2

nd

Twin International Conferences

th
Civil Engineering & 5 Concrete Future
26-28 May 2013, Covilha, Portugal

RHEOLOGY OF SELF-COMPACTING CONCRETE MORTAR

PHASE
Luiz A Pereira de Oliveira, Miguel C. S. Nepomuceno and Jos C. M. Carvalho
C_MADE Centre of Materials and Building Technologies
University of Beira Interior, Covilh, Portugal
e-mail: luiz.oliveira@ubi.pt webpage: http://www.c-made.ubi.pt/

Keywords: rheology, self-compacting mortar, yield stress, plastic viscosity

Abstract. The workability of self-compacting concrete is strongly dependent of its

mortar phase rheological behaviour. In fact, some powders materials and the new
generation superplasticizer have been employed to attain the self-compactability
in concrete mixtures. Normally, the SCC mixtures present a high amount of
mortar in their composition. Thus, the SCC mortar phase has a very important
influence on the SCC rheological behaviour that is also influenced by the
materials used to compose the mortar phase. Some rheological properties as
plastic viscosity and thixotropy are important to define the self compacting
concrete workability. These properties are critical mainly when filling the formwork
on site to achieve the compactness of the final product, since this type of
concrete is applied without any vibration or other form of compaction. Thus, an
approach of SCC rheological behaviour by previous mortar phase behaviour
knowledge is especially relevant. This article describes an experimental study to
evaluate the influence of different SCC mortar phase composition on the
rheological behaviour. Powders materials of different nature, some them from
wastes materials, are used to compose the mortar phase. The rheological
parameters as relative yield stress and plastic viscosity was determined with a
rheometer and others tests as slump flow (spread cone) and fluidity (v-funnel)
were also used. The results provided a comparative and critical analysis of the
relative influence of the mortars materials on the rheological parameters. It was
found that the rheological behaviour of SCC mortar phase is represented by the
Herschel-Buckley model.
1

INTRODUCTION

Rheological models were developed to study and predict the fresh concrete behavior. Among
the models employed, the Bingham model is normally applied to represent the normal concrete
[1]. The Bingham model simply expresses the evolution of stress and flow of concrete. However,
according to some researchers [2, 3], the behavior of the fresh self-compacting concrete has
been better described by the Herschel-Bulkley model. The parameters of these models resulting
from a fit of the experimental data obtained in the rheometer apparatus, characterized in this way
as semi-empirical models that do not directly describe the effects of the combination of materials
and their ratios on the concrete rheological behavior [4]. Models based on two stages have been
developed by Topcu, Kocataskin [5] and Kurokawa et al [6]. In these models, the concrete was
considered as consisting of two phases: one phase matrix mortar and a coarse aggregate phase.

Luiz A. Pereira de Oliveira, Miguel C.S. Nepomuceno and Jos C.M. Carvalho

Gang et al [4] applied the concept of two phases in mortars, considering a matrix phase and a
phase of fine aggregates. Other more sophisticated models, but less practical from the standpoint
of engineering, have been developed considering the fresh concrete as a multiphase materials,
for predicting flow based on the concept of energy conservation [7].
In this study, developed with the self-compacting concrete (SCC) mortar phase, the influence
of three types of powders additions on the rheological behavior of the resultant mixtures was
evaluated. Both Bingham and Herschel-Bulkley models was applied to determine the rheological
parameters yield stress and plastic viscosity of the tested mixtures and compared to empirical
methods results of spread test and v-funnel test. Similar to the mortar, the fresh SCC can also be
regarded as a composite material consisting of two phases, a group of large rigid particles
(coarse aggregate) dispersed in a flowable matrix (mortar). Therefore, the analysis developed in
this study with mortar phase can be easily applied to the concrete.
2

EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM

2.1. Materials used

A normal portland cement (CEM I 42.5R) with a specific gravity of 3.14 was used. The mineral
additions include a limestone powder with a specific gravity of 2.72, a biomass ash with a specific
gravity of 2.85 and a glass powder with specific gravity of 2.53.
A modified polycarboxylic based superplasticizer supplied in liquid form with a density of 1.05 was
used. The fine aggregate was produced from crushed granite with a specific gravity of 2.71 and a
fineness modulus of 2.52.
2.2. Mix proportions of the powder materials
Different combinations of powder materials were established incorporating the cement and the
three additions selected, as shown in Table 1. Each of the mixtures of powder materials produced is
identified by an abbreviation that express the dosage of each of the constituent material, expressed in
percentage of the total absolute volume of powder materials. For example, the abbreviation
(80C+20FC) represents a mixture of powder materials that combine 80% of cement and 20% of
limestone powder, in terms of the absolute volume. The other abbreviations have the following
interpretation: GL means glass powder and BI means biomass ash.
Ref.

