Abstract
Self-weight of a structure comprises a major portion of the overall structural load which causes conservative structure design. Reduction of structures’ self-weight is an active area of research today. One of the options is to use lightweight concrete and no-fines concrete is one of its types. This type of concrete is made with coarse aggregates, cement, and water. From the density point of view, it is the lighter concrete compared to normal weight concrete but it exhibits less strength. Normally no-fines concrete is manufactured with uniform size aggregates. The performance of no-fines concrete depends on the cement-aggregate ratio and water-cement (w/c) ratio. This study focuses on investigating experimentally the effect of gradation of coarse aggregates and the w/c ratio on unit weight and compressive strength of no-fines concrete. NFC with two cement-aggregate ratios (1:6 and 1:8) having seven combinations of coarse aggregate gradations (10-5 mm, 16-13mm, 20-16mm, 20-13mm, 20-10mm, 16-10mm and 20-5mm) were studied. Two w/c ratios are considered 0.38 and 0.42. The effect of coarse aggregate gradation, cement-aggregate ratio and w/c ratio are studied in terms of unit weight and compressive strength of NFC. The results reveal the pronounced effect of aggregate gradation on the compressive strength and unit weight of the concrete. Also, a substantial effect on the unit weight and compressive strength is observed with the variation in cement-aggregate ration and the w/c ratio.
Highlights
No-fines concrete is a form of light weight concrete, which is made with only cement, water and coarse aggregates
The coarse aggregates are coated with cement paste and connected point-to-point with thin cement paste which holds the aggregates in a matrix
No-fines concrete has many advantages including its prime property of lightweight and no segregation due to its porous nature avoiding need of vibration during its manufacturing [3]
Summary
No-fines concrete is a form of light weight concrete, which is made with only cement, water and coarse aggregates. No-fines concrete has many advantages including its prime property of lightweight and no segregation due to its porous nature avoiding need of vibration during its manufacturing [3]. It is reported that the gradation of coarse aggregates affects the strength properties of concrete, it is suggested that with controlling coarse aggregate gradation strength can be increased [9]. Strength of no-fines concrete is affected with amount, quality and type of cement. This study is focused on investigating strength and unit weight properties of no-fines concrete with various coarse aggregate grades, cement-aggregate ratio and w/c ratio
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