Concrete Engineering

A world that is always changing necessitates the development of new construction methods. Concrete is one of the most extensively utilized construction materials today. It is due to the wide range of uses it provides and its behavior, strength, affordability, durability, and adaptability. As a result, construction workers trust concrete as a safe, robust, and simple material. It’s used in a wide range of structures (from single-family homes to multi-story office buildings) and infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.). Concrete is used to construct foundations, columns, beams, slabs, and other load-bearing structures.

What is Concrete?
Concrete is a basic material used in civil engineering, such as constructing structures. Concrete is cement, sand, and fine and coarse rock aggregate mixture. The cement works as a binder, holding the components together as it sets and hardens over time. Other types of binding materials are employed in addition to cement, such as lime concrete, bitumen, asphalt, etc.

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Introduction:
Depending on the case, you may need to be more or less practical. Deep beams, thin water-holding structures with a lot of steel support, connections between columns and beams, pouring concrete, pumping concrete, and working in hot weather all require a high level of workability in the concrete. Adding water is the most common form of abuse, usually done without any engineering on the spot. Adding water to concrete makes it more flexible, but it needs to be easier to work with. It won’t make a mixture more even or regular. Instead, it makes it more likely that people will fight and die. Plasticizers make concrete stronger and last longer by reducing the amount of water and cement needed to reach a certain level of workability. Since the heat of hydration of mass concrete goes down when the cement weight goes down, plasticizers can do this.

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Introduction
Durability of concrete implies that a concrete can withstand any harsh environment without undergoing any change in structure. IS 456-2000 has specified norms that address the issues of the durability of concrete. Usually, a concrete can stand severe environment but when certain conditions like sea water exposure or sulphate and chloride attack is encountered with concrete then it becomes difficult for concrete to withstand such exposures. In such cases, along with concrete certain additives like accelerators or admixtures are required to add with concrete to make it durable. All these will be discussed in details here.

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Introduction:
In the modern world, concrete is the most popular building material for many different types of buildings. Concrete pavements are one of the essential components of a construction site. Concrete slabs are made and put in place to make a solid pavement that can handle the traffic. Construction workers use dowel bars to ensure these pavements are strong and stable. These bars help make sure that the concrete slabs are mechanically connected in the right way.

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Introduction:
Improvements in building materials are constantly being made. The construction industry relies on wide concrete varieties for its many varied projects. Various constructions use refractory concrete to withstand high temperatures. Normal concrete melts at a particular temperature. High-alumina cement is often used to make refractory concrete, which can withstand high temperatures, along with aggregates that can also withstand heat.
Fig: Refractory Concrete
Courtesy: monolithicrefractoriesonline.com

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INTRODUCTION
Retaining walls are structures which are designed and constructed to resist lateral pressure of soil. When there appears a change in ground elevation that exceeds angle of repose of soil then these walls prove effective. These types of walls are used in construction of buildings having basements, bridges, roads, etc. when it is necessary to retain embankments or earth in a relatively vertical position. These are supported by rock or soil underlying the base slab or supported on piles. When these walls retain earth or any such material in earthen embankments for railways, roads, wing walls of bridges and many more, then such earth or any such material is referred to as backfill. In order to design such walls is mandatory to determine the pressure exerted by and acting on plane faces of soil. Retaining walls can be designed by Working Stress Method or Limit State Method. In both methods Rankine’s theory of earth pressure is used which consists of both passive earth pressure and active earth pressure. By finding stresses we can estimate and design these walls.
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Introduction
Curing is the process of providing moisture to the concrete mix so that better interlocking is established. If curing is not done properly then it will cause insufficient hydration and as a result there will be capillary pores, causing cracks and shrinkage. Moreover, strength and durability will also get affected and the concrete will disintegrate and break. It also ensures to maintain a sufficient temperature of concrete at its early age. It must be implemented as soon as placement & finishing is done. Also, it must continue for a specific period for the concrete to achieve its desired strength and durability. Uniform temperature is necessary to avoid thermal shrinkage cracks, plastic shrinkage and problems like bleeding and segregation.

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What is Concrete Discoloration?
A simple definition of concrete discoloration is a shift away from the original color. The presence of calcium chloride in the concrete, cement, and additives, as well as problems with curing, weather, and poor workmanship, could all play a role. These causes of discoloration can be mitigated to some extent. However, steps can be taken to mitigate the effects of dark patches, strips, and blotchy concrete that a contractor may experience. Once the concrete has fully cured, the appropriate treatment method can be chosen based on the root of the discoloration.

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What is Concrete Anchor?
An anchor is a piece of steel used to transfer loads to concrete. They can be cast into the concrete or put into a piece of hardened concrete later. There are several kinds of cast-in anchors, but headed bolts, hooked bolts (J- or L-bolts), and headed studs are the most common. The expansion anchor, the undercut anchor, and the sticky anchor are the three anchors used after the fact.

In adhesive anchors, steel parts like threaded rods and reinforcing bars that have been bent or internally threaded steel sleeves with bends on the outside are used. Anchor systems often join two structural parts or attach a non-structural part to a building.
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What is Concrete Retarder?

Retarders are additives that slow the setting of cement paste and, by extension, mixtures like mortar or concrete that contains cement. Concrete retarders are also known as retarding admixtures or just retarders. Adding a retarder to the concrete mix can delay the setting time by up to an hour. They slow the hardening process in warmer weather to give workers more time to mix, transport and place the concrete. Retarders not only slow down the process, but they also save water.
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