ANSWERS

PART-A

SECTION-1:

1. Concrete
material formed by mixing cement, coarse and fine aggregate and water, with or without the
incorporation of admixtures and additions, which develops its properties by hydration of the
cement

2. Admixtures
admixtures are chemicals that are added during concrete mixing to achieve or alter specific
properties in fresh and hardened concrete. Despite usually relative small quantities used in
concrete mixtures comparing to other components, chemical admixtures have great impact on a
variety of properties: workability, air content, accelerated or retarded hydration reaction,
strength, corrosion resistance, drying shrinkage resistance, and durability. Among many types of
chemical admixtures, air-entraining admixtures and water-reducing admixtures (WRAs) are
commonly used in modern concrete.

3. Mineral additives
finely divided material used in concrete in order to improve certain properties or to achieve
special properties.

4. Ready-mixed concrete
concrete delivered in a fresh state by a person or body who is not the user. Ready-mixed
concrete in the sense of this standard is also: — concrete produced off site by the user; —
concrete produced on site, but not by the user.

5. Precast concrete
produce concrete product cast and cured in a place other than the final location of use

6. Light-weight concrete
concrete having an oven-dry density of not less than 800 kg/m3 and not more than 2 000
kg/m3. It is produced using light-weight aggregate for all or part of the total aggregate.

7. High strength concrete

concrete with a compressive strength class higher than C50/60 in the cases of normal-weight or
heavy-weight concrete and LC50/55 in the case of light-weight concrete

8. Pumping concrete
The concrete has pumpability which can be pumped to high place by pumping station or
pumping truck .

9. Cubic meter of concrete

 quantity of fresh concrete which, when compacted in accordance with the procedure given in
EN 12350-6, occupies a volume of one cubic meter

10. Water/cement or binder ratio

ratio of the effective water content to cement and binder content by mass in the fresh concrete

11. Characteristic strength

value of strength below which 5 % of the population of all possible strength determinations of
the volume of concrete under consideration, are expected to fall

12. Target mean strength

fcm = fck + 1.65𝛔
Where, fcm = Target mean strength, fck = compressive strength, 𝛔 = standard deviation

13. Standard deviation

Standard deviation for concrete is the method to determine the reliability between the
compressive strength results of a concrete batch. The standard deviation serves as the basis for
control of variability in the test results of concrete for the same batch of concrete.

It is a statistical method that is based on the correlation analysis, testing of hypothesis, analysis
of variance, and regression analysis to compare two or more series of compressive strength of
concrete concerning their variability.
In simple words, the standard deviation manifests the range of dispersion or variation in the
result that exists from the mean, average, or expected value.

14. Entrained air

microscopic air bubbles intentionally incorporated in concrete during mixing, usually by use of a
surface active agent; typically between 10 µm and 300 µm in diameter and spherical or nearly
so

15. Saturated surface dry ( SSD) condition

All pores connected to the surface are filled with water but the surface is dry. The aggregate is
neither absorbent nor does it contribute water to the concrete mixture.

16. Water absorption

The effective absorption (EA) represents the amount of water required to bring an aggregate
from the air-dry state to the SSD, expressed as a fraction of the SSD weigh.

17. Superplasticizers
Superplasticizers are additions that allow a given degree of workability to be obtained at a
reduced water/cement ratio. The ratio may be reduced by up to 20% in the presence of, for
example, sulphonated naphthalene formaldehyde condensate, which is absorbed at the
solid/liquid interface. They have the effect of neutralizing the surface attractions between
individual particles of the cement, causing them to form a less open structure, which therefore
requires less water to fill spaces and provide fluidity to the paste. By decreasing the
water/cement ratio in this way, superplasticizers act to increase the strength of the cement
product.
 By the addition of both superplasticizers and microsilica, cements with a six-fold increase in
tensile strength have been achieved.

18. Water reduction rate

The rate which is calculated after using the admixtures compared reference .

19. Self-compacting concrete

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is an innovative concrete that does not require vibration for
placing and compaction. It is able to flow under its own weight, completely filling formwork and
achieving full compaction, even in the presence of congested reinforcement. The hardened
concrete is dense, homogeneous and has the same engineering properties and durability as
traditional vibrated concrete

20. Setting time

Initial setting time : The time to which concrete can be moulded in any desired shape without
losing it strength is called Initial setting time of concrete or the time at which cement starts
hardens and completely loses its plasticity is called Initial setting time of concrete. Or the time
available for mixing the concrete and placing it in position is an Initial setting time of concrete. If
delayed further, concrete loses its strength.
Final setting time : The time at which concrete completely loses its plasticity and became hard is
a final setting time of concrete .or the time taken by concrete to gain its entire strength is a Final
setting time of concrete.

