CONCRETE

5.1 OVERVIEW
Concrete is a kind of man-made stone which is made by mixing gel materials, granular coarsefine aggregate and in a proper ratio evenly, and then getting solidified and hardened.
Classification of Concrete
1. By cementing materials, there are: cement concrete, gypsum concrete, asphalt concrete
and polymer concrete.
2. By apparent density, there are: heavy concrete, ordinary concrete, light concrete, and
super-light concrete.
3. By performance and application, there are: structural concrete, hydraulic concrete,
ornamental concrete, and special concrete (heat-resistant, acid-resistant, alkali-resistant,
and anti-radiation concrete and so on).
4. By construction methods, there are: pump concrete, sprayed concrete, vibratingcompacting concrete, centrifugal concrete and so on.
5. By mixtures, there are: fly ash concrete, silica fume concrete, fine blast furnace slag
concrete, fiber concrete, and others.
Characteristics of Concrete
1. Convenient for use
2. Cheap
3. High-strength and durable
4. Easy to be adjusted
5. Environment-friendly
5.2 COMPONENTS OF ORDINARY CONCRETE
The basic components of ordinary concrete are cement, water, sand, and stones.
5.2.1 Preparation of concrete
1. The Choice of Cement Varieties
2. The Choice of Cement Strength Grades
5.2.2 Aggregate
Coarse aggregate diameter is more than 4.75mm
gravel and pebble
Fine aggregate diameter is less than 4.75mm
natural sand, the machine-made sand, manufactured sand, river sand, sea sand, mountain
sand and desalted sea sand.
1. Mud and Clod Content
The mud content refers to the total amount of the dust, silt and clay whose diameters are smaller
than 0.075mm in aggregates.
The clod content refers to the content of particles whose diameters are more than 1.18mm and
become less than 0.60mm after being washed by water and pinched by hand in the fine
aggregates.
2. Harmful Substances Content
The harmful substances in aggregate mainly refer to sulfides, sulfate, organic matter, mica,
chloride, clay, light substances, and so on. Clay and light substances (coal and slag, etc.) will
adhere to the surface of aggregate, which impacts the cohesiveness between aggregate and
cement and reduces the frost-resistance and impermeability; sulfides, sulfate and organic matter

will be corrosive to cement, which will decreases the strength and durability of cement; chloride
will corrode steel, which accelerates the damage of reinforced concrete.
3. Sturdiness
The sturdiness of aggregate refers to the ability to resist fracture under the role of natural
weathering and other physical and chemical factors.
4. Gradation and Coarseness
The aggregate gradation refers to the collocation distribution of particles with different
diameters.
The aggregate coarseness refers to the average coarseness of the particle mixtures in different
diameters.
1. Grain Gradation and Coarseness of Sand
The grain gradation and coarseness of sand are determined by screen residue analysis
2. The Grain Composition of Stone and the Maximum Particle Diameter
The grain composition of stone includes continuous size fraction and single size fraction
which are also determined by sieve analysis. Continuous size fraction has priority in the
design of concrete mixture ratio. Single size fraction can be used in the composition of
required continuous size fraction and also used with continuous size fraction to improve the
grading or to prepare the continuous size fraction of larger-sized particles.
The maximum nominal size of stone particle is the maximum particle diameter of this size
fraction.
5. Shape and Appearance Characteristics of Aggregate
The particles of fine aggregate-sand are small, and their appearances are rarely considered.
The surface of gravel is smooth with less angular sides. Its workability is good in the preparation
of concrete, which is good for the mobility of concrete and the reduction of the using amount of
cement.
The surface of crushed stone is rough and its bonding power with cement is high, and thus the
strength of cement is high.
Coarse aggregate should not contain too many needle-like particles (the particle length should be
more than 2.4 times of the average diameter of its size fraction) and the flake particles (whose
thickness should be less than 0.4 times of the average diameter).
6. Strength
The strength of aggregate refers to that of coarse aggregates. The Coarse aggregate functions as
the skeleton in concrete.
1. The determination of compressive strength of rock
2. The determination of the crushing index of crushed stone and gravel
7. Apparent Density, Bulk Density, Voidage
8. Reaction of Alkali Aggregate
The reaction of alkali aggregate refers to the expanding reaction that cement, admixture and
other concrete components and the alkali in the environment slowly react with alkali reactive
minerals in the humid environment, leading to crack and break of concrete.
5.2.3 Water for Concrete
The basic quality requirements for the water used in concrete should: not contain any harmful
impurities impacting the normal setting and hardening of cement; not destroy the development of
strength and durability of concrete; not speed up steel corrosion; not cause brittle fracture of prestressed steel bars; and assure that the surface of concrete cannot be polluted.
5.2.4 Concrete Admixture

