The work presented is a contribution for the state of knowledge on the time-dependent strains of Ultra-High Performance Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) subjected to a heat treatment at a moderate temperature. This type of heat treatment is applied under factory’s conditions, just after the placement of the concrete in its mould, in order to accelerate during a few hours the hardening of an intended product to be seen applying a prestressing to the early age. The bibliographical analysis gives the importance to consider the type of heat treatment used as a significant parameter associated to the hydrates’ structure with short, medium and long term and to the free residual water content of the concretes. The experimental results made it possible on the one hand to quantify the time-dependent strains of UHPFRC subjected to a heat treatment at a moderate temperature and on the other hand to correlate these strains with the evolution of material parameters measured such as the internal relative humidity and the degree of hydration. Adapted analytical models, taking as a starting point those presented in Eurocode 2, are proposed to consider the time-dependent strains of UHPFRC. Moreover, modeling and simulations reveal that it is possible to predict correctly the behavior of these UHPFRC as well on the change of internal temperatures as on the change of the time-dependent strains. The prediction of the evolution of the properties of the UHPFRC products according to the nature of the heating applied should allow moreover the optimization of the production cadences and the energy used for the heat treatments.
Time-dependent strains of ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete subjected to a heat treatment