Self-Consolidating Concrete (SCC) is a relative new concrete technology developed in the 1980s in Japan. Since, SCC has been used for several applications around the world. Initially, SCC was used for on-site applications where it was difficult to place concrete. SCC workability benefits facilitated construction procedures by freely flowing, filling space and passing through dense reinforcement without vibration mechanism. Meanwhile, SCC has also been used in other applications such as the precast industry, where the benefits of the workability SCC delivers can be utilized to improve fabrication of prestressed girders. SCC has been used in the precast industry with a satisfactory performance. This was achieved by reducing fabrication time, decreasing health hazards due to excessive noise, and a much better finishing on the surface of the girder. However, difficulties maintaining uniformity, and resistance to segregation of the SCC mixtures have been reported by several producers. Ever since, several agencies and state Department of Transportation (DOT) have conducted research to study SCC characteristics with materials available in their region. Significant findings indicate that examination of fresh and hardened properties are necessary before application of prestressed girders. From particular findings, DOTs have developed guidelines for mixture constitution, and fresh and hardened properties required in their state for SCC production. However, due to different material proportions present on SCC mixtures compared to Conventional Concrete (CC) or High-Performance Concrete (HPC) mixture different long-term behavior has been observed. Therefore, creep and shrinkage have been monitored for long-term behavior to accurately predict prestress losses, which are needed in the structural design of the bridges.
This thesis is composed of three research papers, for each paper a separate chapter is used, which investigates various aspects for the production of SCC utilizing materials available in the state of Wisconsin. Chapter one provides a summary of the current stateof- the-art and practice of technical documentation and specifications related to material properties and test methods for prestressed SCC bridge girders. Chapter two provides an experimental program designed to investigate the effect of material constituents on performance of SCC mixtures. From this experimental program specific mixture parameters were recommended for the application of SCC in Wisconsin DOT projects. Finally, chapter three consisted in monitoring samples of five SCC mixtures batched at three different precast plants from Wisconsin. Creep and shrinkage readings were taken for a period of 112 days to investigate the effect of specific mixture parameters of selected mixtures with performance desired by the Wisconsin DOT and precast plants.
Self-Consolidating Concrete (SCC) is a relative new concrete technology developed in the 1980s in Japan. Since, SCC has been used for several applications around the world. Initially, SCC was used for on-site applications where it was difficult to place concrete. SCC workability benefits facilitated construction procedures by freely flowing, filling space and passing through dense reinforcement without vibration mechanism. Meanwhile, SCC has also been used in other applications such as the precast industry, where the benefits of the workability SCC delivers can be utilized to improve fabrication of prestressed girders. SCC has been used in the precast industry with a satisfactory performance. This was achieved by reducing fabrication time, decreasing health hazards due to excessive noise, and a much better finishing on the surface of the girder. However, difficulties maintaining uniformity, and resistance to segregation of the SCC mixtures have been reported by several producers. Ever since, several agencies and state Department of Transportation (DOT) have conducted research to study SCC characteristics with materials available in their region. Significant findings indicate that examination of fresh and hardened properties are necessary before application of prestressed girders. From particular findings, DOTs have developed guidelines for mixture constitution, and fresh and hardened properties required in their state for SCC production. However, due to different material proportions present on SCC mixtures compared to Conventional Concrete (CC) or High-Performance Concrete (HPC) mixture different long-term behavior has been observed. Therefore, creep and shrinkage have been monitored for long-term behavior to accurately predict prestress losses, which are needed in the structural design of the bridges.
This thesis is composed of three research papers, for each paper a separate chapter is used, which investigates various aspects for the production of SCC utilizing materials available in the state of Wisconsin. Chapter one provides a summary of the current stateof- the-art and practice of technical documentation and specifications related to material properties and test methods for prestressed SCC bridge girders. Chapter two provides an experimental program designed to investigate the effect of material constituents on performance of SCC mixtures. From this experimental program specific mixture parameters were recommended for the application of SCC in Wisconsin DOT projects. Finally, chapter three consisted in monitoring samples of five SCC mixtures batched at three different precast plants from Wisconsin. Creep and shrinkage readings were taken for a period of 112 days to investigate the effect of specific mixture parameters of selected mixtures with performance desired by the Wisconsin DOT and precast plants.
Self-Consolidating Concrete (SCC) is a relative new concrete technology developed in the 1980s in Japan. Since, SCC has been used for several applications around the world. Initially, SCC was used for on-site applications where it was difficult to place concrete. SCC workability benefits facilitated construction procedures by freely flowing, filling space and passing through dense reinforcement without vibration mechanism. Meanwhile, SCC has also been used in other applications such as the precast industry, where the benefits of the workability SCC delivers can be utilized to improve fabrication of prestressed girders. SCC has been used in the precast industry with a satisfactory performance. This was achieved by reducing fabrication time, decreasing health hazards due to excessive noise, and a much better finishing on the surface of the girder. However, difficulties maintaining uniformity, and resistance to segregation of the SCC mixtures have been reported by several producers. Ever since, several agencies and state Department of Transportation (DOT) have conducted research to study SCC characteristics with materials available in their region. Significant findings indicate that examination of fresh and hardened properties are necessary before application of prestressed girders. From particular findings, DOTs have developed guidelines for mixture constitution, and fresh and hardened properties required in their state for SCC production. However, due to different material proportions present on SCC mixtures compared to Conventional Concrete (CC) or High-Performance Concrete (HPC) mixture different long-term behavior has been observed. Therefore, creep and shrinkage have been monitored for long-term behavior to accurately predict prestress losses, which are needed in the structural design of the bridges.
This thesis is composed of three research papers, for each paper a separate chapter is used, which investigates various aspects for the production of SCC utilizing materials available in the state of Wisconsin. Chapter one provides a summary of the current stateof- the-art and practice of technical documentation and specifications related to material properties and test methods for prestressed SCC bridge girders. Chapter two provides an experimental program designed to investigate the effect of material constituents on performance of SCC mixtures. From this experimental program specific mixture parameters were recommended for the application of SCC in Wisconsin DOT projects. Finally, chapter three consisted in monitoring samples of five SCC mixtures batched at three different precast plants from Wisconsin. Creep and shrinkage readings were taken for a period of 112 days to investigate the effect of specific mixture parameters of selected mixtures with performance desired by the Wisconsin DOT and precast plants.