International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (2015) 4, 270–277

H O S T E D BY
Gulf Organisation for Research and Development

International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment

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Original Article/Research

Flow behavior and strength for fly ash blended cement paste and mortar
B. Kondraivendhan a,⇑, B. Bhattacharjee b
a
Applied Mechanics Department, S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat 395007, India
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India

Received 16 October 2013; accepted 8 September 2015

Abstract

In this study, compressive strength and flow behavior of fly ash incorporated cement paste and mortar were investigated. For this
purpose, four water to binder ratios (w/(c + f )) such as 0.25, 0.35, 0.45 and 0.55 with three curing ages and five wide range of fly
ash replacement levels (f/c ratio) namely 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 were introduced in the experimental scheme. The workability of the
mixture was ensured through Marsh cone and flow table tests for fly ash blended cement paste and mortar, respectively. The test result
showed that compressive strength increases with age as expected in all cases and an empirical relationship for compressive strength of
blended cement paste and mortar with mix factors such as w/(c + f ) ratio, f/c ratio and age is also proposed. The estimated compressive
strength versus w/(c + f ) ratio curves for different curing ages and f/c ratios resembles the nature of Abrams’ strength versus w/c ratio
curves.
Ó 2015 The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Paste; Mortar; Fly ash; Workability; Strength

1. Introduction (Chindaprasirt and Rukzon, 2008). Fly ash improves the

properties of concrete or cement paste due to the poz-
A large number of researches have been directed zolanic reaction and its role as a micro-filler. It is often
towards the utilization of pozzolana materials. For the thought that the first function (pozzolanic reaction) is most
construction industry, the development and use of blended important. The hydration reaction depends on curing
cements become a common practice in these days. Poz- period so that, in many specifications, it is noted that fly
zolana from power plant residue such as fly ash are receiv- ash–cement concrete needs a longer curing period than
ing more attention now since their uses generally improve conventional concrete (Termkhajornkit et al., 2006).
the properties of the blended cement concrete, the cost The main implications of the partial replacement of
and the reduction of negative environmental effects cement by fly ash in cement paste and mortar are
micro-structure improvement, pore filling effect and better
packing characteristics of the mix. The workability of the
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 261 2204165; fax: +91 261 2227334.
blended cement paste and mortar is greatly modified due
E-mail addresses: kondraivendhan78@yahoo.co.in, kondraivendhan78@
to the incorporation of finer Pozzolana materials such as
gmail.com (B. Kondraivendhan).
Peer review under responsibility of The Gulf Organisation for Research fly ash, silica fume, etc. This addition depends both on the
and Development. quality of fly ash and the stipulated requirements of

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2015.09.001
2212-6090/Ó 2015 The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 B. Kondraivendhan, B. Bhattacharjee / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 4 (2015) 270–277 271

