has been avoided except for underground structural
elements in Japan. To develop the use of BFS concrete in building construction, quantitative evaluation of its shrinkage
cracking resistance is necessary. The scope of this study included experimental verification of shrinkage resistance of BFS
concrete, in which the effects of ambient temperature were emphasized, and restraint shrinkage cracking tests with BFS
concrete subjected to three levels of ambient temperatures of 10, 20 and 30C compared with normal concrete. To improve crack resistance, an improved BFS concrete using additives such as water retaining shrinkage reducing agent (SRA)
was added to the experiments. As a result, the following two major conclusions were obtained: 1) The crack resistances of
BFS concrete deteriorated due to increasing free shrinkage strain at high temperatures, while this was not the case for the
normal concrete, and 2) water retaining type SRA dramatically improved the crack resistance of BFS concrete at high
temperatures.
1. Introduction
Blast furnace slag cement concrete is a versatile material
of low environmental impact but careful application is
needed because of its low cracking resistance. Increasing
demand for construction with low environmental impact
materials is leading to an extension of the applicable
range of BFS cement concrete and to a quantitative study
as well as improvement of shrinkage cracking resistance
of BSF cement concrete that has not been studied sufficiently. This is contrary to visible progress in fundamental
study in hydration process of BFS cement (e.g., Luan et al.
2013).
Extensive studies have been performed regarding the
shrinkage and shrinkage cracking behavior of concrete
with blast furnace slag focusing particularly on its autogenous shrinkage at lower water-binder ratio regions,
where autogenous shrinkage and associated cracking are
likely to occur with an increase in the content of blast
furnace slag fine powder (Saric-Coric and Atcin 2003).
Increases in autogenous shrinkage due to high temperature histories associated with the liberation of hydration heat at early ages have also been reported (Pane and
General Manager, Building Construction and Materials

Group, Kajima Technical Research Institute, Tokyo,
Japan.
*Corresponding author, E-mail: kandat@kajima.com
2
Senior Research Engineer, Building Construction and
Materials Group, Kajima Technical Research Institute,
Tokyo, Japan.
3
Professor, Department of Architecture, Tokyo University
of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
Hansen 2008b). Resistance to the thermal cracking of the

medium-volume BFS cement concrete has been known to
be sometimes low, as reported in recent years (Pane and
Hansen 2008a), when the binder of the most versatile
blast furnace slag cement type B, specified in JIS R 6202
(equivalent to CEMIII/B-42.5 of EN197), is substituted
40 percent with the blast furnace slag,
However, very few studies have been conducted on the
shrinkage cracking of medium-volume BFS cement
concrete (hereafter denoted as BFS concrete) applied to
thin building elements such as walls and floors, laying
particular emphasis on the influences of free shrinkage
where dying shrinkage and autogenous shrinkage are
combined. Studies of Aly and Sanjayan (2008) and
Kanda et al. (2013) are the examples but still insufficient
for the establishment of universal knowledge and not at a
technical level capable of controlling the shrinkage
cracking of BFS concrete during construction of wide
elements used in the upper structures of building.
In this background, this study aims to establish
shrinkage cracking control design for BFS concrete. In
this paper, restraint cracking test and creep tests are performed under various ambient temperatures with particular emphasis on the working mechanisms and improvement of shrinkage cracking resistance. Strain behavior during the restraint cracking test was analyzed in
detail and the influence of ambient temperature on the
shrinkage cracking behavior of BFS concrete was discussed.
2. Experimental plan
2.1 Outline of experiments
The experiments included restraint cracking test and
T. Kanda, H. Momose and K. Imamoto / Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology Vol. 13, 1-14, 2015
creep test. Parameters and grades are listed in Table 1 and

the combinations of the parameters are given in Table 2.
The restraint cracking test comprised two series of tests
where temperature and constituent materials were varied.
Cracking resistance was evaluated in terms of the material age at which the first crack was observed. Test series
with varied temperatures (temperature series) were conducted to understand the effect of temperature on
shrinkage crack resistance. Normal concrete specimens
with ordinary portland cement were prepared in addition
to the BFS concrete specimens and ambient temperatures
of 10, 20 and 30C were adopted to simulate constructions in winter, intermediary seasons, and summer. The
relative humidity was set at 40% to represent the dry
winter and at 60% for the other seasons. Taking into account the fact that the shrinkage crack resistance showed
considerable decrease at the ambient temperature of 30C,
test series with varied constituent materials (material
series) were performed using the improved BFS concrete
containing crack preventive materials, and the effects of
Table 1 Test parameters and grades.
Test type
Test series
Parameter
Grade
BFS concrete
Concrete type
Temperature
Normal concrete
Restraint
Temp
(C)
10, 20, 30
cracking
Temp (C)
20, 30
test
Material
SRA, low Blaine FS,
Constituent
Expansive agent
BFS concrete
Concrete type
Normal concrete
7, 28
Creep test Material age at loading (day)
Sealed curing, air
Curing condition
curing
shrinkage reducing agent (hereafter denoted as SRA), low

Blaine value BFS and an expansive agent were studied.
As a result, the restraint cracking test comprised ten mix
proportions including six of temperature series and four
of constituent materials series combining the conditions
shown in Table 2. The creep test was performed to understand creep behavior that poses significant influences
on shrinkage cracking behavior. Specimens were BFS
concrete and normal concrete subjected to loading at the
ambient temperature of 20C under different curing conditions and material ages of loading initiation as shown in
Table 3.
2.2 Materials, mix proportions and mixing
Materials and mix proportions used are listed in Table 4
and 5. Normal concrete with ordinary portland cement as
the unique binder and BFS concrete with BFS fine powder substituting 45 percent of cement were subjected to
the temperature series of the restraint cracking test. Both
the normal concrete and BFS concrete were prepared with
a fixed water-binder ratio of 0.5 and the unit water of 175
kg/m3 as shown in Table 5. The selection of relatively
high water-binder ratio was to clarify cracking resistance
of normal strength BFS concrete that is widely applied in
building construction works. Characters of the BFS fine
powder are listed in Table 6. Specific surface area of the
normal Blaine value BFS used in the temperature series
of the test was approximately 4200cm2/g, which is within
the widely used range of 4000 class specified in Japanese
Industrial Standard JIS A 6206. Both the normal and BFS
concrete used for the creep tests were prepared with the
same mix proportions as those of the temperature series
and sampled at the same time as that of the temperature
series.
Table 2 Test parameters and grades of restraint cracking test.

