Self-Consolidating Concrete in Maine

The Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) has been an aggressive pursuer of emerging and advanced concrete technologies over the last decade. MDOT has incorporated the use of pozzolans and admixtures into mix designs in an effort to utilize the elevated durability characteristics of high-performance concrete (HPC) in their bridge inventory. In late 2002, MDOT and a local precast concrete producer discovered a mutual interest in using self-consolidating concrete (SCC) on a bridge project. SCC is engineered to flow readily into place without segregation of the constituent materials; thereby, alleviating the difficulty of placing concrete in complex formwork or around congested patterns of reinforcing steel and prestressing strands. The result of using SCC can be a significant reduction in the vibration and finishing demands.