UNDERWATER CONCRETING

What is underwater concreting?

Placing of concrete below water

level without pumping operation.
 PROBLEMS IN UNDERWATER
CONCRETING
1 Wash out of concrete by water.
2 Continued discharge of concrete
makes it flow laterally.
3 In large underwater pours, internal
temperature can reach 70 – 95
degrees and on cooling cracks can
develop
4 These characteristics cant be
observed directly
REMEDIES
1 Placement should take place by discharge
from steel pipe buried within the already
placed but mobile concrete.
2 Appropriate flow characteristics to be
imparted.
3 Slump of 150mm – 250mm is necessary.
4 Anti-washout admixtures are used.
5 Concrete has to be reinforced.
6 Use of blended cement.
7 Demands of formwork are usually higher
than in dry conditions.
Effect of freeze – thaw action on reinforced
concrete exposed to marine environment
 RC structures under freeze –
thaw action in marine environment
suffer badly due to the gradual
penetration of harmful iron salts into
it. Two basic mechanisms namely
 (A) Hydraulic pressure
 (B) Ice accretion are identified as
causes of damage of concrete under
freeze thaw action.
 A study covering the freeze soil effect on
RCC exposed to artificial sea environment
simulating the arctic conditions over a
period of one year delivered the following
results:
1 Concrete under F-T loading is much
more vulnerable to deterioration including
erosion and crumbling in sea water (SW)
than in plain water (PW).
2
Under similar exposure concrete showed a
weight loss of about 5-11% in SW and 0.5-
1% in PW
3
The loss of compressive strength varies fro
m 2-22% in PW and 35-75% in SW.
4
Penetration of sea salts lowered the concret
 METHODS OF UNDERWATER
CONCRETING
1 Tremie method
2 Bucket placing
3 Placing in bags
4 Pre packed concrete
TREMIE METHOD
 It is used for water at depths
from 1.5 to 50 mts. In this method,
concrete is placed in an excavation
which is enclosed to exclude
inflowing water.
 Sheet piling is used to keep water
out of excavation and at the same
time it acts as the form work for
concrete.
 A tremie is water tight pipe
generally 250mm in dia. Having a
funnel shaped hopper at its upper end
and a loose plug at the bottom for
discharge.
 The tremie is supported on a working
platform above water level. During
concreting air and water must be
excluded from the Tremie by keeping
the pipe full of concrete all the time.
 This is done by placing a plug at the
top of the pipe and as the hopper is
filled the pressure of fresh concrete
forces the plug down the pipe and the
water is replaced by concrete.
 Crane for raising Pipe
Concrete Supplied by Skip or Pump

Hopper
Loose Plug

Tremie Pipe

Water Level

Smooth bore Pipe with

Quick release, Water
tight Joints

Immersion Depth
Controls Output Driven Sheet Pile Form

Bed

Typical Arrangement For Tremie Pipe

 The pipe is lowered and kept deeply
submerged beneath the surface of
freshly placed concrete.
 As concreting proceeds the pipe is
raised slightly and concrete flows
outwards. Continuity of concreting
should be maintained at all times.
 When large concreting is done it is
preferable to place concrete
simultaneously and uniformly through
a battery of tremies.
 The spacing of tremies be between
3.5 to 5mts and the end tremies
should be 2.5mt from the form work.
BUCKET PLACING
 Concreting can be carried out at considerable depth.
 The buckets are usually fitted with drop bottom, or
bottom roller gates which open freely when tripped.
 The bucket is completely filled with concrete and its
top covered with canvas cloth or gunny sack to
prevent the disturbance of concrete as the bucket is
lowered into water by crane up to the bottom surface
of the concrete and then opened either by divers of
by suitable arrangement from top.
 Early discharge of bucket to let the concrete drop
through water should be avoided.
 The disadvantage of bucket method is the difficulty in
keeping the top surface of the placed concrete
reasonably level
 Thus we can use slightly stiffer concrete.
 Lifting Crane for Raising Bucket
Overlapping Canvas Flap
to prevent washout

Concrete

Tripping Lock on Chain

Steel Skirts to Drop Bottom Gates

Resist
Intermixing
With Water

Bottom Opening Bucket

PLACING IN BAGS
 This method consists of partially filling of cloth or
gunny sacks with concrete, and tying them in such a
way that they can be accommodated on the surface on
which they are placed.
 They are arranged in a header and stretcher manner
as in brick masonry with the help of divers.
 The method has advantages as no form work is
necessary and comparatively leaner mixes may be
used.
 On the other hand accurate positioning of the bags can
be accomplished by divers hence the work is slow and
laborious.
 Voids between adjacent bags are difficult to fill and
little bonding is achieved.
 It is an expensive method.
PRE PACKED CONCRETE
 This technique also called grouted concrete
consists of placing the coarse aggregate only in
the forms and thoroughly compacting it to form
prepacked mass.
 This mass is then grouted with the cement
mortar of the required proportion.
 The aggregate should be wetted before being
placed in position.
 The mortar that grouts the concrete displaces
water and fills the voids.
 Aggregates up to a maximum size of 80 mm
can be used.
 The grouting of prepacked aggregate can be
done by following method:
1 The mould can be partially filled with
grout and the coarse aggregate can then be
deposited in the grout.
2 The grout can be poured on the top
surface of the aggregate and allowed to
penetrate to the bottom.
3 The pumping of grout into the
aggregate masses from bottom at carefully
designed positions through a network of
pipes.
4 This method is advantageous for
underwater construction and repair work of
dams, spillways etc.. the prepacked
concrete is known for lower drying shrinkage
and higher durability especially freezing and