ENARC 2011

II SEMINÁRIO SOBRE RESÍDUOS

SÓLIDOS NA CONSTRUÇÃO CIVIL 07 e 08 de julho
Maceió-AL

STUDY OF SELF-COMPACTING AND CONVENTIONAL CONCRETE

CONTAINING MINERAL WASTE

Edgar Bacarji, (1); Vinícius C. Marques (2); Romildo D. T. Filho (3).

(1) Civil Engineering Department, Federal University of Goiás-Brazil. Post doctoral student at
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; edgarbacarji@hotmail.com
(2) Civil Engineering Department, Catholic University of Goiás-Brazil; viniciuscm.eng@gmail.com
(3) Civil Engineering Department, COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, P.O. Box 68506,
CEP 21941-972, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil.

ABSTRACT
Environmental preservation has been a theme debated in virtually every country in the world. Many
measures are being taken to reduce the environmental impact due to unplanned development. Growing
environmental restrictions to the exploitation of sand from riverbeds have resulted in a search for
alternative materials to produce fine aggregates, particularly near the larger metropolitan areas.
Artificial fine aggregates then appear as an attractive alternative to natural fine aggregates for
concrete. This work is a second part of a study about the use of residues in concretes. Self-compacting
concrete (SCC) and conventional Concrete (CC) were developed replacing the natural sand by two
types of mineral waste. Fresh state tests such as slump-flow, L-box and column test were performed
according to the Brazilian standards. At the hardened state, compressive strength was determined at 7,
21 and 28 days of age. Modulus of elasticity test was carried out at 28 days. For all mixtures and
properties analyzed the good performance of the mineral waste used was proven. Finally and more
important, it was demonstrated that it is possible to obtain structural self compacting concrete, self
compacting concrete without structural purposes and conventional concrete by using mineral waste
that works like fine aggregates and that on the other hand, without any destination, would cause
serious environmental impacts.

Key-words: mineral waste, self-compacting concrete, mechanical properties.

1 INTRODUCTION
Brazil is one of the most important emerging countries in the world. Because of this fast economic
growth a great amount of residue is produced. In the field of civil construction there is a great variety
of materials with potential to be reused. Examples of research applying some of these residues, in
Brazil and abroad, are given below.
Lopes at. al. [1] investigated the application of the marble and granite residues that came from cutting
and burnishing of ornamental plates in conventional concrete. It was observed that to a specific
residue, with the replacement of 5% of cement by residue, with the proportion water/agglom of 0.65,
the statistics analysis shown that did not have significant variations in none of the analyzed properties,
indicating the technique and environmental viability of the substitution of this percentage of residue.
Analyzing the same residue, Gomes and Bacarji [2], [3], performed the partial substitution of natural
sand by the residue to produce conventional concrete. In all analyzed properties, to the proportion of
1:6,5, cement: dry aggregates, to 20% of substitution, there were improvement of mechanical
properties and workability.
Nishikawa at. al. [4] developed a powder-type SCC using all recycled materials from concrete of
demolished structures. For all types of concretes produced, it was demonstrated that the compressive
strengths were greater than the specified value of Japanese Architectural Standard Specification.
Kou and Poon [5] investigated the effects of Recycled Glass (RG) as aggregate on fresh and hardened
properties of SCC. RG was used to replace river sand in proportions of 10%, 20% and 30%, and 10
mm granite, in proportions of 5%, 10% and 15% for making the SCC mixes. In order to suppress the
potential alkali-silica reaction fly ash was used in the concrete mixes. By one hand, the experimental
results showed that the slump flow, blocking ratio, air content of the RG–SCC mixes increased with
increasing recycled glass content. The compressive strength, tensile splitting strength and static
modulus of elasticity of the RG–SCC mixes were decreased with an increase in RG aggregate content.
By the other hand, the resistance to chloride ion penetration increased and the drying shrinkage of the
RG–SCC mixes decreased when the recycled glass content increased. The results showed that it is
feasible to produce SCC with RG.
Bacarji at all [6] studied rheological and mechanical properties in SCC replacing the natural sand by
artificial sand. To supply the need of powder, it was used quarry dust. Both artificial sand and quarry
dust were mineral waste resultant of the coarse aggregate production. The results demonstrated the
technical viability of producing SCC of low environmental impact using mineral waste as fine
aggregates. The present article is a second part of this research. Here it were included the study of
mechanical properties of CC performed with the same materials.
Table 1 presents the production of the Brazilian mineral aggregate industry and the estimated
production for the year 2020, based on the National Department of Mineral Production.
Table 1 – Production of Brazilian industry of mineral aggregate (106ton)
AGGREGATE 2007 2010 2020 (estimate)
COARSE
173.60 242.55 982.33
AGGREGATE
ARTIFICIAL SAND 43.40 72.45 293.42
QUARRY DUST 2.82 5.80 23.49
NATURAL SAND 279.00 406.00 1644.30