strength and durability. Presently, fly ash and cement con- cement paste and mortar. The experimental factors and
tents in a mix are determined by laboratory trials. The their levels have been chosen accordingly as follows;
first requirement to be met is usually the workability of
the mixture, which is controlled by the water–cementi 2.1. Materials
tious-material ratio. To decide upon the extent to which
fly ash can be used at the lowest possible water–cementi 2.1.1. Cement
tious-material ratios, different workability tests are con- To investigate upon the response of strength improve-
ducted to optimize the proportion of fly ash (Joshi and ment and workability, one grade of cement as defined in
Nagaraj, 1990). Indian Standard (IS) was used namely ordinary Portland
The workability of the cementitious product has been cement OPC 43 grade conforming to IS: 8112:1989 (2005)
attained by some compatible water reducing admixtures and ASTM Type 1 specifications. The mean particle diam-
like super-plasticizers. In addition to this, the cement eter of cement is 17 lm which is determined by laser based
super-plasticizer compatibility is affected by the following Time of Transition method using Ankersmid CIS-50 parti-
parameters related to the cement: chemical and phase com- cle size analyser. The physical and chemical composition of
position, especially C3A content, alkali content, amount cement is given in Tables 1 and 2.
and type of calcium sulphate (dihydrate, bassanite, anhy-
drite), cement fineness and free lime content. Taking into 2.1.2. Sand
account the properties of a super-plasticizer, the following Natural river sand owing to their rounded shape was
factors are of great importance: its chemical nature and used in this work as it ensures better packing characteristics
average molecular weight, super-plasticizer degree of than the crushed sand. Locally available two types of river
sulphonation, admixture dosage and addition method sand having the fineness modulus values of 2.66 and 2.08
(Grabiec and Piasta, 2004). The determination of the opti- were mixed in the proportion of 70% and 30% respectively
mum dosage of super-plasticizer for blended paste and so as to obtain packing density value of 0.61. The grading
mortar is generally carried out by different methods such of sand satisfies the Indian standard IS: 383-1970 (2002)
as Marsh cone test, flow table test and mini slump cone and is given in Table 3.
test.
According to the authors, the strength of cement paste
can be estimated from the information of w/c ratio, age
and fineness of cement (Kondraivendhan and Table 1
Bhattacharjee, 2010). Same thing is extended to cement Physical properties of ordinary Portland cement.
fly ash paste and mortar as well (Kondraivendhan and Characteristics Results obtained Requirement as per
Bhattacharjee, 2013). The hydration products of fly ash IS: 8112-1989
reduce the pore size, in this way more strength and durable Normal consistency (%) 29.00
concrete are obtained (Kocak and Nas, 2014). By the uti- Initial setting time (min) 115.00 Min 30
lization of fly ash it is not only minimizing the carbon foot Final setting time (min) 165.00 Max 600
Specific gravity 3.15
print but also sustainable development can be achieved
Blaine’s fineness (m2/kg) 335.00 Min 225
(Wang and Shuang, 2011; Imbabi et al., 2012). It is also Soundness (mm) 1.00 Max 10
observed that the degree of hydration of paste and mortar
Compressive strength (MPa)
has been improved by better particle size distribution and 3 days 34.00 Min 23
finer particle sizes of fly ash (Zhao et al., 2015). 7 days 42.00 Min 33
In this study, the experimental compressive strength for 28 days 51.50 Min 43
fly ash blended cement paste and mortar specimens is
investigated and the foremost workability requirement is
also carried out by Marsh cone test and flow table test
for fly ash blended cement paste and mortar, respectively. Table 2
The compressive strength is determined experimentally Chemical properties of ordinary Portland cement.
and a relationship for compressive strength with mix Oxide composition (wt%)
parameters is developed for fly ash blended cement paste CaO 59.98
and mortar specimens as well. The estimated compressive SiO2 21.18
strength of fly ash blended cement paste and mortar is plot- Al2O3 5.36
ted against w/(c + f ) ratio for various curing ages and f/c Fe2O3 3.48
MgO 2.05
ratios. SO3 2.8
Na2O 0.36
2. Experimental investigation K2O 0.69
LOI 2.67
The main objective of this experimental investigation is Insoluble residue 2.32
Free lime 1.06
to study the strength and workability for fly ash blended
272 B. Kondraivendhan, B. Bhattacharjee / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 4 (2015) 270–277

Table 3 Table 4
Grading of sand for cement fly ash sand mortar. Chemical properties of fly ash.
Sieve size Sand (S1) Sand (S2) Blended sand Oxide composition (wt%)
% passing % passing (S1, 70% + S2, 30%)
CaO 1.26
4.75 mm 100 100 100.00 SiO2 61.02
2.36 mm 98 100 98.60 Al2O3 27.76
1.18 mm 80 98.28 85.48 Fe2O3 4.48
600 lm 50 29.17 43.75 MgO 0.56
300 lm 10.5 5.77 9.08 SO3 0.19
150 lm 1.5 0.63 1.24 LOI 1.1
Water soluble content 0.53
Specific gravity 2.6 2.65 2.65
Bulk density (kg/l) 1.586 1.587 1.583

