See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257389001

Properties of Self-Compacting-Concrete
Containing Fly Ash Subjected to Elevated
Temperatures
ARTICLE in CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING MATERIALS MAY 2012
Impact Factor: 2.3 DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.11.010

CITATIONS

READS

14

173

2 AUTHORS:
Neelam Pathak

Rafat Siddique

Thapar University

Thapar University

2 PUBLICATIONS 24 CITATIONS

114 PUBLICATIONS 1,868 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All in-text references underlined in blue are linked to publications on ResearchGate,

letting you access and read them immediately.

SEE PROFILE

Available from: Rafat Siddique

Retrieved on: 26 February 2016

Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 274280

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Properties of self-compacting-concrete containing y ash subjected to

elevated temperatures
Neelam Pathak, Rafat Siddique
Department of Civil Engineering, Thapar University, Patiala, Punjab, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 27 June 2011
Received in revised form 21 October 2011
Accepted 24 November 2011
Available online 30 December 2011
Keywords:
Self-compacting-concrete
Temperature effects
Fly ash
Mechanical and durability properties

a b s t r a c t
This paper aimed to study the properties of Self-Compacting-Concrete (SCC) such as compressive
strength, splitting tensile strength, rapid chloride permeability, porosity, and mass loss when exposed
to elevated temperatures. In this research, mixes were prepared with three percentages of class F y
ash ranging from 30% to 50% and for comparison; one controlled mixture without y ash was also
produced. The variables included were the temperature effects (20 C, 100 C, 200 C, and 300 C) using
Ordinary Portland Cement. SCC mixes developed 28 days compressive strength ranging from 21.43 to
40.68 MPa and splitting tensile strength ranging from 1.35 to 3.60 MPa. Test results clearly show that
there is little improvement in compressive strength within temperature range of 200300 C as compared to 20200 C but there is little reduction in splitting tensile strength ranging from 20 to 300 C
and with the increase in percentage of y ash.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the
world. The term Self-Compacting-Concrete (SCC) was introduced
by Professor Ozowa in Japan [1] and then developed by Bartos
and Grauers [2] and Okamura and Ouchi [3]. SCC lls all sections
of forms without the need of mechanical vibration and has reasonable ow-ability, homogeneity, resistance against segregation and
mechanical strength [4]. Use of SCC in the construction industry
has been widely growing in almost the entire world and a good
growth of use is predicted for it in the near future [5]. Although
the use of SCC has many technical, social, and overall economical
advantages, however its supply cost could be two to three times
higher then that of normal concrete. Hence to reduce the cost of
SCC use of mineral admixtures such as y ash, limestone ller,
and ground granulated blast furnace slag could be used to increase
the slump of the concrete mix. Among these materials y ash, a
byproduct of thermal power plants, has been reported to improve
the mechanical properties and durability of concrete when used as
a cement replacement material. The incorporation of y ash also
reduces the need for viscosity modifying chemical admixtures [6].
Degradation of mechanical behaviour of concrete due to
exposure to high temperature has been studied since 1950s in
western countries [7,8]. At early stages of heating the evaporable
water from concrete is lost over in the range of 20110 C. Above
110 C the cement hydrates decompose, calcium hydroxide is
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: siddique_66@yahoo.com (R. Siddique).
0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.11.010

broken down and the calcium carbonate suffers decarbonation.

The aggregate also suffers changes, which contributes to the general loss of structure safety [9]. Within the normal temperature,
the thermal properties of concrete can be considered constant.
However at elevated temperature these properties will be changed
because of the change of moisture content of the concrete components [10]. Some of the studies on SCC subjected to high temperature showed both decrease in strength and increase in the risk of
spalling or a similar behaviour to that of vibrated concrete. Noumowe and Aggoun [11] presented the experimental work on the
high temperature behaviour of conventional vibrated high strength
concrete and self-compacting high-strength concrete by using
polypropylene bre, and concluded that residual mechanical properties in reference to the initial mechanical properties of self-compacting high-strength concretes were similar to that of
conventional high strength concrete. Castillo presented the experimental results of hot compressive strength in the temperature
range of 100300 C and observed the decrease in compressive
strength of high strength concrete by 1520% [12]. Jin et al. [13]
presented the experimental results on compressive strength for
SCC subjected to high temperature. They concluded that after heating to 100 C and subsequent cooling, the compressive strength of
all mixtures decreased as compared to the room-temperature
strength. Hanaa et al. [14] studied the mechanical and microstructural properties of self-consolidating concrete using limestone
ller subjected to normal and high temperature and reported that
after a moderate decrease in compressive strength between 20 and
150 C, an important increase was observed between 150 and
300 C. In other studies Phan and Carino [15] and Khoury [16]

