Professional English

Cambridge English for

Engineering
CASE STUDY
UNIT 2
Part 1
Concrete research

In pairs, discuss the following questions about reinforced concrete. Be prepared

to sum up your answers using your notes.
1 What are the main applications of reinforced concrete?
2 What specific materials does it consist of?
3 What different categories of material do reinforced concrete and the materials it is
made of belong to?
4 What are some of the properties of reinforced concrete?

The following sections from Unit 2 of Cambridge English for Engineering may be
useful.
Categorising materials (pages 16 and 17)
Specifying and describing properties (pages 18 and 19)

Part 2
Read the following extract from an engineering journal.

Recylability in Engineering
In the environmentally-conscious world we live in today, recyclability is an important
issue with all engineering materials. But reinforced concrete is especially attractive in this
respect, for three key reasons (see next page). Consequently, identifying recycled materials
that are suitable for putting into concrete is currently a major area of research, and the race
is on to find alternative aggregates and reinforcing materials. However, recycled ingredients
that are suitable for use in concrete must satisfy a number of technical requirements.

In pairs, come up with some suggested answers to the following questions.

l Why is reinforced concrete especially attractive as a way of using recycled
materials? What might the three key reasons mentioned in the article be?
l What technical requirements would reinforcing materials, such as aggregates,

need to have?

Part 3
You and your partner are researchers at a recycling firm looking into recycled
materials, such as coarse aggregates, fine aggregates and reinforcing fibres for
use in reinforced concrete. In pairs, use the following steps and make notes of
your ideas.
l think of some possible recycled materials - there’s no need to analyse them
technically at this stage
l assess each material in your list and make a shortlist of the most promising
possibilities

Give a short presentation to the group including an explanation of the most

promising materials, together with reasons for your suggestions, as well as some
examples of materials you considered but rejected for technical reasons.

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 UNIT 2 Case study: Concrete research

Recylability in Engineering
Suggested answers to Part 2

The potential for using recycled materials in reinforced concrete is especially

attractive for the following reasons.
l as the world’s most extensively used engineering material, it has the potential to
use enormous quantities of recycled material
l its composite construction – coarse aggregate + fine aggregate + reinforcement

– allows a range of different types of recycled material to be used

l aggregate and reinforcement are hidden inside the concrete, meaning that

colour and appearance – often problem issues with recycled materials – are not
important.

However, there are many technical requirements that reinforced concrete needs
to satisfy. These include:
l Strength – materials must be able to carry the required loads.
l Chemical stability – materials must not react aggressively with cement, or attack
steel reinforcement and cause it to corrode. And since most concrete structures
are designed to last several decades, engineers must be sure that materials remain
chemically stable for long periods – something which can be difficult to test in a
laboratory.
l Thermal stability – as most concrete is located outside, it is exposed to significant

variations in temperature. These variations cause it to expand and contract.

Consequently, all the materials used in reinforced concrete must have the same
coefficient of thermal expansion, so that the concrete does not break apart due to
thermal movement.
l Workability – wet concrete requires good plasticity to allow it to be fed through

the pipes of concrete pumps, and to be placed and compacted. Any materials
mixed in with concrete must therefore allow it to be moved and placed.

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 UNIT 2 Case study: Concrete research – Teacher’s Notes

Unit 2 Case study: Concrete research – Teacher’s

Notes
Before you begin...

Ask students what is meant by reinforced concrete and recycling. Tell the students
that these two key terms will be the basis of this case study. Ask them to think
about what the interesting link between reinforced concrete and recycling might be.

Part 1
Students discuss the questions in pairs and feed back their ideas to the group.

Suggested answers and useful vocabulary

1 Reinforced concrete is used widely in construction for structural members of
concrete frame buildings. For example, beams (horizontal members), columns
(vertical members), slabs (floors), walls. It is also used for foundations (which support
structures, including piles – see Cambridge English for Engineering pages 12 and 13.
It is also used in large civil engineering structures, such as bridges and dams.
2 Cement, fine aggregate (sand), coarse aggregate(gravel), and steel reinforcing bars.
3 Reinforced concrete is a composite material. Concrete is a ceramic - although
it isn’t formed by heat, it hardens due to a chemical reaction triggered in the
cement after water is added and is therefore classed as a ceramic . The concrete –
excluding the reinforcement – is non-metallic. The steel reinforcement is metallic,
and is a ferrous metal. Steel is an alloyof iron and carbon.
4 Reinforced concrete is a very strong/tough material. It is reasonably hard, with
reasonable abrasion resistance. It has very low elasticity/modulus (modulus of
elasticity). It has fairly good thermal stability. A key property of concrete is that
it’s very strong in compression, but weak in tension – see Cambridge English for
Engineering page 80 for more on compression and tension. Concrete’s weakness
in tension is the main reason for adding steel reinforcement, as steel is very strong
in tension. Concrete is also very durable and it is thought to be capable of lasting
hundreds of years.

Part 2
Students read the journal extract and then discuss the questions in pairs, making
notes of their suggestions. Each pair then feeds back their suggestions to the
group for collective comparison and discussion.

Page 2 has suggested answers to the questions that students have discussed in
Part 2. Give each student a copy of these and ask them to compare them with
their predicted answers.

Part 3
Students work in pairs to brainstorm ideas and prepare notes for their
presentation. When each pair has presented their ideas, finish with a group
discussion to assess the best proposals.

Note
One of the main recycled materials currently used in reinforced concrete is recycled
concrete itself, i.e. old concrete that has been crushed to be reused as aggregate. A
promising material being researched is crushed glass – though there are problems
with chemical reactions between glass and cement. Recycled carpets are another
possibility, potentially useful as reinforcing fibres.

You could look at the following sites for further information and reading material
for discussion.
http://www.civil.columbia.edu/meyer/
www.concreterecycling.org

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