Table 5
Mix proportions of fly ash blended cement mortar.
2.1.3. Fly ash Cement f/c ratio Sand w/(c + f ) ratio
Class F fly ash obtained from Dadri thermal power S1 S2
plant, India with a specific gravity of 2.13 was used. The
1 0 1.186 0.508 0.25
mean particle diameter of fly ash is 12 lm which is also 1 0.1 1.284 0.550 0.25
determined by laser based Time of Transition method 1 0.2 1.381 0.591 0.25
using Ankersmid CIS-50 particle size analyser. The particle 1 0.3 1.479 0.633 0.25
size distribution of the fly ash and its chemical composi- 1 0.4 1.577 0.675 0.25
tions are given in Fig. 1 and Table 4. It satisfies the Indian 1 0 1.394 0.597 0.35
standard IS: 3812-1981 (1999). 1 0.1 1.492 0.639 0.35
1 0.2 1.590 0.681 0.35
1 0.3 1.687 0.722 0.35
2.1.4. Mix proportions and experimental factors 1 0.4 1.785 0.764 0.35
In this investigation, mixes have been chosen over a
1 0 1.603 0.686 0.45
wide range of water to binder ratios namely 0.25, 0.35,
1 0.1 1.700 0.728 0.45
0.45 and 0.55 for cement paste and mortar blended with 1 0.2 1.798 0.770 0.45
fly ash. Both cementitious paste and mortar specimens 1 0.3 1.895 0.811 0.45
are tested at 7, 28 and 90 days. Fly ash replacement 1 0.4 1.993 0.853 0.45
levels 0–40% by weight of cement are implemented. 1 0 1.811 0.775 0.55
The volume of paste content was 20% greater than the 1 0.1 1.908 0.817 0.55
volume of voids of non compacted sand. The mix 1 0.2 2.006 0.859 0.55
proportions of fly ash blended cement sand mortar are 1 0.3 2.103 0.901 0.55
1 0.4 2.201 0.942 0.55
given in Table 5.

100

90

80

70
Cumulative passing %

60

50
Fly Ash
40

30

20

10

0
0.001 0.01 Size in mm 0.1 1

Figure 1. Particle size distribution of fly ash.

 B. Kondraivendhan, B. Bhattacharjee / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 4 (2015) 270–277 273

3. Flow behavior of cementitious paste and mortar 14

Opmum dosage of Super-

12
The workability of fly ash blended cement paste and 10 0% Fly Ash

plascizer (%)
mortar is attained by using the optimum dosage of super- 8
10 % Fly Ash
plasticizers. The optimum dosage of super-plasticizer is 20 % Fly Ash
6
determined by Marsh cone and flow table test for cement 30 % Fly Ash
4 40 % Fly Ash
blended fly ash paste and mortar, respectively.
2
3.1. Marsh cone test 0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Several commercially available super-plasticizers were w/(c+f)

