A creative validation method for Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) lateral pressure model using Archimedes' law

There is currently no standard that can be used to design formworks capable of predicting lateral pressure applied by Self Compacting Concrete (SCC). Formwork designers have been suggested to design formwork to withstand full hydrostatic lateral pressures unless another rational method based on appropriate and reliable experimental studies is presented. This generally obliges contractors to design very strong formwork systems, with additional and unnecessary costs. On the other hand, approximately all previous studies focused on maximum lateral pressure of SCC and its variation over the formwork height is almost non-existent. In this study, thirty experimental tests were carried out on six series of tubular PVC formworks with the same height of 1500 mm and internal diameters of 70 mm, 100 mm, 120 mm, 130 mm, 170 mm and 240 mm, respectively. In this regard, the total volumetric deformations of formworks are investigated. Simultaneously, the theoretical magnitudes of these deformations are calculated by Finite Element (FE) analysis under the hydrostatic assumption. The results show the total real deformations of formworks have a good agreement with numerical values under hydrostatic pressure assumption when the diameter of formwork increases.