EFFECT OF WEIGHT COMPACTION AND PERCENTAGE OF FLY-ASH ON SELF-COMPACTING CONCRETE STRENGTH, AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

Despite the fact that self-compacting concrete has been used for many years, until now, no-one has carried out any research on the strengthening eect of the weight of concrete at any level. For this reason, employing concrete columns made out of dierent mixes of selfcompacting concrete, a research is conducted. In order to measure the concrete strength at any level, the in-situ friction-transfer method was used. Having examined over 50 mix designs, nine mixes were proved to be self-compacting concrete and, therefore, were used for this investigation. In order to see the eect of the weight of the concrete above the level considered, concrete columns were cast using self-compacting concrete without giving any form of compaction. At specied ages, the hardened concrete columns were cut at 150 mm height intervals. Using the Friction-transfer method, the strengths of concrete at dierent levels were obtained. In the friction-transfer method, a 50 mm diameter partial core is made using a diamond tipped coring drill. A metallic gripping device is xed on top of this partial core by fastening its side bolts, and torsional moment is applied to the partial core via this gripping device by hand. The applied torsional moment is gradually increased until the partial core is failed, and the maximum (failure) torsional moment is recorded. Using the existing calibration graphs, the ultimate (failure) torsion is converted to the compressive strength of the concrete tested. The results show that the weight of the concrete situated above any level has a positive eect on the strength of the concrete at that level. In addition to the comparison of the obtained results with the respective results of ordinary concrete, the eect of changes in the llers, segregation and aggregate grading, on the strength of self-compacting concrete, is also studied.