| Abstrakt: |
This paper presents research on the development, characteristics, and performance of sustainable high-strength high-performance concrete (HSHPC) under conventional and accelerated curing systems exceeding the target strength of 100 MPa. In this study, cement plus nanosilica particles function as the binder compounds, and the quartz powder particles act as fillers. The use of natural river sand and coarse aggregates are entirely replaced with suitable copper slag aggregates. Steel fibers and basalt fibers are also used. It is observed that the presence of nanosilica particles up to 15% rapidly increases the internal adherence between the copper slag and the fibers at the early stages of curing. The pore-filling ability of quartz powder particles up to 20% reduced the permeability of the concrete during the later stages of hydration. It is found that the addition of 2% of steel fibers is optimum, and every 1% addition of steel fibers improvised the tensile strength by 15% and flexural strength by 10%, exhibiting better ductility. Compared to conventional curing, specimens cured under accelerated steamcuring conditions exhibited approximately 7% higher compressive strength with less permeability. This is because quartz powder under steam curing densified the concrete by its high pore-filling ability, thus improving the durability. A study on the microstructural properties of HSHPC revealed that the accelerated curing method progresses the formation and uniform distribution of C-S-H gel, which directly leads to higher performance of the developed concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
