REINFORCED

CEMENT CONCRETE
CONSTRUCTION
Second Year
B. Architecture
SPPU, Pune
Compiled by:
Ar. Dharati Sote Wankhade
Asst. Professor
Building Technology and Material Deptt.
Dr. B. N. College of Architecture
Karvenagar, Pune
 PLACING AND COMPACTING OF CONCRETE

BATCHING
MIXING
TRANSPORTING
PLACING
COMPACTING
CURING
FINISHING
Transportation

Concrete shall be handled from the place of mixing to the place of final deposit as
rapidly as practicable, by method which will prevent the segregation or loss of any
of the ingredients.

If segregation occurs during transport, the concrete shall be remixed before use.

The concrete shall be placed in position and compacted before the initial set of
cement has commenced and shall not be subsequently disturbed.

During hot or cold weather concrete shall be transported in deep container to

reduce loss of water by evaporation during hot weather and loss of heat during
cold weather.

Deep containers are specified on account of their lower ratio of surface area to
mass.
PLACING / POURING / DROPPING OF CONCRETE
Concrete shall not be dropped into position from a height greater than l.0 metre unless
directed otherwise by Owner/Architect.
Formwork should be cleaned and well watered if applicable, shuttering oil should be
applied before laying reinforcement to avoid its contact with steel
The mix should be hard enough or else it will start bleeding form the formwork

DEBRIS ETC. REMOVED

All debris, saw dust etc. shall be removed from the shuttering / formwork before
any concrete is placed.
Care shall be taken to see that the shuttering is water-tight and has been properly
treated with approved composition to prevent absorption of water.

PROTECTION AND PLACING IN LAYERS

Concrete after placing and finishing shall be protected by use of covering as
approved by the Owner/Architects during first stage for hardening against high
winds, heat, rain, surface water etc.
No shock or vibration shall be allowed to be imparted to forms (formwork /
shuttering) supporting fresh finished concrete.
MOVING AND SPREADING CONCRETE -
Common tools used to move and spread material:
o Shovels,
o Spades,
o Rakes, and
o Concrete drags
Concrete drag: Solid blade with a handle used to push or drag concrete into low spots

Striking off: Using a drag board that is usually of

2 4 or a 2 6 that is used to saw back
and forth to level the concrete.

Moving Fine Material - To vibrate the fine material next to the form board:
o Hammer: Used to tap the form boards
o Spade: Used to jab up and down inside the form board
FLOATING
Pushing the rocks down and bringing sand-cement paste to the surface and beginning
the smoothing process
Magnesium or wooden hand float: Used to smooth the area near the edge of the work
area

Darby: Two handed float usually 18 long

that is also used near the edge

Bull float: 36 or 42 inch float with long

round handle used to reach areas away
from the edge
ROUNDING THE EDGE
Concrete edger: Used to push rocks down near the form board to round the edge
Prevents a chipping or breaking when the form board is removed

GROOVING
Concrete jointer: Used to put grooves across concrete areas like sidewalks
Joints help the appearance and provide relief area
Makes cracks in concrete less noticeable
FINISHING of CONCRETE
Float finish: Leaves rough finish
o acceptable for a livestock feeding floor or footing

Troweled finish: Very smooth finish

o Used for basement and garage floors

Steel hand concrete finishing trowel: Used for small jobs and near the edge on large
jobs.

Power trowel:
Gasoline powered trowel with three or four blades
Used to finish large areas

Broom finish:
Made by using a coarse bristle concrete broom or floor broom either
after floating or after troweling
Often used on driveways and sidewalks for added traction
 COMPACTION OF CONCRETE
Compaction is a process of expelling the entrapped air inside concrete mass
During mixing, transporting and placing air gets trapped in concrete mass
If this air is not removed, concrete will not get strength
Durability of concrete is also reduces with air voids
Insufficient compaction increases permeability of concrete
Results in aggressive chemicals in solution
Chemicals attack concrete and reinforcement and life of concrete is reduced

Methods of Compaction
1. Hand compaction
2. Compaction by vibrators
3. Compaction by pressure and jolting
4. Compaction by spinning
Different Methods Of Concrete Compaction
1) Hand Compaction - Hand compaction is used for ordinary and unimportant structures.
Workability should be decided in such a way that the chances of honeycombing should
be minimum and workability of mix should be controlled to strength requirement
The various methods of hand compaction are as given below:

Rodding
It is a method of poking with 2m long, 16 mm dia. rod at
sharp corners and edges. The thickness of layers for
rodding should be 15 to 20 cm.

