Abstract
In this study, the influences of both rain and solar radiation on shrinkage and shrinkage cracking under actual environmental conditions are investigated. Moisture loss, shrinkage, shrinkage cracks were measured under three different outdoor conditions in order to examine the effects of rain and solar radiation separately. It was experimentally found that the penetration of rain into concrete greatly inhibits moisture loss, shrinkage and shrinkage cracking. While the solar radiation accelerates the evaporation of moisture in concrete, shrinkage of plain concrete cannot increase so much due to the drying but shrinkage cracking can be significantly promoted by solar radiation. It is concluded that the actual environmental actions such as rain and solar radiation should be taken into account in design in order to appropriately predict the deterioration of concrete structure.
