Know About Concrete

• The word concrete comes from the Latin word "concretus"

(meaning compact or condensed)
• Single most widely and extensively used man-made construction
material in the world
• Why we need to understand concrete better compared to steel ?
– In curriculum, more importance is given to steel compared to
concrete- however, man on the job should know more about
concrete
• Steel is manufactures under controlled condition- quality is
well tested – quality of the steel is not a big worry in the
site
• Concrete quality changes with site condition – sound
knowledge of the material is important – skilled manpower
is required
 What is Concrete?
• Ingredients: Cement, water and aggregates ( coarse and
fine)
– Pozzolan; Fly ash; blast-furnace slag; admixtures;
fibers; recycled concrete aggregate, etc.
Concrete = Filler + Binder
Types: Portland cement concrete, asphalt concrete, and
epoxy concrete
• Strength and durability: Function of degree of
compaction, properties of ingredients, proportion of
ingredients-mix proportion ( Ref. Fig.1)
 Amount of Amount of
Water Cement

Quality and Quantity Composition quality,

Quantity

Transporting,
Compaction
placing
Durability and
Curing Strength of Mix design
concrete

Size, shape, grading Size, shape, grading quality,

quality, moisture moisture
Amount of Amount of
Course Fine
aggregate aggregate

Fig.1 – important factors affecting strength of concrete

 Components of modern concrete
• Ingredinets: Portland cement; water; fine aggregate; course
aggregate.
– calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H)
– Manufacturing of modern concrete is responsible for 7% of
the global carbon emission
• Definition of each component according to ASTM C 125 (
Standard Definition of Terms Relating to Concrete and Concrete
Aggregates)
• Aggregate: granular material such as sand, gravel, crushed stone,
crushed blast-furnace slag, construction and demolition waste
– Coarse aggregate : particle larger than 4.75 mm ( No. 4 Sieve)
– Fine aggregate : particle size < 4.75 mm but > 75 µm (No. 200
sieve)
• Mortar: Mixture of sand, cement and water
• Grout: It is mixture of cementitious material and aggregate (
usually fine aggregate), to which sufficient amount of water is
added to produce a pouring consistency without segregation of the
components
• Cement: Finely pulverized, dry material that develop binding
property as a result of hydration
• Admixtures: materials other than aggregates, hydraulic cement,
water, which are added to the concrete batch before or during
mixing
– Water reducing admixtures can plasticize fresh concrete by
reducing surface tension ( e.g. lignosulfonate-based
plasticizers, naphthalene and melamine sulfonate-based)
– Air entraining admixtures can improve the durability of the
concrete exposed to cold weather
– Mineral admixtures can reduce thermal cracking (e.g.
pozzolans)
Active ingredients Inactive ingredients/
inner matrix

Cement
+
(admixtures)

Cement
Paste

Mortar
Water

Fine Concrete
aggregate
Coarse
aggregate

Components of concrete of concrete

 Components of ancient concrete
• Ingredinets: hydrate lime; pozzolan ash; few
pieces of fist-sized rock.
– calcium-aluminum-silicate-hydrate (C-A-S-H)
– Manufacturing of ancient concrete impart less
carbon footprint compared to modern
concrete
– Roman concrete has withstood in aggressive
maritime environments for > 2,000 years
– One of the reason for the superiority of the
roman mortar – good mixing and long
continued ramming
Colosseum, Rome Pathion, Rome

Source of images: Web

 Components of Raman concrete
This scanning electron microscope
image shows crystals of a rare mineral,
Al-tobermorite, magnified about 25,000
times. UC Berkeley researchers
characterized Al-tobermorite in samples
of Roman concrete. (Image courtesy of
UC Berkeley)
Source of images: Web
Drill core of volcanic ash-hydrated lime mortar
from the ancient port of Baiae in Pozzuloi Bay.
Yellowish inclusions are pumice, dark stony
fragments are lava, gray areas consist of other
volcanic crystalline materials, and white spots
are lime. Inset is a scanning electron
microscope image of the special Al-tobermorite
crystals that are key to the superior quality of
Roman seawater concrete.
 Use of Concrete : Some Statistics
• Total world consumption of concrete is around 19 billion
tons in a year ( 1 ton = 1000 kg) – 2.71 ton/ head !
• This mount is 2 times higher than the total amount of
other construction materials, including wood, steel,
plastic and aluminum (Source: Cement Association of
Canada)
• The ratio of concrete consumption to steel consumption
exceeds 10 to 1.
• Concrete worldwide production exceeds that of steel by a
factor of ~10 in tonnage and by more than a factor of 30
in volume
Why concrete is so popular as engineering material
• Reason 1: Good stability in water – ideal
material for building structures to control,
store and transport water
– Structural elements exposed to
moisture- piles, foundations, roofs,
walls (exterior), pipes, treatment
plants etc.
• Reason 2: ease with which the structural concrete
elements can be formed various shapes and size
• Reason 3: Cheapest and most readily available

