Accepted Manuscript

Effect of constituents on rheological properties of fresh concrete-A review

Dengwu Jiao, Caijun Shi, Qiang Yuan, Xiaopeng An, Yu Liu, Huang Li

PII: S0958-9465(16)30332-8
DOI: 10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2017.07.016
Reference: CECO 2866

To appear in: Cement and Concrete Composites

Received Date: 5 July 2016

Revised Date: 19 March 2017
Accepted Date: 17 July 2017

Please cite this article as: D. Jiao, C. Shi, Q. Yuan, X. An, Y. Liu, H. Li, Effect of constituents on
rheological properties of fresh concrete-A review, Cement and Concrete Composites (2017), doi:
10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2017.07.016.

This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to
our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo
copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please
note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all
legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Effect of Constituents on Rheological Properties of Fresh Concrete-A Review

Dengwu Jiao1, Caijun Shi1,2,*, Qiang Yuan3,*, Xiaopeng An1, Yu Liu1, Huang Li2
1. State Key Laboratory of Green Building Materials, China Building Materials Academy, Beijing
100024, China
2. College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
3. School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410075, China

PT
Abstract: The rheology is an effective tool to characterize workability, consistency, flowability,
and predict stability, pumpability, shootability, pressure of formwork, multi-layer casting. This
paper presents a critical review on the rheological properties of fresh concrete in recent
publications. The applicable rheological models for the flow of concrete are revealed. The effects

RI
of constituents of fresh concrete, including cement, supplementary cementitious materials (fly ash,
ground blast furnace slag, and silica fume), limestone powder, coarse and fine aggregates, and
chemical admixtures (superplasticizer, viscosity modifying agent and air-entraining agent) on the

SC
rheological properties are discussed in detail. The applications of rheograph and workability boxes
in mixture proportioning and quality control are also illustrated.

U
Keywords: concrete; constituents; rheological properties; rheograph
AN
*Corresponding author: cshi@hnu.edu.cn (C. Shi); yuanqiang@csu.edu.cn (Q. Yuan)
M
D
TE
C EP
AC

1
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
1. Introduction

Concrete is the most widely used civil engineering material in the world. Its output was
nearly 30 billion cubic meters in 2015. The properties of fresh concrete are of great importance
because of their effects on construction quality of casting and forming process, and also the
properties of hardened concrete. The behavior of fresh concrete is often described by workability,
consistency, flowability, mobility, pumpability, compactibility and finishability. However, these
terms are empirical, qualitative and subjective, and lack of quantitative basis [1]. Take the
workability as an example, the practitioner is quite able to identify “more workable”, called

PT
operator-sensitive, which has been discussed in the book by Tattersall and Banfill [2]. In order to
minimize the artificial errors, it is necessary to characterize fresh properties of concrete by using
fundamental physical quantities.

RI
The term of rheology was first proposed by Bingham in 1920 [3]. In the following years,
rheology was born as a new subject with the establishment of the Rheology Society and Journal of

SC
Rheology. Rheology is an important tool for scientists and engineers in many industries, including
plastics, paint, printing inks, detergents, oils, etc. [3]. The rheology of cement and concrete mainly
involves the evolution of viscosity, plasticity and elasticity of cement-based materials under shear
stress. The rheological properties have significant influence on constructing, forming or casting

U
process. Yen et al. [4] found that rheological method could obtain more stable results in describing
the workability of high-performance concrete, comparing with these single-point tests such as
AN
slump and slump flow. Banfill et al. [5] pointed out that there was a relationship between the
rheological parameters of unvibrated fresh concrete and the velocity of vibration. Roussel [6, 7]
established a link between the yield stress or thixotropy of fresh concrete and casting processes,
M

which provided a practical tool to predict the formwork filling, pressure formwork and multilayer
casting occurrence. Feys et al. [8] discussed the influence of rheology and flow rate on pumping
pressure of concrete, which varied from pumpable conventional vibrated concrete to segregating
D

self-compacting concrete. Furthermore, concrete rheology can also be used in some special
applications, such as a simple and fast assessment in minimizing rebound could be made by
TE

establishing a correlation between the rheological properties and the rebound, before conducting
any spray experiments [9].

From the above discussion, it is clear that rheology is an effective tool to characterize the
EP

workability, predict the flow behavior, stability and even compactability of cement paste, mortar
and concrete. The properties of fresh concrete have effects on the mechanical strength, durability,
and engineering applications. It is vital for the preparation of high-performance concrete. This
C

paper presents a critical review on the rheological properties of fresh concrete in recent
publications based on the rheological model, influence of concrete composition and applications of
AC

rheology in mixture proportioning.

2. Rheology models of concrete

Numerically describing and predicting the flow and deformation of complicated fluids are
difficult. Fresh concrete is a very complicated fluid which not only contains particulate materials
ranging from nm to mm, but also contains organic and inorganic materials. What’s more, the
rheological behavior of concrete evolves with time because of cement hydration which is a
complicated subject. At a low applied shear strain rate, the variation of shear stress with time is
shown in Fig. 1. At the beginning, the shear stress increases gradually with time but there is no
flow. When the stress reaches the static yield stress, the concrete begins to flow, and the stress
required to maintain steady flow is reduced to the dynamic yield stress, which is also called

2
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
thixotropic behavior. Roussel [10] found that the static yield stress increased as a linear function of
time, and proposed a thixotropic model, as shown in Eqs. (1) and (2).

PT
RI
Fig. 1 Variation of shear stress with time

τ = (1+λ )τ 0 +µPγɺ

SC
(1)
∂λ 1 (2)
= − αλγɺ
∂t T
where λ is flocculation state of concrete, T is characteristic time of flocculation, and α is

U
thixotropic parameter. It is also assumed that the characteristic time of de-flocculation is short
AN
compared to that of flocculation, the flocculation rate of fresh concrete at rest can be derived as:
τ (3)
Athix = 0
T
The thixotropy has significant effects on the application performance of concrete such as
M

pumpability, formwork pressure development, multilayer casting, etc [7, 11-15]. It is worth
mentioning that additive manufacturing and digital fabrication construction techniques such as 3D
printing strongly depends on the thixotropic behavior of concrete [16]. The static yield stress is
D

associated to the network of colloidal interactions and rigid links between cement particles, which
are affected by CSH nucleation [17]. As long as the steady state flow is reached, the rheological
TE

behavior of fresh concrete can be described using a yield stress model such as Bingham model,
Herschel-Bulkley model and modified Bingham model.

The Bingham model has a linear relationship between shear stress, τ, and shear strain rate, γɺ .
EP

This defines yield stress τ0 and plastic viscosity µ. Their relationship is expressed by Eq. (4):
τ = τ 0 + µγɺ (4)
C

As can be seen from Eq. (4), fresh concrete starts to flow once shear stress is higher than
yield stress. The plastic viscosity is the ratio of shear stress to shear rate. The Bingham model,
AC

which can describe the rheological properties of cement paste, mortar and part of fresh concrete,
given that the yield stress and plastic viscosity are constant in time. However, de Larrard et al. [18]
pointed out that the relationship between torque and rotation speed was not exactly linear and even
a negative yield stress encountered with the Bingham model in their rheological tests with
BTRHEOM rheometer. While the Herschel-Bulkley (H-B) model appears to offer some benefit in
describing the flow behavior of concrete, which can be expressed by Eq. (5):
τ = τ 0 + aγɺ b (5)
where τ and τ0 are shear stress and yield stress, respectively; γɺ is shear rate, a is consistency
factor, and b is flow index changing from less than 1 (called shear thinning) to more than 1 (called
shear thickening). By using the least square method, the equivalent plastic viscosity could be
calculated as:

3
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
3a b −1
γɺmax µ′ = (6)
b+2
It was found that the coefficients of variation from the regressions rheological testing
resulting were close to 1% with the H-B model [18], which indicated that the H-B model provided
an excellent approximation to the measurements. The yield stress is always positive and exponent
b differs significantly from 1, which covers the limits of the Bingham model. However, the yield
stress from H-B model provides a worse ranking of the mixtures than that from Bingham model,
with respect to the slump, as shown in Fig. 2, and the control of 3 parameters is very difficult to
handle in the optimization of mixture proportion.

PT
2000
Bingham Yield Stress
H-B Yield Stress

RI
1600
Yield Stress (Pa)

1200 Y=2493.76+79.47S

SC
2
R =0.983
800 Y=2519.79+61.42S
2
R =0.992
400

U
AN
60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260
Slump (mm)
Fig. 2 Yield stress from Bingham and H-B models VS slump (data from [18])
M

In view of the shear thickening behavior of self-compacting concrete and the negative yield
stress when extrapolating the Bingham model, Feys et al. [19, 20] proposed a modified Bingham
model, as described by Eq. (7):
D

τ = τ 0 + µγɺ + cγɺ 2 (7)

where τ and τ0 are shear stress and yield stress, respectively, γɺ is shear rate, µ is plastic viscosity,
TE

and c is second order parameter. The c/µ gives an indication of shear thinning or shear thickening
behavior. Compared to the H-B model, the modified Bingham model does not contain a parameter
with a variable dimension and without the mathematical restriction in the region of low shear rates
EP

[19].

The fundamental physical parameters for describing rheological properties mainly include
yield stress and plastic viscosity. The yield stress is the minimum stress when concrete initiates to
C

flow. It is caused by the force required to break down the network structure formed by the
colloidal interaction and rigid links between cement particles, as well as the adhesion and friction
AC

between aggregate particles. The magnitude of yield stress depends on the solid volume fraction,
packing fractions [21], size and surface roughness of solid particles, interactions between particles,
and specifically on the effect of superplasticizer. The yield stress can be used to characterize the
filling ability and stability of fresh concrete. The plastic viscosity is defined as the proportional
coefficient between shear stress and shear rate under a state of steady shear, and it is greatly
affected by colloidal particle interaction forces, Brownian forces, hydrodynamic forces and
viscous forces between particles [3, 22, 23]. The plastic viscosity depends on the ratio of volume
fraction and packing density of particles in the mixture, and is a good indicator for the
compactibility, machinability and segregation resistance. The fundamental physical quantities can
be obtained using rheometers. However, the rheometers are usually not available at most concrete
laboratories. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the relationship between the fundamental

4
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
parameters and the traditional parameters, such as slump, slump flow and flow time. For fresh
concrete, the yield stress and plastic viscosity are correlated to the slump or slump flow and the
flow time, respectively [24-27]. An excellent relationship between the yield stress and the slump
has been obtained. Based on numerous experiments, Murata et al. [24] proposed a relationship
between the yield stress τ0 and the slump flow S that does not depend on the mold geometry, as
shown in Eq. (8).

