Resilient Construction

Stronger, Safer Communities

Concrete structures play a critical role in making communities stronger and safer. Of
all construction materials for buildings and other infrastructure, concrete is by far the
most disaster-resilient.

Concrete can be incorporated in several key aspects to make projects more durable
and disaster resistant. For example, concrete wall, floor and roof systems offer an
unsurpassed combination of structural strength and wind resistance. In addition,
hardened exterior finishes for walls and roofs of a home or business provide the best
combination of strength and security.

Resilient communities start with comprehensive planning, including stricter building

codes that produce robust structures with long service lives. More durable buildings
with high-performance features that incorporate concrete and cement promote
community continuity.

Buildings and structures with resilient design and materials are not only better able to
recover following disasters, such as hurricanes or fires, they are also the new “green”
buildings. Builders, architects, and designers have come to recognize that more
durable public buildings, private homes, and businesses, often built with concrete to
resist damage from natural disasters, also reduce the impact entire communities
have on our planet.

Disasters
By The Numbers—The Cost of Disasters

 In 2017, the 16 largest weather events each caused over $1 billion in damage

 In the future, a number of factors, including climate change, will likely lead to
increased frequency of billion-dollar disasters.

 $1 spent on resilient building and construction can save $6 in recovery costs.

How Can Concrete Help?

 With reinforced concrete construction, people can shelter in place, the damage from
major storms is reduced, and affected communities will spend less energy and fewer
re- sources on emergency response, reconstruction, repair, and recovery.

 Sheltering inside a reinforced concrete building is one of the safest places to

be during a storm—most safe rooms and shelters are made with concrete systems.

 Because concrete is non-combustible, buildings made with it have good fire ratings,
allowing occupants time to escape to safety, and a good chance the structure will
survive.
Concrete for Disaster Resilience
During 2017, the U.S. experienced a historic year of weather and climate disasters with a
price tag of $306 billion to clean up and rebuild areas affected by extreme weather events.
There were 16 separate billion-dollar disaster events including: three tropical cyclones, eight
severe storms, two inland floods, a crop freeze, drought, and wildfire. Reinforced concrete
structures are inherently resilient, protecting occupants from disasters and reducing
recovery costs after the event. As these types of events are only expected to get stronger
and more frequent, U.S. taxpayers cannot afford to continue building and rebuilding the way
we did in the past. Concrete construction offers long-lasting solutions to build safe,
prosperous communities anywhere in the country.

What is the difference between cement and concrete?

Although the terms cement and concrete often are used interchangeably, cement is
actually an ingredient of concrete. Concrete is a mixture of aggregates and paste.
The aggregates are sand and gravel or crushed stone; the paste is water and
portland cement.

Cement comprises from 10 to 15 percent of the concrete mix, by volume. Through a

process called hydration, the cement and water harden and bind the aggregates into
a rocklike mass. This hardening process continues for years meaning that concrete
gets stronger as it gets older.

Portland cement is not a brand name, but the generic term for the type of cement
used in virtually all concrete, just as stainless is a type of steel and sterling a type of
silver. Therefore, there is no such thing as a cement sidewalk, or a cement mixer; the
proper terms are concrete sidewalk and concrete mixer.
 Concrete Ingredients
Concrete has been used as a building material for thousands of years. The main
ingredients have been the same, but new admixture technologies allow designers and
engineers to finely tune the final properties of the fully set concrete.

Four Main Ingredients

Concrete is made up of four main ingredients: water, Portland cement,
aggregates, and air. The ratio of the ingredients changes the properties of the
final product, which allows the engineer to design concrete that meets their
specific needs. Admixtures are added to adjust the concrete mixture for specific
performance criteria.

Water
The water in the concrete mix should be clean and free of impurities. The
amount of water relative to the amount of cement changes how easily the
concrete flows, but also affects the final strength of the concrete. More water
makes for easier flowing concrete, but also makes for lower strength concrete
upon curing.

Portland Cement
Cement hardens when mixed with water, which binds all of the ingredients
together. Portland cement is the most common cement used and is composed of
alumina, silica, lime, iron, and gypsum. Small amounts of other ingredients are
also included.

Aggregates
The majority of a concrete mixture is made up of both coarse and fine
aggregates, which help increase the strength of the concrete beyond what
cement can provide on its own. Sand, gravel, and crushed stone are used as
aggregates. Recycled materials, including blast furnace slag, glass (mostly for
decorative purposes), and ground-up concrete are starting to be used as
concrete aggregates.

Air
The fourth main ingredient of concrete is entrained air. While it usually isn't
considered an ingredient, the fact is that a concrete mix includes anywhere from
1% to 9% entrained air. Higher quantities of air should be included when the
concrete will be exposed to very cold or freezing conditions.
Admixtures
Admixtures accomplish a variety of goals. This can be as simple as adding a
pigment to color the concrete. Other admixtures are used for faster curing times
in cold weather, creating extremely high-strength concrete, or for increasing the
flowable nature of concrete without compromising the strength. Unfortunately,
admixtures can generate unwanted results such as poor adhesion of finish-
flooring. For this reason, many structural engineers and architects are hesitant to
use admixtutres. We have an article that covers a number of different
admixtures.

Hydration: A Chemical Reaction

While the moisture content reduces as the concrete sets, it is important to know
that concrete doesn't "dry." Rather, concrete sets through a chemical reaction
called hydration. This is why concrete can be placed under water.

The concrete starts to set as soon as water is added to the mix. Therefore, the
mix should be constantly moved to help keep the particles from binding together
(thus rotating concrete trucks.) Most job sites require the concrete to arrive and
be placed within 90 minutes from initial mixing, but admixtures can extend that
time.