Robust SCC Mixes through Mix Design
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 25, Issue 2
Abstract
One of the main obstacles to a wider use of self-compacting concrete (SCC) is its sensitivity to small variations of the constituent materials, mix proportions, and other external factors. The main objective of this paper is to illustrate how to evaluate and compare the robustness of SCC mixtures optimized according to various economic criteria while maintaining the water/cement ratio and fresh state target properties. The optimization is derived from numerical models, and a central composite design is developed to mathematically model the influence of mixture parameters and their coupled effects on deformability, passing and filling abilities, and compressive strength. The strategies to increase the robustness of SCC mixtures and the existing methodologies to assess it are presented and discussed. By applying these methodologies, it is shown that robustness can be enhanced by changing only the proportions of materials in mixtures. Minimizing the superplasticizer dosage and, consequently, increasing the paste volume (by means of a higher limestone filler content) to keep adequate fresh properties is found to be the most effective optimization criteria to enhance the robustness of SCC mixtures.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was sponsored by FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology POCTI/ECM/61649/2004, PTDC/ECM/70693/2006, and PEst-C/MAT/UI0144/2011 research projects and supported by FCT Research Grant SFRH/BD/25552/2005. Collaboration and materials supplied by CIMPOR, SIKA, and COMITAL are also gratefully acknowledged. We appreciate the helpful comments and suggestions of the anonymous referees.
References
Al Martini, S., and Nehdi, M. (2009). “Coupled effects of time and high temperature on rheological properties of cement pastes incorporating various superplasticizers.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 21, 392–401.
European Precast Concrete Organisation (BIBM), European Cement Association (CEMBUREAU), European Federation of Concrete Admixture Associations (EFCA), European Federation of Specialist Construction Chemicals and Concrete Systems (EFNARC), and European Ready-Mix Concrete Organisation (ERMCO). (2005). “The European guidelines for self-compacting concrete: Specification, production and use.” 〈http://www.britishprecast.org/publications/documents/scc_guidelines_may_2005_final.pdf〉 (Sep. 7, 2005).
Bonen, D., et al. (2007). “Robustness of self-consolidating concrete.” Proc., 5th Int. RILEM Symp. on Self-Compacting Concrete, RILEM Publications, Bagneux, France, 33–42.
Center for Advanced Cement-Based Materials (ACBM). (2007). Self consolidating concrete, Technical rep., Univ. of Illinois, 〈http://www.selfconsolidatingconcrete.org/downloads/ACBMWhitePaper.pdf〉 (Jun. 11, 2008).
Concrete Society. (2005). “Self-compacting concrete- a review.”, Surrey, UK.
Efron, B., and Tibshirani, R. J. (1993). An introduction to bootstrap, Chapman & Hall, New York.
Georgiadis, A. S., Sideris, K. K., and Anagnostopoulos, N. S. (2010). “Properties of SCC produced with limestone filler or viscosity modifying admixture.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 22(4), 352–360.
Grünewald, S., and Walraven, J. C. (2007). “Characteristics and influence of paste on the behaviour of self-compacting concrete in the fresh state.” Proc., 5th Int. RILEM Symp. on Self-Compacting Concrete, RILEM Publications, Bagneux, France, 137–142.
Khayat, K. H., Ghezal, A., and Hadriche, M. S. (1999a). “Utility of statistical models in proportioning self-consolidating concrete.” Proc., 1st Int. RILEM Symp. on Self-Compacting Concrete, RILEM Publications, Bagneux, France, 345–360.
Khayat, K., Hu, C., and Monty, H. (1999b). “Stability of self-consolidating concrete, advantages, and potential applications.” Proc., 1st Int. RILEM Symp. on Self-Compacting Concrete, RILEM Publications, Bagneux, France, 143–152.
Midorokawa, T., Pelova, G. I., and Walraven, J. C. (2001). “Application of ‘The Water Layer Model’ to self-compacting mortar with different size distribution of fine aggregate.” Proc., 2nd Int. RILEM Symp. on Self-Compacting Concrete, COMS Engineering, Tokyo, Japan, 237–246.
Nunes, S., Figueiras, H., Milheiro, O. P., Coutinho, J. S., and Figueiras, J. (2006). “A methodology to assess robustness of SCC mixtures.” Cem. Concr. Res., 36(12), 2115–2122.
Nunes, S., Milheiro, P. O., Coutinho, J. S., and Figueiras, J. (2011). “Rheological characterization of SCC mortars and pastes with changes induced by cement delivery.” Cem. Concr. Compos., 33 (1), 103–115.
Oehlert, G., and Whitcomb, P. (2002). “Small, efficient, equireplicated resolution fractions of designs and their application to central composite designs.” 〈http://www.statease.com/pubs/small5.pdf〉 (Aug. 15, 2008).
Rigueira, J., Taengua, E., and Serna, P. (2007). “Robustness of SCC dosages and its implications on large-scale production.” Proc., 5th Int. RILEM Symp. on Self-Compacting Concrete, RILEM Publications, Bagneux, France, 95–101.
Rilem Technical Committee. (2006). “Final report of RILEM TC 188-CSC ‘Casting of self compacting concrete’.” Mater. Struct., 39(10), 937–954.
Sonebi, M. (2004). “Medium strength self-compacting concrete containing fly ash: Modelling using factorial experimental plans.” Cem. Concr. Res., 34(7), 1199–1208.
Stat-Ease. (2000). “Design-expert software, Version 6 user’s guide.” 〈http://www.statease.info/dx6files/manual/〉 (Sep. 7, 2000).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 25 • Issue 2 • February 2013
Pages: 183 - 193
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 12, 2011
Accepted: May 23, 2012
Published online: May 26, 2012
Published in print: Feb 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.