On-site experiment methods on the compaction detection of rock-filled concrete

The compaction of SCC filling the voids of rockfill is greatly significant to guarantee the safety for rock-filled concrete dams in practical engineering. Most of the on-site experiment methods, such as drilling core samples, infrared in-hole TV, focus on the compactness detection of the hardened RFC. In this paper, some exploratory methods of on-site experiment are conducted for the compactness detection of fresh SCC filling. The monitoring instruments are prearranged to be embedded in different spatial structures of the rock-fill voids in the storehouses of RFC. The experiment results manifest that: (1) Wired bulbs with sensing electrodes (WBSE) can detect the filling compactness of fresh SCC by alarm light; (2) The self-compacting concrete can mostly fill in the voids, while the compacting effect will be poor at the fragmentary voids with many small rocks (less than 300mm), and it is worst at the throat void. The actual filling state is important for engineers to evaluate the construction quality of RFC dams.