Avaliação experimental do fenômeno de retração em alvenaria de blocos de concreto

Abstract

The shrinkage phenomenon is the cause of many verified pathological manifestations in buildings, especially in those with masonry produced with concrete blocks. The present work has as goal experimentally to evaluate the effect of shrinkage in masonry of concrete blocks. Studies had been carried through of shrinkage tests with blocks of different strength and processes of cure and also monitoring deformations of small walls constructed with each type of block. The walls had its deformations monitored for a period of one year, having been that the analyses had been formed taking in account the three first months of age. With the shrinkage tests are expected to get coefficients that allow the forecast of this effect in walls. From the necessary knowledge of the shrinkage of the wall it is possible to foresee the possibility of the appearance of cracks and to determine the necessity of the creation of control joints to prevent pathology and also to foresee losses of protension in prestressed masonry. As result of the work was possible to improve the procedure of test of shrinkage of concrete blocks according to Brazilian normalization. From the tests of walls it can be suggested values of shrinkage coefficient to be considered in project. Also it was possible to quantify some relative characteristics to the phenomenon, as the highest shrinkage observed in blocks produced with low quality control and in walls executed in recent ages, the impediment of shrinkage in the first row due to restriction of the support slab, the same order of magnitude for vertical and horizontal unrestricted shrinkage, among others.