Workability & Strength Tests on Self-Compacting Concrete for M3O Grade with Silica Fume as Partial Replacement of Cement

Abstract

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is a flowing concrete mixture that is able to consolidate under its own weight. The highly fluid nature of SCC makes it suitable for placing in difficult conditions and in sections with congested reinforcement. Use of SCC can also help minimize hearing-related damages on the worksite that are induced by vibration of concrete. Another advantage of SCC is that the time required to place large sections is considerably reduced. When the construction industry in Japan experienced a decline in the availability of skilled labour in the 1980s, a need was felt for a concrete that could overcome the problems of defective workmanship. This led to the development of self-compacting concrete, primarily through the work by Okamura. A committee was formed to study the properties of self-compacting concrete, including a fundamental investigation on workability of concrete, which was carried out by Ozawa et al. at the University of Tokyo. The first usable version of self-compacting concrete was completed in 1988 and was named “High Performance Concrete”, and later proposed as “Self Compacting High Performance Concrete”. In Japan, the volume of SCC in construction has risen steadily over the years. Data indicate that the share of application of SCC in precast concrete industry is more than three times higher than that in the ready-mixed concrete industry. This is attributable to the higher cost of SCC. The estimated average price of SCC supplied by the RMC industry in Japan was 1.5 times that of the conventional concrete in the year 2002. Research studies in Japan are also promoting new types of applications with SCC, such as in lattice type structures, casting without pump, and tunnel linings. Since the development of SCC in Japan, many organizations across the world have carried out research on properties of SCC. The Brite-Euram SCC project4 was set up to promote the use of SCC in some of the European countries. A state-of-the-art report on SCC was compiled by Skarendahl and Petersson summarizing the conclusions from the research studies sponsored by the Brite-Euram project on SCC. A recent initiative in Europe is the formation