Quantitative prediction of rheological and mechanical properties of conventional concrete

Concrete is a sort of composite material containing paste, fine aggregate and coarse aggregate. In this paper, the rheological properties and compressive strength of paste-fine aggregate-coarse aggregate ternary suspensions were evaluated using the simplex centroid design method. The water-to-cement ratio was fixed at 0.5. 7 groups of concrete mixtures were produced and then the relationship between ternary components and rheological parameters was established. Afterwards, 3 groups of mixtures were prepared to verify the accuracy of the prediction models. Results showed that at the paste volume fraction lower than 0.36, the volume of fine aggregate and coarse aggregate had significant influence on the flowability and rheological properties of suspensions. While at the paste volume fraction higher than 0.36, the flowability and rheological properties were mainly determined by the paste volume. It is an effective way to predict the properties of concrete using the simplex centroid design method