The knowledge of drying shrinkage of cementitious matrices is essential for the prediction and prevention of the material deterioration. However, representable drying shrinkage behavior is difficult to obtain due to the moisture gradient in the specimens. This presentation discusses the characterization of the volume stability of the thin cementitious matrix products by monitoring the shrinkage response to environmental changes, in which the specimens were sliced into 5×1×1/8" thin plates and placed in the sealed chamber. The method prevents the effect of moisture gradient as found in the conventional prismatic specimens, and ensures the reach of humidity equilibrium. A hygrothermal relationship was also obtained, and further applied to the estimation of drying shrinkage in the finite element model. It provides not only a preliminary understanding of the effect of product scales, but also the stress distribution indicating the great stressed area where the cracking potential is high.
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