Key Engineering Materials Vols.

405-406 (2009) pp 62-68 Online: 2009-01-13

© (2009) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.405-406.62

Study on low-cost Reactive Powder Concrete and its Application

Ming Zhang1,2,a Feng Xing2,b Liang-Peng Deng2,c Zheng-Liang Cao2,d Zhan

Huang2,e
1
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Central South University, 410075, P.R. China
2
Shenzhen Durability Center for Civil Engineering, Shenzhen University, 518060, P.R. China
a
mail:zhangmingjob@sina.com ,bmail:xingf@szu.edu.cn ,
c
mail:hlinm@tom.com ,dmail:zhengliangcao@126.com ,
e
mail:hzhan168@163.com

Keywords: RPC; low-cost reactive powder concrete; mix proportion; manhole cover; load capacity

Abstract: Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is a new kind of material with very high mechanical
behavior and durability, however, high cost and complex procedure to make RPC result in hardly
apply to engineering in large scale. a new low-cost RPC that compressive strength exceeds 130MPa
was prepared with the replacement of quartz sand, crushed quartz and partial of silica fume by fly
ash, slag and natural fine aggregate in the paper. Manhole cover that made from the low-cost RPC
can meets the requirements of different situations, such as special road, motorway, etc.

Introduction

Reactive powder concrete (RPC) was first developed by researchers at Bouygues`s laboratory in
France in the early 1990s, RPC is a new type of cementitious material with ultra-high strength,
low-brittleness and excellent durability, which made from quartz sand, Portland cement, crushed
quartz, silica fume, superplasticizer and small-sized steel fibers. Pierre Richard [1] suggested some
principles of making RPC with optimal mechanical property and durability.
Composites of RPC that contain more than 25 percent of silica fume, a large number of crushed
quartz, and quartz sand as fine aggregate are very expensive, and the complex preparation
procedure leads to energy consumption and cost is high [2]. The paper studied low-cost RPC with
the replacement of quartz sand, crushed quartz and partial of silica fume by fly ash and natural fine
aggregate, and simplified the preparation techniques. The RPC was adopted to make manhole cover
with rebar [3-5].

Experimental Materials
Steel fiber: Wave shaped, length is 15-30mm, equivalent diameter is 0.3~0.8mm, and tensile

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 Key Engineering Materials Vols. 405-406 63

strength is more than 700MPa.

Rebar: Cold rolled ribbed rebar, CRB550, Ф8mm, ultimate strength is 575 MPa.
Cement: P.Ⅱ52.5 Portland cement, whose physical performance and chemical analysis are shown
in Table 1 and Table 2 respectively.
Sand: Natural river sand, maximum size is 2.5mm.
Fly ash: Class I fly ash, whose residue sieve is 8.3%, the water requirement ratio is 91.7%, and
the specific surface is 391m2/kg.

Table 1 Physical properties of the cement

Compressive strength Flexural strength
Specific surface Initial setting Final setting [MPa] [MPa]
area [cm².g-1] time [min] time [min]
3d 28d 3d 28d
3620 140 245 34.7 62.8 7.2 10.6

Table 2 Chemical composition of the cement [%]

Loss on
SiO2 Al2O3 Fe203 CaO MgO SO3 Na2O+0.625K2O Insolution
ignition
3.24 20.43 4.70 3.38 64.73 0.87 1.89 0.82 0.37

Superplasticizer: Solid matter content is 40% in mass.

Silica fume: The content of SiO2 ≥ 90%, average particle diameter is 0.1 ~ 0.2 µm and specific
surface is 1800 m2/kg.
Slag: specific surface is 450 m2/kg.

