Spring 2015

Contents:
Part 1: Concrete mix design
Part 2: Concrete problems

Part 1: Concrete mix design

1-Cement
According to CSA
Cement Type
Type 10

Normal Portland
cement

Use
General purpose cement suitable for
all uses (where special properties are not
requires)

Type 20 Moderate Portland

cement

Used where precaution against

moderate sulphate attack is important

Type 30 High early strength

Portland cement

High strength at early period

(usually a week or less)

Type 40

Low heat of
hydration Portland
cement

When rate and amount of heat

generated from hydration must be
minimized

Type 50

Sulphate resistant
Portland cement

For concrete exposed to severe

sulphate action
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1-Cement
ASTM C 150 provides 8 types:
-Normal
-Normal, air-entraining
-Moderate sulphate resistance
-Moderate sulphate resistance, air-entraining
-High early strength
-High early strength, air-entraining
-Low heat of hydration
-High sulphate resistance

2-Aggregates:
i- Generally, they must be:
-Clean, hard, durable
-Free of absorbed chemicals
-Free from coatings of clay
-Free of fine materials in amounts that could affect the
hydration and bond to the cement paste
ii-The nominal max size versus the maximum size (difference)

2-Aggregates:
Nominal maximum size of an aggregate should not exceed:
-1/5 the narrowest dimension between the sides of forms
-3/4 of the minimum clear spacing between reinforcing bars and
forms
-1/3 depth of the slab
-For pumped concrete:
-1/3 smallest internal diameter of the hose or pipe
-40 mm

2-Aggregates:
Property

Effect

Potentially harmful material

pop outs, delayed setting , volume

(as Organic impurities, fine
change of concrete, weak bond
materials, soft particles, clay lumps) between the cement paste and the
aggregate
Resistance to freeze and thaw
( frost resistance of an
aggregate)

D-cracking of concrete

Wetting and drying properties

Alternate wetting and drying cycles

can cause severe strain in some
aggregates leading to permanent
increase in volume and concrete
breakdown

Abrasion and skid resistance

heavy duty floors and pavements

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3-Admixtures
The main reasons for using admixtures:
1- To achieve certain properties in concrete
2- To maintain the quality of concrete during the stages of mixing,
transporting, placing and curing
3-To overcome certain emergencies

No admixture of any type or amount can be considered a

substitute for good concreting practice
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3- Admixtures
Admixture
Air entraining
Water reducing

Use
Improve durability in freeze and thaw
To reduce water
Typically 5-10%

Accelerating

accelerate setting and early strength

development

Retarding
Corrosion inhibitors

retard setting time

Reduce steel corrosion in chloride
environment

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4-Supplementary cementing materials

-They may be used in addition to or as partial replacement of the
portland cement .
-They are used to improve a particular concrete property
Material

Description

Fly ash

Fine residue that results from the combustion of coal in

electric generator

Slag

made from iron blast furnace slag

Silica fume

By product of the reduction of high purity quartz with

coal in an electric arc furnace

Natural
pozzolans

include calcined clay and calcined shale

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4-Supplementary cementing materials

They are used to improve a particular concrete property
Property

Effect
Fly ash

Silica fume

Slag

Natural pozzolans

water demand

dec.

inc.

dec.

Little effect, may

inc or dec

workability

improve

admixtures
needed to
maintain
workability

improve

improve

Bleeding and
seggregation

dec

dec

Bleeding
inc.,
No effect on
segregation

Little effect

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4-Supplementary cementing materials

Property

Effect
Fly ash

Silica fume

Slag

Natural pozzolans

Heat of
hydration

dec.

Little effect ;
may or may
not dec.

dec.

dec.

Permeability
and absorbtion

dec.

dec.
Very effective

dec.

dec.

Alkali
aggregate
reaction

dec.

dec.

dec.

dec.

Sulphate
resistance

Inc.

Inc.

Inc.

