UNIVERSITY OF BAHRAIN

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR DESIGN
2020 - 2021 ACADEMIC YEAR / FIRST SEMESTER

ARCG 213: ARCHITECTURAL CONSTRUCTION - I

Lecture: 04 - Concrete Construction
BACKGROUND
 CHARACTERISTICS OF CONCRETE
Concrete is the most used construction material in the world. It
plays a role in all sectors of construction, and its qualities and
performance meet the varied needs of building construction and
civil engineering while respecting the requirements of safety,
aesthetics and durability.

It comprises a heterogeneous mixture of the following main

constituents:

Cement (Portland);
Water;
Sand (minerals);
Stone (rocks); and
Air.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF CONCRETE

 Mechanical strength, in particular compressive strength.

 Durability
 Porosity and density.
 Fire resistance.
 Thermal and acoustic insulation properties.
 Impact resistance
PRODUCTION OF CONCRETE

 Concrete is a mixture of cement, aggregate,

water and other admixtures.
 Concrete sets and hardens and forms a rock-
like mass due to a chemical reaction which
takes place between the cement and water.
 Practically the strength at the end of 28 days
is considered as the final attained strength.
 TYPES OF CONCRETE
Plain Concrete: It consist of the mixture of cement, coarse aggregate, fine aggregate,
water and other admixtures without any reinforcing steel.

Reinforced Concrete : It consist of the plain concrete reinforced with steel bars or
welded fabric mesh .

Precast Concrete : It is a concrete element which is manufactured and cured in the pre-
casting factory (off-site) and brought to the construction site (in site).

Pre-stressed Concrete: It is the type of concrete whose tensile strength is greatly

improved by introducing a compressive force through high strength wires placed in the
concrete.
 TYPES OF CONCRETE
Lightweight Concrete: It is type of concrete made by using light weight aggregates in
production. Vermiculate and perlite are common aggregates used in the production of
lightweight concrete.

Aerated Concrete: Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) is a lightweight, precast, foam

concrete building material suitable for producing concrete masonry unit (CMU) like
blocks.

Non-Fines Concrete: This concrete is composed of cement, water and coarse

aggregate only without fine aggregate. ( sand)

Fiber Concrete: Concrete which has fibers of asbestos, glass plastic or steel been
added during the mixing stage. These fibers improve tensile and impact strength and
limit the development of cracks.
 MATERIALS OF CONCRETE

Cement (Portland) : The most common types of

cements in use are the following:

Ordinary Portland Cement: It forms the basis of the most other

types of cements. It suits for use in general construction where there is no
requirement for special characteristics. It is not resistant to sulphate attacks.

Sulphate Resistance Cement: In this cement the number of

constituents which combines with sulphates and cause expansion and
disintegration is greatly reduced. Due to this restriction and careful control of
ingredients this cement is more expensive.

Rapid Hardening Cement: The composition is the same as

ordinary Portland cement, but it is more finely ground. The strength gained in 3
days of this cement is about the same as 7-day strength of ordinary Portland
cement.
 MATERIALS OF CONCRETE

Aggregate: Aggregates are inert granular materials such as sand, gravel, or crushed
stone that, along with water and Portland cement, are an essential ingredient in concrete
Aggregates are classified according to the size as fine and coarse:

Fine aggregates are those having particles less than 5 mm. in size and are generally consist of
sands, stone dust or crushed gravel.

Coarse aggregates are those which are retained on a 5 mm and are consist of gravels and crushed
rocks.

Aggregates should have the following characteristics:

sufficiently strong to produce good quality concrete.

free from salts and other chemicals
free from dirt, grease and organic matter
durable and not liable to shrinkage, swelling and decomposing.
 MATERIALS OF CONCRETE

Water: Any clean water could be used in concrete work.

Cement Admixture: These are chemicals added to the concrete during mixing time in order to
improve its properties. The admixtures should be used by strictly following the manufacturer's instructions
since the addition of too little or too much may change the desired result and can cause deterioration of
concrete. Some types of admixtures are:
Accelerators: To accelerate the setting in low temperatures
Retarders: To delay the setting time
Plasticizers: To increase the workability
Air-entraining agents: To produce light-weight concrete, by introducing tiny air baubles into the
mixture
 BATCHING OF CONCRETE

Batching is the measuring of the quantities to be used in concrete production. This can be done in two
ways as "Batching by volume" and ''Batching by weight”

Batching by Volume: This is a simple but not an accurate method and are usually applied in small
construction sites where setting up of weighing system is not justified .

In volume batching quantities of ingredients are usually expressed in ratios of volumes such as 1:2:4
(1 volume cement 2 volume fine aggregate and 4 volume coarse aggregate )

For simple and accurate measurement of materials a gauging box as shown in Fig. with a volume equal to
the volume of 1 bag of cement is made.(0.366 m)

Batching by Weight: This method eliminates the

inaccuracies occurring in volume batching method. ln this
method the quantities are measured by weighing hence the
effect of moisture trapped between the particles on the
batching quantities is negligible.
 MIXING OF CONCRETE
Concrete can be purchased ready-mixed from the companies or can be mixed on site when it is required.
Site mixing can be made as "hand mixing" or "machine mixing".

