Research Article

Development of high early strength in concrete incorporating

alccofine and non‑chloride accelerator
P. Narasimha Reddy1 · J. Ahmed Naqash1

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Abstract
Rapid repair and retrofit of existing infrastructures demand durable high early strength materials that not only deliver
sufficient strength within a short time after placement but also significantly prolong the maintenance interval. This
research paper presents the effects on the mechanical properties and durability of alccofine concrete of the addition of
calcium nitrate as a non-chloride hardening accelerator (NCHA). Non-chloride accelerator with concentrations of 0.65%,
0.85% and 1.05% by weight of cement, was added to concrete mixes to test the effect on the properties of alccofine
concrete which was in turn compared with the reference concrete without NCHA. With addition of accelerator, strength
enhancements were observed at an early age due to rapid rate of hydration of ­C3A and ­C3S phases. Water absorption and
sulphate resistance of alccofine concrete also improved with the non-chloride accelerator. A statistical tool was used to
predict the experimental values of compressive strength of concrete. Response surface methodology was adopted to
optimize the experimental data set in which regression equation was developed by relating response variable to input
variable. This method helped to predict the experimental values within an acceptable error range. The predicted values
were cross validated by employing coefficient of determination ­(R2) and residual sum of squares (RSS) which showed a
good fit. The results of this study showed that the addition of non-chloride hardening accelerator in alccofine concrete
significantly improved the mechanical properties as well as durability.

Keywords Non-chloride hardening accelerator · Alccofine · Mechanical properties · Response surface method

1 Introduction accelerate the concrete hardening for removal of formwork

such as in precast construction and exigent repair works
The most exceedingly used man-made building material [5]. There are three ways to improve the early strength of
in the world is concrete [1]. One of the major drawbacks concrete; the first of them is the use of special cement, this
of the concrete at the early ages is its lesser strength cement can reach the predetermined strength in a short
which slows down the construction process [2]. High early time. However, due to its low production and high prices
strength concrete (HESC) is one of the types in high-per- its use in restricted not to be widely used. The second way
formance concretes. It attains high early strength than the is improving the construction and maintenance of con-
conventional concrete [3]. Mainly this type of concrete is crete, such as hot-mix concrete, steam curing treatment
used for fast-track paving, precast concrete elements and methods. However, this method also causes inconvenience
concrete works in colder regions where it facilitates rapid in actual industrial production, therefore not been widely
pace of construction [4]. adopted. The third way is to use the early strength admix-
Generally, fast-track concrete structures need sufficient ture; practice has proved that this method is the easiest
strength at early ages. In some cases, it is obligatory to

* P. Narasimha Reddy, narasimha_07phd16@[Link]; J. Ahmed Naqash, javednaqash@[Link] | 1Department of Civil Engineering,

National Institute of Technology, Hazratbal, Srinagar 190006, Jammu and Kashmir, India.

SN Applied Sciences (2019) 1:755 | [Link]

Received: 3 April 2019 / Accepted: 15 June 2019 / Published online: 20 June 2019

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Research Article SN Applied Sciences (2019) 1:755 | [Link]

