Assessing the Adhesion of Self-Compacting Concrete and Mortar Applied to Different Concrete surfaces, using twist-off and Friction-Transfer Methods, and its Estimation By Fuzzy Logic

Invention of the self-compacting concrete has caused dramatic changes in the concrete industry within the past twenty years. Compared with the ordinary concrete, self-compacting concrete does not need any compaction and by itself can produce concrete with sufficient compaction and smooth surfaces with no voids or honeycombing. Since the compaction has great influence on the adhesion of the concrete repair layers and due to the fact that the compaction of any repair layer is a very difficult task, it seems that SCC can be used with wide spread application as concrete repair materials. In this paper results of studies on the adhesion of self-compacting concrete applied to different concrete surfaces are presented. These studies are undertaken by the use of “twist-off” and “friction-transfer” methods and the prediction of the results by fuzzy logic, is also presented. The results tend to show that surface conditions of the substrate, aggregate to cement ratio of the repair layer, compressive strength of the repair layer, nature of the repair layer (concrete or mortar) and the degree of the moisture of the substrate concrete affect the adhesion along the repair/concrete interface. It is also realized that compared with statistical methods, fuzzy logic can be used for the prediction of the adhesion, with higher accuracy.