Investigation on chemical prestressing

in pressure reinforced concrete pipes (1)

U. CASTI (2), E. POZZO (3)

It resulted that the addition of the expansive agent (CSA) to produce self-stresses in pressure
reinforced concrete pipes, also produced small increases in strength of concrete (with restrained
expansion; notable reductions, on the contrary, with free expansion).
A first steam curing (5 hours al 55~ caused reductions in expansion of about 33-35~.
The ultimate pressure of pipe grew notably with addition of CSA, but the increase accompanied
by higher data dispersion, resulted inJerior, and not inJerior in the same proportion for the various
CSA quantities, to what had been theoretically predicted with data obtained from measurements
on specimens.
This investigation showed how chemical prestressing effects are undoubtedly notable, but that
it results still difficult to foresee with precision the effective final results, because the prestressing
phenomenon is strongly influenced by several factors, the role of which is not yet quite well-
known. Therefore, this must be better clarified, if we wish to avoid compromising the results
by small fluctuations in values of the various parameters involved (practically inevitable in
industrial manufacturing).

1. INTRODUCTION It must be said immediately that we are interested

After the tests (made in France in 1920 in the Lafarge
Laboratoires) directed at reducing the volume following
the development of ettringite, and after the unfruitful
experiences of Lossier on chemical prestressing around
1936, a productive renewal of studies, especially in
the United States, USSR and Japan, of the possibility
of producing controlled expansions in concrete began
in 1950.
The years that followed witnessed an important
growth in research-this time, with notable results-
essentially directed towards two aims: the reducing,
or the annulling of shrinkage, which is peculiar to
concrete; the obtaining of a prestressing effect by a
convenient expansion of concrete in the presence of
steel reinforcing ( [1 ]- [8 ]).
(i) Work carried out under grant of the CNR.
(2) Structural Engineer, Cagliari.
(3) Professor, University of Caglian (Italy), Faculty of
Engineering.
in this second problem, and, more precisely, in the
possibility of inducing chemical prestressing in pressure
reinforced concrete pipes. This is possible by using
expansive cements, or expansive agents to be added
to cement; we are interested in this latter case
([9], [10], [11]).
In particular, we have in mind the problem of the
normal industrial production of this type of precast,
in which centrifugation and a first curing by steam
is often utilized.
To obtain suitable prestressing effects, the percentage
of expansive agent, of the commonly named CSA, must
reach-as is k n o w n - a t least 13-187oo with respect
to cement, while 8-11~ usually suffice to compensate
shrinkage.
The principal parameters to which we will devote
our attention will be: the eventual change in strength
of concrete produced by an expansive agent, and the
prestressing degree effectively reachable for certain
percentages of CSA, in determined curing conditions

407
VOL. 11 - N ~ 66 - MATI~RIAUX ET CONSTRUCTIONS

and steel reinforcing percentages, in particular, those

kg/cm 2 adopted in the usual production of pressure reinforced
concrete pipes.
600
At first, we can note that from the great number of
with CSA
studies about the change in strength of concrete caused
500 ,= ': i by the CSA, final conclusions are certainly difficult
to find because the results often show notable differ-
ences.
400
~normal In cases of free expansion sometimes notable
increases in strength of concrete appeared, but with
300 not high percentages of CSA, that is about 9-11%
(fig. 1 ( [121, [13 ]) andfig. 2 [12 ]) from these percentages,
a strong reduction in strength often appeared, which,
200 however, by increasing the cure, decreased (fig. 3) [14 ].
i w/c Probably, these differences derive from test differ-
.7 .6 .5 .4 ences (l).
Fig. 1
In the presence of steel reinforcing (more interesting
for us) sometimes the expansive agent reduces strength
(fig-4) [15 ]; at other times exactly the contrary occurs
(fig. 5) [12]. However, all the results are concordant:
constraint hinders a strong reduction of strength.
kg/cm 2
An opinion which is strengthened is that concrete
with strength, in restrained expansion conditions, does not
500 vary considerably because of the presence of CSA
~' ~ ~ (al least, for percentages not higher than the ones seen
Fig. 2
before).
~oo
As regards steam curing, we can observe that it
normally reduces concrete strength, but, if the tempe-
300 - rature does not exceed certain levels (50-60~ and if
the time of exposure is sufficiently short, this reduction
cement content ::kg/m 3
appears slight.
3do aso ~0 ~5o
Now, let us consider the expansion phenomenon,
which in the presence of restraint produces the desired
prestressing. Normally, with ambient temperature
J
k g/ci~
curing, expansion grows mostly in the first days and
results show how strongly its process changes because
365 d~ys
400- c F- of changes, even slight, in the several parameters
involved. These are principally: the percentage of
9 i i expansive agent, the cement content, the w/c ratio,
Fig. 3
300. the steel reinforcing percentage, the type of constraint
ci.
and curing.
E Normally it is observed that with water contents
200 g
a little higher than the ones necessary for normal
% CSA =,- concrete, expansion increases and appears extremely
10 11 12 13
sensitive to curing conditions (humidity degree, tempe-
rature, and so on).
In any case, for our purpose, the expansion produced
500 in the presence of reinforcing is more important, its
process must reach several hundred microstrains, to
r-10% CSA
400
produce utilizable prestressings [16 ]. In figure 6 we can
see some results of the process of restrained expansion
in relation to the reinforcing percentage [12].
300 The obtainable prestressing degree, with the same
CSA quantity, is directly bound to the type and process
of constraint introduced, and in this regard the study
200