275

N. Pathak, R. Siddique / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 274280

reported the decrease in strength between 20 and 150 C on vibrated concretes. Bakhtiyari et al. [17] evaluated the mechanical
properties and changes in the phase composition of the paste of
SCC containing different powders at elevated temperatures. They
found that, if ne quartzite powder is used as a ller in the SCC,
it will accelerate the strength development at high temperatures
up to 500 C, because of its partial pozzolanic activity, enhanced
at such temperatures. They also concluded that it can be said as
a general rule that 500 C is a critical temperature for concretes
exposed to re. Ghandehari et al. [18] evaluated the residual
mechanical properties of high strength concretes after exposure
to elevated temperatures by using silica fume, and reported that
after heating to 200 C the strength of all of the concretes slightly
improved when compared to strength at 100 C. Siddique [19]
studied the properties of SCC mixes, incorporating y ash content
up to 35% and reported that, SCC mixes developed compressive
strength ranging from 29 to 35 MPa at 28 days. Patel et al. [20] reported that the use of y ash decreased the rapid chloride penetration. Also, Nehdi et al. [21] reported that the presence of y ash
reduced the penetrability from approximately 3000 Coulomb to
less than 1000 Coulomb. Koulombi et al. [22] observed that the
chloride binding capacity of concrete tends to increase with y
ash addition. Zhu et al. [23] reported the signicant reduction of
chloride diffusivity of SCC with y ash. Shi and Yanzhong [24]
states the use of supplementary cementing material such as y
ash may have a signicant effect on the chloride migration of concrete as measured by the RCPT effect. Mustafa et al. [25] also
showed that the rapid chloride permeability of most SCC decreases
with increase in y ash and foundry sand content.
The objective of the present research was to evaluate the behaviour of SCC subjected to elevated temperature, by using locally
available materials. The effect of elevated temperature ranging
from 100 to 300 C on compressive strength, splitting tensile
strength and rapid chloride permeability, porosity, and mass loss
was investigated and developed 28 days compressive strength varied between 20 and 35 MPa. Water-to-cementitious material ratio
for various y ash SCC mixes, ranging from 0.38 to 0.42, total mass
of cementitious materials of 500 kg/m3 with 3050% replacement
of cement with y ash of total powder content. The superplasticizer content was below 2% of the total powder content (cement + y
ash) for all the mixes. In the present research, behaviour of SCC
subjected to elevated temperature with varying y ash content
has been evaluated.
2. Experimental programme

Table 1
Physical properties of Portland cement (IS: 8112-1989) [26].
Physical property

Results obtained

Specications

Fineness (retained on 90-lm sieve)

Standard consistency
Initial setting time (min)
Final setting time (min)
Compressive strength 3-days (MPa)
Compressive strength 7-days (MPa)
Compressive strength 28 days (MPa)
Specic gravity
Soundness (mm)

1.0%
30%
65
215
23.6
35.4
43.0
3.12
2.50

<10%

30 minimum
600 maximum
22.0 minimum
33.0 minimum
44.3
3.15
10 maximum

Table 2
Physical properties of y ash.
Sr. No.

Physical properties

Test results

1
2
3

Colour
Specic gravity
Lime reactivity average compressive
strength after 28 days of mixture

Blackish grey
2.13
4.90 MPa

Table 3
Chemical properties of y ash (IS: 3812-2003) [27].
Sr. No

Constituents

Percent by weight

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Loss on ignition
Silica (SiO2)
Iron Oxide (Fe2O3)
Alumina (Al2O3)
Calcium Oxide (CaO)
Magnesium Oxide (MgO)
Total Sulphur (SO3)
Insoluble residue
Alkalies: (a) Sodium Oxide (Na2O)
(b) Potassium Oxide (K2O)

4.17
58.55
3.44
28.20
2.23
0.32
0.07

0.58
1.26

Table 4
Physical properties of coarse and ne aggregates.
Properties

Coarse aggregates

Fine aggregates

Specic gravity
Fineness modulus
Bulk density (kg/m3)
Water absorption (%)

2.66
6.46
1545
0.90

2.65
2.507
1781
0.98

2.1. Materials
2.1.1. Cement
Ordinary Portland Cement (Grade 43) was used in this research. Its physical
properties are as given in Table 1.

2.1.2. Fly ash

Class F Fly ash procured from Ropar Thermal Power Plant, Punjab, India was
used. The physical and chemical properties of y ash are given in the Tables 2 and 3,
respectively.

2.1.3. Aggregates
Locally available natural sand with 4.75 mm maximum size was used as ne
aggregate. Crushed stone with 10 mm maximum size was used as coarse aggregate.
Both ne aggregate and coarse aggregate conformed to Indian Standard Specications IS: 383-1970 [28]. Table 4 gives the physical properties of the coarse and ne
aggregates.