Both artificial sand and quarry dust are sub products and need to be used; without this conscience
there will be serious environmental problems in the near future. This is the prime motivation to the
present research.
2 OBJECTIVE
The objective of this work is to evaluate the technical viability of the use of mineral waste (artificial
sand and quarry dust) that came from the coarse aggregates production in substitution of natural sand
in Self Compacting Concrete and Conventional Concrete.

3 MATERIALS AND METHODS

3.1. Materials
The cement used in all concrete mixtures was high early strength Portland cement with a Blaine
fineness of 515.7 m2/kg, density of 3110 kg/m3, with average compressive strengths of 24.49; 32.15;
36.75 and 43.64 MPa at 1, 3, 7 and 28 days respectively, for w/agglom = 0.48. It is one of the most
frequently used cements in the precast concrete industry in Brazil. Quarry dust type granite presenting
2735 kg/m3 density was used.
Two types of sands were used. The first one, washed quartz river sand, presenting 2620 kg/m3 density,
Fineness Modulus (FM) of 1.94 and Maximum Diameter (Dmax) of 2.36mm. Artificial sand type
granite presenting 2650 kg/m3 density, FM of 3.16 and maximum diameter of 4.75 mm was also used.
Coarse aggregate type crushed granite, presenting 2630 kg/m3 density, Dmax = 12.5 mm, with a FM of
5.63 was used.
All materials were from the Goiânia city region. A polycarboxylic-ether type high range water
reducing admixture (HRWR) with a solid content of 37% was used in all mixtures. The quantities used
are referred to the mass of cement.
3.2. Concrete Mixtures
The application of the mineral waste was studied in two types of concrete: SCC and CC. All concrete
mixtures were mixed for ten minutes with an 80-liter rotating mixer. All specimens were stored in a
standard humid chamber, until one day before the test.
3.2.1. Self Compacting Concrete
The methodology proposed by Tutikian [7] was followed in order to obtain SCC mixtures. Three dry
cement/aggregate (c/a) ratios by mass were used for the concrete mixtures: 1/3, 1/4.5 and 1/6. To have
a reference parameter it was used a mixture using natural sand with c/a=1/3, named Ref. The others
mixtures, using artificial sand were named Rich mixture (c/a=1/3), Normal mixture (c/a=1/4.5) and
Poor mixture (c/a=1/6). After this it were obtained the proportions summarized in Table 2.