τ 0 = 714 − 473 log( S / 10) (8)

PT
Considering the density of concrete, Sedran and de Larrard [25] established equations
predicting the yield stress and the plastic viscosity, shown with Eqs. (9) and (10):
ρg
τ 0 = (808 − S ) (9)

RI
11740
ρg
µ= (0.026 S − 2.39T500 ) (10)
10000

SC
where S (mm) is slump flow, ρ (kg/m3) is density of concrete, g (= 9.81m/s2) is gravity, T500 (s) is
the time to reach a 500 mm diameter spread. Similar empirical equations have been obtained in
Ref. [26]. Considering the density of concrete, the lubrication and volume fraction of matrix and

U
the relevance of viscometers, Wallevik [27] established an empirical expression as shown in Eq.
(11):
AN
(τ + 394)
S = 300 − 0.416 0 + α (τ 0 − τ 0ref )(Vm − Vmref ) (11)
ρ / ρ ref
where S (mm) is slump flow, ρ (kg/m3) is density of concrete, ρref (kg/m3) is density of water, Vm
M

(m3) is volume fraction of matrix, the term τ 0 − τ 0ref refers to the lubrication effect, and the term
Vm − Vmref treats the effect of matrix volume fraction. α (τ 0 − τ 0ref )(Vm − Vmref ) is only based on
D

empirical consideration depending on the angularity, density and grading of the aggregates used.
The tests results have shown that Eq. (11) works well in predicting the slump for a given yield
stress. Except for the above attempts to relate slump with yield stress, Roussel and Coussot [28]
TE

developed theoretical analytical solutions of the slump test by including different flow regimes,
pure shear flow and pure elongational flow, according to the ratio between the radius (R) and the
height (H) of the slump cone. For large slumps, the pure shear flow could express the
EP

dimensionless yield stress as a function of dimensionless slump, as is shown in Eq. (12):

2π 2/3 (12)
τ c′ = H 0 (1 − S ′)5/2
15Ω
C

where S ′ = S H 0 and τ c′ = τ c ρ gH 0 are dimensionless slump and yield stress, Ω is sample

AC

volume, H0 is initial sample height, ρ is material density, and g is gravity. For small slumps, the
pure elongational flow could express the dimensionless yield stress as a function of dimensionless
slump, as is shown in Eq. (13):
1− S′ (13)
τ c′ =
3
Based on the three-dimensional numerical simulations and experimental data with a large
range of yield stress, it is proved that these solutions may provide a further practical tool to
estimate the yield stress containing coarse aggregates [28].

3. Effect of constituents on the rheological properties

5
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Concrete is a sort of composite material containing cement, mineral admixtures, water,
aggregates and chemical admixtures. Its rheological properties depend on the quality of each
constituent used in the concrete mixture and their interactions. Some researchers considered fresh
concrete as a concentrated suspension in which solids are dispersed in the fluid phase water [29, 30]
while others [31, 32] regarded fresh concrete as a two-phase system that coarse aggregates are
dispersed in the mortar. Fresh concrete is viewed as a two-phase system in this paper, i.e. fluid
paste and solid phase aggregates. The influence of paste volume (containing cement,
supplementary cementitious materials and limestone filler), aggregate, and chemical admixture on
the rheological properties are reviewed in this section.

PT
3.1 Paste

RI
Paste is an essential component of concrete which coats aggregates, fills the spaces between
aggregates, and provides the flowability. Koehler [22] confirmed that increase of paste volume
resulted in an increase in slump, reduction in yield stress and plastic viscosity. The decline rate

SC
gradually lowered as the amount of paste went up. Recently, Westerholm et al. [33, 34]
demonstrated that negative effects of poorly graded and shaped aggregates could be eliminated or
significantly reduced with additional paste volume. As can be seen from Fig. 3, the paste can be
divided into two parts: one is the paste filled the spaces between aggregates, the other, called

U
excess paste, is the paste coated and separated aggregates. The excess paste volume can be
calculated with Eq. (14) [35]:
AN
m ρ
VPaste ,ex = VPaste − VA,void = VPaste − A ( A − 1) (14)
ρ A ρ A,bulk
where Vpaste,ex is the volume of excess paste, Vpaste is total paste volume, VA,void is the volume of
M

voids between aggregates, mA and ρA are mass and density of the aggregates, respectively, ρA,bulk is
loose bulk density of the aggregates. If same paste layer thickness for each spherical aggregate is
assumed, the thickness of excess paste can be described by Eq. (15):
D

4
VPaste ,ex = π ∑ ni ((ri + t Paste ,ex )3 − ri3 ) (15)
3 i
TE

where ri and ni are radius and number of a particle of class i, respectively, tpaste,ex is the thickness of
paste layer. It can be noted that Eq. (15) is a very rough approximation of an average thickness of
excess paste.
EP

Yammine et al. [21] demonstrated that there existed an obvious transition in the rheological
behavior of concrete between friction and hydrodynamic domination. At relatively high paste
volume fraction, the interactions between particles or fluid and particle are hydrodynamic. When
C

the concrete is flowing, the motions of particles imply some flow of paste that induces additional
energy dissipation. Thus the plastic viscosity decreases with the increase of paste volume fraction.
AC

At relatively low paste volume fraction, i.e. high aggregate volume fraction, the rheological
behavior is dominated by the direct frictional contacts between aggregate particles. The thickness
of excess paste is a suitable parameter to describe the consistency of fresh concrete varied with the
paste volume fraction [35]. However, the differences regarding mineral admixtures or paste
compositions led to different rheological behaviors. The quantitative relationship between the
rheological parameters and the thickness of excess paste is not clear yet.

6
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

VPaste,ex

Paste

tPaste,ex

PT
Fig. 3 Model of Fresh Concrete [35]

RI
3.1.1 Cement

The mineral composition of Portland cement clinker is mainly composed of C3S, C2S, C3A

SC
and C4AF. Appropriate level of gypsum is added to clinker for grinding cement. The hydration rate
and water demand of reaction of each mineral composition are different. It can be expected that the
rheological properties of cement paste may be affected by mineral composition of cement. Various
ions may be released into water when cement contacts with water, such as SO42-, OH-, Na+, K+.

U
These ions may affect the adsorption of superplasticizer onto cement particles and thus affect the
AN
rheological properties of cement paste. Fineness of cement (about 350-400 m2/kg for conventional
cement) also has great influence on rheological properties of cement paste, because fine cement
needs more water for a given flowability and fine cement particles hydrate faster than coarser
ones.
M

The effects of chemical composition and physical characteristics of cement on the rheological
properties had been studied by many researchers. Hope et al. [36] studied the effects of cement
D

composition on water requirement for a given slump. They found that the water requirement
increased for the cement with high Al2O3 or C2S contents and decreased for the cement with high
TE

ignition loss, high carbonate addition, or high C3S content. Mork et al. [37] examined the influence
of gypsum to hemihydrate ratio of cement on concrete rheology, and stated that, for cement with
high contents of C3A and alkalis, a reduction in the ratio of gypsum to hemihydrate resulted in a
decrease in yield stress, but little change in plastic viscosity. For the cement with lower C3A and
EP

alkalis content, the effects of gypsum to hemihydrate ratio were less pronounced. Furthermore, a
reduction in the sulfate content from 3 to 1% caused a decrease in both yield stress and plastic
viscosity. Dils et al. [38] investigated the effects of chemical composition and fineness of cement
C

on rheological properties of ultra-high performance concrete for a given slump flow. They found
that the cement with high C3A and specific surface, high alkali content and lower of SO3 content
AC

gave the worst workability.

Chen et al. [39] showed that the influence of superfine cement on rheological properties
depended on the water content in cement paste. The addition of superfine cement increased yield
stress and apparent viscosity at W/C≥0.24. When at W/C≤0.22, the addition of superfine cement
decreased yield stress and apparent viscosity. At lower water content, the addition of fine particles
fills the voids, increases the packing density, releases the water between cement particles,
significantly increases the water films coating the particles in the cement paste, and consequently
improves the rheological properties of cement paste. At higher water content, the increase of
superfine cement content did not show an obvious effect on the water film thickness because the
high specific surface area of superfine cement increased the yield stress and plastic viscosity.

7
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

3.1.2 Fly ash

Fly ash, high in SiO2 and Al2O3, low in CaO, is one type of pozzolanic material, which is
sufficiently reactive when mixed with water and Ca(OH)2 at room temperature [40]. It consists of
crystal, vitreous and a small amount of unburnt carbons. The vitreous includes smooth and
spherical shaped vitreous particles, irregular-shaped and low porosity small particles. Unburnt
carbon presents loose and porous shape. The chemical and phase compositions depend on the
mineral composition of the coal, the combustion conditions and the collector setup. Physically, fly

PT
ash presents as fine particles with the particle size ranging from 0.4 to 100 µm, low specific
gravity (2.0 ~ 2.2 g/cm3), high specific surface area (300 ~ 500 m2/kg) and light texture [41]. The
type of fly ash determines the surface texture. For example, the surface of Class C fly ash (FAC)

RI
particles appears irregular and cellular (Fig. 4 (a)) while the Class F fly ash (FAF) particles exhibit
spherical morphology and smooth surface texture (Fig. 4 (b)).

U SC
AN
M

(a) Class C (b) Class F

Fig. 4 SEM images of Class C and F fly ash particles [42]
D

The addition of fly ash has a great influence on the rheological properties of concrete, as
TE

shown in Fig. 5. Laskar et al. [43] found that low levels of fly ash could lead to reduction of yield
stress, while a slight increase in yield stress could be observed at high content of fly ash. Beycioğlu
et al. [44] indicated that fly ash positively affected the flowability, passing ability and viscosity of
self-compacting concrete due to its spherical geometry and smooth surface caused a reduction in
EP

water demand. Jalal et al. [45] found that the ball bearing-shaped fly ash particles resulted in an
improvement in the rheological properties of fresh self-compacting concrete (SCC), and led to an
increase in the slump flow diameter from 800 mm to 870 mm and reduction in T500 from 1.7 s to
C

1.1 s. However, Park et al. [46] found that the mixtures without fly ash showed slightly higher
yield stress than those with fly ash, and the yield stress and plastic viscosity slightly increased with
AC

the increase of fly ash content. Rahman et al. [11] observed that fly ash significantly increased the
flocculation rate and plastic viscosity of SCC.

