CIVL 1160

Civil Engineering and Modern Society

Topic 4

Construction Materials

Prof. Thomas HU
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Typical Construction Materials
1. Masonry
2. Timber
3. Concrete
4. Steel
5. Aluminum
6. Glass
7. Composite
 1. Masonry
• Rocks, stones, bricks, etc., typically
stacked and joined by mortar
• Good compressive strength
• Minimal tensile strength
• High density
• Suitable mainly for compression
elements: columns, walls, arches, etc.
 An Ancient Masonry Structure
 Greek temple mainly made of marble

Huge columns (in compression)

Note: short horizontal elements due to bending
(tension and compression)
 Bricks
Typical ingredients: Clay and Often formed by molding
sand, mixed with water machines

Sent to furnace for

strength and hardness Bonded together by mortar
 2. Timber
 Wood: produced from trees (or other fibrous plants)
 Cut into logs/planks, or pressed into boards
 Lightweight; easy to cut into desired shape and length
 Moderate strength (both tensile and compressive)
 Suitable for elements carrying axial tension/compression
and bending loads
 “Anisotropic”: strength varies in different directions

Logs Planks Plywood

 Timber products
 Timber: often used for small houses (usually <= 2-3 storeys)
 Roof trusses, columns, walls, beams, etc.

 Also assists as horizontal members in masonry structures

 In Hong Kong, timber is

used as formwork
extensively in
construction industry
 Bamboo
• In HK, bamboo used
often for temporary
construction
 Scaffolds
 Working
platforms
 3. Concrete
Rocks / rock cut into
Ancient stones
• heavy and difficult
to work with

Difficult to
form non-
Bricks: smaller, lighter and standard
easier handling shapes
• not as strong as stones

Modern Concrete (“artificial masonry”)

• Stone fragments (aggregate)
• (Dry cement + water) as
binder
 Characteristics of Concrete
• High compressive strength (after it sets & hardens)
• Minimal tensile strength (~ 10 to 15% compressive strength)
• Semi-liquid form when wet
 Various shapes/sizes possible
 Often incorporate thin
reinforcing steel bars (rebars)
for tensile strength
(“reinforced concrete”, RC)
 Strong connections by
casting process

• Mass-produced in plants
• High density
 Production of Concrete

Rocks mined
from quarries

then crushed into

small pieces
called aggregates
 Aggregates mixed with cement, water and
then hardens  concrete

Cement Fine
Aggregates
paste aggregates

• Various strengths possible by adjusting

coarse/fine aggregate, cement and water contents
• Video: “A New Stone Age”
 Production of Concrete

Concrete is usually
prepared in batching
plants

Transported by
concrete trucks
while mixing
continues on the
way
Placement of Concrete
Pouring of
concrete for road
construction

Liquidity enables the

use of concrete pumps
 Placement of Concrete

Concrete can be
transported to upper levels
Placement of Concrete

Formwork for
casting concrete
 Reinforced Concrete
• Offers tensile and
compressive strength
• Suitable for all
types of forces

Typical reinforced
concrete (RC) beam

• Strong yet
reasonably slender
elements possible
Standardization makes precast concrete possible
Precast concrete segments for bridges
 Pros and cons about precast concrete
Pros
• Better quality control with factory-produced concrete
• Steel moulds offer precise dimensions & are re-
useable
 Precast concrete: Pros and cons
Pros
• Transportation, storage and
weather issues for in-situ
concrete work are eliminated
• Work can be completed in a
short time
• Significantly reduced amount of
scaffolding and formwork

Cons
• Extra care to provide
satisfactory connections
between precast members
• Potential damage to
precast units during
transport if not properly
handled
Pros and cons about precast concrete
Cons
• Special equipment required for maneuvering
precast units
• Location of precast factory must be found such
that transport and handling charges are minimized
 Quality Assurance of Concrete
• Voids or honey
combs will impair
concrete integrity
and hence its
strength
Air trapped in wet concrete
 voids or honeycomb

• However, air-entrained
concrete is used in very cold
weather countries to avoid
concrete cracking due to
expansion of ice formed from
moisture inside the concrete
Quality Assurance of Concrete

