Optimum Fines Content in Manufactured Sand for Best Overall Performance of Superplasticized Concrete
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 1
Abstract
Due to a shortage of river sand for concrete production, manufactured sand (MS) made from crushed rock has gradually become a substitute. It inherently contains some fines content, which has significant effects on the performance of concrete. To study the effects of the MS type and fines content on the workability, cohesiveness, and strength, concrete mixes made with granite MS or limestone MS and different fines contents at various water/binder ratios were tested. Moreover, the packing density, water film thickness (WFT), paste film thickness (PFT), and microstructures of the concrete mixes produced were examined to investigate if their changes were the root causes of the effects of the MS used. It was found that the use of granite MS attained higher workability and strength but lower cohesiveness, which apparently were caused by the higher packing density and larger WFT and PFT. Also, regardless of the MS type, a fines content of about 10% was the optimum for highest packing density and best concurrent workability-cohesiveness-strength performance. Correlation analysis revealed that the MS and fines content exerted their influences on the workability and cohesiveness through the WFT and PFT, and on the strength through the packing density and microstructure.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (Project No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-03-0010) under grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Project No. 2022A1515010404), University Teacher Distinctive Innovation and Research Project from Guangdong University Research Fundings Commercialization Center (Project No. zc03040000319), Laboratory Open Innovation Fund of Foshan University (Project No. KFCX2023-A5), and Research Centre of Green Building Materials and Modular Integrated Construction Technology of Guangdong Province (Project No. ZCZX201803).
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36 • Issue 1 • January 2024
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 23, 2022
Accepted: Jun 22, 2023
Published online: Oct 31, 2023
Published in print: Jan 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Mar 31, 2024
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