How Does Concrete Work?

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SLABS ON GRADE

1.
2. What are the Structural Basics for Concrete?
3. What is Reinforced Concrete?
4. What Should I Know About Rebar?
5. Why is the Amount of Water so Important for Concrete?
6. What Should I Know About Concrete Testing?
7. How Do I Get Concrete on the Job?
8. What Public Domain Documents are Available for Further Study?
9. Tricks of the Trade & Rules of Thumb for Concrete Basics:

How Does Concrete Work?

Modern concrete consists primarily of four components: Portland

cement, sand, gravel and water. A common misconception with
concrete is that it dries and gets hard. Actually, the hydraulic cement
reacts with the water in a chemical process called hydration. As an
example, concrete can be placed underwater and will still change
from a liquid state to a solid state and achieve full strength.

Many additional ingredients can be added to the basic concrete mix in

order to change the properties of the resulting concrete. The
following list shows some common admixtures (additives) and
additional ingredients and their basic purposes:

Admixtures

1. Accelerators speed up the hydration, or

hardening, of the wet concrete. Often used in
colder temperatures so the concrete crew has
less waiting time between placing and
finishing the concrete.
2. Retarders slow the hydration, or hardening, of
the wet concrete. Often used in hotter
temperatures so the concrete doesn’t set too
 quickly, allowing the concrete finishing crew to
get the proper finishing work completed.
3. Air entraining agents add and help distribute
tiny air bubbles throughout the concrete.
These tiny air bubbles help the concrete resist
the freeze-thaw cycles with much less cracking
and damage.
4. Plasticizers and Superplasticizers improve the
workability of the concrete during the wet (or
plastic) stage allowing the concrete to flow
more easily. They are particularly helpful
when placing concrete around congested rebar
arrangements. Alternatively, Plasticizers and
Superplasticizers can be used to lower the
water content in the concrete while keeping a
decent level of workability.
5. Pigments change the color of the concrete for
aesthetic reasons.

Additions

1. Fly Ash can replace about half of the required

amount of Portland cement. Fly Ash is a by
product of coal fired electric generating plants,
so is often readily available and economical.
Concrete made with Fly Ash and Portland
 cement can have higher strength and improved
chemical resistance and durability. The use of
Fly Ash concrete is considered environmentally
sound, since most fly ash otherwise ends up in
landfills and the energy to produce the
replaced Portland cement can also be saved.
2. Ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS or
GGBFS) can also replace part of the required
Portland cement. GGBS is a by product of the
steel production process. GGBS has had the
most use in Europe and Asia.
3. Silica Fume can also replace part of the
required Portland cement. Silica Fume is a by
product of the manufacture of silica alloys. The
particle size of Silica Fume is 100 times
smaller than that of Portland cement. Silica
Fume improves concrete strength, abrasion
resistance and corrosion resistance to
chemicals, particularly to salts.
What are the Structural Basics for Concrete?

Concrete is strong in compression. So what does that really mean?

To understand compressive strength, think about several packs of

crackers sitting on the floor. If you carefully stand on those packs of
crackers, your weight will probably be supported, but you are putting
those crackers in compression. Your weight tends towards crushing
those crackers. If you jump up and land on those packs of crackers,
you will increase the force applied and probably crush the crackers.
You will have made the crackers fail in compression.

Now try to jump on a concrete sidewalk. You’d have to jump pretty

high to make that sidewalk crush under your weight. In fact, you
probably couldn’t make that sidewalk fail in compression. That’s why
concrete gets used so much in construction. But the story doesn’t end
with compression.

Grab a piece of string and pull in either direction. You’ve just put the
string into tension. If you can pull hard enough, the string will fail in
tension by snapping. Concrete, while quite strong in compression,
fails quickly in tension by cracking. The resistive strength of concrete
for compression is around 4,000 pounds per square inch, while the
resistive strength for concrete in tension is probably less than 400
pounds per square inch. Generally, the tension strength of concrete is
less than 10% of its compression strength.

Builders in the past understood these properties of concrete and stone

and typically used those materials only in compression. So walls could
be concrete and stone, as could foundations, since both primarily
resisted downward compression loads.

Arches are an interesting structural form because arches also act

totally in compression. Therefore, arches above windows in old
buildings could be concrete or stone because the load transferred
around the arch keeping the structure in compression, so tension
cracks didn’t occur in the concrete or stone. Barrel vault ceilings are
really just three dimensional arches, so they also worked as
compression members only.

