Title: Water-Cement Ratio Versus Strength-Another Look

Author(s): Herbert J. Gilkey

Publication: Journal Proceedings

Volume: 57

Issue: 4

Appears on pages(s): 1287-1312

Keywords: none

DOI: 10.14359/8063

Date: 4/1/1961

Abstract:
The water-cement ratio (W/C) pronouncement prob- ably marked the most useful and significant advance in the history of concrete technology. From the beginning, however, there have been dissenters who in their tests or research have happened to touch areas of unusual gradings or areas that entailed com- parisons between mortars and concretes or between neat cement pastes and sond-cement mortors. Besides the actual dissenters there have been thoughtful operators in the area of large-aggregate concrete, used regularly in dams, who on possible effects o recognizing the lock of information large aggregates and/or large specimens on strength hove serious doubts as to whether or nor the moss concrete in the structure would develop the strength that the W/C relationship has allocated to it. With current attention being redirected toward possible limitations in the W/C generalization, now may be the time to exhume and pull together scattered pertinent evidence that hos, bit-by-bit over the years been pre- sented, and forthwith become buried in the voluminous literature of concrete. The aim is not to discredit the water-cement ratio as a useful empiricism but rather to focus attention on both its range of applicability and on its limitations. The paper calls attention to, and discusses briefly, a number of the published allegations of invalidity, indicat- ing some of the pros and cons brought out in discussions thereof. As support for tentative explanations, pertinent stress-strain and water-gain data ore presented. Finally a modified, duly restricted and qualified version of a W/C versus strength relationship is proposed.