Pumpability of Manufactured Sand Self-compacting Concrete

By the addition of superplasticizer and air entraining agent,manufactured sand selfcompacting concrete(MS SCC)with slump flow varying from 500 to 700 mm and air content varying from 2.0%to 9.0%were prepared and the pumpability of MS SCC was studied by a sliding pipe rheometer(Sliper).According to the Kaplan’s model,the initial pump pressure and the pump resistance of MS SCC were obtained.Meanwhile,rheological properties including the yield stress and the plastic viscosity of MS SCC were measured by a rheometer.The experimental results show that the increase of slump flow contributes to a higher pumpability and a proper air content,i e,6%is beneficial for the pumpability of MS SCC.Due to the existence of stone powder and stronger angularity of MS,the initial pump pressure of MS SCC is only about 60%-88%that of river sand(RS)SCC with the same slump flow and air content,indicating that MS SCC possesses a higher pumpability than RS SCC.

An Investigation into the Compressive Strength,Permeability and Microstructure of Quartzite-Rock-Sand Mortar

River sand is an essential component used as a fine aggregate in mortar and concrete.Due to unrestrained exploitation,river sand resources are gradually being exhausted.This requires alternative solutions.This study deals with the properties of cement mortar containing different levels of manufactured sand(MS)based on quartzite,used to replace river sand.The river sand was replaced at 20%,40%,60%and 80%with MS(by weight or volume).The mechanical properties,transfer properties,and microstructure were examined and compared to a control group to study the impact of the replacement level.The results indicate that the compressive strength can be improved by increasing such a level.The strength was improved by 35.1%and 45.5%over that of the control mortar at replacement levels of 60%and 80%,respectively.Although there was a weak link between porosity and gas permeability in the mortars with manufactured sand,the gas permeability decreased with growing the replacement level.The microstructure of the MS mortar was denser,and the cement paste had fewer microcracks with increasing the replacement level.

Influence of MB-value of Manufactured Sand on the Shrinkage and Cracking of High Strength Concrete

The relation between methylene blue （MB） value of MS and its limestone dust content and clay content was investigated. The effects of MB value ranging from 0.35 to 2.5 on the workability of fresh concrete and crack propagation characteristics at the age of 24 hours, and effects on the mechanical properties, dry shrinkage of the harden concrete were tested. The experimental results show that the MB value is not related with the limestone dust content of MS, but in direct proportion to clay content. With the increase of MB value, the concrete workability decreases, and the flexural strength and 7 d compressive strength reduce markedly, whearas the 28 d compressive strength is not affected. When the MB-value is less than or equal to 1.35, the change of the MB-value has a little influence on early plastic cracking and dry shrinkage property of concrete, but when the MB-value is more than 1.35, the tendency of plastic cracking and dry shrinkage is remarkable.

Effect of Methylene Blue (MB)-value of Manufactured Sand on the Durability of Concretes

The relation between the methylene blue （MB） value of MS and its limestone powder content and clay content was investigated. The effects of MB values ranging from 0.35 to 2.5 on the workability of fresh concrete, the mechanical properties, the resistance to freezing as well as the resistance to chlorine ion permeation of the hardened concrete were all investigated. The experimental results showed that the MB value had no correlation with the limestone powder content of MS, while it was directly related to the clay content. With an increase of MB value, concrete workability decreased, as did the flexural and 7-day compressive strengths, however, the 28-day compressive strength was not affected. Furthermore, influence of MB value on concretes of different strength levels was different. For low-strength concretes, an increase of MB value could improve its impermeability, but this was not the case for high-strength concretes. Instead, their resistance to chloride ion permeability decreased slightly. However, even a slight increase in MB value remarkably accelerated freeze-thaw damage of MS concrete. It was thus concluded that the critical MB value of 1.4 would not cause significant deterioration in the performance of MS concretes.

Relationships between Modified Methylene Blue Value of Microfines in Manufactured Sand and Concrete Properties

To better understand and assess the effect of microfines on concrete properties, the synergetic effect of methylene blue value and content of microfines on properties of low and high strength concrete was studied and then the relationships between the index of modified methylene blue value （MMBV） and concrete properties were investigated. The results show that relationships between MMBV and fresh and hardened properties of concrete can be fully established, and the correlation between MMBV and C60 concrete property is higher than the correlation between MMBV and C30 concrete. With the increase of MMBV, concrete workability and frost resistance decrease while drying shrinkage decreases; however, compressive strength and chloride-ion penetration resistance of C30 concrete have not been negatively affected whereas those of C60 concrete are significantly deteriorated when MMBV exceeds 100. To make use of microfines without remarkably damaging concrete quality, it is suggested that MMBV of microfines in MS used in C30 and C60 concrete be no more than 100.