Test series
Temperature series
Material series
Specimen
N10
N20
N30
B10
B20
B30
B20-SRA
B30-SRA
B30-C-SRA
B30-C-Ex
Concrete type
Temperature
Normal concrete
BFS concrete
Improved BFS
concrete
10C (RH40%)
20C (RH60%)
30C (RH60%)
10C (RH40%)
20C (RH60%)
30C (RH60%)
20C (RH60%)
30C (RH60%)
30C (RH60%)
30C (RH60%)
Blaine value of
BFS
Normal
Normal
Normal
Normal
Normal
Low
Low
Expansive
agent
Dosed
SRA
Dosed
Dosed
Dosed
-
Table 3 Test parameters and grades of creep test.

Specimen
Concrete type
N7S
N7A
Normal concrete
N28S
N28A
B7S
B7A
BFS concrete
B28S
B28A
*Performed at 20C and R.H. of 60%
Material age at loading (day)

7
7
28
28
7
7
28
28
*Curing condition after loading

Sealed
Air
Sealed
Air
Sealed
Air
Sealed
Air
The test series with varied constituent materials was

designed to evaluate the effects of SRA, low Blaine value
BFS and expansive agent on shrinkage reducing capability (Table 4). Among SRAs, a newly developed water
retaining type was used. The main constituent of the
water retaining SRA is a polyoxyalkylene glycol maintaining the amount of water absorption in concrete microstructure to reduce shrinkage, and was developed to
solve the known problems associated with the reduction
of surface tension such as instability of air content and
low freeze/thaw resistance (Masanaga et al. 2011). When
the SRA, with a solid content of 50%, was inclusively
mixed with the mixing water in concrete, a 10% to 20%

reduction in drying shrinkage was attained (Kuroiwa et al.
2011) and the air-dry moisture content increased by 0.5%
to 1%. The low Blaine value BFS can reduce autogenous
shrinkage (Miura et al. 1995) and has a specific surface
area of 3450cm2/g, a lower limit of 4000 class specified in
JIS A 6206 (Table 6). Because it was reported that
cracking resistance could not be improved solely with the
low Blaine BFS (JCI 2010), water retaining SRA and an
expansive agent were combined in this experiment.
The mixes shown in Table 5 were determined to have a
slump of 182.5cm and air content of 4.51.5% as a
Table 4 Concrete materials.

Material
Cement
Type
Ordinary portland cement
Quality
Density: 3.16 g/cm3
Blaine: 4170 cm2/g,
Density: 2.89 g/cm3
Blaine: 3450 cm2/g,
Density: 2.87 g/cm3
Density: 3.12 g/cm3
SSD density: 2.64 g/cm3
Water absorption: 1.10%
FM: 2.74
FM: 7.0
FM: 6.14
Density: 1.04 g/cm3
Density: 1.05 g/cm3
Normal Blaine
Blast furnace slag fine powder
Low Blaine
Expansive agent
Ettringite-lime compound
Fine aggregate
Crushed sand
Crushed rock 1
Coarse aggregate
Crushed rock 2
Standard
JIS R 5210
JIS A 6206
JIS A 6202
JIS A 5005
Superplasticizer
Polycarbonic acid type
Shrinkage reducing agent: SRA
Water retaining
* SSD: Saturated surface-dry condition
**JASS: Japanese Architectural Standard Specification 5, Reinforced concrete works, AIJ
JIS A 6204
JASS5-M402
Table 5 Mix proportions.

Test series
Concrete type
Water-binder Fine aggregate

ratio
content (%)
Temperature
series
*Unit
water
BFS concrete
46.3
Normal concrete
46.7
B20-SRA
0.50
175
48.4
B30-SRA
Material
series
B30-C-SRA
48.4
B30-C-Ex
48.4
*Unit water of B20-SRA, B30-SRA, B30-C-SRA included 10kg/m3 of SRA
Cement
203
350
Unit content (kg/m3)

Normal Blaine Low Blaine Expansive
BFS
BFS
agent
147
0
-
203
147
203
191
147
139
20
Table 6 Quality of blast furnace slag fine powder.

Quality
Density (g/cm3)
Normal Blaine BFS

2.89
Low Blaine BFS

2.87
Specific surface area (cm2/g)
4170
3450
70 (7 days)
93 (28 days)
115 (91 days)
99
5.66
2.03
0.93
0.004
1.84
56 (7 days)
83 (28 days)
101 (91 days)
101
6.1
3.0
1.2
0.002
1.95
Activity factor (%)

Normalized flow value (%)
MgO content (%)
SO3 content (%)
Loss of ignition (%)
Chloride ion content (%)
Basicity
JIS A 6206 recommendation

2.8
3000
<5000
55 (7 days)
75 (28 days)
95 (91 days)
95
10.0
4.0
3.0
0.02
1.6
result of trial mixings. Mixing was performed with a

biaxial forced mixer. After mixing of aggregates and
binder for 15 seconds, water and super-plasticizer were
introduced and mixed for 2 minutes. Specimens were
prepared using fresh concrete mixed at the ambient
temperature of 20C and introduced in the molds placed
in an isothermal humidistat chamber with a specified
temperature and relative humidity as shown in Table 2.
2.3 Test items and methods
(1) Restraint cracking test
The test items and methods of the restraint cracking test
are listed in Table 7. The methods of the restraint cracking test and free shrinkage test were based on the literature (JCI 2010), and the shrinkage restrained stress at the
concrete cross section was calculated with the Equation
(1) using the restrained stress of reinforcing steel measured with an adhered strain gauge as shown in Fig. 1.
rs ( t ) =
s ( t ) Es Ars
(1)
Arc
where rs(t) is the shrinkage restraining stress at time t