2.1.4. Admixtures
Polycarboxylic ether based super plasticizer complying with IS: 9103:1999,
ASTMC-494 type F, BS 5057 part III [29] with density approximately 1.10 and pH
approximately 5.0 was used in this research.

2.2. Mix proportions

Four concrete mixes were made, which had total powder content of 500 kg/m3
(cement + y ash). Coarse aggregate content was maintained at 51% by volume of
concrete and ne aggregate content at 49% by volume of mortar in concrete, the
w/p ratio was varied from 0.38 to 0.42 by weight with air content being assumed
to be 2%. In this work, one control mix (SCC1) was designed with Ordinary Portland
Cement and the other three concrete mixes (SCC2, SCC3, and SCC4) were made by
replacing cement with 30%, 40%, and 50% of Class F y ash by weight of total powder
content. Their mix proportions are given in Table 5.
2.3. Mixing and casting
For these mix proportions, required quantities of materials were weighed. Cement and y ash were mixed in dry state, and that of coarse and ne aggregates
were mixed dry separately. After adding water, all materials were mixed together
to obtain the homogeneous mix. After carrying out the tests for fresh properties,
nal casting of the mixes was done immediately. After casting, test specimens were
left in the casting room for 24 h at a temperature of about 20 C. The specimens
were removed from mould after 24 h and were put into a water-curing tank until
the time of the test or as per requirement of the test. The cubes of size 150 mm were
cast for determination of compressive strength and 150  300 mm cylinders for

276

N. Pathak, R. Siddique / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 274280

Table 5
Mix proportions and fresh concrete properties of SCC mixes.
Mix
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC

1
2
3
4

Cement (kg/m3)

Fly Ash (%)

FA (kg/m3)

CA (kg/m3)

W/b

SP (%)

Slump (mm)

U-box (mm)

Room temp.

Conc. temp.

500
500
500
500

30
40
50

830
830
845
856

876
876
860
856

0.38
0.38
0.40
0.42

2.00
1.82
1.80
1.72

620
634
652
678

12
10
8.64
7.92

34
35
37
35

33
32
35
34

FA stands for ne aggregates; CA for coarse aggregates; W/b for water-binder ratio; and SP for Superplasticizer.

Table 6
Chloride ion penetrability based on charge passed (ASTM 1202-97).
Charge passed (Coulomb)

Chloride ion penetrability

>4000
20004000
10002000
1001000
<100

High
Moderate
Low
Very low
Negligible

Table 7
Mass loss for SCC mixes.
Mix

SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC

Temperature (C)

1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
4

100
200
300
100
200
300
100
200
300
100
200
300

Fly ash (%)

0
0
0
30
30
30
40
40
40
50
50
50

Mass loss (gm)

28 days

91 days

225
242
285
173
196
230
182
216
234
190
225
245

124
130
139
120
135
142
154
175
205
156
178
195

Table 8
Porosity for SCC mixes.
Mix

SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC
SCC

Temperature (C)

1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
4

100
200
300
100
200
300
100
200
300
100
200
300

Fly ash (%)

0
0
0
30
30
30
40
40
40
50
50
50

Porosity (%)

700 mm the concrete might segregate and if it is less than 500 mm the concrete
is considered to have insufcient ow to pass through highly congested reinforcement. U-box test gives us the lling and passing ability of SCC [32].
2.4.2. Strength and durability properties
After the required curing period, the specimens of each concrete mixture were
heated at a rate of 1 C/min up to different temperatures (100, 200 and 300 C). In
order to ensure a uniform temperature throughout the specimens, the temperature
was held constant at the maximum temperature for 1 h before cooling. All heated
specimens were cooled slowly and tested at room temperature. The rate of heating
refers to the recommendations of the RILEM Technical Committee TC-129 [33]. The
changes in the mechanical properties of SCC due to high temperature were examined. Compressive strength and splitting tensile strength test was determined at
the ages of 28 and 91 days, as per Bureau of Indian Standards, IS: 516:1959 [34]. Rapid chloride penetrability test (RCPT) for durability was conducted as per ASTM C
1202-97 [30] at the ages of 28 and 91 days.
2.4.3. Concrete mass loss
The mass of each specimen was measured before and after each temperature
cycle. Weight change of concrete was mainly due to dehydration of cement paste.
This allows us to quantify the dehydration of concrete after each heating. Results
of mass loss are presented in Table 7.
2.4.4. Porosity
Total porosity of the different mixes was studied. These properties were measured before and after each temperature cycle. Three samples were tested for each
concrete and each temperature cycle. Results of porosity are presented in Table 8.
ASTM vacuum saturation technique was used to measure the porosity of concrete
[35]. ASTM standard procedures were employed using 100  50 mm cylinder specimens. The specimens were dried in the oven at 100 C for more than 48 h and then
specimens were removed from the oven, cooled in dry air to a room temperature of
20 C and then weighted to obtain the oven dry mass. After that the specimens were
vacuum saturated. Porosity of concrete was calculated based on the concept of
weight gain due to water absorption and weight loss because of buoyancy. The
porosity is determined according to the following:

