CONCRETE PUMPING.

introduction

Concrete pumps have been known for more than 60 years. Today, concrete especially for
road construction can be pumped for long distances through pipelines by huge and heavy
industrial pumps.

The concrete pumping system specifically consists of parts like the hoper unto which
concrete from the mixer is delivered and then delivers it to the concrete pump which conveys
it to the hose pipes or pipelines.

There are different types of pumps. namely:

I. Direct-acting pumps
II. Squeeze pumps

Direct-acting pumps

These are simple pumps with horizontal pistons and semi-rotary valves. With these pumps,
the concrete is fed into the pump by gravity and partly by suction created by the movement of
the horizontal pistons as the valves open and close. With these pumps, concrete should be
able to flow freely and blockages should be avoided, this means that the diameter of the
suction pipe should be at least three times bigger than the concrete particle sizes.

During the ‘suction stroke,’ the inlet valve opens and concrete is admitted into the pumping
cylinder, the outlet valve remaining closed. In the ‘delivery stroke,’ the outlet valve gets
opened and the inlet valve is closed, and the concrete gets pushed into the delivery pipeline.
The concrete moves in a series of impulses, the delivery pipe always remaining full.

direct-acting pumps can be stationary or movable. Using these pumps, concrete can be
readily pumped up to 450m. These are preferred for industrial large scale concrete pumping.

SQUEEZE PUMPS

These are small portable pumps with which concrete from the collecting hopper is fed to
rotating blades into a flexible pipe connected to the pumping chamber. Squeeze pumps
include peristaltic pumps, progressive cavity pumps, and Archimedes screw-type pumps.

These pumps can transport concrete up to 90m horizontally and 30m vertically.

peristaltic-concrete-pump
peristaltic pumping refers to a way by which the pump moves fluid through tubing that has no
contact with any of the mechanisms of the pump making it suitable to transfer fluids that do not
need cross-contamination. This pump has two primary components: a motor to turn the wheels that
are inside the tube being pressed at the outer portion of the housing as it pinches the tube therein
creating space for drawing the fluid and pushing it out in a continuous rolling manner.

Progressive cavity pump

Has two major components, a rotor, and a stator

The rotor is the rotating part of the pumping element, and the stator is the stationary portion. The
two elements form a cavity and as the rotor rotates it forces the fluid to move progressively down
the pumping element thus the name progressive cavity pump.

The two major applications of the pc pump are chemical and sludge handling.

Archimedes screw type pump.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTING A CONCRETE PUMP

Two important parameters should be considered before the selection of a pump, the
maximum desired volumetric output per hour and the peak pumping pressure (p). The
required power of the drive unit of the concrete pump depends on the desired delivery output
of the pump Q and the pumping pressure P,

These two parameters are correlated by the expression of the hydraulic output H of the
concrete pump:

H=Q∗p ……………………………..(i)

If Q is expressed in m3/hr and p is expressed in bars ( 1 bar =0.1N/mm2 )