If an arch above a window got too flat, however, it would stop

working as an arch and the bottom of the member would go into
tension. So, regular concrete cracks at the bottom of the beam, near
the center, in this scenario. The cracking then causes the beam to fail.
This example illustrates how concrete fails in tension, which had
traditionally been a major design shortcoming for concrete.

When considering the engineering use of materials, a more detailed

understanding of Basic Structural Analysis helps.

What is Reinforced Concrete?

In the mid-1800s, builders began adding steel in the concrete to carry

the tension forces. This reinforced concrete became a phenomenally
popular building method. There are several reasons why the
combination of reinforcing steel and concrete works so well:

1. The coefficient of thermal expansion is similar for concrete

and steel, so when reinforced concretes freezes or gets hot,
the two materials contract and expand similarly. If they
didn’t, the combination would tear itself apart over time.
2. The bond between reinforcing steel bars (rebar) and
concrete is strong and efficient. The rebar has surface
deformations (ridges) to further improve that bond. Due to
the strong bond, the concrete effectively transfers stresses
to the steel and vice versa.
3. When the cement paste contacts the steel rebar, it forms a
non-reactive surface film that inhibits corrosion. This
passivation process helps rebar from corroding inside the
reinforced concrete.
 4. The location of the rebar in the structure depends on the
use. Simple beams and slabs often only have rebar only on
the tension (bottom) side. When a continuous beam spans
over top of columns, the tension is at the top of the beam, so
rebar is needed at the top of the beam over column
supports.

Column footings are interesting to consider. Many people don’t know

where the tension side exists on the footing. As a simple way to
remember, hold out your left hand with the palm facing up. Now take
the index finger of your right hand and poke down into the middle of
the outstretched palm. Cup your left hand a bit, as if reacting to the
downward force of your index finger. Insert photo here. It’s easy to
see that the skin at the bottom of your left hand becomes taut (goes
into tension) and the skin on top of your hand gets wrinkly (goes into
compression). Therefore, the bottom of a simple concrete footing is
in tension right under the column. So the rebar needs to be near the
bottom of the footing.

It is important that the reinforcing steel have enough concrete cover

so that the concrete bonds to the rebars and allows the concrete and
steel to act together as a monolithic structural unit. The concrete
cover also protects the reinforcing steel from excessive moisture or
chemical corrosion. The American Concrete Institute Building Code
recommends the following.

Minimum
Rebar Rules for Distance to Edge of Concrete Concrete
Cover

Concrete cast against and permanently exposed to

3"
earth

Formed concrete exposed to earth or weather: #5 bar

1 1/2"
and smaller

Formed concrete exposed to earth or weather: #6

2"
through #18 bars
Formed concrete not exposed to earth or weather: 1 1/2"
slabs, walls, joists: #14 & #18 bars

Formed concrete not exposed to earth or weather:

3/4"
slabs, walls, joists: #11 and smaller bars

Formed concrete not exposed to earth or weather:

1 1/2"
beams and columns:

A simple overview of reinforced concrete design may be helpful here.

Concrete is a material high in compression strength and low in tensile
strength. Steel, as a material, outperforms concrete 10:1 in
compression strength and 100:1 in tension strength. However, steel
costs about 50 cents per pound while concrete costs about 2 cents per
pound. Thus economical reinforced concrete design uses steel to carry
the tension stresses in a structural member and concrete to carry the
compression stresses.

Reinforced concrete must be designed with quite a bit of attention

paid to Expansion and Contraction. Of course, all building materials
have some degree of expansion and contraction, but with reinforced
concrete, those forces can literally break the concrete apart.

Two additional properties of reinforced concrete design that are

helpful for the Construction Supervisor to be aware of are Creep and
Fatigue. Again, all structural elements must deal with creep and
fatigue, but concrete can be quite severely changed by those
phenomena.

What Should I Know About Rebar?

The amount of rebar used in typical structures is a small percentage

of the amount of concrete. Most beams, for example, use about 1%
rebar for carrying the tension forces in bending. Columns may use up
to 6% rebar, partly because the rebar carries both tension and axial
forces. Since rebar costs much more than concrete, efficient
engineering design minimizes rebar use.