(N/mm2), s(t) is the strain of restraining steel at a time t,
Es is the elastic modulus of restraining steel (N/mm2), Ars
is the cross sectional area of restraining steel (mm2) and
Arc is the cross sectional area of the concrete specimen at
the center of the test length (mm2).
The embedment length at each end of the reinforcing
steel bar, with a diameter of 32mm, was 400mm and
machined equivalent to a M33 screw. A 300 mm of the
center portion in the restraint cracking test specimen in
Fig. 1 was the testing section where the bond between the
concrete and steel bar was eliminated to realize uniform
stress distribution along the steel bar. The specimen for
the free shrinkage test had dimensions of 100 100
400mm and a mold-type strain transducer embedded at
the center of the cross section. To measure autogenous
shrinkage, the transducer was a low modulus type capable
of tracing the strains at very early ages. The strain measurement was triggered at the initial setting point.
All the specimens were subjected to sealed curing in
the isothermal humidistat chamber without unmolding
under temperature of 20C and relative humidity of 60%
until the specified conditions in Table 2 such as material
age of 7 days. After unmolding, the specimens were
subjected to drying with the two longitudinal sides open
and the other two sides sealed with aluminum foil. Mechanical tests including compressive strength, elastic
modulus and split tensile strength were performed at a
material age of 3, 7 and 28 days. The specimens were
cured in the same manner as that of the restraint cracking
test, i.e. sealed curing until the material age of 7 days and
subsequent air curing.
The geometry in the restraint cracking test specimen
shown in Fig. 1 approximately led to a restraint degree of
0.5 while the restraint degree varies depending on age,
concrete mix proportion, and so on. This restraint degree
was similar to those in typical thin building elements like
walls and floor slabs. Furthermore, this JCI standard
testing method has been verified using concrete with a
maximum coarse aggregate size of 20mm, and its application may be limited up to the maximum aggregate size.
Table 7 Test items.

Test type
Test item
Measurement
Specimen
Test conditions
Slump, air content, temperature,
Fresh property
unit mass
Compressive strength
(JIS A 1108)
Curing: pursuant to the main test
100-200mm
Elastic modulus
Number of specimen: 3
Strength
(JIS A 1149)
Loading age: 3-day, 7-day (upon drying),
Restraint
28-day (removed at 7-day, air curing)
Split tensile strength
cracking test
100-200mm
(JIS A 1113)
Restrained shrinkage stress
Teflon and polyester film were
Restrained cracking
100x100x1100mm
applied for parting.
Cracking age
Curing: sealed curing till the age of 7-day.
Air curing after unmolding.
Free shrinkage
Free shrinkage strain
100x100x400mm
Number of specimen: 2
Creep
Creep strain
100-200mm
Creep test
Performed at 20C and R.H. of 60%
Free shrinkage
Free shrinkage strain
100-200mm
Restraint cracking test

Fig. 1 Specimens for the restraint cracking test.
Free shrinkage test
(2) Creep experiment

The parameters of the creep tests, as listed in Table 1,
were material age subjected to loading of 7 and 28 days
and curing conditions of air and sealed curing. The combination of the parameters are shown in Table 3. The
testing method was based on JIS A 1157. Each two cylindrical specimens per test with a diameter of 100mm
and a length of 200mm were subjected to compressive
strength test under the temperature of 20C. Loading for
the creep test was controlled to have stress one third the
compressive strength of concrete. Strain measurement
during loading was performed with a mold-type strain
transducer embedded at the center of the specimen. Each
two unloading specimens per test grade was prepared to
measure free shrinkage. The creep strain was worked out
by subtracting the free shrinkage strain from the measured creep strain.
Whereas in nature, tensile creep has to be rather taken
into account for the shrinkage cracking behavior, while
compressive creep was adopted in this experiment. This
is because the tensile and compressive creep behave
similarly in a dried condition (Rossi et al. 2013) and
hence tensile creep behavior under restrained drying
shrinkage might be predicted through the compressive
creep test results. The effects of temperature on creep
behavior were not within the scope of this study.
Table 8 Fresh properties.

Specimen
Slump
(cm)
B30
B20
B10
N30
N20
N10
B30-SRA
B20-SRA
B30-C-SRA
B30-C-Ex
19.0
19.0
19.0
19.5
19.5
18.0
20.0
20.0
19.5
20.0
Fresh properties
Air
Concrete
Unit mass
content
temperature
(kg/l)
(%)
(C)
4.6
20.3
2.30
4.7
20.2
2.29
4.3
20.5
2.30
4.9
20.6
2.29
5.1
20.8
2.28
4.9
20.9
2.29
4.9
19.5
2.29
4.8
19.5
2.29
4.5
19.3
2.29
4.9
19.5
2.29
3. Experimental results
3.1 Restraint cracking test
Properties of fresh concrete are shown in Table 8.
Workability of all the concretes immediately after mixing
was satisfactory hence concrete placement and preparation of specimens were completed without problems.
Results of the mechanical tests are shown in Table 9 and
strength developments with material age are shown in
Figs. 2, 3 and 4. These suggest that all mechanical properties of BFS concrete and improved BFS concrete tended
to be smaller than those of the normal concrete when
compared at the same material age, and the difference in
magnitude of the mechanical properties was notable at the
temperature of 20C and became moderate at 30C approaching to the mechanical properties of the normal
concrete, particularly with regards to elastic modulus.
Because the BFS concrete exhibited smaller split tensile
strength and equivalent elastic modulus compared to
those of the normal concrete, use of BFS concrete at the
temperature of 30C may lead to a negative impact on the
cracking resistance.
Free shrinkage strain profiles of concrete specimens
are shown in Fig. 5. The free shrinkage strains of the
normal concrete at material age of 80 days were almost
equal irrespective of difference in ambient temperature as
shown in Fig. 5(b), while free shrinkage strains of the
BFS concrete subjected to the ambient temperature of
30C (B30) showed considerable differences from B20
and B10, with shrinkage strain 100 larger than that of
the others as shown in Fig. 5(a). Rapid development of
shrinkage strain of the B30 specimen was observed at
early material age younger than 30 days. Regarding the
free shrinkage strains of the improved BFS concrete,
however, contribution of the water retaining SRA was
notable as shown in Fig. 5(c) and free shrinkage of the
B30-SRA specimen was 200 smaller than that of the
B30 specimen shown in Fig. 5(a). Increase in crack resistance can be expected for the improved BFS concrete
because the free shrinkage strain of the B30-SRA specimen was 100 smaller than that of N30 shown in Fig.
5(b). Results of the restraint cracking test are compiled in
Table 10 and development of restrained shrinkage stress
during the test is shown in Fig. 6. Rate of development in
Table 9 Mechanical test results.