Experimental Method and Procedure

Mixing detail: A SJD-60 compelling concrete agitating machine is used. First of all, the steel
fibers are mixed for 3min, and then the cementitious materials and sand are added and mixed until
they are well mixed. At last, the water and the superplasticizer are added into the mixer until the
concrete reaches to certain fluidity.
RPC Casting: Pour fresh concrete into moulds with a size 100×100×100mm and
100×100×400mm, and compact on a vibrating table with high frequency, place the specimens in
normal room of 20°C for one day, the specimens are further cured under 90 ± 3°C steam after
demoulded.
Manhole cover of RPC Casting: Fix the framework of rebar in mould, pour the fresh RPC into
64 Ultra-High-Pumpability and High Performance Concrete Technology

mould, compact on vibrating table with high frequency, place the manhole cover in normal room of
20°C for one day, after demoulded, the manhole cover are further cured as that of RPC specimen.
Testing: The compressive strength and flexural strength are measured according to
GB/T50081-2002: standard for test methods of mechanical properties on ordinary concrete. The
fluidity of fresh concrete are tested on the basis of GB/T50080-2002 that standard for test methods
of performance on ordinary fresh concrete.

Results and Discussion

Composite Effects on Strength and Fluidity of RPC. The paper tested effects of water to binder
ratio (W/B) and admixtures on RPC with orthogonal test. On the scope of the test, The appropriate
scope of W/C in the test is from 0.19 to 0.21，The content of silica fume is about 10%, fly ash is
about 20% according to the test, and volume content of steel fiber is 2% based on economic factor.
Low-cost RPC that flexural strength is more than 30MPa and compressive strength than 130MPa is
prepared with optimal mix proportion and mix procedure.
According to mix proportion of typical RPC [1] and domestic market, the cost of the prepared
RPC is lower 21% than that of typical RPC (as shown in table 3).

Table 3 Cost of two kind of RPC

Typical RPC Low cost RPC
￥ Yuan/t]
Price [ Cost Cost
Content
￥
[ Yuan /t]
Content
￥
[ Yuan /t]
Portland cement 460.00 1.00 148.20 1.00 135.64
Silica fume 2000.00 0.23 148.20 0.14 84.25
Sand 40.00 1.10 14.18 1.43 16.85
Crushed quartz ds0=10µm 1000.00 0.39 125.64 0.00 0.00
Superplasticizer 7000.00 0.02 42.85 0.03 53.07
Fly ash 50.00 0.00 0.00 0.29 4.21
Steel fiber 4000.00 0.18 225.52 0.22 262.85
Water - 0.19 - 0.29 -
￥
Sum total [ Yuan/t] 704.57 556.87

Test on Durability of RPC. Total transited electron of RPC is 84 coulomb (<100 is dispentration
by ASTM1202-97), Carbonization thickness of RPC is zero, those reflect the super high durability
of RPC, refer with Table 4.
 Key Engineering Materials Vols. 405-406 65

Table 4 Main mechanical property and durability of RPC, HPC, and OC

Mill
Compressive Flexural Elastic Chloride Carbonization
Type resistance
strength [MPa] strength [MPa] modules [GPa] penetration [q] thickness [mm]
[mm]
RPC ≥130 ≥30 40.8 84 ≈0 26.2
HPC 60~100 6~10 30~40 - 2 -
OC 20~50 2~5 30~40 - 10 -

The level of mill resistance is excellent when mill length of specimen less than 28.0 mm
according to JC/T446, the mill length of RPC is 26.2 mm which means RPC has excellent property
of mill resistance.

Application of low-cost RPC

According to different of requirements, flat, ribbed, and fish-belly style manhole cover of RPC
are designed. The diameter of manhole cover is Ф680mm as ordinary cast-iron manhole cover, and
the thick of surface flat is about 50mm, sketch map is shown in Fig 1.

Z X
Y
Z Y
X Z
Y
X

Fig 1 Flat, ribbed, and fish-belly style manhole cover of RPC

Test and Analysis

Static Loading Test of Flat Manhole Cover of RPC. Refer with Fig 2, Fig 3, the flat style
manhole cover on the elastic stage until the load increased to 60KN, micro cracks appears and
develops with the load when the load over 70 KN, cracks width arrived at 0.2mm as the load
increased to 140KN, and from then, cracks on
66 Ultra-High-Pumpability and High Performance Concrete Technology

F(kN)

200
150 III

100 II

50
I
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 (mm)

Fig 2 Load-deformation of Fig 3 Cracks distribution of

flat manhole cover flat manhole cover

the bottom of manhole cover develops quickly so that universal arrived at 0.2mm when the load
increases to 160KN, and deformation at the center section enlarge. The jack could not apply load
and more as the load increases to 182KN. A main crack forms with a square profile at the center of
the manhole cover and extended rapidly towards the perimeter. The cracks develop uniformly.
According to the measured deformation, it is found that before the micro cracks appeared, the
manhole cover is at the elastic stage. The manhole cover transits to the elastic-plastic stage when the
cracks further develop. The flat manhole cover of RPC can meets the requirements of class C.

