Mechanical performances of sulpho-based rapid hardening concrete

Calcium-sulphoaluminate cement (CSA) represents an eco-friendly alternative to ordinary portland cement (OPC), thanks to its lower energy consumption, different production process and raw materials. Nowadays, CSA cement is being mostly used in construction industry thanks to its high early-ages compressive strength and shrinkage-compensating behavior. This paper presents the mechanical and rheological performance of concrete mixtures focusing on workability, compressive, flexural and splitting tensile strength development, drying shrinkage, dynamic and static modulus of elasticity evolution and stress-strain diagrams of pure CSA mixtures and OPC-CSA blends, considering pure OPC as reference. Bearing in mind the rapid hardening behavior of CSA cement, the experimental activity was developed both at early and later ages. Furthermore, a study on the relation between constitutive models proposed by Model Code 2010 and the behavior of the CSA mixtures used in this paper was assessed.