02-Jan-21

Transporting
• Concrete should be transported to the place of deposition at the
earliest without loss of homogeneity obtained at the time of mixing.
• It should also be ensured that segregation does not take place.
• Methods adopted for transporting concrete depends upon
a) Size and importance of job
b) Distance of the deposition place from the mixing place.
c) Nature of terrain.
• Some of the methods of transporting concrete are :
i. Mortar pan: Recommended only for small jobs
ii.Wheel barrow: For moderate distance and medium size jobs, steel
wheel barrow with pneumatic wheels.
iii.Skip and hoist: It used for multistorey buildings. The mixer feeds the
skip which moves up over rails up to the level of deposition.
iv.Crane bucket: Hoisting is facilitated by a crane.
42
v.Dump Truck: A truck by which concrete can be safely transported
without agitation if air entrained.

Mortar pan Wheel barrow

Crane bucket Dump truck

43

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Transit mixer Chutes

Belt conveyor Concrete pump

44

vi. Chutes: When concrete is to be deposited below ground level at a

larger depth, it can be discharged through a steel shaft called
chute. As per IS 456, maximum permissible free fall of concrete
may be taken as 1.5m otherwise segregation may occur.
vii. Concrete pumps: It is commonly used for multistorey buildings,
tunnels, and bridges which are not easily accessible. Concrete
pump is reciprocating type and it can pump concrete for a distance
of about 400 m horizontally and 80 m vertically having slump value
50mm to 100mm. The diameter of pipes varies form 10 cm to 20
cm depending upon the maximum size of coarse aggregate.
viii.Transit mixer: It is a truck on which a concrete mixer is mounted
and useful in built up areas.
ix. Agitating truck: It is used to haul ready mix concrete (RMC) which
requires agitation on route to prevent segregation.
x. Belt conveyor: It is used to transport concrete continuously to
inaccessible area. The major drawbacks are segregation, drying
and stiffening of concrete. 45

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 02-Jan-21

Placing
• Concrete should be placed with utmost care securing the
homogeneity achieved during mixing and the avoidance of
segregation in transporting.
• Various situations in which concrete is placed are
a) Mass concreting:
• When the concrete is to be laid in mass as for raft foundation, dam,
bridge, pier etc. concrete is placed in layers of 350-450 mm
thickness.
• Several such layers may be placed in succession to form a lift,
provided they follow one another quickly enough to avoid cold
joints.
• Before placing the concrete in next lift, surface of previous lift is
cleaned with water jets and scrubbing by wire brush.
• In case of dams, sand blasting is done. Laitance and loose materials
are removed and cement slurry is applied.
• For concrete subjected to lateral thrust, bond bars or bond stones
46
are provided to form a key between different layers

b) Underwater concreting
• Concrete may be placed underwater with the help of bottom dump
buckets or tremie pipe
i. Bottom dump buckets:
• In bottom dump buckets concrete is taken through water in a water
tight box or bucket and on reaching the final place of deposition the
bottom is made to open by some mechanism and whole concrete is
dumped is slowly.
• Certain amount of cement is washed off in this process causing a
reduction in strength of concrete.
• Sometimes dry or semidry mixture of cement, fine or coarse
aggregate are filled in cement bags and such bagged concrete is
deposited on the bed below the water.
• Does not give satisfactory concrete, as the concrete will be full of
voids.
ii. Tremie pipe: 47
• It is best method of placing concrete underwater

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 02-Jan-21

• A tremie pipe has a diameter of 200 mm with funnel at top for

pouring concrete.
• Bottom end is closed with a plug or thick polyethylene sheet and
taken below water then made to rest at the point where concrete is
to be placed.
• Since end is blocked, no water will enter the pipe.
• The concrete having a high slump (150-200 mm) is poured into the
funnel.
• When whole length of pipe is filled up with the concrete, tremie
pipe is lifted up and a slight jerk is given. Due to the weight of
concrete bottom plug falls and the concrete gets discharged. End of
the pipe must remain inside concrete so that no water enters into
pipe from the bottom.
• Again concrete is poured over the funnel and when the whole
length of the tremie pipe is filled with concrete, the pipe is again
slightly lifted and given sudden jerk. (termie pipe well embedded in
48
the wet concrete)

• In this way, concrete work is progressed without stopping till

concrete level comes above the water level.
• No compaction is required as the concrete gets compacted by the
hydrostatic pressure of water and moreover concrete of such
consistency does not normally require compaction.

