CONCRETE (CLASSIFICATION, PROPERTIES, TYPES AND TESTING)

Equipment for Slump Test

1. Base Plate
2. Trowel to mix concrete
3. Steel tamping rod
4. Slump Cone
5. Ruler
Slump Values:

Mass concrete work 2.5 to 5cm

Ordinary beams and slabs 5 to 10cm

Columns and retaining walls 7.5 to 12.5

Workability of Concrete

➢ It is the amount of work required to place concrete and to

compact it thoroughly.
➢ It increases with the addition of water but it reduces the strength
that’s why it is not a desirable way of increasing the workability.
➢ Use of aggregates which are round and have smooth surface
increases workability.
➢ It could also be improved by adding air entraining agent such as
vinsol resin or Darex.
➢ Use of Lisapole liquid at 30 cubic centimeter per bag of cement
improves not only the workability but also the water tightness of
concrete.
➢ It is better determined by compaction factor test.
Compaction of Concrete

Prepared by: Engr. Frances Lorane T. Calapini

Compaction Factor Test

a. Cement concrete to be tested

is placed in the hopper A and
its bottom released. The
concrete falling in hopper B
achieves some compaction.
b. The bottom of hopper B is now
released so that concrete now
falls in cylinder C. Surplus
concrete is removed from the
top of cylinder. Concrete in the cylinder is now weighed. Let this
weight be W1.
c. After cleaning the cylinder it is refilled with concrete in layers of
5cm each. Every layer of the concrete is thoroughly compacted
with an iron rod. Concrete in the cylinder will be weighed again
and let this be W2.
d. The ration of the two weights is known as compaction factor. CF =
W1/W2
e. A compaction factor of 0.85 represents a mix of poor workability,
0.92 represents medium and 0.95 represents good workability.
Compaction

➢ It is very important in developing qualities like strength, durability,

imperviousness by making the concrete dense and free from
voids.
➢ For Reinforced concrete, compaction is done by pinning with an
iron rod or even with trowel blade.
➢ Excess tamping should be avoided as otherwise water, cement
and finer particles would come to the surface and results in non-
uniform concreting.

Prepared by: Engr. Frances Lorane T. Calapini

 ➢ For big works, compaction is done using a vibrator.
➢ The use of vibrator is best and the most efficient way of
compacting concrete. It gives very dense concrete.
➢ Over use of vibrator will make the concrete becomes non
homogeneous.
Curing

➢ The process of keeping the concrete wet to enable it to attain full

strength.
➢ This is to prevent loss of moisture from concrete due to
evaporation or because of any other reasons.
➢ Curing should be done for a period of three weeks but not less
than 10 days.
Types of Cement

• Rapid hardening or high early strength cement

• Quick setting cement
• High Alumina Cement
• Portland slag cement
• Low Heat Cement
• Air Entraining Cement
• White cement
• Coloured cement
• Portland Pozzolona cement
Composition of Cement

o Calcium oxide (CaO) → 60 - 65%

o Silica (SiO2) → 20 – 25%
o Aluminum Oxide → 4 – 8%
o Ferrous Oxide → 2 – 4%

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 o Magnesium Oxide → 1 -3%
Basic Steps for Weight and absolute Volume Methods

The basic steps required for determining mix design

proportions for both weight and absolute volume methods
are as follows (Kosmatka et al., 2011):
1. Evaluate strength requirements.
2. Determine the water–cement (water–cementitious
materials) ratio required.
3. Evaluate coarse aggregate requirements.
■ maximum aggregate size of the coarse aggregate
■ quantity of the coarse aggregate
4. Determine air entrainment requirements.
5. Evaluate workability requirements of the plastic
concrete.
6. Estimate the water content requirements of the mix.
7. Determine cementing materials content and type
needed.
8. Evaluate the need and application rate of admixtures.
9. Evaluate fine aggregate requirements.
10. Determine moisture corrections.

Prepared by: Engr. Frances Lorane T. Calapini

 11. Make and test trial mixes.

Figure 1: Order of operations for concrete.

STRENGTH REQUIREMENTS

Variations in materials, batching, and mixing of concrete results in

deviations in the strength of the concrete produced by a plant. the
materials engineer designs the concrete to have an average
strength greater than the strength specified by the structural
engineer.

In order to compute the strength requirements for concrete mix

design, three quantities must be known:

1. the specified compressive strength f′c

2. the variability or standard deviation s of the concrete

Prepared by: Engr. Frances Lorane T. Calapini

 3. the allowable risk of making concrete with an
unacceptable strength

The standard deviation in the strength is determined for a plant by

making batches of concrete, testing the strength for many samples, and
computing the standard deviation.

