Abstract
The volume of aggregates in concrete is approximately 60-75%, and so the concrete performance is strongly affected by the aggregate's properties, proportioning and packing. Optimized aggregate blends can provide concrete with improved performance and can be used to design concrete at lower cementitious material content. Due to complexities in aggregate packing, and irregularities in shape and texture, there is no universal approach to account for the contribution of aggregate's particle size distributions and packing degree affecting the performance of concrete in fresh and hardened states. This paper attempts to develop the best aggregate blends and investigates the effect of aggregate packing on concrete performance through multiple criteria based on simulation and experiments. It was demonstrated that the aggregate packing can be used as a tool to optimize concrete mixtures and improve compressive strength. The correlation between the grading, packing of aggregates and concrete performance is developed. The grading techniques based on power curves and coarseness chart provide valuable information on expected performance and, therefore, can be effectively used to optimize the concrete mixtures.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 627-634 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Construction and Building Materials |
| Volume | 93 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 26 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Civil and Structural Engineering
- Building and Construction
- General Materials Science
Keywords
- Aggregate optimization
- Coarseness chart
- Compressive strength
- Concrete mixture
- Grading
- Packing
- Particle size distribution
- Power curves
- Simulation