Table 2 – SCC mixture proportions

Unitary proportion HRWR
Mixtures Q (%)2 w/c
c:q:s:ca1 (%)
Ref 1:0.34:0.66:2.00 34.00 1.55 0.37
Rich 1:0.61:0.63:1.76 49.19 1.75 0.42
Normal 1:1.17:0.91:2.42 56.25 1.75 0.62
Poor 1:1.88:1.04:3.08 64.38 1.75 0.89
1
q=quarry dust; s=sand; ca=coarse aggregate. 2 Q=100q/(q + s)
After mixing; slump flow diameter, V-funnel flow time, L-box height ratio and Column test were
carried out by following the Brazilian specifications for Self Compacting Concrete [8], [9], [10], [11].
Rheological parameters (yield stress and relative viscosity) of the mixtures were determined by the
BTRHEOM rheometer. In addition, air content and fresh concrete density were measured by
conventional lab methods. At the hardened state, compressive strength was determined at 21 and 28
days of age. Modulus of elasticity test was carried out at 28 days. The quantities of HRWR to the
mixtures Ref and Rich were adopted with the goal of minimum w/c ratios; to the other mixtures this
quantity was maintained with a future purpose of obtaining a mixture design nomographs.
3.2.2. Conventional Concrete
The CC mixtures were obtained by following the methodology proposed by Helene [12]. Like the
SCC, three dry cement/aggregate (c/a) ratios by mass were used for the concrete mixtures: 1/3, 1/4.5
and 1/6. In order to have a reference parameter it was used a mixture using natural sand with c/a=1/3,
named C_Ref. The other mixtures, using artificial sand were named C_Rich mixture (c/a=1/3),
C_Normal mixture (c/a=1/4.5) and C_Poor mixture (c/a=1/6). It was adopted an indirect parameter of
workability by the slump test (60mm ± 20mm). After this the proportions were obtained as
summarized in Table 3.
Table 3 – CC mixture proportions
HRWR
Mixtures Unitary proportion (c:s:ca) w/c
(%)
C_Ref 1:1.00:2.00 0.32 0.30
C_Rich 1:1.24:1.76 0.32 0.41
C_Normal 1:2.08:2.42 0.32 0.57
C_Poor 1:2.92:3.08 0.32 0.71

The percentage of superplasticizer was adopted only to reduce the quantity of water, without
any segregation. The slump flow test was carried out after mixing. In addition, air content and fresh
concrete density were measured by conventional lab methods. At the hardened state, compressive
strength was determined at 7, 21 and 28 days of age. Modulus of elasticity test was carried out at 28
days.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1. Materials characterization
Fig. 1 shows the particle size distribution of the cement and quarry dust used.
A superior particle diameter of the quarry dust, when compared with the cement, may be observed.
Table 4 shows the particle diameters of both materials below which are 10%, (d10), 50%, (d50) and
90% (d90) of their volume.
Table 4 – Particle diameter of cement and quarry dust (µm)
d10 d50 d90
Cement 1.924 11.662 38.041
Quarry dust 13.059 80.927 291.093

Fig. 2 shows the particle size distribution of both sands and the limits established by Brazilian
Standards.

Figure 1 – particle size distribution of cement and granite powder

 Figure 2 – particle size distribution of sands
Both natural and artificial sands remained inside the permitted limits prescribed by Brazilian standard.
By the other hand, none of the materials were inside the optimum limits prescribed by the same
standard. The natural sand presented a finer particle size and the artificial sand presented a coarser
particle size. These facts partially explain the increasing of the quantities Q in table 2 that express the
content of quarry dust in replacement of sands.
Fig. 3 shows the particle size distribution of the coarse aggregates. Up to 5.0mm, approximately, the
curve stayed above the lower limit, indicating the presence of finer grains; this point upward the curve
remained inside the limits of the Brazilian standard.