Specimen
B30
B20
B10
N30
N20
N10
B30-SRA
B20-SRA
B30-C-SRA
B30-C-Ex
Test results (Sealed curing for 7 days and subsequent air curing)
Compressive strength (N/mm2)
Elastic modulus (x103 N/mm2)
3-day
7-day
28-day
3-day
7-day
28-day
21.4
34.1
41.9
22.1
27.8
28.5
15.4
26.4
40.4
20.5
23.7
28.2
8.7
20.3
37.5
15.6
22.6
28.4
29.0
38.1
48.6
26.0
29.6
30.6
24.8
36.1
47.8
22.9
30.4
29.7
17.3
33.9
44.8
21.0
26.0
29.6
22.1
33.9
47.5
23.0
26.7
29.1
16.0
26.0
41.6
21.0
23.5
29.5
20.2
31.3
44.4
20.1
25.6
29.5
22.6
33.2
44.8
24.9
27.6
29.8
Split tensile strength (N/mm2)

3-day
7-day
28-day
2.09
2.92
3.70
1.64
2.31
3.51
0.98
1.93
3.53
2.83
2.99
4.39
2.62
3.04
4.32
1.80
2.67
3.66
1.36
1.72
3.78
1.31
1.41
3.40
1.26
1.48
3.55
2.20
3.00
3.39
(a) 20oC
10
20
Age (days)
30
B30-SRA
50
N30
40
30
B30
20
B30-C-SRA
10
(b) 30 C
0
10
20
Age (days)
30
Fig. 2 Compressive strength.
40
(a) 20oC
B20-SRA
0
10
20
Age (days)
30
N30
4
3 B30
B30-SRA
2
1
0
B30-C-SRA
0
(b) 30oC
10
20
Age (days)
30
B10
-200
-400
B30
-600
B20
-800
0.1
1
10
100
Age (days)
(a) BFS concrete
25
20
B20
15
10
5
0
(a) 20oC
0
1000
0
-200
-400
N30
-600
N20
-800
-1000
0.01
10
20
Age (days)
N30
B30
35
30
30
25
20
B30-C-SRA
B30-SRA
15
10
5
(b) 30oC
0
0
10
20
Age (days)
30
200
Dry
N10
0.1
1
10
100
Age (days)
Free shrinkage strain ()
B20-SRA
30
Fig. 4 Elastic modulus.
200
Dry
N20
35
Fig. 3 Split tensile strength.
200
-1000
0.01
B20
Elastic modulus (x10 N/mm )
10
N20
B20
20
30
40
Elastic modulus (x10 N/mm )
N20
40
Splitting tensile strength (N/mm )
60
B20-SRA
50
Splitting tensile strength (N/mm )
60
1000
(b) Normal concrete

Fig. 5 Development of free shrinkage strains.
restrained shrinkage stress of BFS concrete before and

after drying showed a notable difference as shown in Fig.
6(a), while such tendency was not clearly exhibited in the
normal concrete as shown in Fig. 6(b). The impacts of the
improvement of BFS concrete are shown in Figs. (c) and
(d) where the improved BFS concrete clearly shows
slower development of restrained shrinkage stress compared to the normal concrete and BFS concrete. This
improvement was notable particularly in B20-SRA and
B30-SRA where water retaining SRA was solely introduced, and the age of initial cracking was largely postponed compared with that of the BFS concretes and became better than that of the normal concrete. When the
BFS with low Blaine value was introduced, the B30-C-Ex
specimen with expansive agent showed slower development in restrained shrinkage stress due probably to an
effect of low Blaine value BFS in addition to the impact
of expansive agent posing a compressive stress due to the
chemical pre-stressing effect at early stages. These fa-
Dry
B20-SRA
-200
-400
B30-C
-SRA
-600
-800
-1000
0.01
B30-SRA
0.1
1
10
100
Age (days)
1000
(c) Improved BFS concrete
vorable results were what had been anticipated in the

experimental plan while the cracking strength was so low
that the material age of the first cracking (hereafter denoted as cracking age) was not extended as expected.
Specimen B30-C-SRA with water retaining SRA also
showed cracks at low restrained shrinkage stress levels as
a tendency common to the specimens with low Blaine
value BFS. Although concretes with low Blaine BFS
showed no significant decrease in 4-week split tensile
strength compared with that of BFS concrete and normal
concrete, the strength at the material age up to 1 week was
considerably low, suggesting that this is one reason for
the failure in extending the cracking age. Further investigation into the reason is a challenge for the future.
3.2 Creep experiment
The results of the creep test are shown in Fig. 7. Creep
coefficients in this figure, determined by dividing the
creep strain with the elastic strain upon initial loading,
Table 10 Restraint cracking test results.

