Abstract:
Self-compacting concrete (SCC) was first developed to achieve durable concrete structures
and help cast concrete into complex geometries without compromising the quality of the cast. This
research is carried out to understand the influence of locally available fine aggregate types (river sand,
quarry dust and offshore sand) on the properties of SCC concrete. As the fine aggregate proportion to
coarse aggregate is considered important for the rheology, three different aggregate proportions from
each of the fine aggregate type were investigated. In order to evaluate influence of aggregate proportions
on the compressive strength, three w/c ratios was considered for each aggregate proportion, bringing the
number of mixes for a fine aggregate type to nine and the total number of mixes in the investigation for the
three different aggregate types to 27. As the particle size distributions of the different fine aggregate
types are different to one another, a separate series with different aggregate types manipulated to confirm
to a single particle size distribution was also carried out. This study was limited to single aggregate
proportion and hence only nine additional mixes were resulted for the three aggregate types. The
influence of fine aggregate type and proportion, on the harden properties of concrete is evaluated in terms
of compressive strength and shrinkage of concrete. In addition, water requirement under constant doze of
viscosity modifying agent is taken to evaluate the performance of mixes in fresh state. Results of the study
indicated that quarry dust as fine aggregate has highest 28 days compressive strength for all the different
water cement ratios. All fine aggregate types have recorded higher strength when the proportion of fine
aggregate to total aggregate content is 60%. Offshore sand mixes recorded the lowest shrinkage and also
lowest water content to achieve the conformity requirement of self-compacting concrete. Although quarry
dust required less water compared to river sand, it had the highest shrinkage among the three aggregate
types.
