VACUUM CONCRETE

NIKHIL MATHEW
DIXIT MAKWANA
SUHEL MANSURI

A Brief Idea
A high quality concrete floor or pavement having
high compressive strength, high wear-resistance,
reduced shrinkage and minimum water permeability.
facilitates use of concrete with better workability to
enable it to be placed in complicated molds or
around extensive environment.
water extracted through mats placed in contact with
the concrete; such that only water, and no cement,
or fines (out of the aggregates) can be sucked from
the concrete by the vacuum pump.
Recent use of steam creates low pressure, pulls air
from concrete in a sealed container; stronger
concrete due to absence of air voids

Timeline of Vacuum concrete

Not a recent phenomenon, concept of removing
excess amount of water from concrete i.e. dewatering
has been known since ages.
The Romans developed a method of dewatering
concrete: they stuck brick and lava chips into it; the
chips protruded above the surface and acted as wicks
to draw water from the concrete.
In the USA, dewatering of concrete by vacuum was
patented in 1935 by K. P. Billner and all subsequent
development has been based on his extensive ideas.
His method was used in the 1940s and early 1950s,
with the last known practical application in the United
States being in 1965.
Vacuum dewatering got a new lease on life mainly
after two or three Scandinavian firms succeeded in
simplifying the equipment enough to make it practical
for almost any builder.

Why Vacuum Concrete ?

Manages both the w/c ratio as well as workability
characteristics properly
overcomes the contradiction of opposite
requirements ofworkability and high strength.

 No honeycombing due to adequate

workability
In untreated concrete, excess water will
eventually evaporate leaving capillary
pores in the concrete. These pores result
into high
permeabilityandlessstrengthintheconcr
ete.
Vacuum concrete is majorly used in slabson- grounds as an alternative to waiting
for the 28 day period to attain strength
Other than slabs, vacuum concreting can
also be used in vertical surfaces and on
forms for precast concrete.

Comparison b/w
non treated & vacuum concrete
The effects of vacuum dewatering on both fresh and
hardened concrete properties were investigated
through tests on plain and processed specimens
prepared under outdoor conditions in the
experimental study presented.
1. Concrete slab, 200 600 20 cm in size (no
vacuum), control concrete (CC);
2. Concrete slab, 300 400 20 cm in size (18 min.
vacuum applying), half vacuum concrete (HVC);
3. Concrete slab, 300 400 20 cm in size (35 min.
vacuum applying), vacuum concrete (VC).

Strength gain in the top and bottom parts of a test

slab. Data are from tests at Hannover Technical University,
West Germany

PREPARATION OF VACUUM CONCRETE:

BILLNER METHOD
Mainly four components are required in vacuum
dewatering of concrete,
(1) Vacuum pump (5 to 10 HP)
(2) Waterseparator
(3) Filteringpad
(4) Screedboardvibrator

 Part of the concrete surface sealed with a

rigid plate or a flexible mat below which
vacuum are created in the concrete slab.
Atmospheric pressure will then act on the
plate or mat with a considerable force,
about 1,600 to 2,000 pounds per square foot
(8,000 to 10,000 kilograms force per square
meter) at the vacuum generally used.
The concrete is compressed and part of the
surplus water is squeezed out and sucked
away from the concrete surface by the
vacuum pump

 Vacuum mats to be arranged to begin dewatering of the

concrete soon after it is placed. (preferably within 30
minutes)
Waterremovedequalto the contraction in total volume of
concrete. About 3% reduction in concrete layer
depthtakesplace.
Next to the concrete surface is a filter padconsisting of
rigid backing sheet, expanded metal, wire gauge ormuslin
cloth sheet, which prevents the finest particles of the
concrete from following the extracted water. .
A rubber seal is also fitted around the filtering pad of
minimum dimension 90 cm x 60 cm.
On top of the cloth is a shallow air chamber(some type of
net between the filter cloth and the airtight top cover or
plate). The mat or plate projects slightly beyond the filter
cloth on all sides and thus forms a seal against the wet
concrete. The top cover is connected to the vacuum pump.

 the water squeezed out of the concrete passes through the

filter cloth into the space below the top cover, moves
toward the suction inlet and is sucked away to the vacuum
pump. Water isextracted by vacuumand storedin
thewater separator.
vacuum cant remove water needed for hydration because
the capillary diameters in the cement paste decrease as
the water cement ratio decreases. Thus there is no danger
that the water-cement ratio will fall below 0.30, which is
well above the minimum of 0.20 required for hydration of
cement.
vacuum processing to continue for 1 to 3 minutes per 25
mm of slab thickness.
effectiveness of water removal decreases with slab depth.
For practical purposes the water- cement ratio of the
concrete can be reduced to a depth of about 12 inches (30
centimeters) or in some cases 16 inches (40 centimeters).

 Removing water by the vacuum process reduces a

slabs thickness.
a 150 mm slab cast with concrete having a 150
mm slump will be reduced in thickness 3 to 6 mm
thickness. If the slump is 90 mm or less, the
thickness reduction is usually less than 3 mm.
when necessary, the thickness of the slab as
placed should be increased to obtain the full
design thickness after dewatering
When a concrete slab is vibrated there is some
relocation of its component materials. Coarse
aggregate sinks toward the bottom of the slab; the
fines, cement and water move toward the surface.
Well - designed mixes have much less tendency
than others to undergo such segregation

TREMIX METHOD
Pioneered by TREMIX AB, SWEDEN and introduced
by Aquarius in India in 1987
Used for laying high quality concrete floors with
superior cost-effectiveness.
Initially, poker vibration is essential, especially at
the panel edges. This results in proper
compaction of the concrete and hence elimination
of voids and entrapped air.

Screeding being done to get a levelled

surface

Advantages
both workability & high strength are
achieved simultaneously.
enhances the wear resistance of
concrete surface.
An improvement of the wear
resistance by up to 2-3 times can be
achieved through floating and
repeated power trowelling

 Reduction in w/c ratio may increase the

compressive strength by 10-50 % and
lowers the permeability.
After seven days, the compressive strength
value of vacuum dewatered concrete will
bethe same as that for normal concrete
after 28 days
24-hour-strength of the vacuum dewatered
concrete slab is much higher, which
reduces the risk of damage on a newly cast
floor. The final strength is about 50 %
higher than that of a conventional concrete
floor

 Highest compressive strength value

for a vacuum dewatered slab is on
the top surface i.e. a part of the floor
that will be exposed toa lot of stress.
A vacuum treated concrete slab
shows no curling because the
slightest shrinkage will be on the top
part of the slab where the
water/cement ratio is lowest.
Therefore, the edges will remain in
their correct position

 The surface obtained after vacuum

dewatering is plain & smooth due to
reduced shrinkage.
The formwork can be removed early
and the surface can be put to use
early.

Thank You!!!