Basics of Civil Engineering

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UG First Year
Sem-I (2022 Batch)
EEE-B

Dr. Vanama Raghava Kumar, M.Tech.(VNIT), Ph.D.(IITB)

Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering,
National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli
Tamil Nadu, INDIA - 620015

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 CEMENT

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Cement
• Cement is a Binder
• The history of cementing material is as old as the history of engineering construction.
• Some kind of cementing materials were used by Egyptians, Romans and Indians in their ancient constructions
• Egyptians obtained cementing material by burning Gypsum
• Cementing material in Great Pyramid
• 81.5 % - Calcium Sulphate
• 9.5 % - Carbonate
• Greeks and Romans used cementing materials obtained by burning limestones
• The invention of Portland cement is attributed to Joseph Aspdin, a brick layer
• Joseph Aspdin took the patent of Portland cement on 21 October 1824
• The fancy name of portland was given owing to the resemblance of this
hardened cement to the natural stone occurring at Portland in England.
Portland Stone Quarry, Portland

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Raw Materials for Cement

• Calcareous material – Containing CaCO3 (primary source – limestone); impurities such as iron and
alumina are sometimes present

• Argillaceous material – Containing clayey matter, source of Silica (SiO2), Alumina (Al2O3)

• Gypsum – Added in the final stages (after cooling of clinker) of manufacture as a set regulator

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Main chemical Ingredients of Cement (Raw Stage)

Ingredient Composition Percentage

Lime CaO 60 to 67
Silica Sio2 17 to 25
Iron Oxide Fe2O3 0.5 to 6.0
Alumina Al2O3 3.0 to 8.0
Magenisum Oxide MgO 0.1 to 4.0
Sulphur Trioxide SO3 1.3 to 3.0
Alkalies Na2O, K2O 0.4 to 1.3

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Cement manufacturing process

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Wet Process

• Mixing and grinding of raw materials is done by adding 30 to 35% water

• Heating is done at 1500oC in Kiln
• More fuel is required hence costlier

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Dry Process

• Mixing and grinding of raw materials is done in dry state only

• Heating is done at 1300oC to 1500oC in Kiln
• Less fuel is required, chepaer than wet process

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Cement Manufacturing – Kiln Reactions
Up to 700oC: activation of silicates through removal of
water and changes in crystal structure
700 – 900oC: decarbonation of CaCO3, initial combination
of A, F, and activated silica with lime
900 – 1200oC: Belite (C2S) formation
> 1250oC (more particularly, > 1300 oC): liquid phase
appears and promotes the reaction between belite and free
lime to form alite (C3S)
Cooling stage: molten phase (containing C3A and C4AF)
gets transformed to a glass; if cooling is slow, C3A
crystallizes out (causes setting problems), or alite converts
to belite and free lime

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Cement Manufacturing – Kiln Reactions
Schematic view

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Portland Cement Clinker (IS 16353(2015))

3 to 25 mm

• Typical PC clinker is composed of

- large irregular crystals that are grains of alite (C3S)
- more rounded smaller crystals that are belite (C2S)
- groundmass consisting of the flux phases (mixture of ferrite and C3A solid solutions)

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Portland Cement Clinker (IS 16353(2015))
Clinkers viewed under reflected light in optical microscope
These figures show the important phases of alite (C3S, generally angular), belite (C2S, generally rounded),
interstitial material (C3A and C4AF, light colour regions) and epoxy resin in clinker pores.

Clinker showing in left fig. has Typical C3S In right fig. a zone of high C2S (belite)
(alite) structure with Relatively high content is visible
proportion of aluminate phases (white areas)

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Bogue’s Compounds

Name of Compound Formula Abbreviated Formula

Tricalcium silicate 3 CaO.SiO2 C3S
Dicalcium silicate 2 CaO.SiO2 C2S
Tricalcium aluminate 3 Cao.Al2O3 C3A
Tetracalcium aluminoferrite 4 CaO.Al2O3.Fe2O3 C4AF

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Bogue’s Compounds
 C3S
• It hydrates more rapidly.
• It develops early strength.
• It generates heat more rapidly and has less
resistance to chemical attack.
 C2S
• It hydrates slowly.
• It hardens more slowly
• It provides ultimate strength to the
cement.
• It has more resistance to chemical attack.
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 C3A
• It is fast reacting with large amount
of heat generation.
• It causes initial setting of cement.
• It is weak against sulphate attack.
 C4AF
• It is comparatively inactive.
• It has poor cementing value.
• It is slow in reaction with small heat
generation.
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Role of Gypsum

