Concrete
Presenter: Martin Larisch
20th August 2013, Brisbane
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Introduction
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Introduction - Definitions
Tremie pipe:
Steel pipe surmounted by a hopper or chute for concreting both under
dry or wet conditions. For application in wet conditions a tremie pipe may
comprise several joined lengths but must have watertight joints.
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Why should we use a tremie pipe?
Wet tremie:
- Ensure concrete is not placed through water (segregation)
- Ensure we dont have inclusions
- Ensure concrete wont hit cage (risk of segregation)
Control concrete placement (embedment of tremie, suitable
separator, no vibrator for SCC, etc.)
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Pouring dry holes
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Why is pouring piles different to pouring structural concrete?
- Commonly up to 50 m deep
- Maybe deeper than 100m
- Subject to high pressure (at pile base)
- Concrete must displace fluid
- Concrete must be self-leveling
- Concrete must flow around cages
- Concrete must achieve bond with reo
Pouring piles & D-walls is a blind process
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Potential damage on piles and diaphragm walls due to use of
unsuitable concrete
wet
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Potential damage on piles and diaphragm walls due to use of
unsuitable concrete
wet
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Potential damage on piles and diaphragm walls due to use of
unsuitable concrete
Bleeding channels
wet
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The Solution
Recommended Practice Tremie
Concrete for Deep Foundations
Kindly supported by:
Concrete Institute of Australia
PFSF
Bauer Foundations Australia
Piling Contractors
QLD Department of Main Roads
CSIRO
Hyder Consulting
University of Queensland
Holcim Australia
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The Solution
Recommended Practice Tremie Concrete for Deep
Foundations
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Areas of applications of the Recommended Practice:
This Recommended Practice
- refers to TC for bored piles, diaphragm walls and cut-off walls, min d = 400 mm
- applies to concrete for casting under both dry and wet conditions
- includes descriptions of suitable workability test methods
- refers to the Recommended Practice for Super-Workable Concrete
- generally applies to low, normal and high strength concrete on site or ready-mixed
But this Recommended Practice
- does not refer to the intended service life / not to specific durability needs etc.
- may not cover requirements as stated within particular project specification
(which may require additional measures or deviations from this guide)
- does not cover health and safety requirements
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What makes a good mix - Risk of potential issues
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Flowability
workability
The ease of flow of fresh concrete when unconfined by formwork or any other
obstacles such as reinforcement.
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Background: Velocity Profile
inside a pipe or similar!
Viscosity
In general viscosity describes a fluid's
internal resistance to flow and may be
thought of as a measure of fluid friction;
here simplistically the flow resistance of
fresh tremie concrete oncewet flow has started.
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How concrete flows concrete
during a wet tremie must flow
and pass
pour (theory): obstacles
easily
wet
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How concrete flows during a wet tremie pour (theory):
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Flowability
workability
The ease of flow of fresh concrete when unconfined by formwork or any other
obstacles such as reinforcement.
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Tremie concrete in Australian standards and specifications:
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Tremie concrete international standards and specifications:
wet
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Summary of review:
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Characteristic performance of Tremie Concrete:
Normal Concrete compacting by vibrating after placing
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Characteristic performance of Tremie Concrete:
wet
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Characteristic performance of Tremie Concrete:
wet
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Why is the slump test alone not suitable to determine
workability?
Samples with similar slump values can have different flow behaviour
wet
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The slump alone is not good enough
sufficient slump ?!
wet
but
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Backup by
investigations on more than 40 trial mixes
wet
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Laboratory testing (pre-production):
distinctive slump: for correlation on site (only!)
Required workability
to be confirmed by
L-Box and/or slump flow test
wet
film!
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Laboratory testing (pre-production):
Required stability
to be confirmed by
VSI Class 0:
- no indication of segregation or separation
- very good aggregate distribution
wet
- no bleeding
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Laboratory testing (pre-production):
Filtration loss (l/m)
Proof of sufficient stability Filter cake thickness (mm)
(high hydraulic head pressure) ++ < 15 l/m water loss
+ < 30 l/m water loss
(plus requirements to filter cake)
wet
5 bar
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Testing on site:
wet
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Workability trials
cement 312 l 390 kg very
323 l 390 kg 335 l 390 kg 335 l 420 kg
water 168 l 179 l 191 l 181 l stable
w/c 0.43 0.46 0.49 0.43 mix!
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Recommended concrete testing for future projects
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Suggested value for structural element of length l
and for optional pouring conditions
Test Method Dry Wet, flow distance
and properties assessed
- < 1.2 m 1.2 m
Slump
h (mm) 140* 180 220
Slump flow
Dfinal (mm) - 400 - 600 450 - 650
Tfinal (sec) - 5 3
L-Box
Travel distance from bars (mm) > 200 (full) (full)
Filling Ratio
Tend (sec) - 0.2 0.4
L-Box Passability (mm) wet - 12 8
40 40 20
Bauer filtration
Filtration loss (l/m) 30 30 @ l 15 m / 15 @ l > 15 m
Filter cake thickness (mm) 150 150 @ l 15 m / 100 @ l > 15 m
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Potential Issues
Bleeding channels
- Free water cant be retained by fines in the concrete mix and escapes
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Potential Issues
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Potential Issues
Inclusions
- Insufficient flowability, placement techniques or cleaning of pile base
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Potential Issues
Others:
- Anchor ducts
- Concrete supply by others (specification)
- Tremie pipe lifted out of concrete during pour
- Pouring under pressure (concrete pump)
- Leaving too much tremie inside concrete
- Understand behaviour of drilling fluid
- Insufficient separator
- Fully cased piles (bleeding)
- Inexperienced concrete supplier
- Lack of resources / commitment of supplier
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Concrete for CFA piles
Similar requirements as for tremie concrete, in addition consider:
- Carry out pre-production tests whenever possible
- Use max aggregate of 10mm to ensure sound cage installation
- Focus on stability of the mix (filtration press)
Focus on L-Box and slump flow (low viscosity)
Increase workability to 4 hours (project specific)
- Avoid cage vibrator whenever possible, rather use excavator and
push cage into concrete carefully under steady pressure
- Ideally, cages should be plunged into concrete under gravity
- Use experienced and capable concrete supplier (value for $)
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The Way Forward
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THANK YOU
FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
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