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Module CE-251
Building Materials,
Construction and Estimation

Lecture 7: Concrete

Dr Rajib Chowdhury
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Roorkee

CE-251 - Lecture 7

Introduction
l Many types of concrete
l Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) prevalent
concrete = PC Concrete
l Engineers are directly responsible for the
Design of the mix
Final quality of concrete

CE-251 - Lecture 7

Concrete Ingredients

Aggregates
Fine
Coarse
Portland Cement (PC)
Water
Admixtures
Paste = PC + Water
Mortar = PC + Water + Fine aggregate
Concrete = PC + Water + Coarse and Fine aggregates

CE-251 - Lecture 7

Classification
l Based on Cementing Material - lime concrete, gypsum concrete and cement
concrete
l Based on Perspective Specifications

l Based on Performance Oriented Specifications

l Based on Grade of Cement Concrete
l Based on Density
l Based on Placing of Casting -

CE-251 - Lecture 7

Quality of Concrete
depends on:
chemical composition

transporting

aggregate

hydration

water

placing

admixtures

vibrating

proportions

curing

mixing

CE-251 - Lecture 7

Order of Operations for Concrete

specific operations must be performed in a certain order
l final quality is influenced by every step
I. mix design (proportioning)
II. trial mixes & testing
III. Batching/measurement of materials
------------------------------------------------------------start the clock
IV. mixing
V. transporting
VI. pouring (placing)
VII. vibrating (consolidating)
-------------------------------------------------------------initial set here
VIII. finishing
-------------------------------------------------------------final set here
IX. curing
X. maintenance

CE-251 - Lecture 7

Purpose of mix design

l To ensure the most optimum proportions of the constituent materials to
meet the requirements of the structure being built
l Mix design should ensure that the concrete:
complies with the specifications of structural strength laid down,
which is usually stated in terms of the compressive strength of
standard test specimen
complies with the durability requirements to resist the environment
in which the structure will serve its functional life
be capable of being mixed, transported, compacted as efficiently as
possible without undue labour
be economical

CE-251 - Lecture 7

Several Methods
Depends on project size:
l Arbitrary volume method (1:2:3 = PC:sand:coarse agg.)
l Weight method easiest design method
l Absolute volume method most accurate
l Small jobs, non-critical

CE-251 - Lecture 7

Mix Design: Volumetric Method

1.

Strength requirements

2.

Determine W/C

3.

Estimate aggregate mass

4.

Workability needs

5.

Estimate water content

6.

Determine cement content requirements

7.

Estimate coarse & fine aggregate mass

8.

Evaluate admixture needs

9.

Moisture corrections

10. Trial Mix

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 1. Strength Requirements

l Design engineer specifies a strength of concrete used for design
calculations
l Concrete strength is variable
l Material engineer designs concrete so only a small proportion of the
concrete will have a strength less than the strength assumed by the design
engineer.

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 1. Strength Requirements Target Strength

Target Strength = fck + k
fck = Characteristics strength
k = constant
= Standard deviation

k = constant depending on the probability of certain number of results likely to fall

below fck.
Characteristic strength is defined as that value below which not more than 5% (1 to
20) results are expected to fall, in which case the value of k will be 1.65.

CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 1. Strength Requirements Target Strength

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 2. Determine Water-Cement Ratio

Representative Plot

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 2. Determine Water-Cement Ratio

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 3. Aggregate Requirements

In the IS method the quantity of mixing water per unit volume of concrete and
the ratio of the fine to total aggregate
depends on the nominal size and type of aggregate.
This is because aggregate of different maximum size, grading, surface texture,
shape, and other characteristics produce concretes of different compressive
strengths for the same free water-cement ratio.

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 4. Workability Requirements for different placing conditions

Degree of Workability

Slump (mm)

Extremely Low

Very low

0-25

Low

25-50

Medium

50-100

High

100-175

Slump is ease of placing, consolidating, and finishing.

l highest slump with no segregation or excessive bleeding
Coarse aggregate migrates to bottom & water migrates to top
l Increase slump with
admixtures
rounded aggregates

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 5. Water Content

l For a given slump it depends on maximum size and shape of aggregates
l Considers SSD condition

Oven Dry

Air Dry

SSD

l Never let workers add water in truck or at the jobsite

Moist

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 6. Cement Content

w/c = 0.45; For maximum size aggregate of 20 mm, the quantity of water will be
186 liter (kg), and the sand content 35% of the absolute volume of total aggregates.
The cement content will therefore be:
186/0.45 = 413.3 kg

