CONCRETE

This topic teaches students what concrete is

made of; the right proportions of sand, gravel
cement and water; how concrete is reinforced
and how to finish a slab.
Concrete work is an important part of building a
house.
Composition of concrete
 The concrete consists of Cement, Fine aggregate.
Rough aggregate and Water. Concrete is used to
make
 concrete slabs, wall foundation, septic tanks etc...
 a) Cement: The most commonly used cement is
Portland Cement. Cement itself is a grey powder
which is
 made up of limestone, clay and marl. In the cement
factory the raw material (limestone, clay, marl) are
 crushed. Afterwards these go through the raw mill for
simultaneous grinding and drying of the raw material.
 b) Fine Aggregate: Fine aggregate or sand
consists of small grain, small pebbles or
particles of crushed stone
 that will pass through a 6.350 mm wire mesh

screen. The sand should be clean, hard, sharp

and well graded.
 Well graded aggregate means aggregate

which is not uniform in size

 c) Coarse Aggregate; Coarse aggregate can
be stone, crashed stone or gravel. Its depend
on the project
 which coarse aggregate is suitable. Coarse

aggregate should be clean, hard and free

from harmful amounts
 of vegetable matter, loam or clay.
 The ideal composition of coarse aggregate is
as follow:
 30% coarse = 25 − 32 mm in size
 30% medium = 16 − 25 mm in size
 20% fine = 8 − 16 mm in size
 20% very fine = 4 − 8 mm in size
 The largest particles should not be more than

one quarter the thickness of the wall or slab.

Proportions for mixing concrete
 Concrete mixes are designated by three
numbers, in some cases there are only two
numbers. The ratio
 describes the quantity relationship which is

determined by the architect or engineer.

 a) The ratio 1:2:4
 − The ratio 1 : 2 : 4 is defined :
 − 1 part cement
 − 2 parts fine aggregate/sand
 − 4 parts rough aggregate/stone or gravel
 − For one cubic metre of 1 : 2 : 4 concrete
uses the following:
 − 8 Bags of cement
 − 0.5m/3 of fine aggregate/ sand
 − 1.0m/3 of coarse aggregate/gravel
 − 200 liter of water
 b) Different ratios
 − 1:2:4 is used for foundations, footing,

footpath, troughs, slab, wall, bottom of the

septic tank,
 etc.
 − 1:2:3 is used for the walls of a septic tank,
 − 1:2:2 is used for the top of a septic tank,
 − 1:4 is used for concrete blocks.
Reinforcing concrete
 a) Forces: Concrete is very strong when it is
subjected to compressive forces (being
crushed). E.g.: low house
 stump of concrete, concrete footings etc..
 Concrete is weak when it is subjected to

tensile forces (being stretched). E.g. concrete

lintels, concrete
 To illustrate the points made above we
suspend a concrete beam between two
points. The weight from above
 causes the beam to bend producing

compressive stress along the top edge of the

beam and tensile stress
 along the bottom edge causing the beam to

crack.
 If we place a bar of steel, which has very high
tensile strength, in the concrete near the
bottom edge it would
 prevent the beam from stretching and

cracking, this strengthening of concrete is

called reinforcing
 b) Rules for laying reinforcing steel: It is
important that reinforcing steel is placed
correctly and where heavy
 loads are involved (e.g. bridges, concrete

buildings etc.) the position and sizes must be

calculated by an
 engineer and his drawings and specification

must be strictly followed

When you place reinforcing steel you
must remember the following points
 − To make sure that the concrete sticks to
the steel properly. The steel must be clean
from
 rust, grease and dirt. If necessary use a wire

brush to clean it
 − Steel must be well covered with concrete on

all sides to ensure moisture cannot reach it to

 cause rusting which in turn causes the

concrete to crack up.

 − When making a reinforced slab lift mesh off
the ground with stones or special spacers. In
 formwork with reinforcing bars use small

concrete blocks or special spacers to make

sure the
 steel is the correct distance from the

formwork.
 − Wire used to tie the steel must not be
galvanized. If it is, you must burn off the
galvanized
 coating before use.
 steel to close to bottom edge
 steel to close to top edge
Reinforcing bars:
 − There are two types of reinforcing bars
supplied in 6 m and 10 m length for plain
bars and 5
 m or 10 m length for deformed bars.
 Plain, round bar:
 Example − R10
 "R" means round
 "10" means 10 mm dia,
 Deformed bar (contorted)
 Example − C12
 "C" means contorted
 "12" means 12 mm dia.