REFLECTION PAPER

As a Civil Engineering student, we knew that Construction Materials Testing (CMT) is the testing
of materials used to build new projects, add to existing projects, or amend existing construction
projects. The services involved in a comprehensive CMT process greatly depends on the project,
the land, and the scope of services. Various agencies offer certification for specific CMT
knowledge, such as DOT, ACI, the EPA, and more. There are a lot of topics in this subject but,
this will give us a lot of important knowledge and experience that we can use in the future.
There are topics in this subjects that are unfamiliar to us, but this is the reason why we
need to study it. Civil engineering testing equipment is used in the quality control processes
associated with the analysis of soils, concrete, asphalt, bitumen, cement and mortar, steel,
aggregates, and other materials used in civil engineering. Civil engineering projects largely
depend on the quality of their materials therefore, testing equipment capable of providing
consumers with accurate and repeatable results is imperative. Then I realized that Aggregates,
Water absorption and Abrasion test are important in studying on how to make a
perfect/economical concrete. This is where we going to use computation. Steel reinforcing bar,
or rebar, is embedded in concrete to improve the overall strength of the concrete that
surrounds it. Material products standards exist to help ensure that rebar produced throughout
the world exhibits the same physical, chemical, and mechanical properties regardless of the
source. Proper mechanical testing is then necessary for determining if the rebar meets its
published specifications, ensuring the quality of the product. Density, Specific weight and
Specific gravity these three has a different formula that is important to easily solve the
problem. determination of time setting of hydraulic cement, and to understand the operation
of universal testing machine and compression machine. The standard testing for the
determination of setting time of hydraulic cement is the AASHTO T 131 and ASTM C 191 which
is the time of setting of hydraulic cement by Vicat needle. And the AASHTO 154 and ASTM C
266 which is the time of setting of hydraulic cement by Gillmore needles. This also introduced
to us the apparatuses that are used for this testing which are the Vicat Apparatus, the digital
balance, the graduated cylinders, glass plate, flat trowel, conical ring, and mixing tray. field tests
of construction materials which where how to check if a brick is good, how to check if a cement
is good, how to check if sand is good, how to check if stone chips are good. This chapter also
tackled the field compaction methods for soils. Compaction is the densification of soil materials
using mechanical energy. Soil is compacted by removing air and water from its pore space. It
also states that we must be familiarized with the ASTM or AASHTO standards for modified and
standard proctors to better aid in our understanding. California bearing ratio test on subgrade
soil is a test to determine the California bearing ratio value of the subgrade soil. Soil infiltration
testing protocol, the purpose of this protocol is the soil infiltration testing protocol describes
evaluation and field procedures to determine if infiltration BMPs are suitable at a site, this is as
well to obtain the required data for infiltration BMP design. Also, I learned how to solve for the
compressive strength of concrete hollow blocks. Also showed us different types of cementitious
materials which are Portland cement, blended hydraulic cement, hydrated lime, Type S, ground
granulated blast furnace slag, pozzolans. Types of masonry are veneer masonry, dry set
masonry, solid masonry, and brick. Types of concrete blocks or concrete masonry units used in
construction are concrete stretcher blocks, concrete corner blocks, concrete pillar blocks, jamb
concrete blocks, partition concrete block, lintel blocks, frogged brick blocks, and bullnose
concrete block. Last of what I learned in CMT is general properties of materials which were also
briefly mentioned on chapter 1 which are the physical properties, the mechanical properties,
the thermal properties, the chemical properties, the economic characteristics, and the aesthetic
properties. It also mentions the formulas on how to calculate the density of the material, the
unit weight, the specific gravity, porosity, Void's ratio, water absorption, stress, and strain.
I concluded that I learned a lot in Chapter 1 to 13 even though there is always a conflict in our
schedule but using the Reporting I understand most of the topic and especially my topic where I
reported it in video. Also, this subject will help me in the future.