Concrete Construction

• 3 major costs of concrete

– Formwork costs including labor, equipment,
and materials
– Cost of reinforcing steel and placement
– Concrete materials, equipment, and labor for
placing, curing, and finishing
– F11-1
 Cast in Place
• Traditional method
– Allows concrete to be formed to site
conditions
– Used on most construction sites for structural
members
• Concrete placed in forms to cure
• Forms removed after enough strength in concrete
to support self and additional construction loads
 Cast in Place
• Walls and wall footings
– Need to avoid voids and separation of
materials due to large fall
• Special care for areas under windows , pipe
chases and other formwork installed inside wall
forms
• Can pump concrete from bottom of form to get rid
of voids
 Cast in Place
• Floors and roofs
– One way slab – only supported in one
direction F 11-3
• Slab and beam
• Slab, beam & girder
• Outside beam is called spandrel beam
• Columns poured before slabs – shrinkage
– If poured same time could stress floors and beams due
to shrinkage
 Cast in Place
• Floors and roofs
– One way slab – only supported in one
direction F 11-3
• Slab and beam
• Slab, beam & girder
• Outside beam is called spandrel beam
– Two directional slabs (waffles) provide support
in two perpendicular directions
– supported by columns
 Cast in Place
• 2 way
– Basically joists in both directions
• Flat slabs
– Supported directly by columns
– Uses column capitals to distribute load over
larger area
– More reinforcement needed to carry loads to
columns
– F 11-6
 Precast concrete
• Cast into desired shape at plant and
moved to site
– Controlled environment -> better finish and
quality
– All prestressed and pretensioned members
are precast
– F 11-7, 11-8
 Precast concrete
• Types
– Joists and purlins F 11-7
– Roof and floor panels
• Flat 1-4” thick, 15 – 32” wide, 4-10’ long
• hollow core 4 – 12” thick, 4-8’ wide, 15 – 50’ long
• tee, double tee 4-12’ wide span 12 – 100 feet
• channel slabs 2 – 5 ‘ wide, 15-50 ‘ long
– F11-8
 Precast concrete
• Types
– Walls
• Usually curtain wall construction panels fit between
structural components to form wall
• But used in tilt up construction
– Panels cast horizontally on existing slab and tilted upright
– F 11-9
 Prestressed Concrete
• Initial compression load applied to
concrete
– Places entire beam in compression
• Makes beam stronger since more force is required
to induce a tension component
• Reduces deflection
• F11-10
 Prestressed Concrete
• 2 ways to do
– Pretension – place prestressing material in
tension in the form while concrete is poured
• Once concrete hardened remove tension
• Bond between steel and concrete keeps steel in
place
– Post tensioning – steel is placed inside a
plastic tube during concrete pouring
• Upon placement steel is tensioned and the steel is
mechanically anchored to the concrete at each end
• Load is removed and steel cut flush
 Architectural Concrete
• Appearance effects
– Shape, size, texture, and color
– F 11-12 & 11-13
Concrete Construction Practices
• Transporting and Hauling
– Need to avoid segregation of materials in
concrete
– Wheelbarrows, buggies, chutes, pumps,
conveyors, buckets, trucks
• Placing and consolidating
– Need to make sure form surfaces and bracing
is right before placing concrete
 Placing
– Forms must be coated in oil to allow removal
– If placing concrete on ground – must moisten
ground
– If pouring on top of cured concrete must place
bonding agent between pours
– Shotcrete (gunite) – concrete placed
pneumatically
– Consolidation – removing air voids
• vibration
 Finishing & Curing
• Finishing – bring surface of concrete to its
final position and surface texture
– Screeding – striking off excess concrete
– Floating – smoothes and compacts concrete
imbeds aggregates
– Troweling – compacts surface F 11-16
– Brooming – surface texture
 Curing
• To get good concrete must cure properly
– Moisture and temperature are key
– Moisture – wet straw or burlap, curing
compounds
– Vacuum dewatering – mat placed on concrete
• Vacuum applied to mat – takes out excess water
• Lower W/C ratio -> denser mix
 Hot weather Concreting
• Curing accelerates when concrete temp
above 50 – 60 F
– How to lower temp
• Use cold water in mix
• Cool aggregates before mixing
• Use Type IV (low heat cement)
• Add a retarder
• Decrease max time to discharge to 1 hour
 Cold weather Concreting
• Concrete should not freeze for 1st 24 hours
– Min temp for placement is 50F
– Use type III (hi early strength)
– Use accelerator
– Heat water and aggregates before mixing
– Use vented heaters to keep concrete warm