Accelerated Strength Testing of Portland - Pozzolan Cement Concretes by the Warm Water Method
Background
Portland - Pozzolan cement has an important place among the group of blended cements and it is well known that the type of cement is one of the important parameters that affect the accelerated test results. Modern and rapid construction practices and procedures require the assessment of concrete quality at an age earlier than the customary 28 days after the placement.
Experiment 1.
Specific gravities of the crushed aggregates ranged between 2.58 and 2.67 and the maximum size of coarse aggregate was 30 mm. A specific concrete mix was used that consisted of an aggregate-cement ratio of 6.38, a water-cement ratio of 0.5 and a cement content of 300 kg/m3. For each cement delivery, ten 20 litre batches were prepared in a 30 litre capacity tilted drum mixer. An initial dry mixing for 2 minutes was followed by wet mixing for 5 minutes. From each batch, 2 specimens were cast in 150 x 300 mm cylindrical reusable molds with steel caps. Consolidation of the specimens was achieved by external vibration on a vibrating table of 2800 rpm.
A standard 28-day cure was applied to each specimen. Curing tanks and molds conformed to ASTM C 684-74. A 60 ton capacity universal testing machine and a 0.25 MPa/sec loading rate were used for compression testing of each specimen and the strength results are shown in the data file 'Civil-project-data-2016.xlsx' along with this document.
Experiment 2.
This was the biggest experiment consisting of fifty nine different concrete mixes. Specific gravities of the crushed aggregates ranged between 2.58 and 2.67 and the maximum size of coarse aggregate was 30 mm. The concrete mix proportions are shown in Sheet2 of the data file. . For each concrete mix a 20 litre batch is prepared in a 30 litre capacity tilted drum mixer. An initial dry mixing for 2 minutes was followed by wet mixing for 5 minutes. From each batch, 2 specimens were cast in 150×300 mm cylindrical reusable molds with steel caps. Consolidation of the specimens was achieved by external vibration on a vibrating table of 2800 rpm. Cement deliveries were randomly assigned to each batch, so that some batches were made from the cement obtained from the first delivery, whilst the other batches were made from cement obtained from the second delivery.
Accelerated cure was applied to one specimen, while standard 28-day cure was applied to the remaining specimen. The specimen reserved for the warm water method was placed in water at 35oC immediately after casting. After curing for 23.5 hours the cylinder was removed from the water tank, demolded, capped, and tested at 24 hours. (Curing tanks and molds conformed to ASTM C 684-74). A 60-ton capacity universal testing machine and a 0.25 MPa/sec loading rate was used for such compression testing. The strength results are shown in Sheet2 of the data file.
Objectives.
Modern and rapid construction practices and procedures require the assessment of concrete quality at an age earlier than the customary 28 days after the placement. This requires the use of accelerated testing methods, and you are required to write a mini project that carries out a detailed statistical investigation on the experimental data discussed above. The project should provide an answer as to whether the accelerated curing procedure, described above as the warm water method, is capable of producing accurate 28-day compressive strengths and whether there is an optimal concrete mix for the accelerated testing method.
When writing this mini project, structure it in a way that allows you to cover and address all the following aspects in a way that reveals a progressively greater understanding of the two experimental data sets.
1. Describe the sources of variability present in each data set of Experiment 1. Then using appropriate data displays, describe each data set in Experiment 1, highlighting any similarities or differences that may exist between the 2 deliveries of concrete to the university.
2. Using the data sets collected in Experiment 1, construct an appropriate parametric and non-parametric test to assess the claim that the typical 28-day compressive strength is the same for each delivery. When writing up your analysis of this claim state any assumptions that need to be made in conducting these tests, and if appropriate carry out tests to validate these assumptions. Discuss also the advantages and disadvantages of each test.
3. Using the data set collected in Experiment 2 and the technique of multiple linear regression, estimate the β parameters of the following second order response surface model:
Y2 = β0 + ∑i=13βiXi + ∑i=13βiiXi2 + ∑i=13∑j=i+13βijXiXj + ∈
where Y2 is the accelerated compressive strength and ∈ is the prediction error or residual. X1 is the water-cement ratio, X) is the Aggregate-cement ratio and X2 is the cement content.
When writing up your analysis, describe how well this model fits the data, which variables are statistically significant (important), what meanings can be attached to the β parameters. State any assumptions that need to be made is assessing such statistical significance, and if appropriate carry out tests or construct scatter plots to validate these assumptions. Use the model to find the concrete mix that maximises the accelerated compressive strength, making full use of any suitable plots to explain these conditions.
4. Finally, consider ignoring the concrete mix and estimate the α parameters of the following simple model:
Y1 = α0 + α2Y2 + ∈
where Y1 is the 28-day compressive strength and Y) is the accelerated compressive strength and ∈ is the residual.
When writing up your analysis, describe how well this simplified model fits the data, the meaning of all the α parameters, the degree of accuracy achievable when predicting the 28-day compressive strength from accelerated test data (as described by a 95% confidence interval on an actual vs prediction plot).
Instructions:
1. Format requirements.
Please observe the following requirements. Failure to do so may cause reduction of your marks.
You need to submit a technical report (hereafter referred as ‘the report') to show how you complete the project and how the aspects listed in the project description document are addressed.
The report should be done electronically in Microsoft Word docx format (version 2010 and above) or PDF format.
The report must not exceed 8 (eight) A4 pages, excluding the cover sheet. Any single excessive page will cause a deduction of 10% of your mini-project marks.
The page size must be A4 all through the report with the main part in Portrait. You may use Landscape mode to display wide tables, however no other page size can be used.
Page margins should be set at least 1 cm from any side.
The line space of the text must be at least 1.1.
Font of the main text should be set 11 or 12 points in size, either Times New Roman or Arial excluding mathematical equations.
All pages should be properly numbered.
All figures and tables should be properly numbered and captioned.
2. Inclusion the MATLAB code as the appendix of your report.
You must include your MATLAB code in the appendix.
The source code is advised to be formatted using Courier New font with a size of 11 point.
The source code/appendix should stay in the report file, i.e., only one single file to be submitted.
The source code does not have to be comprehensive, but should be able to demonstrate the capability to reproduce the main analysis results that determine/affect your conclusion.
The source code will not be marked but will be used to check the originality and the ownership of the report/mini-project.
Attachment:- Civil-Project-Data.xlsx