CONCRETE WORKS AT THE

CONSTRUCTION SITE

SEGREGATION
-Separation of designed fresh concrete ingredients from each other
resulting in the non-uniform mix.
-Separation of coarse aggregates from the mortar because of differences in
size, density, shape and other properties of ingredients.
-Because of segregation honey comb is created in the concrete and it
basically affects the strength of the concrete and its porosity.
CAUSE OF SEGREGATION

*The difference in the specific gravity of the mix constituents i.e. fine
aggregates and coarse aggregates.

*The difference in the size of aggregate

*Improper handling of aggregates.

*Bad practices in handling and transporting of concrete.

*Too much vibration of concrete.

*Concrete that is not proportioned properly and not mixed adequately or

too workable a mix.

*Placing of concrete from a greater height.

BLEEDING
-Bleeding in concrete is sometime referred as watergain
HOW IT HAPPENED?
-Water comes out to the surface of the concrete, being lowest specific
gravity among all the ingredients of concrete.
- The high dosage of Water cement ratio. Higher water-cement ratio
weakens concrete and leads to excessive bleeding.
HOW BLEEDING EFFECT CONCRETE?
-Water move upwards in bleeding, sometimes with this water certain
amount of cement moved along with water to the concrete surface. When
the top surface is worked up with the trowel, the aggregate goes down and
cement paste forms at the top surface this is called ‘Laitance in concrete.’
Due to the formation of Laitance, structures may lose its wearing capacity
and decreases its life.
-Water while moving from bottom to the top, forms continuous channels.
Due to this channels, concrete becomes permeable and allow water to
move, which forms water voids in the matrix and reduces the bond between
aggregate and the cement paste.
-Forming of water at the top surface of concrete results in delaying the
surface finishing.
-Concrete becomes permeable and loses its homogeneity.
HOW TO CONTROLLED?
-Bleeding in concrete is controlled by Adding minimum water content in the
concrete mix.
-Encouraging the use of air en-training admixtures in the mix.
-By adding more cement in the mix.
CONCRETE PREPARERATION
BATCHING METHOD
VOLUME

STEP-1-BATCHING OF CEMENT
Cement is always measured by weight. Mostly it is used in terms of bags.
One bag of cement weighs 50 kg and has a volume of 35 litres (or,
0.035m3). Cement should not be batched by volume because its weight per
unit volume varies according to the way the container is filled.

STEP-2-BATCHING OF AGGREGATE (BY VOLUME)

Gauge Box
A gauge box is used (as shown in the picture) for batching of fine and
coarse aggregate by volume. The box should not be too shallow. It should
be completely filled with aggregates. The top of the materials should be
struck off level with a straight edge. The ratio of materials of concrete
decides the capacity of the box. Generally capacity of a gauge box is equal
to the volume of one bag of cement (i.e. 35 litres). Convenient sizes of
gauge boxes to suit different proportions are given in the table below.

Density of cement ( BS = 1442kg/m2 ) to determine the measure of

box :
1bag cement = 50kg/ 1442kg/m3
= 0.035 m3
The measuring of box is
( 0.33m x 0.33m x 0.33m = 0.035m3 )

STEP-3-BATCHING OF WATER
Water is measured either in kg or litres as may be convenient. In this case,
the two units are same, as the density of water is one kg per litre. The
quantity of water required is calculated by multiplying water-cement ratio
with weight of cement.
WEIGHING METHOD
Weigh batching is the correct method of measuring the materials.
-Use of weight system in batching, facilitates accuracy, flexibility and
simplicity.
- Large weigh batching plants have automatic weighing equipment.
- On large work sites, the weigh bucket type of weighing equipment's are
used.
- using the principles of the scales.
- suitable for control purposes in the laboratory for testing purposes.
Example:
Mix ratio (1:1.9:3.8 ) and W/C = 0.5
1 bag cement x 50kg = 50kg
1.9 x 50kg fine agg. = 95kg
3.8 x 50kg coarse agg. = 190kg
Volume of water = 25L
MIXING METHOD
CASTING AND PLACING
Casting
-Space to casting the concrete in formwork at each structure member
much be less than 1.2m for avoid the segregation cause.
- Must be casting the concrete layer by layer.

Placing
- Must be placing early after mixing with water.
- Maksimum times is 11/2 hour.

PROSEDURES
-Concrete mix must be near at site
-Must be placing in a uniform layer by layer for avoid separation material
-For structure concrete wall and column must be placing layer thickness
-Concrete must be quickly as possible to prevent from hardening
-Make sure every layer must be compact before next layer
-Avoid for cold joint
COMPACTING CONCRETE
1. PURPOSE OF CONCRETE COMPACTION
Compaction significantly increases the ultimate strength of concrete and
enhances the bond with reinforcement. It also increases the abrasion
resistance and general durability of the concrete, decreases the
permeability and helps to minimise its shrinkage and creep characteristics.
Proper compaction also ensures that the reinforcement, tendons, inserts
and fixings are completely surrounded by dense concrete, the formwork is
completely filled – i.e. there are no pockets of honey-combed material –
and that the required surface finish is obtained on vertical surfaces.
Concrete shall be compacted during placing so that:

 A monolithic mass is created between the ends of the member, planned

joints or both;
 The formwork is completely filled to the intended level;
 The entrapped air is expelled;
 All reinforcement, tendons, ducts, anchorages and embedments are
completely surrounded;
 The specified finish to the formed surfaces of the member is provided;
 The required properties of the concrete can be achieved.

