Development of Self-Compacting Eco-Concrete

Ever since its introduction and increasingly widespread use since the early nineties, new mix design methods of Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) can hardly be recognized. Despite intensive research and a substantial number of publications in this new technology the design concept still mainly follows the so-called “Japanese method” introduced by Okamura /17/. More recently, Su and Miao /19/ and Su et al. /20/ developed an alternative method for composing SCC. This method was further improved by Brouwers and Radix /5/, which is the starting point of this study. This new approach for the mix design is primarily based on the grading of all involved solids as well as on the exact knowledge of the water demand for sufficient flowing. Theory and experiments regarding this method will be explained. In this context, the cement efficiency, as an outstanding measure for the evaluation of strength properties, is also applied. Finally, the results of hardened concrete properties are documented, which proves the significance of this design method as a tool for the production of competitive self-compacting and ecologically friendly concrete mixes.