Inc.
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5-Concrete Mix design:

A proper proportioned concrete mix should posses the following:
1-Acceptable workability of fresh mix
2-Durability, strength, and uniform appearance of the hardened
concrete
3-Economy
The design of the concrete mixture involves:
1- Establishing specific concrete characteristics
2-Selection of proportions of available materials to produce
concrete of required properties

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5- Concrete Mix design:

i-Strength:
-The specified compressive strength (fc' ) at 28 days is the strength that
is expected to be equal to or exceeded by the average of any set of 3
consecutives tests.No individual test (average of 2 cylinders) can be
more than 3.5 MPa below the specified strength.
-The average strength (fcr ' ) = the specified strength (fc' ) + allowance
to account for variations in materials/mixing/placing..etc
-The average strength (fcr ' ) is the strength required in the mix design

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5- Concrete Mix design

i-Strength:
CSA A23.1:
fcr' =fc '+1.4S
fcr '=fc '+(2.4S-3.5) MPa

Where: S is the standard deviation (MPa)

If standard deviation is not available, Table 9-11 is used instead
to determine fcr
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5- Concrete Mix design:

ii-Classes of exposure:
-Two classes for air content
category 1: exposed to freeze and thaw,
category 2: not exposed to freeze and thaw
-Four classes of exposure for structures to Chlorides (CL)
C1: Structurally RC exposed to CL (category 1 or 2)
C2:Plain concrete exposed to CL (category 1)
C3: Continuously submerged concrete exposed to CL (category 2)
C4: P.C. exposed to CL (category 2)
Three other classes for (air content and chlorides combination)
F1 , F2 and N (page 155-156)
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5- Concrete Mix design:

ii-Classes of exposure:
-Three classes for Sulphate exposure:
S1, S-2 and S-3 as very severe, severe and moderate.
The degree of severity is determined based on the sulphate
concentration in soil or water.

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5- Concrete Mix design:

iii-Water-Cementing Materials ratio (w/c):
It is the mass of water divided by mass of cementing materials
selection of w/c ratio:
1-Must be the lowest value required to meet anticipated exposure
conditions
(Tables 9-1 and 9-2 co-relate the maximum w/c with class of exposure)

2-If durability and exposure are not the governing factors, it should
be selected based on compressive strength
( from Table 9-3 and Figure 9-2)
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5- Concrete Mix design:

iii-Water-Cementing Materials ratio (w/c):

20

5- Concrete Mix design:

iii-Water-Cementing Materials ratio (w/c):

21

5- Concrete Mix design:

iii-Water-Cementing Materials ratio (w/c):
a-amount of water in (kg/m3)

22

5- Concrete Mix design:

iii-Water-Cementing Materials ratio (w/c):

23

5- Concrete Mix design:

iii-Water-Cementing Materials ratio (w/c):
b-Supplementary cementing materials:
as Fly ash, natural pozzolans, Slag, silica fume

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5- Concrete Mix design:

iv- Aggregates:
-The maximum size is determined as explained earlier.
-From Table 9-4, the volume of dry coarse aggregate per unit
volume of concrete is obtained

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5-Concrete Mix design:

iv- Aggregates:
-How can we get the volume of fine aggregates!!!

- We need weights, so how can we translate volume to weight!!

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5-Concrete Mix design:

Additional information
The code provides values for:
- Recommended slump ( Table 9-6)
-Minimum cement content:
To ensure satisfactory durability and guarantee suitable
appearance of vertical surfaces
Concrete under water=390kg /m3 of cementing materials
Severe freeze and thaw and sulphate exposure=335kg /m3 of
cementing materials

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Part 2: Concrete problems

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Part 2: Concrete problems

-See an EFFECT then determine the CAUSE

-The EFFECT of undesirable behaviour can be seen as: cracking,

scaling, disintegration, spalling , erosion, seepage, distortion,
delamination, or popouts

