Measurement of autogenous and drying shrinkage in paste, mortar, and concrete with the plastic-sleeve test method

Autogenous and drying shrinkage are the two components of total shrinkage of cementitious materials. So far, no effective method has been developed that can measure autogenous and drying shrinkage of paste, mortar, and concrete samples. The Plastic-Sleeve Test (PST) method is introduced in this paper and consists of molding a specimen in a plastic sleeve, which enables the measurement of autogenous shrinkage strains. After removal of the plastic sleeve, drying shrinkage can also be measured. The PST method can be used for paste, mortar, and concrete of various consistencies. The proposed method allows the measurement of early-age strains immediately following final setting, which is important to accurately measure autogenous shrinkage. Since the PST method measures both autogenous and drying shrinkage strains, it automatically captures total shrinkage and solves the problem where the early part of autogenous shrinkage is not captured when traditional drying shrinkage tests are used and no autogenous shrinkage testing is performed.