Properties of self-compacting concretes made with cold bonded fly ash lightweight aggregates

In this thesis, an experimental program was conducted to investigate some mechanical, fracture, physical and durability properties of self-compacting concretes made with cold bonded fly ash aggregates. At first, dry powder mixture of 90% fly ash and 10% Portland cement by weight was pelletized through moistening in a revolving tilted pan at ambient temperature to produce lightweight fly ash aggregates which were then cured for 28 days. Thereafter, a total of seventeen self-compacting lightweight aggregate concretes (SCLCs) in which natural aggregates had been replaced with cold-bonded lightweight fine (LWFA) and coarse aggregate (LWCA) at different volume fraction of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% were designed with a water/binder ratio of 0.32. The workability of SCLCs was observed through by slump flow time and diameter, V-Funnel flow time, and L-Box height ratio. Moreover, the rheological properties of fresh concrete mixes were determined via ICAR rheometer. Thereafter, the hardened properties of the concretes were measured by means of compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, fracture energy, water sorptivity, water permeability, rapid chloride permeability, and gas permeability tests. In addition, physical properties such as drying shrinkage, weight loss and the restrained shrinkage cracking were monitored.