CONCRETE

o Concrete may be in fresh state and hardened state

o Fresh concrete is a freshly mixed materials, which can be demoulded into
any shape

Properties of Fresh Concrete

(a) Workability: It is the property of fresh concrete and can be defined

as
o The amount of useful internal workdone necessary to produce full
compaction (Road Research Lab, UK)
OR
o The ease with which concrete can be compacted hundred percent
having regard to mode of compaction and place of deposition

Note: Consistency is different from workability; consistency indicates the

degree of fluidity or the degree of mobility or degree of wetness,
Concrete of same consistency may vary in workability
Factors Affecting Workability:

 The main factors are:

o Water content
o Mix proportions
o Size of aggregates
o Shape of aggregates
o Surface texture of aggregate
o Grading of aggregates
o Use of admixtures
 Water content:
o Higher water content in concrete, higher will be the workability
o Strength should be same, therefore when more water is added, quantity
of cement is also added to keep w/c ratio constant

 Mix proportions:
o Aggregate/cement ratio is an important factor affecting workability
o With higher aggregate/cement ratio, leaner concrete is formed and
reduced workability
 In leaner concrete, less quantity of paste per unit surface area of
aggregate
Factors Affecting Workability:

 Size of aggregate:
o Bigger size of aggregate will give higher workability for a given quantity
of water and paste, but within certain limit
 Due to less surface area and hence less water is required for wetting the
surface – reduce internal friction
 Shape of aggregate:
o Angular, elongated or flaky aggregate formed harsh concrete – reduce
workability
o Rounded aggregate – less surface area, less voids, reduce frictional
resistance – increase workability
 River sand and gravel give higher workability than crushed sand and
aggregate

 Surface texture:
o For same volume, total surface area of rough textured aggregate is more
than smooth surface texture
o Rough textured aggregate will give poor workability
 In smooth textured aggregate, reduction in inter particles frictional
resistance – give better workability
Factors Affecting Workability:

 Grading of aggregate:
o Well graded aggregate – least amount of voids in a given volume
 Better grading – less void content – higher workability

 Use of admixtures:
o Use of air entraining agents and pozzolanic materials increase the
workability
o Air entraining agents act as ball bearing between particles to slide past
each other and pozzolanic materials increase the surface area
Measurement of Workability

 The workability of concrete can be measured by:

o Slump test
o Compaction factor test
o Flow table test
o Kelly ball test
o Vee-Bee consistometer test

 Slump test
o It is a field test and can be performed in
labs.
o Checks uniformity of concrete mix from
batch to batch, day to day, hr to hr
o Shows quality of mix

 Standard mould filled in 3-layers, each

layer compacted 25 times by tamping
rode of 16 mm diameter, 0.6m long with
bullet end
Measurement of Workability

 Slump test

 Pattern of slump:

o Measure slump to nearest 5mm

o In harsh concrete mixes, shear slump occurs – lack of cohesion –
segregation (repeat the test)
 This test is not suitable for very wet or dry concrete
Note: Slump range = 0 to 175 mm (very low to high degree of workability)
  Compaction factor test
o Carried out as per ACI 211.3 and BS 1881, IS code is silent
o Primarily used for workability of concrete in laboratory but can also be
used in the field, Developed by Road Research lab, UK

o It is based on degree of compaction achieved by falling of concrete

through a standard height (workdone)
 The distance between upper hopper (A) &
lower hopper (B) and cylinder (C) = 20.3cm
 For upper hopper (A), the top, bottom dia.
and internal height is 25.4, 12.7 and 27.9
cm respectively
 For lower hopper (B), the top, bottom and
internal height is 22.9, 12.7 and 22.9 cm
respectively
 Cylinder (C) dimensions = 15cm dia and
30cm ht.
 Height of apparatus = 1.8 to 1.2m
 Used at large sites and precast concrete
works  Compaction factor (CF) =
 For same concrete larger compaction weight of partially compacted
factor for bigger apparatus concrete/weight of fully
compacted concrete
Note: CF range = 0.78 to 0.95 (very low to high degree of workability)
Measurement of Workability

 Flow table test

o Carried out as per ASTM C-124

o This is a laboratory test to measure quality of concrete mix w.r.t
consistency, cohesiveness and proneness to segregation