8
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

10 1 Ref. [42]
2 2 Ref. [42]
3 Ref. [47]
14 4 Ref. [47]
4
5 Ref. [43]

Yield Stress
3 6 Ref. [46]
1 7 Ref. [11]
8 Ref. [48]
9 Ref. [49]
13 6 10 Ref. [50]
11 Ref. [50]
5 12 Ref. [22]
8 7 13 Ref. [51]

PT
11
14 Ref. [51]
9
12

Plastic Viscosity

RI
Fig. 5 Effects of fly ash on rheological properties (data from Refs. [11, 22, 42, 43, 46-51])

Ahari et al. [42, 52] studied the influence of FAF and FAC contents on the rheological

SC
properties of SCC. They found that FAF significantly decreased plastic viscosity in comparison to
the mixtures with FAC. The fineness or particle size distribution of fly ash could also significantly
affect the workability. Ferraris et al. [50] and Li et al. [53] reached the same conclusion that as the
mean size of fly ash particles increased, the slump flow decreased to a certain value and then

U
gradually increased, and the optimum size was about 3 µm. Lee et al. [54] pointed out that the
flowability of paste increased as the particle size distribution became wider.
AN
Fly ash has a lower specific gravity than cement. The replacement of cement with the same
mass of fly ash increases the volume of paste, proportionally decreases the cement concentration in
M

paste and therefore reduces the number of flocculation cement particle connections called “dilution
effect” [55, 56]. The spherical geometry and smooth surface of fly ash particles promote particles
sliding and reduce frictional forces between angular particles, which is called “ball bearing effect”.
D

This effect can be magnified with the particle size distribution of fly ash slightly coarser than
cement due to the increase of separation distance between neighboring particles [48]. The addition
TE

of fine fly ash improved the flowability due to the filling effect. The packing density of paste
improved, and the water retained inside the particle flocs decreased, consequently, the flowability
of the paste increased. In addition, fly ash can delay the early hydration and lengthen the setting
time. It is worth to mention that the unburnt carbons in fly ash can greatly adsorb superplasticizer
EP

molecules or water, even result in negative zeta potential [57], which leads to higher viscosity.

3.1.3 Ground blast furnace slag (GBFS)

C

GBFS, finely granular and almost fully noncrystalline, is a by-product of the iron
AC

manufacturing industry. Its glass content is predominated by water quenching rate. The mass
content of CaO, SiO2 and Al2O3 is up to 90%. GBFS has hydraulic activity, but slower than that of
Portland cement. The specific gravity of slag is approximately 2.90, and its bulk density varies in
the range of 1200 ~ 1300 kg/m3. The specific surface area of GBFS measured by Blaine method
are 375 ~ 425 m2/kg, 450 ~ 550 m2/kg, and 350 ~ 450 m2/kg in the United Kingdom, United States
and India, respectively. In China, the specific surface area of GBFS is higher than 450 m2/kg [58].

Since the replacement of cement with slag improves the workability of mixtures and reduces
CO2 emissions, GBFS has been widely used in cement paste, mortar, and concrete. Effects of
GBFS on the rheological properties of cement-based materials from literatures are shown in Fig. 6.
As can be seen from Fig. 6, most studies find that the addition of GBFS decreases plastic viscosity,
while the effect of GBFS on yield stress is uncertain. Park et al. [46] indicated that the yield stress

9
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
decreased then increased, but the plastic viscosity decreased with the increase of GBFS content.
Ahari et al. [42] stated that the replacement of Portland cement with GBFS decreased the yield
stress and plastic viscosity of the mixtures, regardless of the water-to-binder (w/b) ratio. They also
found that replacement of 18% cement with GBFS in the mixture with w/b ratio of 0.44 reduced
the breakdown area approximately by 10%. Derabla et al. [59] found that the activity of granulated
slag and crystallized slag with specific surface areas of 228 m2/kg and 485 m2/kg both are near to
that of cement. Even though the specific surface area of granulated slag is lower than that of
cement, the plastic viscosity of the mixture containing granulated slag decreased from 150 Pa.s to
121 Pa.s due to the absorption of superplasticizer particles. At the same replacement level, the

PT
plastic viscosity of the mixture containing crystallized slag decreased from 150 Pa.s to 91 Pa.s.
However, the addition of GBFS increased the plastic viscosity in some cases. Tattersall [60]
reported that, for the mixtures with low cement content (200 kg/m3), the addition of GBFS reduced

RI
yield stress and increased plastic viscosity. Tang et al. [61] studied the rheological properties of
cement paste with a high volume of GBFS under different slump flows by varying the dosage of
superplasticizer. They found that the pastes with GBFS had apparently higher plastic viscosity,

SC
poorer stability and lower velocity of flow, comparing to ordinary cement paste under the same
slump flow. This can be contributed to the fact that high volume of ground slag with high specific
surface area requires a larger amount of water than cement.

U
12 1 Ref. [42]
2 Ref. [62]
AN
3 Ref. [46]
4 Ref. [59]
5 Ref. [61]
Yield Stress

5 6 Ref. [63]
7 7 Ref. [64]
M

9 8 Ref. [64]
11
1 9 Ref. [22]
10 Ref. [65]
6
10 2 11 Ref. [66]
4
D

12 Ref. [66]
3
8
TE

Plastic Viscosity
Fig. 6 Effects of slag on rheological properties (data from Refs.[22, 42, 46, 59, 61-66])

Generally, GBFS has high specific surface area and high chemical activity, which may have
EP

positive or negative effect on the rheological properties of cement-based materials. The rheology
properties of cement concrete are improved by the following reasons: entrapped water within
cement particles may be released by the micro-filling effect of fine GBFS particles, and high
C

specific area may lead to more adsorption of superplasticizer. However, high specific surface area
and high chemical activity of GBFS require a large amount of water than cement particles. Thus
AC

the rheological properties may be decreased.

3.1.4 Silica fume

Silica fume is the by-product of electric arc furnace produced silica metal and silica alloys. It
is extremely fine powder and has average particle size of about 0.1 ~ 0.3 µm. Particles below 0.1
µm are more than 80%. The specific surface area of silica fume is 20000 ~ 28000 m2/kg, which is
80 ~ 100 times and 50 ~ 70 times higher than that of cement and fly ash, respectively. The particles
are round, and tend to be agglomerated. Therefore, superfine silica fume particles can fill the voids
between other particles, improves the gradation, increases the packing density of cementitious
materials and even has lubrication effect. The high specific surface area of silica fume even could
adsorb superplasticizer molecules with multi-layers [43, 46, 67]. Silica fume, high in SiO2 (85 ~

10
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
96%) with very fine vitreous particles, has higher chemical activity than fly ash. The high fineness
and high chemical activity of silica fume can increase the water demand and inter-particle friction
[68-70].

1 10 11
5
10 2 9
1 Ref. [42]
6 2 Ref. [42]
11 3 3 Ref. [68]
7 6

PT
4 Ref. [43]
Yield Stress

4 5 Ref. [43]
8 6 Ref. [46]
1 3 7 Ref. [11]
8 Ref. [49]

RI
5 9 Ref. [50]
10 Ref. [71]
9 11 Ref. [22]
2
4

SC
7
8
Plastic Viscosity
Fig. 7 Effects of silica fume on rheological properties (data from Refs.[11, 22, 42, 43, 46, 49, 50, 68, 71])

U
Effects of silica fume on the rheological properties of cement-based materials from literatures
are shown in Fig. 7. As can be seen from Fig. 7, many studies found that the addition of silica
AN
fume increased both yield stress and plastic viscosity, and reduced the flowability of cement-based
materials. The addition of silica fume also significantly increased the flocculation rate [11, 42]. As
a result, silica fume can be used in the concrete which requires high uniformity and cohesiveness,
M

e.g. pumping concrete, underwater concrete and shotcrete, as an inorganic viscosity modifying
agent. However, the addition of silica fume may have different effects on the rheological
properties. Zhang et al. [49] stated that silica fume could decrease the viscosity and yield stress of
D

cement paste. Ahari et al. [42, 52] found that the incorporation of silica fume reduced the plastic
viscosity, increased the yield stress and breakdown area. Yun et al. [72] found that silica fume led
TE

to a remarkable increase in flow resistance while slightly reduced torque viscosity. The addition of
silica fume could obtain different results with different superplasticizer types and water-to-binder
ratios. Laskar et al. [43] found that silica fume increased the initial yield stress of fresh concrete in
case of poly-carboxylic and decreased it in case of sulfonated naphthalene polymer. Effects of
EP

water-to-powder (w/p) ratio (by volume) and silica fume on yield stress and plastic viscosity are
shown in Fig. 8. As can be seen from Fig. 8, the increments of both yield stress and plastic
viscosity increase with the decrease of w/p ratio. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the
C

interactions between silica fume and superplasticizer type or content when investigating the effects
of silica fume on rheology of ordinary concrete.
AC

0.5 0.30
w/p = 1.86 w/p = 1.86
w/p = 1.50 0.25 w/p = 1.50
Relative Plastic Viscosity

0.4
w/p = 1.22
Relative Yield Stress

w/p = 1.22
0.20
0.3
0.15
0.2
0.10

0.1 0.05

0.0 0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Replacement of silica fume (vol. %) Replacement of silica fume (vol. %)
Fig. 8 Effect of replacement of silica fume on rheological parameters [69]

11
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

3.1.5 Limestone powder

Limestone powder is a kind of high quality and cheap mineral admixture. Its main component
is calcium carbonate, CaCO3. Limestone particles is irregular and rough [73, 74], which increases
the adhesion and friction between cement particles. The mean particle size of limestone powder
used in concrete is from below 1 µm to more than several tens of µm. Limestone particles have
high adsorption capacity of superplasticizer, which increases the dispersing ability of concrete
system. On the other hand, limestone particles are often ground to finer powders than cement.