Bottom dump buckets Tremie pipe

49

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Compaction
• Compaction is process of removal of entrapped air and elimination
of segregation occurred to form a homogeneous dense mass.
• Density, strength and durability of concrete depends on quality of
compaction.
• Poor compaction decreases compressive strength of hardened
concrete.
• 5% void = 30% reduction and 10% voids = 55% reduction.
• The following methods are adopted for compacting concrete:
a) Hand compaction
(i) Rodding (ii) Ramming (iii)Tamping
b) Compaction by vibration
i. Internal vibrator (Needle vibrator)
ii. Formwork vibrator (External vibrator)
iii. Table vibrator
iv. Surface vibrator
50
c) Compaction by pressure and jolting
d) Compaction by spinning

a) Hand compaction
• It is adopted in case of unimportant concrete work of small
magnitude or in situations where a large quantity of reinforcement is
provided thus concrete cannot be compacted by mechanical means.
• It results in inefficient compaction and requires high water content.
• Methods of hand compaction are
i. Rodding:
• It is a method of poking the concrete with about 2 m long and 16mm
diameter rod to pack the concrete.

51

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ii. Ramming
• It is generally used for compaction on
ground in plain concrete.
• It is not used either in RCC or on upper
floors as the position of reinforcement may
be disturbed or the formwork may fail.

iii. Tamping
• It is adopted in compacting roof or floor
slab or road pavements where the
thickness of concrete is comparatively less
and surface to be finished smooth and
level.
• For tamping concrete a wooden beam of
cross section 10cm x 10cm is used
52

b) Compaction by vibration
Following vibrators can be used for compaction
i. Internal vibrators
• It is most commonly used and is also called needle vibrator,
immersion vibrator, poker vibrator

53

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ii. External or formwork vibrator

• It is used for concreting columns, thin walls or in the casting of
precast units which cannot be compacted by internal vibrator.
• The vibration is given to the formwork so that the concrete in the
vicinity of the shutter gets vibrated
• It consume more power for a given compaction than internal
vibrators.

54

iii. Table vibrator

• It is very efficient in compacting stiff
and harsh concrete mixes required for
precast elements and also be used for
test specimen compaction.

iv. Surface vibrator

• It is placed directly on the concrete mass for compaction of shallow
elements where internal vibrators cannot be applied.
• Eg. Pavement surfaces, floor or roof slabs.
• Very dry mix can be most effectively compacted.

55

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c) Compaction by pressure and jolting

• This is most effective for very dry concrete and is used for
compacting hollow blocks and solid concrete blocks.

d) Compaction by spinning
• It is adopted for the fabrication of concrete pipes.
• The plastic concrete when spun at high speed gets well compacted
by centrifugal force.

56

Finishing
• It is the process of levelling and smoothing the top surface of freshly
placed concrete to achieve the desired appearance and is done as
follows.

Screeding Floating

57

Trowelling

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i. Screeding: Striking off excess concrete to bring the top surface up

to proper grade.
ii. Floating: Removing irregularities on the surface of concrete which
are left after screeding.
iii. Trowelling: Final operation of finishing to be done after all excess
water has evaporated, by a steel float giving a very smooth finish.
Curing
• IS 456:2000, defines curing as the process of preventing the loss of
moisture from concrete while maintaining a favourable temperature
regime.
• It is a procedure used for promoting hydration of cement by
controlling the temperature and the moisture movement from and
into the concrete.
• Cement gains strength and hardness due to chemical reaction
between cement and water.
• This chemical reaction requires moisture and favourable 58
temperature.

