An Analysis of the Influence of Cylinder Dimension Ratio and Lifting Velocity on the Slump Test Results

As a fundamental rheological property, shear yield stress is used to assess the flowability of suspensions. Slump test is a cheap and quick experiment which is commonly used to estimate shear yield stress on-site. It has been generally believed that, cylinder height to diameter ratio and lifting velocity has no effect on the slump test results. In this work, the sensitivity of the slump test to the height to diameter ratio and lifting velocity of cylinder was investigated. Projections on the top surface of suspension column after the slump test were also analyzed. Results indicated that, the effect of cylinder height to diameter ratio is negligible in the low range of shear yield stress, while it is remarkable in the high range. It was deduced that, using a cylinder with dimension ratio in the range of 0.83 to 1.15 is more reliable. Furthermore, it is shown that the lifting velocity of cylinder has a significant effect on the results. A high lifting velocity could introduce a great error in estimation particularly in a large height to diameter ratio