Most people think of concrete as a very hard and dense material surrounding us i

n daily life providing shelter making our home safe

If we look at concrete at its feshly mixed state if flows like porridge It takes
2-3 hours to solidify from a liquid state to a solid state
If you want to mould and cast concrete you must get it done within this 2-3 hour
s Otherwise a slump loss happens
If concrete arrives too late placing of concrete would be very difficult In such
cases we call the concrete not "workable"
Let's look at two examples First, consider a tall wall formwork containing tons
of steel bar matrix Pouring 'late' of 'unworkable' concrete would not be able to
fill up every corner of the wall
Therefore honeycombs and voids would be left everywhere in the wall
Secondly, segregation could also happen because aggregates and paste separate fr
om each other
Both of these situations would result in weakened strength, structural integrity
and durability of the concrete structure in the long run
Before moulding fresh concrete into formwork a good check on site to see if fres
h conrete is 'workable or not is known as the workability test.
The workability tests measure the consistency of fresh concrete between batch-to
-batch, hour-to-hour and truck-to-truck variation of concrete
Three of the most commonly used workability tests
are slump test
Vebe time test
and compaction factor test
First, we start with the most popular workability test the slump test, A basic o
verview of the slump test is to place fresh concrete in this slump cone which re
stricts its movement
Later when we lift up the cone concrete becomes unsupported and flows from the e
ffect of gravity and its intrinsic frictional force
We then measure the extent of collapse to obtain the slump value
Before learning the steps let's look at the apparatus that you will need and how
to sample fresh concrete properly, For conducting a slump test, you will need a
slump cone,
a scoop, a compacting rod,a base plate a shovel, a leveler, a measuring tape, a
moist cloth, a thermometer may be required if the environment is too hot or col
d
All apparatus has to be cleaned prior to use
Now Jones will show you the sampling technique in the slump test Use the scoop t
o take the required quantity uniformly distributed throughout the batch of concr
ete 'Uniform' is the key word here
For all these scenarios sampling the very first or very last protion of the fres
h concrete is a common mistake yielding wrong slump values just like what Jones
is doing right now
This is because concrete at very fist portionmay be more likeyly to locally cont
ain a much higher water to cement ratio while the very last protion amy be more
likey to be segregated
There are three steps which must be followed strictly to perform the test
1st step : preparation
2nd step: Moulding
3rd step : Measurement
Watch careful now as Jone perform each of these steps
The first step is preparation
a. Dampen the mould and base plate
b. level the base plate with a leveler
c. attach the mould on the horizontal base plate
d. hold the mould firmly on the two foot pieces against the base plate while fil
ling with concrte
The section is to fill the mould with fresh concrete
a. Fill the mould in three layers, each approximately one-third of the height of
the mould when compacted

b. compact each layer with 25 stokes of the tamping rod

c. Distribute the strokes over the cross-section of each layer
d. For the middle and top layers, compact each layer throughout its depth, so th
at the strokes just penetrate into the immediately underlying layer
e. For the top layer heap the top layer of concrete before tamping is started
f. Add more concrete to keep an excess above the top of the mould
g. strike of the surface of the concrete by means of a sawing and rolling motion
of the compacting rod
h. Remove spilled concrete from the base plate
The third step is to remove the mould and take readings
a. Remove the mould from the concrete by raising it carefully with a steady upwa
rd lift
b. Record the slump to the nearest 10mm by measuring the difference between the
height of the mould and that of the highest point of the slumped test specimen
The test is only valid if it yield a true slump in which concrete remains substa
ntially intact and symmetrical
If the specimen shears in this way () this is an indication of lack of cohesion in the
mix
The test datat should be rejected and another samply should be taken and tested
In actual site practice the test is carried out much faster
Watch the test again at normal pace see if you can follow what he is doing in ea
ch of the steps
The second workability test is the vebe time test, This test measures the remoul
ding ability of fresh concrete under vibration
For conducting a vebe time test you need the same tools as for the slump test, i
n addition, you will also need a vebe consistometer, a stop watch and a vibratin
g table at a frequency of 50 to 60 Hz
The sampling technique of concrete in the vebe time test follow that of slump te
st. You have to sample the middle part of fresh concrete to avoid high water to
cement ratio of segregation
Again three steps must be followed strictly to perform the test
1st step : preparation
2nd step: Moulding
3rd step : Measurement
watch carefully now as Jones performs thes steps
The first step is preparation
a. Place the Vebe consistometer on a regid horizontal base fix the container fir
mly to the vibrating table by wing nuts
b. dampen the slump cone and place it in the container
c. swing the funnel into position over the mould and lower onto the mould
d. tighten the screw so that the mould cannot rose from the bottom of the contai
ner
the second step is moulding
e. fill the mould in three layers each approximately one-third of the height of
the mould when compacted
f. compact each layer with 25 strokes of the tamping rod
g. distribute the strokes over the cross-section of each layer
h. for the middle and top layers compact each layer throughout its depth of that
the strokes just penetrateinto the immediately underlying layer
i. for the top layer heap the top layer concrete before tamping is started and m
ore concrete to keep and excess above the top of the mould
j. strike off the surface of the concrete by a sawing and rolling motion of the
compacting rod
k. remove spilled concrete
The last step is measurement
m. remove the mould from the concrete with a steady upward lift
n. swing the transparent disc over the concrete
o. loosen the screw and lower the disc until it just comes into contact with the
concrete

