Rheological properties of fresh concrete and its application on shotcrete

In the last decades, significant advances have been made to investigate the rheology of fresh concrete. It was generally accepted that rheology plays a key role in the estimation of concrete workability. However, the application of rheology on shotcrete is relatively few. Thus, this paper tries to make a link between the rheology and shotcrete application. In the first part, various rheology models of fresh concrete were summarized. The characteristics and application scope of rheological models are discussed. In a second part, methods allowing for the measurement of the yield stress and plastic viscosity with or without the use of a rheometer were described, along with the corresponding transformation equations. The methods of avoiding imprecise translation were put forward. In the third part, the relationship between rheology and shotcrete was analyzed, which could be considered as practical tools allowing for the prediction of pumpability and shootability of fresh concrete.