Study on mixture design method of self-compacted, high-strength lightweight concrete reinforced with steel fibers. Study on pastes and mortars

Abstract

The results of tests carried out on pastes and mortars are presented to analyze the influence of the most important parameters in the Steel Fiber Reinforced High Strength Self Compacting Lightweight Concrete Mix (HLAARFA) design. Mixtures were developed to determine the influence of the type of cement on the fluidity of mixtures with superfluidifying additives, in order to develop an appropriate method to design HLAARFA in our country. They include an ordinary portland cement (CPN), a composite cement (CPC), a cement with calcareous filler (CPF) and fly ash as supplementary cementitious material. Such answers include flow time of pastes in the Marsh cone, measurement of settling flow diameter on pastes and mortars, and determination of V-funnel flow time for mortars. The tests were developed for mixtures with a water-cement ratio of 0.33, superplasticizer dosages of 0.4–1.4% (by total cement content). Methodologies from various researchers were combined and their performance is validated through results in laboratory tests. The methods can identify the parameters influencing the mix design and their interactions, which is very useful to develop the necessary test protocol for HLAARFA design.