CONCRETE

CONCRETE
• most widely used construction material in the world
• a mixture of Portland cement, aggregates (gravel and sand), water, and
admixtures

Cement → powder
Cement + water → cement paste
Cement paste + fine aggregate → mortar
Cement + coarse and fine aggregate +
water → concrete
ADVANTAGES
• High compressive strength
• Resists fire and water penetration
• Very rigid
• Low maintenance requirement
• Long service life
• Economical
• Uses inexpensive local materials
• Low-level skill labor required
DISADVANTAGES
• Low tensile strength consequently
requires tension reinforcement (typically
steel bars called rebar)
• Typically requires forms, falsework,
shoring during construction
• Heavy, resulting in a large dead weight
• Possible quality control issues with
variations in proportions, mixing, placing,
and curing
• Shrinkage and creep
 PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

Compressive Strength Tensile Strength Flexural Strength

PROPERTIES OF FRESHLY MIXED CONCRETE

Definition
Consistency The relative mobility of the concrete mix or the ability to flow. Measured in terms
of slump and a close indication of workability.
Stability The concrete mix resistance to segregation.
Uniformity The degree of proper distribution of constituents to ensure a near homogeneous
mixture.
Workability The ability to place, consolidate, and finish freshly mixed concrete without adverse
segregation, or separation of constituent materials, during transportation and
handling.
Placeability The ability of a fresh concrete mix to be placed in the formwork during
construction and is characterized by the requirements of consistency and
workability.
 METHODS FOR PROPORTIONING
CONCRETE MIXES
1. Arbitrary Method
➢determining ingredients by relative
proportion of volume or weight (for
example, 1:2:4, which stands for 1 part
cement, 2 parts sand, 4 parts coarse
aggregate)
➢ 1 : 1 : 2 and 1 : 1.2 : 2.4 for very high strength.
➢ 1 : 1.5 : 3 and 1 : 2 : 4 for normal works.
➢ 1 : 3 : 6 and 1 : 4 : 8 for foundations
and mass concrete works
FOR DIFFERENT GRADES OF CONCRETE

Cube Testing- Bristish and Indian Standard

Cylinder Testing- American Standard
2. Water Cement Ratio

3. Rule of Thumb
METHODS OF MIXING
• Hand mixing.
– Mixing concrete by manual labor. It is generally for small works and
in special cases where noise is to be avoided.

Sand + Cement >> Gravel >> Water

• Machine Mixing
– This is adopted by big projects where large quantity of concrete is required
continuously.
– The machine mixing requires less quantity of cement than hand mixing. The
concrete is produced at a much faster rate
General principles:
➢ Concrete should be mixed for at least 1 minute and
preferably for 3 minutes.
➢ Under normal conditions, 10% of the mixing water
should be placed in the drum before adding dry
materials.
➢ Water should then be added uniformly with dry
materials leaving 10% to be added after all the
materials are placed in the drum.
➢ The mixer should not be loaded above their rated
capacity.
➢ The speed of the mixer is generally 15 revolutions
per minute.
METHODS OF COMPACTION
• Hand ramming.
– For unimportant works,
compaction can be carried out
be hand methods like ramming,
tamping, spading and slicing
with suitable tools. Hand
methods require use of fairly
wet concrete.

• Vibrators.
– The mechanical devices which
are used for compaction of
concrete in the formwork
LABORATORY TESTS FOR CONCRETE
• Slump Test
• Split Tensile Strength Test
• Compressive Strength Test
• Flexural Strength
SLUMP TEST
COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH TEST
ASTM C39
SPLIT TENSILE STRENGTH
ASTM C496
FLEXURAL STRENGTH TEST
ASTM C78

Beam mould of size 15 x 15x 70 cm (when size of

aggregate is less than 38 mm) or of size 10 x 10 x 50 cm
(when size of aggregate is less than 19 mm)