Shrinkage testing of end-restrained shotcrete on granite slabs

This study investigated the shrinkage of shotcrete (sprayed concrete), especially the case of shotcrete sprayed on drains – a part of tunnel lining not continuously bonded to the rock. A newly developed method for testing the shrinkage of end-restrained shotcrete slabs is presented and evaluated. The test setup, which is designed to capture in situ behaviour, consists of shotcrete sprayed on an instrumented granite slab partly covered with a plastic sheet. The primary goal was to practically use and evaluate the test method with shotcreted test samples. Results from restrained shrinkage tests are presented along with results for free shrinkage. It is shown that the method realistically captures the behaviour of shotcrete drains on hard rock in situ. In addition, the corresponding compressive strength and flexural crack strength as functions of shotcrete age are also reported. The test method can be used for an evaluation of different solutions for avoiding shrinkage cracks in shotcreted soft drains, or in shotcrete that is fully bonded to a rock surface, with respect to preventing cracking or distributing the shrinkage strain into several fine cracks instead of one wide crack.