The 3rd ACF International Conference- ACF/VCA 2008

A.03

ADVANCED ADMIXTURE APPLICATIONS IN HIGH PERFORMANCE

CONCRETE INFRASTRUCTURE CONSTRUCTION

Jiang Jiabiao -PhD

W. R. Grace (Singpore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore

ABSTRACT: This paper discusses new generation poly-carboxylate (PC) based admixture
technologies and its application in high performance concrete for infrastructure building. With
the powerful dispersion capability and flexibility in molecular design, PC admixtures enable the
production of concrete at low water-cementitious ratio with high workability, use of more
blending materials, and to cater to different challenging requirements, such as high strength,
high durability, high workability and long workability retention, etc. Some cases of advanced
admixture application in high performance concrete infrastructural construction, such as marine
bridges, high-rise buildings, water treatment plants in Asia, are presented as well.

KEY WORDS: Poly-carboxylate based admixtures, High performance concrete, Workability

retention, Durability, High strength concrete.

1. INTRODUCTION
Concrete has clearly emerged as the material of choice for the construction of a large number and
variety of structures in the world today. It will still be the main construction material in the
foreseeable future. This is attributed mainly to the relatively low cost of materials and
construction for concrete structures, as well as the low cost of maintenance [1]. As a result of
the drive towards productivity in construction, advancements in concrete technology have
occurred mainly in the development of high strength cements during the period of 1940’s to
1970’s. The availability of high strength cements enabled the use of high water content in
concrete mixtures that were easy to handle and hence speeds up construction. This approach led
to a serious problem - a great number of concrete structures world-wide failed due to insufficient
durability, especially those subjected to severe service environments, and huge amounts of cost
are needed for the repair of existing concrete structures. In the time without admixtures there was
little room for concrete technology development due to the conflict between water demand and
workability and performance of hardened concrete. However, the use of concrete admixtures
provided a compromise, and made it possible to produce concrete with less water and hence
enhanced performance of hardened concrete with sufficient workability. The application of
concrete admixtures and the advancement of admixture technology have promoted the
development of numerous new concrete technologies in the past few decades, such as high
strength concrete, high early strength concrete, highly flowable/ self-compacting concrete, highly
durable concrete, and so on. Nowadays, admixture is an essential component in any modern
concrete formula, and plays a significant role in the sustainable development of concrete
technology in the future.

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The objective of this paper is to present a review of admixture technology development, and case
studies of advanced admixture applications in high performance concrete infrastructure
construction in the region.

2. ADMIXTURE TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT

Over the past decades, there has been progressive advancement in admixture technology
development and application. But development and application of water-reducing admixtures is
recognized as one of the few major breakthroughs having significant effect on the production
and use of concrete in the 20th century [2].
The first generation of water-reducing admixtures was introduced in the 1950’s even though its
patent could be traced back 70 years ago. These derivatives of lignin obtained as a by-product of
wood pulping provide moderate water reduction, which were proven satisfactory for many early
concrete applications. As the requirements for water reduction increased, its inherent
shortcomings became evident: limited water reduction due to considerable set retardation at the
dosage necessary to achieve higher workability; often high levels of undesirable air entrainment;
detrimental effects on performance due to great variability of the by-products, i.e., from different
types of wood, processing technologies and post fermentation processes to reduce the sugar
levels, are sometimes difficult to predict.
In the 1960s, naphthalene sulfonated formaldehyde condensates (NSFC) based superplasticizers
were developed. Concurrently, melamine sulfonated formaldehyde condensates (MSFC) based
superplasticizers were also introduced. These two types of products are the first group of truly
high range water-reducing admixtures broadly used in concrete. They can achieve similar high
water reduction when used in their respective optimal dosage, and have been catalogued as the
second generation of superplasticizers. Applications of NSFC/MSFC based superplasticizers
exhibited great advantages: high water reduction of up to 25%; the technologies of NSFC based
products have been well documented; the raw materials are most widely available in quantity
and in location; great suitability for a broad variety of applications, e.g., types of cementitious,
compatibility with other admixtures; ease of use and tolerance. Even in cases of improper use,
particularly overdosing, the admixture behavior is also predictable, with low environmental
impact.
However, use of NSFC based superplasticizers also demonstrated some disadvantages, such as
the difficulty in retaining slump for extended periods, and difficulty in controlling initial slump
in the range of 100 to 180 mm, the tendency to bleed and segregate at high slump, low efficiency
at low dosage, response dependent on cement chemistry and mode of addition, sensitive to
moisture variation in aggregate at low water cement ratio, and so on. All these limitations have
imposed great challenges for use of NSFC superplasticizers in high performance concrete
applications with increasing need to maintain high fluidity of concrete with extended workability
retention at very low water cementitious ratio, although NSFC based superplasticizers are still
being widely used.
In the mid-1990’s, a new generation of superplasticizers based on poly-carboxylate (PC) co-
polymers has emerged in the market place even though the first patent for such polymer was
issued in the 1980’s. These co-polymers, based on an entirely different chemistry compared to
the commonly used NSFC, generally feature a poly-carboxylate backbone with attached poly-
oxyalkylene pedant groups and have much more powerful dispersing effect on cement than

