PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

CONCRETE
• Concrete is a composite man made material.
• Most widely used Building material in Construction Industry.
• It consist of lime or cement, Coarse aggregates, Fine aggregates and
Admixtures.
• Cement and water make a paste called as matrix
• Matrix fills the voids and Binds the coarse and Fine aggregates
together.
• Fresh concrete is called as Wet or Green Concrete and After setting
and hardening it is called as Hardened concrete.
 CLASSIFICATION OF CONCRETE
On the basis of Cementing material
1. Lime Concrete
2. Gypsum Concrete
3. Cement Concrete
On the basis of Perspective Specifications
1. Nominal Mix: In which the proportions of the Ingredients are
fixed and properties such as slump, Strength etc cant be
changed.
Grade of M5 M 7.5 M10 M15 M20 M25
Concrete
Mix 1:5:10 1:4:8 1:3:6 1:2:4 1:1.5:3 1:1:2
Proportion
 CLASSIFICATION OF CONCRETE
Based on Performance Oriented Specifications
When Concrete properties such as slump, water cement ratio, Slump etc are specuified , it is
called as Design Mix Concrete.

Based on the Grades of cement Concrete

Grade M5 M7.5 M10 M15 M20 M25 M30
Characteristic 5 7.5 10 15 20 25 30
Strength

Based on Bulk Density

Super Heavy Concrete Dense Concrete Light Weight Concrete Extra Light Concrete
More than 2500 Kg/m3 1800-2500 Kg/m3 500-1800 Kg/m3 Less than 500Kg/m3
 CLASSIFICATION OF CONCRETE
On the basis Strength
Depending on the Strength of the Concrete cubes of 150 mm after 28 days
Curing, the concrete may be classified as
Grade M10 M15 M20 M25 M30
Characteristic Compressive 10 15 20 25 30
Strength

Where , M means Mix and Digit written with it means the Characteristic Compressive
Strength of concrete after 28 days Curing

a) Low Strength Concrete having Strength less than 20 N/mm2

b) Medium Strength Concrete having Strength 20 - 55 N/mm2
c) High Strength Concrete having Strength more than 60 N/mm2
 Basic Steps Production of
Concrete

Batching Mixing Transporting

Placing Compacting Curing

 Properties of Concrete

Fresh Concrete: Harden Concrete:

Consistency Strength
Workability Durability
Strength:
Mechanical Properties of
Concrete

Compression test Split Tensile test Flexural Strength

Durability: Durability

Abrasion and Creep and Alkali Silica Reaction

Fire Resistance (ASR)
weathering shrinkage
Alkali
Aggregate Reaction (AAR)

( Durability Will be discussed in Unit -4 )

 COMPRESSION TEST - IS 516:1959
This test is used to measure the compressive strength of concrete
• The ingredients of the concrete to be used are weighted in the ratio to
be used.
• Firstly cement and sand are mixed thoroughly until uniform colour
colour is obtained and then aggregates are added, after that water is
added to it get the Concrete.
• Specimen: Test specimen used are cube of 150x150x150 mm or
cylinder of 150 mm dia and 300 mm height.
• Concrete is filled in the moulds and then Vibrated.
• After 24 hours specimens are removed from the moulds and
placed in water for curing for 7 or 28 days.
• Three specimens are made for Determining the compressive
strength of a batch of concrete.
• Specimen is placed between the platens of the Compression
testing machine.
SPLIT TENSILE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE IS 5816:1999
FLEXURE TEST - IS 516:1959

a is the distance between the line of fracture and and nearest

Support, b and d are the width and depth, l is the span on
which specimen is supported, p is the max load applied
RING TENSION TEST:
Another test for finding out the tensile strength of concrete is known as “Ring Tension
Test”. Briefly in this method, a hydrostatic pressure is applied radially against the inside
periphery of 15 cm diameter, 4 mm thick and 4 mm high concrete ring specimen. The
resulting tensile stress developed in the specimen are determined from the equations of the
stress analysis of thick walled cylinders, as given below:
 FACTORS AFFECTING THE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE

• SIZE OF THE TEST SPECIMEN

• Type Of stress situation that Exist
• Size of specimen relative to max size of aggregates
• Air Voids
• Rate of Loading
• Type of Testing Machine
• Type of cement
• Water Cement ratio
• Type and size of aggregates
• Degree of compaction
• Curing Method
Thermal properties :
• The thermal properties like coefficient of thermal expansion, specific heat, density
and thermal conductivity of concrete are important for evaluation of the performance
concrete over the period of time.
• Rock and aggregate possesses three thermal properties which are significant in
establishing the quality of aggregate for concrete constructions.
• Out of these, specific heat and conductivity are found to be important only in mass
concrete construction where rigorous control of temperature is necessary.
• Also these properties are of consequence in case of light weight concrete used for
insulation purpose
• An average value of the linear thermal coefficient of expansion of concrete may be
taken as 9.9 x 10-6 per °C, but the range may be from about 5.8 x 10-6 per °C to 14 x
10-6 per °C depending upon the type and quantities of the aggregates, the mix
proportions and other factor s.
• The range of coefficient of thermal expansion for hydrated cement paste may vary
from 10.8 x 10–6 Per °C to 16.2 x 10–6 per °C. Similarly, for mortar it may range from
7.9 x 10–6 per °C to 12.6 x 10–6 per °C.
The thermal conductivity of concrete is one of the key parameters needed to predict
temperature variation during hydration. This measures the ability of the material to conduct
heat and is defined as the ratio of the flux of heat to temperature gradient. It is measured in
joules per second per square meter of area of body when the temperature difference is 1°C
per meter of thickness of the body.

The major factors influencing the conductivity are the moisture content of concrete, the type
of aggregate, the mix proportions, the type of cement and the temperature of the concrete.
Thermal diffusivity is a measure of the rate at which temperature change within the mass
take place. The larger the value of thermal diffusivity of a mass the faster the changes will
occur. The value of thermal diffusivity is dependent on the aggregate type, moisture content,
degree of hydration of the cement paste, and exposure to drying.
Diffusivity can be determined by: D = K/Sd
D = Thermal diffusivity (m2 /s)
K = Thermal conductivity (J/s m K)
S = Specific heat (J/kg K)
d = Density of concrete ( kg/m3 )
Specific heat represents the heat capacity of concrete. It increases with the moisture
content of concrete and is affected by the mineralogical character of the aggregate, specific
heat increases with an increase in temperature and also increases with a decrease in the
density of concrete
Fatigue & Impact strength of concrete
The application of repeated load on a material develops fatigue in it. In practice many
structures are repeatedly loaded. When a material fails under a number of repeated
loads, each load being smaller than the static compressive strength of concrete, then
the failure taken place is called fatigue failure. Concrete and steel both have a
characteristic fatigue failure.
Type of Fatigue Failures:
Generally there are two types of fatigue failure in concrete:
1. Simple fatigue failure
2. Static fatigue or creep ruptures failure
1. Simple Fatigue Failure:
In this type of failure the failure occurs under cyclic or repeated loading and is known
simply as fatigue failure.

2. Static Failure:
In this case failure occurs under a sustained or slowly increasing load near or blows the
strength under an increasing load, as in a standard test. This failure is known as static
fatigue or creep rupture failure.
In both the cases a time dependent failure takes place only at stresses which are greater
than a certain limiting value, but smaller than the short term static strength.
Impact Strength of Concrete:
The impact force is the product of the mass of a body and its velocity. The necessity of the
knowledge of impact force in practical life is felt in driving concrete piles and in the
construction of foundations for machines which exert impulsive load and also in situations
where accidental impact is possible as in the case of handling pre-cast concrete members.

There is no unique relation between the impact strength and the static compressive
strength of concrete. Thus to assess the impact strength, the principal criteria was
considered as the ability of concrete specimen to withstand the repeated blows and to
absorb energy. Thus the number of blows which the concrete can withstand (bear) before
reaching the no rebound condition indicates a definite state of damage.
Impact Strength