Hand Mixing: This is done only when a small quantity of concrete is required . It should be made on a
clean hard surface such as plywood or concrete.

The materials are tuned over by using shovels at least 3 times . After that, the dry heap is hollowed out into
a circle leaving the middle area empty for water and half the mixing water is poured in the center.

Machine Mixing: For small and medium .size

construction projects various size concrete mixers are
used. The mixing drum is rotated by a petrol or diesel
engine and tilted by hand.
 MIXING OF CONCRETE

Ready- Mixed Concrete: Ready-mixed

concrete is prepared in plants and
supplied in specially designed truck
mixers. Concrete is basically supplied in
two ways :

1: The batching and mixing operation is

completed in the plant and concrete is
loaded on the truck mixers.

2: When the time taken to reach to the

site becomes unacceptable the truck is
loaded by dry batched materials at the
plant without adding water.
 MIXING OF CONCRETE

Water Cement Ration: The ratio of amount of water to the amount of cement by weight in a
concrete mixture is one of the most important factors which effect the quality.

The chemical reaction between cement and water is known as hydration and for a full hydration process
very little amount of water is needed. The minimum W/C ratio required for a full hydration process is 0.3.
This ratio is too low, and the resulting concrete is too stiff to work in practice. For a workable mix, the
minimum W/C ratio starts from 0.40 and can be acceptable up to 0.65. It is recommended not to exceed
0.50 for the value of W/C ratio to obtain good durable concrete.
 Methods for Testing Compressive Strength of Concrete

Rebound Hammer Test (ASTM C805)

Penetration Resistance Test (ASTM C803)
Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (ASTM C597)
Pullout Test (ASTM C900)
Cast-in-place Cylinders (ASTM C873)
Drilled Core (ASTM C42)
Wireless Maturity Sensors (ASTM C1074)

ASTM: American Society for Testing and Materials

Ref: https://www.giatecscientific.com/education/6-ways-you-know-to-test-concrete-strength-and-1-you-may-not-have-heard-of/
 PREPARATION FOR PLACING OF CONCRETE

Prior to placing concrete make sure that the following cleaning & preparation works are completed:

 Before placing concrete, the sub grade should be properly levelled and compacted, and all the form
work and reinforcement should be placed correctly
 Sub grade to be moisten prior to concreting or be covered by polythene sheeting.
 All loose materials, timber pieces, binding wire cuts, saw dust, nails, should be cleaned.
 PREPARATION FOR PLACING OF CONCRETE

 Form work should be oiled or treated with some sort of sealing

compound to prevent them absorbing water from the concrete and
to facilitate easy from work removal.
 Reinforcement should be free from rust and scale.
 When fresh concrete to be placed on hardened concrete the
surface of the hardened concrete should be roughened and rich
cement
 Adequate access runways should be made for easy and smooth
concrete transportation.
 COMPACTING & FINISHING OF CONCRETE
Compacting: Once the concrete is placed it should be thoroughly
compacted to exclude the trapped air and obtain dense and
homogenous mass.
Finishing: The most basic type of concrete finish is a smooth surface
created using screeds and trowels. Immediately after concrete has been
placed in forms, concrete finishers utilize a screed to level out the concrete
surface. Screeds often consist of long pieces of metal or wood that are pulled
and pushed across the concrete surface to remove excess concrete and fill in
gaps in the concrete surface.

Trowels
 CURING OF CONCRETE

CURING OF CONCRETE can be defined as providing ideal conditions for setting and hardening
by controlling the temperature of the concrete and evaporation of the mixing water.

THE REASONS FOR CURING CONCRETE:

 To keep the water in the concrete until full hydration takes place.
 To control the rising of concrete temperature due to the heat generated during hydration process.
 To prevent the freezing of concrete at low temperatures.
 To reduce the surface temperature and rapid evaporation of water from the surface which may cause
surface cracking.
 To increase impermeability and produce dense concrete with high strength and durability against
weathering.
 METHODE OF CURING

There are several methods to provide curing to the

concrete. Some of the methods are explained
below:

Leaving form in place: Concrete elements

contained in narrow formwork will general not
require any special curing.

Covering with polythene sheet: These

sheets if properly covered will retain the
moisture and allow full hydration to take place.

Hessian Sheet Covering: Water soaked

hessian sheet covering will provide moist
environment for concrete curing if it should be
kept wet continuously.
 METHODE OF CURING
Spraying with water: It is on effective method of
curing provided that the drying of concrete surfaces
are prevented between applications. the temperature
of the water be about the same as concrete
temperature.

Spraying Curing Membrane: These are chemicals

based on Waxes and resins and sprayed on the
surface of the concrete after the evaporation of the
surface

Steam Curing: Steam curing is very effective where

early gaining of concrete strength is required . Steam
curing provides high temperature and prevents the
loss of moisture enabling very high early strength gain
. In high pressure steam curing 28-day strength of air-
cured concrete can be attained in 24 hours .
 CONCLUSION

Sketch Book task 4

Research, sketching, pictures and glossary of 05 words(minimum) on “Concrete”.
THANK YOU!