Influence of paste volume on shrinkage cracking and fracture properties of self-compacting concrete

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) mixtures are usually designed with higher volumes of paste than vibrated concrete mixtures. The results reported in this paper come from a study of nine SCC concrete mixtures. Volume of paste was varied between 291 and 457 l/m3. One of the mixtures had already been used in a large scale test, and the others were designed by varying several parameters of the reference concrete mixture. Mechanical properties, shrinkage, fracture parameters and fracture process zone (FPZ) size were measured. Fracture behavior was characterized by means of three-point bending tests and acoustic emission analysis. From the experimental results, increasing the volume of paste has a restricted effect on strength, unless water content varies. Strength, elastic modulus and fracture resistance slightly decrease with an increase in paste content. Volume of paste causes an increase in shrinkage and cracking due to shrinkage. Fracture and acoustic emission analysis show that increasing the volume of paste tends to make SCC more brittle.