Ramming
It is generally used for
compaction on ground in plain
concrete. It is not used either in
RCC or on upper floors.

Tamping
It is a method in which the top surface is beaten by wooden
cross beam of cross section 10 cm x 10 cm. both
compaction and leveling are achieved simultaneously. It is
mainly used for roof slabs and road pavements.
2) Compaction by using vibrator - Vibration is imparted to the concrete by mechanical
means. It causes temporary liquefaction so that air bubbles come on to the top and
expelled ultimately. Mechanical vibration can be of various types as given under.
In certain portions where vibration is not effective, careful rodding and taping shall be
carried out and sufficient men employed to ensure that thorough consolidation takes
place.
Immersion or needle or Pocket or Internal Vibrator
It is most commonly used technique of concrete vibration. Vibration is achieved due to
eccentric weights attached to the shaft. Frequency of vibration can be 12000 cycles
vibration per minute. The needle diameter varies from 20 mm to 75 mm and its length
varies from 25 cm to 90 cm. the frequency range adopted is normally 3500 to 5000 rpm.
The correct and incorrect methods of vibration using internal vibration needles are
shown below.
 External / Shutter / formwork Vibrator
This is adopted where internal vibration cant be used due to either thin sections i.e.
wall or heavy reinforcement.
Used for columns, walls, precast slab
Vibrator is clamped to formwork
Vibration is given to formwork
Vibration is transferred from formwork to concrete
External vibration is less effective and it consumes more power as compared to the
internal vibration.
The formwork also has to be made extra strong when external vibration is used
 Table Vibration
It is mainly used for laboratories where concrete is put on the table
Vibrator is clamped to table
Used for concrete test cubes
Cubes are placed on table to get vibrations
Also used for small prefabricated slab

Surface / Plateform Vibration

These are also called screed board vibrators. The action is similar to that of
tamping. The vibrator is placed on screed board and vibration is given on the
surface. It is mainly used for roof slabs, road pavements etc., but it is not effective
beyond 15 cm depth.
 Platform Vibration
This is similar to table vibrators but these are generally used on a very large scale
Used for long concrete electrical pole, railway sleepers, prefabricated roofing
element

Vibratory rollers
Road rollers has vibrating system
Roller while moving on road slab gives
vibrations
Used for lean concrete (M10) for road
base
3) Compaction by Pressure and Jolting (Shock)
Used for hollow blocks, solid concrete blocks
Stiff concrete is vibrated and given jolts
Stiff concrete is compacted to get dense form and good strength

4) Compaction by Spinning
New method
Used for concrete pipes
Concrete when spun at high speed gets compaction by
centrifugal force
 Precautions in Vibrating concrete

Vibrator gets damaged if comes in contact with hard object (formwork, reinforcement,
hard concrete) or it may damage the formwork also

Switch on when needle is inside fresh concrete mass

Taking the poker out TOO QUICKLY will leave a hole in the concrete. To close the hole,
vibrate near the hole and take the poker out VERY SLOWLY

Should confirm to ISO 2505-1963

Degree of compaction can be recognised from rising air bubbles and formation of thin
film on top
 EFFECTS OF COMPACTION OF CONCRETE

Compaction of concrete is very important in developing qualities like strength, durability,

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

In case of important and big works, compaction of concrete is done with vibrator. Use of
vibrator is best and the most efficient way of compacting concrete. It gives very dense
concrete. Care should be taken not to make excessive use of vibrators otherwise the
concrete becomes non homogeneous
Thank you