Concrete cloth

Source of images: Web

• A few reasons for the use of concrete
over steel
– Less Maintenance: does not
corrode, needs no surface
treatment, strength increases with
time
– Fire resistance: high fire
resistance- concrete conducts heat
slowly and is able to store
considerable quantities of heat
from the environment (can stand
6-8 hours in fire) and thus can be
used as protective coating for steel
structure
– Resistance to cyclic loading:
Fatigue strength of steel structures
is greatly influenced by local stress
fields in welded joints, corrosion
pitting, and sudden in change in
geometry
Source of images: Web
 Why concrete is so popular? Contd.
• Concrete can be prepared in ambient
condition: Hydration and setting reactions
takes place in ambient conditions
• Energy efficiency: Low energy consumption
for production, compare with steel
– The requirement:
• plain concrete- 450-750 kWh/ ton
• reinforced concrete 800-3200 concrete
kWh/ton
• 8000 kWh/ton for structural steel
• Ability to consume waste: Many industrial
wastes can be incorporated into concrete as
substitute for cement or aggregate.
– Examples are fly ash, furnace slag;
recycled concrete aggregate, etc.
• Less maintenance required: No coating or steel
painting is needed as for steel structures

Source of images: Web

 Demerits of concrete
• Quasi-brittle failure mode: Concrete is a type of
quasi-brittle material. (Solution: Reinforced
concrete)
• Concrete has Low tensile strength: About 1/10 of
its compressive strength – cracks easily (solution:
reinforced concrete)
• Low toughness: The ability to absorb energy is low
(Improvements: Fiber reinforced concrete)
• Fresh concrete shrink on drying and hardened
concrete expand on wetting – leads to crack
formation (solution: provision for contraction and efflorescence
expansion joints)
• Concrete expands and contracts with temperature
changes (solution: provision for expansion joints
to avoid cracks due to thermal movement)
• Concrete is not 100% impervious and contains
soluble salts which may cause efflorescence
Source of images: Web
• Susceptible to sulfate and alkali attack
• Formwork is needed: Formwork fabrication is labor intensive and
time consuming, hence costly (Improvement: Precast concrete)
• Long curing time: Full strength development needs a month.
(Improvements: Steam curing)

Steam curing
curing

Precast concrete formwork

 Types of modern concrete
• Classification based on unit weight
– Normal weight concrete – unit weight 2400 kg/m3
– Light weight concrete – unit weight – 1800 kg/3
– Heavy weight concrete - unit weight – 3200 kg/m3
• Classification based on compressive strength
– Low Strength Concrete (LSC) : compressive strength< 20 MPa (20
N/mm2)
– Moderate Strength Concrete (MSC) - compressive strength 20-40
MPa (20-40 N/mm2)
– High Strength Concrete- compressive strength> 40 MPa (40 N/mm2)
• Classification based on mixing condition
– Site mix concrete
– Ready mix concrete
– Precast concrete
Parameters LSC MSC HSC
Cement 255 356 510
Water 178 178 178
Fine aggregate 801 848 890
Coarse aggregate 1169 1032 872

Water/cement by 18 30 60
mass Strength

Typical proportion of materials in concrete mixtures

 Grades of Concrete
• Grading based on Plain and reinforced concrete code or practice :
IS 456 : 2000 (Clause 6.1, 9.2.22, 15.1.1 and 36.1)
• Grading is done based on compressive strength
Group Grade Compressive strength of
150 mm cube at 28 days
(N/mm2)
Ordinary concrete M10 10
M15 15
M20 20
Standard concrete M25 25
M30 30
M35 to M55 35 to 55
High strength concrete M60 60
M65- M80 65-80

M refers to mix Don’t follow standard

design parameters
 Module 3
• Properties of fresh concrete - workability –
measurement of workability – process of
manufacturing of concrete –Statistical and
quality control of concrete
 Fresh concrete

• Various activities during early ages of concrete

Removal of
Mixing consolidation frame work

Transport to
Finishing Characteristics of
the site
fresh concrete like
workability and
setting affects these
activities
Placement
Curing
in the forms
 Workability of concrete
• Workability (ASTM C 125) – the property determining the effort
required to manipulate a freshly mixed quantity of concrete with
minimum loss of homogeneity
– Manipulate means the early age operations like placing,
compaction, and finishing
• Road Research Work, UK - workability is defined as the property
of the concrete which determines the amount of useful internal
work necessary to produce full compaction
• Ease with which concrete can be compacted fully having regard to
mode of compaction and place of deposition
Degree of Workability:
 Factors affecting workability
• Water content
– Typically higher the water content , the higher the fluidity of the concrete
– Better to avoid practice of adding water to improve the workability at the
site – this should be the last option to improve the workability – W/C should
be maintained constant to avoid strength loss.
– Influence of mixture proportion- Water/cement , aggregate/cement, and
water content
– High consistency – tend to bleed and segregate
– Low consistency – difficult to place and compact ; coarse aggregate may
segregate on palcement
 • Mixproportion
– Aggregate to cement ratio (A/C)
• –higher is the A/g, leaner is the mix - less workability
• Lower the A/C ratio, more paste is available to make the paste more
workable

