An experimental investigation on fracture parameters and brittleness of self-compacting lightweight concrete containing magnetic field treated water

Abstract

In this study, an experimental research on the fracture parameters of self-compacting lightweight concrete (SCLC) using tap and magnetic water (MW) is presented. For all SCLC mixtures, common fracture parameters were specified by means of both work of fracture method (WFM) and the size effect method (SEM). Three-point bending tests were carried out on 90 notched beams with six mix compositions. The beams were made from mixes with three different water to cement (w/c) ratios of 0.37, 0.47 and 0.52; also, both tap and magnetic water were consumed in the concrete mixes, separately. The results of this research showed that by using MW in SCLC and decreasing w/c ratio from 0.52 to 0.37: (a) both initial fracture energy Gf and total fracture energy GF increased; (b) the fracture toughness and the mechanical properties of SCLC improved. Additionally, the achieved data exhibited that there was a reasonable relation between the total fracture energy obtained by WFM and the initial fracture energy achieved through SEM. The average of GF to Gf ratio in SCLC was 2.70. Furthermore, by using MW in SCLC mixtures, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and modulus of elasticity increased up to 18%, 9% and 10%, respectively.