investigated upon, through a test scheme to select the most Figure 3. Optimum dosages of super-plasticizer for fly ash blended cement
compatible and suitable super-plasticizer. For determining paste.
the optimum dosage of super-plasticizer for different water
to binder ratios, 1.2 liters of paste was prepared in a stan-
dard mortar mixer and were poured in Marsh cone with a worth mentioning at this stage that for the selected dosage
nozzle having an opening of 5 mm diameter and 50 mm of super-plasticizer no segregation was observed at any
length. Time taken for the first 200 ml of paste to flow time. Thus optimum dosages of super-plasticizer were
through cone was measured. This is called flow time. The determined for all 20 paste mixes at water cementitious
saturation point is obtained from the flow time versus ratios 0.25, 0.35, 0.45 and 0.55 with fly ash replacement
super-plasticizer dosage curves at the dosage value beyond level of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% for each water cemen-
which the super-plasticizer would not decrease the flow titious ratio. The time taken for the first 100 ml of paste to
time with an increase in dosage of super-plasticizer (i.e. flow through cone is measured. This is called flow time.
super-plasticizer has no further plasticizing effect) Three flow time determinations were carried out for each
(Roncero et al., 2002). Commercially available Polycar- paste and the mean value was used. However as a cross
boxylate ether based super-plasticizer namely ‘‘CEMWET check flow time for 200 ml of paste was measured for water
SP-3000” exhibited minimum flow time and produced a cementitious ratio 0.35 and 0.45 it was observed that opti-
completely dispersed system of paste and the same was mum dosages remain same. The super-plasticizer for water
chosen and used throughout for different water to binder cementitious ratio 0.55 is not required due to its high water
ratios for cement blended fly ash paste. The dimensions content itself imparts the sufficient flow within 6 s. The sat-
of the Marsh cone are given in Fig. 2 and the optimum uration point is obtained from the flow time versus super-
dosages of super-plasticizer for cement blended fly ash plasticizer dosage curves, at the dosage value beyond which
paste with corresponding water to binder ratios are pre- super-plasticizer will not decrease the flow time with an
sented in Fig. 3. It is observed that as the water to binder increase in dosage of super-plasticizer.
ratio decreases paste mixes tend to become stiff even with
super-plasticizer addition as indicated by an increase in 3.2. Flow table test
flow time. So the required flow is fixed as 100 ml. It is
For determining the optimum dosage of super-
plasticizer for different water to binder ratios, the flow table
test is used for cement blended fly ash mortar. First, flow
table top was cleaned and dried. Mould was placed at the
centre of table and filled in three layers of about 25 mm
thickness. Each layer is tamped 20 times with a tamping
rod. Tamping pressure was just sufficient to ensure uniform
filling of mould. Excess mortar was cut off from table top
to obtain a plane surface flush with the top of mould by
drawing a straight edge. Table top was cleaned and mould
was lifted. Immediately table was dropped, through a
height of 12.5 mm, 25 times in fifteen seconds. The flow
is the resulting increase in average base diameter of the
mortar mass, measured on at least four diameters at
approximately equally spaced intervals expressed as a per-
centage of the original base diameter (Giaccio and Zerbino,
2002). According to IS: 1727-1967, the amount of water for
gauging shall be equal to that required to give a flow of
105 ± 5% with 25 drops in 15 s (IS: 1727-1967). The flow
Figure 2. Marsh cone. table test setup is shown in Fig. 4. The optimum dosage
274 B. Kondraivendhan, B. Bhattacharjee / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 4 (2015) 270–277

is obtained from the percentage flow versus super- 9

Opmum super-plascizer
plasticizer dosage curves at the dosage value beyond which 8
7
the super-plasticizer would not increase the flow with an 0% Fly Ash
6

dosage (%)
increase in dosage of super-plasticizer (i.e. super- 10 % Fly Ash
5
plasticizer has no further plasticizing effect). The same 20 % Fly Ash
4
polycarboxylate ether based super-plasticizer used for fly 30 % Fly Ash
3
40 % Fly Ash
ash blended cement paste exhibited required flow in low 2
dosage and produced a completely dispersed system of 1
mortar and the same was selected and used throughout 0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
for different water to binder ratios of cement blended fly
ash mortar. The optimum dosages of super-plasticizer for w/(c+f)
cement blended fly ash mortar with water binder ratios Figure 5. Optimum dosages of super-plasticizer for fly ash blended cement
are presented in Fig. 5. mortar.

3.3. Casting and testing saturated surface dry condition. The cubes were tested at
the age of 7, 28 and 90 days. They were tested on universal
Four water to binder ratios, three curing ages and five testing machine, ensuring that cast surfaces did not touch
wide ranges of fly ash replacement level with three repli- the platens. The compressive load was applied through a
cates resulting 180 numbers of cement blended fly ash paste hydraulic jack at a constant rate of 140 kg/cm2/min as
and same numbers of cement blended fly ash mortar of per IS: 1727-1967 till failure. The average of failure stress
5 cm cubical specimens were cast. The test specimens were of three cubes was considered as the representative
cast on steel mould, oil was applied on the inner side of the compressive strength of each paste and mortar mixes.
mould for easy removal of specimens. The cement blended
fly ash paste and mortar were mixed by using a mortar 4. Results and discussion
mixer. First cement and fly ash were mixed in dry form
until uniformity was achieved, lastly fine aggregate was 4.1. Flow measurement in cementitious paste
added. Then water was sprinkled and mixed thoroughly
until a uniform mix was obtained. The mortar was then It is observed from the optimum dosage of super-
placed in suitable layers of equal thickness and was com- plasticizer with water to binder ratio curves that the lowest
pacted on a table vibrator. The specimens were demoulded water to binder ratio 0.25 needed more super-plasticizer
after 24 h and the specimens were kept for curing in water dosage to obtain the required flow and also it gradually
tank till the age of test. After curing, the cubes were taken increases with an increase in fly ash content. If the
out from water tank and cleaned with cloth to wipe out employed fly ash is finer than the cement the water demand
excess water on the surfaces in order to bring them increases with an increase in fly ash replacement level due
to the augmentation of surface area of fly ash particles
(Felekoglu et al., 2009). So that the super-plasticizer dosage
increases with an increase in fly ash level and the ball bear-
ing effect is not effective in case of cement blended fly ash
paste system and the same trend is observed in all water
to binder ratios. The dosage decrease with an increase in
water to binder ratio was also observed.

