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Effect of w/c ratio on fresh electrical resistivity of various pumice based HPC and computation of setting time

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Abstract

In last decade, the electrical resistivity of fresh concrete has gained significant attention as a performance criterion due to its practical application and the extent of information it potentially provides on fresh properties. This study focused on the effect of variation of water–cement ratio on fresh electrical resistivity of concrete. In addition, influential factors like dosage of several supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) namely fly ash, slag, silica fume, metakaolin were considered in combination with pumice material. The results showed that at very beginning, the fresh resistivity pattern moves up to the maximum point before dropping down to the minimum point. It was also found that w/c ratio has remarkable impact on any concrete mixture’s fresh electrical resistivity and this testing was performed by a bulk resistivity meter using three different w/c ratio of 0.4, 0.44 and 0.5. Statistical analysis showed that pumice, Class F fly ash, slag G120S, silica fume, metakaolin mixtures show considerable increment in fresh electrical resistivity at 0.40 w/c ratio and even at 0.50 w/c ratio compared to 100% ordinary portland cement concrete (OPC). Concrete mixtures with different combinations of SCMs behave differently with various proportions and w/c ratio. Some binary and ternary mixtures show little higher standard deviation (SD) values compared to the OPC mixture at different w/c ratios levels due to wide spread of fresh electrical resistivity data. This outcome proves that the mixtures with higher SD value gained lower resistivity during the initial phase and later attained a higher resistivity value. Additionally, initial, and final setting time of concrete have been computed using fresh electrical resistivity data of all concrete mixtures including the OPC. Results indicated 15% to 25% replacement of pumice in binary and ternary mixtures with other SCMs shows wide variation of setting time. In summary, outcome of this research may help construction engineers in the development of affordable field application testing for wide range of pumice based high-performance concrete mixtures and satisfy the requirement of initial and final setting time of concrete.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to provide their sincere appreciation to CSUF’s research and development office for the intramural grant to support this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, California State University, Fullerton, CA, USA

    Pratanu Ghosh

  2. Level-2, CDM Smith, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA

    Rajthilak Ganesan

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  1. Pratanu Ghosh
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Correspondence to Pratanu Ghosh.

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Ghosh, P., Ganesan, R. Effect of w/c ratio on fresh electrical resistivity of various pumice based HPC and computation of setting time. Mater Struct 55, 103 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-022-01939-3

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