1.1 HISTORICAL REMARKS Most of us assume we can identify concrete when we see it, Yet, if we were to search for its origin or determine when it was “invented,” it would soon become apparent that ‘we would need to define concrete before we could identify it, Deferring a more elaborate definition until the next chapter, let us start with a common frame of reference, namely, the definition in Webster's New World Dictionary: ‘concrete: a hard, compact substance made of sand, gravel, cement, and water, used in the construction of bridges, dams, buildings, ete Taking the gravel out of this mixture results in mortar, and if lime serves as the cementing or binding agent, we get lime mortar, which was most likely invented in prehistoric times. It was certainly known to the earliest civilizations, such as the Baby- lonians, who used it in stone masonry. The Egyptians also added gravel to mortar, that is, they knew how to make a material that by the above definition is concrete. Recently, 2 fascinating theory has been proposed by the French chemist, Joseph Davidovits, that the great pyramids are actually made of geopolymeric limestone concrete blocks rather than natural, quarried limestone [1, 2]. Although this theory has not been universally accepted by the scientific community, the various arguments brought forth in the current discussion lead to the certain conclusion that only very detailed scientific examinations ccan establish the difference between natural and synthetic stone.2 Introduction Chap. 1 ‘Advancing @ few millenia brings us to ancient Roman civilization. Even though the cement the Romans used was not the portland cement used today, there is no question that, by the above definition, they used concrete in their various constructions. The most detailed account of Roman architecture and construction in general and their building materials in particular, is found in De architectura libri decem (Ten Books of Architec- ture) by Vitruvius. On the kind of cement the Romans used for:their concrete, we can read in book 2: There is also a kind of powder which by nature produces wonderful results. It is found in the neighborhood of Baies and in the lands of the municipalities around ‘Mount Vesuvius. This being mixed with lime and rubble, not only furnishes strength to other buildings, but also when piers are built in the sea, they set under water. [3] The Roman mortar consisted of quicklime and burnt clay or natural materials, predom- inantly of volcanic otigin, which contained reactive silica. The best known deposit of ‘these materials was found near the village of Pozzuoli, near Naples. This is why mate- rials that are capable of reacting with hydrated lime (due to their reactive silica content) are generally called pozzolana. One of the most impressive Roman concrete structures is the Pantheon (Fig. 1.1). Completed in 126 A.,, its dome span of 43.5 m was not surpassed until the nineteenth century. Parts of the port of Ostia, built during Trajan's reign (52-117 A.D), withstood centuries of pounding surf until the coasthine shifted, and survive to this day [4] ‘Modern portland cement was invented in 1824 by Joseph Aspdin, a builder from Leeds in England. He patented his process of grinding limestone, mixing it with finely divided clay, burning the mixture in a kiln oven, and finely grinding the resulting clinker He gave his invention the name portland cement because of its resemblance to the natural building stone quarried near Portland, England, The commercial success of Aspdin's ‘cement led to the rapid spread of hydraulic cements throughout Europe. This was the beginning of the modern cement industry, which in 1990 produced 85 million tons of cement in the United States alone. The relatively low tensile strength of concrete and the resulting susceptibility to cracking prompted builders from early on to look for proper means of reinforcement. The ‘most successful of these pioneers, however, was not a builder but a gardener, Joseph Monier of Paris was interested in reinforcing his concrete tree planters and in 1850 patented a system of using steel wire reinforcement. Although other patents had been filed earlier, Monier’s patents are generally credited with having had the most signif- icant impact on the development of what is now called reinforced concrete. Some of this eredit is shared by G.A. Wayss and J. Bauschinger of Germany, who purchased the German and American rights to Monier’s patents and established the basic principles for the application of reinforced concrete. By the tum of the century, the behavior of reinforced concrete was relatively well understood, and together with advances in mate- rials and structural engineering, the use of reinforced concrete spread rapidly. Another fundamental advance was made with the introduction of prestressed concrete, generally credited to Eugene Freyssinet of France. By precompressing the concrete, usually by ‘means of embedded high-strength steel tendons, itis possible to subsequently subject it4 Introduction Chap. 1 to tension without causing a net tensile stress or cracks. Principles of prestressed con- crete design are generally covered in more advanced concrete design courses and will not be discussed in this book. Today, for better or for worse, we find ourselves literally surrounded by concrete, from road pavements and buildings to bridges and pipelines. 