28 days

91 days

Porosity W s  W d =W s  W b  100%:

0.77
0.86
0.95
1.20
1.46
1.57
1.53
1.68
1.75
1.90
2.25
2.42

0.55
0.64
0.79
1.00
1.35
1.39
1.42
1.55
1.64
1.68
1.75
1.95

where W s and Wb are the saturated mass of a sample measured in the air and in
water respectively. Wd is the mass of oven dried specimen, weighted in air.

splitting tensile strength. Cylindrical specimens of size 100  50 mm size were also
cast for rapid chloride penetration test as per ASTM C 1202-97 [30]. The top surface
of the specimens was scraped to remove excess material and to achieve smooth nish. All test measurements were taken as the average of ve readings.
2.4. Testing
2.4.1. Fresh properties
For determining the self-compactibility properties, slump ow test and U-box
(difference in height) tests were performed. The slump ow represents the mean
diameter of the mass of concrete after release of a standard slump cone; the diameter is measured in two perpendicular directions. According to Nagataki and Fujiwara [31], a slump ow ranging from 500 to 700 mm is considered as the slump
required for a concrete to be self-compacted. If the slump ow is greater than

2.4.5. Rapid chloride permeability test

The chloride permeability test was conducted to assess the concrete quality as
per ASTM C 1202-97. To measure the permeability cylindrical specimens of size
100 mm dia and 50 mm length were cut in cylinders. Only the central part of the
cylinders was kept for the measures. A potential difference of 60 V DC was maintained across the specimen. One of the surface was in contact with a sodium chloride solution (NaCl) and the other with a sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH). The
total charge passing through in 6 h was measured, indicating the degree of resistance of the specimen to chloride ion penetration. The residual permeability obtained after each temperature cycle was determined. Heated specimens were
tested 24 h after cooling in order to maintain the same hydric conditions for all
the specimens.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Properties of fresh concrete
The results of various fresh properties tested by slump ow test
(slump ow diameter and T50 cm) and U-box test, for various mix
compositions are given in Table 5. The slump ow test judges the
capability of concrete to deform under its own weight against the
friction of the surface with no restraint present. Slump ow for all
the mixes in this research was with in the range of 600700 mm

277

N. Pathak, R. Siddique / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 274280

Compresive Strength(MPa)

60
Control mix
30% Fly Ash
40% Fly Ash
50% Fly Ash

50

40

30

20

100

200

300

400

Temperature(0C)
Fig. 3. Compressive strength versus temperature (91 days).

Fig. 1. Rapid chloride permeability test set up (ASTM C 1202).

Compressive Strength (MPa)

60

Control mix
30% flyash
40% flyash
50% flyash

50
40
30
20
10

100

200

300

400

Temperature(0C)
Fig. 2. Compressive strength versus temperature (28 days).

and the time taken to reach the diameter of 500 mm was less than
5 s. The U-box difference in height of concrete in two chambers
was in the range of 712 mm.
3.2. Residual compressive strength
The behaviour of SCC and vibrated concrete differs signicantly
between 20 and 300 C. The compressive strength of concretes
with or without y ash at normal temperature (20 C) and after
heating to 100, 200, 300 C are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. At normal
temperature (20 C), with the increase in y ash content from
30% to 50%, SCC mixes (SCC2SCC4) developed compressive
strengths between 30.67 and 21.43 MPa and, between 39.50 and
30.40 MPa at 28 and 91 days respectively. Strength values were
40.68 and 48.90 MPa at 28 and 91 days respectively, for control
mix (SCC1). An increase of about 22.35% and 19.00% strength was
observed at 28 and 91 days, with the decrease of y ash content
from 50% to 30% (SCC4SCC2) as compared with control mix
(SCC1).
After heating to 100 C and subsequent cooling, SCC mixes
(SCC2SCC4) developed compressive strength ranged between
29.56 and 19.96 MPa and, between 38.00 and 29.25 MPa at 28
and 91 days. An increase of about 24.30% and 18.40% strength
was observed at 28 and 91 days, with the decrease of y ash content from 50% to 30% (SCC4SCC2) as compared with control mix
(SCC1).
With the increase in temperature from 100 to 200 C, compressive strength varied between 29.00 and 19.25 MPa and, between

