Technological properties of self-compacting concrete mixtures with ground quartz sand

Abstract

Quantitative parameters of influence of grain composition of ground quartz sand and its quantity on the workability and segregation of self-compacting fresh concrete were determined at the constant amount of mixing water and water-cement ratio. Ground quartz sand in the amount of 50-150 kg/m3 was added instead of fine and coarse aggregates with changing the amount of polycarboxylate superplasticizer. It is stated that the use of ground quartz sand of finer grinding provides higher values of workability at the same quantity of water and superplasticizer. Segregation of the fresh concrete occurs when using increased amount of ground quartz sand of coarser grinding and increased amount of superplasticizer. Experimental studies have shown the effectiveness of the use of ground quartz sand to obtain self-compacting fresh concrete of different classes of workability SF1 and SF2 as well as classes of segregation resistance SR1 and SR2. The results of the experiments allow to state that the use of ground quartz sand of coarser grinding leads to segregation of fresh concrete at its low workability, while the use of ground quartz sand of finer grinding allows to obtain fresh concrete with resistance to segregation.