The slump flow values for self-compacting concrete with fly ash, silica fume and blast furnace

slag
immediately after the mixing process are presented in Table 6. In terms of slump flow, all self-
compacting concrete mixtures exhibited satisfactory slump flows in the range of 660-690 mm,
which is an indication of a good deformability. Higher replacement levels have shown better
slump values which can be inferred from Fig. 2. Also it can be seen that Blast furnace slag series
have shown better slump. When cement is replaced by mineral admixtures, a lower dosage of
super plasticizer is required to maintain the flow. Fly ash series had more super plasticizer dosage
to provide same slump flow than other mixtures and have shown good slump-flow values (Khatib,
2008). Moreover, comparing to the other mineral admixtures, the fly ash particles had a spherical
geometry and a coarse particle size, causing a reduction in the surface area. In addition, a partial
replacement of cement by fly ash results in higher volume of paste due to its lower density and
this increase in the paste volume reduces the friction at the fine aggregatepaste interface and
improves the cohesiveness and plasticity, and thus leads to increased workability (Sonebi, 2004).

A value of at least 650 mm is required for self-compacting concrete. In case of severe segregation,
most coarse aggregate will remain in the centre of the pool of concrete and mortar and paste at
the periphery of concrete. Hence the value obtained from the experimental investigation is within
the limit of European Standards. Water/powder ratio is usually accepted between 0.9 and 1.0 by
volume, depending on the properties of the powder (Uysal and Sumer, 2011). For all the mixtures,
at constant water/powder ratio and varying percentage of super plasticizer content, an increase in
slump flow was observed up to 50% of slag content with an optimum at 30%, and with super
plasticizer dosage at 2.2%.

T50 times as indicators of viscosity of highly flowable concrete mixes. Lower time indicates greater
flowability. The T50 was influ- enced by the dosage of water and super plasticizer. The volume of
coarse aggregate, a good flow ability with increasing fly ash, silica fume and blast furnace slag
content till 30% is observed, afterward flow time increases but with some bleeding and segregation.
Good relationship exists between slump flow and T50 for various mixtures of self-compacting
concrete which can be inferred from Figs. 3, 4, and 5. The root mean square value to be highly
satisfied for all these relations.

V funnel test was performed to assess the flowabilty and stability of the self-compacting concrete.
For self-compacting concrete a flow time of 10 seconds is considered appropriate. The inverted cone
shape restricts flow, and prolonged flow time may give some indication of the susceptibility of the
mix to blocking. Hence the value obtained from the experimental investigation is within the limit of
European standards. The increase in coarse aggregate causes the increase in V-Funnel time. L-box
ratio indicates the filling and passing ability of each mixture. L-box test is more sensitive to blocking.
There is a risk of blocking of the mixture when the L-box blocking ratio is below 0.8. The obtained L-
box values are tabulated in Table 6. It is also found that the filling capacity was more than 80% from
Fig. 6 zontal, so H2/H1 = 1. Therefore the nearer this test value, the “blocking ratio”, is to unity, the
better the flow of the concrete. The effect of increase in the volume of coarse aggregate on the L-Box
test indicated a significant decrease of the blocking ratio. The U-type test was used to assess the self-
compactability of concrete. If the concrete flows as free as water, at test it will be horizontal, so H1-H2
= 0. Therefore the nearer this test value, the filling height is to zero, better the flow and passing
ability of the concrete. From the test result of self-compacting concrete mix the value obtained for
the U-box test is within the limit of European standards.

CƯỜNG ĐỘ
The compressive, split and flexure studies at different ages are shown in the Figs. 7, 8, and 9. When
compared to that of the control mixture increasing amounts of mineral admixtures generally
decrease the strength. Thus it is clear that the roles of Fly ash and Blast furnace slag act as mineral
admixtures reducing the compressive strength of Fly ash and Blast furnace slag series. But, the Silica
fume series has shown the best performance both at 7 days and 28 days at 30% replacements. This is
due to the physical nature of better packing and fineness of it (Sahmaran et al., 2009). Higher
replacements of silica fume also have resulted in decrease in strength. At the early stage, pozzolanic
reactions of fly ash and blast furnace slag were not sufficient to increase compressive strength. But at
28 days the slower pozzolanic reactions played a part in the Blast furnace slag mix. In the case of fly
ash and blast furnace slag, filling of the voids between the larger cement particles, and increasing
production of secondary hydrates by pozzolanic reactions with the lime resulting from the primary
hydration enhances compressive strength (Yahia et al., 2005). Furthermore, it chemically reacts with
the calcium hydroxide produced by the hydration of the Portland cement to form calcium silicate
hydrates (C-S-H) which binds the concrete together.

1. Conclusions
The tests were performed to determine the fresh and mechanical properties of Self-Compacting
Concrete mixtures and the results of the tests are as follows.

1. All the self-compacting concrete mixes had a satisfactory performance in the fresh state. Among
the mineral admixtures considered, the Blast furnace slag series had a good workability
properties compared to Fly ash and Silica fume series.
2. In general the use of mineral admixtures improved the performance of self-compacting concrete
in fresh state and also avoided the use of viscosity modifying admixtures.
3. The results of the mechanical properties (compressive, splitand flexure) had shown significant
performance differences and the higher compressive strength has been obtained for Silica fume
series. Also the increase in replacement levels has resulted in decrease in strength in silica fume
series. So 30% replacement levels could be of optimum consideration for both flowability as well
mechanical properties.
4. The evaluation of the mixes indicates the more critical changesin self-compacting concrete occur
when there is excess cement, mineral admixtures, less cement, excess superplasticizer, and
excess sand, excess coarse aggregate.
5. The most critical test for evaluating the self-compacting concrete loss seems to be slump flow;
(i.e) robustness is assured if the parameters of these tests are satisfied.
6. Optimum water/powder ratio was chosen as 0.35 by weight,the ratio greatly beyond or less than
this may cause segregation and blocking tendency in self-compacting concrete mixtures.