Title: Extending the Slump Test to Improve Quality Control Towards Sustainability

Author(s): Nathan Tregger

Publication: Web Session

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Date: 10/23/2022

Abstract:
In its first adoption, the slump test was a consistency test that was quite useful to determine when the water content varied. With the advent of chemical admixtures, changes in slump can be attributed not only to water but the influence of admixtures such as superplasticizers and viscosity modifying admixtures. In other words, with a fundamentally changing concrete over the decades, the slump test remains to address consistency of concrete from load to load. In practice, it is rare that a project or pour will test every load of concrete, never mind more than one slump test per truck load. With the advent of IIoT (Industrial Internet-of-Things), concrete trucks instrumented with sensors have been used extensively in commercial practice allowing for rheological characterization of every truck load, on the entire concrete sample. Over 150 million cubic yards have been placed through these types of systems, yielding extremely large data sets that provide valuable insight into the entire concrete production from producer to contractor. This talk will focus on the enabled capabilities of having a rheological measurement for every load of concrete, and how it has benefitted both the producer and contractor towards a sustainable and consistent concrete product.