Restrained shrinkage tensile
stress upon drying (N/mm2)
0.27
B10
0.25
0.23
0.45
B20
0.45
0.45
0.59
B30
0.60
0.60
0.32
N10
0.33
0.33
0.34
N20
0.35
0.37
0.32
N30
0.36
0.39
0.51
B20-SRA
0.45
0.39
0.41
B30-SRA
0.39
0.36
0.37
B30-C-SRA
0.36
0.36
-0.22
B30-C-Ex
-0.22
-0.23
58.8
38.2
37.5
31.9
20.9
17.3
56.1
30.9
44.1
42.0
40.8
34.0
75.3
86.2
46.3
72.0
27.3
28.7
36.4
32.9
34.7
19.1
43.5
43.0
37.4
80.8
59.2
28.0
34.7
B10
B20
X
X
2
1
Stress due to autogenous shrinkage
0
0
X : Cracking
10
20
30 40 50
Age (days)
2.86
2.55
2.60
2.87
2.48
2.20
3.04
2.31
2.29
2.97
2.66
2.44
20.2
2.56
2.13
2.71
1.63
1.70
1.60
1.37
48.5
60
70
X
B20-SRA
0
0
2.55
2.29
2.42
1.67
1.49
N20
N10
X
N30
1
0
0
X : Cracking
20 30 40 50
Age (days)
10
X
X
2.94
Restraint shrinkage stress (N/mm )
2.67
60
70
80
(b) Normal concrete
N20
B20
2.34
Cracking strength reducing

factor
0.78
0.76
0.73
0.70
0.75
0.79
0.69
0.65
0.62
0.74
0.67
0.60
0.69
0.70
0.71
0.61
0.59
0.57
0.49
0.54
0.60
0.52
0.56
0.61
0.48
0.49
0.49
0.44
0.41
0.38
80
X : Cracking
Dry
2.73
(a) BFS concrete

4
2.71
Dry
Dry
B30
Cracking strength (N/mm2)
Cracking age (day)
Concrete

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Age (days)
(c) Ambient temperature of 20C
3
2
Dry
X : Cracking

B30
N30
X
B30-SRA
X
X
X X
B30-C-Ex
1
0
0
10
B30-C-SRA
20 30 40 50
Age (days)
60
70
80
(d) Ambient temperature of 30C
Fig. 6 Development of restrained shrinkage stress and cracking behavior.
showed an increase with time. Regardless of the curing

conditions, the creep coefficient of BFS concrete was
smaller than that of the normal concrete both at the material age of 7 and 28 days as shown in Fig. 7(a) and (b).
4. Discussion of the experimental results

4.1 Effects of experimental parameters on
cracking resistance
The effects of experimental parameters on the cracking
age, as obtained through the restraint cracking tesst, are
3
N7A
2.5
N7S
2
1.5
B7A
1
0.5
0
0.0001
B7S
0.01
1
100
Loading duration (days)
Creep coefficient
Creep coefficient
2.5
N28A
2
N28S
1.5
1
0.5
0
0.001
(a) Material age of 7 days
B28A
0.1
10
Loading duration (days)
B28S
1000
(b) Material age of 28 days
Fig. 7 Results of creep test.
Cracking age (day)
80
70
Modified BFS
(B20-SRA)
60 BFS
50
Modified BFS
(B30-SRA)
Modified BFS
(B30-C-Ex)
40
30
Normal
20
10
Modified BFS
(B30-C-SRA)
10
20
30
o
Curing temperature ( C)
Fig. 8 Effects of parameters on cracking age.
compiled in Fig. 8. The cracking age of BFS concrete

tended to be earlier than that of the normal concrete at a
temperature higher than 20C and the tendency became
notable at 30C. This result agrees with the generally
accepted idea that BFS concrete has room for improvement with regard to shrinkage cracking resistance.
However, looking at the improved version of BFS
concrete with single dosage of water retaining SRA in Fig.
8, the cracking age was remarkably postponed under not
only 20C (B20-SRA) but also 30C (B30-SRA), showing the favorable effect of water retaining SRA on
shrinkage cracking resistance of BFS concrete. Another

means of improvement using low Blaine BFS, on the
other hand, showed almost no effect even though water
retaining SRA (B30-C-SRA) or expansive agent
(B30-C-Ex) was added.
4.2 Factors affecting the cracking resistance of
BFS concrete
(1) Cracking strength and crack reducing factor
As shown in Fig. 8, the cracking resistance of BFS concrete showed significant decrease at high temperatures
corresponding to summer conditions. Factors affecting
the cracking resistance of BFS concrete are discussed
below. The cracking strength is discussed first because it
represents direct resistance to cracking. The cracking
strength fcr is defined as a restrained shrinkage stress at
the time of cracking given by equation (1) and the crack
reducing factor is introduced (Architectural Institute of
Japan 2006), normalizing fcr with the split tensile strength
ft of the same material age as shown in equation (2). On
the basis of the mechanical tests, the split tensile strength
at any temperature conditions ft is given by equation (3)
where the effective material age of CEB-FIP90 (1990) tn
and compressive strength fc are given by Equations (4)
and (5). Empirical constants used in ft of Equation (3) and
fc of Equation (5) were approximated using the mechanical test results and are shown in Table 11.
Table 11 Empirical constants in the prediction formulas.

Test series
Temperature series
Material series
Specimen
N10
N20
N30
B10
B20
B30
B20-SRA
B30-SRA
B30-C-SRA
B30-C-Ex
Compressive strength
c2
c1
Empirical constant
Split tensile strength
t1
t2
Elastic modulus
e1
0.53
0.53
0.15
0.85
0.17
0.68
0.23
0.15
0.86
0.28
0.45
0.49
0.016
1.4
0.30
062
0.64
0.33
0.27
0.005
0.34
1.7
0.61
0.44
0.21
1.0
Temp. series B
Temp. series N
Mat'l series SRA
Mat'l series Corse B
0.7
Cacking strength fcr (N/mm2)
Relative cracking strength
1.2
in literature
0.5
0.2
0.0
0
25
50
75
Cracking age (days)
(a) Cracking reducing factor
100
3.5
2.8
2.1
1.4
0.7
0
0
25
50
75
Cracking age (days)
(b) Cracking strength
100
Fig. 9 Cracking strength and crack reducing factor.
= f cr / f t (cr tn )
(2)
f t (tn ) = t1 f c (tn ) t 2
(3)
4000
tn = ti exp 13.65
273
(
)
T
t
T
+
i=0
i
28 c 2
f c (tn ) = f c (28) exp c1 1
tn
(4)
(5)
where crtn is the effective material age showing cracking

