Tailor Made Concrete Structures Walraven & Stoelhorst (eds)

2008 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-47535-8

Review of European standards and guidelines for grouts for

pre-stressed structures

J. Tritthart
Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

I. Stipanovic Oslakovic
Civil Engineering Institute of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia

P.F.G. Banfill
Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK

M. Serdar
University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

ABSTRACT: Within the research project Improvement of properties of grouts for prestressing tendons and/or
ground anchors in the European COST Materials Action 534 New Materials and Systems for Pre-stressed
Concrete Structures methods for testing rheology, stability of the grout suspension with respect to bleeding and
settlement, setting time, expansion and mechanical strength of the grout were performed and evaluated. One
of the aims of the project was to critically investigate which methods that are given in European standards and
guidelines are indeed suited for testing grout in laboratory and on site. Some of the most interesting results and
conclusions gathered during the project are presented in this paper.

1 INTRODUCTION tendon/anchor and the surrounding concrete and also

The currently applicable European Standards EN 447
Grout for prestressing tendons basic requirements
as well as the fib-guideline Grouting of tendons in
pre-stressed concrete provide general guidance and
define test procedures for quality control of grouts, but
there is no guidance for grout formulation. Therefore
within the research project Improvement of proper-
ties of grouts for prestressing tendons and/or ground
anchors in the European COST Material Action
534 methods for testing rheology, bleeding, setting,
expansion and mechanical strength of the grout were
performed and evaluated. Research has been carried
out under direct cooperation between the authors on
the influence of different admixtures such as a super-
plasticizer (SP), an expanding agent (EXP), corrosion
inhibitor (INH), etc., on physical and mechanical grout
properties. The overall goal was to design an optimum
grout that combines desirable fresh and hardened prop-
erties with good corrosion protection and to develop
rules for grout formulation. Some of the most inter-
esting results and conclusions are presented in this
paper.
Portland cement grout is used in post-tensioned
and retaining structures to provide bond between the
to fill the voids between protective duct and pre-
stressing strand which suppresses the flow of water
and chloride ions. Grout is pumped into the space
between the steel and the surrounding duct, where it
hardens to transmit the stresses from the steel to the
concrete/ground.
Therefore, the properties which are of interest and
require specification and/or control are: rheology and
flow; dimensional and material stability; setting and
strength development; and durability.
The properties of the grout which require specifica-
tion and control are given in Table 1. [ fib 2002, CEN
2007].
2 REQUIRED PROPERTIES OF GROUT
2.1 Rheological parameter
Rheological parameters of the grout should be tested
and controlled to ensure that grout will fill the pro-
tective duct before it is sealed. The most common
method for testing grout fluidity is the cone test. One
point of criticism of the prescribed test method is that
it is a single-point method. This method cannot be

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Table 1. Test methods and requirements for grout properties.

Requirements

Property Test method EN 447 (2004) EN 447 (2007) fib-guidelines (2002)

Flowability/fluidity Cone method 25 s 25 s 25 s

Immersion test 30 s
Grout slump 140mm
Bleeding Wick-induced Inclined tube 0, 3% init. vol. 0, 3% init. vol.
Glass cylinder <2%vol.
Sedimentation Grout density 5% 5%
Setting time EN 196-3 >3h final:<24h >3h
Volume change Wick-induced test > 0,5% < +5% > 0,5% < +5%
Cylinder/can method > 1% < +5%
Compressive strength EN 445:1996 28 days 30 MPa
EN 12190 7 days 27MPa
50100 mm cubes/cylinders 7 days >27MPa

CEM I; w/c ratio 0.40 70

250
no admixtures; 1st step without admixtures
no admixtures; last step 60 1% EXP1, 2%EXP2
0.3% SP1; 1st step
0.35% SP2
200 0.3%SP1; last step
0.18% INH1, 1%EXP1
0.3% SP2; 1st step 50
0.3% SP2; last step 0.25%SP2, 1%INH2
0.2% SP1, 1%EXP2
shear stress (Pa)

