PLACING CONCRETE: FROM ROME TO SCC

Massimo Coli1 & Marco Francini2

1

Dep. Earth Science, Un. of Florence, Italy -

Betonval SpA, Buzzi Unicem Group, Italy

Roman Age

Photo: Fikret Yegul

XXI Century
PLACING

PLACING

MAN ENERGY

WORK FLOW

Photo: Fikret Yegul

COMPACTION GRADE

Observing the self-adjustement of SCC

MACHINE ENERGY

GRAVITY FLOW

MAN ENERGY

COMPONENTS HIGHLIGHTS

Photo: Judith A: Geary

- POZZOLANA - SLAKED LIME - RUBBLES

TEXTURE

AGGREGATE VOLUME

WATER CONTENT

AGGREGATE Dmax

Photo: G. Giunti

Photo: Fikret Yegul

WORK FLOW

Slaves hand working stiff concrete. They mixed a semidry mortar in a box and carried it to the job site in baskets, pounding it into a previously prepared layer of stones

COMPACTION GRADE

MACHINE ENERGY

GRAVITY FLOW

TEXTURE Rome - the Arch of Septimius Severus

AGGREGATE VOLUME

Pozzolana did react with lime and water to solidify into a rocklike mass, even when water submerged

COMPONENTS HIGHLIGHTS

- ACRYLIC ADMIXTURES - MINERAL FILLER

The self compacting concrete runs into the moulds, leading to an excellent conpaction degree due to the endless belt-like effect of the finest solid fraction Rome - the Pantheon

Roman concrete was placed in layers and faced on both sides with clay bricks that had little structural value

Middle Age
Photo: M.Francini

Since 300 B.C. the Romans were able to build up strong edifices and to vault large ceilings by using a mixture of slaked lime, volcanic ash (Pozzolana), sand, crock, rubbles and organic admixtures. The high performances and durability of roman concrete were due to the volcanic ash, as well as to the wide availability of low-cost manpower (slaves) that permitted the use of high viscosity fresh mixture with a very low water/cement ratio. Placing concrete meant to hard compress it between huge walls locked with brick rows. The high cost of cement due to the restricted supply of the volcanic ash did not allow for a wide use of concrete, that was Durability confined to large public buildings which was paid directly by the Imperial Treasury or by rich important citizens, who also supplied many necessary slaves to place the concrete.
Strenght

ete cr on C t n ie c n

A recent revolutionary change has lead to the SCC, a very high strength, high durable Self Compacting Concrete were the smallest solid phase, that till now was only the cement, is more enhanced by a well graded filler in the range 040 mm.

Futu re Co nc re
te

P la c in g c o n c r e t e will m e a n t o o b s e r ve i t self-adjusting in t o t h in n e r a n d t h in n e r - o r s p e c ia l s h a p e d - m o u ld s .

The SCC technology together with a large reuse of industrial waste now can make concrete an environmental friendly, low-cost, very durable, widespread and easy making building material.

The decline of concrete utilization in the middle-age was almost complete

Moulding After the collapse of the Roman Empire the use of such a viscous material declined and stone or brick masonry continued to be used as building materials for many centuries. The first change was in the early XIX Century with the introducton of Portland cement, that was produced with widespread and cheap materials (limestone and clay) allowing a better workable and relatively high-strength concrete. P l a c i n g c onc re t e me a nt to c o m p a c t i t in t o s i m p l e moul d s .

EQUAL CEMENT CONTENT TRENDS

The second notable improvement was in the middle 1900s with the introduction of chemical admixtures, that allowed for a very fluid yet high-strength concrete.

COMPONENTS HIGHLIGHTS

Placing concrete means to guide it into more complex moulds. Since the early 1900s landscape has been deeply marked by concrete use -buildings, bridges, tunnels, dams-, some of which are works of art.

- CHEMICAL ADMIXTURES - COMPOSITE CEMENTS

Mo

der

n Co n cr ete
TEXTURE TEXTURE

Co ay Tod

re nc

te

Today keywords are workability and durability, often associated with high mechanical strenght

PLACING

PLACING COMPACTION GRADE MACHINE ENERGY Florence - the Autostrade Church

GRAVITY FLOW

MAN ENERGY

AGGREGATE VOLUME

AGGREGATE VOLUME

COMPACTION GRADE

AGGREGATE Dmax

MACHINE ENERGY

MAN ENERGY

- PORTLAND CEMENT - REINFORCEMENT STEEL

With the use of steel reiforcements an homogeneous and more plastic mix became necessary

WORK FLOW

COMPONENTS HIGHLIGHTS

GRAVITY FLOW

WATER CONTENT

WATER CONTENT

AGGREGATE Dmax

XIX-XX Century

Year 2000

WORK FLOW

WATER CONTENT

AGGREGATE Dmax