Static Loading Test of Ribbed Manhole Cover of RPC. During the loading test (refer with Fig 4,
Fig 5), cracks appear at the ribs of manhole cover as the load increases to 0.2mm. Cracks at the
bottom of manhole cover appear when the load arrives at 180KN, and cracks width increases to
0.2mm as the load reaches 220KN. The maximum load-capacity is 235KN. The load is supported
mostly by rebar in the rib at the later loading stage, after cracked, the load is mainly transferred by
rebar in the rib. The yield and failure of this rebar indicate the character of bending failure. After the
test, the concrete is removed and the status of the rebar is checked. It suggested that the fracture of
the rebar is the cause of the failure of the manhole cover, the ribbed manhole cover can decrease the
deformation effectively. The total deformation of the manhole cover center was 2.3cm, which less
than that of the flat style manhole cover. The ribbed manhole cover of RPC can meets the
requirements of class B.
 Key Engineering Materials Vols. 405-406 67

F(kN)
250
200
150
100
50

0 5 10 15 20 25 (mm)

Fig 4 Load-deformation of Fig 5 Cracks distribution of

ribbed manhole cover ribbed manhole cover

Static loading test of fish-belly manhole cover of RPC. Cracks appear at the bottom of manhole
cover when the load increases to 160kN, and cracks width arrives at 0.2mm as the load is 240kN.
The maximum of load is 420kN. There are two cracks run-through the bottom after manhole cover
destroyed, and a few micro cracks scatter at the bottom of the manhole cover. Fish-belly manhole
cover has excellent load capacity, and meets the requirement of class A.

Conclusions
On the cost and properties of RPC, optimal content of silica fume is 10%, fly ash is 20%, steel
fiber is 2% by volume, and W/B is form 0.19 to 0.21. Manhole cover of RPC has excellent
mechanical and deforming behaviors. Even when the load applies on the manhole cover beyond the
ultimate value, the failure is unbrittle. Thus, it reduces the threat on the public safety when it is
applied on civil works.

Acknowledgement
The financial support from the Shenzhen Municipal Science and Technique Plan Project
(No.200317) is greatly acknowledged.

References
[1] Pierre Richard, Marcel Cheyrezy. Composition of reactive powder concretes. Cement and
Concrete Research. Vol. 25, No. 7 (1995), p. 1501-1511.
[2] LIU Si-feng, SUN Wei, LIN Wei and LAI Jian-zhong. Preparation and Durability of a High
Performance Concrete with Natural Ultra-fine Particles, Journal of the Chinese Ceramic society.
Vol. 31, No. 11(2003), p.1080-1085.
68 Ultra-High-Pumpability and High Performance Concrete Technology

[3] Liu Si-feng, Sun Wei, Zhang Yun-sheng and Li Gang: Studies on application and mechanical
properties of ultra-high performance concrete, Industrial Construction. Vol. 32, No. 6(2002), p.1-3.
[4] SONG Wan-min, Dong Bing: Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete and Its Application, Journal of
Kunming University of Science and Technology. Vol. 23, No. 1(1998), p.20-24.
[5] LIU Mao-she, JIAN Zheng, ZHANG Hao-bo, et al: Structural Research on A New Type of
Sewage Well Cover for City Road, Journal of Xian University of Technology. Vol. 14. No. 3
(1998), p.324-328.
Ultra-High-Pumpability and High Performance Concrete Technology
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Study on Low-Cost Reactive Powder Concrete and its Application

10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.405-406.62