Rebar is central to reinforced concrete, so a basic understanding

helps. The various sizes are important to know: a #3 bar is 3/8” in
diameter, a #7 bar is 7/8” in diameter, etc. The easy rule of thumb for
rebar sizes is to take the rebar size and divide by 8 for the diameter in
inches.

Rebar Diameter Weight/ft

#2 2/8"or 0.25" 0.167 lbs
#3 3/8" or 0.375" 0.376
#4 4/8" or 0.5" 0.668
#5 5/8" or 0.625" 1.043
#6 6/8" or 0.75" 1.502
#7 7/8" or 0.875" 2.044
#8 8/8" or 1.0" 2.67
#9 9/8" or 1.125" 3.4
#10 10/8" or 1.25" 4.303
#11 11/8" or 1.375" 5.313
#14 14/8" or 1.75" 7.65
#18 18/8" or 2.25" 13.6

As noted above, the structural element needs rebar to carry the

tension in the reinforced concrete. So a footing needs rebar on the
bottom, a simple beam or slab needs rebar on the bottom, etc. Rebar
is also commonly used to help control concrete shrinkage. As concrete
cures over time, it continues to shrink. Most of the shrinkage happens
in the first few hours, then less shrinkage in the first few days. The
shrinkage continues forever, but the amount of change becomes
smaller and smaller.
In addition to the shrinkage due to curing, concrete will both expand
or contract as a reaction to temperature changes (as do all materials,
to some extent). Therefore, additional rebar is often used in a
structural element and is called “Temperature Steel”. This rebar helps
control concrete cracking due to shrinkage cracks from curing or from
temperature changes.

It’s common to see #4s at 12” on center, #3s at 12” on center or even
#3s at 18” on center as temperature steel. A Construction Supervisor
should be able to look at the drawings for the reinforced concrete
members and have an understanding of which rebar is structural and
which is temperature steel.

Many times field decisions are made regarding pipes and ducts
passing through structural elements, which interfere with the
stipulated amount of rebar. Though these decisions should ideally be
made by the Structural Engineer, the Construction Supervisor needs
to understand enough of the structure to know when to ask. The
simple precept, “When in doubt, always ask the Structural Engineer”
is easy to say but not particularly practical when a Construction
Supervisor makes hundreds of decisions a day. The wise Construction
Supervisor understands the whys and hows of rebar use.

In order for reinforcing bars to be in the required location in

reinforced concrete, the bars must often be fabricated to special
shapes. Typically a steel detailer draws a Shop Drawing that takes the
schematic information from the structural drawing and shows the
actual bar lengths, bends, clearances, etc. to actually fabricate and
install the bars. These Shop Drawings should be carefully reviewed by
the Construction Supervisor to check for fit, conflicts and errors.

As soon as one begins reviewing reinforcing steel shop drawings,

questions with imbedment and bar splice will arise. Reinforced
concrete structures are usually cast in individual segments but the
entire structure must act as a single unit. Construction joints create a
location to stop the concrete pour, but often it is essential for the
stresses in the reinforcing steel to carry through the construction
joint. In this case the reinforcing bars continue through the
construction joint and spice with bars on the other side. Using too
long a splice in uneconomical, because steel costs much more than
concrete. Minimum bar splices should be described in the structural
drawings and actual splices shown in the reinforcing steel shop
drawings.

In the recent past it was common for structural drawings to state a

40 diameter bar lap for all splices. Experience showed that simple
solution to be overly conservative in some case and to cause failure in
other cases. Therefore, a significantly more complicated set of rules
were adapted for bar splicing. It is important for the Construction
Supervisor to at least understand the terminology of the American
Concrete Institute (ACI) rules for rebar splicing.

Another helpful fact for rebar concerns the markings required to be

on each bar. The Construction Supervisor should understand the
markings, thus able to pick up a piece of rebar and know its
producing mill, bar size and type and grade of steel. The figure below
shows where those markings are found on rebar.
Why is the Amount of Water so Important for Concrete?

An important item to understand in concrete work is the water-

cement ratio. A minimum amount of water, approximately 25% of the
weight of the cement, must be included to chemically hydrate the
concrete batch. In the actual mixing process, though, it takes about
35% to 40% water to work through the mixing process, get to the
actual cement, and cause effective hydration.

In practice, though, much more water gets added to increase the

workability of the concrete. So why does it matter if there is lots of
water in the concrete mix? Any water above the theoretical ideal of
25% doesn’t get used in the chemical hydration process. Therefore,
the excess water remains in the concrete while the concrete cures.
Over time, this excess water evaporates out of the concrete and voids
remain. These voids weaken the concrete, causing less strength and
more cracking.