Effects of the Lithologic Character of Manufactured Sand on Properties of Concrete

Six representative parent rocks of sand, including limestone, quartzite, gneisses, granite, Basalt and Marble were selected to conduct a systematical research on the effects of various lithologies of manufactured sand on the workability, mechanism properties, volume stability and durability of manufacturedsand concrete. The experimental results show that the strength of manufactured-sand concrete is slightly higher than that of natural-sand concrete. Furthermore, substituting 15% cement of the concrete mixture with equal quantity of the six different lithology stone powder respectively, the data indicated that they can improve the concrete’s workability, postpone the plastic cracking time, enhance the anti-cracking grade, and have no obvious effect on the properties of antifreeze and sulfate attack resistance but reduce the capability to resist chloride ion penetration. Moreover, the differences in concrete’s workability, mechanism properties, volume stability and durability caused by various lithologies of manufactured sand and stone powder were not significant and the influence of lithology variety on the macro properties of concrete could be neglected eventually.

Self-compacting Concrete-filled Steel Tubes Prepared from Manufactured Sand with a High Content of Limestone Fines

To meet the requirements of construction of concretes filled in the steel tube arches,a C60 grade micro-expansive self-compacting concrete （SCC） was prepared from manufactured sand （MS）.The utilization of MS with a high content of quarry limestone fines was dealed for SCC applications.The workability,compressive and splitting strength,modulus of elasticity,restrained expansion and chloride ion permeability as well as freeze-thaw resistance of three MS-SCC mixes with fines content of 3%,7% and 10% were tested and compared with those of the natural sand （NS）-SCC mix.The experimental results indicate that the performances of the C60 MS-SCC with fines content of 7% are excellent and compared favorably with those of C60 NS-SCC.

Effect of microlimestone on properties of self-consolidating concrete with manufactured sand and mineral admixture

Self-consolidating concrete(SCC)with manufactured sand(MSCC)is crucial to guarantee the quality of concrete construction technology and the associated property.The properties of MSCC with different microlimestone powder(MLS)replacements of retreated manufactured sand(TMsand)are investigated in this study.The result indicates that high-performance SCC,made using TMsand(TMSCC),achieved high workability,good mechanical properties,and durability by optimizing MLS content and adding fy ash and silica fume.In particular,the TMSCC with 12%MLS content exhibits the best workability,and the TMSCC with 4%MLS content has the highest strength in the late age,which is even better than that of SCC made with the river sand(R sand).Though MLS content slightly affects the hydration reaction of cement and mainly plays a role in the nucleation process in concrete structures compared to silica fume and fly ash,increasing MLS content can evidently have a significant impact on the early age hydration progress.TMsand with MLS content ranging from 8%to 12%may be a suitable alternative for the Rsand used in the SCC as fine aggregate.The obtained results can be used to promote the application of SCC made with manufactured sand and mineral admixtures for concrete-based infrastructure.

Effects of microfine aggregate in manufactured sand on bleeding and plastic shrinkage cracking of concrete

Construction industries have started to utilize manufactured sand(MS)as an effective alternative for river sand in concrete.High-grade parent rocks are crushed to obtain MS,which also produces a considerable amount of microfine aggregate(MFA).The higher percentage of MFA could lead to both positive and negative effects on the performance of cement-based mixes.This research was done to examine the influence of varying MFA levels,specifically 0%,3%,6%,9%,and 12%(by weight)as the partial replacements of MS on bleeding and plastic shrinkage cracking of concrete.In addition to the varying MFA levels,some concrete mixes also included fly ash(FA)and superplasticizer to investigate the effect of free-water content in the mixes.The bleeding test data were taken as on-site measurements,while the cracks from the plastic shrinkage cracking test were evaluated using an image processing technique.The results concluded that the MFA replacements and the effective water-to-cement ratio have a significant effect on the selected concrete properties.With the increasing replacement levels,cumulative bleeding and crack initiation life gradually decreased,while a progressive increase was observed for crack width,crack length,and crack area.