Recent Developments in

Concrete

Recent Developments in Concrete

Ordinary concrete, made with natural
aggregates, has a low strength weight
ratio compared to steel. Hence designing
concrete members for tall buildings, long
span bridges and floating structures become
costly
Three ways to address this problem

First approach
The density or the unit weight of concrete
can be reduced by substituting lightweight
aggregate in place of conventional
aggregate. Lightweight aggregate made by
calcination of clay or shale is commonly
used to produce structural lightweight
concrete that has about one-third less unit
weight than conventional concrete.

Second Approach
Strength of concrete can be raised. High
strength concrete with compressive
strengths ranging from 60 to 120 Mpa is
now available with the advent of
superplasticizers or high-range water
reducing admixtures.

Third Approach
Combination of first two approaches
Use of high strength lightweight aggregate
particles in superplasticized mixtures to
produce high-strength, lightweight concrete.

Recent Developments in Concrete

Superplasticized concrete mixtures perform
well on exposure to some aggressive
environmental conditions on account of
their low water-cementitious ratio.
Durable concrete are now being used in the
construction of marine structures for a
service life of 100 to 150 years, compared to
40 to 50 years with conventional concrete

Recent Developments in Concrete

The use of superplasticizing admixtures are
applied to
i) high-strength
ii) high durability
iii)Fabrication of heavily reinforced
structural membranes(Workability)

Recent Developments in Concrete

Superplasricized concrete mixtures in combination
with large proportion of fine mineral particles and
viscosity modifying chemical admixtures have been
developed to produce self-consolidating concrete
Restrained shrinkage on drying is frequently the
cause of concrete cracking as experienced in the
construction of thin structural elements such as
floor and pavement slabs. Shrinkage-compensating
concrete containing expansive cements or cement
additives are developed to counteract this problem

Recent Developments in Concrete

The concept of microlevel reinforcement is
developed to counteract the deficiency of
poor impact resistance of concrete. Fiberreinforced concrete mixtures containing
steel, glass, or polypropylene fibers are
being employed to increase impact
resistance.

Recent Developments in Concrete

Concrete mixtures containing polymers
have shown higher imperviousness and
excellent chemical resistance. Used to
protect reinforcing steel from corrosion in
industrial floors and bridge decks

Recent Developments in Concrete

Heavyweight concrete made with high density
material used for radiation shielding in nuclear
power plants.
Pre-cooling of concrete materials eliminated the
need for expensive post-cooling operations &
made faster construction schedules possible.
Dams are now built with roller-compacted
concrete at high speed and with less cost.

Structural Lightweight Concrete

The concrete is made with a cellular
lightweight aggregate so that its unit weight
is approximately two-third of the unit
weight of concrete with unit weight of
concrete made with typical natural
aggregate.

Structural Lightweight Concrete

Structural lightweight aggregate concrete
having a 28 day compressive strength in
excess of 17MPa and a 28 day air-dried unit
weight not exceeding 1850 kg/m3.
The concrete may consist entirely of
lightweight aggregate or a combination of
lightweight and normal weight aggregates