Self Compacting Concrete: A Boon For The Building Industry - Self compacting is nothing but a concrete mix with a high flow which spreads into the formwork without any requirement for vibration. The fluidity is attributed to the inclusion of super plasticizers to the concrete mix instead of increased water content that would detract from the concrete strength. Producers of concrete often are placed in a position to retrain their "eyes" as far as assessing the proper viscosity of the self compacting concrete is concerned. Though it requires no vibration owing to its intrinsically fluid nature compared to regular concrete mixes, it can still percolate around and into a tangled reinforcement too. No compaction is required and it settles under its own weight. Nevertheless, even the most stringent requisites are met by self compacting concrete.
Self Compacting Concrete: A Boon For The Building Industry
By Jessica Alias
Mar 15, 2010 - 9:56:08 AM
Self compacting is nothing but a concrete mix with a high flow which spreads into the formwork without any requirement for vibration. The fluidity is attributed to the inclusion of super plasticizers to the concrete mix instead of increased water content that would detract from the concrete strength.
Producers of concrete often are placed in a position to retrain their "eyes" as far as assessing the proper viscosity of the self compacting concrete is concerned. Though it requires no vibration owing to its intrinsically fluid nature compared to regular concrete mixes, it can still percolate around and into a tangled reinforcement too. No compaction is required and it settles under its own weight. Nevertheless, even the most stringent requisites are met by self compacting concrete.
With self compacting concrete, a great deal of money as well as time could be saved. A delay of five minutes can have drastic impacts on a huge building work, costing a lot of money in penalties since the processes are all connected with each other and the likelihood of additional variables going wrong are considerably higher too. Self compacting concrete usage does away with the requirement for extra machinery and labor, thus saving money and time.
The mix design is a vital aspect of self compacting concrete since the concrete viscosity and strength have to be adjusted as per the kind of application. For instance, robustness and durability constitute the requirements of a commercial center floor whereas a tunnel lining would be in need of different requisites and characteristics.
As the complexity of buildings increases, ranging from underground tunnels to huge bridges, the ease with which self compacting concrete could be transferred to precast structures had made it a much preferred solution. In commercial and residential applications, this concrete has aided in raising the bottom line substantially for developers and builders since it does not require much handling besides being pumped, when compared to conventional concrete.
The main advantage of self compacting concrete is that it is self-leveling and can be blended to dry with a shiny finish. A lot of time gets saved in terms of various procedures inclusive of compaction, leveling, finishing with power floats and vibration. Finishing requires quite a number of passes and hence it may be time intensive. But you can forget about getting any kind of decent finish if you end up waiting too long or if you start too soon.
Significant developments of a range of viscosity modifiers and polymers have resulted in a concrete that is not only easy and simple to work with, but also maintains its robustness, cohesiveness and strength. Self compacting concrete mixes are stronger than traditional ones, thus rendering them perfectly suitable for complex applications where there is limited access like in tunnel linings.
In Spain, a project that comprised of three tunnels made use of self compacting concrete along with several admixtures, one to prevent deformation and shrinkage with time, to line the walls of the tunnel. Self compacting concrete was decided to use for the fact that entry was nearly impossible and because the costs were already very high, given the project nature.
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