Roller Compacted Concrete for Dams: The State-of-the-Art

Abstract Only - Roller compacted concrete (RCC) has rapidly evolved from a concept with laboratory studies and field trials to an accepted engineered material used throughout the world for dam construction and rehabilitation. RCC dams have many advantages. The most dramatic is significant savings in both time and money. There are different approaches to RCC dam design and construction, and wide ranges in mixture proportions. Regardless of the approach, high-speed construction and a no-slump consistency that allows the mixture to be compacted by a large vibratory roller are common factors. Poor quality aggregates and materials not meeting requirements for conventional concrete have been used successfully in RCC dams, and at times they have actually produced desirable material properties such as improved consistency at low cement contents, low elastic modulus, and better long term stress relaxation. The wide range of mixture proportions possible with RCC, its low unit cost, and the ability to develop mixtures with material properties outside the normal range of conventional concrete, provide more options than were available with conventional materials. Because construction methods and scheduling have a 01ajor impact on the quality and properties of RCC, the designer must consider the interrelationship and best combination of construction methods, schedule, materials, proportions, costs, and structural design. The contractor should understand how his activities affect the results.