WORKABILITY OF CONCRETE

Workability of Concrete:

Workability is one of the physical parameters of concrete which affects

the strength and durability as well as the cost of labor and appearance of
the finished product. Concrete is said to be workable when it is easily
placed and compacted homogeneously i.e without bleeding or
Segregation. Unworkable concrete needs more work or effort to be
compacted in place, also honeycombs &/or pockets may also be visible
in finished concrete.

The property of fresh concrete which is indicated by the amount of

useful internal work required to fully compact the concrete without
bleeding or segregation in the finished product.
Factors affecting workability:
•Water content in the concrete mix
•Amount of cement & its Properties
•Aggregate Grading (Size Distribution)
•Nature of Aggregate Particles (Shape, Surface Texture, Porosity etc.)
•Temperature of the concrete mix
•Humidity of the environment
•Mode of compaction
•Method of placement of concrete
•Method of transmission of concrete
How To improve the workability of concrete
•Increase water/cement ratio
•Increase size of aggregate
•Use well-rounded and smooth aggregate instead of irregular shape
•Increase the mixing time
•Increase the mixing temperature
•Use non-porous and saturated aggregate
•With addition of air-entraining mixtures
TEST TO DETERMINE THE WORKABILITY OF CONCRETE

•Slump cone test

•K-Slump Tester

•Compaction factor test

•Flow test

•Vee-Bee test
 Slump cone test
•Slump is a measurement of concrete's workability, or fluidity.
•It's an indirect measurement of concrete consistency or
stiffness.
•A slump test is a method used to determine the consistency
of concrete. The consistency, or stiffness, indicates how much
water has been used in the mix.
•The stiffness of the concrete mix should be matched to the
requirements for the finished product quality
•The concrete slump test is used for the measurement of a
property of fresh concrete.
•The test is popular due to the simplicity of apparatus used
and simple procedure.
•The slump test result is a measure of the behavior of a
compacted inverted cone of concrete under the action of
gravity.
•It measures the consistency or the wetness of concrete.
•Consistency refers to the ease with which concrete flows.
•It is used to indicate degree of wetness.
•The test is carried out using a mould known as a slump cone
or Abrams cone.
• The cone is placed on a hard non-absorbent surface. This
cone is filled with fresh concrete in three stages.
• Each time, each layer is tamped 25 times with a rod of
standard dimensions. At the end of the third stage, concrete
is struck off flush to the top of the mould.
• The mould is carefully lifted vertically upwards with twisting
motion, so as not to disturb the concrete cone.
PROCEDURE:
•The mold for the slump test is a frustum of a cone, 300 mm (12 in) of
height. The base is 200 mm (8in) in diameter and it has a smaller
opening at the top of 100 mm (4 in).
•The base is placed on a smooth surface and the container is filled with
concrete in three layers, whose workability is to be tested .
•Each layer is temped 25 times with a standard 16 mm (5/8 in) diameter
steel rod, rounded at the end.
•When the mold is completely filled with concrete, the top surface is
struck off (leveled with mould top opening) by means of screening and
rolling motion of the temping rod.
•The mould must be firmly held against its base during the entire
operation so that it could not move due to the pouring of concrete and
this can be done by means of handles or foot - rests brazed to the
mould.
•Immediately after filling is completed and the concrete is leveled, the
cone is slowly and carefully lifted vertically, an unsupported concrete
will now slump.
•The decrease in the height of the center of the slumped concrete is
called slump.
•The slump is measured by placing the cone just besides the slump
concrete and the temping rod is placed over the cone so that it should
also come over the area of slumped concrete.
•The decrease in height of concrete to that of mould is noted with scale.
(usually measured to the nearest 5 mm (1/4 in).
Types Of Slump
Types Of Slump
The slumped concrete takes various shapes, and according to the profile
of slumped concrete, the slump is termed as;
❖Collapse Slump
❖Shear Slump
❖True Slump

Collapse Slump
In a collapse slump the concrete collapses completely. A collapse slump
will generally mean that the mix is too wet or that it is a high workability
mix, for which slump test is not appropriate.
Shear Slump
•In a shear slump the top portion of the concrete shears off and slips
sideways.
•If one-half of the cone slides down an inclined plane, the slump is said
to be a shear slump.
•If a shear or collapse slump is achieved, a fresh sample should be taken
and the test is repeated.
•If the shear slump persists, as may the case with harsh mixes, this is an
indication of lack of cohesion of the mix.
True Slump
•In a true slump the concrete simply subsides, keeping more or less to
shape
•This is the only slump which is used in various tests.
•Mixes of stiff consistence have a Zero slump, so that in the rather dry
range no variation can be detected between mixes of different
workability.
Degree of Slump Compacting
Use for which concrete is suitable
workability mm in Factor

Very dry mixes; used in road

Very low 0-25 0-1 0.78 making. Roads vibrated by power
operated machines.

