2, The Blfets of Shrinkage 5 2. The Effects of Shrinkage Shrinkage is defined as the reduction in volume of an unloaded concrete at con- stant temperature. Its primary cause is the loss of water during a drying process. The magnitude of this deformation is described by the shrinkage strain ¢,. The inverse process is called swelling, but itis of little significance in actual practice. The shrinkage process starts at the surface that is exposed to drying, and it gradually penetrates into the concrete. The corresponding contractions would cause a warping of the cross section, which is usually impossible because of ‘compatibility requirements, Normally, plane sections must remain plane. Shrinkage is then divided into three parts (Fig. 2.1): the mean contraction, c,; the part that ary Figure 2.1. Separation of total shrinkage into shrinkage components causes the warping, Ac,:and the part which causes internal stresses, AAc, Generally, neither unimpeded contraction nor unimpeded warping can take place in a statically indeterminate structure. Therefore, a constraint is created which imposes action effects (for example, in a frame), In statically determinate structures, these shrinkage components cause only deformations and do not create any stresses. The ‘Ade, component creates internal stresses in all structures. ‘Since shrinkage is a gradual process, the corresponding stresses act over ‘extended time periods and are reduced by creep. This is why the question when to take shrinkage stresses into account will be handled together with the problem of creep (cf., Sections 3.2-3.5). In determining the reduction in shrinkage stresses due to creep, it is best to proceed by first calculating the shrinkage stresses and corresponding action effects disregarding creep. The values thus obtained may be used for the creep calculations, (cf, Part C).