during restraint cracking test (day), c1, c2, t1 and t2
are empirical constants, ti is the number of days when
the temperature is T(ti) (day), T0 is 1 (C) and fc(28) is
the compressive strength of standard-cured specimen at
the material age of 28 days (N/mm2).
The crack reducing factor and influence of cracking
age on the cracking strength are shown in Figs. 9(a) and
(b). The crack reducing factor exceeded 0.6 in the test
series with varied temperature in Fig. 9(a). Both crack
reducing factor and cracking strength tended to show a
slight increase after the cracking age extended as reported
in the literature (Ohno and Uomoto 2000). When compared by concrete type in the test series with varied
temperature, differences in the cracking strength in Fig.
9(b) were small. This is attributed to normal concretes
slightly smaller crack reducing factor compensated by
larger split tensile strength, as shown in Fig. 3. This
phenomenon calls for in a detailed examination in the
future.
The test series with varied constituent materials, on the
other hand, showed different results. The specimens
dosed exclusively with SRA, B30-SRA and B20-SRA,
showed low crack reducing factor in spite of their satisfactory cracking age, and cracking strength was lower
than that of B20 and B30. This may be attributed to the
negative effect of water retaining SRA because it was
reported that its use could result in a reduction of cracking
strength (Momose et al. 2011). Specimens with the low
Blaine value BFS failed to improve either the crack reducing factor or the crack strength. It is probable that the
Element length L 0
(a)after casting
Element length L0
Element length after

free deformation Lf
Free shrink. def. f
(b)Free shrinkage specimen

Element length L 0
Element length after
restraint def. Lr
Restraint def.r
Total deformationa
(c)Restraint cracking specimen
Fig. 10 Definition of deformations.
use of the low Blaine value BFS led to a retardation of

hydration reactions resulting in a negative effect on the
cracking resistance. It might be the insufficient cracking
strength that led to the lower cracking resistance than that
of B30. The use of the low Blaine value BFS obviously
has a negative effect on the cracking resistance and will
not be considered in the subsequent discussion.
(2) Comparison of strain behavior in the restraint cracking tests
Changes in strain development during the restraint
cracking tests were analyzed to study the processes of
cracking. The deformations in the free shrinkage test and
restrained shrinkage test were normalized with the test
length L0 and defined as free shrinkage strain sh, restrained shrinkage strain rs and total strain c, as shown in
Fig. 10. The restrained shrinkage strain was defined as
the sum of creep strain cr and elastic strain e, which were
determined with the following Equations (6) and (7).
Development of elastic modulus was calculated with
equation (8) as a function of effective age tn given in
Equation (4). Empirical constant e1 was obtained with
10
200
Total strain c
-200
Free shrinkage strain sh
-400
Elastic strain e
Total strain c
-200
(a) N30
-600
Total strain c
0
-200
-400
-600
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Age (day)
Creep strain cr
Elastic strain e
Total strain c
-200
-600
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Age (day)
-200
-600
(c) N10
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Age (day)
Creep strain cr
200
0
-400
(d) B30
Total strain c
(b) N20
Elastic strain e
-400
200
Elastic strain e
Strain ()
200
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Age (day)
Creep strain cr
Creep strain cr
200
-400
-600
Strain ()
Creep strain cr
Strain ()
Strain ()
Strain ()
Elastic strain e
Strain ()
Creep strain cr
200
Elastic strain e
Total strain c
-200
-400
(e) B20
0
-600
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Age (day)
(f) B10
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Age (day)
Fig. 11 Strain behavior during the restraint cracking tests.

100
100
Elastic strain e
Total strain c
-50
-100
Creep strain cr
-150 Free shrinkage strain sh

-200
10
Age (day)
Total strain c
-50
15
-100
-200
10
Age (day)
-50
-100
-150
(b) B20
0
Elastic strain e
Total strain c
Elastic strain e
-150
(a) B30
Creep strain cr
50
Strain ()
Strain ()
50
Strain ()
50
100
Creep strain cr
15
-200
(c) N30
0
10
Age (day)
15
Fig. 12 Strain behavior at early stage of the restraint cracking tests.
least square approximation of the result of the mechanical

test as shown in Table 11.
e (tn ) = rs (tn ) Ec (tn )
(6)
cr (tn ) = c (tn ) sh (tn ) e (tn )
(7)
0.5
28 0.5
Ec (tn ) = Ec (28) exp e1 1
tn
(8)
where rs (tn ) is restrained shrinkage stress at the effective age of tn, c(tn) is measured strain of concrete at the
effective age of tn, assumed to be equivalent to the strain
of restraining steel, sh(tn) is measured free shrinkage
strain at the effective age of tn, and Ec(28) is the 28-day
elastic modulus of the concrete subjected to standard

curing (N/mm2). The sign of stress and strain was positive
in tension.
Measured strains c and sh of the temperature series of
concrete until the first crack formation are shown in Fig.
11 together with e and cr values as calculated with
equations (6), (7) and (8). Generally, cr was greater than
e, suggesting the importance of stress relaxation due to
creep during restrained shrinkage cracking behavior.
Differences by concrete type were not notable in the
normal concrete between (a), (b) and (c) showing a
moderate influence of temperature, while notable in BFS
concrete (d), (e) and (f).
A close look at the difference in the early-age strain
behavior in Fig. 11 is shown in Fig. 12 where the results
B30, B20 and B10 are shown until the material age of 15
11
Creep strain cr
50
Elastic strain e
Strain ()
Total strain c
-50
-100
-150
-200

0
5
10
Effective age (day)
15
Fig. 13 Apparent strain development at early stages

