Successful placement of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) requires that the concrete is proportioned to exhibit high filling capacity, passing ability, and stability. From a rheological point of view, SCC must be proportioned to exhibit low yield stress and moderate plastic viscosity. This paper highlights recent developments of test methods that can be used for materials selection, mix design optimization, and quality control of SCC mixtures. Such test methods include: water retention to evaluate pumpability of concrete, electrical conductivity to evaluate static stability, as well as incline plane and portable vane to determine the structural build up at rest of concrete, which affects formwork pressure and surface quality. Workability characteristics that can be obtained using these various test methods are correlated to rheological parameters of SCC, including yield stress, plastic viscosity, and thixotropy.
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