BOOK REVIEWS/CRITIQUES D E LIVRES

The rheology of fresh concrete

Received July 12, 1983 Manuscript accepted September 12, 1983

Tlze rheology of fresh concrete. By G . H . Tattersall and P. F. G. Banfill. Pitman Books Limited, 128 Long Acre, London, England WC2E9AN. 1984. 356 p. £32.50.

Can. J. Civ. Eng. 11, 135 (1984)

This book on rheology of concrete is an update of a previous work on the workability of concrete by the first author and presents progress in studies of concrete workability and attempts to relate the results of labora- tory studies to practical methods of measurement of workability. The book is divided into 16 chapters, and in addition, has four appendices. The first four chapters consisting of about 75 pages give an introduction to rheology and theoretical aspects associated with it. The authors exulain that the behavior of fresh concrete can be explainid by the Bingham model rather than by Newton's law of viscous flow of liquids. Chapters 5- 12 describe a two point test method for determining the rheological behavior of fresh concrete based on the Bingham model, give the details of test equipment, methods of calibration, experimental test results, and the relationship between the British Standard tests and the authors' two point test. Chapters 13-15 describe the applications of the two point test method for con- cretes incorporating chemical admixtures, fly ash, slags, and fibres; the control of concrete production by workability is briefly discussed. The rheology of ce- ment pastes is discussed in Chapt. 16.

The book is well printed and illustrated and contains an up-to-date list of pertinent references.

The book though titled Rheology of concrete is pri- marily concerned with the authors' advocation of the

workability measurement of concrete by the two point test method, which the senior author has developed and has been experimenting with for a number of years. The authors correctly state that the existing methods are not totally satisfactory for determining the workability of concrete and their test method does offer a more rational approach. Their test approach has been used with ad- vantage by British researchers working in the area o f superplasticized concretes and concretes incorporating chemical admixtures. This test approach has not been used in North America.

The book is a good reference source and should be of interest to those engaged in research dealing with the properties of fresh concrete. However, its use to those engaged in construction and associated fieldwork is of limited value because of the nature of the material dealt with. It is doubtful if the two point test method outlined by the authors would find general acceptance in the construction industry because of the heavy nature of the equipment and the time it takes to perform the test.

V. M. MALHOTRA Mineral Processing Laboratory,

Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology, 405 Rochester Street,

Ottawa, Ont., Canada K I A OGI

Can

. J. C

iv. E

ng. D

ownl

oade

d fr

om w

ww

.nrc

rese

arch

pres

s.co

m b

y U

NIV

WIN

DSO

R o

n 11

/09/

14Fo

r pe

rson

al u

se o

nly.