As concrete dries, it shrinks—the higher the water content, the greater the shrinkage. if a concrete beam has a water content of w kg/m3, then it will shrink by a factor
s =
0.032w − 2.5
10,000
where s is the fraction of the original beam length that disappears due to shrinkage.
(a) a beam 12.027 m long is cast in concrete that contains 550 kg/m3 water. what is the shrinkage factor s?
how long will the beam be when it has dried? (round your answer to three decimal places.)
(b) a beam is 12.047 m long when wet. we want it to shrink to 12.033 m, so the shrinkage factor should be
s = 0.0012.
what water content will provide this amount of shrinkage? (round your answer to the nearest whole number.)