P.S.

B POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE KELAMBAKKAM, CHENNAI

TITLE: MODERN TRENDS IN CONCRETE Presented by,

R. MOHANRAJ, 3rd YEAR DIPLOMA IN CIVIL ENGG P. PARAMASIVAM, 3rd YEAR DIPLOMA IN CIVIL ENGG

E.MAIL ID: MOHANVASAN.RAJ92@GMAIL.COM PHONE :9445106460 CONTACT ADDRESS: PSB POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE 46, RAJIV GANDHI ROAD (OMR) THAIYUR KELAMBAKKAM, CHENNAI 603 103.

CONTENTS

1. ABSTRACT 2. INTRODUCTION 3. FLEXIBLE CONCRETE 4. SPUN CONCRETE 5. 6. 7. WHISPER CONCRETE ULTRA-THIN WHITE- TOPPING CEMENTLESS CONCRETE

ABSTRACT
Modern trends of concrete construction that is the new or the growing techniques in concrete . In this we are showing the modern trends which can be used in the concrete and for introducing the new techniques ,for eg : cementless , un aggregated concrete etc which is seen below. And thereby giving the construction process for all the specified modern trend of concrete below

Introduction
Over 2000 years ago the blending of reddish volcanic earth with lime. This resulted in a fairly unique productconcrete that set under water. Undersea structures built at that time, are still existing today, though most of them are damaged or broken. Coming to more modern times, concrete was used for making boats. These boats were made by plastering concrete over an iron mesh boat shaped framework. This composite was named as Ferricement in early days and Ferrocement later on. It is still being used for making boats, water tanks, house components, irrigation & sanitation item etc. Such boats had many advantages since they were waterproof and leak proof . Next on our list, is fibre reinforced concrete. This product too, is not all that modern as, according to available records, the first fibre-reinforced concrete products were bricks, reinforced with straw fibres, which were in wide use some 3000 years ago. And do you know when Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) i.e. concrete mixed in a central batching plant and transported to different work sites, first made its appearance in 1903. Despite all that is mentioned above, modern-day concrete technologists need not feel that there is nothing new under the sun. Today, we have a number of innovative usage for concrete, most of whichas far as current knowledge goeswere unknown or even undreamt of, till just a few decades ago. These include flexible concrete, spun concrete, whisper concrete, ultra-thin concrete and even cementless concrete.

Flexible Concrete

The term flexible concrete seems to be an anomaly, since concrete is generally considered to be inflexible, as in a rigid road pavement. The requirement for a flexible form of concrete has been felt for many years, due to failure of concrete roads and bridge decks, when subject to severe stress by overloaded trucks going across them. In the mid-1990s, scientists decided to design a flexible form of concrete, which would be ductile and elastic. They gave their new product the name of Engineered Cement Composite (ECC) and started carrying out experiments with different trial mixes. The mix was similar to a normal concrete mix, except that there were no coarse aggregates in it. Also it contained around two percent fibres, compared to the normal half percent contained in ordinary fibre-reinforced concrete. Additionally, the fibres incorporated in ECC were specially coated ones; this coating allowed the fibres to slide within the concrete, thus imparting flexibility to it. The latest formula has given an end product that is 40 percent lighter in weight and 500 times more resistant to cracking, than normal concrete. This latest composite concrete has been used for a 5cm ultra-thin deck on a bridge in Japan. The 40 percent saving in weight has led to significant economies in construction cost especially in the understructure on which the dead load came.

Spun Concrete
Columns are vital part of most buildings. Load bearing columns, unfortunately, tend to be large in size. Though large columns can be fashioned and designed artistically, thus giving a pleasing appearance, they often take up vital space and obstruct free movement as well as vital viewability. Pre-stressing columns imparts additional load bearing capacity to them, thus allowing them to be made slimmer in size and permitting larger spacing between them but even then, their size can create problems.

