Shrinkage movement analysis of reinforced concrete floors constructed in stages

Reinforced concrete floors constructed between movement restraints often crack seriously due to shrinkage after completion. One common mitigation measure is to construct the concrete floors in stages to allow part of the shrinkage movement to take place before completion. However, shrinkage movement analysis of concrete floors constructed in stages is quite cumbersome, as the structural configuration changes during construction, thus necessitating reanalysis of the partially completed structure at each stage. Herein, a finite element method for shrinkage movement analysis of concrete floors constructed in stages is developed. It analyses the whole structure, including the completed and uncompleted portions, at all stages. The same mesh is used all the time and therefore re-meshing and location matching are no longer necessary. This is achieved by giving negligibly small stiffness to the uncompleted portions, which in reality do not exist yet. In the analysis, the locked-in strains due to increase in elastic modulus as the concrete hardens and the creep of the hardened concrete are taken into account. Most important of all, this method would enable fully automatic shrinkage movement analysis for the purpose of construction control.