Investigations on the compressive strength of silica fume concrete using statistical methods

The present paper deals with a mathematical model developed using statistical methods to predict the 28-day compressive strength of silica fume concrete with water-to-cementitious material (w/cm) ratios ranging from 0.3 to 0.42 and silica fume replacement percentages from 5 to 30. Strength results of 26 concrete mixes, on more than 300 test specimens, have been analyzed for statistical modeling. The ratios of compressive strengths between silica fume and control concrete have been related to silica fume replacement percentage. The expression, being derived with strength ratios and not with absolute values of strength, is independent of the specimen parameters and is applicable to all types of specimens. On examining the validity of the model with the results of previous researchers, it was observed that for results on both cubes and cylinders, predictions were obtained within 7.5% of the experimentally obtained values. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.