Figure 3 – particle size distribution of coarse aggregate

4.2. Fresh properties
4.2.1. Self Compacting Concrete
The results for slump flow diameter, Column test, L-box height ratio, V-funnel flow time, air content
,density of the SCC mixtures and water/powder (w/p) ratio are all shown in Table 5.
Table 5 – SCC: fresh properties
Slump flow Column test L-box V-funnel Air Density
Mixtures w/p3 w/c diameter (Segregation) height flow time content (kg/m3)
(mm) (%) ratio (s) (%)
Ref 0.28 0.37 750 0 0.91 27.39 2.1 2358
Rich 0.26 0.42 700 6.55 0.89 28.85 1.9 2313
Normal 0.29 0.62 710 2.88 0.83 21.36 2.1 2284
Poor 0.30 0.89 695 4.29 0.89 16.11 3.0 2217
3
p =c + q
The Brazilian standard for Self Compacting Concrete [13] limits slump flow diameter to a minimum
of 550 mm and to a maximum of 850mm; segregation to a maximum of 20%, V-funnel flow time to a
maximum of 25 s and L-box height ratio to a minimum of 0.80. As illustrated in Table 5, all of the
mixtures satisfy these requirements, except the V-funnel test. To the Ref mixture it was observed a
value 9.6% superior to the limit established by the Brazilian standard, whereas to the Rich mixture this
percentage was 15.4%. An important observation is that as ratio of quarry dust and w/c ratio increases
V-funnel flow time decrease. Thus, those values superior to the limit can easily be adjusted for a small
increasing of the ratio w / c and the quarry dust content.
The results of slump flow diameter, L-box height ratio, V-funnel flow time, air content and density
were similar for mixtures Ref and Rich. All mixtures with both quarry dust and artificial sand showed
low levels of segregation. The mixture with natural sand and quarry dust presented no segregation.
Table 6 presents the rheological parameters (Yield Stress and Plastic Viscosity) obtained from the
BTRHEOM rheometer. Some imposed parameters inside of ADRHEO software was: imposed speed;
test type decreasing-decreasing; Number of points per series: 10; maximum speed: 0.8rev/s; minimum
speed: 0.2rev/s; no vibration for series; Pre vibration for 15s with frequency of 36Hz.
Table 6 – SCC: Rheological parameters
Mixtures Series Yield Stress (Pa) Plastic Viscosity (Pas)
1st 261 197
Ref
2nd 152 168
1st -16 210
Rich
2nd -96 173
1st -7 141
Normal
2nd -40 113
1st 9 119
Poor
2nd -19 96

According to Ferraris and De Larrard [14] negative Yield Stress implies that the Bingham model,
adopted by ADRHEO software, cannot be used to evaluate this variable. Yet Plastic Viscosity, related
with the flow ability of the concrete, presented low values in both first and second series. De Larrard
cited by Marangon and Toledo Filho [15] suggested values of plastic viscosity between 200 and 300
Pas to SCC. All values here obtained have satisfied this recommendation. Analysis of Yield Stress was
performed with the non linear Hershel-Buckley model and will be presented in a future work.

4.2.2. Conventional Concrete

Table 7 presents the results for slump flow test, air content and density of the CC mixtures.
Table 7 – CC: fresh properties
Mixtures Slump (mm) Air content (%) Density (kg/m3)
C_Ref 80 2.0 2421
C_Rich 70 2.0 2386
C_Normal 60 3.5 2294
C_Poor 70 3.9 2284

It can be observed that air content and density in the CC remained similar to the properties of the SCC.

4.3. Mechanical properties

4.3.1. Self Compacting Concrete
a. Compressive Strength
These properties were evaluated at 21 and 28 days and are shown in table 8 for all specimens. The
averages are plotted in figure 4.
Table 8 – SCC: compressive strength (kN/cm2)
specimens 21 days 28 days
Ref Rich Normal Poor Ref Rich Normal Poor
1 4.74 4.06 2.43 1.34 5.16 4.25 2.54 1.39
2 4.72 4.14 2.42 1.38 5.07 4.30 2.53 1.38
3 4.88 4.02 2.48 1.35 4.78 4.33 2.54 1.41
Average 4.78 4.07 2.44 1.36 5.00 4.29 2.54 1.39