Mixtures

1
2
3
4
5
6

100C
80C+20BI
80C+20FC
60C+40FC
80C+20GL
60C+40GL

CEM I 42,5R
(C)
1,00
0,80
0,80
0,60
0,80
0,60

Biomass ash
(BI)
--0,20
---------

Limestone
powder (FC)
----0,20
0,40
-----

Glass powder
(GL)
--------0,20
0,40

Table 1 Volume fractions in binary blends of powders

2.3. Studies in mortars
Parameters used for mortar mix design include the proportions of powder materials, Vp/Vs (ratio,
in absolute volume, between the powder materials and the fine aggregates), Vw/Vp (ratio, in absolute
volume, between the water and the powder materials), Sp/p% (ratio, in percentage, between the
mass of the superplasticizer and the mass of the powder materials). For mortar mix design, the
volume of voids and the contribution of powders from fine aggregates were not considered.
Fresh properties of mortars were evaluated by the mean value of two perpendicular flow diameters
in the spread test and by the flow time in the v-funnel test. The results were expressed in terms of
relative flow area (Gm) and the relative flow velocity (Rm). The spread cone and the v-funnel used
have the internal dimensions shown in Fig. 2. The relative flow area was calculated according to the
Eq. (1), whiles the relative flow velocity was calculated according to Eq. (2).
2

Dm
1
Gm
D0

(1)

Luiz A. Pereira de Oliveira, Miguel C.S. Nepomuceno and Jos C.M. Carvalho

Rm

10
t

(2)

where, Dm is the mean value of the two perpendicular diameters, in mm; D0 is the initial diameter
of the base of the cone, in mm, and t represents the time of flow in the v-funnel, measured in
seconds.
270 mm
70 mm

60

59 mm

240 mm

29

100 mm
30

V-funnel test

Spread test

Figure 2 Dimensions of spread and v-funnel tests

The mixing sequence is shown in Fig. 3. Batches of 1.6 litters were produced and the introduction
of the superplasticizer occurred without interruption of the paddle movement. Mortars were produced
combining each mixture of powder materials shown in Table 1. According to mix design method
proposed in reference [8] the mixtures were defined with Vp/Vs = 0.70 On average, for each
combination of powder materials and Vp/Vs, three mortars were produced, varying the Vw/Vp and
Sp/p% until required fresh properties were obtained. The experimental procedure is shown
schematically on Figs 4 and 5. Figure 4 shows that for Sp/p% constant, the increase of Vw/Vp
produces a linear translation of (Gm, Rm) values. Figure 5 shows the variation of the (Gm, Rm)
values when the Vw/Vp remains constant and Sp/p% increases.

Superplasticizer

Powders + fine
aggregates +
water

Discharge

Rest
Mix
Mix
(normal speedy) (to clean blade) (normal speedy)

Rest

Time (minutes)
Figure 3 Mixing sequence used to produce mortars

Mix
(normal
speedy)

10

11

Luiz A. Pereira de Oliveira, Miguel C.S. Nepomuceno and Jos C.M. Carvalho
Mortar fresh properties
2,00
Increase of Sp/p%

1,80
1,60
1,40

Rm

1,20
Increase of Vw/Vp

1,00
0,80
Increase of Vw/Vp with constant value of Sp/p%

0,60
Sp/p% = constant
Vw/Vp = constant
Target assumed in this
research work

0,40
0,20
0,00
0,00

1,00

2,00

3,00

4,00

5,00

6,00

7,00

8,00

9,00

10,00

Gm

Mortar fresh properties

Figure 4 Mortar fresh properties
when Vw/Vp increases with Sp/p% constant .
2,00
Increase of Sp/p%

1,80
1,60
1,40

Rm

1,20
Increase of Vw/Vp

1,00
0,80
Increase of Sp/p% with constant value of Vw/Vp

0,60
Sp/p% = constant
Vw/Vp = constant
Target assumed in this
research work

0,40
0,20
0,00
0,00

1,00

2,00

3,00

4,00

5,00

6,00

7,00

8,00

9,00

10,00

Gm

Figure 5 Mortar fresh properties when Sp/p% increases with Vw/Vp constant .

