Properties of self-compacting portland pozzolana and limestone blended cement concretes containing different replacement levels of slag

In order to reduce energy consumption and CO 2 emission, and increase production, cement manufacturers are blending or inter-grinding mineral additives such as slag, natural pozzolana, and limestone. This paper reports on the results of an experimental study on the production of self-compacting concrete (SCC) produced with portland cement (PC), portland pozzolana (PPC) and portland limestone (PLC) blended cements. Moreover, the effect of different replacement levels (0–45%) of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) with the PPC, PLC, and PC cements on fresh properties (such as slump flow diameter, T 500 slump flow time, V-funnel flow time, L-box height ratio, setting time, and viscosity) and hardened properties (such as compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity) of self-compacting concretes are investigated. From the test results, it was found that it was possible to manufacture self-compacting concretes with PPC or PLC cements with comparable or superior performance to that of PC cement. Furthermore, the use of GGBFS in plain and especially blended cement self-compacting concrete production considerably enhanced the fresh characteristics of SCCs.