Design and preparation of high elastic modulus self-compacting concrete for pre-stressed mass concrete structures

Abstract

Requirements of self-compacting concrete (SCC) applied in pre-stressed mass concrete structures include high fluidity, high elastic modulus, low adiabatic temperature rise and low drying shrinkage, which cannot be satisfied by ordinary SCC. In this study, in order to solve the problem, a few principles of SCC design were proposed and the effects of binder amount, fly ash (FA) substitution, aggregate content and gradation on the workability, temperature rise, drying shrinkage and elastic modulus of SCC were investigated. The results and analysis indicate that the primary factor influencing the fluidity was paste content, and the main methods improving the elastic modulusof SCC were a lower sand ratio and an optimized coarse aggregate gradation. Lower adiabatic temperature rise and drying shrinkage were beneficial for decreasing the cement content. Further, based on the optimization of mixture, a C50 grade SCC (with binder amount of only 480 kg/ m3, fly ash substitution of 40%, sand ratio of 51% and proper coarse aggregate gradation (V _{5-10 mm}: V _{10-16 mm}: V _{16-20 mm}= 30%: 30%:40%)) with superior workability was successfully prepared. The temperature rise and drying shrinkage of the prepared SCC were significantly reduced, and the elastic modulus reached 37.6 GPa at 28 d.

Keywords

self-compacting concrete / pre-stressed mass structure / high elastic modulus / adiabatic temperature rise / drying shrinkage

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