Dr. Sophia Hassiotis

 Laboratory set up  Personal Protective equipment  Directions for mixing  Slump test  Cylinder casting  Cleaning up your station  Mix Design

EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS  Materials (cement, sand, aggregate, water, admixtures)  Field scale, slump cone  Four buckets per station  Mixing hoes and trough  Two 4x8 cylinders  Scoops, trowel, mallet, ruler, rods, cleaning tools

 Boots or closed leather shoes  Safety glasses  Apron  Gloves  Respirator mask

 Add 80% of coarse and fine aggregate, and 80% of water --- Mix  Add air-entrainment admixture (use: 1ml for each pound of cement)  Add ALL cement--- Mix until cement is blended in

 Add the rest of the coarse and fine aggregate  Add the rest of the water.  Mix for a couple minutes, let it rest for a couple minutes, mix again and perform the slump test  Add more water if needed to obtain a workable slump.  Record the actual amount of water used.

Slump Test  Dampen inside of cone and place on smooth, moist, non-absorbent level surface  Fill cone to 1/3 by volume (about 2 ½ inches.)  Rod 25 times with 5/8”x24” tamping rod. Distribute rodding evenly over entire cross section.  Fill cone to 2/3 by volume (about 6 inches).  Rod the second layer 25 times with rod penetrating into but not through the first layer. Distribute rodding evenly.  Fill cone to overflow. Rod the third layer 25 times with rod penetrating into but not through the second layer. Distribute rodding evenly.  Remove the excess concrete from the top of the cone using tamping rod. Clean overflow from base of cone  Immediately lift cone vertically with slow, even motion. Do not jar the concrete or tilt the cone during this process.  Invert the withdrawn cone and place next to, but not touching the slumped concrete  Lay the tamping rod across the top of the slump cone and measure the slump from the bottom of the rod to the top of the slumped concrete at the point of the original center of the base  NOTE 1: The slump test should be completed in a maximum of 2 and ½ minutes.  NOTE 2: Do not remove your feet from the sides of the cone till the test is completed.  NOTE 3: Make sure rod penetrates into the layer below

 Place the 4x8 casting molds on the floor.  Fill the mold to 1/2 full and rod the bottom layer with 25 strokes evenly spaced.  Consolidate the lift 10 to 15 times with a rubber mallet, your open hand or the tamping rod.  Fill to the top of the mold and rod the top layer with 25 strokes penetrating the top of the second layer. Consolidate the lift 10 to 15 times with a rubber mallet, your open hand or the tamping rod.  Strike off the top surface of the concrete using a sawing action with the steel trowel. Take special care to smooth the surface.  Mark the cylinders with your group number and date.  Carefully move, using a trowel or hand spade, the cylinders to temporary storage.  Cover the cylinders with its cover or a plastic bag.  After 20 to 48 hours remove the molds and place them in the water bath.  Transfer your identifying marks from the molds to the top of the cylinders before placing them in the water bath.

NOTE: Do NOT use sink to wash. Use the minimum water possible and clean into the TWO COMMON buckets provided for ALL groups. Use one bucket to dump the concrete. Use the other as a cleaning bucket.

 Absolute Volume of a Material = Weight of Material / ( S.G. x lb/cf )  S.G. is the specific gravity of a material and 62.4 lb/cf is the Unit Weight of water.  A bag of cement (94 lbs.) in a bulk state occupies approximately 1 cubic foot of volume.  If the cement was without voids it would occupy only 0.48 cubic feet.  Therefore, the volume the cement will actually occupy in a batch of concrete will be its absolute volume of 0.48 cubic feet.

 Use Table to find an appropriate value. In this example, for footings the slump should be between 1 and 3 inches. Assume a slump of 3 for a mix that is more workable.

 Use the largest that is economically available and consistent with the dimensions of the structure.  ACI recommends that maximum aggregate size be limited to 1/3 of the slab depth and 3/4 of the minimum clear space between reinforcing bars.  In this example, we will assume a maximum size of 1.0 inch.

 For our example, for a slump of 3 inches and a maximum aggregate size of 1 inch, use the air- entrained part of the table to find that you will need 295 lbs of water per cubic yard of concrete.  The fine print under the table specifies that the water should be reduced by 25 lbs if you are using well rounded aggregates (ex. Alluvial rock.) Therefore, in this example we will use 270 lbs of water.  The same table also shows that the recommended percent of air content is 6% for severe exposure

In this example, for a 4000psi, air- entrained concrete you should pick w/c = 0.48

 Weight of Water / Weight of Cement = 0.48  Water weight = 295 lbs - 25 lbs = 270 lbs Therefore,  Weight of Cement = 270 lbs / 0.48 = 560 lbs

Weight of coarse aggregate = 0.69 cy x (98.5 lbs/cy) x (27 cf/cy) = 1,840 lbs/cy Using the definition of unit weight: Unit weight=Weight/unit volume

MATERIAL VOLUMES VOLUME AND WEIGHT OF SAND Remember: Absolute Volume of a Material = Weight of Material / ( S.G. x lb/cf )

 The weights that we calculate above are dry weights. To create the batch we will add into the mix wet aggregate weighing:  Coarse aggregate, Wwet = 1840 lbs x = 1875 lbs  Fine aggregate, Wwet = 1135 lbs x = 1206 lbs  Absorbed water does not become part of the mixing water. However, any free water will add to the water content so we must account for it.  The surface water contributed by the coarse aggregate is 1.95% - 1.0% = 0.95%  The surface water contributed by the fine aggregate is 6.3% - 1.1% = 5.2%  The estimated requirement for added water, therefore, becomes  270 lbs – 1840 lbs x (0.0095) lbs x (0.052) = 193 lbs

Before you come into the lab you should design your mix for 0.25 cubic feet of concrete. Use the following materials.

EACH PERSON in the group must calculate the required mix. Then, please check your answer with all others in the your group. Come to the lab with ONE answer that represents the lab mix that your group will create in the lab. You will NOT have the time to review this mix while you are in the lab. COME TO THE LAB PREPARED. CHECK YOUR MIX THE NIGHT BEFORE MAKE SURE YOU SIGN THE ATTENDANCE SHEET BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE LAB