Drying shrinkage prediction of paste containing meta-kaolin and ultrafine fly ash for developing ultra-high performance concrete

• Paste with low drying shrinkage for ultra-high performance concrete is produced.
• Paste using fly ash and meta-kaolin has high workability and low drying shrinkage.
• Drying shrinkage of paste for ultra-high performance concrete is predicted.

The drying shrinkage development of the paste fraction of ultra-high performance concrete containing binary and ternary blends of meta-kaolin, fly ash and cement were investigated and predicted. The test results showed that, compared with the use of pure cement, the binary use of silica fume and cement or the binary use of fly ash and cement resulted in an increase in the drying shrinkage of paste, and the binary use of meta-kaolin and cement resulted in a decrease in the drying shrinkage of paste. The ternary use of meta-kaolin, fly ash and cement could produce paste with lower drying shrinkage than the binary use of silica fume and cement at the same supplementary cementitious materials content. Modified Gardner model and modified Bazant–Baweja B3 model were developed to predict the drying shrinkage development of the paste fraction of ultra-high performance concrete.