37.90 and 29.00 MPa at 28 and 91 days. An increase of about

24.00% and 19.00% strength was observed at 28 days and 91 days,
with the decrease of y ash content from 50% to 30% (SCC4SCC2)
as compared with control mix (SCC1).
With the further increase in temperature from 200 to 300 C,
compressive strength ranged between 31.45 and 21.20 MPa and,
between 39.00 and 30.20 MPa at 28 and 91 days. An increase of
about 25.00% and 18.00% strength was observed at 28 days and
91 days, with the decrease of y ash content from 50% to 30%
(SCC4SCC2) as compared with control mix (SCC1).
The compressive strength increased with the decrease in y ash
content and the water-to-cementitious materials ratio, as compared with the SCC mix prepared without y ash. Strength loss
of SCC mixes (SCC2SCC4) in the temperature range of 20100 C
was about 1.95%. Between 100 and 200 C, there was slight reduction in strength. With further increase in temperature from 200 to
300 C, there was little improvement in strength (about 1%), as
compared with SCC1.
It has been well documented that the moisture content has a
signicant effect on the strength of concrete at temperatures ranging from 20 to 200 C. For all of the mixtures, a small improvement
occurred in the residual strength at 200 C when compared to
100 C. The increase in strength associated with this increase in
temperature was attributed to the increase in surface forces between gel particles due to the removal of moisture content. This
was most likely due to the compact microstructure, which results
in a build up vapour pressure formed by the evaporation of physically and chemically bound water.
The strength values of this research was comparable with those
reported by Hanaa et al. [14] i.e. after a moderate decrease in compressive strength between 20 C and 150 C, noticeable increase
was observed between 150 C and 300 C. Several hypotheses
had been proposed in the literature to explain the increase in
strength between 150 and 300 C. Khoury [16] assumed that the
silanol groups lose a part of their bonds with water, which induces
the creation of shorter and stronger siloxane elements (SiOSi)
with probably larger surface energies that contribute to the increase in strength. Dias et al. [36] attributed this to a rehydration
of the paste due to the migration of water in the pores. This increase in strength was also observed by Xu et al. [37] who carried
out microhardness tests on hardened cement paste and interfacial
transition zone.
These results clearly showed that the evolution of residual compressive strength between 200 and 300 C was due to the hydration of anhydrous cement which leads to the formation of
hydrates having better bonding properties. These results conrm
the hypothesis of Dias et al. [36] i.e. the increase in strength was
also due to an increase in the bonding properties of hydrates (a larger compressive strength was obtained for a larger porosity of the

278

N. Pathak, R. Siddique / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 274280

Control mix

30% flyash
40% flyash
50% flyash

5
4

Split tenslie strength(MPa)

Split tensile strength(MPa)

Control mix

3
2
1
0

100

200

300

400

40% Fly Ash

50% Fly Ash

4
3
2
1
0

Temperature(0C)

30% Fly Ash

100

200

300

400

Temperature(C)

Fig. 4. Split tensile strength versus temperature (28 days).

Fig. 5. Split tensile strength versus temperature (91 days).

3.3. Residual splitting tensile strength

Splitting tensile strength test results of all SCC mixes at various
temperatures are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. At normal temperature
(20 C), with the increase in y ash content from 30% to 50%, SCC
mixes (SCC2SCC4) developed splitting tensile strength between
2.00 and 1.35 MPa and 2.24 and 1.54 MPa at 28 and 91 days.
Strength values were 3.56 and, 3.78 MPa at 28 and 91 days, for
control mix (SCC1). An increase of about 19.00% and 18.00%
strength was observed at 28 and 91 days with the decrease of y
ash content from 50% to 30% (SCC4SCC2) as compared with control mix (SCC1).
After heating to 100 C and subsequent cooling, SCC mixes
(SCC2SCC4) developed split tensile strength ranged between
1.84 and 1.26 MPa and, 2.00 and 1.48 MPa at 28 and 91 days. An
increase of about 18.20% and 14.50% strength was observed at 28
and 91 days with the decrease of y ash content from 50% to 30%
(SCC4SCC2) as compared with control mix (SCC1).
With the increase in temperature from 100 to 200 C, split tensile strength varied between 1.62 and 1.00 MPa, and 1.87 and
1.22 MPa at 28 and 91 days. An increase of about 20.00% and
14.50% strength was observed at 28 and 91 days, with the decrease
of y ash content from 50% to 30% (SCC4SCC2) as compared with
control mix (SCC1).
With the further increase in temperature from 200 to 300 C,
splitting tensile strength ranged between 1.56 and 0.94 MPa, and
1.75 and 1.14 MPa at 28 and 91 days respectively. An increase of
about 21.74% and 19.00% strength was observed at 28 days and
91 days, with the decrease of y ash content from 50% to 30%
(SCC4SCC2) as compared with control mix (SCC1).
Splitting tensile strength increased with the decrease in percentage of y ash content and the water-to-cementitious materials
ratio and decreased with increase in temperature, at all ages.
Strength loss of SCC mixes (SCC2SCC4) in the temperature range
of 20100 C was about 0.2%. Between 100 and 200 C, there was
about 1.80%. With further increase in temperature from 200 to
300 C; there was about 1.74% loss, as compared with SCC1. This
strength loss was not only attributed to the decomposition of the
hydration products but also due to the thermal incompatibility
between aggregates and cement paste.
The tensile strength results of this research was comparable
with those reported by Noumowe and Aggoun [11] that split tensile strength decreased continuously with increase in temperature.