(B30).
days. A characteristic behavior of B30 can be observed in

its free shrinkage strain sh in Fig. 12(a) where an expansive peak of approx. 50 is shown at an early age
before 1 day (marked with a dot). However, elastic strain
e was as small as a few micrometers on the compression
side, and the creep strain cr with nearly the same magnitude of the free shrinkage strain sh can be observed.
This suggests that the expansive strain of free shrinkage
strain sh might be consumed as creep strain and unable
to form compressive stress that could contribute to the
cracking resistance. Expansive free shrinkage strain sh
may be attributed to the formation of ettringite as a result
of reactions of aluminate with sulfur trioxide originated
from gypsum (see Table 6). Evidence of the failure of
earlystage ettringite-induced expansion in forming
compressive stress that could contribute to cracking resistance has been reported regarding expansive concrete
at hot climate (Momose et al. 2004). This tendency can be
observed in B20 and B10 in Fig. 12, but become less
notable with decreases in temperature. The vanishing of
expansive strain, originated from the ettringite formation
at early stages, as a creep strain in a restraining condition
poses a notable negative effect on cracking resistance
because the peak of expansive free shrinkage strain becomes an apparent origin of stress development and the
subsequent free shrinkage strain could contribute to the
development of restraining shrinkage stress. Based on
this concept, development of strains setting the origin as
the age marked as a dot in Fig. 12(a) is illustrated in Fig.
13. A significant increase in free shrinkage strain sh can
be recognized when compared with the result of N30 in
Fig. 12(c) and this could be a cause of degradation of the
cracking resistance of BSF concrete at higher temperatures. In the subsequent discussions, the modified origin
of stress development will be adopted for all the experiments.
(3) Effects of characteristic value of strain behavior on the cracking resistance
The effects of temperature on the free shrinkage strain is
shown in Fig. 14, where the final strain at the end of the
drying test, namely 6-month free shrinkage strain, is

defined as a characteristic value of sh and shown as a
function of temperature. For the 6-month free shrinkage
strains of BFS concretes, the modified origin for strain
development was adopted, while those of the others were
recorded from setting to the material age of 189 days. The
absolute value of the 6-month free shrinkage strain of
BFS concrete showed an increase with increases in temperature, while that of the normal concrete showed the
reverse tendency, resulting in larger or smaller values at
10C and 30C and vice versa, but nearly the same value
at the temperature of 20C. This behavior at 20C agrees
with the traditional understanding in which drying
shrinkage of BFS concrete is not larger than that of normal concrete (e.g., Zhou et al. 2012).
It was reported that autogenous shrinkage of BFS
concrete was greater when subjected to higher temperature history due to the liberation of hydration heat in
massive concrete (JCI 2008), while under the condition of
relatively low water-cement ratio and constant temperature, autogeneous shrinkage does not always increase
with temperature (Lura et al. 2001), though the mechanisms were unknown (Lura et al. 2002). However, the
notable increase in 6-month free shrinkage strain of
normal strength BFS concrete with increase in temperature is a new finding in this study, and the investigation of
the mechanism involved is a theme for the future study.
Drying shrinkage of hardened cement paste in the normal
concrete tended to become smaller at high temperatures
(Maruyama and Kishi 2011). This supports the results as
shown in Fig. 14. Moreover, effects of the 6-month free
shrinkage strain on the cracking age are shown in Fig. 15.
Generally, with an increase in the absolute value of the
6-month free shrinkage strain of BFS concrete, the
cracking age became earlier while that of the normal
concrete remained almost unchanged. When the 6-month
free shrinkage strain developed greater than 700 , the
cracking age of BFS concrete tended to become earlier
than that of the normal concrete at the same strain level.
For a further investigation of the factors affecting
cracking resistance, two parameters were newly introduced with particular emphasis on the cracking age: i) the
free shrinkage rate defined as free shrinkage strain sh
Free shrinkage strain at 6 month ()
100
0
-200
-400
-600
Modified BFS
(SRA)
BFS
-800
-1000
Normal
10
20
30
o
Fig. 14 Influence of temperature on free shrinkage strain.
12
100
80
Modified BFS
(SRA)
Cracking age (day)
Cracking age (day)
100
60 Normal
40
20
0
-900
BFS
-800
-700
Free shrinkage strain at 6 month ()
40 BFS
Normal
20
Fig. 16 Influence of free shrinkage rate on cracking resistance.
Creep coefficient at cracking
divided by the cracking age, and ii) creep coefficient at

cracking defined as a creep strain divided by the elastic
strain. The effects of the free shrinkage rate on the
cracking age is shown in Fig. 16, where the cracking age
is shown as a function of the free shrinkage rate, which
can be regarded as the most important parameter controlling the cracking resistance. The introduction of free
shrinkage rate could lead to an understanding of the difference in cracking resistance between BFS concrete and
the normal concrete at a 6-month free shrinkage strain
larger than 700 m. Namely, variation of the 6-month free
shrinkage strain of the normal concrete at ambient temperatures was considerable while variation of the free
shrinkage rate was small. Hence, the cracking age affected by the free shrinkage rate was supposed to be less
variable at ambient temperatures.
The BFS concrete, on the other hand, showed increases
both in 6-month free shrinkage strain and free shrinkage
rate with increase in temperature, and use of either parameter was able to account for the reduction of its
cracking age.
The free shrinkage rate appears to be a good characteristic value when wishing to gain a deep understanding
of the cracking mechanism of concrete. To obtain this
newly introduced parameter, it is necessary to combine
the restraint cracking test and free shrinkage test. However, accumulating knowledge about the parameter may
lead to distinguishing cracking resistance of concrete
solely with the free shrinkage test by focusing on free
shrinkage developing speed as well as ultimate free
shrinkage strain, the latter of which has not attracted
research community. Attention to this area should be
promoted, e.g., by the extension of sophisticated drying
shrinkage profile prediction analysis based on the hydration model (Luan and Ishida 2013).
The effects of temperature on the creep coefficient at
cracking are shown by concrete type. BFS concrete had
smaller creep coefficient at cracking than that of the
normal concrete except for the test at the ambient temperature of 10C. These results agreed well with those of
the creep test performed at the temperature of 20C and
with the creep coefficient, though the definition was not
60
0
-25 -20 -15 -10 -5
0
Free shrinkage rate (/day)
-600
Fig. 15 Influence of free shrinkage strain on cracking age.
80
Modified BFS
(SRA)
Modified BFS
(SRA)
3.5
3
Normal
2.5
2
10
20
BFS
30
o
Fig. 17 Influence of temperature on creep coefficient at
cracking.
the same. It is particularly notable that creep of specimens

