STUDY ON PARAMETERS INFLUENCING THE PROPERTIES OF SELF COMPACTING CONCRETE USING TAGUCHI OPTIMIZATION METHOD.

This study aims at simplifying the process of mix design of Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) which is generally done through trial and error. Concrete being a heterogeneous material, the desired qualities are attributed to several factors, in addition SCC has the requirement of better workability, which leads to the complexity in the design process. In this paper, the various factors affecting the strength and workability of SCC such as Total Cementitious Material (TCM) content, water-cementitious material ratio, percentage of fly ash replacement, coarse aggregate content and fine aggregate content were analyzed with four different values for each factor. Based on the Taguchi optimization method, an orthogonal array with sixteen experiments was designed to obtain the best factors for the SCC mix. The performance parameters selected were slump flow value for flowing ability, T5min of V funnel test for segregation resistance, L Box ratio for passing ability and compressive strength test for strength aspect. The results indicated that the TCM content and water-cementitious material ratio plays an important role in the workability of SCC, whereas TCM content and coarse aggregate content are predominant in the compressive strength of SCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]