Abstract
The paper investigates the influence of the magnitude of sustained loading and tension steel percentage on the creep and shrinkage deflections of the reinforced concrete (RC) beams of different concrete grades. The magnitude of sustained loading was taken as 25% and 50% of the first crack load. Three concrete grades of 45, 35 and 25MPa and two tension steel percentages of 0.77% and 1.21% were used. The long-term deflection was measured under the sustained four-point bending at the ages of 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days. The shrinkage deflection of RC beams for the three concrete grades was measured at the same ages on specimens under their own weight. Based on the experimental investigations author's earlier model was extended to predict the total deflection due to creep and shrinkage of RC beams for varying magnitudes of sustained loading, and different compressive strengths of concrete.