Title:
Design of Concrete Pumping Circuit
Author(s):
Denis Kaplan, Francois de Larrard, and Thierry Sedran
Publication:
Materials Journal
Volume:
102
Issue:
2
Appears on pages(s):
110-117
Keywords:
cylinder; pumping; test
DOI:
10.14359/14304
Date:
3/1/2005
Abstract:
Pumping is a common process to transport fresh concrete. To date, however, there is no rigorous, scientifically based method to design a pumping circuit that is to predict the relationship between pressure and flow rate as a function of circuit dimensions and fresh concrete behavior. Such a method was developed and is presented in this paper. A 150 m-long experimental pumping circuit was mounted that permitted a number of full-scale pumping tests to be carried out. In addition, the fresh concrete rheological and steel-concrete interface behaviors were measured in the laboratory with a rheometer equipped with accessories. Finally, an analytical model using the Bingham constants (yield stress and plastic viscosity) and the interface constants could be validated. A further validation was acquired on two real job sites. A complete set of tools (guide, laboratory devices, and software) is now available to apply this method in practice.