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Part 2: Concrete problems

i- Cracks in concrete:
Physical
Chemical
After
hardening

Types of
cracks

Before
hardening

Thermal

Drying shrinkage
Crazing
Corrosion of RFT, AAR,
Carbonation
Freeze/thaw, Temp.
variations, early thermal
contraction

Structural

Overload, Creep,
Design loads

Plastic

Shrinkage/settlement

Constructional
movement

formwork, subgrade

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Part 2: Concrete problems

i- Cracks in concrete:
Cracks occur manifest themselves at different times and
locations; For instance:
Plastic shrinkage:
30 minutes to 6 hours
In roads , slabs, RC slabs due to rapid early drying
( random or diagonal). It could also occur over
the RFT in the R.C. slabs if the RFT is near the
surface.

Plastic settlement:
10 minutes to 3 hours
In deep sections and top of columns ( Over RFT
and arching).
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Part 2: Concrete problems

i- Cracks in concrete:
Corrosion:
More than 2 years
Beams and columns.

AAR:
more than 5 years
mainly damp locations (reactive aggregate + high
alkali cement)
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Part 2: Concrete problems

i- Cracks in concrete:

Crazing:
1-7 days
slabs

Early thermal cracking:

1 day-2/3 weeks
thick wall
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Part 2: Concrete problems

i- Cracks in concrete:
Load induced crack:
Pure exure
Pure tension
Shear
Shear + moment
Bond
Compression load
Torsion

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Part 2: Concrete problems

ii-Other Symptoms of undesirable behaviour:

Scaling:

is local flaking or peeling away
of the near surface portion of
concrete.

Spalling:

deeper surface imperfection
extending to the top layers of
reinforcing steel

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Part 2: Concrete problems

ii-Other Symptoms of undesirable behaviour:


Delamination:

-is a separation along a plane parallel to a surface, in the case of a concrete slab, a horizontal
splitting, cracking, or separation within a slab in a plane roughly parallel to, and generally near,
the upper

-caused by the corrosion of reinforcing steel or freezing and thawing; similar to spalling, scaling,
or peeling except that delamination affects large areas

- can often only be detected by non destructive tests,

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Part 2: Concrete problems

ii-Other Symptoms of undesirable behaviour:

Erosion

progressive disintegration caused by
the actions of fluids or solids in
motion

Seepage

Movement of water
through pores and cracks

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Part 2: Concrete problems

ii-Other Symptoms of undesirable behaviour:

Popout



is the breaking away of small portions
of a concrete surface;

small popouts leave holes up to 0.4 in.
(10 mm) in diameter;

medium popouts leave holes 0.4 to 2
in. (10 to 50 mm) in diameter;

large popouts leave holes greater than
2 in. (50 mm) in diameter.

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Part 2: Concrete problems

ii-Cracks Widths
Generally;
Fine crack

< 0.3 mm

No repair

Medium cracks

0.3-0.5 mm

loss monitor

Wide cracks

>0.5 mm

considerable loss, immediate repair

Crack width is affected by:

-tensile stress in reinforcement (most important variable)
-thickness of cover
-area of concrete around each bar

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Part 2: Concrete problems

ii- Cracks Widths
According to CEB-FIP 1990 provisions

Exposure Condition

Crack width
(mm)

Dry air or protective membrane

0.41

Humidity, moist air, soil

0.30

Deicing chemicals

0.18

Seawater and sea water spray

wetting and drying

0.15

Water retaining structures

0.1

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How do we calculate the crack width for a given

element?

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Part 2: Concrete problems

ii- Cracks Widths
i-Crack control parameter

-Beams and One way slabs ( section 10.6 in CSA)
Bars in tension zone shall be spaced as follows:
z = fs (dc A)1/3
less than 30 kN/mm for interior exposure
less than 25 kN /mm for exterior exposure
What is Fs, dc, A!!!

Limiting (z) corresponds to crack widths of 0.4 mm and 0.33 mm,
respectively.
ii-Skin Reinforcement

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