The quality and durability of normal concrete directly depends on the number and the shape of voids, so, in order to produce durable concrete, it is necessary to reduce the amount of air that is trapped inside the concrete, which is usually done by vibrating the concrete in the mixing stage or the casting stage. Self-compacting concretes are concretes that, in principle, don't require vibrating during casting. Such concretes possess enough compactness and flowability through gravity that during pouring they fill all the space in the formwork. However, it is frequently the case that the ideal self-compacting concrete that is produced in a laboratory cannot be produced on a construction site so such concretes require additional vibrations. The work examines the impact that the introduction of vibrations during mixing and during casting has on the final appearance and the compressive strength of normal and self-compacting concretes. Achieved results confirm that vibrating during the mixing stage can improve the workability of fresh concrete but not its final strength, especially for self-compacting concretes, while vibrating in the casting stage significantly contributes to the final strength of the concrete.

A vibration rheometer has been developed for the purpose of determining the viscosity coefficient and the yield value of fresh concrete under vibration. The main parts of the apparatus, a test specimen and a vibration source form a unitary oscillatory system whose parameters can be measured with sufficient precision. Two types of fine grained reference material have been prepared and examined; one with a high coefficient of viscosity and the other with a high yield value. The rheological properties of reference materials have been determined in a capillary tube viscometer. Since there is no analytical solution to the flow in the vibration rheometer, the constants of the vibration rheometer have been determined by experiment, for each position of the apparatus piston within the measuring range. The parameters of the flow depend on the maximum acceleration of the vibration source. An increase in acceleration causes an increase in the yield value as well as a reduction in the plastic viscosity coefficient of the material specimen. A testing of fresh mortar has been carried out as well. The obtained results have been compared with the impact on reference materials, which makes the results of our research applicable to fresh vibrated concrete.