100.
/ carried out by Iida-Monji on reinforced concrete is
interesting [17]. The best results could be obtained
with triaxial constraints, but these are in practice
of difficult, or too expensive realization.
WIC =0.4 I
I reinforcing %
.S .1 1.5 2
(t) For instance, differences in time between cast and delivery;
Fig. 4 in a first period the expansion could then result blocked.

408
 U. CASTI - E. P O Z Z O

However, the percentage of steel reinforcing intro- evaluate are the effects of centrifugation which, among
duced is an important parameter and the higher the other things, provokes a certain elimination of water
percentage, the higher the prestresses, as we can see (this results favorable as regards the strength of con-
in figure 7 [12] (with uniaxial constraints). crete, but can result negative as regards the expansion
The problem of the quantity of reinforcing is in phenomenon, because in this type of manufacturing
practice closely related to economic considerations; we are normally in the presence of w/c ratios already
because to increase prestressing, it is necessary, among very reduced).
other things to increase the reinforcing percentage,
with consequent notably higher costs. This fact is ~E
illustrated in figure 7, in which, if we refer for instance
to the 15% CSA line, we can see that an increase in 1,500
reinforcing from 1 to 2%, and then the doubling of it,
leads to a prestressing increase of about 30% only.
It is also proved that a first steam curing reduced
the expansion (fig. 8) and this reduction appeared 1,000
linked to temperature and time of exposure to steam [10 ]
(precocious strengthening can in fact strongly reduce
expansion). The results of the various authors show,
however, notable differences in this regard.
Finally the shrinkage phenomenon is to be consi- 500
dered; it begins to appear as soon as expansion stops,
with a trend which does not differ very much from the
12% CSA i
one noted in normal concrete. Its effect is evidently
to reduce expansion, and it can result rather important, :: ::reinforcing %
especially with long curing periods in air. 0 0"5. ~ 1m5
This short review of the main factors which govern
Fig. 6
the expansion phenomenon, to which the process of
the chemical prestressing reached is afterwards due,
is sufficient to make us understand how even slight
differences in the value of the several parameters
involved can provoke notable changes in the final
results. k';oIi .
We then wonder how far a prediction based on
measurements made on specimens can be reliable in
relation to final results; and again, if in practice, where
a certain imprecision in vaIue of the various factors
is unavoidable, it is possible to foresee final results
fairly precisely.
On this subject, we must remember that expansion
is normally measured on uniaxially restrained speci-
mens, while constraint in pipes is biaxial, and different
in the two axes. reinforcing "/o
Other effects difficult to foresee are those produced
by the first steam curing and those that derive from
o:5 ; (.5 2
the fact that in the steam curing period the pipe, not Fig. 7
yet delivered, undergoes constraints. As difficult to

kg/crn2
8O
.c
_.~,~.
.~ e'f.~"
J~"
~
'~ ',
-..o---~"~ 3"000
Fc

I
/.
STEAM C U R I N G ]

60 free p.,
-~ ~ , ~ ,, 2"000

40.
o : 3 hrs
1"000 9 32 " /,0"C

20. ,, : 1.3hrs ~
I t
1 9 19 " 60~
I i
',
I
'i %CSA I ~ A
lO 17 ~i 1; 1'8 15 17
Fig. 5 Fig. 8