and least costly method, so it has been widely adopted in Alccofine 1203 is proprietary low calcium silicate based
the construction projects [6]. mineral additives. Controlled granulation process results in
Recently, chemical admixtures have affected huge unique particle size distribution. Its latent hydraulic property
changes in cement concrete construction. The mecha- and pozzolanic reactivity results in enhanced hydration pro-
nism of function of accelerating admixture (non-chloride cess. Addition of alccofine 1203 improves the packing density
accelerator) is that it increases the rate of hydration of of paste component. The production of alccofine is more envi-
tricalcium silicate (­C3S) and tricalcium aluminate (­C3A) ronmentally friendly compared to the production of OPC, thus
phases of cement, thereby providing heat evolution and producing a more environmentally friendly concrete than the
early strength development [7]. It acts as a catalyst in the OPC concrete. It has been well documented that alccofine is
hydration of tricalcium silicate ­(C3S) and tricalcium alumi- a very good mineral admixture to be used in improving the
nate ­(C3A) [8]. properties of the concrete due to its positive effects on its sus-
The past researchers have studied the properties of tainable development and the environment. In the present
concrete by using different accelerators. Up to now the study, an attempt has been made to study the effects of alc-
most effective accelerator has been Calcium chloride, but cofine as a constant replacement of cement on durability and
it promotes the reinforcement corrosion by depletion of mechanical properties of concrete and its scope to address
passive oxide layer [9]. Due to this, researchers have devel- environmental pollution caused by industrial by-products.
oped non-chloride accelerators which include thiosulfates, A study was carried out on the effect of non-chloride hard-
nitrates, nitrites, thiocyanate and formates [10]. ening accelerators on the properties of alccofine concrete in
A review of non-corrosive and non-chloride accelerating hardened state. It highlights the outcomes of the mechanical
admixtures has been conducted by Dodson. Calcium for- properties and durability of different concrete mixes. Hence
mate of formula Ca(HC00)2, is a by-product in the manufac- this paper presents studies of the effect of non-chloride hard-
ture of polyhydric alcohol, pentaerthritol. It is a powder and ening accelerator with addition to alccofine on the proper-
has a low solubility of about 15% in water at room tempera- ties of concrete and also checks its mechanical properties and
ture. It is a popular non-chloride chemical that is advocated durability when high early strength is developed.
in practice. Many non-chloride accelerating admixture for-
mulations contain formates. Calcium formate is an accelera- 2 Research significance
tor for the hydration of C ­ 3S; at equal concentration how-
ever, ­CaC12, is more effective in accelerating the hydration The large flow of material driven by concrete global pro-
of ­C3S [11]. Angtadt found that (patented in 1969) Calcium duction and consumption and the lack of durability of con-
nitrite was the second admixture to meet the requirements crete structures have created large economic, social, and
of non-chloride accelerator and found that it is a very effi- environmental impacts. A new class of repair material that
cient corrosion inhibitor for concrete-based metals. Justnes achieves high-early-age strength and durability against typi-
has investigated the effect of calcium nitrate on the setting cal cracking and delamination failures is urgently needed.
properties of cement and steel corrosion. Calcium nitrate This research departs from the traditionally narrow emphasis
is often used in industry because of its high solubility and on only the high or high-early-age compressive strength of
cost efficiency. Some studies have shown that the effect of concrete repair materials but establishes a detailed under-
nitrate salts depends on the quantity of belite and alumin- standing and database of the balanced material proper-
ium in cement. Triisopropanolamine and triethanolamine ties of HESC. The resulting compressive strength and ten-
are the general grinding chemicals in the cement produc- sile strength characteristics of the new HESC are expected
tion process. They are also formulated and used as chemical to contribute to fast and durable concrete repairs with a
additives that can improve the mechanical properties of reduced environmental burden with the combination of
concrete by accelerating the hydration of specific mineral alccofine and non-chloride accelerator.
cement-based compounds [12].
The ordinary portland cement which is a major constitu-
ent of conventional concrete plays a significantly impor- 3 Materials
tant role in contributing to the strength properties. But
now- a-days cement has become a major source for pollu- 3.1 Cement
tion which compels the researchers to replace cement by
some alternative materials which can provide the desirable Khyber (Brand name) 43 grade of OPC was used and it was
mechanical and durability properties to concrete as well as tested as per BIS: 8112 specifications [13]. Tables 1 and 2
address the pollution menace such as dumping of industrial show the physical and chemical properties of cement.
waste.