PT
Consequently, more water is needed for paste with the limestone powder.

The influences of limestone powder on rheological properties from literatures are summarized

RI
in Fig. 9. Some researchers found that the incorporation of limestone powder increased the yield
stress and plastic viscosity, leading to a reduction in the workability of concrete. While others
showed that the addition of limestone powder resulted in a decrease in yield stress and plastic

SC
viscosity. In addition, Rahman et al. [11] stated that increasing amounts of limestone powder led to
an increase in flocculation rate significantly. For instance, the flocculation rate of concrete with
15% limestone powder was about 1.5 times higher than that of reference concrete. The influence
of limestone powder on rheological properties depends on the particle packing and water demand,

U
which could be transferred into specific surface area or particle size distribution [48]. Ma et al. [74]
noted that yield stress and plastic viscosity increased with the decrease of particle size of limestone
AN
powder. Vance et al. [48] found that as the particle size of limestone powder increased from 0.7 to
15 µm, there was a decrease in both yield stress and plastic viscosity. They stated that particles
finer than the ordinary Portland cement usually increased the yield stress and plastic viscosity,
M

while the addition of particles coarser than cement induced an opposite effect. This is because the
fine particles reduce the particle spacing and increase inter-particle contacts, while the coarse
particles could increase particle spacing and reduce the shear resistance of the suspension.
Furthermore, large limestone particles exhibited a decrease in the area of water films and provide
D

more extra water [75], and thus reduced the possibility of flocculation.
TE

Although the effect of particle size distribution is very important, the production methods of
limestone powder can not be ignored. Felekoğlu et al. [57] considered that the fine limestone filler
did not significantly change the viscosity while the coarse limestone filler was effective in
EP

increasing the viscosity. The fine limestone filler is a filtration system by-product of crushed stone
production. However, the coarse limestone powder is a special production of whitened limestone
filler with lower adsorptivity. In a word, the effect of limestone powder on rheological properties
can be ascribed to the morphologic effect, filling effect and adsorption effect by particle size
C

distribution and production methods of limestone powder.

AC

6
1 Ref. [11]
2 Ref. [48]
3 Ref. [48]
3
4 Ref. [48]
Yield Stress

5 Ref. [49]
6 Ref. [59]
2 7 Ref. [76]
8 Ref. [76]
9 Ref. [66]
4
10 Ref. [66]
9 1
7 10 8
5
Plastic Viscosity

12
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Fig. 9 Effects of limestone powder on rheological properties (data from Refs.[11, 48, 49, 59, 66, 76])

3.1.6 Ternary binder system

Ternary binder system is a good way to enhance various properties of cement-based materials,
including workability, rheological properties, strength, durability, cost, and CO2 emissions. This
section discusses the rheological properties of ternary blends containing fly ash and slag or silica
fume or limestone. Laskar et al. [43] observed that the rheological parameters of concrete with
ternary-binder-system lied in between the values with the single mineral admixtures at each

PT
replacement levels. Tattersall [2], Park et al. [46] and Gesoğlu et al. [77] observed the same
phenomena. Kashani et al. [78] investigated the rheological behavior of cement-blast furnace
slag-fly ash ternary pastes. They showed that the width of the particle size distribution was the key
parameter controlling the yield stress of ternary pastes. As a result, even a low volume of fly ash

RI
also has a significant effect on workability, and any other mineral additives with a broad particle
size distribution may have a comparable effect. Vance et al. [48] found that in ternary pastes
containing limestone and low fly ash contents (5%), the plastic viscosity increased with the

SC
replacement of fine limestone, and remained unchanged for coarse limestone. However, at higher
fly ash contents (10%), the yield stress decreased even for pastes containing fine limestone.
Although the particle spacing reduces and the number of inter-particle contacts increases with the

U
addition of fine limestone, the ball shaped fly ash separates the solid grains, compensating the
positive effect of fine particle additions, and thus reduces the yield stress and plastic viscosity.
AN
The addition of ultrafine mineral admixtures such as silica fume can increase the packing
density, fill into the voids between cement particles and release the water entrapped in agglomerate
structure to form excess water films for lubrication. But at the same time, the water film thickness
M

will be thinned down due to its large surface area. By adding a cementitious material whose
fineness between cement and silica fume, such as fly ash, the water entrapped in the agglomerate
structure can be released without excessively increasing the surface area [79]. In this way, a larger
D

water film thickness and better flowability can be obtained. Moreover, the addition of mineral
admixtures with a broader particle size distribution also can increase the particle packing and the
TE

excess water, and therefore efficiently separate the cement particles. In this case, the intensity of
colloidal interaction between particles will drop substantially, leading to the destruction of
percolated network of particles, which will then results in yield stress reduction [78].
EP

3.2 Aggregates

Aggregate accounts for more than 75% of the total volume of conventional vibrated concrete,
C

and 60% of SCC. From the rheological point of view, aggregates with large grain size and rough
surface restrict the flow of concrete and increase the yield stress and plastic viscosity of concrete
AC

than that of cement paste. Generally, the chemical compositions of aggregate have little effect on
the rheological properties. In this part, the effects of physical properties of aggregates on the
plastic viscosity and yield stress are emphatically discussed.

The first to derive the viscosity of a dilute suspension of rigid spheres is Einstein [80, 81]. He
showed that the addition of the second phase to a liquid leads to an increase in the bulk viscosity
proportional to volume fraction of particles:
ηr = 1 + [η ]φ (16)
where η r is relative viscosity, φ isconcentration of particles, and [η ] is intrinsic viscosity.
Krieger and Dougherty [82] used the maximum packing volume fraction and intrinsic viscosity
parameter for a non-Newtonian suspension with rigid spheres, and proposed a generalized version

13
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
of Einstein’s equation, called Krieger and Dougherty equation:
−[η ]φm
 φ 
ηr = 1 −  (17)
 φm 
where φ and φm are the concentration of particles and maximum packing fraction, respectively.
Considered fresh concrete as a suspension with multiple sizes of particle, assuming the
relative sizes are sufficient to have the condition of zero interaction, the viscosity can be calculated
from the unimodal viscosity of each size, namely Farris model [83]:
−[η1 ]φm1 −[η 2 ]φm2
 φ   φ2 

PT
η = η S 1 − 11  1 − 2  (18)
 φm   φm 
If aggregates in fresh concrete are divided into coarse and fine aggregates [84], the Farris

RI
model can be used in the following form:
−[η FA ] Slim −[ηCA ]Glim
 S   G 
ηC = η P  1 −  1 −  (19)
 Slim   Glim 

SC
where S and Slim are sand volume fraction and maximum solid volume, respectively; G and Glim
are gravel volume fraction and maximum gravel solid volume, respectively; η P is the viscosity of
paste; [η FA ] and [ηCA ] are intrinsic viscosity of fine and coarse aggregate, respectively.

U
AN
The yield stress can be predicted accurately from the measured T500 and flow spread of the
mix in a slump test using a corrected Lagrangian smooth particle hydrodynamics [85]. This
estimation of yield stress requires a trial and error approach: for a given mixture and plastic
viscosity an arbitrary initial trial yield stress is assumed and the mixture flow was simulated using
M

the smooth particle hydrodynamics method from the moment the cone is lifted, until the mixture
stops flowing [86]. Mahaut et al. [87] stated that the relationship between the yield stress of
suspensions and the particle volume fraction fitted well with the Chateau-Ovarlez-Trung model
D

[88], as shown in Eq. (20). They showed that the yield stress of suspensions only depended on the
yield stress value of suspending cement paste and was independent of its physicochemical
TE

properties.
τ c (φ ) 1− φ (20)
= 2.5φm
τ c (0) (1 − φ φm )
EP

Noor et al. [84] proposed an empirical model to predict the yield stress of fresh concrete,
which was assumed to be a function of yield stress of mortar and the volume fraction of aggregates,
and the equation is as follows:
C

τ C = τ m + f (ts) (21)
where τC and τm are the yield stress of mortar and concrete, respectively. ts is the total
AC

apparent aggregate volume.

From Eqs. (19), (20) and (21), it can be concluded that the rheological properties of concrete
are obviously affected by the packing density and volume fraction of aggregates. It is well known
that the types, gradation and particle size distribution of aggregates significantly affect their
packing density. Therefore, these parameters will be discussed in detail.

3.2.1 Type

The type of aggregate influences the workability of concrete by packing density and surface
morphology. Crushed stone aggregates have angular shape and rough surface, which increase the
specific surface area and reduce the content of free water. Furthermore, the angular shape is not

14
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
conducive to the flow of particles and increases the inter particle friction resistance, and thus
significantly increases the yield stress and plastic viscosity [89-92], reduces the mixture
flowability [20, 93]. The smooth surface of rounded aggregates or natural aggregates reduces the
inter particle friction and results in an increase in the flowability. The flat and elongated particles
can increase the particle collision due to their shape. Therefore, the concrete mixtures containing
flat and elongated particles led to a significant increase in plastic viscosity and yield stress [93], as
shown in Fig. (10). It is worth mentioning that the particle shape of aggregate strongly affected the
plastic viscosity than the yield stress [33, 60].

PT
RI
SC
Fig. 10 Effect of aggregate shape and sand content shown in a rheograph [94]

U
With the increasing demand on protecting the natural environment, waste materials, such as
recycled aggregates, have been widely used. As the largest source of construction and demolition
AN
(C&D) waste, recycled aggregates are characterized by the higher water absorption due to the
higher porosity from the adhering mortar. Kenai et al. [95] stated that the substitution of 50% or
100% of natural aggregates by recycled concrete aggregates gave SCC excellent rheological
M

properties which are comparable to that of the reference SCC, while reduced the stability against
bleeding. Güneyisi et al. [96] revealed that the rheological properties and fresh properties of SCC
were remarkably improved by the replacement levels of fine recycled concrete aggregates due to
D

their smoother surface. Ke et al. [97] indicated that the substitution of fine aggregate with small
waste glass particles reduced the flowability of mixture while replacing coarse aggregate with
TE

large waste glass particles increased the flowability of the mixture. The smooth surface of waste
glass reduces the inter-particle friction and improves the fluidity of concrete.