The water-cement ratio matters to the engineer, but why does the
Construction Supervisor care? Anyone who has placed concrete knows
how much easier a flowing, more liquid concrete is to place than a
drier concrete. There is a tendency to add water to the mix, as it is
ready to be placed, to make the concrete flow better. In fact, if the
concrete doesn’t flow well, it may not properly surround the rebar
(causing a poor bond with the rebar) or it may not flow properly
against the forms (causing voids and areas needing patching). Insert
photo.

So, a conflict often exists on the jobsite:

1. Add water to the concrete mix to make it flow better, but

weaken the quality of the concrete (both strength and crack
resistance)
or
 2. Don’t add water to the concrete mix to keep the proper
water-cement ratio but work harder to place the concrete
and possibly have significant voids.

The easy answer is never add water on the site to concrete, but that
answer ignores the reality of the placement dilemma. This is often a
complicated decision, with Structural Engineers, Building Officials,
Specifications, Concrete Foreman and others all having input. It’s
important the Construction Supervisor at least be aware of this issue
for every concrete placement and understand how the decision to add
water will be handled.

What Should I Know About Concrete Testing?

The concrete Slump Test was created to help consistently measure the
concrete workability. The "workability" of the concrete is an
important factor for those placing the concrete. A workable concrete
mix properly flows and fills the form properly, leaving minimal voids
at the form face and completely surrounding any rebar to create a
bond.

The Slump Test should be familiar to most workers on a construction

site. The wet concrete is placed in a steel cone form and placed on a
non-absorbent surface, with the wider portion of the cone being
down. The steel cone form is then lifted off, allowing the wet concrete
to slump down a bit, depending on the mix design. A dry mix may
only slump 1” to 2”. Normally specified slump is around 4”. Slumps of
6” to 7” can be achieved through the use of high range water reducing
agents (super-plasticizers). Special mixes for pumping concrete tend
to have high slumps.

Another important test for concrete is the cylinder compression test.

Concrete strength is generally called its 28 day compressive strength.
Why 28 days? What is magic about 28 days? Nothing. The 28 day
period for testing the compressive strength of concrete is an arbitrary
time selected to give consistency to the testing procedures. Thus, the
28 day compressive strength of concrete has become the standard in
the industry. So when 4,000 psi concrete is specified for a concrete
beam, this means that the actual placed concrete should have a
compression strength above 4,000 psi after 28 days. Since the
strength of concrete continues to increase over time, a standard time
period for concrete strength measurement is necessary.

The concrete cylinders that are made to determine the 28 day

strength can also be broken earlier and provide useful information.
Cylinders are commonly broken at 7 days, which normally have
developed about 75% of the 28 day strength. It’s nice to know 3
weeks earlier if there is a problem with a concrete batch.

Breaking cylinders at 3 days can also yield useful data. If a supported

slab has been placed, the 3 day concrete breaks can be used to
determine if stripping or the forms and form supports will be safe. So
concrete cylinder breaks provide a number of useful bits of
information.

The basics of making the cylinders should be understood by the

Construction Supervisor. When the wet concrete is being placed,
cylinders 6” in diameter and 12” high are filled with concrete and
carefully consolidated, (see Making Concrete Cylinders for Testing).
These cylinders then cure, hopefully in conditions similar to the
curing conditions for the main concrete pour. The concrete cylinders
harden in a few hours and are stored for future testing.

That testing consists of placing the cylinder in a machine that presses

on the cylinder top and bottom, adding axial force until the cylinder
crushes. The amount of force required to crush the cylinder becomes
the compressive strength for that cylinder.

As an example: Note: do calcs in ink on paper and scan into the

document as a separate file.
------------------------------------------
For a concrete sample that is broken after 28 days

The cylinder is 6” diameter, so it has an area of 3.14 x Diameter

squared /4

A = 3.14 x 6 x 6/4

A = 28.26 square inches

If the force required to break the cylinder was 97,500 pounds

Then the compressive strength is 97,500 pounds / 28.26 square

inches = 3,450 psi
------------------------------------------

The Construction Supervisor also needs to pay attention to the care

and storage of the concrete test cylinders between the time they are
made and broken. A few years ago, during the construction of an
addition to a sewage pumping station building, the Construction
Supervisor stored the concrete test cylinders inside the pumping
station for protection from harsh weather. When the cylinders were
broken at 28 days, the supposedly 4,000 psi concrete was achieving
only 2,500 psi of compressive strength. Talk immediately began about
tearing out the new concrete walls and the finger pointing for
responsibility started. A core boring was taken from the wall and the
concrete tested well above the 4,000 psi requirement.

