Materials and Structures/Mat&'iaux

el

Constructions, 1991, 24. 398-399

RILEM Symposium on properties of fresh concreteconclusions

Hanover, 3-5 October 1990

W. S C H O N E R
UniversiO' of Hanover

1. P U R P O S E A N D S C O P E O F
THE COLLOQUIUM

each allocated to one of the following five

sessions:

To outline briefly the purpose and scope

of the colloquium the following quotations from the preface to the Proceedings
will be given:

1. General properties of fresh concrete,

mortar and cement.
2. Factors influencing the properties of
fresh concrete.
3. Test methods: significance and reliability.
4. Interactions between properties of
fresh concrete and hardened concrete.
5. Computer-aided mix design and
production.

'The last RILEM Seminar on the

Technology of Fresh Concrete took place
in 1973 in Leeds. The main interest of this
seminar was focused on workability,
measuring techniques and the use of
additives.
'In the meantime nearly two decades
have passed. During this period considerable changes have taken place in concrete
production. In many countries concrete
production has been shifted from the site
to the plant almost completely. This
development presents new questions for
technology, especially how to achieve an
exactly defined consistency at the moment of delivery on site, from plant to
builder. This problem turned out to be a
difficult one, since consistency changes
take place during the period between
mixing and delivery, not only depending
on the duration of transport but also on
other parameters, e.g. temperature.
'The development and growth of the
ready-mixed concrete industry coincided
in many countries with drastic changes in
the cement industry: a trend to larger
sized furnaces and mills. The new techniques involved also influenced the cement properties and their effect on the
workability of fresh concrete.
'All these developments caused the
RtLEM Coordinating Committee for
Concrete Technology (CCC) to hold a
Colloquium on the Properties of Fresh
Concrete.'
The organization was entrusted to the
Institute of Building Materials and
Materials Testing at the University of
Hanover, headed by Professor H.-J.
Wierig. After about two years of preparation, finally a total of 36 papers were
put forward for discussion. They were
0025 5432/91 L~ RILEM

The invitation brought together experts

from research and testing laboratories of
universities and of industries particularly
involved in producing either ready-mixed
concrete or its constituents like cement
and admixtures. About 60 people from 17
countries participated from all over
Europe, including Russia, Poland and
Czechoslovakia, and from the United
States, Canada, Japan and India.
The above-mentioned Proceedings
were made available to the delegates at
the colloquium.*

2. S U M M A R Y O F T H E
ESSENTIALS
2,1 Session 1
Five papers were chosen as dealing with
the general properties of fresh concrete,
of mortars and of pastes, to introduce
thematically some of the topics of the
colloquium, e.g. reviewing the progress
made in understanding the rheology of
cement paste since the last RILEM
seminar in 1973. Although the different
features of flow are now clearer and the
characteristics are better defined, experimental verification needs further work.
Problems have increased with higher
demand.
*+Properties of Fresh Concrete', Proceedings
of the RILEM Colloquium, edited by H.-J.
Wierig. RILEM Proceedings 10 (Chapman
and Hall, London, 1990).

This was illustrated by three other

reports, one on mechanical interactions
between paste and aggregate during flow,
revealing and also selecting influences like
mass effects and granular interactions. A
second focused on the setting process of
concrete, discussing the evidence of different test methods, while a third dealt with
the bleeding of cement pastes, selecting
influencing factors both physical and
chemical.
How wide is the field of practical
utilization of the present knowledge on
the rheology of concrete, mortars and
pastes was exemplified by a paper on the
special requirements for cement slurries
as used for the cementation of deep to
super-deep wells.
2.2 Session 2
A number of new research results were
presented on inherent and external factors and their possible interdependence,
influencing the rheological properties of
fresh concrete.
What is called workability is complex
in that the term comprises the features of
stability, mobility and compactability.
This complexity was likewise illustrated
by tracing the rheological properties back
to conditions of a different kind such as
particle packing, aggregate/void ratio or
other physical and chemical properties
controlling the water demand. Or, even
more on a microqevel, one paper dealt
with the composition of Portland cements with a view to the different stages of
dehydration and the respective mix
proportions of the gypsum added, influencing the setting process differently
with different temperature conditions.
For practical purposes it is necessary to
establish mathematical formulae simplilying and restricting in number the
influencing factors but being reliable
enough and showing not too-narrow
limits of validity at the same time.
Improved formulae for the water requirement of aggregates and cements and a

Materials and Structures

generalized form for a given consistency
were put forward.
Reports were given on influences on
the workability particularly originating
from other than standard concretes like
steel fibre-reinforced or high-strength
concrete. Also the use of hot lightweight
aggregates to enable concreting in cold
climates or, in the opposite direction, the
problems of maintaining workability
when concreting in hot climates were
discussed.

2.3 Session 3
Methods of testing the diverse fresh
concrete properties and their significance
and reliability were topics of Session 3.
Two-point viscometry to determine the
rheological parameters, based upon the
assumption of a Bingham behaviour of
fresh concrete flow, has undergone improvements. This was demonstrated by
some papers presenting recently developed coaxial-cylinder viscometers for
mortars and for concretes as well, partly
computer-controlled. Also different
methods of monitoring a process like the
stiffening of mortars, e.g. the Brabender
type of rotational consistometers, were
discussed with a view to their applicability.
With regard to the tendency of fresh
concrete to bleed, an improved settling
test method, based upon RILEM Recommendation CPC 16, was presented together with test results.
Aiming at an overall quality control

399
system and finally envisaging the goal of
computer-aided concrete manufacture,
the efficiency of test methods and the
confidence limits of tests results must be
verified and established. Some speakers
dealt with this, expressly practiceorientated, with reference to qualified and
safe test results.

2.4 Session 4
Although not a problem of fresh concrete
in the strict sense, the interactions between fresh and hardened concrete properties were given consideration. It is one
of the basic assumptions that the water/
cement ratio of fresh concrete dominantly influences the strength of the
hardened concrete. An attempt was made
to generalize the well-established Abrams' law by linking physico-chemical
interactions of cement and water with
these relations. In this connection it was
interesting to learn to what extent use can
be made of a soil (e.g. clay) - concrete
analogy on a micromechanistic level.
Problems of anisotropy of concrete
stemming from early bleeding and segregation were studied experimentally.
Other aspects of interdependence were
those of cement replacements, fly ash or
slag, enhancing both the properties of
fresh and hardened concrete, or recommendations on how concrete may be
retempered by water without the normally assumed detrimental effect of
strength loss.

2.5 Session 5
To some extent the lectures of the last
session can be seen as drawing conclusions from foregoing papers, in so far
as they were aiming at computer-aided
mix design and production of concrete.
Valuable or even necessary supplements
were given with theoretical approaches of
mathematical models of rheological
properties.
The actual state of progress was
exemplified by two papers on computer
simulation of consistency and rheology
tests by using viscoplastic finite-element
analysis and suspension-elementmethod.
Two papers finally presented practical
applications of computer-controlled concrete manufacture, thus linking theory
with practice and encouraging further
work.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Organizing and running the colloquium
was much eased, firstly by the guidance,
including a strict time-table, of Mr J. N.
Clarke of E. & F. N. Spon and Chapman
and Hall; secondly by the financial
support of the Bundesverband der Deutschen Transportbetonindustrie; and
thirdly by the financial support of
DAAD, the German Academic Exchange
Office, enabling the participation of East
European colleagues. Thanks are also
due to all members of the organizing
institute.