Flexural Behaviour of Reinforced Rapid Hardened Concrete Beams

Abstract

In the last decades concrete technology has made it easier to reach early strength, Rapid Hardened Concrete is one of the construction concretes used widely. The use of rapid hardened concrete is increased due to the possibility to limit the construction time. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanical properties of Rapid Hardened Concrete (RHC). Properties studied include compressive strength, tensile strength, and flexural behavior. Mechanical properties were evaluated based on the compressive, tensile, and bend test results for both normal and rapid hardened concrete. The effect of admixture percentages (Sikament-nn) on hardening properties of rapid concrete was studied. The experimental investigation indicated that the flexural and compressive strength of concrete increased with the addition of Sikament-nn at the age of 1, 3, 7, and 28 days and the optimal percentage of Sikament-nn was 2%. In addition, test results show that rapid hardened concrete exhibit ductile failure and significant displacement before failure. The ultimate displacement of rapid hardened concrete was an increase more 50% than control RC beams.