Production of HSC using pumicite and water-reducing admixture

Abstract

Currently high-strength concrete is increasingly used in modern concrete technology and particularly in the construction of high-rise buildings. This study has been conducted to investigate the properties of high-strength concrete that was produced by using a superplasticiser high-range water-reducing admixture (HRWRA) and pumicite. The results show that the use of admixtures (HRWRA with and without pumicite) led to the production of high-strength concrete and this was due to a water reduction of 21.6–25% produced by using HRWRA and 7% of pumicite as a partial replacement of cement. The properties of compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, static modulus of elasticity, absorption and air-dry density were tested in this study. It can be concluded that all the aforementioned properties were enhanced by the use of superplasticiser and pumicite in the concrete mixes. Furthermore, the use of 6 kg/m3 of superplasticiser (Melment L10) with 29 kg/m3 of pumicite made it possible to reduce the cement content by about 164 kg/m3 without any reduction in compressive strength.