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Table 1  Physical properties of cement

Characteristics Test results Requirements as per
IS code

Grade 43 –
Specific gravity 3.10 –
Standard consistency 30% –
Fineness modulus ­(m2/kg) 310 Not less than 300 mm
Soundness 2.50 Not more than 10 mm
Initial setting time (min) 94 Not less than 30
Final setting time (min) 280 Not more than 600

Fig. 1  SEM image of alccofine

3.2 Aggregates
Table 3  Chemical composition of Alccofine
Natural river sand was used as a fine aggregate having spe- CaO SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 SO3 MgO
cific gravity 2.68 and conforming to Zone II. Crushed rocks
were used as coarse aggregate and having specific gravity 61–64% 21–23% 5–5.6% 3.8–4.4% 2–2.4% 0.8–1.4%
2.78, the maximum size of the aggregate was limited to
20 mm as per BIS:383-1970 specification [14].
ratio was obtained as 1:1.40:2.65 for M30 grade concrete
3.3 Alccofine (water to binder ratio = 0.45). Alccofine was added as a
constant replacement (i.e. 25%) to all concrete mixes
Alccofine is an ultra-fine material which is significantly supe- and four mixes in which percentage of chemical admix-
rior to other mineral admixtures which are available in mar- ture was altered were prepared in this research work.
ket [15–27]. In this research, the replacement of cement with Concrete mixes prepared had 328.59 kg/m3 of cement,
alccofine was 25% for all mixes. SEM image of alccofine is 109.53 kg/m3 of alccofine, 614.59 kg/m3 of fine aggre-
shown in Fig. 1. Tables 3 and 4 Show the chemical properties gate and 1162.53 kg/m3 of coarse aggregate with water-
and physical properties of alccofine respectively. binder ratio of 0.45. Concrete mix (M1) did not contain
non-chloride hardening accelerator. From concrete
3.4 Non‑chloride hardening accelerator mixes M2 to M4 non-chloride accelerator was added
in different proportions as shown in Table 6 and list of
A number of inorganic and organic components are avail- experiments for evaluating the mechanical properties
able in the present market as non-chloride accelerators. and durability are shown in Table 7.
Non-chloride accelerating admixtures include thiosul-
fates, nitrates, nitrites, thiocyanate and formates [28–42].
In the present research, Master set AC 100 composed pri- 5 Methodology
marily of calcium nitrite was used as non-chloride hard-
ening accelerator which conforms to ASTM C494: Type C. 5.1 Compressive strength
The properties of Master set AC 100 are shown in Table 5.
Compressive strength was evaluated by using cube spec-
imens of size 150 mm as per code IS: 516-1959 [44]. Total
four concrete mixes were casted with varying dosage
4 Fabrication of concrete mixes of non-chloride hardening accelerator and tested under
dry conditions. For each mix, three cubes were tested
The fabrication of concrete mixes was done as per IS: at 3, 7 and 28 days using CTM of 2000KN capacity at a
10262-2009 specifications to produce M30 grade of con- uniform rate of 5.2 KN/s by placing the specimen tested
crete [43]. The binder (Cement + Alccofine) to aggregate

Table 2  Chemical properties CaO SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 SO3 MgO Loss on ignition
of cement
60–41% 20–27% 5–32% 3–56% 3–17% 2–46% 3–55%

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Table 4  Physical properties of alccofine until the failure occurred along the vertical diameter of the
Characteristics Test results cylinder. The tensile strength of the cylindrical specimens
was calculated.
Specific gravity 2.9
Specific surface area (­ m2/kg) 1200 5.3 Modulus of rupture
Bulk density (kg/m3) 680
Particle size in micron Modulus of rupture was evaluated on a beam specimen at 7
and 28 days on a CTM as per code IS 516-1959 specification
D10 1.5
[44]. The modulus of rupture was determined using Eq. 1
D50 5
below.
D90 9
FL
σ = (1)
bd 2
Table 5  Properties of non-chloride hardening accelerator where: σ = modulus of rupture of the concrete specimen
Aspect Relative density PH Chloride ion in MPa, F = failure load (N), L = Length of the cylinder (mm),
content b = width of the beam specimen (mm), d = depth of the
beam specimen (mm).
Colourless free 1.26 at 25 °C > 6.0 at 25 °C < 0.2%
flowing liquid
5.4 Water absorption test