Water content
Case 1 W/C W/C
A/C increases and
thus consistency

Case 2 W/C W W/C decreases-

A/C
Consistency ?
• Aggregate characteristics:
 Size of aggregate: higher size – less water requirement
– With in a certain limit, for a given quantity of
– Fine sand requires more water –at given water content, fine sand produce
harsh concrete compared to coarse sand
 Shape of aggregate:
– Angular, flaky or elongated aggregates demands more water. One the other
hand, well rounded aggregate consume less water and produce more workable
concrete
• Rounded aggregate- Less surface area and less voids per given volume or
weight of sand
 Surface texture
– Rough textured aggregate produce less workable concrete – high inter-particle
friction
 Grading of aggregate
– Well graded aggregate – good workability at given amount of cement paste

• Admixtures
– Plasticizers and Super Plasticizers
 Segregation and Bleeding of concrete
Segregation of concrete: separation of ingredients of a heterogeneous
mixture so that their distribution is no longer uniform
Reasons: difference in size of the aggregate; difference in specific
gravity of constituent of mix; dropping of concrete from a height;
badly designed mix
Types of segregation:
1. segregation due to faster settling of coarser particles compared to
finer particles – normally happened in poorly graded lean mix of
concrete
2. in wet mix- the separation of grout form the mix
• Bleeding of concrete
– Separation of components of concrete due to rise of water to the surface of
freshly prepared concrete – this is also referred as water gain- More common
in wet mix
– Problems – less strength; high permeability due to formation of water
channels;
– Laitance – the accumulation of cement and water at the surface of fresh
concrete. This normally happens due to excessive use of trowel or float to
level the concrete surface
• More dust in summer and mud in rainy season – more shrinkage cracks

– How to minimize bleeding

» Proper proportioning; uniform and complete mixing ; finely divided
pozzolanic material; using air entraining compounds; using rich mix;
using finer cement
• Method of testing bleeding
 Measurement of workability

• Slump test
• Compaction factor test
• Vee Bee Consistometer test
• Flow test
• Kelly ball test
• Slump test – ASTM C – 143 ( IS 456 -2000)
• Suitable to asses the uniformity of the concrete from batch to batch
• Not suitable for lean mix – no variation can be observed with mixes of
different workability
• Rich mixes are sensitive to slump
• According to IS 456 -2000,
– the slump test should not be used to asses the workability of concrete for:
• very ‘low category” workability where s srtict control is necessary –
pavement quality control
• Very “high category” of workability
SI. No Description of work Recommended slump
in cm

1 Road work 2.5 to 5.0

2 Ordinary beams to slabs| 5 to 10
3 Columns thin vertical section & retaining Walls etc 7.5 to 12.5

4 Mass concrete(Runway, |Pavements) 2.5 to 5

• K-slump test – Assignment

• Compaction factor test (IS: 5515- 1983)
• This measures the degree of compaction achieved when a concrete is subjected
to standard amount of work
• Degree of compaction or compaction factor = density of partially compacted
concrete ( from test) / density of fully compacted concrete
– More accurate than slump cone test
– Suitable for dry mix – mix with low workability
– Developed in UK
 Values of
SL. No Placing condition Degree of

0.75 to 0.80
1 Concreting with shallow section Very low
with vibration
2 Concreting of lightly reinforced Low 0.8 to 0.85
section with vibration
3 Concreting of lightly reinforced Medium 0.85 to 0.92
section without vibration or
heavily reinforced with vibration
4 Concreting of heavily Reinforced High 0.92 to
section without vibration above
reinforced
• Tattersall test
– Tattersall proposed a two point test assuming fresh concrete to be
Bingham fluid
– The test procedure involves measuring the power required to operate
a mixer at three different speeds. The mixer is operated at two
different conditions: 1. full with a batch of 21 kg of concrete; 2. empty
– The value for plastic viscosity are obtained by plotting (P-Pe)/w
against w,
– w is the speed
– P is power required when bowl is full
– Pe is power when bowl is empty

