Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering

Department : Structure and Materials Engineering

Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious
materials such as aggregate , water and chemical admixtures. Concrete is one of the most durable
building materials compare other material such as wood because it provides superior fire resistance
and have a long service life.

2.0 OBJECTIVE
2.1 To study the workability of the designed mix and compressive strength of concrete cubes

3.0 EXPERIMENT OUTCOME

3.1 Able to determine the workability of concrete by slump test according to BS 1881: Part 102:
1983
3.2 Able to determine compressive strength on cubes according to BS 1881: Part 116: 1983

4.0 EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS

4.1 Equipment
(i) Concrete cubes mould
(ii) Vibrating tables
(iii) Slump-test apparatus
(iv) Weighting machine
(v) Curing tank
(vi) Concrete compression machine

4.2 Materials (Concrete mix design for 6 cubes)

(i) Cement 3 kg
(ii) Sand 6 kg
(iii) Aggregate 12kg

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 Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department : Structure and Materials Engineering
Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete

5.0 PROCEDURE

5.1 A concrete mix is designed according to a ratio of 1:2:4 (cement: sand: gravel)

5.2 The material required is prepared to produce 6 concrete cubes size 150 mm x 150 mm x 150
mm mould.

5.3 The material is batched and mixed according to BS 1881: Part 125: 1983 (methods for
mixing and sampling fresh concrete in the laboratory)

5.4 The workability of the designed mix is determined by slump test with reference to BS 1881:
Part 102: 1983 (Method for determination of slump**)

5.5 3 concrete cubes are casted for compressive strength with compression machine at 7 and 28
days, respectively with reference to BS 1881: Part 116: 1983 (Method for determination of
compressive strength of concrete cubes)

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 Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department : Structure and Materials Engineering
Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete

**Slump Test Procedure:

1. The mould is filled in with fresh concrete in three layers, each approximately one-third of the height
and tamped with twenty-five strokes of the rounded end of the tamping rod.

2. The strokes are distributed in a uniform manner over the cross -section and for the second and
subsequent layers should penetrate into the underlying layer.

3. The bottom layer is tamped throughout its depth.

4. After the top layer has been rodded, the concrete is struck off level with a trowel or the tamping rod,
so that the mould is exactly filled.

5. The mould is removed immediately by raising it slowly and carefully in a vertical direction. This
allows the concrete to subside and the slump is measured immediately by determining the
difference between the height of the mould and that of the highest point of the specimen being
tested.

6. The slump measured is recorded in terms of millimeters of subsidence of the specimen.

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 Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department : Structure and Materials Engineering
Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete

6.0 RESULT
Grade: 30 Supplier: -
Water/cement ratio: 0.58 Slump test: 8cm
Compaction: Hand tamping Compactions factor:
Extra material: -
Min. strength of cube (kN/m):
5737.777 (7 days) 13666.666 (35 days)

Type of cement: Portland Source: -

Type of sand: washed sand Source: -
Type of aggregate: 20 mm aggregate
Source: -
(granite)

Specimen size: 150 mm Loaded area: 22500 mm

Date cast: 11/10/2011 Test date: 18/10/2011 Age: 7 days
Date cast: 11/10/2011 Test date: 15/11/2011 Age: 35 days

Comp.
Cube Part of Max. load Density
Mass (kg) strength Remarks
ref. structure (kN) (kg/m)
(kN/m)
1 2.446 228.880 724.740 10172.444
2 2.398 173.040 710.518 7690.666
3 2.457 129.100 728.000 5737.777
4 2.430 307.500 720.000 13666.666
5 2.470 152.100 731.852 6760.000
6 2.510 239.300 743.703 10635.555

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 Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department : Structure and Materials Engineering
Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete

7.0 ANALYSIS OF DATA

Graph of Increase of Compressive Strength with Age (7 days)

12,000

10,000
Compressive Strength (kN/m)

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0
1 2 3

Graph of Increase of Compressive Strength with Age (35 days)

16,000
Compressive Strength (kN/m)

14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
1 2 3

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 Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department : Structure and Materials Engineering
Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete

8.0 PRECAUTIONS
1. Make sure that the concrete mix is according the ratio stated

2. Compaction must be done thoroughly to make sure there are no air holes inside the concrete
cubes
3. Do not use rotten material like cement that already expose to the air in long time.

9.0 DISCUSSION
The slump formed after compaction is shear slump

From the graph plotted, the compressive strength of the concrete is higher on 35 days compared to 7
days. This show that the longer the curing process, the higher compressive strength we get.

From this experiment density does not affect the compressive strength.

The result obtained from the experiment shows that the concrete mix cannot be used for work as the
workability of the concrete is lower because excessive water will lead to increased bleeding
(surface water) and/or segregation of aggregates (when the cement and aggregates start to separate),
with the resulting concrete having reduced quality.

There are several factors which could affect the workability and compressive strength of concrete:

Workability

Water-cement ratio : right amount of water-cement ratio is needed for better workability

Aggregate : this depends on what type of aggregate used (coarse and fine
Aggregate)

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 Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department : Structure and Materials Engineering
Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete
Admixture : implies whether it is in the form of liquid or powder

Fineness of cement : fineness cement will produced better workability

Time and temperature: higher temperature will harden the concrete mix much faster and the longer
a concrete cube is immersed in the water, the higher the workability.

Compressive strength

Water-cement ratio: additional water must be added to make the mix workable enough to be placed
inside the forms. However, this additional water should be kept to a minimum. The use of too much
of water will weaken the strength of the concrete.

Compaction factor: the reason for compaction are to ensure the requirement of strength,
impermeability and durability of harden concrete. The process of compaction consists of
elimination of entrapped air and forcing the particles into a close configuration.

10.0 CONCLUSION
From the experiment, it shows that the workability of the designed mix depends mainly on the
water-cement ratio. The compressive strength of the concrete cubes also depends on water-cement
ratio and compaction factor.

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 Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department : Structure and Materials Engineering
Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete

11.0 APPENDIX

Figure 1: 3kg of cement, 6 kg of fine aggregate and 12 kg of coarse aggregate are prepared for
concrete mix design for 6 cubes.

Figure 2, 3 and 4: Process of Batching and mixing the materials

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Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department : Structure and Materials Engineering
Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete

Figure 5: Concrete is filled in 3 layers

Figure 6 and 7: The layers are tamped 25 times with a steel rod,
rounded at the end and top surface are flatted.

Figure 8 and 9: The concrete cone is immediately but slowly lifted and
the decrease in height of the slump is measured

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Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department : Structure and Materials Engineering
Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete

Figure 10 and 11: The mould is filled up with concrete

Figure 12: After 7 days and 35 days, firstly the mass of concrete cubes are measured.

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 Faculty : Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department : Structure and Materials Engineering
Title : Workability and Compressive Strength of Concrete

Figure 13: Each concrete cube is then set in the compression machine to undergo compressive
strength test.

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