Early-Age Cracking Risks in Blended Cement-Based Concrete: Mechanisms, Evaluation, and Control
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 35
Special Issue Editors
Interests: blended cement-based concrete; SCMs; prediction model; concrete crack
Interests: UHPC; ECC; fiber; concrete-filled steel tubes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Early-age cracking is a critical durability concern in modern concrete construction, particularly in blended cement-based systems where multiple supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) are employed. These blended systems, while offering enhanced sustainability and long-term performance, often exhibit complex hydration kinetics and early-age shrinkage behavior, thereby increasing the risk of microcracking, thermal stress-induced cracking, and restrained shrinkage-induced damage. This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive platform for the latest research on the mechanisms, evaluation methods, predictive models, and mitigation strategies related to early-age cracking in blended cementitious materials. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: hydration heat control, autogenous and drying shrinkage, thermal stress evolution, restrained shrinkage cracking tests, numerical modeling approaches, fiber reinforcement effects, and innovative admixtures for crack control. Contributions addressing both fundamental research and engineering applications are welcome. By gathering state-of-the-art insights, this Special Issue seeks to foster a deeper understanding of early-age cracking phenomena and to support the development of more durable and crack-resistant blended concrete materials for infrastructure and building applications.
Dr. Yingda Zhang
Dr. Ye Liu
Guest Editors
Dr. Zihao Liu
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- mechanisms and predictions of early-age cracking in blended cement-based concrete
- autogenous and drying shrinkage behavior in high-performance and sustainable cementitious materials
- thermal stress development and control in mass concrete and composite structures
- creep and shrinkage effects on early-age crack risk in ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) and geopolymer concrete
- early-age performance of concrete-filled steel tubes under thermal and mechanical loads
- crack control in engineered cementitious composites (ECCs) and recycled aggregate concrete (RAC)
- numerical and analytical modeling of early-age cracking and stress evolution
- effects of fiber reinforcement (steel, synthetic, basalt, etc.) on early-age crack resistance
- effect of innovative chemical admixtures and internal curing agents on cracking risk
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