at the center of the testing machine. The compressive Water absorption test was carried out on cube specimen
strength of concrete specimen was evaluated. of size 150 mm with varying dosage of non-chloride hard-
ening accelerator. The specimens were taken out from the
5.2 Split tensile strength curing tank at the age of 7 and 28 days. These specimens
were dried in an oven at 105 °C for 24 h followed by cool-
Split tensile strength tests were carried out on cylinder ing to ambient temperature after which the dry weight
specimens of size 150 mm X 300 mm as per IS 5816-1999 was measured. These dried specimens were placed in
at 7 and 28 days [45]. The cylinder specimen was placed water at 23 °C for 48 h [46]. Specimens were taken out
longitudinal to the CTM surfaces and the load was applied from water and the surface was wiped with a dry cloth
before weighing. The water absorption value of the cube
specimen was determined as per Eq. 2 below.

Table 6  Mix details of different Mix Cement AF FA CA W/B NCHA (%)

grades of concrete
M1 328.59 109.53 614.59 1162.53 0.45 0
M2 328.59 109.53 614.59 1162.53 0.45 0.65
M3 328.59 109.53 614.59 1162.53 0.45 0.85
M4 328.59 109.53 614.59 1162.53 0.45 1.05

Table 7  Summary of tests Test Specimen dimension (mm) Age of curing No. of
specimen
tested

Compressive strength 150 × 150 × 150 3.7 and 28 4×3×3

Splitting tensile strength 150 × 300 7 and 28 4×3×2
Modulus of rupture 500 × 100 × 100 7 and 28 4×3×2
Water absorption 150 × 150 × 150 28 4×3
Sulphate attack 150 × 150 × 150 28 4×3

Total number of specimens = 108

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Saturated weight of the sample − Dry weight of the sample

Water absorption (%) = (2)
Dry weight of the sample

5.5 Resistance against sulphate attack of concrete at early ages compared to reference mix. The
compressive strength of concrete at early age (3 days) for
The sulphate resistance of concrete was studied by placing mixes M2, M3 and M4 were enhanced by 22.34%, 35.05%
the specimens in a sulphate solution. The test was con- and 29.02% compared to reference mix M1. Similar results
ducted on cubes with and without non-chloride hard- were also reported by Meagher et al. [5] wherein it was
ening accelerator. The cube specimens of 150 mm were found that chloride free accelerators increased the hydra-
casted and demoulded after 24 h followed by curing in tion rate of tricalcium aluminate and tricalcium silicate
water for 28 days [47]. The cubes were taken out from cur- phases of cement, consequently giving not only heat evo-
ing tank after 28 days and initial weights were taken. For lution but also strength enhancement at early ages [48].
sulphate attack these cubes were immeresed in sodium At 7 days, ratio of strength improvement was less as com-
sulphate solution having a concentration of 5% by weight pared to 3 days i.e. 5.76%, 11.89% and 6.95% compared
of water. The concentration of sodium sulphate solution to the reference mix at 7 days. The long term compressive
was maintained and specimens were taken out from solu- strengths for all concrete mixes were slightly higher than
tion at the end of 28 days. The cube surfaces were cleaned those of reference concrete mix (i.e. Accelerators don’t
with water and kept in normal atmosphere for getting affect the long term properties).
constant weight. The difference between initial and final
dry weights indicated the degree of sulphate attack and 6.2 Split tensile strength
percentage of Mass loss were calculated by using Eqs. 3
and 4 below. Early age cracking may occur because of change in volume
σ1 − σ2 due to thermal contraction and shrinkage. Thermal and
Strength deterioration factor(%) = × 100 (3) shrinkage effects induce tensile stresses in concrete. When
σ1
these stresses are greater than the tensile strength of con-
W1 − W2 crete, which is somewhat low at early ages, it can develop
Mass loss = × 100 (4) cracks in concrete. Hence it is required to evaluate the
W1
tensile strength of concrete at which concrete may crack.
σ1 = cube compressive strength before immersion in sul- The cylindrical specimens were tested to evaluate the split
phate solution (MPa), σ2 = cube compressive strength tensile strength of concrete at the age of 7 and 28 days for
after immersion in sulphate solution (MPa), ­W1 = weight water binder ratio 0.45 as shown in Fig. 3. From the results,
of cube specimen before immersion in sulphate solution
(g), ­W2 = weight of cube specimen after immersion in sul-
phate solution (g).

