FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING MATERIALS CCB21 LABORATORY REPORT NO 3 PRODUCTION OF CONCRETE

NAME:
MOTSATSING

LEBOGANG

ID NUM:200700397

WORKABILITY TEST

Objectives To determine the workability of compacted and finished concrete thus finding the properties of both fresh and hard concrete. By so doing performing the finish ability test the binder test and workability test and estimating the compressive and flexural strength of concrete in the form of cubes To acquire the basic knowledge on the steps involved and measures took in to consideration when producing concrete and working with it Theory

Workability of concrete is the amount of useful work necessary to produce full compaction (ease of placing and consolidating freshly mixed concrete).In addition to that workability is influenced by a number of factors which include water content, aggregate size,type,grading and cement ratio.Inorder for cement to be workable a slump test must be performed. A slump test is determining the consistency of concrete by filling a conical mould with a sample of concrete, then inverting it over a flat plate and removing the mould; the amount by which the concrete drops below the mould height is measured and this determines the workability of the concrete.

Procedure Concrete slump test Firstly all the equipment to be used was cleaned thoroughly. the materials that was used to make the 12dm of concrete was then added in to the mixer according to the ratio : sand (kg) : stone(kg) : water(lt) :Cement(kg) 10.0 : 12.0 : 2.6 : 2.6

These materials was then mixed until a desired slab was attained.. The fresh concrete was transferred in to the cone gently by three equal layers which was each tapped 25 times to compact. The cone was filled to the top and the excess concrete on top was removed. The cone was then gently removed from the cone leaving a slump of concrete. The slump cone was the inverted and put next to the slump. The rod was used as a reference when measuring the height of the slump which was then recorded and the category of its workability was then determined from the values. The diagram below illustrates how the test was carried out:

The slump was then subjected to another test to see which category of slumps it falls in to. This was done by beating gently around the slump and observing how it responds to this. It was then categorized according to the four types of slumps that are known, shown below There are four types of slump which include true, zero, collapsed and shear

True

Zero

Collapsed

Shear

It was observed that the slump falls in the category of a true slump since it responded similarly after being bead down RESULTS Slump height=63cm This was found by subtracting the length of the entire slump at the tip to the top height of the slump cone from the length of the entire slump cone. ACCORDING TO Slump Workability category 0 Extremely low 0-10 Very low 10-30 low 30-60 medium 60-180 high

Application

Precast paving slabs

Roads

High quality Structural Concrete massconcrete

Normal purpose reinforced Concrete compacted by vibration

Area with congested reinforcement

ANALYSIS From the above table it can be concluded that the workability of the concrete was of high quality there fore can be used for areas with congested reinforcement.

Discussion

It was determined that the concrete had high workability strength and this might have been caused by the water to cement ratio in it. It has been observed that a high ratio of the water to cement ratio improves or gives a good or high workability strength and this is how easily a concrete slurry can fill up the space in the form.

Conclusion

Based on the results the mixture was between the range of 60 -180 and hence its of high workability category and suitable for congested reinforced c. And also the theoretical value mentions that if its between 50mm and 100mm it is balanced enough to be worked with.

Apparatus

Slump cone

Concrete mixing machine

Electronic balance

Steel rule

Trowel

Measuring cylinder metal rod

THE COMPRESSIVE STRENTH OF CONCRETE USING A CUBE TEST Theory

The strength of concrete is defined as the maximum load (stress) it can carry and the compressive strength of concrete is the maximum compressive load it can carry per unit area. The compressive strength is measured by breaking cylindrical concrete specimens in a compression testing machine. Concrete strengths of up to 80N/mm and can be acquired by selective use of the type of cement, mix proportions, methods of compaction and curing condition.

Modes of failure of Concrete cubes a) b) Normal b) abnormal-tensile cracks marked T

Procedure

The internal surfaces of the mould were thoroughly cleaned. Then they were oiled to allow the mould to come out easily. Fresh concrete was then loaded in to the moulds layer by layer compacting each layer 45 times to remove the oil from the moulds and compact the concrete. The moulds were filled then excess concrete was removed by a trowel. The two moulds were then left for 24 hours to dry, then they were demolded thus the moulds were removed leaving a cube of hard concrete. The two cubes were then placed in to a curing tank which contained fresh clean water for two different time intervals. The first cube was removed after 4 days to be tested by putting it into the testing machine then recording the max load and the mode of failure. Its mass was recorded. The other cube was removed after 14 days then it was submerged to the same test as the other brick.

Experimental results and calculations

For cube 1(after 7 days) Dimensions(m) Mass(kg) Volume(m) Density(kg/m) Area(m) Max force(KN) Compressive strength(KN/m) Mode of fracture 0.15 8.170 0.0034 2.4*10 0.0225 320 1.4*10^4 abnormal

for cube 2 (after 14 days) Dimensions(m) Mass(kg) Volume(m) Density(kg/m) Area(m) Max force(KN) Compressive strength(KN/m) Mode of fracture 0.15 7.945 0.0034 2.3*10 0.0225 300 1.3*10^4 abnormal

Calculations

Cube1 Area=L*W=0.15m*0.15m=0.015m Volume=Lbh= (0.15)=3.375*10-m Density=mass/volume=8.17/0.0034 =2.4*10Kg/M Compressive strength=Fmax/Area=320*10^6/0.0225m=1.4*10^4 KN/mm

Analysis Of Results And Comments Excellent workability leads to very low strength of concrete as noted from the experiment, if concrete is too hard the concrete will have stones protruding but if its too wet it causes segregation which is also an unwanted characteristic in the concrete. The above results show a very low strength which corresponds to the theory. Air pockets or interconnected porosity caused by poor workability also was observed to reduce the strength of the concrete and also increasing the water cement ratio beyond the minimum required for workability also decreases the strength of concrete. High water cement ratio increases the shrinkage of concrete during curing, creating a danger of cracking.

Discussion The compressive strength of the cube was improved by leaving it for a week to strengthen it but the cubes crushed down abnormally giving a mode of failure which is abnormal. The compressive strength of the material was found to correspond with the workability of the concrete since it was noted that for a high workability concrete the compressive strength has to be low which the case with the experiment. Therefore it can be concluded hat the objective of the experiment was met or achieved.

Compression machine

150mm cube moulds

References

www.wikiepedia.com The science and Engineering of Materials Donald R.Askeland Materials in construction G.D Taylor