Eliminating voids by vibrating concrete

Concrete cubes
tested for strength
 4. Steel
• Main component: Iron
• Other elements added

• Important: Carbon content (0.15% to 0.3%)

• More Carbon  more strength but less
ductility
• Also added: Sulphur, Nickel, Chromium,
etc. to boost corrosion resistance,
weldability, ductility, etc.
 Properties of Steel (cont.)
• Most widely used structural material; mass-
produced since 19th century
• High stiffness (difficult to deform)
• Good ductility (ability to deform w/o fracture)
• Great strength (both tensile and compressive)
• Easy to form different shapes and sizes
• Melting point: 1400-1500 °C
• Large carbon footprint (but recyclable)
 Properties of Steel (cont.)
• High density (but high strength-to-weight ratio)
• Heavy loads can be resisted using relatively
few members
• Steel building with less self-weight  less
foundation cost
• Often used in skeletal frame type structures
• Rapid construction
• Precise dimensions (~mm)
 Properties of Steel (cont.)
• Price fluctuation makes cost estimation difficult
 Steel used in construction
• Standard shapes and sizes
I- and H-sections

Universal Beam (UB): effective Universal Column (UC):

carrier of gravity loads effectively transfers loads
from beam to foundation

Channels, tees, angles, hollow tubes, pipes, etc.

 Steel used in construction
• Steel bars
 For reinforced
concrete (RC)
structures

• Steel formwork
 High precision
 High initial cost
 Can be used repeatedly
 Steel cables (in tension)

deck

• Cable-stayed bridges
 pylon (in compression)

• The peak
• Suspension
tram
bridges
• etc.
 Connecting Steel Members

• Nuts and Bolts

• Simplest method
Connecting Steel Members
• Welding 焊接

• E.g. non-orthogonal
members

• Factory welding preferred

• Quality of weld not affected by weather
 A Major Steel Structure in Hong Kong

The Tsing Ma Bridge

during construction

• Steel deck segments

were lifted into
position
• Then welded
together to form the
continuous deck
 Fire Protection for Steel
• Structural steel:
strength reduces
at high temp.
• Protection from
fire is essential

• Traditional method:
concrete encasement outside concrete and absorb heat

 Heat absorbed by
encasement & dehydration
of mortar & concrete
 Considerable weight added Hollow
I-section
section
 Fire protection for steel
• Fire-proof
(intumescent) coating
 Gas released to
form a heat
insulation layer
during fire
⽯石膏板

• Board protection
(gypsum boards)
 5. Aluminum
• ~1/3 the density and stiffness
of steel
• Not in pure Al form but as an
alloy (w/ other metals and
substances)
• window frames
• Weather-proof & corrosion-
resistant over long service life
• High strength-to-weight ratio:
Reduces dead load & easier to
transport

• roofing
 Using Aluminum in Construction
• Flexibility: Easily
machined and extruded
• Extrusion process allows
various forms and sections:
flat, curved, sandwiched
• Aluminum formwork
with other materials, etc.

• A good conductor of heat:

A disadvantage in some
applications
• Easy to recycle
• prefabricated structures
 6. Glass
• Expensive
• Main ingredient: Silica
• Transparent material
• High compressive
strength
• Weak in tension/
Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
sudden impact; very (Glass Domed Structure)
brittle
• Heavy & requires care when handling & mounting
• Good conductor of heat (solved by coating
technology/ double glazing)
 Glass: Heat Soaking (熱浸)
• Glass panels often contain imperfection
 nickel sulfide (NiS) inclusion
 may cause breakage
• Heat soaking process: exposes NiS inclusions
 place glass inside a chamber
 heated to ~ 290ºC to accelerate NiS expansion
 glass containing NiS would break in the heat soak
chamber  reduced risk of field breakage

 Not 100% effective

 Additional cost
 7. Composite Structures
• Composite columns (reinforced concrete x steel)

1. Steel section with

concrete encasement

2. Hollow section (steel)

with RC infill (e.g.
Cheung Kong Ctr.)

