Ingenieurwissenschaften und zugeordnete Tätigkeiten
Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
- 2016 (7) (entfernen)
Dokumenttyp
Sprache
- Englisch (7)
Schlagworte
- Rheology (4)
- Self-compacting concrete (3)
- Adsorption (1)
- Analytics (1)
- CFD (1)
- CFD simulation (1)
- Casting (1)
- Cement (1)
- Cement hydration (1)
- EN 196 (1)
Numerical simulations of concrete castings are complex and time consuming. In order to decrease simulation time and to simplify simulation procedure, an innovative modelling approach, which treats reinforced sections in a formwork as porous media, was proposed. In the previous studies, this numerical model was proved suitable to simulate casting of model yield-stress fluids through reinforced elements. This article focuses on the experimental validation of the proposed model at the concrete scale. For this purpose, a large-scale laboratory casting of a highly reinforced beam is performed. The casting process is numerically simulated and the numerical results are compared to the experimental measurements.
The paper addresses numerical modelling of fresh self-compacting concrete. In the previous studies, a numerical tool for casting prediction is built based on the assumption that fresh concrete behaves as a yield-stress fluid and treating zones with rebars as porous media. The present contribution discusses the determination of material parameters, which are required as an input for numerical simulations of casting processes.
Over the course of the last decades, concrete construction has significantly changed from mass application towards sophisticated more innovative, future oriented, and performance based materials technology. Today concrete no longer consists of cement, water, and aggregates, but can be enhanced significantly by using supplementary additions and chemical admixtures. Advancements in admixtures eventually facilitated the development of new concrete types such as self-compacting concrete (SCC) and high performance concrete (HPC) by uncoupling the workability from the water-cement ratio (w/c).
While for traditional concrete types the major mixture parameter for the workability and strength were the w/c and the grading of the aggregates, for SCC and HPC the performance parameters are more complicated and the performance depends highly on the powder components. This makes the system more sophisticated and in parallel more prone to scatter during the production. The complexity and difficulty to predict the effects of changes in the process and mixture makes it very difficult to identify the right potentials for savings.
Chemical admixtures like superplasticisers or stabilising agents are of ever increasing importance for modern concrete technology. They liberate the workability of concrete from its dependency on water content, and thus, open the gate towards innovative and future oriented concrete technologies such as selfcompacting concrete. Meanwhile admixtures have become common practice in concrete technology, but the understanding of these highly complex polymers in the entire concrete system lags far behind their application. Due to its complex time-dependent, multi-phase and multi-scale behaviour, flowable concrete systems are highly complicated and cannot be described comprehensively by simple models. It is therefore extremely challenging to identify the relevant parameters that predominantly control flow phenomena on different size scales, since these may occur on any scale between the nano scale (e.g. superplasticizer adsorption) and macro scale (e.g. grading of the aggregates). The present study discusses fundamental mechanisms at the interface between particle or hydrate surfaces and the fluid phase at a very early stage of concrete formation, and links these effects to macroscopic flow phenomena. Methods are discussed that appear promising interdisciplinary tools for enhancement of the understanding of the relevant interactions that are responsible for the macroscopic flow of flowable concrete.
South Africa and recently Nigeria are the only net exporter of cement in Africa, yet cements are imported into the country mainly on the basis of price competitiveness. This poses potential for scatter in the properties of the cements in the South African market as pricing seems to be the only determining factor that affects Portland cements imported. A survey of cements of grade 42.5N in the South African cement market was carried out to identify major players in the industry. The identified cements, which included four locally produced and one imported cement were then analysed for both chemical composition and physical properties in line with the Eurocode EN 196. Tests carried out include loss on ignition, chloride content, sulphate content, specific surface (Blaine), standard consistence, initial setting time, final setting time, soundness and flexural and compressive strength at 2, 7 and 28 days. The testing program was initiated as part of on-going Africa-wide cement testing competency program in partnership with BAM and PTB in Germany. The performance of the identified cements from the different local manufacturers and the imported cement were analysed and are presented in this paper. These results reveal some similarities and differences in the properties. Particularly of interest is the marked difference in the 28 days compressive strength of the cements. This paper shows that there is need for further tests across the cement industry as some of the cements failed to meet certain requirement as set by EN 196. The paper also recommends the use of proficiency testing schemes in the cement industry of the country to ensure the cement laboratories are providing results of high quality and at the same time act as a check to make sure these laboratories are not failing to meet standard requirements.
Chemical admixtures like superplasticisers or stabilising agents are of ever increasing importance for modern concrete technology. They liberate the workability of concrete from its dependency on water content, and thus, open the gate towards innovative and future oriented concrete technologies such as self-compacting concrete.
Today, admixture addition has become common practice in concrete technology, but the understanding of their highly complex mode of operation is extremely difficult and demands for understanding of processes within the range between nanometres and centimetres.
Due to its complex time-dependent, multi-phase and multi-scale behaviour, flowable concrete systems are highly complicated and cannot be described comprehensively by simple models. It is therefore extremely challenging to identify the relevant parameters that predominantly control flow phenomena on different size scales, since these may occur on any scale between the nano scale (e.g. superplasticizer adsorption) and macro scale (e.g. grading of the aggregates). The present study discusses fundamental mechanisms at the interface between particle or hydrate surfaces and the fluid phase at a very early stage of concrete formation, and links these effects to macroscopic flow phenomena. Methods are discussed that appear promising interdisciplinary tools for enhancement of the understanding of the relevant interactions that are responsible for the macroscopic flow of flowable concrete.
Self-compacting concrete typically contains a higher content of powder materials than normal concrete. Furthermore it is assumed that the use of superplasticizers yields a more homogenous microstructure in the hardened paste. Both aspects generate a very dense microstructure, which can be assumed to cause material behaviour that differs from than normal concrete when it is exposed to elevated temperatures. However, the paste volumes in SCC can vary significantly based on the mixture composition. At a low paste volumes SCC can be very similar to normal concrete at hardened state while it can vary greatly at higher paste volumes. Since the high temperature behaviour of concrete is strongly affected by the different physical behaviour of the paste and the aggregates, it is likely that the high temperature behaviour is consequently strongly affected by the ratio of these mixture components. In the present study different SCC mixtures were observed with similar mechanical properties, but with significantly differing paste to aggregate ratios. Based on observations of the heat evolution at the fire exposed surface and at different depths inside the specimens as well as based on photogrammetric observations of the spalled dimensions, the results indicate that with increasing paste volumes the heat conductivity is reduced and as a result concrete with higher paste to aggregate ratios shows less spalling.