3.2.2 Volume fraction

EP

Many studies [89, 91, 92, 98] hold the opinion that yield stress and plastic viscosity of
concrete generally increased along with the volume fraction of coarse aggregate, while increasing
C

the fine aggregate volume raised yield stress but lowered plastic viscosity of the concrete. The
addition of coarse aggregate increases the mortar covering the surface aggregate, reduces the
AC

adhesive effect between aggregate and cement paste, and lowers the friction among aggregates.
With the increase of fine aggregate volume fraction, surface area of solid particles and water
demand raise, the friction among coarse aggregates reduces, which results in an increase in yield
stress and a reduction in plastic viscosity. Westerholm et al. [33] indicated that fine natural
aggregate had virtually no effect on the plastic viscosity of mortar, while for the mortars with
crushed fine aggregates, the plastic viscosity showed a minimum at a certain fines content. This
result can be owing to the particle friction. If fines content is too low to fill the voids between the
larger aggregate particles, internal friction will be high and cause high viscosity. However, as the
content of fines aggregates become higher, the enlargement of total surface area can lead to higher
plastic viscosity either.

The rheological properties of concrete are highly influenced by the sand-to-aggregate ratio

15
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
[99]. Low sand-to-aggregate ratio has a negative effect on the flowability. This is due to the
absence of sufficient mortar filled the high voids of coarse aggregate. However, high
sand-to-aggregate ratio also decreases the flowability of concrete because the high specific surface
area of fine aggregates reduces the cement layer thickness which lubricates aggregate particles.

3.2.3 Gradation and particle size

The gradation and maximum particle size of aggregates play predominant roles on
rheological properties of concrete. The larger the maximum particle size is, the smaller the specific

PT
surface area is and the less the amount of mortar requirement is needed, thus the lower the values
of rheological parameters of concrete [99], the weaker the shear thickening behavior [20]. Santos
et al. [100] indicated that mixtures with continuous gradation exhibited higher slump flow values,

RI
less risk of segregation and higher mechanical strength. The yield stress of the continuous graded
concrete was less sensitive than those of the uniform gradation. The excess paste theory can well
explain the effect of aggregate on concrete flowability. In the case of well graded aggregates, the

SC
packing density and specific surface area decrease, thus the cement required to fill the voids
becomes less and additional quantity can be utilized for surface coating of aggregate, and finally
reduces the friction force and improves the flowability of fresh concrete. Westerholm et al. [101]
believed that washed aggregates which removed particles smaller than 40 µm decreased the

U
specific surface area, could significantly reduce the yield stress of mortar due to the low water
demand and low colloidal forces. While the mortars with washed aggregate showed slightly higher
AN
plastic viscosity owing to the lack of fines filling the voids and acting as lubricant.

3.3 Chemical admixtures

M

With the wide application of high performance concrete, chemical admixtures have become
an indispensable part of concrete. The type of chemical admixtures has great influences on the
rheological properties of fresh concrete.
D

3.3.1 Superplasticizer
TE

Due to economic and technical benefits, superplasticizers are almost used for all modern
concretes. The yield stress and viscosity of cement-based materials can be dramatically decreased
EP

by the addition of superplasticizer under the action of electrostatic or/and steric hindrance effects.
The efficiency of superplasticizer depends on the adsorption of superplasticizer molecules onto
cement particles and the repulsive force developed by the adsorped molecules. For the new
generation of superplasticizer, it seems that steric hindrance effect becomes dominate over
C

electrostatic effect [102]. The mechanism of yield stress of suspensions containing superplasticizer
AC

can be explained using the YODEL model. The YODEL (Yield Stress mODEL) [103], which links
the physical parameters of suspension to the yield stress, can predict accurately the yield stress
dependent on concentration for colloidal particles suspension. The basic expression is as follows:
A a* φ (φ − φ perc )
2

τ 0 ≅ m 20 2
d H φ (φ − φ )
m m
(22)
where m is a pre-factor, which depends on the particle size distribution, d is particle average
diameter, a* is radius of curvature of the contact points, H is surface to surface separation distance
at contact pints, A0 is non retarded Hamaker constant, φperc is percolation threshold, φ is solid
volume fraction and φm is maximum packing fraction of the powder. With the increase of
superplasticizer, the average surface to surface separation distance increases, the colloidal
interaction between particles decreases and therefore the yield stress and the degree of flocculation

16
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
decreases [104]. Beyond that, the addition of superplasticizer leads to a higher surface coverage by
polymers, causing an increase in effective layer thickness and a reduction in the maximum
attraction between the particles, thus decreases the sites number available for nucleation and
increases the bridging distance between the particles, consequently improves the rheological
properties of fresh concrete [105, 106].

The efficiency of superplasticizer depends on the type and the structure. Fig. 11 demonstrates
the rheological properties of SCC made with different types of superplasticizer. It can be observed
from Fig. 11 that the concrete mixtures with polycarboxylate-based superplasticizer give higher

PT
yield stress and lower plastic viscosity than those with naphthalene sulphonate based
superplasticizer at the same slag content. Papo et al. [107] found that modified polyacrylic was the
most effective superplasticizer to improve the rheological properties of cement paste among three

RI
types of superplasticizers based on melamine resin, modified lignosulphonate and modified
polyacrylate. The naphthalene superplasticizer is beneficial for dispersing cement, with a low
air-entraining effect and slump retention effect. The polycarboxylate superplasticizer consists of a

SC
backbone of polyethylene, grafted chains of PEO and carboxylic groups as adsorbing functional
groups. It has a potential to disperse cement particles, restrain the slump loss and shorten the
setting time [62, 108, 109]. Toledano-Prados et al. [110] found that the liquid polycarboxylate
proved more effective than the solid polycarboxylate. Different admixtures which had the same

U
main chain and same polymer structure but different molecular weights and different side chain
densities of carboxylic acid groups have a great effect on rheological properties of SCC [111]. The
AN
yield stress of SCC mixtures was only affected by superplasticizer dosage, while increasing both
the molecular weight and side chain density of carboxylic acid groups increased the plastic
viscosity due to the increase in steric hindrance.
M

520 270
SP1 SP1
SP2
Plastic Viscosity (Pa.s)

500 SP2
D

240
Yield Stress (Pa)

480
TE

210
460

180
440
EP

420 150
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Slag Content (%) Slag Content (%)
(a) Yield stress (b) Plastic viscosity
C

SP1: a polycarboxylate based superplasticizer, SP2: a naphthalene sulphonate based superplasticizer

AC

Fig. 11 Effect of superplasticizer type on rheological properties of SCC [62]

3.3.2 Viscosity modifying agent

Viscosity modifying agents (VMA) are relatively new admixtures used to improve the
rheology of the concrete with higher uniformity and better cohesiveness. The incorporation of
VMA in concrete can reduce the risk of separation of the heterogeneous concrete and obtain a
stable concrete for underwater repair, curtain walls and deep foundation walls. The mode of action
of VMA depends on the type and concentration of the polymer in use. The mechanism of action
with welan gum and cellulose derivatives can be classified in three categories, i.e. adsorption
effect, association effect and intertwining effect [112]. The adsorbed cellulose ether can slow down
the nucleation of calcium silicates, generate repulsive steric forces to replace van der Waals

17
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
attractive forces, and then forms a new interaction network which could bridge the cement grains
[113]. The inorganic VMA with high surface area increases the content of fine particles and the
water retaining capacity of paste, and thereby the thixotropy.

The concrete modified with a VMA exhibits high plastic viscosity, high yield value and shear
thinning behavior. The efficiency of VMA depends on the type and concentration [112]. Schmidt et
al. [114] stated that the influence of the VMA on yield stress was much stronger than the effect of
polycarboxylate ether superplasticizer (PCE) at 20 ℃, and the mixtures with VMA based on
modified potato starch retained the performance better than those with VMA based on Diutan Gum,

PT
independent of the PCE type. Yun et al. [72] found that VMA based on hydroxypropyl methyl
cellulose had a tendency to reduce the flow resistance and increase the torque viscosity of
high-performance wet-mix shotcrete, worsening the shootability and pumpability. Leemann et al.

RI
[115] showed that VMA based on polysaccharide caused the highest increase in yield stress and
VMA based on microsilica had the lowest at an equivalent plastic viscosity. Assaad et al. [116]
showed that the addition of VMA significantly increased the thixotropy for high flowability

SC
concrete. Brumaud et al. [113] found that the critical deformation increased with VMA dosage.
One possible explanation is that the number of bridging grains increases and therefore increases
the probability of large inter-particle relative displacement. Another possible explanation comes
from the fact that the hydrophobic interactions of high VMA concentrations could form aggregates

U
with large size, which could tolerate higher stretching [117, 118]. Different types of VMA may
have the same effect. Benaicha et al. [68] showed that the concrete made with 10% of silica fume
AN
and the one with 0.1% VMA had the same characteristics in resistance of sieve segregation, plastic
viscosity, yield stress, and even mechanical properties. They believed that the VMA could be
replaced by silica fume, depending on the availability of materials.
M

VMA is often used in combination with superplasticizer to improve the rheological properties
and mechanical strength. The presence of two dissimilar chemicals can lead to a number of issues
of incompatibility that affect the properties of concrete. Khayat [112, 119] stated that cellulose
D

derivatives were always used in conjunction with melamine-based superplasticizer because of their
incompatibilities with naphthalene-based superplasticizer. Prakash et al. [120] indicated that the
TE

flowability of pastes produced with combinations of superplasticizer based on sulfonated

naphthalene formaldehyde or polycarboxylic ether and VMA based on welan gum was satisfactory.
The only difference was that the polycarboxylic ether - welan gum combination showed evidence
EP

of thixotropy, the same was not observed for sulfonated naphthalene formaldehyde - welan gum
combinations. In addition, the rheological behavior of the mixtures with VMA is in general
dependent upon shear stress. Bouras et al. [121] found that, at sufficiently low shear stress, the
mixtures with VMA exhibited shear thinning, while at relatively high shear stress, the pastes
C

became shear thickening. At low shear stress, the flow of paste induces the deflocculation of solid
AC

particles and VMA polymer disentanglement and alignment.