6 Results and discussion

6.1 Compressive strength

In this study, the strength of concrete was evaluated by

compression test. Generally in the construction industry,
compressive strength of concrete is not only important
at later stages but it is equally important at early ages. In
this research, a constant replacement of cement with alc-
cofine volume (i.e. 25%) was taken as a reference mix and
the non-chloride accelerator was added with different pro-
portions. The compressive strength of cubes tested at the
age of 3, 7 and 28 days for the water-binder ratio of 0.45 is
shown in Fig. 2. It has been recognized that non-chloride
Fig. 2  Compressive strength of alccofine concrete for different pro-
hardening accelerator increases the compressive strength
portions of NCHA

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it is clearly observed that the concrete mixes made with 6.4 Water absorption test
non-chloride hardening accelerator showed higher ten-
sile strength values than the reference concrete. The early Water absorption test is one of the most important param-
age split tensile strength (7 days) for concrete mixes M2, eter for finding the durability of concrete. The perforation
M3 and M4 were improved by 9.54%, 23.32% and 16.21% of ions, water and gases depend on the porosity and
respectively. The degree of enhancement in split tensile microstructure of concrete. Figure 5 shows the results
strength for alccofine concrete is slightly higher strengths of water absorption test with and without non-chloride
with non-chloride accelerator at a later age [10]. hardening accelerator. From the results, it can be seen
that reference concrete has more water absorption than
6.3 Modulus of rupture that of concrete with non-chloride hardening accelerator.
Concrete mixes with the accelerator (i.e. M2, M3 and M4)
The modulus of rupture results with and without non- showed a decrease in the percentage of water absorption
chloride hardening accelerator for concrete mixes with values with respect to reference concrete (M1) due to the
water-binder ratio 0.45 at the age of 7 and 28 days are formation of ettringite at early ages along with alccofine
shown in Fig. 4. In this study, it was observed that refer- fills the voids between the particles and thus, decreases
ence concrete exhibited less modulus of rupture at given the permeable voids in the cubes as shown in Fig. 5.
water-binder ratio (i.e. 0.45). The modulus of rupture of
concrete at an early age for mixes M2, M3 and M4 were 6.5 Resistance to sulphate attack
increased by 7.24%, 29.03% and 26.66% compared to
reference alccofine concrete M1. The modulus of rup- Sulphate attack on the concrete is a chemical disintegra-
ture of concrete at a later stage for mixes M2, M3 and tion mechanism where sulphate ions attack components
M4 were almost same compared to reference mix M1. of cement paste. The compounds responsible for sulphate
Brook et al. also reported that concrete with non-chlo- attack on concrete are water soluble salts such as alkali
ride hardening accelerator showed higher modulus of (potassium and sodium) and alkali earth (magnesium and
rupture compared to reference concrete at early age but calcium) sulphates that are capable of chemically react-
the modulus of rupture of concrete with non-chloride ing with concrete components. In the present study, the
hardening accelerator at 28th day was the same as that effect of sulphate attack was analyzed on concrete with
of reference concrete. and without non-chloride hardening accelerator [49].

Fig. 3  Split tensile strength of alccofine concrete with different pro- Fig. 4  Modulus of rupture of alccofine concrete with different pro-
portion of NCHA portion of NCHA

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Fig. 5  Percentage of water absorption of alccofine concrete with

different proportion of NCHA Fig. 6  Percentage of mass loss of alccofine concrete with different
proportion of NCHA

The concrete samples were tested for four mixes to find

out strength deterioration and mass loss factors. These
are shown in Figs. 6 and 7. It was seen that concrete with
non-chloride accelerator specimens were less affected
than that of reference concrete. From Fig. 7 it is clearly
seen that the mass loss decreased with the increment of
non-chloride accelerator to concrete. Figure 8 shows the
non-chloride accelerator increases the resistance of con-
crete against sulphate attack.