• Advantages:
 Over RC: smaller member sizes; less dead load
 Over steel: more fire resistance
 Steel & Reinforced Concrete
• RC slab x steel beams

beam
steel deck
concrete slab

• Shear connectors: bonds steel beams to RC

slab to act together as a composite
 Concrete & Bamboo
• Mature bamboo: stronger than many
timber products

Bamboo-reinforced concrete
Problems:
• Bonding: not as good as that between steel bars
and concrete
• Rotting: bamboo deteriorates due to pests/
moisture/ etc.
 Concrete & Bamboo comparable

Mechanical property (MPa) Bamboo Steel

Ultimate compressive strength 62-93 140

Ultimate tensile strength >=148 160

From http://www.ijitee.org/

Bamboo-reinforced concrete
 Compressive Bending
strength (X) strength (Y)
A material strength problem & Specimen (psi) (psi)
1 1400 257
practical skills for Type 1 projects 2 1932 327
3 2200 317
4 2935 300
Suppose the compressive and bending (tensile) 5 2665 340
strengths of 30 specimens of a certain type of 6 2800 340
7 3065 343
concrete (after 7 days of curing) are given in 8 3200 374
the table. 9 2200 377
10 2530 386
(a) Produce a scatterplot of the compressive 11 3000 383
12 2735 393
strength vs. bending strength. 13 2000 407
14 3000 407
(b) Find the correlation coefficient between the 15 3235 407
16 2630 434
two strengths X and Y. 17 3030 427
18 3065 440
(From Ang & Tang’s Probability Concepts in 19 2735 450
Engineering Planning and Design) 20 3835 440
21 3065 456
22 3465 460
23 3600 456
• Technical jargon: “bending strength” is often called flexural 24 3260 476
strength 25 3500 480
• Statistical analysis arises in various disciplines like science, 26 3365 490
engineering and social science 27 3335 497
28 3170 526
• We will do it the easy way 29 3600 546
30 4460 700
Traditional Solution

Mean of X
(and Y)
(Sample) standard
deviation of X
(Sample) standard
deviation of Y

Correlation coefficient (can be + or -)

 Modern Solution (Graphing Calculator)
• Turn on handheld
– Insert – Lists and Spreadsheet
• A blank spreadsheet page appears
(as first page of a new Problem)
• Enter all the X and Y
data on two columns
– to row 1, then
arrow up to enter
“comp” and “bend” as
headings
 Modern Solution (Graphing Calculator)
– Insert – Data and Statistics
• A new Page (2) appears (still under the same Problem (1), hence
sharing all data between pages)
• Click the horizontal variable name and select “comp” (our “X”)
• Similarly, make “bend” the vertical variable  scatter plot finished

– Analyze –
Regression – Show Linear
(pick either type) would
• Positive relationship seen between X & Y
add the “linear regression
line” and report its
• Correlation coefficient (r or r) measures
equation (not needed here) how strong this relationship is
 Modern Solution (Graphing Calculator)
– Insert – Calculator (new calculator Page (3) appears)

– Statistics – Stat Calculations – Linear Regression (either type)

• The regression menu appears

• Specify comp and bend as the X
and Y variables, respectively
• The calculator will find the
regression equation as save it to
variable (function) “f1” by default
• Tab to “OK” and click it
 Modern Solution (Graphing Calculator)

• Correlation coefficient is
given by “r” in the output

• What if your professor

suspects you can’t do the
arithmetic?

– Statistics – Stat Calculations – Two-Variable Statistics

• Specify comp and bend as the X and Y variables, respectively;
 Modern Solution (Graphing Calculator)
• Detailed results available from
calculator as well
• Error-prone if done by hand

• From original
solution manual
 Compressive
strength (X) Bending strength (Y)
Specimen (psi) (psi)
1 1400 257
2 1932 327
3 2200 317
4 2935 300
5 2665 340
6 2800 340
7 3065 343
8 3200 374
9 2200 377
10 2530 386
11 3000 383
12 2735 393
13 2000 407
14 3000 407
15 3235 407
16 2630 434
17 3030 427
18 3065 440
• Data from 19 2735 450
20 3835 440
original 21 3065 456
book 22 3465 460
23 3600 456
24 3260 476
25 3500 480
26 3365 490
27 3335 497
28 3170 526
29 3600 546
30 4460 700
End of Ch. 4