3.3.3 Air-entraining agent

Air-entraining agent has been widely used to improve resistance to freezing and thawing
damage, and to a lesser extent, the workability of concrete. Air-entraining agent is a mixture of
various surfactants [122]. The chemical nature of air-entraining agent contains the hydrophilic
head, having a strongly attraction for water, and the hydrophobic tails, having repulsion for water.
From the rheological point of view, entrained air bubbles play a role in lubrication and increasing
paste volume, together with the character of air-entraining agent, affect the consistency of
cement-based materials.

18
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
There are many studies about the effect of air-entraining agent on rheological properties. He
et al. [123] found that consistency of mortar showed slowly increasing trend with the mixing
amount of air entraining increasing while the consistency in general was not high. Yun et al. [72]
found that the use of air-entraining agent tended to reduce both flow resistance and torque
viscosity, effectively improved the pumpability of high-performance wet-mix shotcrete, and while
the reduction rate of torque viscosity decreased with the increase of air content. Tattersall et al. [2]
demonstrated that the flow resistance and torque viscosity continued to decrease until the air
content reached 5% and then stabilized beyond that point. This can be contributed to the
lubrication effect and volume effect of air bubbles. However, Carlswärd et al. [124] and Wallevik

PT
et al. [125] revealed that the addition of air-entraining agent strongly reduced the plastic viscosity,
while the effect on yield stress was not significant. Struble et al. [126] indicated that the yield
stress increased and the plastic viscosity decreased with increase of air content, which was also

RI
reported by Rahman and Nehdi [127]. An explanation for the increase in yield stress is proposed
that air bubbles are attracted to cement particles to form bubble bridges and thus increase bonding
between particles. Once the bubble bridges are broken and paste is able to flow, the air bubbles

SC
reduce plastic viscosity, apparently acting as a lubricant. Thus, there is competition between these
two actions: without shear, the bubbles act as flocculating particles to increase yields stress and
with shear, the bubbles act as lubricant to reduce plastic viscosity [128]. Moreover, the rheological
behavior of suspensions with bubbles also depends on the shear rate due to the fact that surface

U
tension could prevent entrained bubbles from deforming at low shear rate [129].
AN
4. Application of rheology in concrete mixture design

The graph of yield stress against plastic viscosity is an effective approach to describe the
M

complex variations of rheological parameters. The first application of this kind of graph is in Ref.
[130] and then has been adopted by many researchers [94, 124, 131].
D

Microsilica
TE

Ref.
ss
er
t
S
EP

d
le Air
i
Y
C

Superplasticizer
Water Fly ash
AC

Plastic Viscosity
Fig. 12 Effect of ingredients on the rheology of a typical concrete [130]

The graph of yield stress against plastic viscosity can reflect the effect of ingredients on the
rheological properties of typical concrete, as shown in Fig. 12. In 1983, Wallevik [132]
systematically established rheographs of fresh concrete. The graph of yield stress against plastic
viscosity can be served as a guideline for the mix proportion design of concrete. The first step is to
determine a workability box [94] consisting of an optimum area within a rheograph through many
experiments data, and then obtaining the desired rheology by optimizing the various components
of concrete into workability box, i.e. rheological mix design [133]. The workability box consists of
several pointed regions without an exact and clear boundary, and each one represents an optimal

19
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
range of yield stress and plastic viscosity for a specific concrete. Wallevik et al. [94] developed a
new graph for different types of SCCs based on data from almost 100 different ConTec devices
around the world, as shown in Fig. 13. As can be seen from Fig. 12, there are several ways to
change and control the rheological behavior of fresh concrete. It should be clear that the individual
effects by changing the composition of concrete are additive [134], which is called
vectorized-rheograph approach [94].

PT
RI
SC
Fig. 13 The new proposed area in rheograph for SCC [94]

5. Conclusions

U
Based on the review on the rheological properties of concrete in the literature, the following
AN
conclusions can be drawn:

(1) The yield stress at rest increases as a linear function of time, which can be expressed by a
M

thixotropic model:
τ = (1+λ )τ 0 +µPγɺ
∂λ 1
= − αλγɺ
D

∂t T
When the steady state flow is reached, the rheological behavior of fresh concrete can be described
TE

using a yield stress model such as Bingham model, Herschel-Bulkley model and Modified
Bingham model.
(2) The chemical composition and physical characteristics of cement have significantly
EP

influence on rheological properties. Generally, cement with high C3A, high alkali content, high
loss on ignition, high fineness and specific surface area, and low content of S3O decreases the
workability.
(3) The rheological properties of concrete are significantly influenced by the type, chemical
C

composition, content, packing density, fineness, surface texture, particle size distribution of
mineral admixtures, owing to filling effect, morphology effect, dispersion effect and adsorption
AC

effect.
(4) The viscosity and yield stress of fresh concrete can be calculated by the Farris model and
Chateau-Ovarlez-Trung model, which are respectively expressed as follows:
−[η1 ]φm
1
−[η 2 ]φm2
 φ   φ2 
η = η S 1 − 11  1 − 2 
 φ m   φm 
τ c (φ ) 1− φ
=
τ c (0) (1 − φ φm ) 2.5φm
Therefore, the type, volume fraction, graduation and particle size of aggregates strongly influence
the rheological properties of concrete by controlling the amount of free cement paste and inter
particles friction resistance.

20
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
(5) The YODEL model can predict accurately the yield stress dependent on concentration for
colloidal particles suspension. The addition of superplasticizer improves the dispersion of cement
particles, decreases the colloidal interaction and repulsion between particles, and thus has great
effects on the rheological properties of concrete.
(6) The mechanisms for viscosity modifying agent of welan gum and cellulose derivatives
can be classified in three categories, i.e. adsorption effect, association effect and intertwining effect.
Its efficiency depends on the type and concentration of viscosity modifying agent, the type of
superplasticizer and the applied shear stress.
(7) Since the air bubbles attract cement particles to form bubble bridges and also could act as

PT
a lubricant, air-entraining agent may have two opposite effects on yield stress and plastic viscosity.
(8) The rheograph namely graph of yield stress against plastic viscosity and workbility box
can be served as a guideline for the mix proportion design of concrete and also used to control the

RI
quality of concrete for the engineering application.

Acknowledgements

SC
Financial supports from National Science and Technology Cooperation Project under contract
No. 2015DFA50880 and National Science Foundation of China under contract No. U1305243 are
greatly appreciated.

U
AN
References
[1] Banfill P F G. Rheology of fresh cement and concrete. Rheol Rev, 2006: 61-130.
[2] Tattersall G H, Banfill P. The rheology of fresh concrete. Pitman, London, 1983.
[3] Barnes H A, Hutton J F, Walters K. An introduction to rheology. Elsevier, 1989.
M

[4] Yen T, Tang C, Chang C, et al. Flow behaviour of high strength high-performance concrete. Cem Concr
Compos, 1999, 21(5): 413-424.
[5] Banfill P, Yongmot X, Domonet P. Relationship between the rheology of unvibrated fresh concrete and its fl
ow under vibration in a vertical pipe apparatus. Mag Concr Res, 1999, 51(3): 181-190.
D

[6] Roussel N. Rheology of fresh concrete: from measurements to predictions of casting processes. Mater Struct,
2007, 40(10): 1001-1012.
TE

[7] Roussel N. A thixotropy model for fresh fluid concretes: theory, validation and applications. Cem Concr Res,
2006, 36(10): 1797-1806.
[8] Feys D, Khayat K H, Khatib R. How do concrete rheology, tribology, flow rate and pipe radius influence
pumping pressure? Cem Concr Compos, 2016, 66: 38-46.
EP

[9] Pfeuffer M, Kusterle W. Rheology and rebound behaviour of dry-mix shotcrete. Cem Concr Res, 2001,
31(11): 1619-1625.
[10] Roussel N. A thixotropy model for fresh fluid concretes: Theory, validation and applications. Cem Concr Res,
2006, 36(10): 1797-1806.
C

[11] Rahman M K, Baluch M H, Malik M A. Thixotropic behavior of self compacting concrete with different
mineral admixtures. Constr Build Mater, 2014, 50: 710-717.
AC

[12] Roussel N, Cussigh F. Distinct-layer casting of SCC: The mechanical consequences of thixotropy. Cem
Concr Res, 2008, 38(5): 624-632.
[13] Billberg P H, Roussel N, Amziane S, et al. Field validation of models for predicting lateral form pressure
exerted by SCC. Cem Concr Compos, 2014, 54: 70-79.
[14] Feys D, De Schutter G, Verhoeven R. Parameters influencing pressure during pumping of self-compacting
concrete. Mater Struct, 2013, 46(4): 533-555.
[15] Lomboy G R, Wang X, Wang K. Rheological behavior and formwork pressure of SCC, SFSCC, and NC
mixtures. Cem Concr Compos, 2014, 54: 110-116.
[16] Perrot A, Rangeard D, Pierre A. Structural built-up of cement-based materials used for 3D-printing extrusion
techniques. Mater Struct, 2016, 49(4): 1213-1220.
[17] Roussel N, Ovarlez G, Garrault S, et al. The origins of thixotropy of fresh cement pastes. Cem Concr Res,
2012, 42(1): 148-157.
[18] De Larrard F, Ferraris C F, Sedran T. Fresh concrete: A Herschel-Bulkley material. Mater Struct, 1998, 31(7):
494-498.

21
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
[19] Feys D, Verhoeven R, De Schutter G. Fresh self compacting concrete, a shear thickening material. Cem
Concr Res, 2008, 38(7): 920-929.
[20] Feys D, Verhoeven R, De Schutter G. Why is fresh self-compacting concrete shear thickening? Cem Concr
Res, 2009, 39(6): 510-523.
[21] Yammine J, Chaouche M, Guerinet M, et al. From ordinary rhelogy concrete to self compacting concrete: A
transition between frictional and hydrodynamic interactions. Cem Concr Res, 2008, 38(7): 890-896.
[22] Koehler E P, Fowler D W. Development of a Portable Rheometer for Fresh Portland Cement Concrete. ICAR
Rep, 2004: 103-105.
[23] Kovler K, Roussel N. Properties of fresh and hardened concrete. Cem Concr Res, 2011, 41(7): 775-792.
[24] Murata J, Kukawa H. Viscosity equation for fresh concrete. ACI Mater J, 1992, 89(3): 230-237.