 The apparatus consist of flow table of 762mm diameter, cone of base

diameter 254mm; upper diameter is 170mm and height of cone is 120mm
 Cone filled in two layer and compacted each layer 25 times by tamping
rode of 16mm diameter and 610mm long
 Table is raised and dropped at 13mm and 15 jolts in 15 seconds
 Diameter of spread concrete is measured in six directions
 The flow of concrete is the percentage increase in an average diameter
of the spread concrete over the base diameter of cone

 Flow in percent = 100x(D-254)/254

Where, D = spread diameter in mm

Note: Flow diameter range = 0 to 150 percent

Measurement of Workability

 Kelly ball test

o This is also a field test carried out as per ASTM C 360

 Use metal hemisphere of 152mm diameter and 13.6 kg

 Measure indentation by sinking hemisphere on fresh concrete
 To avoid boundary effects – minimum depth of concrete is 200mm and
minimum width is 460mm
 The depth of penetration is recorded to the nearest 6mm
 Test should be performed in 15 seconds

 More consistent result faster than slump test and helpful in routine
check of consistency
 This test can not be performed when concrete is placed in thin section
 Simple correlation can be developed between depth of penetration and
slump
Measurement of Workability

 Vee-Bee consistometer test

o This is laboratory test to measure the workability of dry mixes and

carried out as per ACI 211.3, BS 1881.

 Consist of vibrating table, a metal pot, a sheet metal cone, standard iron
rod
 Concrete vibrate on table, 3000 rpm maximum acceleration 3-4g
 The time required for change in shape of concrete from slump cone to
cylindrical in seconds known as Vee-Bee degree
 Cannot be used for slump greater than 50mm
 (b) Segregation
o It is a type of failure in fresh state of concrete

o The separation of the constituents/materials of concrete called

segregation
OR
o Heterogeneous mixture so that their distribution is not uniform called
segregation
The coarse aggregate separated out from matrix
(dry segregation)

Types of segregation Paste or matrix separated out from aggregate (wet

segregation)
Water separated out from rest of materials due to
lowest specific gravity (wet segregation)

Note: 1. A workable concrete should not easily segregate – should be cohesive

2. Full compaction of segregated mixes is impossible – lower strength –
affect the workability
 Segregation is influenced by

o Grading of aggregates
o Method of handling and placing of concrete

 Segregation is low when

o Haulage distance is small and concrete transferred directly To avoid these
from wheel barrow to final position situation, use
o Concrete is not drop from great height cohesive mix
o No obstruction during discharge of concrete

 Segregation is encouraged when

o Working concrete along the form with pin vibrators
o Over vibration at a spot – coarse aggregate settle down and cement paste
rises top
 Segregation concrete is
o Weak – not fully compacted
o Surface is too wet
o On drying surface is dusty
 Segregation of concrete is
o Reduced by air entrainment
o Increased by use of coarse aggregate with specific gravity appreciably
different from fine aggregate
o Difficult to measure quantitatively
o Measured/studied by vibrating cubes for about 10 minutes and observe
distribution of coarse aggregate

(c) Bleeding: It is also a type of failure in fresh state of concrete

o Known as water gain – form of segregation
o Water from the mix comes out on the surface of concrete
o Due to lowest specific gravity among all the ingredients of concrete

 Bleeding can be observed in

o Highly wet mix
o Badly proportioned mix
o In thin members, when placed in sunny weather
 Due to Bleeding
o Water comes out and accumulates at the surface
o Laitance (Scum) on the surface (formation of cement paste at the surface) –
affect the wearing quality in slabs and pavements
 Develops shrinkage cracks
 Weak bond between two layers of concrete
 To avoid this remove laitance before next layer of concrete

o If w/c > 0.7 – continuous bleeding channels forms – causing permeability of

concrete

o Bleeding depends largely on properties of cement and decreased by

 High alkali content in cement
 High C3A content
 Addition of CaCl2
 Lower temperature
 Air entrainment and richness of concrete mix
 Addition of pozzolanic materials
o Can be measured quantitatively as total settlement per unit height of
concrete
o Bleeding capacity can be determined as per ASTM C232
o If rate of evaporation of water from surface is faster than bleeding rate –
cracks develops due to plastic shrinkage