7 Design of experiments

7.1 Response surface method

In this research Response Surface Method (RSM) was used

for predicting the compressive strength of the concrete. Fig. 7  Strength deterioration factor of alccofine concrete with dif-
Response surface method is a statistical and mathematical ferent proportion of NCHA
technique which can be used for refining, developing and
optimizing processes in the research and industrial field
[25]. It can evaluate the effects of one or more variables
and their interactions on one or more response variables.
It can be represented by Eq. 5, which relates the variables
£ and responses y for a specified system [50].
( )
y = f £1 , £2 , £3 … … ..£k + ε (5)
where £1 , £2 , £3 … £k are the input variables, y is the
response, f represents approximate response function and
ɛ denotes the statistical [Link] this research, the second
order polynomial was used instead of the linear polyno-
mial to evaluate response from input variables as shown
in Eq. 6. Fig. 8  Response surface plot for “compressive strength” versus
“%NCHA”, “curing age”

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Table 8  Predicted and experimental values by using regression

k k k k analysis
∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
y = βo + βi £i + 𝛽ii £2ii + 𝛽ij £i £j + ε (6)
i=1 i=k i=1 j=1,j≠1 X (%) Y (d) Z experi- Z predicted (MPa) Residual (MPa)
mental
(MPa)
where y = response, β = coefficient, £ = factor and ɛ = error.
βo, βi, βii and βij are the regression coefficients for intercept, 0.65 28 35.917 36.5206 − 0.603584
linear, quadratic and interaction terms respectively, and £I 1.05 28 36.716 36.5718 0.144218
and £j are the input variables 0.00 28 35.674 35.6057 0.068293
In the present research, two independent variables were 0.65 3 17.295 17.4324 − 0.137417
“dosage of Non-chloride hardening accelerator” and “Curing 1.05 3 18.964 19.0463 − 0.082262
age” and the dependent response variable was compressive 0.00 3 13.426 13.9782 − 0.552239
strength of concrete. By using this method which employs 0.65 7 21.672 21.9919 − 0.319854
the regression analysis, response surface and residuals plots 1.05 7 22.637 23.3557 − 0.718675
of the variables were evaluated in addition to main effect. 0.85 28 36.986 36.5949 0.391074
In this study, MINITAB was used to obtain the values of 0.85 3 19.060 18.2881 0.771917
the coefficients by virtue of regression analysis for 95% 0.85 7 23.182 22.7225 0.459492
confidence levels (α = 0.05) wherein the general Eq. 8 takes 0.00 7 19.523 18.9440 0.579036
the following form Eq. 7.

Z = A + BX + CY + DX2 + EY2 + FXY (7) indicated by the magnitude of slope wherein larger val-
where Z = compressive strength of concrete, X = percent- ues of slope indicated higher effect on the parameter con-
age of non-chloride accelerator, Y = curing age, The coef- sidered (i.e. compressive strength) and vice versa. It was
ficient values evaluated were A = 9.878, B = 6.57, C = 1.421, observed from the slope of “%NCHA – Mean compressive
D = − 1.22, E = − 0.01792 and F = − 0.1563. strength plot” that the strength enhanced up to 0.85%
Table 8 shows the predicted and experimental values of NCHA followed by decrease the same when computed at
compressive strength along with residual error. The regres- 1.05%. The plot of Compressive strength—curing age was
sion model obtained from response surface analysis con- seen with a steeper slope compared to “%NCHA—Mean
sisted compressive strength (Z) versus the curing age (Y) compressive strength plot” which clearly indicated that
and the %NCHA (X) as shown in Fig. 8. The percentage of curing age had a greater role in the compressive strength
error less than 5% was observed for the predicted response development that increased further of the 7 days as shown
surface plot thereby showing 95% confidence level [51]. in Fig. 10.