Figure 6 Admissible interval of variation for fresh properties of mortars

Luiz A. Pereira de Oliveira, Miguel C.S. Nepomuceno and Jos C.M. Carvalho

Admissible range for Gm and Rm is shown in Fig. 6. The values of Gm are between 5.4 and 6.2
-1
and the values of Rm are between 1.14 and 1.32 s , which correspond, respectively, to a flow
diameter Dm between 253 and 268 mm and v-funnel time t between 7.58 e 8.77 s.
For each mortar mixture that satisfied the required fresh properties, four cubic specimens of 50
mm side were moulded for compressive strength tests. The cubes were cured in water at 2020C. At
28 days, those cubes were tested for compressive strength perpendicular to the cast direction and
using a loading rate of 1.5 kN/s.
2.4. Rheological test
In this study the mortar rheological parameters was evaluated with a specific rheometer (Viskomat
NT) for mortars. This apparatus automatically measures a series of data points of torque (T) and
rotational speed (N). The mortar fresh behaviour was approximated using a Bingham model or a
Herschell-Bulkley model. If the fresh mortar is assimilated to a Bingham fluid, T and N are related by
the straight-line according to Eq. (1). In this equation, g (the intercept) is proportional to yield stress
and h (the gradient) is proportional to plastic viscosity of the material [9]. If the fresh mortar is
assimilated to a Herschell-Bulkley fluid, T and N are related conform to Eq. (2), where b is a material
parameter giving indications on the degree of fluid dilatancy (b>1, the fluid is dilatants and b<1 is
attributed to pseudo plastic fluid).

T = g + hN

(1)

T = g + hNb

(2)

Measurement was performed after 5 min resting from the end of mixing. In this study, two types of
speed profiles were used. In the first, named step profile, the rotation speed is adjusted to vary with
time, increasing from an initial value of zero to 160 rpm and then decreasing from 160 rpm to zero. At
each speed, it waits around 1 min before 20 rpm up or down each time. This allows reaching
equilibrium values of torque for each speed and to build equilibrium flow curves for a better
determination of plastic viscosity and yield stress-related coefficients (h and g, respectively). The
effect of the fibres characteristics on these mortar rheological parameters was evaluated using this
step speed profile with a sand/cement ratio of 2.3 (by mass). In the second profile, named ramp,
which was adapted from Banfill et al [10], the speed was increased from zero to 160 rpm in 60 s,
holding this speed for 2 min and then decreasing to zero by 5 min. This profile was used with a
sand/cement ratio of 0.5 (by mass).
3

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 2 shows the rheological parameters values obtained for the tested mixtures. The negative
values obtained for relative yield stress g indicate a non physical significance described by Bingham
model. A more adequate representation of the results is performed by HerschelBulkley model. In
these equations, the b values higher than 1.0 express shear-thickening behaviour.

Mixtures

Bingham Model

100C

T=-7.372 + 0.994 N

0,979

80C+20BI

T=15.646+ 1,313N

0,929

80C+20FC

T=-0.645 + 0.544N

0,910

60C+40FC
80C+20GL
60C+40GL

T=-1.121 + 0.386N
T=-4.142 + 0.779N
T=0.310 + 0.061N

0,993
0,986
0,978

HerschelBulkley Model
T=14.83 + 0.045N

0,995

T=3.42 + 0.273N

1.13

0,994

T=0.80 + 0.205N

1.12

0,995

T=6.72 + 0.140N

1.33

0,994

T=2.54 + 0.001N

1.76

0,989

Table 2 Models equations and correlations values R

1.60

Luiz A. Pereira de Oliveira, Miguel C.S. Nepomuceno and Jos C.M. Carvalho

Figure 7 shows the thixotropy behaviour of some mixtures that is defined by the hysteresis area
that apparently decreases with the increase of powders addition. The glass powder addition seems
strongly reduce the thixotropy in the mixture. The same time, the powder addition increase is also
responsible by the shear rate decreasing, that is illustrated by the reduction of the curves inclination.
Despite the fact that mixture 80C20BI had attained the Gm and Rm defined target values, it was not
possible to know the complete torque-velocity curve. In fact, during the rheometer test the
measurement was automatically interrupted just before the last velocity step 160 rpm. It is means that
biomass ash addition due to the nature of its components and its high surface area, brings to mixture
80C20BI a significantly stiffness. This mixture stiffness was increased with the velocity giving then a
high relative plastic viscosity as indicated by the Bingham model on Table 2. Thus the 80C20BI curve
is not presented in Figure 7.

