PRODUCTION OF CONCRETE

The operations involved in the production of the concrete can he broadly divided in
following stages.
• Batching of materials
• Mixing of concrete
• Transportation of mixed concrete

1. Batching of Materials :
• In order to ensure uniformity in the quality of concrete it is necessary that
all materials that go into its production are measured accurately with in
permissible tolerances.
• Batching of material can be done manually or by using batching plant. The
choice of system to be adopted for batching depends upon the magnitude of
concreting work involved and the rate at which concrete is required to be
produced.
• While batching cement is always measured by weight, the weight of one bag
of cement is taken as 50 kg.
• Fine and coarse aggregate are measured by volume in case of manual
batching and by weight in case of mechanical batching i.e. by batching plant.
In case of manual batching the quantity of coarse and fine aggregates are so
adjusted as to require one bag of cement for one batch.
• In this case wooden boxes (farmas) are normally used for gauging aggregate
by volume. The material is filled loosely into the wooden boxes and the extra
material in the box is struck flush with box top.
• In case sand used in the work is moist necessary allowance on account of
bulking should be made while measuring sand in boxes.
• If the coarse aggregates used in the work are moist the quantity of water
carried by them should be deducted out of the quantity of water required
for the mix.
• Batching of materials by use of batching plant is carried out for all important
works involving large amount of concreting work and requiring controlled
conditions for production. Depending upon the size of work, the batching
equipment can vary from a small wheel barrow scale, feeding a portable
mixer to a complicated automatic or semi-automatic plant.
2. Mixing Concrete

During the process of mixing great care is taken to ensure that the materials are maintained in a
uniform condition. There are two different types of concrete mixing –
(a) Hand mixing.
(b) Machine mixing.

(a) Hand mixing.

• This method is used with advantage in places, where machinery cannot be used on account of
their non-availability or in situations where noise is not desirable or for smaller quantity of mix.
• Hand mixing is done on a clean, hard and impermeable surface. Cement and sand are first
mixed with the help of shovels until the mixture attains a uniform colour. Aggregates are then
added to this mixture and the whole mixture is then turned by shovels until the stone pieces
are uniformly spread throughout.
• After this, computed quantity of water is poured into the heap from can fitted with a nose.
The mass is then turned until a workable mixture is obtained.
• It is usual practice to use 10 percent more cement in case of hand mixing than that specified in
the design mix. This is done to take care of lesser efficiency and inferior results of hand mixing
than that achieved of machine mixing.

(b) Machine mixing.

Machine used for mixing concrete is termed as concrete mixer. Two types of concrete mixers are
in common use.
(i) Continuous mixers
(ii) Batch mixers

i. Continuous mixers are employed in massive construction, where a large and

continuous flow of concrete is desired. The process of feeding the mixing plant is
more or less automatic. The machine requires careful supervision
ii. In Batch type of concrete mixer, the desired proportions of materials are fed into the
hopper of a drum in which the materials get mixed by the series of blades of baffles
inside the mixer.

Batch mixers are further divided into two main types-viz,

a. tilting drum type and
b. closed drum type

Tilting drum type: the components of concrete mix are fed in the revolving drum in a
tilting position and after some time the concrete mix is discharged by tilting the drum in
the opposite direction.

Closed drum type: The drum remains rotating in one direction and is emptied by means of
the hopper which tilts to receive the discharge.

While using the mixture, coarse aggregates should be fed first, sand and then cement. In
the revolving state, the components get mixed while water is poured with the help of a
can. The concrete should be mixed for at least 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.