17

Construction Materials

171 A sample of wood with dimensions 3 in.  4 in.  12 in. has a dry density of 0.35
g/cm3. (a) Calculate the number of gallons of water that must be absorbed by the
sample to contain 120% water. (b) Calculate the density after the wood absorbs this
amount of water.

Solution: V  3  4  12  144 in.3  2359.7 cm3

dry weight  0.35  2359.7  825.9 g
weight of water
@120% water   100
weight of dry wood
(a) water  11.221825.92  991 g  2.183 lb
 12.183 lb217.48 gal/ft3 2 62.4 lb/ft3  0.262 gal
(b) If the volume remains the same, then
825.9 g of dry wood  991 g of water
density   0.77 g/cm3
2359.7 cm3

172 The density of a sample of oak is 0.90 g/cm3. Calculate (a) the density of com-
pletely dry oak and (b) the percent water in the original sample.

Solution: r12% water  0.68 g/cm3 1Table 1712

(a) Therefore, in 100 cm3 of wood at 12% H2O, there are 68 g.

green weight  dry weight 68  dry weight
12% water    100
dry weight dry weight
dry weight  68 1.12  60.71 g

191
192 The Science and Engineering of Materials Instructors Solution Manual

(b) When the density is 0.90 g/cm3, there are 90 g of green wood per 100 cm3.
The water is therefore 90  60.71 g, or 29.29 g.
90 g  60.71 g
%H2O   100  48.2%
60.71 g

173 Boards of maple 1 in. thick, 6 in. wide, and 16 ft. long are used as the flooring for a
60 ft  60 ft hall. The boards were cut from logs with a tangential-longitudinal cut.
The floor is laid when the boards have a moisture content of 12%. After some
particularly humid days, the moisture content in the boards increases to 45%.
Determine the dimensional change in the flooring parallel to the boards and perpen-
dicular to the boards. What will happen to the floor? How can this problem be
corrected?

Solution: Perpendicular:
ctangential  0.00353 in./in. # %H2O for maple
x  xo 3c1Mf  Mi 2 4  630.00353145  122 4  0.699 in. in 6 in.
160 ft2112 in./ft210.699 in.2
Over a 60 ft span: x   83.9 in.
6 in.
The floor will therefore buckle due to the large amount of expansion of the
boards perpendicular to the flooring.
Parallel:
For most woods, only about a 0.2% change in dimensions occurs longitu-
dinally. Thus the total change in the length of the boards will be about
y  10.0022160 ft2112 in./ft2  1.44 in.

174 A wall 30 feet long is built using radial-longitudinal cuts of 5-inch wide pine, with
the boards arranged in a vertical fashion. The wood contains a moisture content of
55% when the wall is built; however the humidity level in the room is maintained to
give 45% moisture in the wood. Determine the dimensional changes in the wood
boards and estimate the size of the gaps that will be produced as a consequence of
these changes.

Solution: ctangential  0.00141 in./in. # %H2O for pine

x  130 ft2112 in./ft2 3 10.00141 in./in. # %H2O2145  552 4
 5.076 in.
The total number of boards in the width of the wall is:
# of boards  130 ft2112 in./ft2 5 in./board  72 boards
Therefore there are 71 gaps between the boards. The average width of the
gaps is:
gap  5.076 in.71 gaps  0.0715 in.

175 We have been asked to prepare 100 yd3 of normal concrete using a volume ratio of
cement-sand-coarse aggregate of 1 : 2 : 4. The water-cement ratio (by weight) is to be
0.5. The sand contains 6 wt% water and the coarse aggregate contains 3 wt% water.
No entrained air is expected. (a) Determine the number of sacks of cement that
must be ordered, the tons of sand and aggregate required, and the amount of water
 CHAPTER 17 Construction Materials 193

needed. (b) Calculate the total weight of the concrete per cubic yard. (c) What is the
weight ratio of cement-sand-coarse aggregate?

