Mix design and mechanical properties of self compacting light weight concrete

Considering normal concrete (NC) the type of concrete need to be vibrated after placing in the formwork, Lightweight concretes have been successfully applied in the building constructions for decades because of their low specific weight in connection with a high strength, a high capacity of thermal insulation and a high durability. The development leading to a self compacting light weight concrete (SCLWC) represents an important innovative step in the recent years. This concrete combines the favorable properties of a lightweight concrete with those of a self compacting concrete (i.e., the type of concrete need no vibration after placing in the formwork). Research work is aimed on development of (SCLWC) with the use of light weight aggregates " Light expand clay aggregate (Leca)". In this investigation, by trial and error procedure, different mix design of SCLWC were caste and tested to reach a so called standard self compacting concrete in fresh matrix phase such as; values of slump flow, L-box, V-funnel and in hardened phase, the 28 day compressive strength. Based on the results obtained, for two best so-called standard mix design of SCLWC the stress-strain diagrams are drawn and discussed. Also by three different methods, the modulus of elasticity of SCLWC are obtained and discussed here. It was found that a brittle mode of failure is governed in SCLWC