Abstract
To date, there is no defined criterion for measuring the compressive strength of PC due to the variation of voids present. This study introduced an alternative approach which investigates the cement paste distribution expecting to produce a mix that forms a uniform paste distribution. The experiments were carried out through two different aggregate sizes and five different water-to-cement (W/C) ratio design mixes while maintaining a constant aggregate-tobinder ratio. The control specimen with a W/C ratio of 0.33 was used for both aggregate size mix designs. A wax coating method to determine specific surface area of aggregate developed by L. Xiao et al. was utilized in cement paste distribution computations. The data from the cement paste distribution tests indicated that varying W/C ratios had no significance on cement distribution. However, results showed that the 3/8" mix series with higher specific aggregate surface area resulted to a more well distributed and thinner cement paste thickness. The results from the compression and permeability tests showed that these two functional properties are inversely proportional. The W/C ratio that provided balance between strength and permeability while having uniform cement paste distribution is between 0.33 to 0.36 for both aggregate sizes.
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