Figure 2: Use of normal distribution

and risk criteria to estimate average
required concrete strength.

The allowable risk has been

established by the American Concrete Institute (ACI). One of the risk rules states
that there should be less than 10% chance that the strength of a concrete mix is
less than the specified strength.

Using a table of standard z values for a normal distribution curve, we can

determine that 90% of the area under the curve will be to the right of f′c if the
average strength is 1.34 standard deviations from f′c. In other words, the required
average strength fcr ′ for this criterion can be calculated as:

f′cr = f′c + 1.34s -------- EQ.1

where

f′cr = required average compressive strength, MPa

f′c = specified compressive strength, MPa

s = standard deviation, MPa

Prepared by: Engr. Frances Lorane T. Calapini

For mixes with a large standard deviation in strength, the ACI has another risk
criterion that requires:

f’cr = f’c + 2.33s - 3.45-------- EQ.2

The standard deviation should be determined from at least 30 strength

tests. If the standard deviation is computed from 15 to 30 samples, then
the standard deviation is multiplied by the following factor, F, to
determine the modified standard deviation s′.

Table 1: Modification Factor

Linear interpolation is used for an intermediate number of tests, and s’ is used in
place of s in Equations 1 and 2.

If fewer than 15 tests are available, the following adjustments are made to the
specified strength, instead of using Equations 1 and 2:

Table 1: Required Average Compressive Strength

Prepared by: Engr. Frances Lorane T. Calapini

 These estimates are very conservative and should not be used for large
projects, since the concrete will be overdesigned, and therefore not
economical.

Example 1:

The design engineer specifies a concrete strength of 31.0 MPa. Determine

the
required average compressive strength for:
a. a new plant for which s is unknown
b. a plant for which s = 3.6 MPa for 17 test results
c. a plant with extensive history of producing concrete with s = 2.4 MPa
d. a plant with extensive history of producing concrete with s = 3.8 MPa

Solution:
a. 𝒇′𝒄𝒓 = 𝒇′𝒄 + 𝟖. 𝟓 = 𝟑𝟏. 𝟎 + 𝟖. 𝟓 = 𝟑𝟗. 𝟓 𝑴𝑷𝒂
b. Need to interpolate modification factor using Table Table 1:
𝟏. 𝟏𝟔 − 𝟏. 𝟎𝟖
𝑭 = 𝟏. 𝟏𝟔 − ( ) (𝟏𝟕 − 𝟏𝟓) ≅ 𝟏. 𝟏𝟑
𝟐𝟎 − 𝟏𝟓
Multiply standard deviation by the modification factor:
𝒔′ = (𝒔)(𝑭) = 𝟑. 𝟔(𝟏. 𝟏𝟑) = 𝟒. 𝟏 𝑴𝑷𝒂
Determine maximum from Equation 1 and 2:
𝒇′𝒄𝒓 = 𝟑𝟏. 𝟎 + (𝟏. 𝟑𝟒)(𝟒. 𝟏) = 𝟑𝟔. 𝟓 𝑴𝑷𝒂
𝒇′𝒄𝒓 = 𝟑𝟏. 𝟎 + (𝟐. 𝟑𝟑)(𝟒. 𝟏) − 𝟑. 𝟒𝟓 = 𝟑𝟕. 𝟏 𝑴𝑷𝒂
Use f’cr = 37.1 Mpa
c. Determine the maximum from Equation 1 and 2:
𝒇′𝒄𝒓 = 𝟑𝟏. 𝟎 + (𝟏. 𝟑𝟒)(𝟐. 𝟒) = 𝟑𝟒. 𝟐 𝑴𝑷𝒂
𝒇′𝒄𝒓 = 𝟑𝟏. 𝟎 + (𝟐. 𝟑𝟑)(𝟐. 𝟒) − 𝟑. 𝟒𝟓 = 𝟑𝟑. 𝟏 𝑴𝑷𝒂
Use f’cr = 34.2 MPa
d. Determine the maximum from Equation 1 and 2:
𝒇′𝒄𝒓 = 𝟑𝟏. 𝟎 + (𝟏. 𝟑𝟒)(𝟑. 𝟖) = 𝟑𝟔. 𝟏 𝑴𝑷𝒂

Prepared by: Engr. Frances Lorane T. Calapini

 𝒇′𝒄𝒓 = 𝟑𝟏. 𝟎 + (𝟐. 𝟑𝟑)(𝟑. 𝟖) − 𝟑. 𝟒𝟓 = 𝟑𝟔. 𝟒 𝑴𝑷𝒂
Use f’cr = 36.4 MPa

Prepared by: Engr. Frances Lorane T. Calapini