PT
[25] Sedran T, De Larrard F. Optimization of self-compacting concrete thanks to packing model. Cachan Cedex:
RILEM, 1999.
[26] Zerbino R, Barragán B, Garcia T, et al. Workability tests and rheological parameters in self-compacting
concrete. Mater Struct, 2009, 42(7): 947-960.

RI
[27] Wallevik J E. Relationship between the Bingham parameters and slump. Cem Concr Res, 2006, 36(7):
1214-1221.
[28] Roussel N, Coussot P. "Fifty-cent rheometer" for yield stress measurements: from slump to spreading flow. J
Rheol, 2005, 49(3): 705-718.

SC
[29] De Larrard F. Concrete mixture proportioning: a scientific approach. London: CRC Press, 1999.
[30] Ferraris C F, de Larrard F. Testing and modelling of fresh concrete rheology. US Department of Commerce,
Technology Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 1998.
[31] Nilesen F L. Rheology of some fluid extreme composites: Such as fresh Self-compacting concrete. Nordic

U
Concr Res, 2003, 29: 83-93.
[32] Geiker M R, Brandl M, Thrane L N, et al. On the Effect of Coarse Aggregate Fraction and Shape on the
AN
Rheological Properties of Self-Compacting Concrete. Cem Concr Aggre, 2002, 24(1): 3-6.
[33] Westerholm M, Lagerblad B, Silfwerbrand J, et al. Influence of fine aggregate characteristics on the
rheological properties of mortars. Cem Concr Compos, 2008, 30(4): 274-282.
[34] Westerholm M, Lagerblad B, Forssberg E. Rheological properties of micromortars containing fines from
M

manufactured aggregates. Mater Struct, 2007, 40(6): 615-625.

[35] Reinhardt H W, Wüstholz T. About the influence of the content and composition of the aggregates on the
rheological behaviour of self-compacting concrete. Mater Struct, 2007, 39(7): 683-693.
D

[36] Hope B B, Rose K. Statistical Analysis of the Influence of Different Cements on the Water Demand for
Constant Slump. Properties of Fresh Concrete, Proc of the Coll. RILEM, Chapman and Hall, 1990:
179-186.
TE

[37] Mork J H, Gjørv O E. Effect of gypsum-hemihydrate ratio in cement on rheological properties of fresh
concrete. ACI Mater J, 1997, 94(2): 142-146.
[38] Dils J, Boel V, De Schutter G. Influence of cement type and mixing pressure on air content, rheology and
mechanical properties of UHPC. Constr Build Mater, 2013, 41: 455-463.
EP

[39] Chen J J, Kwan A K H. Superfine cement for improving packing density, rheology and strength of cement
paste. Cem Concr Compos, 2012, 34(1): 1-10.
[40] Taylor H F. Cement chemistry. Thomas Telford, 1997.
[41] Yao Z T, Ji X S, Sarker P K, et al. A comprehensive review on the applications of coal fly ash. Earth Sci Rev,
C

2015, 141: 105-121.

[42] Ahari R S, Erdem T K, Ramyar K. Thixotropy and structural breakdown properties of self consolidating
AC

concrete containing various supplementary cementitious materials. Cem Concr Compos, 2015, 59: 26-37.
[43] Laskar A I, Talukdar S. Rheological behavior of high performance concrete with mineral admixtures and
their blending. Constr Build Mater, 2008, 22(12): 2345-2354.
[44] Beycioğlu A, Yılmaz Aruntaş H. Workability and mechanical properties of self-compacting concretes
containing LLFA, GBFS and MC. Constr Build Mater, 2014, 73: 626-635.
[45] Jalal M, Fathi M, Farzad M. Effects of fly ash and TiO2 nanoparticles on rheological, mechanical,
microstructural and thermal properties of high strength self compacting concrete. Mech Mater, 2013, 61:
11-27.
[46] Park C K, Noh M H, Park T H. Rheological properties of cementitious materials containing mineral
admixtures. Cem Concr Res, 2005, 35(5): 842-849.
[47] Grzeszczyk S, Lipowski G. Effect of content and particle size distribution of high-calcium fly ash on the
rheological properties of cement pastes. Cem Concr Res, 1997, 27(6): 907-916.
[48] Vance K, Kumar A, Sant G, et al. The rheological properties of ternary binders containing Portland cement,

22
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
limestone, and metakaolin or fly ash. Cem Concr Res, 2013, 52: 196-207.
[49] Zhang X, Han J. The effect of ultra-fine admixture on the rheological property of cement paste. Cem Concr
Res, 2000, 30(5): 827-830.
[50] Ferraris C F, Obla K H, Hill R. The influence of mineral admixtures on the rheology of cement paste and
concrete. Cem Concr Res, 2001, 31(2): 245-255.
[51] Zhang Y, Zhang X. Study on the relationship between fly ash content and particle size distribution and
rheological property of cement paste. Cem, 2003(07): 1-4. (In Chinese)
[52] Saleh Ahari R, Kemal Erdem T, Ramyar K. Effect of various supplementary cementitious materials on
rheological properties of self-consolidating concrete. Constr Build Mater, 2015, 75: 89-98.
[53] Li G, Wu X. Influence of fly ash and its mean particle size on certain engineering properties of cement

PT
composite mortars. Cem Concr Res, 2005, 35(6): 1128-1134.
[54] Lee S H, Kim H J, Sakai E, et al. Effect of particle size distribution of fly ash–cement system on the fluidity
of cement pastes. Cem Concr Res, 2003, 33(5): 763-768.
[55] Bentz D P, Ferraris C F, Galler M A, et al. Influence of particle size distributions on yield stress and viscosity

RI
of cement–fly ash pastes. Cem Concr Res, 2012, 42(2): 404-409.
[56] Malhotra V M, Mehta P K. Pozzolanic and cementitious materials. Taylor & Francis, 1996.
[57] Felekoğlu B, Tosun K, Baradan B, et al. The effect of fly ash and limestone fillers on the viscosity and

SC
compressive strength of self-compacting repair mortars. Cem Concr Res, 2006, 36(9): 1719-1726.
[58] Pal S C, Mukherjee A, Pathak S R. Investigation of Hydraulic Activity of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace
Slag in Concrete. Cem Concr Res, 2003, 33: 1481-1486.
[59] Derabla R, Benmalek M L. Characterization of heat-treated self-compacting concrete containing mineral

U
admixtures at early age and in the long term. Constr Build Mater, 2014, 66: 787-794.
[60] Tattersall G H. Workability and quality control of concrete. London: E & F N Spon, 1991.
[61] Tang X, Cai Y, Wen J, et al. Correlation between slump flow and rheological parameters of compound pastes
AN
tith high volume of ground slag. J Chin Ceram Soc, 2014(05): 648-652. (In Chinese)
[62] Boukendakdji O, Kadri E, Kenai S. Effects of granulated blast furnace slag and superplasticizer type on the
fresh properties and compressive strength of self-compacting concrete. Cem Concr Compos, 2012, 34(4):
583-590.
M

[63] Cao M, Zhang C, Han L. Experimental study on the rheological properties of fresh mineral powder concrete
based on two-point method. Concr, 2012(01): 138-141. (In Chinese)
[64] Zhang Y, Zhang X. Relationship between the content of slag powder and the characteristics of particle group
D

and rheological property of cement paste. Bull Chin Ceramic Soc, 2002, 21(6): 63-67, 75. (In Chinese)
[65] Shi Y, Matsui I, Guo Y. A study on the effect of fine mineral powders with distinct vitreous contents on the
fluidity and rheological properties of concrete. Cem Concr Res, 2004, 34(8): 1381-1387.
TE

[66] Adjoudj M H, Ezziane K, Kadri E H, et al. Evaluation of rheological parameters of mortar containing various
amounts of mineral addition with polycarboxylate superplasticizer. Constr Build Mater, 2014, 70: 549-559.
[67] Nehdi M, Mindess S, Tcin P C A. Rheology of high-performance concrete: effect of ultrafine particles. Cem
Concr Res, 1998, 28(5): 687-697.
EP

[68] Benaicha M, Roguiez X, Jalbaud O, et al. Influence of silica fume and viscosity modifying agent on the
mechanical and rheological behavior of self compacting concrete. Constr Build Mater, 2015, 84: 103-110.
[69] Nanthagopalan P, Haist M, Santhanam M, et al. Investigation on the influence of granular packing on the
C

flow properties of cementitious suspensions. Cem Concr Compos, 2008, 30(9): 763-768.
[70] Collins F, Sanjayan J G. Effects of ultra-fine materials on workability and strength of concrete containing
alkali-activated slag as the binder. Cem Concr Res, 1999, 29(3): 459-462.
AC

[71] Lu C, Yang H, Mei G. Relationship between slump flow and rheological properties of self compacting
concrete with silica fume and its permeability. Constr Build Mater, 2015, 75: 157-162.
[72] Yun K, Choi S, Yeon J H. Effects of admixtures on the rheological properties of high-performance wet-mix
shotcrete mixtures. Constr Build Mater, 2015, 78: 194-202.
[73] Ma K, Long G, Xie Y, et al. Factors on affecting plastic viscosity of cement-fly ash-limestone compound
pastes. J Chin Ceram Soc, 2013(11): 1481-1486. (In Chinese)
[74] Ma K, Long G, Xie Y, et al. Rheological properties of compound pastes with cement-fly ash-limestone
powder. J Chin Ceram Soc, 2013(05): 582-587. (In Chinese)
[75] Uysal M, Yilmaz K. Effect of mineral admixtures on properties of self-compacting concrete. Cem Concr
Compos, 2011, 33(7): 771-776.
[76] Yahia A, Tanimura M, Shimabukuro A. Effect of limestone powder on rheological behavior of highly
flowable mortar. Proc Jpn Concr Inst, 1999, 21(2): 559-564.
[77] Gesoğlu M, özbay E. Effects of mineral admixtures on fresh and hardened properties of self-compacting

23
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
concretes: binary, ternary and quaternary systems. Mater Struct, 2007, 40(9): 923-937.
[78] Kashani A, San Nicolas R, Qiao G G, et al. Modelling the yield stress of ternary cement–slag–fly ash
pastes based on particle size distribution. Powder Technol, 2014, 266: 203-209.
[79] Li Y, Kwan A K H. Ternary blending of cement with fly ash microsphere and condensed silica fume to
improve the performance of mortar. Cem Concr Compos, 2014, 49: 26-35.
[80] Struble L, Sun G. Viscosity of Portland cement paste as a function of concentration. Adv Cem Based Mater,
1995, 2(2): 62-69.
[81] Ghanbari A, Karihaloo B L. Prediction of the plastic viscosity of self-compacting steel fibre reinforced
concrete. Cem Concr Res, 2009, 39(12): 1209-1216.
[82] Krieger I M, Dougherty T J. A mechanism for non‐Newtonian flow in suspensions of rigid spheres. Trans

PT
Soc Rheol, 1959, 3(1): 137-152.
[83] Farris R J. Prediction of the viscosity of multimodal suspensions from unimodal viscosity data. Trans Soc
Rheol, 1968, 12(2): 281-301.
[84] Noor M A, Uomoto T. Rheology of high flowing mortar and concrete. Mater Struct, 2004, 37: 513-521.