The mixtures Ref and Rich had the same c/a ratio; it can be observed a loss of 14.85% and 14.20% at
21 and 28 days, respectively, in the values of the average. This can be explained by the fact that Rich
mixture demanded more quantities of the artificial sand and quarry dust in its unitary proportion and
that it too demanded a larger w/c ratio.
At 28 days Normal mixture presented compressive strength rather superior to 2,0kN/cm2, minimum
value permitted by Brazilian standard for structural concrete. Poor mixture can be used for concrete
with no structural purposes.
b. Modulus of Elasticity
Table 9 presents results of Modulus of Elasticity for each specimen for the Rich and Ref mixtures at
the age of 28 days.
Table 9 – SCC: Modulus of elasticity (GPa)
specimens Ref Rich
1 23.63 21.36
2 25.26 22.85
3 25.27 23.02
average 24.72 22.41

It was observed that Ref mixture presents an average of 10.31% superior to the Rich mixture. These
results are similar to those relating Compressive strength and can be explained by the fact that Rich
mixture demanded more quantities of the artificial sand and quarry dust in its unitary proportion and
that demanded a larger w/c ratio.
4.3.2. Conventional Concrete
a. Compressive Strength
These results are given in table 10 for 7, 21 and 28 days. The averages are plotted in figure 5.
Compressive strength (kN/cm2)

3 Ref
Rich
2
Normal
1
Poor
0
0 7 14 21 28 Time (days)

Figure 4 – SCC: averages of compressive strengths

Table 10 – CC: compressive strength – kN/cm2

specimens 7 days 21 days 28 days
Ref Rich Nor Poor Ref Rich Nor Poor Ref Rich Nor Poor
mal mal mal
1 5.75 4.13 2.52 1.81 6.20 5.05 3.03 2.04 6.69 5.14 3.02 2.16
2 5.77 4.18 2.64 1.79 6.10 5.15 3.05 2.16 6.30 5.54 3.01 2.20
3 5.70 4.15 2.51 1.76 6.13 5.13 3.09 2.06 6.26 5.20 3.11 2.17
Average 5.74 4.15 2.56 1.79 6.14 5.11 3.06 2.09 6.42 5.29 3.04 2.18

7
Compressive strength (kN/cm2)

6
5
4 C_ref
3 C_Rich
2
C_Normal
1
C_Poor
0
0 7 14 21 28 Time (days)

Figure 5 – CC: averages of compressive strengths

Here it can be observed a behavior like in the SCC. The C_Ref mixture presented an average 21.36%
above the Rich mixture at 28 days of age. All CC mixtures presented averages superior to the SCC
mixtures.
 b. Modulus of Elasticity
Table 11 presents results of Modulus of Elasticity for each specimen, for all mixtures at the age of 28
days.

Table 11 – CC: Modulus of elasticity (GPa)

specimens C_Ref C_Rich C_Normal C_Poor
1 30.16 22.11 19.71 17.10
2 30.82 21.37 19.26 18.47
3 32.24 22.43 18.61 17.33
average 31.07 21.97 19.19 17.63
As with the SCC, the modulus of elasticity decreased in the C_Ref mixture if compared to the C_Poor
mixture; this was expected, since the Compressive strength also decreased. The best performance of
all mixtures was the C-ref mixture, with a value of 41.42% higher than the modulus of the C_Rich
mixture. As the modulus of the Rich and C_Rich mixtures, they stayed at the same level, around
22GPa.

CONCLUSIONS

This work presented the technical viability of production of SCC and CC with mineral waste.
Some properties were shown in the fresh and hardened state as well as some rheological
properties. For all mixtures and properties analyzed the good performance of the mineral
waste used was proven.
Both quarry dust and artificial sand have particle size distributions applicable to SCC and CC.
It was demonstrated that artificial sand have particle diameter whose values are between the
limits established by Brazilian Standard for structural concrete.
Finally and more important, it is possible to obtain structural self compacting concrete and
self compacting concrete without structural purposes by using mineral waste that works like
fine aggregates and that on the other hand, without any destination, would cause serious
environmental impacts.

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