CONCRETE

DEFINITION OF CONCRETE
Concrete is composed of sand, gravel, crushed
rock, or other aggregates held together by hardened
paste of hydraulic cement and water. The thoroughly
mixed ingredients, when properly proportioned, make a
plastic mass that can be cast into a predetermined size
and shape. Upon complete hydration (chemical reaction
of cement and water), concrete becomes stone like and
can function in many purposes.
 PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE
Essential properties of concrete should be
determined in accordance with its construction purpose.
Concrete should satisfy the following requirements:

◦ 1. Durability
◦ 2. Strength
◦ 3. Economy
◦ 4. Workability
is is the most convenient method in evaluating the quality of concrete. In addition,
many of the characteristics of concrete such as durability, permeability, and porosity are qualitatively related to
the compressive strength.
A durable concrete is one that will stand in satisfactory
degree, the effects of service condition to which it will
be subjected, such as weathering, chemical action and
wear.
A hardened concrete must have sufficient strength to
resist the stress from loads applied to it as well as from
its weight.
 Economy takes into account the effective use of
materials, effective operation and ease of handling. The cost
of producing good quality concrete is an important
consideration in the overall cost of the construction project.
An important property of fresh concrete is
workability. Workability is a composite characteristic
indicative of the ease with which a given set of materials can
be mixed into concrete and subsequently handled,
transported and placed with minimum loss of homogeneity.
Consistency of fluidity of concrete is an important
component of workability that can be measured with
reasonable accuracy by means of slump test.
. Hence, it is not expected to resist direct tension.
MAKING GOOD QUALITY
CONCRETE
The quality of concrete is obviously influenced by the quality of
its constituent materials as well as by the manner which these are
proportioned in the mix. A good quality concrete could be produced by
using:
• aggregates with high strength and soundness
• aggregates that are well-graded
• maximum size of coarse aggregate consistent with job requirements
• aggregates whose particle shapes are " round" or "cubical"
• high quality cement
• clean water (if water contains salt, the percentage of salt content should be
at most 2 percent)
• admixture that will enhance the property desired