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 7. Fine and Coarse Aggregate Content

For fine aggregate:

C 1 fa 1
V = W + +

Sc p S fa 100

For coarse aggregate:

C
1 Ca 1
V = W + +

S
1
p
S
(
)

c
Ca
100
V = absolute volume of fresh concrete; i.e., gross volume, m3volume of entrapped air.
W = mass of water per m3 of concrete, kg or litter.
C = mass of cement per m3 of concrete, kg.
Sc = specific gravity of cement.
p = ratio of fine aggregate to total aggregate by absolute volume.
fa, Ca = total quantity of fine and coarse aggregate per m3 of concrete, respectively, kg.
Sfa, Sca = specific gravity of saturated surface dry fine and coarse aggregates.

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 8. Admixtures
l follow instructions from manufacturers
l

generally small quantities

volume or mass should be considered in mix proportioning

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 9. Moisture Corrections

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Step 10. Trial Mix

l The mix proportions arrived at from the preliminary mixes are then used
to make a trial mix.
l

Generally one trial mix is sufficient but to ensure the designed strength of
concrete at 7 and 28 days more than one trial mix is prepared in such a
way that the water-cement ratio is increased or decreased from that
obtained from the trial mix by 10%.

l Necessary adjustments have, of course, to be made in the cement content

and quantities of coarse and fine aggregates keeping the total quantity of
water per m3 of concrete constant in all the so obtained three mixes
l Test on Trial Mixes:

Slump and / or Vee-Bee test

determination of unit weight, kg/m3, of fresh concrete, and

making and curing of test cubes for the compression test

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Acceptable Criteria

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Order of Operations for Concrete

Specific operations must be performed in a certain order
final quality is influenced by every step
I. mix design (proportioning)
II. trial mixes & testing
III. batching
------------------------------------------------------------start the clock
IV. mixing
V. transporting
VI. pouring (placing)
VII. vibrating (consolidating)
-------------------------------------------------------------initial set here
VIII. finishing
-------------------------------------------------------------final set here
IX. curing
X. maintenance

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Mixing, Placing, & Handling of PC

Batching
l Measuring correct proportions of components and placing in the mixer
l By weight is more accurate because air voids don't matter

Mixing
l Until uniform appearance
l Usually batch mixers (one at a time), but sometimes continuous (conveyors
automatically feed components into mixer)
l Usually start with 10% of the water in the mixer, then solids with 80% of the
water, and then remaining water

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Placing
Directly into form

Pump

Wheel barrow/ buggy

Bucket

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Placing Issues
l Drop height
< 3 ft
l Horizontal movement
Limit to prevent segregation
l Pumping
Adjust mix design

tremie chute to limit drop height

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Vibration of Concrete
l Consolidation (compaction)
complete before initial set
l Manually by
ramming
tamping
l Mechanically using vibrators
Internal poker
5 sec to 2 min in one spot
<10 sec. typical
avoid segregation
through entire depth
penetrate layer below if still plastic
External
tables and rollers for precast concrete

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Finishing Concrete

Screeding strike concrete off to

desired level

Power float

Bullfloating eliminates high

and low spots and embeds
large aggregate particles
immediately after strikeoff.

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Curing of Concrete
(The process of keeping concrete damp for this purpose is known as curing)

l M a i n t a i n m o i s t u r e a n d
temperature in the concrete to
promote continued hydration
and strength gain
l hydration will resume if curing
is stopped and resumed
l Curing must be done for at least
three weeks and in no case for
less than ten days.

l Curing affects:
durability
strength
water-tightness
abrasion resistance
volumetric stability
resistance to freezing and
thawing
r e s i s t a n c e t o d e - i c i n g
chemicals

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Curing of Concrete

Approaches
1. Maintaining presence of water
in the concrete
2. Seal the surface so mix water
cant escape
3. Heat & additional moisture

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Curing: Approach 1. Maintaining Presence of Water

Spraying

Wet Covering

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Curing: Approach 2. Seal the Surface

l impervious paper or plastic sheets

l membrane forming compounds
l leave forms in place

Plastic Sheets

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CE-251 - Lecture 7

Curing: Approach 3. Heat

l insulate
l steam
good for early strength gain and in freezing weather
l heating coils, electrically heated forms or pads
usually in precast plants only