Experimental study on rheology, strength and durability properties of high strength self-compacting concrete

The rheological behaviour of high strength self compacting concrete (HS-SCC) studied through an experimental investigation is presented in this paper. The effect of variation in supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) vis-a-vis four different types of processed crushed sand as fine aggregates is studied. Apart from the ordinary Portland cement (OPC), the SCMs such as fly ash (FA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) ultrafine slag (UFS) and micro-silica (MS) are used in different percentages keeping the mix-paste volume and flow of concrete, constant. The combinations of rheology, strength and durability are equally important for selection of mixes in respect of high-rise building constructions. These combinations are referred to as the rheo-strength and rheo-durability which is scientifically linked to performance based rating. The findings show that the fineness of the sands and types of SCM affects the rheo-strength and rheo-durability performance of HS-SCC. The high amount of fines often seen in fine aggregates contributes to the higher yield stress. Further, the mixes with processed sand is found to offer better rheology as compared to that of mixes made using unwashed crushed sand, washed plaster sand, washed fine natural sand. The micro silica and ultra-fine slag conjunction with washed crushed sand can be a good solution for high rise construction in terms of rheo-strength and rheo-durability performance.