Influence of bleed water reabsorption on cement paste autogenous deformation

The effects of bleed water reabsorption and subsequent early age expansion on observed autogenous deformation are investigated in this research. Bleeding was induced by varying superplasticizer and shrinkage-reducing admixture dosages and by increasing the water-to-cement ratio. This research revealed that significant early age expansion occurs with increasing chemical admixture dosages and higher water-to-cement ratios, as expected, due to increasing bleeding of those samples. When samples were rotated, negligible early age expansion was observed. Thus, bleed water reabsorption is shown to be the primary mechanism causing initial expansion in sealed autogenous deformation samples. Thermal dilation and ettringite growth appear to have a minimal influence on the observed expansion. Rotating the samples during setting eliminates the potential for bleed water reabsorption and is recommended for all autogenous deformation testing.