A Taguchi approach for investigation of some physical properties of concrete produced from mineral admixtures

Durability of concrete structures is often liked to the presence (or not) of deleterious chemical species in the environment. Sulfate or acid-bearing environment originating, for instance, from industrial wastes is one of the severe conditions for durability of the concrete. In this paper, laboratory tests were performed to assess the damage caused by chemical attack on high strength concrete mixtures prepared with silica fume (SF) and blast furnace slag (BFS). The “Taguchi method” has been used to determine the optimum conditions required to obtain the physical properties that will yield to the most durable concrete mixtures. Concrete specimens were cured up to 14 days in lime-saturated water at 23±2 °C. After this period, the concrete specimens were immersed in various aggressive solutions until the experimental days. Test variables selected in this investigation were mineral admixture, water-to-binder ratio, curing regime and curing time. Results of the analysis have shown that the most durable mixtures to be the one prepared with 10% SF and 5% BFS. The water–binder (W/B) ratio of this mixture was 0.30 and it was cured in limewater for 120-day period.