THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF KENYA

DIPLOMA IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

EECF 1221 CIVIL ENGINEERING MATERIALS

Final year exam – 70 %

Cats-30%
Cat One- 23rd February (Physical Exam)
Cat Two- To be submitted on2nd March (Take Away)
 COURSE OUTLINE
1. Stones- Quarrying, classification, building stones
2. Bricks- classification, preparation of brick earth, molding, burning firebricks
3. Tiles and terracotta- Types, manufacture, glazing, earthwares.
4. Lime- classification, setting of lime, manufacture, slaking and storage of lime
5. Mortars- Types, uses, lime mortars, lime cement mortars.
6. Cement- Composition, manufacture, testing of Portland cement, pozzolanas, types of cement
storage
7. Aggregates- Types i.e. fine and coarse aggregates, qualities, bulking of sand and tests on sand.
Coarse aggregates; cement concrete, water cement ratio, workability mix, placing of concrete,
compaction, curing and joints in concrete, formwork
8. Reinforced cement concrete,Prestressesd cement concrete, prepacked concrete, foam concrete.
 Introduction
• The process of taking out stones from natural rock beds is known as the quarrying.
• The term quarry is used to indicate the exposed surface of natural rocks. The stones, thus
obtained, are used for various engineering purposes.
• In a mine, the operations are carried out under the ground at great depth whereas in the
case of quarry, the operations are carried out at ground level in an exposed condition.

Factors to consider in selection of site for a quarry:

 Availability of tools, power, materials and labour for the efficient working of quarry.
 Easy availability of clean water in sufficient quantity all the year round.
 Economy in quarrying.
 Drainage of quarrying pit.
 Facility of carrying and conveying stones from quarry.
 Quality of stone available from quarry.
METHODS OF QUARRYING-
The following are the three methods of quarrying:
I. Quarrying with hand tools
II. Quarrying with channeling machine
III. Quarrying with blasting.

QUARRYING WITH HAND TOOLS-There three methods of doing this type of quarrying:
a) Digging or Excavating
b) Heating
c) Wedging
(a) Digging or Excavating- In this method, the stones are merely excavating with the help of
suitable instruments such as pick-axes, hammers, showels, chisels, etc. This method is useful
when a soft stone occurs in form of large and small blocks.
(b) Heating- In this method, the top surface of rock is heated. This method is useful when
small blocks of more or less regular shape are to be taken out from quarry. It is suitable when
the rock formation consists of horizontal layers of shallow depth. It is possible to obtain by
these method fairly rectangular blocks required for coursed rubble masonary.
(c) Wedging-In this method, if rock surface contains cracks or fissures,the steel wedges or
points, as shown in fig., are driven through such cracks by means of hammers. The blocks of
stones are then shifted and they are removed with the help of suitable instruments.
QUARRYING WITH CHANNELLING MACHINE: In this method, the channeling machine
driven by steam, compressed air or electricity are used to make vertical or oblique grooves or
channels on the rock mass. These machines make rapidly the grooves having length of about
24m, width of about 50mm to 75mm and depth of about 2.40m to 3.70m. The process consists
of the following steps:
(a) The channels are cut around the stone block which is to be removed from the rock mass.
(b) The horizontal holes are drilled beneath the rock.
(c) The wedges are driven into the holes and the block is then broken loose from its bed.

QUARRYING WITH BLASTING: IN this method, the explosives are used to convert into
small pieces of stones. The main purpose of quarrying stones by is to loosen large masses of
rocks and not to violently blow up the whole mass so as to convert it into very small pieces of
practically no use.
This method is adopted for quarrying hard stones, having no fissures or cracks. The stones
obtained by blasting are usually of small size and they are used as ballast in railways,
aggregate for concrete, road metal, etc. The process of blasting is important with respect to
the stone quarrying.
 A building stone is a piece of rock quarried and worked into a required size and shape for
a particular purpose. A building stone may be defined as a sound rock that can be safely
used in some situation in the construction as a massive dressed or undressed unit. Granites
and marbles used in the form of finely dressed blocks or slabs or columns in monumental
and costly buildings, are good building stones.
 Stone masonry is an engineering art that is preserved in many historical buildings in all
parts of the world. This skill is still used, though on a lesser scale (because of the advent of
concrete) in the construction of common residential houses and palatial buildings in many
places.
Classification of Building Stone:
 Physical classification
Stratified stone
Unstratified stone
 Geological classification
Igneous Rocks
Sedimentary Rocks
Metamorphic Rocks
 Scientific or engineering classification
Silicious Rocks
Argillaceous Rocks
Calcareous Rocks
 Physical Classification of rocks

