Appropriate Selection of Materials for Making Durable Self Compacting Concrete for Using in Underground Structures

Abstract

Abstract: Selecting appropriate and suitable of materials plays an important role in concrete mix design to meet the general requirements of European guidelines for self-compacting concrete and to ensure a balance between deformability and stability. The type of selected materials and the ratios of concrete ingredients can be affected by the fresh and hardened properties of the concrete. In the contract agreement of the Mumbai Metro underground project, the technical specifications clearly state the values of limits set for achieving the durability parameters for the life of 120 years of the structure. According to the requirement of the site conditions Self-compacting concrete was designed with available material, special material like Ultra GGBS- Alccofine 1203 and crystalline waterproofing admixture. Self-compacting concrete is superior concrete than the traditional concrete with high workability, no segregation, no bleeding, and it is also suitable for use in structures with long-distance pumping in the instant case i.e., more than 120-meter length in Underground NATM tunnels, cross-passages, and the concrete structure of the underground metro station box. The paper presents a comparison between concrete mix designs and their achieved test parameters suitable for the contract specification of Mumbai metro underground project