FINAL YEAR PROJECT PROPOSAL

MARTIN NUAPAH
0719320009
 TOPIC
EVALUATION OF THE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE PRODUCED FROM SELECTED CEMENT
BRANDS IN GHANA

BACKGROUND OF STUDY
The construction industry is important in the development of buildings and construction sector in
any economy, especially in the provision of infrastructure such as harbors, airports, residential
buildings, commercial buildings, dams, fly overs and bridges. The widely use building material
is sandcrete blocks and concrete. Sandcrete blocks and concrete are widely use in Ghana and
over 90% of houses in Ghana are being constructed using these materials.
As cement is the major component of concrete or sandcrete blocks, the choice of it proper type
and use has vital important in obtaining the right balance of its desired property’s in the most
economical way.
Cement is a material which is a suitable from a non-coherent assemblage of particles into
coherent mass. Strength, durability impermeability and volume stability are some of the
properties which are considered, but of these mentioned properties strength is usually taken to be
the most important.
Sandcrete blocks and concrete are composite material composed aggregate bonded together with
water and cement which hardens over time. Most use of the terms “concrete” refers to Portland
cement concrete or concrete made with other hydraulic cement such as cimentfondu, type I/II
Portland cement, which improve sufficient levels of strength and durability. However, some type
of road surface is also made up of concrete, “asphaltic concrete” where the concrete material is
bitumen.
When aggregate is mixed together with the dry cement and water, they form a fluid mass that is
easily molded into any shape or form. The cement reacts chemically with the water and other
ingredient form a hard matrix which binds all the materials together into a stone-like material.
Often, additives (such as pozzolans or superplasticizers) are included in the mixture to improve
the physical properties of the wet mix or the finished material. Most sandcrete and concrete
poured with reinforcing materials (such as re-bar) embedded to provide tensile strength, yielding
reinforced concrete or sandcrete.
This research will investigate the compressive strength of manual and mechanical compacted
sandcrete blocks and concrete produced from selected cement brands in Ghana. The research will
examine the influence of selected cement brand have the compressive strength of concrete and
sandcrete blocks.
 AIM
To evaluate the compressive strength of concrete and sandcrete blocks using selected cement
brand in Ghana

OBJECTIVES
 To identify the number of available cement brand in Ghana
 To identify the type of cement brand that produce the higher compressive strength
 To produce sandcrete blocks and concrete from this brands and carry out tests on them
 To identify what cement-fine aggregate, water and cement-fine and coarse aggregate
water ratio would produce the highest of compressive strength for sandcrete and concrete
respectively
 To compare the calculated value with the standard specification.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Portland cement is the most commonly utilized cement in almost every part of the world.
Portland cement is without argument the most important and necessary material in the world.
Without it, the construction industries that uses huge tonnage of concrete annually would
struggle to survive. Besides this, concrete is rated as the second most highly consumed product
after water. (C.M Hanson “concrete: the advanced industrial material of the 21ST century”
Metallurgical and materials transactions A, Vol 26, pp. 1321-1341, 1995).
The Ghanaian construction industry depends hugely on Portland cement for almost every type of
construction including bridges, dams, residential and commercial facilities (M.Berdiakor S.K.Y
Gawu and A.A Adjaotor, “sustainability of some Ghanaian mineral admixture for masonry
mortar formulation” Construction and Building Materials Vol.29.pp.667-671 2012)
The breakdown of cement monopoly which allows the entrance of other brands of cement is
currently creating a major problem for builders in making the best and preferred choice of
cement for their constructional works. Engineers and other related professionals are always
confronted with the tough task of selecting the best cement brand in the Ghanaian cement
market.
 RELEVANCE AND JUSTIFICATION
Engineers are always confronted with the tough task of selecting the brand of cement product in
the Ghanaian market. Most engineers make their preferred choice of Portland cement based on
the strength, durability, impermeability and volume stability. This research will investigate on
the compressive strength and influence of selected cement brands in Ghana on concrete and
sandcrete block.

METHODOLOGY
Four selected brands of ordinary Portland cement in the Ghanaian market will be used in this
research. No additive will be added. No further or additional test will be performed to re-check
the chemical composition of the content of the cement.
Fine aggregate and course aggregate will be carefully selected. Requisite mechanical property
test will be performed on the fine and course aggregate in accordance with ASTM C33/C33M.
Protocols for evaluating the suitability of aggregates for such engineering works (Anon 2016C).
Compressive test will be performed on the concrete in accordance with ASTM C39M (Annon
2016C) slump test will also be performed in accordance with ASTM C192 protocols for making
and curing concrete.