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conventional NSFC superplasticizers [3]. Compared to the dispersion mechanism of

conventional water-reducing admixtures, which can be explained in terms of electrostatic
repulsion between cement particles negatively charged by the absorption of the anionic polymer
molecule onto the cement surface and is measured by the magnitude of zeta potential [4], the
electrostatic repulsion force for PC based superplasticizers is only half of the value measured for
NSFC superplasticizers and the dispersion is due mainly to the very strong steric hindrance
effect that “pushes” the particles of cement apart, as demonstrated in Figure 1 [5].

Water EO/PO
“Hooking”
Units -
++ + polycarboxylate
++

Cement Cement

Steric Repulsion Force

Figure 1 Mechanism of Steric Repulsion of Comb Polymer

Besides strong water reduction capability of up to 40%, the new generation advanced admixtures
have technical advantages and provide significant performance benefits over conventional
superplasticizers: the ability to control concrete workability in a wide slump range, and retain
workability for an extended period with no or minimal retardation; less tendency to bleed and
segregate even at high workability; less drying shrinkage for better volume stability; near linear
dosage response for more predictable performance; and improved finishability for better surface
finish. More importantly, the new generation co-polymer-based superplasticizers are
synthesized products, which offers great flexibility in molecular structure design i.e., the length
and density of main chain and side chain, the ratio of EO/PO, graft of functional groups, etc., for
performance customization, to meet specific requirements for different applications [6].
Due to the various abovementioned advantages, the new generation admixtures are being used
more and more in high performance concrete applications of infrastructure construction, where
conventional admixtures are unable or have difficulty meeting job requirements, such as high
strength concrete, highly flowable/ self-compacting concrete, high performance concrete, long
slump retention, and so on. In the next section, we present some case studies to demonstrate the
technical advantages of advanced admixtures to meet the challenging requirements in high
performance concrete applications for infrastructure construction.

3. ADVANCED ADMIXTURE APPLICATIONS IN HIGH PERFORMANCE

CONCRETE

High Strength Self-Compacting Concrete for International Commerce Center High-Rise

Building, Hong Kong
The International Commerce Center (ICC) is a new high-rise building under construction in
West Kowloon, Hong Kong. The height of ICC is 484 meters with 118 floors making it Hong

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Kong’s tallest building and the third highest roof in the world. The main structural skeleton of
the ICC is formed from a high strength concrete inner core wall, steel and pre-stressed concrete
outrigger structures and eight mega columns on the perimeter. There are several challenging
requirements for the high strength concrete core wall. Firstly, the designed strength for upper
inner core wall is C90 concrete with high elastic modulus of at least 50Gpa at 28 days.
Considering the variation of high strength concrete in production and field, the 28-day strength
of C90 concrete is required at 110 Mpa. Secondly, the core wall is heavily reinforced, and
compaction by vibration is difficult. Concrete mixtures have to be self-compactable with a
slump flow of at least 750 mm. Thirdly, the upper inner core wall is extended up to 400 meters
above ground. Concrete mixtures have to be pumped up to a height of 400 meters, and have
adequate workability retention to ensure that the concrete mixtures after pumping to 400m height
are self-compactable.
Meeting any one of the above requirements in the field is a challenge to commercial ready mix
concrete producers. There has been no previous job reference in the world where these
requirements have been combined like in this project. Difficulties in mix design and production
quality assurance are inevitable. For the mix design, the challenge is in achieving a balance
among the different requirements of high strength, high modulus, self-compactability without
segregation, excellent rheology, hydration heat control and workability retention. In terms of
production quality assurance, managing high sensibility to variations in materials and
temperature control is critical. Another difficulty is the achievement of an elastic modulus of as
high as 50 GPa at 28 days for C90 self-compacting concrete mix with a lower coarse aggregate
content. Workability loss due to heat generation as a result of friction in the pipeline during
pumping of concrete mixture up to 400 meters is also a concern.
Through numerous lab evaluations and mockup testing, a low water cementitious ratio of 0.25
and silica fume were selected in mix proportions to ensure meeting of the strength requirement,
and fly ash incorporation into the mix to replace 20 to 25% cement for hydration heat control. A
PC based superplasticizer, ADVA® 109, was used to enable self-compactability of concrete
mixture and a good rheology to minimize the friction of concrete mixture in the pipeline. Besides
mix design, the selection of the right raw materials, strict quality control and concrete
temperature control are also critical. The satisfactory field results shown in Table 1 indicate that
the application of C90 self-compacting concrete is successful up to the height of 320 meters,
which is the current construction height of this ongoing project.

