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60
Instructor: Paulo Monteiro

Introduction to Concrete

Costinas Razvan 932 AN

CONTENT
IMPORTANCE
COSTS
COMPONENTS
AGREGATE
MEGA STUCTURES. EXAMPLES

I. IMPORTANCE
It is estimated that the present
consumption of concrete in the world is
of the order of 10 billion tonnes
(12 billion tons) every year.
Humans consume no material
except water in such tremendous
quantities

Reasons for success

(1)
the ability of concrete to withstand
the action of water without
serious deterioration makes it an
ideal material for building
structures
to control, store, and
transport water.

Reasons for success

(2)
the ease with which structural concrete elements
can be formed into a variety of shapes and
sizes.
This is because freshly made concrete is of a
plastic consistency, which permits the material to
flow into prefabricated formwork. After a number
of hours, the formwork can be removed for
reuse when the concrete has solidified and
hardened to a strong mass.

Reasons for success

(3)
it is usually the cheapest and most readily
available material on the job

II. How cheap?

Depending on
the components' transportation cost,
in certain geographical locations the
price
of concrete may be as high as
$150-$200 per ton,
at others it may
be as low as $100 per ton.

Strong points
(1)
Maintenance
Concrete does not corrode,
needs no surface treatment,
and its strength increases with
time; therefore, concrete structures
requires essentially no maintenance.

Strong points
(2)
Fire resistance
The fire resistance of concrete is perhaps
the most important single aspect of
offshore safety and, at the same time, the
area in which the advantages of
concrete are most evident.

Strong points
(3)
Resistance to cyclic loading
In most codes of practice, the allowable
concrete stresses are limited to about
50 percent of the ultimate strength;
thus the fatigue strength of concrete
is generally not a problem.

III. Components of
Modern Concrete
Concrete is a composite material that
consists essentially of a binding medium
within which are embedded particles or
fragments of aggregate.
In hydraulic- cement concrete, the
binder is formed from a mixture of
hydraulic cement and water.

IV. Aggregate
Aggregate is the granular material, such
as sand, gravel, crushed stone,
crushed blast-furnace slag, or
construction and demolition waste that
is used with a cementing medium to
produce either concrete or mortar.

Cement
Cement is a finely pulverized, dry, material
that by itself is not a binder but develops
the binding property as a result of
hydration.
A cement is called hydraulic when the
hydration products are stable in an
aqueous environment.

Water
Responsible for the hydration reactions
with the cement

Admixtures
Admixtures are defined as materials other
than aggregates, cement, and water,
which are added to the concrete batch
immediately before or during mixing.
The use of admixtures in concrete is now
widespread due to many benefits which
are possible by their application.

Types of concrete
Based on unit weight, concrete can be
classified into three broad categories:
normal-weight concrete (2400kg/m3)
lightweight concrete (< 1800 kg/m3)
heavyweight concrete (>3200 kg/m3)

Types of concrete
Low-strength concrete: less than 20 MPa
(3000 psi) compressive strength
Moderate-strength concrete: 20 to 40 MPa
(3000 to 6000 psi) compressive strength
High-strength concrete: more than 40 MPa
(6000 psi) compressive strength.

V. MEGA STUCTURES.
EXAMPLES
Itaipu Dam
Nervi Structures
Petronas Tower

Itaipu Dam

General Information

Ambient Conditions
Yearly average temperature
21 C
Maximum Temperature
40 C
Mimimum Temperature
-4 C
Volume of materials
Concrete
12.3 million m3
Earth moving
23.6 million m3
Rock excavation
32.0 million m3
Embankments
31.7 million m3

General Information
River Basin
Area
820,000 km2
Average annual precipitation
Average discharge at Itaipu
Reservoir
1,350 km2
Area

Volume
29 billion m3
Length
170 km
Dam
Maximum height196
T
motal length
7,760 Generating
18
Quantity
Units
Capacity 700 MW

1,400 mm
9,700 m3/s

Sports Palace in Rome

Nervi was a pioneer of
ferro- cemento or
reinforced mortar,
where thin metallic
meshes are embedded in a
mortar to form structural
elements with high ductility
and crack-resistance

Design work

Thin panels were created with great flexibility, elasticity,

and strength capacity. The Palazzo dello Sport built
with a 100-m span and seating for 16,000 is a beautiful
example of using such structural system.

Petronas Tower

The 451.9- meter high

structure composed of two,
88-story structures and their
pinnacles, optimized the
use of steel and reinforced
concrete.

Energy
Considerations
Energy content charged to concrete
kwh/m3

kwh/ton

Cement,

330-660

137-275

250 to 500 kg/m3 concrete

Aggregate

20

1750-1950 kg/m3
Production and handling

90

37

440-770

182-320

concrete
TOTAL

In these calculations the energy content of cement is

assumed to be 1300 kwh/ton.
The energy content of steel is 8000 kwh/ton;
six times the amount of cement and 25-40 times of concrete.
Reinforced concrete: 800-3200 kwh/m3

Example:
1m-high column resisting a 1000 ton load:
unreinforced concrete: 70 liters of oil
brick: 210 liters of oil
steel: 320 liters of oil

Thank you for your

attention!