Determination of Optimal Aggregate Blending to Prevent Alkali-Silica Reaction Using the Mixture Design Method

Abstract

Alkali-silica reaction (ASR) can cause serious cracking in concrete. The best method in order to avoid the occurrence of ASR is the non-use of reactive aggregate in concrete production. However, reactive aggregates in quarries must be used for the sustainable usage of resources. Therefore, a more practical approach is to identify the optimal blending of such aggregates, which can be achieved through the use of the Design of Experiment-Mixture Design Method (DOE-MD). In this study, empirical approaches that can be used for ASR estimation are suggested using DOE-MD in a quarry that produces concrete aggregate and has reactive and nonreactive aggregate resources in terms of ASR and by determining aggregate mixing ratios that do not create risk in terms of ASR. The quarry in question has three different regions, which are in terms of the type of aggregate available. As a result, the aggregate from Region 2 should be used at 19 % (Region 3: 81 %) in the mixture with aggregate from Region 3. The aggregate from Region 1 should not be mixed with the aggregate from Region 2 and should be used at most at 14 % (Region 3: 86 %) in the mixture with the aggregate from Region 3.