Comportement des bétons autoplaçants préparés avec des granulats légers

This project was undertaken to determine the effect of various type of lightweight coarse aggregates (LWCA) on engineering properties, durability, autogenous, drying and restrained shrinkage of SCC made with and with or without lightweight sand (LWS) used for internal curing. Given the mix design of SCC (high volume of paste), high degree of autogenous shrinkage can increase risk of early-age cracking of SCC subjected to restrained shrinkage. Shrinkcage of repair materials can be restrained by existing concrete and reinforcement. The risk of cracking of SCC can be high given the high elastic modulus of the concrete and its lower degree of stress relaxation at early age. With the process of hydration, SCC with low W/B ratio can have high degree of autogenous shrinkage. Lightweight coarse aggregate (LWCA) are water-saturated materials that provide a dispersed source of water within the mass of the concrete located very close to the cement particles. Better cement hydration can be obtained with lower development of self-desiccation. Given the morphology of the aggregate surface, the presence of water in the porous structure of the aggregate, and the compatibility of elastic modulus of LWCA and that of the cement paste, lightweight aggregate can reduce the risk of microcracking at the interfacial transition zone that can be present initially in conventional concrete as well as microcracking that can develop during service life due to repetitive structural loading, cycles of wetting and drying and freezing and thawing. The project was divided into three parts : evaluation of frost durability of SCC made with various types of LWCA ; evaluation of effect of type and dosage of LWCA on SCC performance ; and evaluation of effect of a shrinkage reducing admixture (SRA) and an expansive agent (EA) on lightweight SCC. All lightweight SCC exhibited excellent frost durability and mixtures made with 20% LWS replacement had greater resistance to de-icing salt scaling than those without LWS. Incorporation of LWCA between 25% and 50% led to decrease in modulus of elasticity and compressive strength. The use of LWCA led to an increase in total creep function. The use of LWS and LWCA resulted in significant decrease in total and autogenous shrinkage. The use of LWCA led to a decrease in total shrinkage between 25% and 75%, depending of the use of LWS, the type and rate of replacement of LWCA. Thus, SCC made with LWS and LWCA exhibited longer elapsed time before cracking compared to similar concrete prepared without any LWS and LWCA. The estimated time to cracking ranged from 4 days for the reference concrete without LWA to 42 days for the mixture prepared with 50% LWCA and 20% LWS