7.2 Residual plots

The graph between fitted and residual values shows the 8 Cross‑validation or performance evalution
closeness of predicted compressive strength to experi-
mentally observed data. The points near to the reference Cross-validation is a technique to determine the perfec-
line in Fig. 9 designate less error and the points far from tion of the performance of the predictive model (i.e. in
the reference line show more error. The error observed in the residual sum of squares and the coefficient of deter-
Fig. 9 was found to be within acceptable range of tolerance mination) and it can be used when the amount of data is
with two residual values very close to the reference line. limited and the response Y is a quadratic or linear regres-
In the range of 0–0.4 and 0.4–0.8 the observed residual sion model with a function PTX (X) = [X1X2……X12X22….] [52].
values were 2 and 3 respectively. Similarly, under the refer-
ence line 2 and 3 residual values were found to be in the 8.1 Coefficient of determination (COD) ­(R2)
range 0 to − 0.4 and − 0.4 to − 0.8 respectively.
The determination coefficient is a statistic that indicates the
rate of change in the quantity of the response variable that
7.3 Effect of %NCHA and curing age on compressive is predictable from the explanatory variable as explained in
strength of concrete (Main effects) the regression model [53] using Eqs. 8 and 9 below.
�2
Yk − Ŷ k
n
�
The effects of “%NCHA” and “Curing age” when plot- 2
𝛴k=1
R = 1− ∑ � (8)
ted with reference to mean compressive strength were n �2
k=1Yk − Ŷ

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Fig. 9  Residual plot for com-

pressive strength

discrepancy between the estimation model and data set

using below Eq. 10. The smaller residual sum of square val-
ues shows a goodness of fit of the model to the data [54].
n
∑ )2
Yk − Ŷ k
(
Residual sum of squares = (10)
k=1

The residual sum of square value obtained was 2.634 as

shown in Table 9, thus indicating a good fit.

9 Conclusion

Fig. 10  Main effects plot for compressive strength

In this research, the effect of non-chloride hardening accel-
erator on mechanical properties and durability of alccofine
concrete was studied. From the results, it is concluded that
non-chloride accelerator enhanced compressive strength
n
1 ∑( ) of the concrete at an early age due to increase in the rate
Ŷ = Y (9)
n k=1 k of hydration of ­C3A and ­C3S phases of cement. The use
of accelerator didn’t influence the mechanical properties
where Ŷ k = predicted values, Yk = experimental values. of concrete at a later age thereby resulting in same val-
The coefficient of determination value obtained in this ues for all mixes. Water absorption values were less with
study was with 0.9968 an acceptable range i.e. 0.0032%. alccofine in the combination of non-chloride accelerator
The predicted and actual compressive strength values compared to reference concrete due to micro particle
obtained by the regression equation are shown in Table 9. size of alccofine which made the concrete more denser,
From this cross-validation we concluded that there is no more compacted and also improved the pore structure
deviation between the predicted and actual values. of the concrete which helped to improve strength as well
as reduces the water absorption percentage. Concrete
8.2 Residual sum of squares (RSS) with accelerator was also found to have increased the
resistance against sulphate attack. The experimental data
Residual sum of squares also called as a summed square was modelled by using the response surface method in
of residuals. It is a well-known parameter to calculate the Minitab software which employed regression analysis for

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Table 9  Response surface Yk R2 RSS

Ŷ K Ŷ Yk − Ŷ k Yk − Ŷ
model for cross validation
35.917 36.52058 25.08767 − 0.60358 10.82933
36.716 36.57178 25.08767 0.144218 11.62833
35.674 35.60571 25.08767 0.068293 10.58633
17.295 17.43242 25.08767 − 0.13742 − 7.79267
18.964 19.04626 25.08767 − 0.08226 − 6.12367
13.426 13.97824 25.08767 − 0.55224 − 11.6617 0.9968 2.634
21.672 21.99185 25.08767 − 0.31985 − 3.41567
22.637 23.35568 25.08767 − 0.71868 − 2.45067
36.986 36.59493 25.08767 0.391074 11.89833
19.060 18.28808 25.08767 0.771917 − 6.02767
23.182 22.72251 25.08767 0.459492 − 1.90567
19.523 18.94396 25.08767 0.579036 − 5.56467

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