1.2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES Concrete is produced by mixing cement, aggregate, and water, resulting in a viscous fluid, Because of its liquidity, freshly produced concrete can be formed into virtually ‘ny shape. At the same time, it needs to be contained by formwork to maintain the desired shape until it hardens and can carry load. In any case, its formability makes concrete adaptable to a range of applications limited only by one's imagination. In residential building construction, a smooth ceiling finish is an advantage. This can be achieved easily with appropriate formwork. Steel decks, in contrast, may offer other advantages, but often need to be covered up by hung ceilings. Another advantage of ‘concrete in residential construction is the good sound insulation property associated with heavy mass, Light construction is more difficult to soundproof over a wide frequency range: An important advantage of concrete is its good fire resistance. Compared with the serious threat that fire poses to timber and steel construction, concern in concrete construction is mostly reduced to the necessary protection of the embedded steel rein- forcement. Concrete offers not only limited protection of the steel against high temperature effects, but also against corrosion. The alkalinity of the cement creates an ideal chemical environment for corrosion resistance. However, this is impaired by the intrusion of, chlorides, caused, for example, by the use of deicing salts on highway bridges and roadway surfaces. Concrete structures are often very massive and rigid, so the deformations remain relatively small. Even in steel buildings, concrete walls are frequently used to reduce lateral deformations and vibrations caused by horizontal loads, such as wind. Compared with most other building materials, concrete is relatively inexpensive. ‘The raw materials are generally available locally, and the need for skilled labor is quite limited, Also, the relatively low maintenance cost improves the long-term economy of @ structure. However, comparative economic or cost evaluations should always take into consideration a large number of other factors besides pure material costs. ‘Although the strengths of commercially available concretes have increased markedly in recent years, the weight-to-strength ratio of concrete is still considerably higher than that of structural steel. Thus, steel is likely to remain the material of choice for structures with very long spans. The heavy weight of concrete may be advantageous at times, but more often it is not. For example, at sites with poor soil conditions, larger and more expensive foundations are needed, Another disadvantage of concrete is its low tensile strength and the resulting ten- dency to crack. As we will discuss in detail later, concrete must crack in order to activateSec. 1.3 The World of Concrete 5 the strength of the steel reinforcement, but the designer can minimize the adverse effects of cracking by distributing the tensile strains over a large number of small cracks rather than @ few large ones. Large cracks not only look awful, they also reduce the protection offered by the concrete cover against steel corrosion. A further source of potential problems is the viscoplastic nature of concrete, which ‘causes it to undergo creep deformations under long-term loads. These creep deformations ‘can be « multiple ofthe instantaneous elastic deformations and must be taken into account in the design of most structures. Because cement requires water to hydrate, itis important that the water not freeze before the concrete has gained sufficient strength. For this reason, good quality concrete cannot be obtained in subfreezing temperatures unless special precautions are taken, a factor that adds to the cost of construction. At the other extreme, concreting in hot and arid climates requires measures to assure that none of the water required for cement hydration is lost to the environment, Last but definitely not least is the fact that it is much more difficult to control the quality of concrete produced in the field compared, for example, with rolled-steel shapes produced in a mill under tightly controlled conditions. Even with good quality control, concrete properties exhibit a considerable amount of statistical scatter—a situation that we just have to live with, 1.3 THE WORLD OF CONCRETE As in each special discipline, the field of concrete engineering has developed its own vocabulary over the years. ‘To the layperson, much of it is either unknown altogether ‘or only vaguely familiar, if not misunderstood. For this reason, Appendix A contains the “Concrete ABC,” a glossary that the reader can consult whenever in doubt about the ‘meaning of a specific term or definition. Much of this glossary is taken from [5]. Before we immerse ourselves in the technical details of designing reinforced con- crete structures, it is appropriate to take a brief tour of the world of concrete and have a look at some of the marvels of modern engineering. After all, itis the inspiring examples Set by the master builders that entice us to follow in their footsteps. As a result, some of today's novices will become tomorrow's masters Buildings. Concrete buildings can be found all over the world. The decision to ‘use reinforced concrete instead of other building materials depends on too many factors to enumerate here. For example, in some parts of the United States, a frequently heard tule holds that conerete is more suitable for multistory residential construction, whereas office buildings are more likely to be built with steel, An equally general rule holds that nobody can predict a priori the building material most suitable for a particular project, 45 each case needs to be evaluated on its own merits. The cost of formwork is often 4 decisive factor. Figure 1.2 shows typical sets of plywood forms supported by timber shoring. Both forms and shoring need to remain in place until the concrete has been placed and has gained sufficient strength