ABSTRACT
After the concrete is poured, hydration of the cement continues and, after some time, excess water is lost. During these stages, the physical behav iour of concrete can be roughly divided into two sections:
• changes that can take place before setting of the concrete has commenced, namely sedimentation, bleeding and plastic shrinkage and
• changes which take place after the concrete has started to set, namely thermal cracking, drying shrinkage, creep and fatigue.
