Early-Age Loading and Long-Term Deflections of Reinforced Concrete Beams

This paper examines the effects of early-age (construction) loads on the long-term deflections of reinforced concrete (RC) flexural mem-bers. Particular consideration is given to simply supported, singly reinforced rectangular beams. The probabilistic analysis of time-dependent deflections takes into account concrete maturation, nonlin-ear creep and shrinkage behavior, and load process models for both service and construction. While this paper summarizes the time-dependent analysis technique (reported in detail elsewhere), the focus of this paper is on evaluating the effects of early-age loading on the long-term deflection and on practical implications for deflection ser-viceability