to carry its own weight as well as the loads6 Introduction Chap. 1 Figure 1.2 Formvonk for the Portland Cement Asoc aSec. 1.3 The World of Concrete 7 imposed during construction. The construction loads can be significantly higher than any other loads a building is subjected to during its remaining service life. ‘Therefore, the construction phase can often be considered a full-scale load test, on the premise that if the building survived the heavy (and often unauthorized) overloads during construction, it is Tikely to serve safely during its remaining life, In fact, most failures of structural ‘members or entire buildings occur during construction Because the formwork contributes so much to the total cost of a project, it requires special attention (6). Its generally custom-built for each project, and the more efficiently it can be reused, for example, by adopting repetitive floor plan layouts, the greater the reduction in construction cost. The Cityspire Building in New York City is not exactly the most typical residential building, but Fig. 1.3 clearly illustrates how the floor layouts Permit such efficient reuse of one set of formwork, Teump Tower in New York City (Fig. 1.4) is an even more unusual building. With 60 stories, itis one of the tallest concrete buildings in Manhattan. Its layout in the lower stories is extremely irregular—there is only one column in the entire building, which runs straight from the roof into the foundation without any setbacks, interruptions, of transfers. The 757-fi-tall Carnegie Tower in New York (Fig. 1.5) is distinguished by its record height-to-width ratio of 12.5 to 1. Buildings with half this ratio are considered slender. Because of sky-high land values in midtown Manhattan, developers try to fit as ‘uch floor area as the zoning ordinance allows into building lots that were previously Figure 1.3. Ciuyspie Building, New York City (courtesy of RosenwasseriGrossman Consulting Engineers).Introduction Chap. 1 Figure 14 Trump Tower, New York City (courtesy of Swanke, Hayden, Connell ‘Arcitets and The Otce of Irwin G. Canto, Structural Engineer). igure 15. Camepie Tower, New York City (photo: Stephen L Senigo/ Architectural Photogrephy).Sec. 1.3 The World of Concrete 9 considered unsuitable for the erection of high-rise structures. This poses a challenge for engineers to develop new and more efficient structural schemes. ‘The 311 South Wacker Drive Tower in Chicago (Fig. 1.6) with 71 stories and a height of 969 fe, was the world’s tallest concrete building for merely three years. This record was broken in 1993 by the Central Plaza Building in Hong Kong. With 78 stories and a height of 1228 fi, itis the world’s fifth tallest building, surpassed only by Chicago's Sears Building, the twin towers of New York’s World ‘Trade Center, and the Empire State Building (7) Prior to the 1970s, concrete could not compete seriously with steel for high-rise buildings in urban areas, primarily because of major differences in the speed of con- struction. Especially in times of high interest on construction loans, the time needed for construction is a decisive economic factor, because the developer does not receive retum on the investment until the-building is ready for occupancy. If we can erect ten floors of a steel frame building in the same time needed to build the formwork and falsework for a single concrete floor, place the reinforcing steel, place the concrete, and wait until the concrete has hardened to permit the building cycle to proceed, then there is obviously no contest. However, advances in the last twenty years, both in construc- tion methods and in the development of concretes with high-early strengths, have led to construction cycle times of as little as two or three days per floor. This compares directly with the erection times possible in steel-framed construction, A more novel ‘ype of construction attempts to combine the advantages of both steel and concrete. Figure 16 311 South Wacker Drive Tower, Chicago (courtesy ofthe Poland Cement Association.10 Introduction Chap. 1 This so-called composite construction appears to be particularly economical for very tall buildings, In a completely different method of concrete construction, building components fare manufactured in stationary factories and then shipped to the site for assembly. Such precast concrete construction has the advantage of both cost savings and improved qual- ity control. Parking garages are a particularly popular application of precast construc~ tion (Fig. 1.7). Mass-production techniques can increase the cost-effectiveness of both residential and commercial buildings (Fig. 1.8). These techniques are widely used in countries with acute housing shortages. Taking one step further toward industrialized manufacturing technigues leads to the prefabrication of entire building modules, such as bathroom and kitchen units with all plumbing fixtures and piping already factory installed, tiles and windows in place, and everything else but the pictures on the walls Gig. 1.9). Shelis. A beam carries loads primarily by bending. An arch, by virtue of its, curvature, transmits the same load (othe supports through direct action, that i, in axial compression, with litle or no bending if the load is uniformly distributed. In two dimensions, the equivalent of the beam is the plate, which can carry loads only by out of-plane bending. A shell structure, in contrast, supports the loads primarily through in-plane or membrane action. This is much more efficient, and as a result thin shells 1.7 Precast parking garage (courtesy of Walker Patking ConsultentvEngincer)Sec. 1.3 The World of Concrete Figure 1.9 Precis biting module (courtesy ofthe Powand Cement Assen