The rheological properties of self-compacting concrete are closely influenced by temperature and the time. Previous studies which aim was to research the effect of temperature on self-compacting concrete workability, showed that the behaviour of fresh SCC at varying temperatures differs from that of normal vibrated concrete. The paper presents the study of rheological properties of fresh self-compacting concrete mixtures made with portland, blast furnace and component cement. Two types of superplasticizers were used. It was proven that temperature has a clear effect on workability; it can be reduced by selecting the appropriate superplasticizer and cement.
Light-weight Self-Compacting Concrete (LWSCC) might be the answer to the increasing construction requirements of slenderer and more heavily reinforced structural elements. However there are limited studies to prove its ability in real construction projects. In conjunction with the traditional methods, artificial intelligent based modeling methods have been applied to simulate the non-linear and complex behavior of concrete in the recent years. Twenty one laboratory experimental investigations on the mechanical properties of LWSCC; published in recent 12 years have been analyzed in this study. The collected information is used to investigate the relationship between compressive strength, elasticity modulus and splitting tensile strength in LWSCC. Analytically proposed model in ANFIS is verified by multi factor linear regression analysis. Comparing the estimated results, ANFIS analysis gives more compatible results and is preferred to estimate the properties of LWSCC.
For the decreasing of too high air volume in SCC, application of anti-foaming admixture (AFA) is proposed. In effect, AFA is increasing mix flow diameter and decreasing the flow time. Moreover, the workability loss is lower. In case of mix incorporating AFA, their high fluidity do not generate segregation of the mix, which is possible in case of SCC incorporating only SP. The effect of AFA application on the compressive strength depends on the proportions between SP and AFA. AFA has not a negative influence on the freeze-proof properties of the tested concrete. The advisable influence of AFA on porosity characteristic of SCC is proved by research results according to EN 480-11 code.
The ductility of High Performance Concrete (HPC) can develop both in tension and compression.This aspect is evidenced in the present paper by measuring the mechanical response of normalvibrated concrete (NC), self-compacting concrete (SC) and some HPCs cylindrical specimensunder uniaxial and triaxial compression. The post-peak behaviour of these specimens is definedby a non-dimensional function that relates the inelastic displacement and the relative stress duringsoftening. Both for NC and SC, the increase of the fracture toughness with the confinement stressis observed. Conversely, all the tested HPCs, even in absence of confinement, show practically thesame ductility measured in normal and self-compacting concretes with a confining pressure. Thus,the presence of HPC in compressed columns is itself sufficient to create a sort of active distributedconfinement.
Shear cracking behaviour of fibrous self-compacting concrete of normal and high strength grade (M30 and M70) is presented here. Two stirrup diameters (6mm Φ and 8 mm Φ) with a constant steel fiber content of 38 kg/m3 (0.5% by volume of concrete) were selected for the present study. The size of the beam was fixed at 100x200x1200mm. The clear span of the beam 1100 mm, was maintained throughout the study. A total of 16 shear-deficient beams were tested under three point loading. Two stirrup spacing (180 mm and 360 mm) are used for the shear span-to-depth ratio (a/d = 2). Investigation indicates that initial cracking load and ultimate load increased as the area of shear reinforcement increased by increasing the diameter of stirrup. It was also noted that the failure mode was modified from brittle shear failure to flexural-shear failure in the presence of fibers. The mechanical behaviour of SFRSCC was improved due to the combined effect of stirrups and steel fibers. The stiffness, toughness, and deflection of the beams increased when compared to SCC beams without fibers. The experimental results were compared with existing models available in literature, and the correlation is satisfactory.