150 40
current, mA

30
100

20

50
10

0 0
0 20 40 60
Figure 1. Flow curves of different grout mixtures, tested
with coaxial rheometer.
used to fully understand the rheological parameters
of the grout during 3 hours, within which grout needs
to be injected into the duct. That is why during the
project rheology tests were performed using a scien-
tific instrument (coaxial rheometer), with which it is
possible to monitor the change of shear stress of grout
in time [Banfill 2006, Tritthart et al. 2007], Fig. 1.
2.2 Bleeding and volume change
Bleeding and volume change of the grout should be
tested to ensure that no voids are formed after the duct
is filled with grout. The results obtained with meth-
ods for bleeding and volume change prescribed in EN
445:1996 do not represent the true conditions inside
the duct because no strands are present, which have
a strong influence. The fib-guideline prescribes the
inclined-tube test (for bleeding) or the Wick-induced
test (bleeding and volume change), which were taken
over in the EN 447:2007. These methods are more rep-
resentative, but are, on the other side, rather difficult
to carry out in normal laboratories and even on site.
80 100 120 140 160 180 200
shear rate (1/sec)
0 2000 4000 6000
time, minutes
Figure 2. Current during potentiostatic anodic polarization.
In order to monitor grout volume change during 24
hours, a new and more sensitive method was developed
during the project [Tritthart et al. 2007].
2.3 Mechanical properties testing
Mechanical properties of grout should be tested to
ensure mechanical performance and stress transfer
between prestressing strand and concrete. During
research on the project it was concluded that compres-
sive strength was usually satisfied regardless admix-
tures that were added into grout mixture [Stipanovic
et al. 2005].
2.4 Corrosion testing of grout
Corrosion behaviour of grout/prestressing strand sys-
tem should be tested to verify that grout will
resist aggressive substances and protect prestressing
steel from corrosion. In order to evaluate corro-
sion protection capability of different grout mixtures
samples with embedded prestressing steel were

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prepared and potentiostatic anodic polarization was
performed, Fig. 2.
From corrosion testing it can be concluded that
grout with low chloride diffusion coefficient, good
homogeneity and volume persistency can assure
longer durability of prestressed structures [Stipanovic
et al. 2007].
3 CONCLUSION
Testing of physical and mechanical properties of grout
is necessary to determine suitable grout, which will
ensure durable prestressed structures. Laboratory and
on-site testing should be performed as part of quality
assurance and quality control of materials built into the
structures. However, it is an opinion of the authors that
some of the test methods prescribed in the European
standards and fib-guideline are not suitable for labo-
ratory and do not always fully deliver the necessary
information.
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REFERENCES
Banfill P. F. G. 2006 Rheology of fresh cement and con-
crete, Rheology Reviews, pp. 61130.
CEN 2007 Grout for prestressing tendons - basic require-
ments, EN 447:2007, European Committee for Standard-
isation (CEN), Brussels.
Federal Highway Administration 2004 Post tensioning ten-
don installation and grouting manual, US Department of
transportation.
fib 2002 Guide to good practice: Grouting of tendons in
prestressed concrete, fib Bulletin No 20, Lausanne.
Stipanovic I., Kovacevic S.M., Bjegovic D. 2005 Improve-
ment of Grout Properties by Different Admixtures, Pro-
ceedings of COST 2nd Workshop, Kielce, pp. 117128.
Stipanovic I., Serdar M., Bjegovic D. 2007 Materials Perfor-
mance, 46, 3; pp. 4044.
Tritthart, J., Stipanovic, I., Banfill, P. 2007 Grouts for
Pre-stressed Structures and Ground Anchors: A Critical
Review of European Standards and Guidelines, Proceed-
ings of the 12th International Congress on the Chemistry
of Cement Montreal, Canada.