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Concrete pumping and its effect on the air void system

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Abstract

Pumping is the most utilized concrete placement technique on construction sites around the globe. Despite being used since the 1960s, a large portion of the knowledge related to the understanding of the concrete pumping process—especially with a focus on the effect of pumping on the concrete air void system—was generated through experience, and thus creating a need for a research-based approach to broaden our understanding of the process and how it affects in-place concrete properties. In this paper, three research campaigns are described. Two controlled large-scale experiments investigating both conventional concrete (CVC) and self-consolidating concrete (SCC) were conducted, in addition to a field research program where concrete pumping in real-world conditions was studied. The air void system of each pumped concrete mixture was characterized before and after pumping, both in plastic and hardened states. Additionally, concrete pressure during pumping was monitored for CVC mixtures. Lastly, Super Air Meter measurements were conducted on fresh concrete. It was shown that the characteristics of the pumping system, such as boom configuration, flow rate, or pumping pressure, do not correlate with the changes in the air void system due to pumping for CVC, however, a relationship between the change in the spacing factor and concrete flow rate was observed for SCC. Our results also indicate that the changes in the air void system induced by pumping are dependent on the particular mixture design and discharge conditions at the point of placement.

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to express their gratitude to Kansas Department of Transportation, ACI Concrete Placement, Fordyce Concrete Company, the RE-CAST Tier 1 UTC at Missouri S&T, The Center for Infrastructure Engineering Studies at Missouri S&T, EllisDon and Votorantim Cimentos St Marys CBM in Toronto for their support of this research study. Authors also greatly appreciate the help of Philip Zacarias and Brian Schulz of Votorantim Cimentos St Marys CBM with conducting pumping experiments in Toronto.

Funding

This study was funded by Kansas Department of Transportation (Award # K-TRAN KSU-14-2) and RE-CAST Tier 1 UTC (Grant # DTRT13-G-UTC45) at Missouri S&T. Non-financial support for this study was received from ACI Conrete Placement, Fordyce Concrete Company, EllisDon, and Votorantim Cimentos St Marys CBM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CTLGroup, 5400 Old Orchard Road, Skokie, IL, 60007, USA

    Jan Vosahlik

  2. Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, PO Box 116580, Gainesville, FL, 32611-6580, USA

    Kyle A. Riding

  3. Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, 211 Butler-Carlton Hall, 1401 N. Pine Street, Rolla, MO, 65409-0030, USA

    Dimitri Feys

  4. William Jewell College, 500 College Hill, Liberty, MO, 64068, USA

    Will Lindquist

  5. Construction Sciences Department, EllisDon, 1004 Middlegate Rd #1000, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Lloyd Keller & Stacia Van Zetten

  6. Votorantim Cimentos St Marys CBM, 55 Industrial Street, Toronto, ON, M4G 3W9, Canada

    Bryan Schulz

Authors
  1. Jan Vosahlik
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  2. Kyle A. Riding
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  3. Dimitri Feys
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  4. Will Lindquist
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  5. Lloyd Keller
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  6. Stacia Van Zetten
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  7. Bryan Schulz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Vosahlik.

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Conflict of interest

Kyle Riding received funding from Kansas Department of Transportation for this study. Dimitri Feys received funding from the RE-CAST Tier 1 UTC at Missouri S&T. Will Lindquist was employed by the Kansas Department of Transportation while a portion if this study was being conducted. Jan Vosahlik, Lloyd Keller, Stacia Van Zetten and Bryan Schulz declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Vosahlik, J., Riding, K.A., Feys, D. et al. Concrete pumping and its effect on the air void system. Mater Struct 51, 94 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-018-1204-1

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