The Taguchi Optimization of Mechanical and Durability Properties of Accelerator Added Concrete

Abstract

It is very important to save time during the assembly of prefabricated elements. In wet connection types, the setting time of the concrete might lead time lose. There are many studies investigates the methods to shorten the setting time of concrete. Especially in the recent years, there are accelerators developed to shorten concrete setting time without causing corrosion. However, the negative effect of accelerators on fresh concrete properties such as workability makes them difficult to use. In this study, it is aimed to produce a concrete mixture with high initial strength and workability by using an accelerator. However, it is highly difficult to determine proper ratio of the accelerator for the mixture without precasting significant number of concrete samples which requires time, manpower and material consumption. Therefore, Taguchi optimization is very useful method in order to reduce this number of samples and effort. The optimum mixture has been achieved by performing the required tests applied to mixture designs obtained from Taguchi optimization.