2500

Permeability (Coulombs)

material). Therefore these results are in line with the published literature. The strength loss in present research at elevated temperature was much less than that reported by previous researchers, and
this is because of incorporation of y ash.

Control mix
30%Fly Ash
40%FlyAsh
50%Fly Ash

2000
1500
1000
500
0

20

100

200

300

Temperature ( 0C)
Fig. 6. Rapid chloride permeability of y ash concrete (28 days).

The value of split tensile strength was reported as 4.8 MPa at ambient temperature and 2.8 MPa after heating to 400 C. In another research by Ghandehari et al. [18] reported the reduction from 14.4%
to 17.9% after being exposed from 100 to 600 C. Reduction in split
tensile strength observed in present study was much lower than
that already studied in the previous researches. This is because of
replacement of cement with y ash.
3.4. Chloride penetration resistance
Rapid chloride permeability test setup (ASTM C1202) is shown
in Fig. 1. Chloride permeability test was conducted on all the concrete specimens. The total charge passed in 6 h as a measure of the
chloride permeability is presented in Figs. 6 and 7. The chloride ion
penetrability limits suggested by ASTM C1202 (Table 6) were compared with the results. Much like the ndings of previous studies
[1925] these Figs. 6 and 7 showed that the use of y ash signicantly reduced the chloride permeability of hardened SCC mixtures
when compared to the control concretes. On the other hand permeability increased with the increase in temperature, like previous
research [14]. It is evident from the results that SCC mixes (SCC2
SCC4) made with y ash reduced the rapid chloride ion penetrability to the low range (10002000 Coulomb) at the age of 28 days,
between low range to very low range (<1000 Coulomb) at the
age of 91 days. The incorporation of y ash resulted in a reduction
in Coulomb charges.
At normal temperature (20 C) the Coulomb charge of control
mix (SCC1) was 1393, and 1186 Coulomb and y ash mixes
(SCC24) was between 1234 and 1143 Coulomb, and 1030 and
854 Coulomb at 28 and 91 days respectively.

N. Pathak, R. Siddique / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 274280

Permeability (Coulombs)

2000

Control mix
30%Fly Ash
40%Fly Ash
50%Fly Ash

1500

1000

500

20

100

200

300

Temperature(C)
Fig. 7. Rapid chloride permeability of y ash concrete (91 days).

The Coulomb charge of control mix (SCC1) at 300 C was 1532

and 1432 Coulomb, and y ash mixes (SCC24) was between
1367 and 1245 Coulomb, and 1245 and 923 Coulomb at 28 and
91 days respectively, indicating high chloride penetration resistance. In no case the value of the charges passed was greater than
1532 Coulomb implying dense SCC mix structure. The signicant
reduction in chloride ion penetration may be due to incorporation
of y ash whose spherical particles could improve particle-packing
density in the matrix.
In the present research, permeability was lower at 91 days, as
compared with 28 days, as expected due to the hydration of Portland cement and pozzolanic reactions of y ash. One of the most
important factor affecting the permeability of concrete was the
internal pore structure, which in turn was dependent on the extent
of hydration of the cementitious materials. The curing conditions
and the age of concrete thus largely determine the ease with which
chloride ions can move into a concrete. From the test results it is
observed that most concretes become signicantly less permeable
with increase in curing time.
3.5. Concrete mass loss
Table 7 presents the evolutions of mass loss of cubical specimens of size 150 mm after heating. It was observed that the evolution of mass loss versus temperature was very close to ve studied
concretes. Between the room temperature and 200 C, the variation of mass loss was less. This corresponds to the loss of the evaporable water and part of the physically bound water. Between 200
and 300 C, noticeable increase in mass loss was observed for all
concretes. This is because of loss of chemically bound water from
the decomposition of the CSH, the carboaluminate hydrates
and the dehydration of calcium silicate hydroxide. This was in good
agreement with the observation by the Hanaa et al. [14] who
observed that about 70% of all the water contained in the concretes
had been evaporated at 300 C. The results are in line with the published data.
3.6. Porosity
Table 8 presents the results of porosity. For the initial stage of
heating, the porosity was nearly stable up to 100 C. By increasing
the temperature from 100 to 200 C or from 200 to 300 C porosity
increased. When the percentage of y ash increased porosity also
increased. The increase in porosity values was attributed to change
SCC from impermeable to permeable material due to losses and
pruned of ne, super ne and organic materials. These results are
in line with the results reported by Hanaa et al. [14] and Noumowe

