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Particle migration during concrete rheometry: How bad is it?

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Abstract

The development and use of concrete rheometers has undergone a shift from complicated to more simple geometries over the last 50 years, mainly due to the introduction of flowable concrete mixtures. One of the reasons for the complex rheometer designs in the 1970s and 1980s was to avoid or minimize particle migration. Literature has revealed that particle migration can become an important factor disturbing the accuracy of rheological measurements in concentrated suspensions. In this paper, the rheological properties of concrete and mortar mixtures with different consistencies and different aggregate contents are investigated. These properties are obtained with three different coaxial cylinder rheometers configurations. Two of the configurations are identical, except the size of the outer cylinder. Mortar results appear not to be affected by particle migration, but measurements on concrete are affected. The difference in rheological properties between the different configurations increases with increasing aggregate content and increasing yield stress-to-plastic viscosity ratio, which is related to plug flow. Particle migration appears to be a minor factor affecting the measurements on flowable concrete mixtures, but for conventional concrete mixtures, the measurements are less reliable and can even become invalid.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge NSERC in Canada and all industrial partners involved in the industrial research chair on flowable concrete with adapted rheology (Universite de Sherbrooke, 2007–2012) for the financial support, and the technical staff at the Civil Engineering Department at the Universite de Sherbrooke for their assistance during the experimental program.

Funding

The research work has been funded by NSERC in Canada (Industrial Research Chair 363837-07).

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  1. Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, USA

    Dimitri Feys & Kamal H. Khayat

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  1. Dimitri Feys
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  2. Kamal H. Khayat
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Correspondence to Dimitri Feys.

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Feys, D., Khayat, K.H. Particle migration during concrete rheometry: How bad is it?. Mater Struct 50, 122 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-016-0992-4

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