Table 1 Field Results of C90 Self-Compacting Concrete

Initial At Height of 220 meters At Height of 320 meters

Slump Flow (mm) 800 770 730
Compressive Strength 3 Days 7 Days 28 Days
(Mpa) 70 ~ 80 90 ~ 95 110 ~115

High Performance Durable Concrete for Hangzhou Bay Marine Bridge, China
Hangzhou Bay Bridge is a bridge with cable-strayed portion across Hangzhou Bay off the
eastern coast of China, starting in Jiaxing to the north, the bridge ends at Ningbo in the south.
The bridge itself is 35.673 km long with six expressway lanes in two directions. The bridge is the
longest trans-oceanic bridge in the world. It has two main cable-strayed spans, with a 448-meter

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northern span, and a 318-meter southern span. The designed service life is more than 100 years.
Construction began in 2003 and was completed in 2007. The bridge was open for traffic in May
2008.
With regard to 100 years service life under severe exposed marine environments, corrosion-
related durability of reinforced concrete structures, good workability and retention to ensure
concrete placing and initial integrity of concrete structures, thermal and drying shrinkage
cracking control are the main concerns. Through more than five years of study by many experts,
an advanced specification on concrete structures for construction of the bridge was set to ensure
smooth construction and durability of the concrete structures. The following requirements cited
are the main criteria for concrete materials:

Concrete Grades: C30 for foundation piles, C40 for pile caps and piers, C50 for
superstructure box girders;

Workability: slump flow 500 to 600 mm, 2-hour slump flow retention with good
pumpability to ensure the initial integrity of concrete structures;

Water Content: 150 to 160 kg/m3;

Water-Cementitious Ratio: 0.3 to 0.38, 50 to 60% fly ash and slag in total cementitious;

Chloride Diffusion Coefficient for concrete exposed to tidal/splash zone and atmosphere
zone @ 84 days ≤ 1.5×10-12 m2/s;

Use of Corrosion Inhibitor as additional corrosion protection in structures (pile caps and
piers) exposed to splash/tidal zone;

Drying Shrinkage for box girder concrete at 28 days ≤ 0.0350 %.
Use of conventional admixture technology would be very difficult, if not impossible, to meet the
above requirements. New generation PC based superplasticizers became the choice. By various
lab testing and field evaluation, two PC based superplasticizers, ADVA 180 and ADVA 152,
were selected and used in the production of ready mix concrete. The field results showing
performance of the concrete are given in Table 2. During the five-year construction period of
the bridge, new generation admixtures have shown great advantages in application of such high
performance concrete with excellent workability and extended workability retention, thermal and
drying shrinkage control, good strength development even with as high as 50 to 60% fly ash and
slag in total cementitious, and consistent quality control at low water-cementitious ratio in
production.

Table 2 Field Results of High Performance Durable Concrete

Slump/Slump Flow (mm) Air Compressive Cl Diffusion Drying
Structures Grade (%) Strength (Mpa) Coefficient @ 56 Shrinkage
Initial 1 hour 2 hours 3d 7d 28d days (%)
(m2/s)
Piles C30 220/600 220/600 210/530 2.3 22.1 33.5 48.3 N.A N.A
Piles Caps C40 210/580 210/570 200/530 5 27.3 40.3 54.6 1.50 x 10-12 N.A
and Piers
Box Girders C50 190/530 190/520 185/520 5 33.3 53.4 60.9 1.34 x 10-12 0.0243

High Performance Tremie Concrete for Changi Wastewater Treatment Plant, Singapore