Figure 7 Torque versus velocity

Figure 8 Torque versus velocity

Figure 8 shows a particular phenomenon concerning the mortar structural breakdown that occurs
when the shearing starts in the rheometer. The breakdown is shown particularly clearly by range of
torque values determined. The torque initially increases linearly up to a maximum value and then
dropssharply at first and gradually laterto an average steady-state value. The upcurves around
the first minute gave between 70 Nmm (100C mixture) and 27 Nmm (60C40FC mixture) while the
downcurves gave 28 Nmm and 10 Nmm, respectively. The irreversible breakdown, which occurs on

Luiz A. Pereira de Oliveira, Miguel C.S. Nepomuceno and Jos C.M. Carvalho

shearing cement-based systems, is different from thixotropic behaviour. In fact, the yield stress can be
accounted for by the usual Van der Waals attraction and electrical double layer repulsion effects [4].
These result in links between particles reforming reversibly when the particles come to rest, but the
irreversibly destroyed structure is much stronger than this. Thus, the magnitude of torque reduction
and the time for it to take place are important considerations about the mortar rest time. While the
reduction in torque is typically due mainly to irreversible structural breakdown, the peak torque can
also be due to the mortar water retention capacity and by the particle-paste interaction arising both
from the higher surface area. Another aspect that can be revealing by the breakdown phenomenon is
that the percentage of addition seems to reduce the value of the peak torque as shown by the
60C40FC and 60C40GL upcurves.
The influence of powder addition type and its cement replacement percentage on the empirical
tests: relatives flow area and flow velocity were here analysed. Figure 9 shows that the relative flow
area Gm was influenced only by the powder addition percentage. It was observed a Gm value
decreasing when the cement was replaced by 20% of powder addition, while the increasing to 40% of
powder addition resulted in slightly increase of relative flow area.
On the other hand, it was observed in Figure 10 that the relative flow velocity was significantly
influenced by the powder addition type only at the high cement replacement percentage. The
increasing of limestone powder FC to 40% leads the mixture to the limit imposed for Rm value. This
behaviour was also caused by the limestone surface area that is significantly higher than cement and
glass powder surface area.

Figure 9 Relative flow area as function of powder addition percentage

Figure 10 Relative flow velocity as function of powder addition percentage

Luiz A. Pereira de Oliveira, Miguel C.S. Nepomuceno and Jos C.M. Carvalho

When type and powder addition percentage effect on the rheological parameters g (relative yield
stress) and h (relative plastic viscosity) are analysed, it was observed that the g value decrease with
powder addition percentage independent of its type in the mixture, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11 Relative yield stress as function of powder addition percentage

Figure 12 shows that relative plastic viscosity is influenced by the powder addition type and also by
their addition percentage in the mixture. In fact the observed stiffness give by the limestone on the
Rm determination is confirmed with the relative plastic viscosity, but here it is possible to recognize
once more the effect of limestone surface area causing the viscosity increasing. But, the powder
addition percentage increasing reveal for both powder type a viscosity reduction. This behaviour could
be justified by the fact that 40% of cement replacement modify considerably the paste nature of the
mixtures reducing the flocculation effect bring by the cement. Thus, the increasing of powder addition
can significantly reduce the yield stress and plastic viscosity, including in this last the effect of powder
addition fineness.

Figure 12 Relative plastic viscosity as function of powder addition percentage

Some authors [11 - 14] have studied the correlation between slump obtained with spread test and
yield stress obtained with rheometer device. A linear correlation between spread test and yield stress
was found for the cement paste, but they was obtained by taking a lot of care to make such a
comparison as pertinent as possible [12]. Non linear yield stress-slump correlations were found with
experimental results for various rheometers and numerical correlations [13]. Figure 13 shows a non
linear correlation tendency between relatives flow area and yield stress results obtained in this study.
For high g values, Gm appears to follow the increasing trend, but for low g values the trend is

Luiz A. Pereira de Oliveira, Miguel C.S. Nepomuceno and Jos C.M. Carvalho

inversely proportional, i.e a decreasing trend is found. How the yield stress is a material property,
further study will be necessary to clarify in more details these opposite trends.

Figure 13 Relative flow area versus relative yield stress

Figure 14 shows that the experimental results did not reveal any correlation between relatives flow
velocity Gm and plastic viscosity h.

Figure 14 Relative flow velocity versus relative plastic viscosity

4

CONCLUSIONS

The influence of waste glass powder on rheological behaviour of self-compacting mortar phase
was studied comparatively with the most common powder addition employed in SCC, the limestone
powder. The increase of glass powder reduces the hysteresis area denoting a reducing in the
thixotropy of mixtures. Indifferently of the powder type the relative flow area was affected by the
percentage of powder addition in the mixtures. The increase of powder addition was also responsible
by the relative yield stress decreasing. The relative flow velocity was reduced at high percentage of
glass powder addition and this powder type was also responsible by the lowers relatives plastic
viscosity. Despite any correlation was observed between Gm and h, a non linear tendency seems to
describe the correlation find between Gm and g.

Luiz A. Pereira de Oliveira, Miguel C.S. Nepomuceno and Jos C.M. Carvalho

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