with water retaining SRA, B30-SRA and B20-SRA, were
remarkably large, as shown in Fig. 17. The cracking age
of BFS concrete improved with SRA was postponed and
showed better cracking resistance when compared at the
same free shrinkage rate in Fig. 16. This improvement
may be attributed to restrained shrinkage stress relaxation
due to increase in creep. It was reported that the use of
conventional SRAs with the normal concrete, expecting
solely reduction of water surface tension, led rather to
reduction of creep (He and Qian 2011). Hence the observed increase in creep, as shown in Fig. 17, may be
attributed to the nature of water retaining SRA or its
combined effects with the BFS cement. Clarification of
the mechanisms underlying the influences of creep on the
cracking resistance is outside the scope of this study and
will have to be studied separately in the future.
(4) Possibility of evaluating the shrinkage
cracking behavior of full-scale elements
It seems unlikely that knowledge from the restraint
cracking test can precisely predict the shrinkage cracking
of the normal concrete full-scale elements (Momose et al.
2005) while a design capable of conservatively designing
anti-cracking operation in construction works has been

confirmed (Kanda et al. 2008). However, an attempt to
apply the restraint cracking test to design such operations
for the full-scale structural elements, particularly for BFS
concrete, has to solve several problems, including the
effect of the thickness of element and the surface cracking
on the internal restraint. Establishment of the design
principle capable of controlling cracking in BFS concrete
elements still requires additional thorough investigation.
5. Conclusions
The final target of this study was to establish the shrinkage cracking control design for the blast furnace slag
cement concrete (BSF concrete). In the present study,
restrained shrinkage cracking experiments at various
temperatures were performed to understand the shrinkage
cracking mechanisms and how to improve shrinkage
cracking through the detailed analysis of the strain behavior from the early stage to the first cracking. Major
findings are as follows.
(1) When the cracking resistance is represented in terms
of cracking age, the cracking resistance of the normal
concrete was not affected by ambient temperatures.
(2) Unlike the normal concrete, cracking resistance of
the BSF concrete was largely affected by the ambient
temperatures. The cracking resistance of BFS concrete may degrade particularly in the summer and,
when compared with that of the normal concrete,
BFS concrete is disadvantageous for use in summer
but advantageous for use in winter and other seasons.
(3) Expansive strain due to the formation of ettringite at
early stages was observed in BFS concrete while this
margin was canceled by its creep. This, in addition to
the increase in free shrinkage strain, could be a cause
of the cracking resistance degradation of BFS concrete in summer.
(4) Smaller creep of BFS concrete was observed than
that of the normal concrete, which may impair
cracking resistance.
(5) Among the characteristic properties representing the
strain behavior, the free shrinkage rate showed
higher correlation with cracking resistance than that
of the final value of free shrinkage strain that has
been more generally used, and thus the free shrinkage rate could be an important parameter in evaluating cracking resistance irrespective of the type of
concrete.
(6) Introduction of water retaining SRA was able to
improve the cracking resistance of BFS concrete
remarkably due probably to the reduction of free
shrinkage strain and the increase in creep.
(7) Contrary to expectations, introduction of low Blaine
value BFS resulted in a large reduction of cracking
strength and was found to be inappropriate for the
improvement of cracking resistance of BFS concrete.
13
Acknowledgments
This study forms a part of JSPS KAKENHI Grant number
23330252 Establishment of shrinkage cracking control
design for blast furnace slag cement concrete structures.
The authors thank Prof. Toyoharu Nawa, Hokkaido
University, for his valuable advice on the use of water
retaining SRA, NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD. for
providing the SRA, and Ms. Akiko Ogawa and Mr. Kosuke Ishizeki for their support in the experiments and data
analysis.
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Shrinkage cracking resistance of blast furnace slag blended

cement concrete - Influencing factors and enhancing

Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology, volume 13 ( 2015 ), pp. 1-14

Tetsushi Kanda, Haruki Momose , Keiichi Imamoto, Hirozo Mihashi

Yao Luan, Tetsuya Ishida , Toyoharu Nawa , Takahiro Sagawa

Xiangming Zhou, Joel R. Slater, Stuart E. Wavell, Olayinka Oladiran

Yao Luan , Tetsuya Ishida

Shrinkage Cracking Resistance of Blast Furnace Slag Blended Cement

General Manager, Building Construction and Materials

Hansen 2008b). Resistance to the thermal cracking of the

creep test. Parameters and grades are listed in Table 1 and

shrinkage reducing agent (hereafter denoted as SRA), low

Table 2 Test parameters and grades of restraint cracking test.

Table 3 Test parameters and grades of creep test.

Material age at loading (day)

*Curing condition after loading

The test series with varied constituent materials was

mixed with the mixing water in concrete, a 10% to 20%

Table 4 Concrete materials.

Table 5 Mix proportions.

Water-binder Fine aggregate

Unit content (kg/m3)

Table 6 Quality of blast furnace slag fine powder.

Normal Blaine BFS

Low Blaine BFS

Specific surface area (cm2/g)

Activity factor (%)

JIS A 6206 recommendation

result of trial mixings. Mixing was performed with a

where rs(t) is the shrinkage restraining stress at time t

Table 7 Test items.

Restraint cracking test

Free shrinkage test

(2) Creep experiment

Table 8 Fresh properties.

Table 9 Mechanical test results.

Split tensile strength (N/mm2)

Fig. 2 Compressive strength.

(a) BFS concrete

Free shrinkage strain ()

Fig. 4 Elastic modulus.

Free shrinkage strain ()

Free shrinkage strain ()

Fig. 3 Split tensile strength.

Elastic modulus (x10 N/mm )

Elastic modulus (x10 N/mm )

Splitting tensile strength (N/mm )

Splitting tensile strength (N/mm )

Compressive strength (N/mm2)

Compressive strength (N/mm2)

(b) Normal concrete

restrained shrinkage stress of BFS concrete before and

(c) Improved BFS concrete

vorable results were what had been anticipated in the

Table 10 Restraint cracking test results.

Stress due to autogenous shrinkage

Restraint shrinkage stress (N/mm )

Restraint shrinkage stress (N/mm )

(b) Normal concrete

Cracking strength reducing

(a) BFS concrete

Cracking strength (N/mm2)

Cracking age (day)

Restraint shrinkage stress (N/mm )