Solution: First we can determine the volume of each material on a sack basis,
keeping in mind the 1: 2 : 4 volume ratio of solids and the 0.5 water-
cement weight ratio:
cement  11 sack2194 lb/sack2 190 lb/ft3  0.495 ft3/sack
sand  12210.495 ft3/sack2  0.990 ft3/sack
aggregate  14210.495 ft3/sack2  1.980 ft3/sack
water  10.52194 lb2 62.4 lb/ft3 2  0.753 ft3/sack
total volume of materials/sack  4.218 ft3/sack
In 100 yd3, or 1100 yd3 2127 ft3/yd3 2:
cement  2700 ft3 4.218 ft3/sack  640 sacks
sand  1640 sacks210.990 ft3/sack21160 lb/ft3 2
 101,376 lb  50.7 tons
aggregate  1640 sacks211.980 ft3/sack21170 lb/ft3 2
 215,424 lb  107.7 tons
water  1640 sacks210.753 ft3/sack2162.4 lb/ft3 2  30,072 lb or
 1640 sacks210.753 ft3/sack217.48 gal/ft3 2  3,605 gal
But we must make adjustments for the water that is already present in the
sand and aggregate. There is 6% water in the sand and 3% water in the
aggregate. We can either multiply the dry sand by 1.06, or divide the dry
sand by 0.94, to obtain the amount of wet sand that we need to order.
wet sand  1101,376 lb211.062  107,459 lb  53.7 tons
water in sand  107,459  101,376  6083 lb
wet aggregate  1215,424 lb211.032  221,887 lb  110.9 tons
water in aggregate  221,887  215,424  6463 lb
The actual amount of water that should be added to the concrete mix is:
water  30,072  6083  6463  17,526 lb
gal water  117,526 lb217.48 gal/ft3 2 62.4 lb/ft3
 2101 gal
Therefore:

(a) The ingredients of the concrete mix are:

640 sacks of cement
53.7 tons of sand
110.9 tons of aggregate
2101 gal of water

(b) The total weight per yd3 is:

1640 sacks2194 lb/sack2  107,459  221,887  17,526
wt /yd3 
100 yd3
 4070 lb/yd 3
194 The Science and Engineering of Materials Instructors Solution Manual

(c) The cement-sand-aggregate ratio, on a weight basis, is:

ratio  1640 sacks2194 lb/sack2 : 107,847 lb : 221,887 lb
 60,160 : 107,847 : 221,887
 1 : 1.79 : 3.69

176 We plan to prepare 10 yd3 of concrete using a 1 : 2.5 : 4.5 weight ratio of cement-
sand-coarse aggregate. The water-cement ratio (by weight) is 0.45. The sand con-
tains 3 wt% water, the coarse aggregate contains 2 wt% water, and 5% entrained air
is expected. Determine the number of sacks of cement, tons of sand, and coarse
aggregate, and gallons of water required.

Solution: First, we can determine the volume of each material required, using the
1 : 2.5 : 4.5 ratio to determine the weights per sack of cement and dividing
by the density to determine the volume. Per sack of cement:
cement: 94 lb/sack190 lb/ft3  0.495 ft3/sack
sand: 12.52194 lb/sack2 160 lb/ft3  1.469 ft3/sack
aggregate: 14.52194 lb/sack2 170 lb/ft3  2.488 ft3/sack
water: 10.452194 lb/sack2 62.4 lb/ft3  0.678 ft3/sack
Volume per sack  5.130 ft3/sack
But 5% of the concrete is expected to be entrained air. The volume of air
x per sack of cement is:
x 15.130  x2  0.05 or x  0.27 ft3
Therefore the total volume of concrete per sack is:
Volume of concrete  5.130  0.27  5.400 ft3/sack
In 10 yd3  270 ft3:
cement  270 ft3 5.400 ft3/sack  50 sacks
sand  150 sacks211.469 ft3/sack21160 lb/ft3 2  11,752 lb
aggregate  150 sacks212.488 ft3/sack21170 lb/ft3 2  21,148 lb
water  150 sacks210.678 ft3/sack2162.4 lb/ft3 2  2,115 lb
But we must also adjust for the water present in the wet sand (3%) and wet
aggregate (2%). For example, to find the amount of wet sand, we could
either multiply the dry sand by 1.03 or divide by 0.97:
wet sand  11,752 lb0.97  12,115 lb; H2O  363 lb
wet aggregate  21,148 lb0.98  21,580 lb; H2O  432 lb
Therefore, the ingredients for the concrete mix include:
cement  50 sacks
sand  12,115 lb  6.06 tons
aggregate  21,580 lb  10.8 tons
water  2115  363  432  1320 lb
 11320 lb217.48 gal/ft3 2 62.4 lb/ft3  158 gal