409
VOL. 11 - N ~ 66 - M A T I ~ R I A U X ET C O N S T R U C T I O N S

2. SCOPE AND OUTLINE OF THE INVES- / ///i

12 ~ 6 / r n
/ / ~ 6
TIGATION
~L_.12 r / I t~[ [I ]
The main scope of this study is to investigate the ,/
T_io~io ,1~ i
IIIL IL
global process of the effects (and thus, not only those
due to the prestressing reached) produced by adding
determined percentages of CSA to concrete, in the 9 500 cm J
particular case of manufacturing of internal pressure
reinforced concrete pipes. In other words, we wish Fig. 9
to bring to light the possible difference between the
actual results and those theoretically calculated by
data obtained from measurements on specimens. We decided to measure, at determined intervals of
For this purpose, we selected a type of pipe of usual time, the expansion of specimens (of the type of figure 10)
production, manufactured with the usual technologies, by two devices, both sensitive to 1/100mm; one, for
but we checked both the geometrical parameters of measuring the displacements of the free extremity of
the pipes studied, and the constancy of the materials specimen, the other being fixed to a base; the other,
employed and type of .manufacture. (We intend in for measuring the total length of the specimen.
future to check in a successive investigation the The concrete chosen has a grain-size curve rather
influence on final results of the fluctuability of the continuous (Fuller), with maximum size grain 2.5 cm;
various parameters involved.) cement content 450 kg/m 3 (of the type 425); w/c = 0.45.
The operative sequence of precasting taken into It is said that the chemical expansion causes a
account provides a centrifugation for a period of about coaxion state in the pipe; from equilibrium and con-
20 minutes, a first steam curing of 5 hours at 55~ and gruence conditions, it is easy to obtain, for a determined
then, after delivering, a water immersion for 20 days. expansion strain
A curing in air follows (in factory) at about 65% R.H.
for 40 days. acp=eE c n# , (1)
We therefore decided to manufacture, besides a l+n#
series of 6 pipes in normal concrete (fig. 9) another n
3 series of pipes with the same characteristics, but ~ = e Ec - - , (2)
l+n#
containing different quantities of CSA, respectively
8, 15 and 17%.
where n, Eo/Es; E c, longitudinal elastic modulus of
We also thought of casting special prismatic speci- concrete; Es, longitudinal elastic modulus of steel;
mens (15x 15 x45 crn) for tests on elastic modulus, #, percentage of steel reinforcing.
compressive and tensile strength (Brasilian test), both These stresses are equivalent to a fictitious pressure
for free and restrained expansions. which, in the hypothesis of stresses uniform in thickness
In the case of restrained expansion, the extremities of pipe s, of internal diameter D:
of the specimen have two steel plates fixed to two
longitudinal bars by dies, applied externally to specimen, 2s ac
thus reaching a 1.1% reinforcing constraint. Before PP- D
the test, the specimen is freed.
Instead, as regards the specimens for measuring and therefore the stresses to be considered for verifying
the expansion, we studied a particular type, shown in the cross section of pipe, become
figure 10, with steel plates at the extremities soldered
to a longitudinal central bar. p~
(7 c --

We discarded, both the "Rubin" specimen (United 2s ( l + n # ) '

States) with extremity plates fixed by dies to a central p~
bar, and the type with bordered bar, without plates as- 2s#'
(frequent in Japan), not only to avoid any, even very
little, relative creep between concrete and reinforcing, where
but above all, to have a constraint caused by the same
percentage of reinforcing as in the pipe. pO=p _pp,
Some specimens (3 for each CSA % concrete) followed
the same manufacturing procedure as the pipe, both p being the nominal stress.
as concerns the manufacture, and the curing; other
ones (3 for each CSA ~ concrete) were manufactured
without steam curing.
The pipes will be tested 70 days from casting, the
first cracking pressure, besides the cross strain of pipe
being measured by means of 4 apparatuses, sensitive r. 81 _l ; 370ram
to 1/100mm, placed in two diameters, respectively
horizontal and vertical. Fig. 10

410
 U. C A S T I - E. P O Z Z O

kglcm2! 2.000
. r=strained expansion

L0 1,500 %CSA

2 - "J-%;,_~
30
1,000 t i ~ inair - 65 % R. H.
~in water ---~
500 - 22 =C I
20
/~8% CSA

60 days 70
10 _250 ,
~norma[
~ CSA
Fig. 12

Fig. 11 ipc
5 hours by steam
1,500.

The "ultimate strength method" tells us that ultimate // / ~ " ~ ~ 17% CSA
pressure (if collapse is due to concrete) 1.000.

2s o (l+np), 500- -in water-22=C~ ..... m aw _ 65% R.H.