So what happened? It seems no one considered what a constantly

vibrating pump room floor would do to the setting process of the
concrete. The moral of the story is that concrete test cylinders cause
enough problems on a project that the Construction Supervisor should
have a clear, agreed upon plan for their making, storing, breaking and
reporting.

How Do I Get Concrete on the Job?

Concrete can be mixed on site or purchased from vendors in Ready

Mix trucks. Ready Mix concrete has the ingredients mixed at the
Ready Mix plant according to a set recipe for the requested mix. The
advantages of Ready Mix concrete are the uniformity in handling the
raw materials (ingredients), the supplier’s experience with how a
certain mix design will perform (3 day strength, 28 day strength,
workability, etc.) and convenience. The disadvantages of Ready Mix
concrete can be the following: long driving times (if plant is far from
job site) in which the concrete becomes less workable, difficulty in
obtaining concrete at times and quantities that are needed and cost.

Concrete batch plants are utilized on large construction projects to

mix the concrete on site. The advantages of job site batch plants are
ability to get concrete in necessary times and quantities, eliminating
traveling issues, and cost. The disadvantages of concrete batch plants
are the amount of equipment, labor and job site space required to
make the process work and potential concrete quality problems since
mix designs will not have had much previous experience.

Of course, for very small concrete projects, concrete can be mixed on

the job site by hand or in portable concrete/mortar mixers. It’s
important to understand that concrete mixed in this way is unlikely to
be as uniform as Ready Mixed concrete, due to the variations inherent
in the process:

1. Measuring (often done by shovels) will be much less

precise.
2. Moisture levels in sand and gravel will be unknown (thus
adding water to the mix).
3. The water-cement ratio will be determined by feel rather
than by measurement.

These issues don’t mean that job site mixed concrete will be
unacceptable, only that the quality of the concrete will be much more
variable than Ready Mixed concrete. Therefore, the Construction
Supervisor should use caution in allowing job site mixed concrete if
the final attributes of the concrete are critical (i.e. if 4500 psi
concrete is needed for concrete columns or if any cracking of the floor
would be a major problem).

If small quantities of concrete are to mixed on the job site, the

information provided in Figure 1.14 should be helpful. Insert Figure
1.14.

What Public Domain Documents are Available for Further Study?

This US Department of Army Concrete and Masonry Field Manual

does a great job explaining Concrete and Masonry basics. It's 323
pages of figures, basic explanations and instructions of how to do the
work. If you are somewhat new to construction, take some time and
review this excellent resource. The official name is US Army FM 5-
428.

Another great all around great construction introductory guide that

covers some concrete installation items is the US Navy Builder
Training Course Volume #1. The official name of this 332 page
resource is Builder 3 and 2, Volume #1, NAVEDTRA 14043.

The US Navy produced a chapter about rebar in their Steelworker

Volume 2 training manual that has some good information. Titled
Steelworker Volume 2 Training Manual, the official name is
NAVEDTRA 14251, November 1996.

The US Dept of Defense produced a 59 page training document that

has some good joint details and design guides for understanding
Concrete Floors. Titled Concrete Floor Slabs on Grade Subjected to
Heavy Loads, the official name is UFC 3-320-06A, 1 March 2005.

The US Air Force Training Guide for Structural Concrete work is a 39

page training guide that teaches a few basic concrete skills. It's found
at Air Force Qualification Training Package for Structural Concrete.

Tricks of the Trade & Rules of Thumb for Concrete Basics:

 1. Know the different concrete mixes specified for the project.
Pay attention not just to required 28 day strength (3,000
psi, 4,000 psi, etc) but also to likely admixtures and
additions to the mix.
2. Know the concrete testing required for each concrete mix
and have a clear plan for how the testing will be
accomplished.
3. Get in the habit of looking at the rebar and understanding
the structural rebar locations and the temperature steel
locations.
4. Know how to read the markings on a piece of rebar to
determine its producing mill, bar size and type and grade of
steel.