τ = τo + μγ

τ = shear stress at rate of shear γ

τo = yield stress – show the threshold value for the flow to begin
μ = plastic viscosity – resistance of fluid to flow
• Flow test
– Useful test to understand the quality of concrete w.r.t. consistency,
cohesiveness and segregation
– The test procedure consist of measuring the flow or spread of
concrete subjected to jolting
• Flow test Procedure:
Fill the mould kept on the flow table in standard manner in two layers
and lift the mould vertically
– Raise the table vertically upward ( 12.5 mm) and dropped 15 times in
about 5 seconds.
– Flow percent = [(spread diameter in cm – 25)/25] x100
• Kelly ball test: this test involves the measurement of indentation made by
15 cm diameter hemisphere (13.6 kg ) when freely placed on a fresh
concrete
• Not covered in IS code
• Minimum depth of concrete required = 20 cm
• Minimum distance b/w center of ball to the edge of concrete = 23 cm
• Vee bee test (ACI 211.3)
• Procedure: refer concrete manual

CONSISTENCY VEE-BEE DEGREES CHARACTERISTICS

Moist earth 40 to 25-20 Particles of CA I the concrete are adhesives , but concrete does not clot .
risk of segregation.
Very dry 20 to 15-10 Concrete has the consistency of very stiff porridge, forms a stiff mound
when dumped, and barely tends to shake or roll itself to form an almost
horizontal surface when for a long time in, say, a wheel-barrow.
dry 10 to 7-5 Conveyed concrete has the consistency of stiff porridge, forms a mound
when dumped, and shakes or rolls itself to form a horizontal surface
when conveyed for a long time in, say, a wheel barrow.
Plastic 5 to 4-3 Concrete can be shaped into a ball between the palms of the hands, and
adheres to the skin.
Semi-fluid 3 to 2-1 Concrete cannot be rolled into a ball between the palms of the hands, but
spreds out even though slowly and without affecting the cohesion of the
constituents so that segregation does not occur.
fluid More fluid than 1 Concrete spreads out rapidly and segregation takes place
 Process of manufacturing of concrete

• Various activities during early ages of concrete

Batching Removal of
consolidation frame work

Mixing
Group -1
Finishing Group -2
Group-3
Transport to Group -4
the site Group -5
Group-6
Group- 7
Curing Group -8
Placement
in the forms
 Batching

Volume Weight
basis basis

Mixing

Hand Machine
 Setting time
• Setting time is defined as the onset of solidification in fresh concrete
mixture
• Setting times are typically measured by penetration resistance method (IS
8142-1976; ASTM C 403)
• Initial set represents approximately the time at which fresh concrete can
no longer be properly mixed, placed, and compacted.
• Final set represents the time after which strength begins to develop at a
significant rate.
• Factors affecting setting time, temperature, W/C, type of cement, use of
mineral admixtures, use of plasticizers
Procedure
 Fluid beginning of mechanical strength Rigid

Transition (setting)

Limits of handling

The progress of setting and hardening in concrete

•Initial set – time at which the penetration resistance is 3.5 MPa
Final set – time at which the penetration resistance is 27.6 Mpa (
compressive strength ~ 0.7 MPa)

Needle with different bearing area

Concrete penetration test apparatus

 Plastic shrinkage/ presetting shrinkage
• The reduction in volume of fresh concrete during and
associate formation of surface cracks – this shrinkage
occurs while the concrete is still in the plastic stage
• This shrinkage cracks are due the rapid loss of water
from the surface of concrete before it has set.
• Critical condition = rate evaporation is more than the
rate of bleeding
• The cracks will develop if the concrete near the
surface has become stiff to move but is not strong
enough yet to withstand the tensile stress caused by
the restrained shrinkage
• Typical plastic shrinkage cracks are parallel to each
other on the order of 0.3 to 1 m apart and 25 to 50
mm deep.
•
• Reasons for plastic shrinkage
– High wind velocity ( 5 m/h)
– Low RH Rapid water loss due to
– High ambient temperature evaporation
– High concrete temperature
– Bulging or settlement of the frame work
– Bleeding
– Absorption of water by forms or aggregates
• When the rate of evaporation exceeds 1 kg/m2 h (ACI 305) – special care should
be taken
– Moisten the sugared and forms
– Moisten the aggregates that are dry and absorptive
– Erect temporary wind breaks to reduce wind velocity over the concrete
surface
– Erect temporary sunshades to reduce concrete surface temperature
– Keep the fresh concrete temperature low
– Reduce the time delay between placing and curing
– Protect concrete immediately after fining by wet burlap, fog spray and curing
compound
 Wet burlap

Curing compounds:
Antisol®-E
Antisol®-A
 Temperature of concrete
• Hot weather – plastic shrinkage cracking
• Cold weather - curing may affected - low rate of strength development
• No strength gain occurs when concrete is frozen below -10 0C. Should be
protected from freezing until adequate strength has been gained ( 3.5 MPa –
ACI 306R)
• No external heat may required for satisfactory curing if concrete well insulated.
Make sure that concrete is supplied at the right temperature