• The reaction of pure C3A with water is very fast and this may lead to flash set.
• To prevent this flash set, gypsum is added at the time of grinding the cement clinker.
• The quantity of gypsum added has a bearing on the quantity of C3A present.
• Dosage is usually 2% to 3%

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Cement Manufacturing
Grinding aids

Clinker + gypsum  Intergrinding or interblending  Cement

Vertical Roller Mill Ball Mill

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Rate of Heat Evolution During Hydration
The reaction of cement with water is exothermic

• Stage I: Rapid evolution of heat, lasts about 15

minutes.
• Stage II: Dormant period, lasts until initial set occurs in
2 to 4 hours
• Stage III: Rapid reaction of C3S during the acceleration
period, with the peak being reached at about 8-10
hours, much after final set at 4-8 hours and hardening
has begun
• Stage IV: Rate of reaction slows down until steady state
is reached in 12-24 hrs
• Stage V: Steady state

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Cement and hydration of Portland cement

+ Ettringite and
Monosulphates

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Formation C-S-H gel
2C3S + 7H → C3S2H8 + 3Ca(OH)2 (ΔH = -500 J/g)
Moderate reaction rate, gives high strength and more heat liberation

2C2S + 5H → C3S2H8 + Ca(OH)2 (ΔH = -250 J/g)

Slow reaction rate, gives low initial but high later strength, and low heat liberation

Calcium silicates (C3S + C2S) + wáter (H) → C-S-H + CH

C-S-H

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Hydration Products
Calcium Hydroxide
• Hexagonal crystals, generally oriented tangentially to pore spaces and aggregates along the longitudinal axis
• Low surface area (500 m2/kg)
• Low Van der Waals forces
• Volume – 20-25%

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Hydration Products

Ettringite Monosulphate

Mehta and Monteiro, 1993 Mindess and Young, 1981

Volume occupied is 15 – 20% 21

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Dimensional range of solids & Pores in a Hydrated cement paste

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Fineness of Cement
Blaine air permeability method

Fineness:
• It is the degree of grinding of cement
• The rate of reaction depends upon the fineness of
grinding
• For accurate measurement, it is measured by surface
area, air permeability method and the unit is m2/kg
of cement.
• Normal value - 200 to 300 m2/kg of cement

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Cement Setting Time: Initial & Final
• Setting of cement is the phenomenon by virtue of which the green cement changes into hard mass.
• The time between water is added in cement and initial setting takes place is known as Initial Setting Time.
• Initial setting time is regarded as the time elapsed between the moment that the water is added to the
cement, to the time that the paste starts losing its plasticity.

Vicat’s apparatus

For initial setting

For final setting

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Cement Setting Time: Initial & Final
• The final setting time is the time elapsed between the moment the water is added to the cement, and
the time when the paste has completely lost its plasticity and has attained sufficient firmness to resist
certain definite pressure.
• Cement should not loose its plasticity till the various operations of mixing, transporting and placing are
complete. Hence this time is generally kept not less than 30 minutes and the final setting is not more
than 10 hours

Vicat’s apparatus

For initial setting

For final setting

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Compressive Strength of cement

• The quality of concrete and cement is always judged by strength and that is only
by compressive strength because cement is weak in tension and for it steel
reinforcement is always provided.

• For this purpose cement and standard sand are mixed in the ratio of 1:3

• Grades of cement : 33, 43, 53

• (Strength (in MPa) on 28th day ofcuring)

50 mm2

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Soundness of Cement

• Free lime and magnesia present in cement

makes the cement unsound by increasing
the volume after setting.
• Expansion should not be more than 10 mm
• More lime (or calcium hydroxide) leads to
cracks in concrete
• It is generally measured by Le-Chatelier
method

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Field Tests on Cement
• The colour of cement should be uniform gray with light greenish shade.
• Cement should feel smooth when touched.
• If hand is inserted in a bag of cement it should feel cool not warm.
• If a small quantity of cement is thrown in a bucket of water, it should sink and should not float on the surface.
• Cement should be free from any hard lumps.
* No brand is promoted

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Field Tests on Cement

• The colour of cement should be uniform gray with light greenish shade.
• Cement should feel smooth when touched.
• If hand is inserted in a bag of cement it should feel cool not warm.
• If a small quantity of cement is thrown in a bucket of water, it should sink and should not float on the
surface.
• Cement should be free from any hard lumps.

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Types of Cement

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Types of Cement
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC)

• It is also known as Normal setting

cement.
• It is used in road pavements, buildings,
culverts, water pipes etc.
• Out of the total consumption of
different types of cement 90% is OPC.

