Particle Packing Theories and Their Application in Concrete Mixture Proportioning: A Review
Particle Packing Theories and Their Application in Concrete Mixture Proportioning: A Review
Particle Packing Theories and Their Application in Concrete Mixture Proportioning: A Review
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The mixture proportioning for various types of concrete proportions for concrete depend not only on the grading
requires thorough understanding of the material characteristics curve of aggregate but also on the packing characteristics of
of its ingredients and its behaviour in the fresh and hardened the fine components such as cement, fly ash and micro silica.
states. The performance of concrete is greatly affected by the Using well-established empirical rules for estimating water
type and degree of packing of its constituents. Thus, a demand and reference grading curves for mixture
knowledge of the concept of particle packing and its influence proportioning impose severe restrictions on developing new
on concrete performance is required to enable a mixture designer applications or extending the present range of application in
2
to select from a wide range of cement replacement materials. concrete technology . These limitations may be overcome
The task of selecting the right combination of materials that by re-examining the concept of particle packing and its
will enhance the performance of the concrete becomes tedious application to concrete technology.
when adopting trials involving adhoc replacement of materials, Proportioning of concrete mixtures outside the normal
and unexpected behaviour is often encountered in the resultant range, such as DSP (densified with small particle concrete
concrete. A more suitable method is to design the concrete with compressive strength of 150 to 200 MPa) and RPC
mixtures based on optimal packing of the granular particles, (reactive powder concrete, with compressive strength upto
and improved flow properties of the cement paste using a 800 MPa) is invariably based on particle packing models 3.
superplasticiser. This article reviews the research studies of Furthermore, evaluation of the effects of packing density of
various particle packing investigations carried out across the mixtures on workability suggests that the maximum
world, with a particular emphasis to concrete. One of the particle workability without bleed water is achieved when the
porosity of the packed powder is just filled with water.
packing model, namely Andreassen model, has been validated
Similarly, in hardened concretes, chloride permeability
for concrete application. The use of a software based on one of measurements showed a strong correlation with reduced
Andreassen model to design various concrete mixtures has charge flow with increased packing densities 4.
also been described.
As the properties of concrete are influenced by particle
Control of particle packing has been applied in many branches packing, there has been a revival of interest in this topic. This
of industry (for example, fluidised beds, ceramics, concrete, paper initially reviews the concept and theories of particle
asphalt and powder technology). Achievement of optimal packing and then a few examples of the application of particle
packing is of interest to the study of materials such as concrete, packing to special types of concrete mixture proportioning
asphalt, and ceramics1. Concrete mixture proportioning is a are given.
volumetric-packing problem. All existing methods of mixture
proportioning incorporate in some way an indirect measure Significance
of particle packing by approximating the aggregate The renewed interest in particle packing models, mentioned
proportions to an ideal gradation curve 2. However, the ideal above, is signified by several recent technical publications.
(i) to understand how the given combination of particles (i) fine fraction of diameter d1 and volume fraction y1
pack in a system, with packing density φl and
(ii) the volume fraction of coarse particles is large For a multi-component system, it is assumed that any
(y2 > > y1): This case is called Coarse grain dominant two components form binary mixtures. Then the packing
density for the total multi-component mixture is calculated
In this description, the diameters of the particles differed
by summation of the contribution from all the binary
and the smaller particles could be accommodated in the voids
mixtures.
between the larger particles. The model by Furnas is valid
only in the case of d 1<<d 2 (d 1 and d 2 being the particle Johansen et al and D.M. Roy et al used Toufar model in
diameters). If this condition is not fulfilled, the packing density their studies on particle packing with a few variations in the
of the binary mixtures will also depend on the diameter ratio procedure for determining the parameters of the model .
5,6
d1/d2 1.
Modified Toufar model
When the diameter d1≈d2, the interaction effects occur
Goltermann et al11 proposed a modification in Toufar model.
between the particles. These effects could be classified as
They also termed the packing degree factor of the individual
(a) wall effect and (b) loosening effect and are described below.
components (φ1 and φ2) as "eigen packing", which is calculated
Wall effect: When an isolated coarse particle is in the matrix according to the procedure mentioned in their work.
of fine aggregate, it disturbs the packing density of fine
Goltermann et al also compared the packing values
aggregate. There exist increased voids near the region of
suggested by Aim model, Toufar model and Modified Toufar
direct contact between the particles, Fig 3. This is termed
model to the experimental packing degree of the binary
as wall effect.
mixtures. They found that Toufar model, especially the
Loosening effect: When a fine particle is in the matrix of modified Toufar model, corresponded very well to the
coarse particles and the small particle is too large to fit measured packing degrees. Aim model did not fit the test
into the interstices of the coarse aggregate (d1≈d2), it results well. Ternary packing of particles was also studied,
disturbs the packing density of coarse particles. This will and a theoretical packing diagram was developed based on
increase the void ratio of the mixture and is termed as modified Toufar model to create the packing density contours.
loosening effect as shown in Fig 4.
