Influence of manufactured sand gradation and water cement ratios on compressive strength of engineered cementitious composites

Abstract

In recent years, many researchers have successfully examined the characterization of Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) with different materials owing to their pseudo-strain-hardening behavior and superior mechanical and durability properties compared to fibre-based conventional concrete. Meanwhile, incorporating different materials, water cement (w/c) ratio, gradation of sand and types of sand influence the ECC's properties. This study examines the influence of manufactured sand (Msand) gradation with different w/c ratios on ECC's compressive strength at 3, 7 and 28 days. The flowability of ECC with different gradations of sand and w/c ratio is also discussed. The interaction between the compressive strength of the ECC with the w/c ratio and gradation of sand is also highlighted. The experimental results showed that the ECC flowability increased with increasing sand gradation and w/c ratio. Similarly, ECC with fine and medium sand exhibited a lower compressive strength than coarse sand. The maximum compressive strength of ECC with fine, medium and coarse sand were attained of about 46.3 MPa, 48.2 MPa and 58.1 MPa at 0.33, 0.34 and 0.37 w/c ratios, respectively.