Effect of few water reataining curing techniques on shear strength of self compacting concrete

Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) is highly workable concrete with high strength and high performance that can flow under its own weight through restricted sections without segregation and bleeding. SCC is achieved by reducing the volume ratio of aggregate to cementitious materials, increasing the paste volume and using various viscosity enhancing admixtures and superplasticizers. It is observed that the behaviour of the design concrete mix is significantly affected by variation in humidity and temperature both in fresh and hardened state. In this paper effect of few water retaining curing techniques on shear strength of M30 grade self-compacting concrete (M30SCC) is discussed and compared with shear strength of normal vibrated concrete of same grade (M30NVC). It is concluded that although pond immersion method is best for curing, Polyester film covering can deliver about 82% shear strength compared to immersion method. It can be observed that shear strength of M30SCC is more than M30NVC for polyester film covering while it does not change in case of curing compound techniques.