Research and Development Office

Mechanical Properties of Self Consolidating Concrete

Project ID: 3587
Principal Investigator: Jeffery Keim
Research Topic: Repair and Maintenance
Funded Fiscal Years: 2016 and 2017
Keywords: None

Research Question

mechanical properties of conventional concrete?

Need and Benefit

Background information:
It is well known that Reclamation is a leader in conventional and mass concrete and has obtained a tremendous
amount of data regarding the mechanical properties of either of these types of concrete. The mechanical
properties of concrete is necessary for the design of concrete structures. However, Reclamation is behind the
private industry and other federal agencies on their use of self consolidating concrete. The private sector has been
using self consolidating concrete since the 1980's and since 1990 self consolidating concrete has been proven to
be advantageous for several reasons:
1. SCC can be placed at a faster rate with no mechanical vibration and less screeding, resulting in savings in
placement costs.
2. Improved and more uniform surface finish with little to no remedial surface work.
3. Ease of filling restricted sections and hard-to-reach areas. Opportunities to create complicated structural
shapes and surface finishes not achievable with conventional concrete.
4. Improved consolidation around reinforcement and bond with reinforcement.
5. Improved pumpability.
6. Improved uniformity of in-place concrete by eliminating variable operator-related effort of consolidation.
7. Labor savings.
8. Shorter construction periods and resulting cost savings.
9. Quicker concrete truck turn-around times, enabling the producer to service the project more efficiently.

Contributing Partners

Contact the Principal Investigator for information about partners.

Research Products

Bureau of Reclamation Review

The following documents were reviewed by experts in fields relating to this project's study and findings. The results were determined to be achieved using valid means.

Mechanical Properties of Self Consolidating Concrete (final, PDF, 851KB)
By Scott Keim
Report completed on December 31, 2018

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