• Water in concrete mix takes one of the following three forms, due to
hydration
i. Combined water: Chemically combined with products of hydration
which is non evaporable.
ii. Gel water: physically held or adsorbed on the surface area of the
cement gel.
iii. Capillary water: it partially occupies capillary pores and is easily
evaporable.
Objective of curing
a. To keep capillary pores saturated or nearly saturated until water
filled space in the fresh cement paste has been filled to the desired
extent by the products of hydration of cement.
b. To prevent loss of moisture from concrete due to evaporation or
any other reason, supply additional moisture or heat and moisture
accelerating the gain of strength.
c. To improve durability, impermeability and reduce the shrinkage. 59

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Method of curing

60

i. Shading concrete work.

ii. Covering concrete surface with wet hessian or gunny bags
iii. Sprinkling water on concrete surface
iv. Ponding method
v. Steam curing recommended for precast members
vi. Applying curing compounds
Note: As per IS 456, concrete members shall be kept under curing for
a minimum period of 7 days for OPC at 90% humidity and at least 10
days where mineral admixtures and blended cements are used

Steam Curing/Accelerated curing:

• Increased rate of strength development can be achieved.
• Ultimate strength is increased.
• Concrete is heated by steam at 93oC either at low pressure or high
pressure. 61
• By low pressure steam curing about 70% of 28 days compressive
strength of concrete can be obtained in 16-24 hours

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 02-Jan-21

• By high pressure steam curing 28 days compressive strength can be

obtained in 24 hours and is usually applied to precast concrete
members.
• Due to rapid gain in compressive strength, steam cured concrete has
reduced drying shrinkage and creep as compared to normally cured
concrete.
• Due to steam curing bond strength of concrete with the
reinforcement is reduced by about 30% to 50% when compared with
ordinary moist cured concrete.
• Resistance to sulphate action and to freeze and thawing is increased.
• Early rise in temperature at the time of setting of concrete may be
detrimental because the green concrete may be too weak to resist
the air pressure set up in the pores by the increased temperature.
• Steam curing should be followed by water curing for a period of
atleast 7 days.
Note: More rapid gain of strength can be obtained with help of infra- 62
red radiation as compared to steam curing

Applying curing compounds:

• Curing compounds make a film, fill the pores, seal the surface voids
and prevent evaporation.
• Example are: bitumen, sodium silicate (water glass), linseed oils, wax
acrylates, chlorinated rubbers.
• Correct time to apply the membrane is when the water sheet
disappears from the surface of the finished concrete.

63

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Water cement ratio

• Water cement ratio (w/c) is one of the major factor, but not only one
influencing strength of concrete.
• It is responsible for the porosity of the hardened cement paste.
• Water cement ratio = mass of free water (excluding absorbed by
aggregate)/ mass of cement.
• If pozzolana is used with cement, then the ratio becomes as water to
cement plus pozzolana ratio i.e., w/(c+p).

64

• Generally w/c ratio = 0.35 to 0.65, although purely chemical

requirement = 0.23 (complete hydration of cement).
• Abhram’s law states that compressive strength of hardened concrete
is inversely proportional to the water – cement ratio.
• When w/c ratio is decreased to less than 0.4, there is improper
consistency and workability of concrete & honey combed structure.
• Concrete compacted by vibrator displays higher strength even upto
w/c = 0.3.
• For ratio more than 0.6, the increase in volume of hydrated products
will not be able to occupy the space already filled with water.
Therefore porosity increases and strength decreases

65

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Strength of concrete
• Quality or grade of concrete is designated in terms of a number,
which denotes its characteristic compressive strength (of 150 mm
cubes at 28 days), expressed in MPa.
• Number is noted by a letter ‘M’, which refers to ‘mix’. For example
M20 grade concrete denotes a concrete whose mix is so designed to
generate a characteristic strength of 20 MPa.
• Characteristic strength is defined as strength of material below which
not more than 5% of test results are expected to fall.

𝑓𝑐𝑚 = 𝑓𝑐𝑘 + 1.65𝜎

66

• Tensile strength = 10% of compressive strength

• Bending strength = 15% of compressive strength
• Shear strength = 20% of compressive strength
• IS code specifies compression, flexure and tensile strength test for
assessing the strength of concrete.
A. Compressive strength test
• Compression test is the most common test conducted on hardened
concrete and is easy to perform.
• Compressive strength is the most desirable property of concrete.
• Test specimens recommended are 15 x 15 x 15 cm cubes or cylinders
of 15 cm diameter and 30 cm height.
• If largest nominal size of aggregate does not exceed 20 mm, 10 x 10 x
10 cm cubes may be used as an alternative.
• Mixed concrete is filled into the moulds in layers of 50 mm and each
layer is tamped with bar, 16mm in diameter and 600 mm long, 35
times or vibrated to achieve full compaction.
• Test specimens are stored at a temperature of 27±3oC and 90%
67
humidity for 24±0.5 hours from the time of addition of water to the
dry ingredients.