To provide columns with even more load bearing strength.This technique results in the production of what is known as spun concrete. The procedure for making columns of spun concrete is roughly as follows. A steel mould in the shape of the column is made, in two halves. The reinforcement cage for the column is also made in two parts. One part is placed in each half of the mould, anchored to fixing devices, which are a part of the mould, and pretensioned. High strength concrete, up to M-100, is then poured into the mould halves. After that the halves are bolted together and placed in a centrifuge. The mould, with the concrete in it, is then spun for approximately 10 minutes, at 600 rpm. After that, the concrete is left to set, for between 12 to 16 hours, depending on various factors, such as strength required, column size, ambient conditions and so on. The mould is then removed and the column cured, then transported to the construction site. This process produces a very dense, high strength concrete structure. Heavy reinforcement ratios up to 15 percent, have enabled production of 28 metre high columns, having a diameter of only 70 cm, capable of taking loads up to 360 tonnes, by the use of spun concrete.

Whisper Concrete

One major disadvantage of concrete roads is that they are noisy; vehicles traveling on them produce a swishing sound, due to the friction between their tyres and the hard road surface. In European countries, where long stretches of concrete highways exists, this irritating swishswish was, and is, the cause of much annoyance for road users, and for those whose houses are situated in the vicinity of concrete roads. So much so that many countries have made it

mandatory to construct sound deflecting fences along concrete roads, wherever they pass through residential areas. In fact in UK, construction of concrete road pavements was actually banned for a few years due to noise pollution. And that is how Whisper Concrete came into being, although it was partly by accident. Simultaneously, there was an increase in vehicular speed, particularly on inter-city highways. This caused a greater wearing action on road surfaces and also an almost unbearable increase in the level of sound being produced. Smoothened pavements, worn down due to excessive wear and tear, led to skidding of vehicles, causing accidents; and noise pollution gave rise to headaches and other sound related psychological problems. Investigations into the causes of skidding, showed that when concrete pavements were initially laid, they were invariably given a non-skid surface by brooming; a method in which the surface of the road had grooves etched into it, by dragging steel-wire brooms across the top of the concrete pavement, before it had hardened fully. Initially, trial lengths of smoothened road surface, were overlaid with 40-50 mm of concrete having a maximum aggregate size of 6-8 mm. The surface of the new concrete, while still wet, was sprayed with a retarder consisting of glucose, water and alcohol; it was then immediately covered securely with polythene sheeting, to prevent evaporation. This particular retarder, as tests had shown, affected only the top 2 mm of the concrete. Once partial curing of the remaining concrete had taken place (anything between 8 to 36 hours later, depending on the ambient conditions), the polythene sheeting was removed, and the surface of the road was swept with a machine, which had stiff, rotating wire bristle brushes. These rotating brushes removed the cement mortar from the top 1.5 mm of the pavement, thus exposing the aggregate and making the surface rough enough for safe high-speed driving in wet weather.

When vehicles were driven at expressway speeds over these newly made antiskid surfaces, it was found to every ones surprise that, besides being safer to travel on, such exposed-aggregate pavements were much quieter than normal concrete surfaces. In fact, they eventually proved to be even quieter than blacktopped roads.

. Extremely happy with its performance, but not too pleased in having to build it in two layers, the Dutch carried out some trials of their own. They soon discovered that if the maximum aggregate size in the entire concrete mass was reduced to 20 mm, and a good percentage of small stone chippings added to the mix, whisper concrete pavements could be laid in a single pass. Though driving on such pavements was not as comfortable as on two-layer whisper concrete, the noise produced was somewhat less, apart from the considerable saving in time and money since only a single laying operation was involved. The British, traditionalists as usual, waited to see the experience of others and then took up the construction of whisper concrete pavements only in 1995. The guidelines provisionally enunciated by them, are probably the most suitable ones for use by those building whisper concrete roads for the first time. These include:

