Construction Materials Tutorial Questions

(a) What do you understand by initial setting time and final setting time of cement ? How does the krowledge of these two times help an engineer in construction work ? Ans: Setting time is the time since adding water to cement at which the paste of standard consistance has reached a chosen degree of stiffness using the vicat apparatus. Initial setting time(not less than 60 minutes) and final setting time (not more than 10 hours). The limits of the two setting times is to ensure freshly mix concrete will remain workable for a sufficient time to be transported, placed and compacted in the formwork. (b) A student argues that concrete harden by drying. Is this statement true? Ans: False. By the process of hydration (reaction with water) cement mixed with sand gravel and water produces concrete. The reaction with water is termed "hydration". This involves many different chemical reactions, often occurring at the same time. As the reactions proceed, the products of the hydration process gradually bond together the individual sand and gravel particles, and other components of the concrete, to form a solid mass. (c) What are the concrete properties influenced by the size of aggregates? Ans: In general, smaller size aggregates have been shown to produce higher strength concretes, for a fixed w/c ratio. However, the use of the largest possible coarse aggregate may be an important consideration in terms of optimizing modulus of elasticity, creep, and drying shrinkage of the concrete. Particularly for a high-strength concrete, a coarse aggregate should be chosen that is sufficiently hard, clean, and free of surface coatings. (d) Define admixtures. Briefly describe the roles of retarding admixture, accelerating admixture and super plasticizers. Ans: Admixtures are materials other than cement, aggregate and water that are added to concrete either before or during its mixing to alter its properties, such as workability, curing temperature range, set time or colour. Retarding admixtures slow down the hydration of cement, lengthening set time. Retarders are beneficially used in hot weather conditions in order to overcome accelerating effects of higher temperatures and large masses of concrete on concrete setting time. Because most retarders also act as water reducers, they are frequently called water-reducing retarders. Accelerating admixtures shorten the set time of concrete, allowing a cold-weather pour, early removal of forms, early surface finishing, and in some cases, early load application. Proper care must be taken while choosing the type and proportion of accelerators, as under most conditions, commonly used accelerators cause an increase in the drying shrinkage of concrete.Super platicizers can maintain a specific consistency and workability at a greatly reduced amount of water. (e) Briefly describe concrete bleeding in fresh concrete.

Ans: Almost all freshly placed concrete bleeds. As aggregate and cement particles settle, they force excess mixing water upward. The total amount of bleeding or settlement depends on mix properties, primarily water content and amount of fines. Rich mixes tend to bleed less than lean mix. Bleeding causes the formation of pores and renders the concrete weak. Bleeding can be avoided by suitably controlling the quantity of water in the concrete and using finer grading of aggregates. (f) Why is segregation of concrete caused? Ans: Separation of coarser particles from the mix in called segregation. This may happen due to lack of sufficient quantity of finer particles in concrete or due to throwing of the concrete from greater heights. Because of segregation, the cohesiveness of the concrete is lost and honeycombing results. Ultimately, it results into the loss of strength for the hardened concrete. Hence, utmost care is taken to avoid segregation. (g) Describe a test commonly employed to measure the workability in a construction site. Ans: Slump test is used to determine the workability of fresh concrete. Procedure to determine workability of fresh concrete by slump test. Steps: i) The internal surface of the mould is thoroughly cleaned and applied with a light coat of oil. ii) The mould is placed on a smooth, horizontal, rigid and nonabsorbent surface. iii) The mould is then filled in four layers with freshly mixed concrete, each approximately to one-fourth of the height of the mould. iv) Each layer is tamped 25 times by the rounded end of the tamping rod (strokes are distributed evenly over the cross section). v) After the top layer is rodded, the concrete is struck off the level with a trowel. vi) The mould is removed from the concrete immediately by raising it slowly in the vertical direction. vii) The difference in level between the height of the mould and that of the highest point of the subsided concrete is measured. viii) This difference in height in mm is the slump of the concrete. (h) What is shrinkage of concrete ? Discuss its importance in concrete structures. How do we minimise shrinkage? Ans: Drying shrinkage is caused by a loss of moisture from the concrete. It occurs after concrete hardens and continues months and even years depending on the slab thickness and ambient conditions. This type of shrinkage is largely responsible for random cracking, wide joint and crack widths, and curling (or warping) of concrete floors. It can be minimized by providing movement joints and careful attention to details at the design stage.

(i) Why is curing necessary? Describe the importance of curing concrete. Ans: Curing can be described as keeping the concrete moist and warm enough so that the hydration of cement can continue. More elaborately, it can be described as the process of maintaining a satisfactory moisture content and a favourable temperature in concrete during the

period immediately following placement, so that hydration of cement may continue until the desired properties are developed to a sufficient degree to meet the requirement of service. Curing has a strong influence on the properties of hardened concrete such as durability, strength, water tightness, abrasion resistance and volume stability. Exposed slab surfaces are especially sensitive to curing. Surface strength development can be reduced significantly when curing is defective. (j) What is ready mix-concrete? Explain advantages of its use. Ans: Ready-mix concrete is made at a batching plant and delivered by a cement truck to a work site. This type of concrete speeds up the construction process by having the concrete already mixed and ready to pour once it reaches the site. There are several benefits to the use of ready-mix concrete. Ready-mix concrete helps speed up the building process. Construction companies save time and money by using concrete that is already mixed. It eliminates the need for a crew to mix concrete at the work site. Ready-mix concrete also helps to reduce construction-site pollution. A lot of dust is created when concrete is mixed on site. It also allows water to intermix more completely with the cement particles resulting in more complete hydration. (k) Mix Design- Doe Method Produce batch quantities for 1m3 of concrete: Slump: 60-180mm Characteristic compressive strength: 30N/mm2 (28 day strength with 5% failure permitted) Cement Type: OPC Fine aggregate: crushed, 60% pass 600m sieve, relative density 2.8 Course aggregate: crushed, maximum size is 20mm, relative density 2.8 Assume k=1.64 Ans: Step 1 Finding free water/cement (w/c) ratio Strength = 30 N/mm2 @ 28 Day strength with 5% failures permitted From Figure 1, the standard deviation, s = 8 N/mm2 Concrete strength margin = k *s = 1.64 * 8 N/mm2 =13 N/mm2 Target mean strength = 30 + 13 N/mm2 = 43 N/mm2 From Table 1, with crushed aggregate and OPC (28 day strength), approximate compressive strength of concrete mix = 49 N/mm2

From Figure 2, t he free w/c Step 2 Finding free water content Slump: 60-180mm

= 0.55

Maximum aggregate size: 20 mm (crushed) From Table 2, free water content = 225 kg/m3 Step 3 Finding cement content Cement content = (free-water content) / (free water/cement ratio) = 225/0.55 kg/m3 = 409.1 kg/m3

Step 4 Finding fresh concrete density From Figure 3, with free water content of 225 kg/m3 and aggregate relative density of 2.8, Density of concrete Step 5 Finding fine and course aggregate content Fine aggregate passing 600m sieve is 60% Total aggregate content = fresh concrete density - cement content free water content = 2450 - 409.1- 225 kg/m3 = 1815.9 kg/m3 From Figure 4, for aggregate size of 20mm, slump of 60-180mm and free water/cement ratio of 0.55, Proportion of fine aggregate = 38% Fine aggregate content = 38 % of total aggregate content = 0.38 * 1815.9 kg/m3 = 690 kg/m3 Coarse aggregate content = 1815.9 - 690 kg/m3 = 1125.9 kg/m3 = 2450 kg/m3