279

and Aggoun [11]. They also observed the increase in porosity with
temperature. They attributed the increase in porosity with temperature to the departure of bound water and to the microcracks generated by differential expansion between the paste and aggregates.
Noumowe and Aggoun [11] showed by mercury intrusion porosimetry an increase in the pores sizes beyond 120 C. In other research by Gall and Sercombe [38] attributed the evolution of
porosity to the generation of large capillary pores. Their appearance was due to the release of adsorbed water of capillary pores
and release of bound water in cement paste hydrates. If compare
the evolution of compressive strength with that of porosity,
observed both an increase in strength and an increase in porosity
for the SCCs between 200 and 300 C. The increase in strength
can therefore not be attributed to a decrease in porosity but rather
to a modication of the bonding properties of the hydrates of cement paste. The experimental results are therefore in line with
Hanna and Khourys hypothesis concerning the creation of shorter
and stronger siloxane elements SiOSi (with probably larger
surface energies) by the loss of a part of the bonds with water in
silanol groups.
4. Conclusions
Based on the results of this experimental study, the following
conclusions can be drawn:
1. Although y ash reduces the strength but still it is possible
to produce SCC with adequate strength.
2. All the high volume y ash concretes have satised the
norms that were set to qualify them as SCC and the fresh
properties like workability were in good agreement with
European guidelines [39]. The developed SCC was highly
segregation resistant and had good owability and passing
ability.
3. The SCC mixes developed compressive strengths ranging
from 30.67 to 19.25 MPa, and from 39.50 to 29 MPa, at 28,
and 91 days respectively. Splitting tensile strengths developed were from 0.94 to 2.00 MPa, and 1.14 to 2.24 MPa at
28, and 91 days respectively. The compressive strength
increased with a decrease in the percentage of the y ash
and the water-to-cementitious materials ratio.
4. Between 20 and 200 C, a small loss of strength was
observed. Between 200 and 300 C, the compressive
strengths of all of the concrete specimens slightly improved
as compared to strength at 100 C. The increase in strength
could be attributed to a modication of the bonding properties of the cement paste hydrates i.e. rehydration of the
paste due to the migration of water in the pores.
5. At elevated temperatures, the rate of the splitting tensile
strength loss is higher than the rate of the compressive
strength loss. The splitting tensile strength continued to
decrease in a similar way as was observed between 20
and 100 C, due to the departure of bound water, corresponding to a large mass loss.
6. The high volume y ash SCC mixes showed signicantly
lower chloride ion permeability than SCC without y ash
concretes. Most of the SCC mixes were assessed as very
low chloride permeability concretes as per ASTM C1202
94 assessment criteria, with less than 1000 coulombs of
total charge passing.

References
[1] Ozawa K, Kunishima M. Development of high performance concrete based on
the durability design of concrete structure. In: Proceeding of second East-Asia

280

[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]

[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]

[12]
[13]
[14]

[15]
[16]
[17]

[18]

[19]
[20]

[21]

