Concrete

"Concreting the environment"

Exposed concrete
Internal composite structure hidden
Surfaces texture = formwork
 Concrete
Formwork and concrete texture
 Concrete
Concrete material
Cement
Water
Aggregates (fine and coarse)
Cement

Coarse
agg.
Coarse
agg.

Fine
agg. Fine
agg.

Water
Cement
Cement
Fine Coarse
Water
Air agg. agg.
9-18 6-9 23-35 33-35 7-15 14-19 2-6 22-32 30-48 93-95 4-6 0.5-1
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Percentage by weight Percentage by volume Percentage by surface area
 Concrete
Concrete material
Cement
Extraction and breaking-down
Mixing and crushing, drying dust
Heating clinker
Grinding, sometimes adding of mineral substances
 Concrete
Reinforced Concrete
Concrete for compression, steel for tension
Steel at maximal bending moments
Compacting
Level of concrete before compaction

Concrete already compacted

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 Concrete
Concrete building elements
Beams

Unloaded
Loaded

Reinforced

Unloaded
Loaded

Prestressed

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 Concrete
Concrete building elements Depth of slab 1/12
h (m)

Beams 2.00
1.90
1.80
1/14

1.70

Colums 1.60
1.50
1/16

1.40

Arches
1.30 1/20
1.20
1.10 1/24
1.00

Slabs
0.90
1/30
0.80
0.70
1/40
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00 Span of slab
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1(m)

Element Span h*/l

(loadbearing) 1(m)
Slab on walls - 10 1/24 - 1/40
Flat slab on columns, conventional
6 - 12 1/16 - 1/24
reinforcement
Flat slab with flared column heads 8 - 12 1/20 - 1/30
Slab with downstand beams, conventional
8 - 20 1/12 - 1/16
reinforcement
Waffle slab 10 - 20 1/14 - 1/20

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 Concrete
Concrete building elements
Beams
Colums
Arches
Slabs
Plates

Image by MIT OCW.

 Concrete
Concrete building elements
Beams
Colums
Arches
Slabs
Plates
Shells
 Concrete
Main reference for lecture contents:
Constructing Architecture by Deplazes: pp. 56-76

Additional readings relevant to lecture topics:

"Fundamentals of Building Construction" by Allen:
&
"Building Construction Illustrated" by Ching & Adams:
chapters on concrete