(A) HAND COMPACTION

Hand compaction is used for ordinary and unimportant structures.
Workability should be decided in such a way that the chances of
honeycombing should be minimum. The various methods of hand
compaction are as given below.
1. RODDING
It is a method of poking with 2m long, 16 mm dia rod at sharp corners and
edges. The thickness of layers for rodding should be 15 to 20 cm.
2. RAMMING
It is generally used for compaction on ground in plain concrete. It is not
used either in RCC or on upper floors.
3. TAMPING
It is a method in which the top surface is beaten by wooden cross beam of
cross section 10 cm x 10 cm. both compaction and leveling are achieved
simultaneously. It is mainly used for roof slabs and road pavements.

B) MECHANICAL COMPACTION
Vibration is imparted to the concrete by mechanical means. It causes
temporary liquefaction so that air bubbles come on to the top and expelled
ultimately. Mechanical vibration can be of various types as given under.
1. INTERNAL VIBRATION
It is most commonly used technique of concrete vibration. Vibration is
achieved due to eccentric weights attached to the shaft. The needle
diameter varies from 20 mm to 75 mm and its length varies from 25 cm to
90 cm. the frequency range adopted is normally 3500 to 5000 rpm. The
correct and incorrect methods of vibration using internal vibration needles
are shown below.
Compaction of Concrete
2. EXTERNAL VIBRATION
This is adopted where internal vibration can’t be used due to either thin
sections or heavy reinforcement. External vibration is less effective and it
consumes more power as compared to the internal vibration. The form
work also has to be made extra strong when external vibration is used.
3. TABLE VIBRATION
It is mainly used for laboratories where concrete is put on the table.
4. PLATFORM VIBRATION
It is similar to table vibrators but these are generally used on a very large
scale.
5. SURFACE VIBRATION
These are also called screed board vibrators. The action is similar to that of
tamping. The vibrator is placed on screed board and vibration is given on
the surface. It is mainly used for roof slabs, road pavements etc., but it is
not effective beyond 15 cm depth.
CURING
Methods of Curing
Water Spraying/Ponding
- Must be carried out thoroughly. A continuous
fog spraying or sprinkling of water is required
- Ponding is accomplished by building earth or
sand dikes around the perimeter of the
concrete slab to retain a pond of water within
the enclosed area
- The water needs to be at a temperature close
to that of the concrete surface

Maintain presence of water

Wet Covering
- Surfaces can be effectively cured by using hessian
or other absorbent materials, providing they can be
kept continually wet and are uniformly positioned
Waterproof Paper
- Can also be used on unobstructed horizontal surface
Polythene Sheeting
- Can be used similar to waterproof paper
- White sheeting will reflect the sun’s rays and will be
useful in warm weather
- Polythene sheeting can cause discoloration or
mottling of the hardened concrete
Prevent loss of mixing
water
Spray-on-membranes
-Liquid membrane-forming materials containing
waxes, resins, etc. are applied by spraying,
brushing or rolling on horizontal or vertical
surfaces to retain moisture or retard
evaporation
-The material should be sprayed evenly as soon
as the free water has evaporated
-Curing compounds may prevent a bond
between the hardened concrete and any
screed or wet concrete applied later

Accelerate Hydration
Use of Heat
-Curing time can be reduced in a number of
different ways, including space heating,
electrical heating and steam curing
Space heating
-area ready for concrete can be temporary enclosed by
the use of screens, tarpaulins or plastic sheeting.
-This enables oil or electric space heaters or fires to
provide and maintain in this limited area a
temperature which will keep the concrete at least
above 5Oc
Electrical curing
-Replacing braziers as a form of accelerated
curing, primarily in precast factories, to assist in
the reduction in the number of moulds
-Low voltage electricity is used and by embedding
wire heater elements between plywood
laminations, thermal efficiency is high and the
method clean and easy to use
Steam curing
-Favourable method of curing for precast and
concrete masonry block
-Structural members are covered with tarpaulins
and pipes fed underneath conveying moist hot
steam

Curing in Hot Weather

-In hot weather, exposed concrete must be
kept cool, both during mixing and
throughout the curing period
-Problem in hot weather concreting due to the
faster rate of hydration and increased rate of
evaporation (concrete temperature, relative
humidity, wind velocity, and air temperature)
-When evaporation is not controlled, concrete
are prone to thermal cracking
-Lowering the temperature of coarse agg.
decrease the concrete temperature
The common methods for cooling concrete in
hot weather application are:
-Cooling the mixing water with chipped ice
-Shading the aggregate storage and water
tank
-Painting the truck mixers white
-Avoidance of overmixing
-Keeping the humidity high and air
temperature low with fog sprays around
the area where concrete is placed
-Use retarder in the mix

Curing Period
-Curing period cannot be prescribed in a
simple way but,
-If the temperature is above 10oC, ACI
308-92 lays down a minimum of
-3 days : RHPC (type III)
-7 days : OPC (type I)
-14 days : LHPC (type IV)
-BS 8110:Part 1:1985 lays down the
normal curing periods for different
cements and exposure conditions