Concrete admixture refers to the substance mixed in concrete according to different requirements
to improve the performance of concrete.
1. Water-reducing Agent
Water-reducing agent refers to the admixture used for reducing water consumption and
strengthening functions when the slump degrees of mixtures are basically the same.
2. Air Entraining Admixture
Air entraining admixture refers to the admixture that entrains a large number of uniform, stable
and closed tiny bubbles in the process of mixing concrete to reduce the segregation of concrete
mixture, improve the workability, and also enhance anti-freeze ability and durability of concrete.
1) It can improve the workability of concrete mixtures.
2) It can enhance impermeability and frost resistance.
3) It can reduce strength.
3. Hardening accelerator
Hardening accelerator refers to the admixture that can accelerate the development of early
strength of concrete.
4. Set Retarder
Set retarder refers to the admixture that can delay the setting time of concrete mixing materials,
and have no bad impact on the development of concretes latter strength.
5. Flash Setting Admixture
Flash setting admixture refers to the admixture that can promote the rapid hardening of concrete.
6. Expansion Agent
Expansion agent is the admixture that can make concrete produce shrinkage compensating or
micro-expansion.
7. Anti-freeze
Anti-freeze refers to the admixture that can reduce the liquid freezing point of water and the
concrete mixtures to protect concrete against freeze under the corresponding negative
temperature and achieve the expected effect under the regulated conditions.
8. Rust-resistant Agent
Rust-resistant agent is the admixture that can retard the corrosion to steel bars in concrete or
other embedded metal, also called corrosion inhibitor.
5.3 THE MAIN TECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF ORDINARY
5.3.1 Workability of Fresh Concrete
Fresh concrete refers to the mixtures made by cement, sand, stone and water in a certain
proportion that has not yet hardened.
1. The Concept of Workability
2. The Determination Method of Workability
1. The Determination of Slump
2. The Determination of Vebe Consistometer
3. The Major Factors Influencing Workability
a. The Quantity of Cement and Water-cement Ratio
b. Sand Percentage
Sand percentage refers to how large the quality of sand within concrete is relative to the
total mass of sand and stone.
c. Properties of Components
d. Time and Temperature
5.3.2 The Strength of Hardened Concrete

1. Compressive strength and Intensity Grade of Concrete

The strength of concrete includes compressive strength, tensile strength, bending strength, and
shear strength, among which the compressive strength is the biggest one.
2. The Major Factors Influencing the Compressive Strength
a. The Influence of Cement Strength Gradcs and Water-cement Ratio
b. The Influence of Aggregate
c. The Relationship between Age and Strength
d. The Influence of Curing Temperature and Humidity
5.3.3 The Deformability of Hardened Concrete
1. Chemical Shrinkage
2. Temperature Deformation
3. Dry Shrinkage and Wet Swelling of Concrete
The factors influencing shrinkage also include water consumption, water-cement ratio, varieties
and fineness of cement, aggregate types and curing conditions.
4. Deformation under Loads
a. The deformation under short-term loadsklastic-plastic deformation and elastic modulus
b. Deformation under Long-term Loads Creep
Creep is the deformation increases with time under the role of long-term loads.
5.3.4 Durability of Hardened Concrete
1. Impermeability of Concrete
The impermeability of concrete refers to the property of concrete that cannot be pervaded by
water, oil and other liquids with pressures.
2. Frost Resistance of Concrete
The frost resistance of concrete is the property that concrete resist the role of freeze-thaw cycles
without damage when it suffers frost in the saturated state.
3. Anti-corrosion of Concrete
4. Carbonization of Concrete
The carbonization of concrete is the process that carbon dioxide in the air penetrates concrete,
chemically reacts with calcium hydroxide in cement paste and generates calcium carbonate and
water to reduce the alkalinity of concrete, also known as neutralization.
The factors affecting carbonization are: first, the varieties of cement, water-cement ratio, and
external factors, mainly refer to the concentration of carbon dioxide and humidity in the air.
5. Alkali-aggregate Reaction of Concrete
The alkali-aggregate reaction of concrete is that alkalis in cement react with active silicon
dioxide in aggregate to generate alkali-silicic acid gel on the surface of aggregate. This gel has
the property of wet swelling.
6. Measures to Improve Durability of Concrete
The major measures to improve the durability of concrete are listed in the following:
1. To select appropriate varieties of cement.
2. To strictly control the water-cement ratio and guarantee enough using amount of cement.
3. To adopt good sand stone and the aggregate with high gradation to improve the density of
concrete.
4. To mix with water-reducing agent and air-entraining agent to improve the density.
5. To fully stir, water, vibrate, and pound, and strengthen curing to improve the quality and
density of concrete.
5.4 THE QUALITY CONTROL AND THE STRENGTH EVALUATION OF CONCRETE