% CSA

where a ~ represents the apparent tensile strength of

.200-
lb s'a 6o days 40 ~
concrete, which can be expressed
~-- normaL
o_
(7c - - O'ct+ O'cp,
Fig. 13
aCt being the tensile strength of concrete and acp that
of prestressing, done by equation (1). The average reinforcing steel characteristics were
The ultimate pressure then becomes
ay=34 kg/crn2 ; au=47k g / c m 2 ;
2s A Voo=31.
p,= -~- (oct+ ar (t +n#). (3)

0 8 15 17
Equation (3) makes clear how, with the same geo-
metric sizes, reinforcing percentage and concrete
strength, the ultimate pressure of pipe is increased by *
O'ct, 38.3 41.0 32.2 18.0
chemical prestressing a~p. Naturally, this increase act. 38.3 43.2 43.5 44.1
could be varied if the expansive agent could also E~.. 417,500 425,000 429,000 429,000
provoke a change in act. p= (th) 7.8 9.9 14.6 15.9
p= (exp).. 7.3 8.7 11.6 13.8
A (~) (th). = 27 87 104
A (%) (exp) . . . . . . . 19 59 89
3. RESULTS
From ultimate strength tests on pipes (fig. 14)-the
Let us begin from the strength concrete test results. thickness resulted 6 + 0 . 3 c m - t h e internal pressure
In figure 11 we can see how tensile strength on restrained gradually increasing by 1 kg/cm2/min., the values
expansion shows a progressive, even if slight, impro-
vement in the presence of such high CSA percentages;
on the contrary, notable reductions in free expansion
appeared.
The average expansion results (obtained with the
same steel reinforcing percentage as in the pipes) are
seen in figure 12 and 13, and clearly show how exposure
to steam, besides modifying the trend in time of the
phenomenon, decreased the expansion degree by
about 33-35%.
It is also to note how curing in air for a period of
40 days (after curing in water) produced not negligible
reductions in expansion, due to shrinkage, and almost
similar to those which appeared in normal concrete. Fig. 14

411
VOk. 11 - N ~ 66 - M A T E R I A U X ET C O N S T R U C T I O N S

of figure 15 were obtained. The prestressing effects Pu

appear extremely evident, with little enough dispersion kg/cmZ

data.
15
In figure 16 we have the average, theoretical and /w / i
experimental values of ultimate pressure. ~./ i /
In the table we see the average tensile strength values
a* t (kg/cm 2) with free expansion and those of ac, 10
with restrained expansion of concrete, the elastic
modulus Ec of concrete (kg/cm 2) for restrained expan- [
sion and the theoretical and experimental ultimate
pressure of pipe p, (kg/cm2).
In the last lines there are theoretical and experi-
mental ultimate pressure increases produced-by CSA (').
I
At the end, in figure 17, the strains appear on the
~ CSA
external circumference of pipe, a little before reaching
the ultimate pressure, for different CSA % concretes. 0 8 15 I?
Fig. 16

4. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, the investigation showed how chemical

prestressing effects are undoubtedly notable, but it is
We can observe how the addition of the expansive still difficult to foresee with precision the effective
agent CSA, to produce self-stresses in reinforced final results, because the expansion degree appears
concrete pipes, also provoked a little increase in strongly influenced by several factors, the rrle of
concrete strength, with restrained expansion (on the which is not yet quite well-known.
contrary, strong reductions with free expansion It is therefore essential to better clarify the influences
appeared). of the various parameters involved on the prestressing
phenomenon, if we wish to avoid compromising the
,% final results with an even small fluctuation (practically,
kg/=~2
unavoidable in industrial manufacturing) of their
values.
12
REFERENCES
I0

8 [1] OnNo, NAKAMURA, SAJI. -- Prevention of drying

shrinkage crack by use of the expansive cement with
6. calcium sulphoaluminious cement clinker, 5-th Intern.
Syrup. on Chemistry of Cement, Tokyo, 1968.
I [2] BUDNIKOV,KRAVCHENKO. -- Principalpaper-expansive
i

zJ I cements, 5-th Intern. Syrup. o n Chemistry of Cement,

i
I
Tokyo, 1968.
,%CSA
l [3] POL[VKAM. - Self-stressing concrete. ACI, S.P. 38-20,
0 8 15 17 Detroit, 1973.
[4] MIKHA[LOV V. V. - Stressing cement and self-stressed
Fig. 15
structures in USSR. ACI, S.P. 38-19, Detroit, 1973.

