Description of Concrete Creep under Time-Varying Stress Using Parallel Creep Curve

An incremental format of creep model was presented to take account of the development of concrete creep due to loading at different ages. The formulation was attained by introducing a horizontal parallel assumption of creep curves and combining it with the vertical parallel creep curve of the rate of creep method to remedy the disadvantage of the rate of creep method that significantly underestimates the amount of creep strain, regardless of its simple format. Two creep curves were combined by introducing an ageing parameter whose value was obtained from two sets of time-dependent laboratory experiments on cylindrical specimens. The presented creep description takes the advantage that a single creep curve due to the initial loading describes the entire development of creep under the persistent change of creep-causing stress. Further, the creep formulation takes advantage of being consistent with the incremental format of age-dependent constitutive formulation. The performance of the presented creep equation was investigated with time-dependent laboratory experiments on cylindrical specimens and compared with the performances of four existing creep models.