Concrete

"Concreting the environment"

Exposed concrete
ƒ Internal composite structure hidden
ƒ Surface’s texture = formwork
 Concrete
Formwork and concrete texture
 Concrete
Concrete material
ƒ Cement
ƒ Water
ƒ Aggregates (fine and coarse)
Cement

Coarse
agg.
Coarse
agg.

Fine
agg. Fine
agg.

Water
Cement
Cement
Fine Coarse
Water
Air agg. agg.
9-18 6-9 23-35 33-35 7-15 14-19 2-6 22-32 30-48 93-95 4-6 0.5-1
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Percentage by weight Percentage by volume Percentage by surface area
 Concrete
Concrete material
ƒ Cement
­ Extraction and breaking-down
­ Mixing and crushing, drying Æ dust
­ Heating Æ clinker
­ Grinding, sometimes adding of mineral substances
 Concrete
Reinforced Concrete
ƒ Concrete for compression, steel for tension
ƒ Steel at maximal bending moments
ƒ Compacting
Level of concrete before compaction

Concrete already compacted

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 Concrete
Concrete building elements
ƒ Beams

Unloaded
Loaded

Reinforced

Unloaded
Loaded

Prestressed

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 Concrete
Concrete building elements Depth of slab 1/12
h (m)

ƒ Beams 2.00
1.90
1.80
1/14

1.70

ƒ Colums 1.60
1.50
1/16

1.40

ƒ Arches
1.30 1/20
1.20
1.10 1/24
1.00

ƒ Slabs
0.90
1/30
0.80
0.70
1/40
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00 Span of slab
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1(m)

Element Span h*/l

(loadbearing) 1(m)
Slab on walls - 10 1/24 - 1/40
Flat slab on columns, conventional
6 - 12 1/16 - 1/24
reinforcement
Flat slab with flared column heads 8 - 12 1/20 - 1/30
Slab with downstand beams, conventional
8 - 20 1/12 - 1/16
reinforcement
Waffle slab 10 - 20 1/14 - 1/20

Image by MIT OCW. Image by MIT OCW.

 Concrete
Concrete building elements
ƒ Beams
ƒ Colums
ƒ Arches
ƒ Slabs
ƒ Plates

Image by MIT OCW.

 Concrete
Concrete building elements
ƒ Beams
ƒ Colums
ƒ Arches
ƒ Slabs
ƒ Plates
ƒ Shells
 Concrete
Main reference for lecture contents:
ƒ “Constructing Architecture” by Deplazes: pp. 56-76

Additional readings relevant to lecture topics:

ƒ "Fundamentals of Building Construction" by Allen:
&
ƒ "Building Construction Illustrated" by Ching & Adams:
chapters on concrete