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• After this period the specimens are removed from the moulds and
placed in water and taken out just prior to test.
• Specimens should be tested immediately after taking out from water
with surface water wiped off.
• Then specimen is placed between the plates of the compression
testing machine such that the axis of specimen is aligned with the
centre of thrust of the spherically seated plate.
• Apply gradual load of 14 N/mm2/minute until the specimen is
crushed.
• Average of the three values is taken as the compressive strength of
concrete, provided the individual variation is not more than ± 15% of
the average.
Note:
• Compressive strength of concrete is determined at various ages i.e.,
3/7/28 days.
• 7 days compressive strength of concrete should be atleast 2/3 of 28
days.
• In compressive strength test, the load rate is very important, if rate of 68
loading increases then strength increases.

• Due to compression, the cube or cylinder undergoes lateral expansion

because of poisson’s ratio effect.
• Steel plates do not undergo lateral expansion to the same extent that
of concrete, due to which steel restrains the expansion tendency of
concrete in the lateral direction.
• This induces a tangential (frictional) force between the end surfaces
of the concrete specimen and steel plates. Due to this the plate
restrains the lateral expansion of concrete in the parts of specimen
near its end.
• Thus the specimen is subjected to a shearing stress as well as
compression.
• Magnitude of shear stress decreases and lateral expansion increases
with increase in distance from the plates.
• As a result of the restraint, in a specimen tested to destruction there
is a relatively undamaged cone of height equal to 0.85 d (where d is
the lateral dimension of the specimen).
69
• But if specimen is longer than about 1.7 d, a part of it will be free
from the restraining effect of the plate.

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 02-Jan-21

• Specimen whose length < 1.7 d, show higher strength than with the
greater length.
Note: When the friction is eliminated by applying grease, graphite or
paraffin wax to the bearing surfaces the specimen exhibits a larger
lateral expansion and eventually splits along its full length.
• Failure mode of cylinder is initiated by tensile crack (vertical) in
middle (0.3 d) portion, after that is may be splitting and shear (cone).

70
• If size of cube is 100 x 100 x 100mm then its strength is 5% higher
than 150 x 150 x 150 mm cubes.

Comparison between cube and cylinder strength

• It is difficult to say whether cube or cylinder test gives more realistic
strength of concrete.
• Cylinder is less affected by end restrains caused by platens and hence
it gives more uniform results.
• Cylinders are cast and tested in the same position where as cubes are
cast in one direction and tested from the other direction.
• In actual structures in the field, the casting and loading is similar to
that of the cylinder and not like the cube. Hence cylinder simulates
the condition of the actual structural member in the field in respect
of direction of load.
• The points in favor of cube specimen are that the shape of the cube
resembles the shape of the structural members often met with in
field.
• The cube does not require capping, whereas cylinder requires
capping. The capping material influence the strength of cylinder to
some extent. 71

Note: The cube strength is 1.25 times cylinder strength (for standard size
specimen)

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 02-Jan-21

B. Flexural tensile strength test

• Concrete is relatively strong in compression and weak in tension,
therefore concrete is not normally designed to resist direct tension.
• Direct measurement of tensile strength of concrete is difficult, due to
difficulty in applying uniaxial tension to concrete specimen.
• Flexural tensile strength test is done to determine the tensile load at
which concrete may crack.
• It is an indirect test for assessing the tensile strength of concrete.
• In this tests, a plain (unreinforced) concrete beam is subjected to
flexure using symmetrical two point loading or central point loading
until failure occurs.
• Maximum tensile stress reaching in the bottom fibre of the test beam
is known as modulus of rupture
• In the central point loading, maximum fibre stress will come below
the point of loading where the bending moment is maximum.
• In case of symmetrical two point loading, the critical crack may 72
appear at any section, not strong enough to resist the stress within
the middle third, where the bending moment is maximum.

• The two point loading will yield a lower value of the modulus of
rupture than the centre point loading because the probability of a
weak section being subjected to critical stress is considerably greater
under two point loading. Therefore centre point load test is rarely
used.
• IS: 516 also specifies two point loading. Because the load points are
spaced at one third of span, the test is also called third point loading
test.

• Size of the specimen is 15 x 15 x 70 cm. Alternatively, if nominal size

of the aggregate does not exceed 20 mm, specimen of size 10 x 10 x 73
50 cm may be used.

