Potential Factors Affecting Flow Consistency Test Method for Controlled Low-Strength Materials

Abstract

Controlled low-strength material (CLSM) is a mixture of portland cement, fly ash, sand, and water. A provisional standard for evaluating the flow consistency of this material has been recently developed by ASTM (PS 28-95). The procedure consists of filling a standardized cylinder with CLSM and lifting the cylinder by a steady upward motion, thereby allowing the CLSM to flow out and form a conical pile. The spread diameter is the average of two manually taken measurements of the base of the pile in orthogonal directions. The authors are developing a flow index test (FIT) for granular materials based on the CLSM flow test. During development of this index test, a number of parametric studies have been done to investigate the influence of material- and procedure-related factors on the test results. These studies indicate that the results obtained with the FIT procedure depend on a number of factors. Because inertia forces and surface friction coefficients are important factors for both wet and dry granular flow, the same factors are expected to affect the results of the CLSM flow consistency test.

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