* No brand is promoted

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Types of Cement
Rapid Hardening Cement

• It contains less quantity of C2S and more quantity of C3S.

• It is generally used where high early strength is required.
• It is used by concrete product manufactures
• highway pavements which are to be opened early for road traffic
• in cold weather concreting due to its high heat of hydration development.

* No brand is promoted
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Types of Cement
Low Heat Portland Cement

• This cement is so called because it develops low heat at the time of hydration.
• It contains C3A and C3S in less quantity because they develop early heat.
• It develops strength quite late and it is generally used in massive concrete structures such as dams, bridge,
abutments, retaining walls etc.

* No brand is promoted

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Types of Cement
Portland Slag Cement

• Ground-granulated blast-furnace slag is obtained by quenching molten iron slag from a blast furnace in
water or steam, to produce a glassy, granular product that is then dried and ground into a fine powder

• Blast furnace slag is a nonmetallic coproduct produced in the process. It consists primarily of silicates,
aluminosilicates, and calcium-alumina-silicates.
• Percentage of blast furnace slag varies from 25 to 65%.
• It is cheaper as compared to ordinary cement because waste product is used in it.
• It can also be used in massive concrete such as dams, bridges, etc.

* No brand is promoted
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Types of Cement
Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC)

• Pozzolana is a naturally occurring material such as volcanic ash or Pumice

stone or an artificial product such as burnt clay/ shale/Fly ash / GGBS/ RHA
etc containing siliceous and aluminous mineral substances.
• As per BIS 1489-1967, the proportion of pozzolana material varies from 10
to 25% by weight of cement.
• It increases the workability, reduces heat of hydration, and increases the
water tightness.
• It also offers greater resistance against sulphatic action and sea water.

* No brand is promoted

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Types of Cement
Sulphate Resistant Cement
• Sulphates present in soil/water-borne sulphates reacts with C3A forms ettringite (DEF) thereby causes
failure of concrete.
• SRC contains very low percentage of C3A and C4AF.
• It is used in canal lining, construction of sewer
lines where acid formation is expected.

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Types of Cement
Air Entraining Cement

• It is ordinary Portland cement mixed with small quantities of air entertaining materials during grinding.
• The diameter of air bubbles varies from 0.075 mm and 1.25 mm.
• On account of air bubbles the strength of cement is reduced.
• Air bubbles are permitted only up to 3 to 4 %, as these reduce 10 to 15% strength of cement.
• This cement is more plastic and workable causing less segregation and bleeding in concrete.
• It also reduces the water requirement.
• High resistance to freeze-thaw.

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Quick Setting Cement
• It has less proportion of CaSO4 (Gypsum) or a small amount of aluminum sulphate is added at the time of grinding.
• Its initial setting time is 5 minutes and final setting time is 30 minutes.
• Used in running water construction sites

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Types of Cement
Expanding Cement

• Volume increases on hardening.

• It takes about 15 days for the expansion to occur completely but the time can be controlled by curing.
• The upper limit of expansion is 1%.
• Uses to repair cracks.

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 Concrete

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Concrete
• Concrete is the most versatile material for all types of construction works and has been used for innumerable
construction works, either as plain concrete or as reinforced cement concrete or as precast concrete, or prestressed
concrete or in many other forms.
• The various constituents of concrete are cement, water, fine aggregate, and coarse, aggregates.

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Role & Requirement of each constituent of Concrete
Aggregate: (Coarse and Fine)

• These are the inert or chemically inactive materials which form the bulk of cement concrete.
• These aggregates are bound together by means of cement.
• The aggregates are classified into two categories, Fine and coarse.
• The material which is passed through 4.75mm size sieve is termed as fine aggregate. Usually natural river sand/
manufactured sand issued as a fine aggregate.
• The material which is retained on 4.75 mm size sieve termed as a coarse aggregate. Broken stone is generally used
as a coarse aggregate.

Water

• Water which is used for making concrete should be clean and free from harmful impurities such as oil, alkali, acid etc.
• In general water which is fit for drinking should be used for making concrete.