4.2. Flow measurement in cementitious mortar

The optimum dosage is obtained from the percentage

flow versus super-plasticizer dosage curves. The dosage
value beyond which the super-plasticizer does not increase
the flow with an increase in dosage is optimal super-
plasticizer dose. It is observed that percentage flow
increases and optimum dosages decrease with an increase
in fly ash content. Similar behavior is observed for entire
water to cementitious ratio but with decrease in water to
cementitious ratio, decrease in percentage flow and an
increase in optimum dosages were observed. It may be
due to the ball bearing effect of the spherical shapes of
Figure 4. Flow table test setup. the fly ash particles. And also super-plasticizer dosages
 B. Kondraivendhan, B. Bhattacharjee / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 4 (2015) 270–277 275

are not required for water to binder ratios 0.45 and 0.55 4.3. Compressive strength
except the controlled cement blended fly ash mortar of
water to binder ratio 0.45. This is due to the facts such It is observed that the compressive strength of fly ash
as high water content itself and the reduction in water blended cement paste increases with age as expected in all
demand of the fly ash owing to its ball bearing effect. water to binder ratios and fly ash replacement levels. But

Table 6
Compressive strength of fly ash blended cement paste.
w/(c + f) f/c ratio Compressive strength (MPa)
Experimental Estimated
7 days 28 days 90 days 7 days 28 days 90 days
0.25 0 52 60 72 48.51 53.32 67.52
10 35.2 49.6 65.6 45.86 50.66 64.86
20 35.2 50.4 60.8 43.20 48.01 62.21
30 33.6 49.6 59.2 40.55 45.36 59.56
40 28 45.6 52 37.90 42.71 56.90
0.35 0 47.2 58.4 59.2 40.58 44.61 56.50
10 39.2 48 49.6 37.92 41.95 53.84
20 38.4 47.2 52.8 35.27 39.30 51.19
30 35.2 38.4 47.2 32.62 36.65 48.54
40 30.4 37.6 45.6 29.97 33.99 45.89
0.45 0 31.2 34.4 39.2 32.65 35.89 45.48
10 27.2 36 39.2 29.99 33.24 42.83
20 22.4 28 29.6 27.34 30.59 40.17
30 21.6 26.4 33.6 24.69 27.93 37.52
40 19.2 28 39.2 22.04 25.28 34.87
0.55 0 22.4 23.2 31.2 24.72 27.18 34.46
10 18.4 24 29.6 22.06 24.53 31.81
20 16 24.8 32 19.41 21.88 29.16
30 15.2 24.8 30.4 16.76 19.22 26.50
40 14.4 23.2 31.2 14.10 16.57 23.85