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• Modulus of rupture = (a > 200 mm)

= (170 mm < a < 200 mm)

a : average distance of the line of fracture and nearest support,
measured on the centre line of the tensile side of the specimen.
b & d : width and depth of the specimen respectively.
L : length of the span on which the specimen is supported.
P : maximum load applied to the specimen.
C. Split tensile strength test
• A standard test cylinder of concrete specimen of 150 mm diameter
and 300 mm length is placed horizontally between the loading surface
of compression testing machine.
• The compression load is applied diametrically and uniformly along the
length of cylinder until the failure of cylinder along the vertical
diameter. 74

• The magnitude of tensile stress is obtained by : T=

Where P = maximum load in N applied to the specimen

D = diameter of specimen
L = length of specimen
• Between the loading plates and the specimen cylinder, packing strips
of plywood is placed for uniform distribution of load and to avoid high
compression stresses near the point of application.

• Splitting strength is about 2/3rd of the modulus of rupture strength,

but strength determined by this test is closer to the actual tensile
strength of concrete. 75
Note: Cube strength > cylinder strength > modulus of rupture > split
tensile strength

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 02-Jan-21

Factors affecting strength of concrete:

1. Water-cement ratio
• According to Abram’s law, the strength of workable concrete is only
dependent on water/cement ratio.
• The volume of fresh water in fresh concrete is related to the volume
of empty pore space in hardened concrete. Similarly, the volume of
cement in fresh concrete is related directly to the solid volume in
hardened concrete.
• Water-cement ratio is therefore a measure of the void volume
relative to the solid volume in hardened cement. Hence lower the
water-cement ratio, the lower is the void volume-solid volume ratio
and stronger the hardened concrete.
• In a hardened concrete, strength is inversely proportional to the
water-cement ratio as shown in the graph. It is approximately
hyperbolic in shape.
• At very low values of the water-cement ratio, the curve ceases to be
76
followed when full compaction is no longer possible.

Note: Actual position of the point of departure depends on the means of

compaction available
2. Size of specimen
• It is observed that a cube of 150 mm of concrete is expected to have
25% more strength than a cylindrical specimen having 150 mm 77
diameter and 300 mm length.
• If size of cube decreased, compressive strength tends to increase.

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3. Moisture condition of specimen

• The dry cubes may have drying shrinkage and bond failure leading to
decrease in strength while the moisture content in concrete provides
lubrication effect and reduces the strength.
• The reduction in strength due to moisture content is more than the
loss of strength due to drying shrinkage and bond rupture. Thus dry
cubes gives higher strength.
78
• Strength of dry sample is 10 to 20% more than that of strength of
saturated sample.

4. Air voids
• Strength of concrete decreases with increase in percentage of air
voids.
• Air voids are formed by evaporation of water used in making concrete
and by entrained air.
5. Rate of loading
• Strength of concrete increases with the increase in rate of loading.
• At low rate of loading there is more time to creep to occur, so that the
increase of strength with the rate of loading provides evidence for
theory that failure occurs at limiting value of strain, rather than
stress.
6. Age of cement
• As the cement ages, it strength reduces since it gets set by absorption
of moisture.
• Whereas concrete gains strength with age, initially strength
developed is more and the rate of gain in strength diminishes with 79
age.

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7. Cement aggregate ratio

• Provided all the other factors kept constant an increase in cement to
aggregate ratio increases the ultimate strength to some extent.
Note : A rich concrete mix has
higher strength than lean
concrete mix, since it has more
cement content

8. Type and size of aggergate

• Aggregate shape effects their packing and hence void content also.
• Reduction in voids content by better packing of coarse aggregate,
means that the amount of mortar can be reduced and higher strength
can be achieved (crushed aggregate have better packing efficiency)
• Generally it is believed that larger the maximum size of aggregate
denser and stronger will be concrete because large aggregates have 80
lower total surface area and require lower water to cement ratio,
resulting in higher sterngth.

• But in reality larger aggregate gives lower surface area for

development of gel bonds which leads to low strength.
• Large size aggregates give heterogeneous concrete causing non
uniform distribution of load when stressed.
9. Degree of compaction
• 5% air voids = 30% loss of strength
• 10% air voids = 55 % loss of strength

81

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