RI
[85] Kulasegaram S, Karihaloo B L, Ghanbari A. Modelling the flow of self‐compacting concrete. Int J Numer
Anal Methods Geomech, 2011, 35(6): 713-723.
[86] Karihaloo B L, Kulasegaram S, Badry F. On Accurate Estimation of Rheological Properties of

SC
Self-compacting Concrete. J Chin Ceram Soc, 2015, 43(10): 1396-1400.
[87] Mahaut F, Mokéddem S, Chateau X, et al. Effect of coarse particle volume fraction on the yield stress and
thixotropy of cementitious materials. Cem Concr Res, 2008, 38(11): 1276-1285.
[88] Chateau X, Ovarlez G, Trung K L. Homogenization approach to the behavior of suspensions of noncolloidal

U
particles in yield stress fluids. J Rheol, 2008, 52(2): 489-506.
[89] Hu J, Wang K. Effects of Size and Uncompacted Voids of Aggregate on Mortar Flow Ability. J Adv Concr
AN
Technol, 2007, 5(1): 75-85.
[90] Harini M, Shaalini G, Dhinakaran G. Effect of Size and Type of Fine Aggregates on Flowability of Mortar.
KSCE Civ Eng, 2012, 16(1): 163-168.
[91] Hu J. A study of effects of aggregate on concrete rheology. Iowa: Iowa State University, 2005.
[92] Hu J, Wang K. Effect of coarse aggregate characteristics on concrete rheology. Constr Build Mater, 2011,
M

25(3): 1196-1204.
[93] Aïssoun B M, Hwang S, Khayat K H. Influence of aggregate characteristics on workability of superworkable
concrete. Mater Struct, 2016, 49((1-2)): 597-609.
D

[94] Wallevik O H, Wallevik J E. Rheology as a tool in concrete science: The use of rheographs and workability
boxes. Cem Concr Res, 2011, 41(12): 1279-1288.
TE

[95] Kenai S, Menadi B, Debbih A, et al. Effect of Recycled Concrete Aggregates and Natural Pozzolana on
Rheology of Self-Compacting Concrete. Key Eng Mater, 2014, 600: 256-263.
[96] Güneyisi E, Gesoglu M, Algın Z, et al. Rheological and fresh properties of self-compacting concretes
containing coarse and fine recycled concrete aggregates. Constr Build Mater, 2016, 113: 622-630.
EP

[97] Ke G, Wang Y. Influence of waste glass on the liquidity of mortar and concrete. New Build Mater, 2014(07):
16-19. (In Chinese)
[98] Yardimci M, Baradan B, Taşdemir M. Effect of fine to coarse aggregate ratio on the rheology and fracture
energy of steel fibre reinforced self-compacting concretes. Sadhana, 2014, 39(6): 1447-1469.
C

[99] Ba H, Zhang W. Influence of aggregate on the rheological parameters of high-performance concrete. Concr,
2003(06): 7-8. (In Chinese)
[100] Santos A C P, Ortiz-Lozano J A, Villegas N, et al. Experimental study about the effects of granular skeleton
AC

distribution on the mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC). Constr Build Mater, 2015, 78:
40-49.
[101] Westerholm M, Lagerblad B, Forssberg E. Washing of Aggregates - Influence on Aggregate Properties and
Mortar Rheology. Nordic Concr Res, 2006: 1-12.
[102] Aïtcin P, Flatt R J. Science and Technology of Concrete Admixtures. Cambridge, UK: Woodhead Publishing,
2015.
[103] Flatt R J, Bowen P. Yodel: a yield stress model for suspensions. J Am Ceram Soc, 2006, 89(4): 1244-1256.
[104] Perrot A, Lecompte T, Khelifi H, et al. Yield stress and bleeding of fresh cement pastes. Cem Concr Res,
2012, 42(7): 937-944.
[105] Kwan A K H, Fung W W S. Effects of SP on flowability and cohesiveness of cement-sand mortar. Constr
Build Mater, 2013, 48: 1050-1057.
[106] Lowke D, Kränkel T, Gehlen C, et al. Effect of Cement on Superplasticizer Adsorption, Yield Stress,
Thixotropy and Segregation Resistance. Montreal, Canada: Springer, 2010.

24
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
[107] Papo A, Piani L. Effect of various superplasticizers on the rheological properties of Portland cement pastes.
Cem Concr Res, 2004, 34(11): 2097-2101.
[108] Hanehara S, Yamada K. Rheology and early age properties of cement systems. Cem Concr Res, 2008, 38(2):
175-195.
[109] Zuo Y, Sui T, Wang D. Effect of superplasticizers on rheologica performance of fresh cement paste. Concr,
2004(09): 38-40. (In Chinese)
[110] Toledano-Prados M, Lorenzo-Pesqueira M, González-Fonteboa B, et al. Effect of polycarboxylate
superplasticizers on large amounts of fly ash cements. Constr Build Mater, 2013, 48: 628-635.
[111] Mardani-Aghabaglou A, Tuyan M, Yılmaz G, et al. Effect of different types of superplasticizer on fresh,
rheological and strength properties of self-consolidating concrete. Constr Build Mater, 2013, 47:

PT
1020-1025.
[112] Khayat K H. Effects of antiwashout admixtures on fresh concrete properties. ACI Mater J, 1995, 92(2):
164-171.
[113] Brumaud C, Baumann R, Schmitz M, et al. Cellulose ethers and yield stress of cement pastes. Cem Concr

RI
Res, 2014, 55: 14-21.
[114] Schmidt W, Brouwers J, Kühne H, et al. Effects of superplasticizer and viscosity-modifying agent on fresh
concrete performance of SCC at varied ambient temperatures. Springer, 2010.
[115] Leemann A, Winnefeld F. The effect of viscosity modifying agents on mortar and concrete. Cem Concr

SC
Compos, 2007.
[116] Assaad J, Khayat K H, Mesbah H. Assessment of thixotropy of flowable and self-consolidating concrete.
ACI Mater J, 2003, 100(2): 99-107.
[117] Bülichen D, Kainz J, Plank J. Working mechanism of methyl hydroxyethyl cellulose (MHEC) as water

U
retention agent. Cem Concr Res, 2012, 42(7): 953-959.
[118] Bülichen D, Plank J. Mechanistic study on carboxymethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose as fluid loss control
AN
additive in oil well cement. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012, 124(3): 2340-2347.
[119] Khayat K H. Underwater repair of concrete damaged by abrasion-erosion. Final report, repair, evaluation,
maintenance, and rehabilitation research program[R]. Technical Report REMR-CS-37 (5th edn), US Army
Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS, 1991.
M

[120] Prakash N, Santhanam M. A study of the interaction between viscosity modifying agent and high range water
reducer in self compacting concrete. Measuring, Monitoring and Modeling Concrete Properties,
Konsta-Gdoutos M S, Springer, 2006, 449-454.
D

[121] Bouras R, Kaci A, Chaouche M. Influence of viscosity modifying admixtures on the rheological behavior of
cement and mortar pastes. Korea-Aust Rheol J, 2012, 24(1): 35-44.
[122] Du L, Folliard K J. Mechanisms of air entrainment in concrete. Cem Concr Res, 2005, 35(8): 1463-1471.
TE

[123] He Z M, Liu J Z, Wang T H. Influence of Air Entraining Agent on Performance of Inorganic Thermal
Insulating Mortar. Appl Mech Mater, 2011, 71-78: 490-493.
[124] Carlswärd J, Emborg M, Utsi S, et al. Effect of constituents on the workability and rheology of
self-compacting concrete. Reykjavik, Island: RILEM Pub. PRO 33, 2003.
EP

[125] Wallevik O H. Compendium used in a course on Rheology of Coarse Particle Suspensions, such as Cement
Paste, Mortar and Concrete. The Icelandic Building Research Institute: 2002.
[126] Struble L J, Jiang Q. Effects of Air Entrainment on Rheology. ACI Mater J, 2004, 101(6): 448-456.
[127] Rahman M A, Nehdi M. Effect of geometry, gap, and surface friction of test accessory on measured
C

rheological properties of cement paste. ACI Mater J, 2003, 100(4): 331-339.

[128] Edmeades R M, Hewlett P C. Cement admixtures. Lea's chemistry of cement and concrete, Hewlett P,
AC

Butterworth-Heinemann, UK:Chemical Publishing Co., 1998, 841-905.

[129] Ducloué L, Pitois O, Goyon J, et al. Rheological behaviour of suspensions of bubbles in yield stress fluids. J
Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech, 2015, 215: 31-39.
[130] Bloomer S J. Further development of the two-point test for the measurement of the workability of concrete.
Ph. D. Thesis University of Sheffield, 1979.
[131] Wallevik O H. Rheology—a scientific approach to develop self-compacting concrete. Reykjavik, Island:
RILEM Pub. PRO 33, 2003.
[132] Wallevik O H. Description of fresh concrete properties by use of two-point workability test instrument. NTH,
Trondheim, 1983.
[133] Nielssen I. Rheological mix design of self-compacting concrete. Edinburgh, Scotland: Heriot-Watt
University, 2004.
[134] Banfill P F G. Additivity effects in the rheology of fresh concrete containing water-reducing admixtures.
Constr Build Mater, 2011, 25(6): 2955-2960.

25
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

PT
RI
U SC
AN
M
D
TE
EP
C
AC

26