Multi-component mixture models (De Larrard
Powers model: models)
10
Powers in his studies on particle packing took account of Linear packing density model (LPDM)
the above mentioned effect. He proposed an expression to Stovall et al proposed the Linear Packing Density Model
8
get the minimum void ratio of the binary mixture. (LPDM) . They claimed that LPDM showed good
performances in predicting optimal proportions of
Aim and Goff model: superplasticised cementitious materials 12.
Aim and Goff 1 proposed a simple geometrical model to
account for the excess porosity observed
experimentally in the first layer of
spherical grains in contact with a plane
and smooth wall, Fig 3. The work of Aim
and Goff addressed the wall effect and
suggested a correction factor when
calculating the packing density of binary
mixtures.
models (that is, LPDM and SSM). He introduced the index K, CPFT = 100 (3)
D
to calculate actual packing density, φ, from virtual packing
density, β. According to the Modified Andreassen model,
In this model, the hypotheses that led to the definitions of (d − d0 )
q
the virtual packing density values are preserved. However, CPFT = 100 (4)
(D − d0 )
the empirical expressions to predict the values of the
interaction coefficients, namely, the wall effect coefficient
and loosening effect coefficient have been modified. He where,
also defined the two new concepts, that is, filling diagram CPFT = the cumulative (volume) percent finer than,
and segregation potential to characterise the mixtures.
d = the particle size,
Continuous models do = the minimum particle size of the distribution,
Continuous approach assumes that all possible sizes are D = the maximum particle size, and
present in the particle distribution system, that is, discrete q = the distribution coefficient or exponent.
approach having adjacent size classes ratios that approach
1:1 and no gaps exist between size classes. The exponent, q, in the Andreassen equation could be
varied form 0.21 to 0.37, depending upon the various
Fuller Thomson model workability requirements. If the exponent increases, it means
In 1907 Fuller and Thomson proposed the gradation curves an increase of the coarse materials, and if it decreases, the
for maximum density, which is well known as Fullers ideal 15
amount of the fine materials is increased . The exponent
curve. It is described by a simple equation: value, q, gives the indication of the finer fraction that could
be accommodated in the mixture. As the water demand and
n
d water holding capacity of the mixture is controlled by the
CPFT = 100 (1) volume of fines, this exponent gives a reasonable basis for
D
choosing the amount of water and rheology modifying agents
where,
like superplasticiser to be added to the mixture.
CPFT = cumulative (volume) percent finer than,
n = 0.5; the value of n was later revised to 0.45; The exponent value q = 0.25 to 0.3 may be taken for high
these curves find application in highway performance concrete and conventional concretes depending
pavement mixture design. upon the slump range. For highly flowable mixes like self-
compacting concretes, q < 0.23 may be taken, and for roller
The above expression was recently modified by compacted concrete, q > 0.32 may be taken.
14
Shakhmenko and Birsh for concrete mixture proportioning
as follows: Rosin-Rammler Model
The characteristic diameters of the particle size distributions
CPFT = Tn (di-d0)n (2) for the components of concrete were shown to be adequately
description of the method of mix design using this software Application in concrete
is given in the user manual of LISA. For this study, the
The mixture designs for high strength, high performance
modified Andreassen model was chosen.
and self compacting concrete are illustrated below.
Application in mortar
High strength concrete (HSC)
To demonstrate the modified Andreassen model for concrete
High strength concrete could be designed at low cement
application, a pilot trial on cement mortar was conducted.
content with proper selection of the ingredients. A typical
The proportions used for the testing of compressive strength
mixture proportion of high strength concrete is given in
of cement mortar as per IS 4031 : 1996 21 were used to design
column 2 of Table 4. The modified Andreassen ideal gradation
the reference mix and denoted as Mix A. Then the missing
curve for q = 0.26 and the actual overall gradation is shown in
zones of particles in the particle gradation were adjusted using
Fig 7(a).
crushed sand, quartz powder and micro silica and denoted as
High performance concrete (HPC)
High performance concrete requires the usage of
supplementary cementitious materials. A typical mixture
proportioning using micro silica with the aid of modified
Andreassen model with exponent q = 0.27 and the combined
gradation that could be managed with given materials are
shown in Fig 7(b). The details of the mixture proportions are
given in column 3 of Table 4.
Test results
The results of compressive strength, conducted as per IS 516
Fig 6 Comparison of strength between Mix A and Mix B
: 1959 22 and rapid chloride permeability test (RCPT), as per
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Mr S. Subramanian, formerly joint
general manager, R&D and Dr B. Sivarama Sarma, assistant
general manager, R&D of Larsen and Toubro Limited - ECC,
Chennai for their valuable contributions.
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