Under standard highway conditions, a concrete road should consist of a cement-bound sub-base, between 150-200 mm thick. On top of this, there should be 200 mm of CRCP, followed by 50 mm of whisper concrete surfacing. Existing concrete paving trains should be modified to lay the lower CRCP and the upper whisper concrete surface in the same pass. Full pavement width (even for double-lane roads) on each side of dual carriageway roads, should be laid in a single operation. Normally, 8 mm size coarse aggregate should be used in the surface layer. Not more than 3 percent of these should be oversized and 10 percent undersized. These aggregates should posses a polished stone value greater than 60; this will ensure sufficient hardness to combat wear and tear. The aggregates should also have a flakiness index less than 25% which will ensure that they have a fairly uniform shape. The whisper concrete layer should be initially levelled by a conventional mechanical float with oscillating beams. This should be followed by further levelling by a super smooth float, set longitudinally down the carriageway, at right angles to the first float, which should remove any remaining imperfections or ridges. Spray the smooth finished surface immediately with a retarder consisting of glucose, water and alcohol. Then cover the surface with a polyethylene cling film.. Properly planned operations should enable construction of about 3000 linear metres of whisper concrete per day.

Ultra-Thin White- Topping

Until 1991, most white topping projects did not purposely seek a bond between the interface of the concrete and the underlying flexible surface. Rather, the existing bitumen served as base for the new concrete overlay. Today, we refer to this technique as Conventional or Classical white topping, defined as: A concrete overlay, usually of thickness of 100 mm or more, placed directly on top of an existing bitumen pavement. However, a new technology emerged in the early 1990s, which has dramatically expanded white topping technology and its use. This rehabilitation technique purposely seeks to bond the concrete overlay to the existing bitumen. As a result, the concrete overlay and the underlying bitumen act as a composite section rather than two independent layers. This composite action significantly reduces the load-induced stresses in the concrete overlay. Therefore, the concrete overlay can be considerably thinner for the same loading as compared to a white topping section with no bond to the underlying bitumen. When describing pavement thickness, terms such as thick and thin are relative and depend on the viewpoint and experience of the user. For Ultra-Thin White (UTW) topping, a more definitive description is needed. Based on the international experience, ultrathin white topping can be defined as: A concrete overlay 50 mm to 100 mm thick with closely spaced joints bonded to an existing bitumen pavement. There are three basic requirements for UTW overlays to perform properly. These are:

Availability of an appropriately thick existing bitumen layer. Achievement of a bond between the existing bitumen pavement and the UTW. Provision of short joint spacing.

Bonding allows the concrete and bitumen layers to perform as a composite section. This causes the two layers to act monolithically and share the load. With bonding, the neutral axis in the concrete shifts from the middle of the concrete down toward the bottom of the concrete. This shifting lowers the stresses at the bottom of the concrete and brings the stresses into a range that the thin concrete layer can withstand. The composite section has opposing effects on corner stresses. There is a decrease in the concrete stresses because the whole pavement section is thicker. However, if the neutral axis shifts low enough in the concrete, the critical load location may move from the edge to the corner depending on the materials and layer characteristics. Essentially, the corner stresses decrease because the bonding action creates a thicker section, but increase because the neutral axis shifts down and away from the top surface. To combat this effect, close joint spacing is critical. All pavement types must absorb the energy of the applied load by either bending or deflecting. Traditional concrete pavements are designed to absorb energy by bending and thus are made thick enough to resist stresses induced by bending. With UTW, short joint spacings are used so that energy is absorbed by deflection instead of bending. The short joint spacing also minimizes stresses due to curling and warping by decreasing the amount of slab that can curl or warp.

For the UTW overlays, the short joint spacing in effect forms a minipaver block system, which transfers loads to the flexible pavement through deflection rather than bending. Typical joint spacings that have performed well on UTW projects are somewhere between 0.6 and 1.5 m. It is recommended that the maximum joint spacing for UTW be between 12-15 times the slab thickness in each direction.