N. Pathak, R. Siddique / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 274280

and Pacic Conference on Structural Engineering and construction, vol. 1;
1989. p. 44550.
Bartos PJM, Grauers M. Self-compacting concrete. Concrete 1999;33:913.
Okamura H, Ouchi M. Self-compacting concrete. J Adv Concr Technol
2003;1:515.
Domone PL. Self-compacting concrete: an analysis of 11 years of case studies.
Cem Concr Compos 2006;28:197208.
Domone PL. A review of the hardened mechanical properties of selfcompacting concrete. Cem Concr Compos 2007:112.
Bilodeau A, Sivasundaram V, Painter KE, Malhotra VM. Durability of concrete
incorporating high volume of y ash from source in US. ACI Mater J
1994;91(1):313.
Schneider U. Concrete at high temperaturesa general review. Fire Safety J
1988;13(1):5568.
Xiao J, Gert K. Study on concrete at high temperature in Chinaan overview.
Fire Safety J 2004;39:89103.
Luston JM. Concrete, Timber, Metals, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. Ltd, 1979. p.
556.
Sidney M. Concrete, Prentice-hall Inc., England Cliff, 1981. p. 521.
Noumowe A, Aggoun S. Mechanical properties and microstructure of high
strength concrete containing polypropylene bers exposed to temperatures up
to 200 C. In: Proceeding of international conference on recent advances in
concrete technology, Singapore, 2001.
Castillo C. Effect of transient high temperature on high-strength concrete. ACI
Mater J 1990;20:4753.
Jin T, Yong Y, Luc T. Compressive strength of self compacting concrete during
high-temperature exposure. J Mater Civil Eng 2010:100511.
Hanaa F, Albert N, Sbastien R. Self-consolidating concrete subjected to high
temperature: Mechanical and physicochemical properties. Cem Concr Res
2009;39(12):12308.
Phan LT, Carino NJ. Review of mechanical properties of HSC at elevated
temperature. J Mater Civil Eng ASCE 1998;10(1):5864.
Khoury GA. Compressive strength of concrete at high temperature: a
reassessment. Mag Concr Res 1992;44:291309.
Bakhtiyari S, Allahverdi A, Rais GM, Zarrabi BA, Parhizkar T. Self- compacting
concrete containing different powders at elevated temperatures Mechanical
properties and changes in the phase composition of the paste.
Thermochemical act 2011;514(2):7481.
Ghandehari M, Ali B, Mostafa K. Residual mechanical properties of highstrength concretes after exposure to elevated temperatures. J Mater Civil Eng
2010;20:5964.
Siddique R. Properties of self-compacting concrete containing class F y ash.
Mater Des 2011;32(3):15017.
Patel R, Hossain KMA, Shehata M, Bouzoubaa N, Lachemi M. Development of
statistical models for mixture design of high-volume y ash self-consolidation
concrete. ACI Mater J 2004;101:294302.
Nehdi M, Pradhan M, Koshowski A. Durability of self-consolidating concrete
incorporating high-volume replacement composite cements. Cem Concr Res
2004;34:210312.

[22] Koulombi N, Batis G, Malami, CH. Progress in the understanding and

prevention of corrosion. In: Costa JM, Mercer AD, editors. The institute of
materials. UK; 1993. p. 619.
[23] Zhu W, Gibbs JC, Bartos PJM. Uniformity of in situ properties of selfcompacting concrete in full scale structural elements. Cem Concr Compos
2001;23:5764.
[24] Shi C, Yanzhong W. Mixture proportioning and properties of self consolidating
light weight concrete containing glass powder. ACI Mater J 2005:35563.
[25] Mustafa S, Mohamed L, Tahir KE, Hasan EY. Use of spent foundry sand and y
ash for the development of green self consolidating concrete. Mater Struct
2010:19.
[26] IS: 8112-1989. Specications for 43 grade Portland cement. Bureau of Indian
Standards, New Delhi, India.
[27] IS: 3812-2003. Specications for Pulverized fuel ash. Bureau of Indian
Standards, New Delhi, India.
[28] IS: 383-1970. Specications for Coarse and Fine aggregates from Natural
sources for Concrete. Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.
[29] IS: 9103-1999. ASTM C-494 Type F, BS5057 part III, New Delhi, India.
[30] Standard test method for electrical indication of concretes ability to resist
chloride ion penetration, ASTMC 1202-97. Annual book of ASTM standards,
vol.04; 2006. p. 63944.
[31] Nagataki S, Fujiwara S. In: Malhotra VM, editor. Self-compacting property of
highly-owable concrete, vol. 154. American Concrete Institute SP; 1995. p.
30114.
[32] EFNARP (European Federation of national trade associations representing
producers and applicators of specialist building products). Specication and
Guidelines for self-compacting concrete. Hampshire, UK; 2002.
[33] Rilem Technical Committees 129-MHT. Test methods for mechanical
properties of concrete at high temperatures, part 1: introduction, Part 2:
Stressstrain relation, part 3: compressive strength for service and accident
conditions, Mater Struct vol. 28 no. 181;1995. p. 4104.
[34] IS: 516-1959. Indian Standard Code of Practice-Method of Strength of
concrete. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), New Delhi, India.
[35] Mohammad S, Natalita H. Comparison of ASTM saturation technique for
measuring the permeable porosity of concrete. Cem Concr Res
2005;35(5):1008113.
[36] Dias WPS, Khoury GA, Sullivan PJE. Mechanical properties of hardened cement
paste exposed to temperatures up to 700 C. ACI Mater J 1990;87(2):1606.
[37] Xu Y, Wong YL, Poon CS, Anson M. Inuence of PFA on cracking of concrete and
cement paste after exposure to high temperatures. Cem Concr Res
2003;33:200916.
[38] Gall C, Sercombe J. Permeability and pore structure evolution of silicocalcareous and hematite high-strength concretes submitted to high
temperatures. Mater Struct 2001;34:61928.
[39] European guidelines for self compacting concrete specications productions
and use; 2005. p. 160.