The Effect of Superplasticizer Type on Compression Failure of High–Strength Concrete

Abstract

Although superplasticizer has been used widely on buildings and bridge structures around the world, the concrete’s behavior has not yet been understood well by civil engineers.  The use of superplasticizer should guarantee that abnormal failure does not occur. This paper presents  different compression failure types of cylindrical specimens using two kinds of superplasticizer based on experimental research for compression test of high strength concrete  (HSC) with a minimum compressive strength of 60 MPa. Cylindrical specimens measuring 15 cm in diameter and 30 cm of high were used. Seven mixtures using H superplasticizer and 7 mixtures using V superplasticizer were used. Failure observations were conducted as compression load was applied until failure occured. There were two types of compression failure which were vertical and horizontal according to two types of FT-IR graphs of superplasticizer. FT-IR simple fingerprint of superplasticizer exhibited normal compressive failure, while complex fingerprint showed dangerous compressive failure.

Keywords: Superplasticizer, Compression failure, High-strength concrete, Fingerprint