When performing a UTW project, there must be enough bitumen to protect the concrete (minimize stresses), and enough concrete must be placed to protect the bitumen (minimize strains). A thicker bitumen pavement section improves the load-carrying capacity of the system because it creates a thicker final UTW pavement structure, and also carries more of the load. This shifts the neutral axis down in the concrete, which decreases the concrete stresses. The construction of a UTW consists of three basic steps:

Prepare the existing surface by milling and cleaning, or blasting with water or abrasive material. Place, finish, and cure the concrete overlay using conventional techniques and materials. Cut saw joints early at prescribed spacings.

A clean surface is required for proper bond. Milling the surface followed by cleaning improves bond because it opens the pore surface of the bitumen pavement. The milling creates a rough surface that grabs the concrete and creates the mechanical bond between the two layers. Once a surface is cleaned it is extremely important to keep it clean until paving commences. Paving a UTW is no different from paving any other concrete pavement. Conventional slip-form and fixed-form pavers, as well as hand-held equipmentsuch as vibrating screedshave all been used successfully without major modifications. The only real change is that the concrete layer is thinner than normal. Normal finishing and texturing procedures are applied to the surface. Proper curing is critical to avoid shrinkage cracking and debonding between the bitumen and concrete pavements. Curing compound should be applied at twice the normal rate, because the overlay being a thin concrete slab, has high surface area to volume ratio, and can thus lose water rapidly due to evaporation. Care must also be used during application, to avoid spraying curing

compound on adjacent uncovered prepared bitumen surfaces, since that would decrease bonding. Joint sawing should be carried out with lightweight saws, as early as possible, to control cracking. Saw depth should be approximately onefourth to one third of the total depth of the overlay. Typically, UTW joints are not sealed. Test studies have shown that UTW pavements perform well without sealants because the compactness of the slabs minimizes joint movement. The concrete mix selected for particular project is matched to the traffic conditions and openedfortraffic requirements. Synthetic fibers are often added to increase the post-crack integrity of the panels. Ultra-thin White-topping projects have been carried out in several countries including USA, Brazil and Canada. However, the technique is still regarded to be in its infancy and requires considerable research to streamline and standardize it. The American Concrete Institute issued Supplement Specification 852 on 11th July 2000, which laid down specifications for Ultra-thin White-topping Overlay with Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete. As far as is known this is the only existing specification on the subject.

Cementless Concrete
In the late 1980s, Austria was facing a shortage of cement, due to several factors. Shortage of suitable quality limestone was one of them. Another was the extremely stringent emission standards for cement manufacturing plants set by the countrys Government, due to concern about the steadily deteriorating environment. Both the cement and construction industries were worried, and decided to do something to sort out the problem. Discussions, experiments, laboratory and field trials became the order of the day. Eventually, an absolutely new, novel and unique product was developed, after 15 years of intense effort. They resolved to create an alternative to cement. This was a tall order indeed, but the experiment team was determined to succeed; and succeed they did. Their basic premise was, that although they did not want cement, their alternative binding material, had to have cementitious properties, if they wanted it to take over cements role. Once the base element had been identified further experiments and trials were carried out to find ways and means to convert it into a suitable, easy-to-use and economical binding agent. Finally it was determined that by blending gypsum, certain alkaline products and a few other additives with slag, they could obtain a substance that had all the binding properties of cement, yet was superior to it in many ways. The advantages that this new slag-based binder had included:

a. No burning process was involved in its production. Hence emission of carbon-dioxide and nitrous oxides was reduced to almost zero, making it extremely friendly to the environment. b. It has a very low heat of hydration. Hence it is ideal for mass concrete applications such as dams and foundations. Also, low heat of hydration means almost no cracks in the finished product, hence eminently suitable for water-retaining structures. c. High resistance of concrete products made from it, to sulphate and acid attack, as well as damage by alkali-reactive aggregates. Thus can be used with great advantage in aggressive environment. d. Energy saving of up to 80 percent in its manufacture, since this involves only grinding. The above-mentioned binder is still not in general production, as its composition was finalized only around five years ago. Trials on concrete items and structures manufactured using this binder, are still being carried out. The author is grateful to the International Cement Review, BFT International and the Indian Cement Review for some of the information contained in the above article.