Experimental Investigation on Rheological Properties of Silica Fume Cement Paste and Its Potential Application in Geotechnical Engineering

• Main Author: Ting, Aik Seng
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2020
• Subjects: TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/37175/1/TING%20AIK%20SENG%20%2824%20pgs%29.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/37175/5/TING%20AIK%20SENG.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/37175/

Silica fume is a waste material that has been produced in tonnes as industrial waste per year. Silica fume can be generalised as microsilica, and contain mainly amorphous silica with more than 85% of silica content depending on the origin of silica fume. Utilisation of silica fume has been well known in construction such as concrete industries and others due to the its physical properties. However, there is lack of studies of its application in geotechnical engineering. One of the important characteristics of silica fume is its rheology which related to many geotechnical applications such as cemented soil, soil column, temporary excavation support and others. Therefore, this study is focused to describe the laboratory research on the rheological properties of silica fume mixing with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and water. The basic properties test was conducted on the silica fume before conducting the rheological and Unconfined Compression Strength (UCS) test. Rheological test was performed to evaluate the viscosity, y and shear stress, 'r of the silica fume cement paste. UCS test was performed to determine compressive and shear strength of the silica fume cement paste. In this research, the proportion of the cement are varying from 0 to 7.5% while the water/solid ratio varies from 0.1 to 0.3 to determine the rheological properties of the silica fume cement paste. The expected result is when the water/solid ratio increases, the viscosity and the shear stress decrease or vice versa and when the cement ratio increases, the viscosity and shear stress increase or vice versa. For the UCS test result, the expected result is when the water/solid ratio increases, the compressive strength and shear strength decrease or vice versa. When the cement ratio increases, the compressive strength and shear strength increase or vice versa.