Rheological properties of self consolidating concrete with various mineral admixtures

Abstract

This paper reports an experimental study into the rheological behaviour of self consolidating concrete (SCC). The investigation aimed at quantifying the impact of the varying amounts of mineral admixtures on the rheology of SCC containing natural sand. Apart from the ordinary Portland cement (OPC), the cementitious materials such as fly ash (FA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and micro-silica (MS) in conjunction with the mineral admixtures were used in different percentages keeping the mix paste volume and flow of concrete constant at higher atmospheric tempterature (30ᵒ to 40ᵒC). The rheological properties of SCC were investigated using an ICAR rheometer with a four-blade vane. The rheological properties of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) containing different mineral admixtures (MA) were investigated using an ICAR rheometer. The mineral admixtures were fly ash (FA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), and micro silica (MS). The results obtained using traditional workability results are compared with those obtained using ICAR rheometer. The instrument ICAR (International Center for Aggregate Research) rheometer employed in the present study for evaluating the rhelogical behaviour of the SCC is found to detect systematic changes in workability, cementitious materials, successfully. It can be concluded that the rheology and the slump flow tests can be concurrently used for predicting the flow behaviours of SCC made with different cementitious materials.