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Grades of Concrete
• Concrete as per IS456:2000 is classified into three groups as ordinary concrete, Standard concrete and
High strength concrete.
• M10, M15 and M20 are ordinary concrete, M25, M30, M35, M40, M45, M50 and M55 are grouped as
Standard concrete and M60, M70, M75 and M80 are grouped under High strength concrete.
• The letter ‘M’ refers to the mix and the number indicates the specified compressive strength of that mix
at 28 days expressed in or Mega Pascal (MPa) or N/mm2.
• M 5 - 1:5:10 (Cement : Fine aggregate : Coarse aggregate)
• M 7.5- 1:4:8
• M 10 - 1:3:6
• M 15 - 1:2:4
• M 20 - 1:1.5:3
• M 25 - 1:1:2

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Gain of Concrete strength with age
• The concrete develops strength with continued hydration.
• The rate of gain of strength is faster to start with and the rate gets reduced with age.
• It is customary to assume the 28 days strength as the full strength of concrete. The variation of strength with
age is given below

Age of curing
Approx. Strength achieved
(Days)
3 1/3rd of target strength
7 2/3rd of target strength
28 99 %

Joseph Mwiti Marangu, 2020

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Strength of Concrete
• Strength of concrete is its resistance to rupture.
• It may be measured in number of ways, such as strength in compression, in tension, in shear or in flexure.
• The compressive strength of concrete is generally determined by testing cubes or cylinders made in
laboratory or field. The size of the mould should be 150 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm.
• Based on the compressive strength, only the concrete is graded.
• The strength of the concrete is mainly depend on the following factors:
• Quality of materials and grading of the aggregates
• Water cement ratio
• Cement content
• Age of concrete; and
• Methods of mixing, placing, compacting and curing.

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Workability of concrete

• The workability of concrete indicates the ease with which it can be mixed, placed and
compacted.
• Slump test is the most commonly used method of measuring workability of concrete which can
be employed either in the laboratory or at site of work.

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Water Cement Ratio
• The strength of concrete depends upon the quantity and quality of its ingredients i.e. cement,
aggregate and water.
• General assumption is that strength of concrete directly depends up on the quantity of
cement.
• If cement is more, strength will be more but this assumption is not correct because strength of
concrete also depends upon water cement ration.

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Operations in Concreting
• Storing of material (Cement, aggregate)
• Batching of material (By volume, by weight)
• Mixing of concrete (By hand, by machine)
• Transportation of concrete.
• Placing of concrete.
• Curing of concrete

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Storing of Material
• Cement:
• It is a fine powder and also hygroscopic in nature i.e. it absorbs moisture from air or free water and
starts setting.
• Hence the warehouses constructed for its storage must fulfill the basic requirements.
• Cement stored for long time should be checked before its use.
• Aggregates:
• It is essential that aggregate should be free from deleterious materials, organic matters such as tree
leaves, vegetable wastes, animal refuse etc.
• It should have uniform moisture content and proper grading of aggregates.

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Batching of Materials
• Batching means measurement of ingredients of concrete for proper mixing.
• Normally such a quantity is mixed in one batch, which can be transported, placed and compacted with in time i.e.
before initial set takes place.
• Batching is of two types
• Volume Batching
• Weigh Batching
• Measurement of Cement:
• Cement is always measured by weight.
A batch of concrete should always consume full number of bags. For this purpose weight, of cement bag is
taken as 50 kg.
• Measurement of Water:
• Water is generally measured by volume
• Measurement of Aggregate by Volume:
• For these purpose generally wooden boxes of capacity equivalent or part of one cement bag i.e. 35 liters are
used. These boxes are known as Petties or Farmas or Gauge Box.

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Mixing of Concrete
• Concrete can be Mixed in a
• Plastic Bucket
• Drum Mixer
• Pan Mixer
• Twin shaft mixer
• RMC

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Transportation of concrete
• As the initial setting time of cement is generally
30 minutes, hence mixing, transportation,
placing and compaction should be completed
with in this time.

• In no case this time should not exceed one hour

after initial setting time.

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Placing of Concrete
• As for as possible concrete should be placed in
single thickness.

• In case of deep sections, concrete should be

placed in successive horizontal layers and
proper care should be taken to develop enough
bond between successive layers.

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Curing of Concrete
• Curing retains moisture in the concrete so that the concrete continues to gain strength.
• It delays drying shrinkage until the concrete is strong enough to resist shrinkage cracking.
• Properly curing concrete improves strength, durability, water tightness, and wear resistance

• Concrete surfaces are kept wet for a certain period after placing the
concrete.
• The period of curing depends on the type of cement and nature of
work.
• For ordinary Portland cement, the curing period is 7 to 14 days. If
rapid hardening cement is used, curing period can be considerably
reduced.
• It can be done by spraying and ponding of water or covering the
concrete with wet gunny bags

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 End of Construction materials –Cement & Concrete

Next…..

Properties and uses of construction materials - steel.

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