Low workability mixes; used for

foundations with light
Low 25-50 1-2 0.85
reinforcement. Roads vibrated by
hand operated Machines.

Medium workability mixes;

manually compacted flat slabs
using crushed aggregates. Normal
Medium 50-100 2-4 0.92
reinforced concrete manually
compacted and heavily reinforced
sections with vibrations.

High workability concrete; for

sections with congested
High 100-175 4-7 0.95
reinforcement. Not normally
suitable for vibration
Applications of Slump Test
•The slump test is used to ensure uniformity for different batches of similar concrete
under field conditions and to ascertain the effects of plasticizers on their introduction.
•This test is very useful on site as a check on the day-to-day or hour- to-hour variation
in the materials being fed into the mixer. An increase in slump may mean, for instance,
that the moisture content of aggregate has unexpectedly increases.
•Other cause would be a change in the grading of the aggregate, such as a deficiency
of sand.
•Too high or too low a slump gives immediate warning and enables the mixer operator
to remedy the situation.
•This application of slump test as well as its simplicity, is responsible for its widespread
use.
 K-Slump Tester
• Very recently a new appartus called “K-Slump Tester” has been devised.

• It can be used to measure the slump directly in one minute after the tester is

inserted in the fresh concrete to the level of the floater disc. This tester can also be

used to measure the relative workability.

• This device is used to determine the workability and degree of compaction of fresh

concrete after being placed in the forms. It can be used for in-situ measurements or

inside test moulds and forms. Results can be correlated against the slump test.
The appartus comprises of the following four principal parts:-
1. A chrome plated steel tube with external and internal diameters of 1.9 and 1.6 cm
respectively. The tube is 25 cm long and its lower part is used to make the test. The
length of this part is 15.5 cm which includes the solid cone that facilitates inserting
the tube into the concrete.
2. Two types of openings are provided in this part:
4 rectangular slots 5.1 cm long and 0.8 cm wide and 22 round holes 0.64 cm in
diameter; all these openings are distributed uniformly in the lower part as shown in
Figure
 COMPACTION FACTOR TEST

•Compacting factor of fresh concrete is done to determine the

workability of fresh concrete by compacting factor test as per IS: 1199 –
1959. The apparatus used is Compacting factor apparatus.

•This method is adopted for determining the workability of concrete mix

in laboratories. It gives fairly good results for concrete of low
workability.
The test is performed in the following steps:
•Clean and dry the internal surface of the mould.
•With the help of hand scoop, place the concrete in upper hopper A.
•Open the trap door of hopper in order to facilitate the falling of the
concrete into lower hopper B. the concrete sticking to the sides of the
hopper A, should be pushed downward with the help of a steel rod.
•Open the trap door of the hopper B and allow the concrete to fall into
cylinder C.
•Remove the surplus concrete from the top of the cylinder with the help
of a trowel. Wipe and clean the outside surface of the cylinder.
•Weigh the cylinder with partially compacted concrete nearest to 10 g.
•Fill in the cylinder with fresh concrete in layers not exceeding 5 cm in
thickness and compact each layer till 100 percent compaction is
achieved.
•Wipe off and clean the outside surface of the cylinder and weigh the
cylinder with fully compacted concrete nearest to 10 g.
•Calculate the value of compaction factor using the following formula.

❖Compaction factor = weight of partially compacted concrete/weight of

fully compacted concrete
 Conditions Degree Values of Workability

20 – 10 seconds Vee-Bee time

Concreting of shallow
Very low or 0.75 to 0.80 compacting
sections with vibrations
factor

Concreting of lightly
10 – 5 seconds Vee-Bee time or
reinforced sections with Low
0.80 to 0.85 compacting factor
vibrations

Concreting of lightly 5-2 seconds Vee-Bee time or

reinforced sections without 0.85 to 0.92 compacting factor
vibrations or heavily Medium or
reinforced sections with 25 – 75 mm slumps for 20 mm
vibrations aggregates

Concreting of heavily Above 0.92 compacting factor

reinforced sections without High or 75 – 125 mm slump for 20
vibrations mm aggregates.
ADVANTAGES OF COMPACTION FACTOR TEST
•Suitable for testing workability in laboratories
•Suitable for concrete of low workability
•Suitable to detect the variation in workability over a wide
range
•Its results are more precise and sensitive.