Development of No-Fines Concrete Pavement Applications

Abstract

No-fines concrete is a type of concrete from which the fine aggregate is totally omitted and single-sized coarse aggregates are held together by a binder consisting of a paste of hydraulic cement and water. The earliest application of no-fines concrete dates back to 1852 when two houses and a seagroin of 61 m (200 ft) long and 2.15 m (7 ft) high were constructed in the United Kingdom. Its extensive use came about after World War II when nearly the whole of Europe was in vast housing need. The unprecedented demand for bricks, and the subsequent inability of the brick-making industry to provide bricks in sufficient quantity, led to the adoption of no-fines concrete as a construction material since it required considerably less cement per volume than conventional concrete. Earlier use of no-fines concrete was confined to building construction and other nonpavement applications. The present paper cites the use of no-fines concrete for pavement applications in the United States and Europe.