p. start the vibration of the table and the timer simultaneously observe the way
the concrete is remoulded to the transparent disc
q. as soon as the cement grout comes out around the perimeter of the disc the di
sc is fully in contact with the cement grout stop the timer and swith off the vi
brating table
r. record the time taken to the nearest second
Watch while Jones carries out the test again at normal pace See if you can follo
w each step
The last workability test is the compaction factor test. For conducting a compac
tion factor test. You will need an apparatus with two conical hoppers and a cyli
nder mounted on a rigid frame
a vibration table and a weighing machine of course you also need the same tools
as in slump test The sampling technique of the compaction factor test
follows that of the slump test and the vebe time test. So we are not going to re
peat here.The first step is preparation
a. place the compaction factor apparatus on a rigid horizontal base
b. clean the container and moisten the inner surfaces using a moist cloth
The seond step is moulding
c. fill the top hopper with non-compacted concrete
d. open the door at the bottom of the top hopper so that concrete drops into the
lower hopper
e. when all concrete falls from the top hopper open the door at the lower hopper
for concrete to flow into the bottom cylinder
f. use a tamping rod to force sticky concretes through the hoppers
g. strike off excessive concrete from the top of the cylinder
The last step is measurement
h. record the mass of concrete in the cylinder Note here the concrete is not com
pacted
i. compact the same batch of concrete in the cylinder with a vibration table add
concrete up to the top of the cylinder after vibration
Record the mass
j calculate the compaction factor by dividing the mass without to the mass with
compaction
this is the end of the procedures
watch the test again see if you can follow each step
the slump value vebe time and compaction factors are very dependent on the lapse
d time after mixing a longer lapsed time surely yields smaller slump longer vebe
time
smaller compaction factor because water evaporates
therefore the workability test must be done just after mixing finishes
next we will introduce some other factors that affect the workability from mater
ial's perspective
factors.
a. water to cement ratios,
b. partial repacement of cement by fly ash
c. dosages of superplasticizer
d. aggregate type and grading
e. aggregate to cemcent ratio
f. cement finess
g. temperature
h. humidity
here we introduce first three factors
1.w/c ratio
it is obvious that the more water you add in the mix the better workability you
obtain
2.partial replacement of cement by fly ash

the spherical of ashes effectively disperses over and gets absorbed on cement wh
ich makes water distribute more evenly and increases the workability
3.dosages of superplasticizer
the long molecules of superplasticizer wrop themselves around the cement particl
es and become negatively charged so that they repel each other this results in d
eflocculation and dispersion of cement particles
and concrete gains better workability
high dosages of superplasticizer the slump vebe time and compatction factor test
s are not the appropriate measure anymore since concrete spreads over
instead, we measure slump spread and some other test for self-compacting concret
es which will be discussed in another video
capture 21:33
in general, a smaller slump value a longer vebe time and a smaller compaction fa
ctor, mean the concrete is less workable and less easily handled and vice versa
for a larger slump value a shorter vebe time and a larger compaction factor
on site, slump test is the simplest and most widely used workability test and de
serves more attention compared to vebe time and compaction factor tests
normal slump values range from 50 to 150 mm and the more detailed workability de
scriptions of the slump values are listed here
slump values have to be carefully control to cope with different on-site concret
ing conditions such as whether pump truck or tower crane is used.
in-situ temperature and humidity variations and so forth
the slump vebe time and compaction factor test are used and standardized all ove
r the world
2main advantage of the test
1st the test determines the
ich provides a scale on how
Second, engineers also make
e mix to achieve additional

'workability' and consistency of in-situ concrete wh

easily it can be handles, compacted and cured.
use of the results of trial mix to alter the concret
concrete strength and durability

understanding
1. the 3-step procedures and the underlying principles of the slump, vebe
nd compaction factor tests for concrete
2. the reason for carrying out the slump, vebe time and compaction factor
such as inspection fo consistency and workability and
3. the three factors affecting the slump, vebe time and compaction factor
. THis includes water to cement rations, partial replacement of cement by
h and dosage of superplasticzer

time a
tests,
values
fly as