1) Stratified Rocks –

 These types of rocks possess plane of stratification & they can easily be split up along
these planes.
 Eg. Sedimentary rocks

2) Un-stratified Rocks –

 These types of rocks does not possess plane of stratification & they crystalline granular
or compact granular.
 Eg. Ingenious rocks
Geological classification:
 Igneous Rocks
 These are formed by the cooling of molten lava. The structure of stone depends upon the rate
of cooling of lava. This lava becomes hard on cooling and formed igneous rocks.
 These rocks are durable, hard, massive and stronger than other stones. Example: Basalt, Trap,
Andesite, Rhyolite, Diorite, Granite.
 Sedimentary Rocks
 These are formed by the deposition of sediments due to the action of air and water. Due to
the action of high-speed wind and heavy rain, igneous rocks are disintegrated and deposited in
layers, one the earth crust and formed sedimentary rocks. Example: Limestone, Sandstone,
Dolomite and Slate are the sedimentary rocks.
 Metamorphic rocks
 These rocks are either the sedimentary rocks or the igneous rocks whose physical and
chemical properties are changed due to the action of high temperature and pressure.
Dolomite, slate, marble, gneiss are the metamorphic rocks. Example: Gneiss, Quartzite,
Marble, Slate.
 Scientific or engineering classification:

Silicious Rocks
 These have silica as the principal constituent. These rocks are hardly affected by weathering
action. These are very hard and also durable. Granite, sandstone, gneiss, basalt, trap syenite
are the siliceous rocks.
Argillaceous rocks
 These have clay as the principal constituent. These stones are hard and durable but brittle in
nature. Slate and laterite are the argillaceous rocks.
Calcareous Rocks
 These have carbonate of lime as the principal constituent. Limestone, marble, kankar,
dolomite, and gravel are the calcareous rocks.
 Requirements of good building stone:-

1) Crushing – A good building stone should have better crushing strength i.e. greater than 100
N/mm2
2) Hardness - A good building stone should have sufficient hardness.
3) Durability - A good building stones must be durable long lasting nature.
4) Fire resistance - They should have good fire resistance properties.
5) Seasoning/weathering - They also have good weathering resistance properties.
6) Water resistance - They should have less water absorption properties.
7) Economy - They should be economical & easily available.
8) Attrition – A good building stone should have less wear & tear, abrasion & erosion properties.
9) Facing & dressing – A good building stones should be easily molded, craved & dressed.
10) Specific gravity - A good building stone should have higher specific gravity i.e. more than
2.7.
11) Texture – The structure of the good building stone should be compact fine crystalline. They
don’t have any cracks, cavities & patches.
12) Toughness - A good building stone should have strong and tough.
 Characteristics of stone:-

1) Appearance – Stones should have fine, compact texture & uniform colour.
2) Structure – thestructure of stones should be uniform without cracks, fractures, cavities
etc.
3) Strength - stone should have better crushing strength i.e. greater than 100 N/mm2
4) Weight – The weight of stones should be considerable & suitable for various construction
sites.

 Eg. For dam & retaining walls – heavy stones are used
 For domes, arches – light stones are used

5) Hardness - stones should have sufficient hardness

6) Toughness - stone should have strong&tough
7) Specific gravity - stone should have higher specific gravity i.e. in between 2.3 to 2.5.
8) Seasoning – stones should be well seasoned
9) Workability – Stones should be workable for cutting, dressing with required shapes.
10) Chemical resistance – Stones should resist alkalis, acids, corrosive gases etc
11) Durability - stones should be durable long lasting nature
12) Water resistance - stones should have less water absorption properties
 Dressing of stones:-

1) Rough dressing quarry - It is the process of stone dressing which gives the broken stones in to
the suitable pieces the shapes & sizes.
2) Pitched face dressing - It is the process of stone dressing which gives the same plane & square
of the surface
3) Hammer dressing - It is the process of stone dressing which gives the sharp less irregular
corners of the surface distance by using hammer. It is suitable for masonry work.
4) Rock face dressing - It is the process of stone dressing which gives the four edges having 2.5
cm surface distance by using chisels.
5) Rough tooling - It is the process of stone dressing which gives more or less parallel ,
horizontal, vertical at angle of the surface.
6) Punched dressing - It is the process of stone dressing which gives the parallel ridges with
required gaps between the surfaces.
7) Fine tooling – It is the process of stone dressing which gives the fine &smooth surface of the
stones