Advanced

Concrete Theory

Jenn-Chuan Chern

Distinguished Professor,Dept.of Civil

Engineering, National Taiwan University

 Goal :

To introduce the micro and macro properties,

mechanical behaviors, and advances of
cementitious materials.
To provide the Green and Sustainability
Concept of Concrete

 Course Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.

Basic Material Properties-An Overview

Cement Hydration and Microstructure
Concrete Strength Development
High Performance Concrete (HPC, SCC, RPC et al.)
Properties
Mix Design
Practicing and Testing
Applications
5. Durability (Concrete Repair Technology)
3

 Course Contents
6. Creep and Shrinkage of Plain and Structural
Concrete
Basic Mechanism
Experiments
Prediction and Design
7. Fiber Concrete and Pozzolanic Materials
8. Mass Concrete
9. High Temperature Effects
4

 Textbooks

Mehta and Monteiro, ConcreteMicrostructure,

Properties, and Materials, 3rd Ed., McGraw Hill,
2006(textbook)

Mindess, Young, and Darwin, Concrete, 2nd

Edition, Prentice Hall, 2003 (Reference book).
Neville et al, Creep of Plain and Structural
Concrete, Construction Press, London, New York,
1983 (Reference book).
(Supplementary materials)

Chapter 1 Introduction to Concrete

Global Concrete Consumption

Statistics
1960 20 (2 billion tons)
1970 30 (3 billion tons)
1980 50-60 (5 6 billion tons)
2004 ~130 (13 billion tons)
(; only less than water)7

Global Cement Consumption

statistics
1960 3 (0.3 billion tons)
2004 19.94(China46.69
Taiwan 0.19; India 1.3
2007Growth China 8.5%
World 5.5%

1.1 Concrete as a composite material

Concrete

filler

Aggregates

Coarse
Aggregate

Concrete

Cementitious Materials

=+Paste =
cement + water

fine
aggregate

Mortar

Admixtures

Special
concretes
9

1.2

Advantages
(formability)(economy)
(durability)(fire resistant)(energy
saving)

Disadvantages
(low tensile strength)(brittle)
(dimensional instability)
(low strength/volume ratio)
10

Historical Development

Nonhydraulic cements

Egyptians (~3000 B.C.) the Pyramid of Cheops

---- gypsum mortars
Egypt and Middle East (lime mortar) (6000 12000
B.C,)
Roman mortar, the Colosseum in Rome and the Pont
du Gard at Nimes

11

The Colosseum in Rome, Italy

12

The Pont du Gard at Nimes

13

Elevated Pass, Rome

14

Pompeii, Italy

Pompeii, with an extension of 66 ha of which

45 ha have been excavated, represents an
extraordinary wealth of architectures,
sculptures, paintings and mosaics. The
Vesuvius eruption of 79 A.D. buried the city
with ash and rock, that allowed an exceptional
preservation of the whole Roman city.

15

Vesuvius Volcanic Mountain

16

Street View, Pompeii, Italy

17

Villa of Poppea, Pompeii

18

Villa of Poppea

19

Two stories Building, Pompeii

20

Hydraulic limes and Portland Cement

The Greeks and the Romans produced
hydraulic limes , by calcining limestones
containing clayey impurities.
The Greeks used a volcanic tuff from the
island of Santorin.
The Romans used a volcanic tuff found around
the Bay of Naples.

21

Castle, Napoli, Italy

22

Hydraulic limes and Portland Cement

The volcanic tuff, clalled pozzolana because the
best variety was found near the village of
Pozzuoli, near Mt. Vesuvius.
Finely crushed burnt brick has the same effect.
The Pantheon Dome
Romans (2nd century A.D.)
hydraulic mortars to make concrete for the
Pantheon.

23

The Interior
of Pantheon
44 M in diameter
The best preserved
building of the
ancient world.
Pouring concrete
into ribbed sections
and letting it
harden.

24

Hydraulic Limes
14th Century high-quality mortars appear
again
18th Century
start trying to understand the
nature of these cementing materials
1756 John Smeaton start to build Eddystone
Lighthouse. By experiments, he found the best
limestones for use in mortars were those
containing a high proportion of clayey material.

25

Smeatons
Eddystone
Lighthouse
Near

the coast
of Cornwall
Stood for 127
years
With pozzolan
from Italy
26

Development of Portland Cement

1796 James Parker (England) patent on a
natural hydraulic cement
1824 Joseph Aspdin (England) patent on
Portland cement
limestone (from Portland) + finely divided
clay --- calcining the mixture in a kiln (CO2)
released --- ground as cement
1900 basic cement tests were standardized.

27

Raw Material for Cement

(limestone)
H

CaCO3

CaO + CO2

(clay)

xSiO2yAl2O3(Fe2O3)2H2O
SiO2 + Al2O3 (+Fe2O3)

28

Military Works by Russian (Dalien,China)

29

Concrete without rebar (Dalien)

30

Stone house in Hualien by the sea

31

Petronas Towers

Kuala Lumpur
32

Shanghai Financial Center, China

33

Shanghai Financial Center China

34

Concrete Tower (Shanghai, China)

35

An exceptional
building
will change
a city
36

EVERGREEN
CONSULTING

Tower

Podium
Clay
Colluvium (1)

Colluvium (2)

Sandstone
37

Concrete filled in column

(CFT works)

38

Concrete Bridge, Tsin-Chu

39

Opera House, Sydney

40

Resort Entrance, Bali, Indonesia

41

42

Wall Decoration by white cement

43

Sculpture by white cement (Bali)

44

For garbage only !!!

45

Decorating floor with glass waste U.S.A.

46

Subway Wall Decoration (Atlanta,USA)

47

Thanks for your attention

 Course Schedule
Week

Date

Course Content

9/12

Introduction to concrete

9/19

Concrete for Sustainability

9/26

Fundamental Material Properties

10/03

Microstructure and Mechanics of Concrete

10/10

National Holiday

10/17

Properties of Hardened Concrete

10/24

Creep and Shrinkage 1

10/31

Creep and Shrinkage 2

11/07

Mid-term

11/14

High performance concrete HPC, SCC, HSC,

New RC
49
Project proposal due

10

Course Schedule (2)

11-1

11/21

Fiber Reinforced Concrete

11-2

11/25 (Fri)

TCI workshop: New RC and Precast

construction

12

11/28

Durability of Concrete

13

12/05

No class

14

12/12

Precast Technology

15

12/19

Term project presentation

16

12/26

Term project presentation

17

1/02

New Year Holiday

18

1/09

Final Exam

19

1/16

Project proposal due: 17:00

50