21. . Alkali-silica reaction

alkali–silica reaction (ASR) is the one that involves the aggregates. Aggregates constitute about
three-quarter of the volume of concrete, and therefore their physical and chemical properties
need to be correctly assessed before their use in concrete. Since the 1940s, considerable
research has been developed to determine which components of the rocks and minerals
contribute to the chemical reaction involved in this process of deterioration. However, a lot still
remains to be understood. In the present article, an introduction to the subject is made,
focusing mainly on the mechanisms and on the manifestations of the ASR.

22. Fineness-modulus
The grain gradation and coarseness of sand are determined by screen residue analysis. Grading
region and fineness modulus can be used to express the gradation and the coarseness of sand
particles respectively. A set of square-hole sieves whose diameters are 4.75 mm, 2.36 mm, 1.18
mm, 0.60 m, 0.30 mm and 0.150 mm are adopted specifically. Screen 500 g dry sand obtained
by sample splitting device from coarseness to fineness, then weigh their screen residue, and
calculate their percentage a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6 (which means the mass of screen residue to the
mass of the total sample sand) and the percentage of cumulative screen residue A1, A2, A3, A4,
A5, A6 (which refers to the screen residue of one sieve to the sum of all the unit screen residue
percentages whose sieves are thicker than it).

23. Bulk density of aggregate

The bulk density or unit weight of an aggregate is the mass or weight of the aggregate required
to fill a container of a specified unit volume. The volume referred to here is that occupied by
both aggregates and the voids between aggregate particles
24. Relative density of aggregate
Relative density (specific gravity) is the ratio of mass of an aggregate to the mass of a volume of
water equal to the volume of the aggregate particles – also referred to as the absolute volume
of the aggregate. It is also expressed as the ratio of the density of the aggregate particles to the
density of water. Distinction is made between the density of aggregate particles and the bulk
density of aggregates

25. Concrete density

Unite weight of concrete is the mass or weight of the aggregate required to fill a container of a
specified unit volume .

PART B
Section-1

1. A ; 2.C; 3.B; 4.A; 5.D ; 6.A; 7.C; 8.A; 9.D; 10.A; 11.C; 12.C; 13.A; 14.A; 15.A; 16.A;
17.A; 18.B; 19.A; 20.A .

Section-2
1. Increasing workability , reducing flowability , Significantly reducing the strength .

2. Reduce the dosage of admixtures or water , reduce water reduction part of admixture .

3. Adding waterproofing admixtures , micro Silica , fly ash, expanding agent, etc.

4. Physical test such as Ph ,Specific gravity, solid content , comparison test by cement past and
mortar test, if needed , the trail of concrete shall be carried out as well .

5. Make the mix design

Prepare materials
Check the moisture content and correct mix design
Weigh the materials
Mix all material after weighed
Check the slump and others parameters as per requirement
Check the retention time
Cast the cube or cylinder as per requirement

6. Flow shall be more 450 mm , concrete shall not be hard and sticky . and no bleeding and
segregation is appeared .
If concrete is bleeding and segregation , the filling pipe maybe blocked , and can not
continuously cast the concrete , the broken pile maybe occurred.

7. Increase slump retention type PC , such as PC-550, PC-210 etc. or use the less water reduction
 type PC such as PC-260 .

Section-3
1.

Weight Batch weight

Water Moisture Adjusted
Items for 1m3 for 0.025 m3 /
absorption content weight /kg
/kg kg

Cement 400.0 / 400.00 10.00

Fine Aggregate 780 .0 1.1% 12.62 % 869.86 21.75

Coarse
1120.0 0.4% 2.15 % 1139.6 28.49
Aggregate

Water 165.0 / 55.54 1.39

Admixtures 4.0 / 4.0 100g

2.
1) Proposed coarse aggregate ratio=70% of 20mm coarse aggregate : 30% of 10mm coarse
aggregate
2) Combined coarse aggregate density= 1650x0.7+1600x0.3=1635 kg/m3
3) Volume of coarse aggregate = 0.64 m3
4) Coarse aggregate content=1635 x 0.64=1046 kg
5) Water content=216 kg (from table ) x 70% = 151 kg
6) Volume of water=0.151
7) Cement content=150 / 0.35=431 kg
8) Volume of cement = (397/3.15)/1000 = 0.126
9) Volume of Coarse aggregate = (1046/2.7)/1000=0.387
10) Volume of fine aggregate = 1-0.151-0.126-0.387-0.02=0.316
11) Fine aggregate content=2.6 x 0.316=821 kg
12) Final mix design proportion
Cement : 431 kg
10mm coarse aggregate: 732
20mm coarse aggregate: 314
Fine aggregate : 821
Water: 151
Admixtures : 3.45 kg

3. Cement: 380
C/A : 1038
Fine aggregate : 850
Water :152
Admixtures: 3.04