5.4.1 Quality Control

The influencing factors of raw materials and construction conditions are:
1. The fluctuation of the quality and measuring of cement, aggregates, additives, and other
raw materials.
2. The fluctuation of water-cement ratio caused by the change of water consumption and the
water content of aggregates.
3. The fluctuation of stirring, transport, pouring, vibration, and curing conditions and
temperature changes.
The influencing factors of test conditions include: differences in sampling methods, specimen
moulding, and curing conditions, errors of testing machines, and the proficiency of laboratory
personnel.
5.4.2 Strength Evaluation of Concrete
1. The Probability Distribution of Concrete Strength-Normal Distribution
1. The Average Strength
2. Standard Deviation
3. Coefficient of Variation
4. Guarantee Rate of Strength
2. Confected Strength of Concrete
5.5 THE DESIGN OF THE MIX PROPORTION OF ORDINARY CONCRETE
5.5.1 The Basic Points for the Mix Proportion Design
1. The Basic Requirements
1. To meet the strength grades required by the design of concrete structures.
2. To meet the workability of concrete mixtures required by construction.
3. To meet the durability suitable to the operation environment.
4. On the condition of meeting the above three technical properties, try to save the amount
of cement and reduce the cost of concrete, in line with the economic principle.
2. Three Major Parameters for the Mix Proportion Design
1. Water-cement ratio: the ratio of water to cement.
2. Unit water consumption: the water consumption of lm3 concrete, which reflects the
proportion between cement paste and aggregate.
3. Sand percentage: the percentage how sand accounts for the total mass of sand and stone,
which impacts the cohesion and water retention of concrete.
3. Representation of the Mix Proportion Design
4. Preparation before the Mix Proportion Design
5.5.2 The Methods and Steps of the Mix Proportion Design
1. Calculation of the Preliminary Mix Proportion
2. Determination of the Lab Mix proportion
3. The Determination of Construction Mix Proportion of Concrete
5.6 OTHER VARIETIES OF CONCRETE
5.6.1 High-strength Concrete
The high-strength concrete has the following properties:
1. It has high compressive strength, small deformation, and can be applied to long-span
structures, components under high loads and high-level structures.
2. Under the same stress, it can reduce the volume of components and the consumption of
steel bars.
3. It is dense and hard and has good durability.

4. Its brittleness is higher than ordinary concrete.

5. With the rise of compressive strength, its tensile strength and shearing strength increase
but tension-compression ratio and shear-compression ratio decrease.
5.6.2 Lightweight Concrete
1. Lightweight Aggregate Concrete
All kinds of light concrete that are made by light coarse aggregates, light fine aggregates (or
ordinary sand), cement and water are known as lightweight aggregate concrete.
Lightweight aggregates can be divided into three types by their sources:
1. Industrial waste lightweight aggregate-which is processed by industrial wastes, such as
fly ash ceramisite, expanded slag ball, cinder and light sand, etc..
2. Natural aggregate-which is processed by natural porous stone, such as pumice, volcanic
cinder, and light sand, etc..
3. Artificial lightweight aggregate-which is made by local materials,such as clay ceramisite,
and expanded perlite, etc..
2. Porous Concrete
Porous concrete is a kind of concrete containing uniformly distributed pores and no aggregate.
Because the formation modes of pores are different, it can be divided into aerated concrete and
foamed concrete.
Aerated concrete is generated by making calcareous materials (lime and cement), silicon
materials (quartz sand and fly ash), and blowing agent (aluminum) through several processes,
like grinding, proportioning, mixing, casting, foaming, standing, cutting and steam curing.
Foam concrete is a kind of porous concrete made by mixing cement paste with foam agent after
hardening.
3. Macroporous Concrete
Macroporous concrete is the concrete made of cement, water, and coarse aggregates whose
particle diameters are similar, sometimes added by admixtures.
5.6.3 Waterproof Concrete (Impermeable Concrete)
Waterproof concrete is the concrete whose impermeability is improved by a variety of ways.
1. Rich Cement-slurry Waterproof Concrete
2. Air-entraining Agent Waterproof Concrete
The commonly used air-entraining agent is rosin pyrolytic polymer.
3. Compacting Agent Waterproof Concrete
Compacting agent is usually the ferric hydroxide solution or the aluminum hydroxide solution.
4. Expansive Cement Waterproof Concrete
5.6.4 Polymer Concrete
1. Polymer Cement Concrete
It uses soluble polymer and cement as binders and is mixed with sand or other aggregates.
2. Polymer Concrete
Polymer concrete, also called resin concrete, is a kind of concrete that uses synthetic resin as
binder and sand and stone as aggregates.
3. Polymer lmpregnated Concrete
Polymer impregnated concrete is made by taking concrete as the substrate, mixing organic
monomers into concrete, and converging them with heat or radiation, in which way concrete and
polymers can be formed into a whole.
5.6.5 Frost-resistance Concrete
5.6.6 Pumping Concrete

5.6.7 Mass Concrete

5.6.8 Fiber Reinforced Concrete
5.6.9 Shotcrete
Shotcrete is the concrete formed by installing the prepared cement, sand, stone and a certain
amount of flash-setting agent into injection machine and conveying them through a hose and
pneumatically projecting at high velocity onto stone or the concrete surface.