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The Changi Wastewater Treatment Plant, with designed water treatment capacity of 800,000
cubic meters per day, is a component of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS). The water
treatment plant will receive flows from the deep tunnel sewer currently being constructed. The
construction of the water treatment plant started in 2002, and is scheduled for completion in
2008. The Influent Pumping Station of the water treatment plant comprises 3 vertical shafts 10m
in diameter and 70m deep. The 3 vertical 70 meter deep shafts have been cast by use of
underwater tremie concrete. Each shaft was divided into four parts. Each part was cast with
about 900 m3 concrete continuously.
Traditional tremie concrete mix is typically designed with slump of 180 to 220 mm, 2-hour
slump retention and extended set time. For a small volume of concrete casting to be completed
within 1 to 2 hours, the traditional tremie concrete mix may be adequate to achieve a good
quality concrete structure if the reinforcement cage opening is not less than 150 mm. As concrete
cast by tremie could not be compacted by vibration, the properties of traditional tremie mixes are
greatly insufficient for structures requiring casting of large volumes of concrete. Defects such as
honeycombs, encapsulation of pockets, entrapment of laitance, cold joints, etc., are often
common issues of tremie concrete due to inadequate flowability of concrete mixture laterally and
to compact by its own weight.
High performance tremie concrete must be a flowable, cohesive (no segregation) and self-
consolidating mixture that is easily placed without external vibration. Another critical key
property of high performance tremie concrete is retention of workability. The concrete mixture
must retain adequate workability until the tremie placement is completed. With inadequate
retention of workability, the concrete may get stuck in the tremie which would lead to difficulty
in tremie lifting, and consequently affect the integrity of concrete structures. Most importantly,
the size of structures and volume of tremie concrete may differ from application to application,
thus the fresh concrete performance requirements (e.g. flowability, workability retention and
extension of set time) have to be specific to application.
For the Changi Wastewater Treatment Plant, the concrete volume of one continuous tremie
casting for a 70 m deep vertical shaft is about 900 m3 with placement completion possibly within
9 hours. The integrity of the structure is a main concern. Good workability and adequate flow
retention are critical. An initial flowability of above 550 mm slump with no segregation is
required, and a slump flow of at least 400 mm has to be retained after 9 hours. These
requirements help ensure tremie concrete placement can be self-consolidating by its own weight,
as well as ensure the progressive lifting of tremie. A PC based admixture, ADVA 108, and a
specially formulated retarder were used in mixes with proper mix design to achieve an initial
slump slow of 650 mm without segregation and to retain adequate flowability after 9 hours. The
field results of flowability test with time displayed in
Figure 2 indicate that a slow flow of 450 mm of site concrete mixture after 9 hours was retained.
Investigation of integrity on shaft concrete has shown no obvious defects found in vertical shaft
along the entire depth.

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Figure 2 Field Concrete Slump Flow with Time

4. CONCLUSIONS
Admixture is an essential component of any modern concrete mix, providing a compromise for
the conflict between water and workability and performance of hardened concrete. The
advancement in admixture technology has played a significant role in the development of
concrete technologies. The advanced PC co-polymer based admixtures have demonstrated
various performance benefits and technical advantages over conventional superplasticizers in
meeting the diversified challenging technical requirements of various high performance concrete
technologies for infrastructure construction.

REFERENCES

1. P K Mehta (1999), Advancements in Concrete Technology, “Concrete International”, Vol 21,

No 6, pp. 69-76.
2. Makhotra, V. M. (1981), Superplasticizer: their effect on fresh and hardened concrete,
“Concrete International”, Vol 3, No 5, pp. 61-81.
3. Jeknavorian, J. J. et al (1998), Use of polycarboxylate based high range water reducers in
commercial concrete, “Proceedings of the European Ready-Mix Conference”, Lisban, 1998
4. Ramachandran, V.S. (1995), Concrete Admixture Handbook, Properties, Science
&Technology, Second Edition, Noyes Publications, N.J., pp. 428-434.
5. Jeknavorian, J. J. et al (1997), Condensed Polycyclic Acid-Aminated Polyester Polymers as
Superplasticizer for concrete, 5th CANMET/ACI International Conference on
Superplasticizers and Other Chemical Admixtures in Concrete, ACI SP-173, Ed. Molhotra.
6. Ohta, A. Sugiyama, T. and Tanaka, Y. (1997), Fluidizing mechanism and application of
polycarboxylate-based superplasticizers, 5th CANMET/ACI International Conference on
Superplasticizers and Other Chemical Admixtures in Concrete, ACI SP-173, Ed. Molhotra,
pp 358-378.

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