The evolution of the shrinkage strains, shown in Fig. 10, for specimens with dimension of 50×50×400 mm
made of normal strength concrete with a w/c-ratio of 0.5. The latter
were moist cured for 28 days, followed by drying at 48% RH. The ultimate
shrinkage strain of −0.65‰ was larger than the one in Fig. 10.
The differences are the result of different mix properties, of a lower
value of ambient RH and of different concrete ages at the beginning
of drying. According to the shrinkage curves plotted in Fig. 10 and
in [15] the evolution of the shrinkage strains, requiring about
200 days of drying for obtaining 90% of the ultimate shrinkage strain,
is considerably slower than for smaller concrete specimens