Steam curing, even if reduced in time, produced not

in the least negligible expansion reductions: with
5 hours at 55~ reductions of about 33-35% were 300.
noted.
Regarding the results on ultimate pressure of pipe,
the increases produced by adding expansive agent
appeared notable, but inferior-and not inferior in 200 -
the same proportion-to those theoretically deduced
on the basis of measurements (of strength, elastic |
modulus and expansion) on specimens with uniaxial
constraint. More precisely, with 8, 15 and 17~ of CSA, 100-
instead of the theoretical 27, 87 and 104~, respectively
19, 59 and 89~ were obtained experimentally. In effect,
8~ of CSA did not produce any prestressing effect,
but only reductions in shrinkage. ~ CSA

(') For normal concrete pipes, shrinkage stresses were naturally

considered. Fig. 17

412

[5] KALOUSEKG. L. - Development of expansive cements.
ACI, S.P. 38-1, Detroit, 1973.
[6] NAGATAKI, YONEYAMA. -- Studies on continuously
reinforced and prestressed concrete pavements made
with expansive cement concrete. ACI, S.P. 38-7, Detroit,
1973.
[7] KOKUBU M. - Use of expansive components for con-
crete in Japan. ACI, S.P. 38-17, Detroit, 1973.
[8] HOFF G. C. - The use of expansive cements in large
sections of grout and mortar. ACI, S.P. 38-15, Detroit,
1973.
[9] KLIEGER, GREENING. -- Properties of expansive cement
concretes. 5-th Intern. Syrup. on Chemistry of Cement,
Tokyo, 1968.
[10] DIDAMONY, MOSTAFA N., MOSTAFA M. Z. - Studies
of expansive cement. I. volume changes. Cement and
Concrete Research, Vol. 6, 1976.
[11] PFEIFER, PERENCHIO. -- Reinforced concrete pipe made
with expansive cements. ACI, S.P. 38-18, Detroit, 1973.
RF~SUME
E t u d e de la p r ~ o n t r a i n t e c h i m i q u e sur d e s c o n d u i t e s
s o u s p r e s s i o n en b 6 t o n a r m & - On montre clue l'addition
f u n agent d'expansion (CSA) pour provoquer des auto-
contraintes dans des conduites sous-pression en b&on
armd d&ermine aussi de petites augmentations de la
rdsistance du b&on (avec expansion limitde ; au contraire,
les diminutions sont notables avec une expansion libre).
Une premidre cure ~ la vapeur (54-55~ rdduit
l'expansion d'environ 33-35%.
La pression ultime des conduites auffmente notable-
ment avec l'addition de CSA, mais cette augmentation
qui s'accompagne d'une plus forte dispersion des rdsultats,
U. CASTI - E. POZZO
[12] TURRIZIANI. -- I leganti espansivi ed i calcestruzzi
espansivi. Atti dell'Ist. Chimica Applicata ed Indus-
triale, Univ. Roma, 1974.
[13] POLIVKA, WILSON. -- Properties of shrinkage-compen-
sating concretes. ACI, S.P. 38-10, Detroit, 1973.
[14] NISHI, HARADA, KOH. -- General behaviour of mortar
and concrete made expansive cement with calcium
sulphoahlminious cement clinker. 5-th Intern. Syrup.
on Chemistry of Cement, Tokyo, 1968.
[15] OKUSHIMA, KONDO, MUGURUMA, ONO. -- Develop-
ment of expansive cement with calcium sulphoaluminious
cement clinker. 5-th Intern. Symp. on Chemistry of
Cement, Tokyo, 1968.
[16] DENKI KAGAKU KOGYO KABUSHIKI K. -- Approach
to manufacture of centriJugal reinJorcement internal
pressure concrete pipes with chemical prestress, Internal
Rep., December, Tokyo, 1972.
[17] IIDA-MONJI. -- Study on the optimum restrain of self-
stressed concrete pipes. ACI, S.P. 38-4, Detroit, 1973.
peut dtre inJ~rieure, et non dans la m&ne proportion
pour les diJfOrentes quantitks de CSA, d celle thOorique-
ment d&erminde d partir des rOsultats de mesure sur
Ochantillon.
Cette &ude montre que les effets de prOcontrainte
chimique sont sans aucun doute notables mais qu'il est
encore difficile de pr~voir avec prdcision les rOsultats
finals effectifs &ant donnO que le phdnom~ne de prO-
contrainte est influencO par plusieurs facteurs dont le
rdle n'est pas encore bien connu. Par consOquent, ceci
demande c~ &re ~lucid~ si l'on veut ~viter de compro-
mettre les r~suItats par de petites fluctuations des valeurs
des divers param&res en jeu (ce qui est pratiquement
inevitable dans le processus industriel).
413