Table 7
Compressive strength of fly ash blended cement mortar.
w/(c + f) f/c ratio Compressive strength (MPa)
Experimental Estimated
7 days 28 days 90 days 7 days 28 days 90 days
0.25 0 48 59.2 63.2 53.13 58.76 75.39
10 48 59.2 71.2 53.46 59.09 75.72
20 48 63.2 80 53.79 59.42 76.06
30 48 63.2 84 54.12 59.76 76.39
40 48 53.6 75.2 54.46 60.09 76.72
0.35 0 47.2 56.8 59.2 42.44 47.81 63.68
10 46.4 53.6 63.2 42.77 48.15 64.02
20 45.6 59.2 67.2 43.10 48.48 64.35
30 43.2 64 71.2 43.44 48.81 64.68
40 39.2 60 63.2 43.77 49.15 65.01
0.45 0 32 40 44 31.75 36.87 51.97
10 29.6 42.4 45.6 32.08 37.20 52.31
20 27.2 45.6 48.8 32.42 37.53 52.64
30 27.2 42.4 51.2 32.75 37.87 52.97
40 24.8 39.2 55.2 33.08 38.20 53.31
0.55 0 23.2 28 33.6 21.06 25.92 40.27
10 18.4 31.2 43.2 21.40 26.26 40.60
20 16.8 29.6 45.6 21.73 26.59 40.93
30 14.4 28.8 43.2 22.06 26.92 41.27
40 13.6 29.6 38.4 22.40 27.25 41.60
276 B. Kondraivendhan, B. Bhattacharjee / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 4 (2015) 270–277
     
the strength reduced gradually with respect to increase in f w w
f c ¼ K1 þ K2 t þ K 3t þ K 4 þ K5
fly ash replacement as compared to the controlled speci- c ðc þ f Þ ðc þ f Þ
mens. This reduction in compressive strength is due to ð1Þ
the following reasons: the effective water to cement ratio
increased with an increase in fly ash replacement level. where, K1, K2, K3, K4 and K5 are empirical constants and
The pozzolanic reaction is also a slow reaction; it requires are 26.53, 0.372, 0.322, 76.70 and 66.08 for cement
more time to react completely to attain higher strength blended fly ash paste and those for cement blended fly
than the controlled specimens. It is also observed that com- ash mortar are 3.33, 0.123, 0.299, 106.01 and 77.75,
pressive strength of cement blended fly ash mortar respectively. The coefficients of determination are 0.88
increased with age as expected but decreased with an and 0.88, respectively. Thus the compressive strength of
increase in fly ash replacement level up to 28 days of cur- cement blended fly ash paste and mortars is correlated with
ing, and then it increased the compressive strength at mix parameters. The combined experimental and estimated
90 days of curing as compared to the controlled specimens. compressive strength values are presented in Tables 6 and
This is due to the fact that the sluggish fly ash secondary 7. It is also observed that the estimated compressive
reaction contributes strength at later ages. strength data are fitting reasonably well with experimen-
tally obtained compressive strength data.
4.4. Empirical relationship for compressive strength
4.5. Strength versus w/(c + f ) relationships
The compressive strength can be estimated by least
square of multiple regression method, using water to bin-
By using Eq. (1), the compressive strength for fly ash
der ratio (w/(c + f )), curing age (t), fly ash to cement ratio
blended cement paste and mortar is estimated for various
( f/c) and the experimentally determined compressive
strength data. The following empirical form for compres-
sive strength for fly ash blended cement paste and mortar 120
is derived as:

90

100
80
Estimated compressive strength (MPa)

70
Estimated compressive strength (MPa)

80

60

180 days

50 180 days 150 days

60
150 days 90 days
90 days 56 days
40 56 days 28 days
28 days 7 days
7 days 40
30

20
20

10

0 0
0.25 0.35 0.45 0.55 0.25 0.35 0.45 0.55
w/(c+f) ratio w/(c+f) ratio

Figure 6. Estimated compressive strength versus w/(c + f ) ratio for fly ash Figure 7. Estimated compressive strength versus w/(c + f ) ratio for fly ash
blended cement paste with f/c ratio = 0.2. blended cement mortar with f/c ratio = 0.4.
 B. Kondraivendhan, B. Bhattacharjee / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 4 (2015) 270–277 277

curing ages such as 7, 28, 56, 90, 150 and 180 days and References
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plots is presented in Figs. 6 and 7 for fly ash blended Abrams, D., 1918. Design of Concrete Mixtures. Bulletin No. 1. Structural
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