Lucy Academy

MSc Construction Technology & Management

CENG 6102 - Concrete Construction tutorial

Instructions:
I. Submission date is 15th September 2020 in hard copy with
clearly specified numbering as given in the question paper.
II. If the answer of two or more students happens to be the
same, mark reduction penalties will be applied – copying from
a friend is forbidden (no group work).

1. Which admixture would you use in each case during mixing or at the jobsite?
• There is a large quantity of freshly mixed concrete and the work at the
job-site had to stop because of rain.
• More time is expected to be needed for finishing concrete.
• Concrete is to be around tightly spaced reinforcing steel.
• Concrete mix will be hauled a long distance.
2.
• What are the advantages of constructing shear walls and columns with
high-strength concrete in high-rise buildings?
• What are the potential problems associated with such high strength
concrete? Is it desirable to use concrete of very high strength i.e.
exceeding 60 MPa?
• Superplasticized concrete is, in general, prone to slump loss. How can
this problem be overcome in construction practice?
• Why is the use of water-reducing and pozzolanic admixtures is
essential for producing ultra-high-strength concrete?
3. An engineer is working in a research project to evaluate the effect of one type
of admixture on the compressive strength of concrete. To verify this, ten
mortar cubes were made without admixture and 10 others with admixture for
testing after 28 days of curing. The compressive strengths of cubes without
admixture were 25.1, 24.4, 25.8, 25.2, 23.9, 24.7, 24.3, 26.0, 23.8, and 24.6 MPa.

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 The compressive strengths of cubes with admixture were 25.3, 26.8, 26.5, 24.5,
27.2, 24.8, 24.1, 25.9, 25.3, and 25.0 MPa. Using the statistical t-test, does this
admixture show an increase of the compressive strength of the cement mortar
at a level of significance of 0.05?
4.
• Basically, the results of compression test carried out by using cubes are
higher than that by cylinders. Why?
• A contractor claims that the mean compressive strength for a concrete
mix is 32.4 MPa and that it has a standard deviation of 2.8 MPa. If you
break 16 cylinders and obtain a mean compressive strength of 30.3
MPa, would you believe the contractor’s claim? Why? (Hint: Use
statistical t-test.).
5. In a ready-mix plant, cylindrical samples are prepared and tested periodically
to detect any mix problem and to ensure that the compressive strength is
higher than the lower specification limit. The minimum target value was set at
35 MPa. The following compressive strength data were collected.

Sample No. Compressive Sample No. Compressive

Strength (MPa) Strength (MPa)
1 39 11 47
2 36 12 38
3 45 13 37
4 36 14 47
5 36 15 36
6 37 16 42
7 42 17 37
8 41 18 40
9 43 19 46
10 36 20 37

• Calculate the mean, standard deviation, and the coefficient of variation

of the data.

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 • Using a spreadsheet program, create a control chart for these data
showing the target value and the lower specification limit. Is the plant
production meeting the specification requirement? If not, comment on
possible reasons. Comment on the data scatter.
6.
• Most of the main problems encountered with in-situ concrete generally
related to design and/or workmanship unlike precast concrete
products, which mainly related to materials. However, it is practically
observed that in almost every case, common to blame material? Why
do you think this happening?
• If concrete compression test fails, should Schmidt hammer test be
adopted as an alternative test to prove the concrete strength?
7.
• Illustrate at least two local and overseas case accidents due to
prematurely removing the support forms without making field tests to
be sure that the concrete had cured sufficiently (Cite your sources as
well).
• What are the principles behind the following test procedures: Schmidt
hammer test, Windsor probe test, pullout test, pulse velocity test?
Explain which you would recommend for deciding the formwork
removal time.
• For long slender structures like beams, propping is required after
removal of formwork. Why?
8. Describe how the properties of
a. Self-compacting concrete
b. Underwater concrete
c. Foamed concrete differ from those of normal concretes and how they
are achieved.
Discuss where these concretes can be advantageously used.
9.

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 • What is the difference between air entrained concrete and foamed
concrete?
• When the air content of a sample of concrete is measured using a
pressure type air meter, the following observations are made:
• Volume of concrete: 15 L
• Initial pressure: open to atmosphere
• Pressure change: 1.3 atm
• Volume change: 160 mL
What is the percentage of entrained air?

10. Calculate the mix quantities for a 0.25 m3 trial mix to the following
specification:
o Characteristic strength: 40 MPa at 28 days
o No. of test samples: 3
o Cement: OPC
o Proportion defectives: 5%
o Slump: 100 mm
o Coarse aggregate: 20 mm crushed
o Fine aggregate: crushed, 60% passing a 600 μm sieve
o Aggregate SSD density: 2500 kg/m3

To use United States (ACI) method for these questions, assume:

o Fineness modulus: 2.8

o Dry-rodded density of coarse aggregate: 1600 kg/m 3

o Absolute density of aggregate: 2600 kg/m 3

The cylinder strength should be taken as the characteristic strength given.

11. The following requirements are specified for concrete for construction of a
reinforced concrete jetty exposed to sea water and a moderate freeze-thaw
environment.
o Characteristic compressive strength at 28 days 35 MPa
o Slump required 75 to 100 mm
• Maximum coarse aggregate (crushed stone) size 25 mm

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 • Oven dry relative density of coarse aggregate 2050 kg/m3
• Moisture content in coarse aggregate at SSD 0.9%
• Moisture content of the coarse aggregate stock 2%
• Oven-dry relative density of fine aggregate 2.52
• Moisture content of the fine aggregate at SSD 0.7%
• Moisture content of the fine aggregate stock 5.2%
• Fineness modulus 2.5
The recommended dosage of air-entraining admixture is 0.4g per kg of cement.
Standard deviation (s) for the concrete strength for the plant is unknown, as no
statistical data on previous concrete mixes from the plant are available. Determine the
different proportions of constituents required for one cubic meter of concrete, using the
absolute volume method.
12. Determine the different proportions of constituents required for one cubic
meter of concrete using the absolute volume method. From structural
considerations, a design compressive strength (fc) of 28Mpa is required for
construction of concrete structures. Following specifications are also
prescribed in the design details:
• Cement: Ordinary Portland cement with relative density of 3.15
• Fine aggregate: Natural sand with oven-dry relative density of 2.3;
SSD moisture content of 0.2%; moisture content in the supplied sample
4.3%; fineness modulus 2.63
• Coarse aggregate: 19 mm nominal maximum size crushed stone;
oven-dry relative density of 2.8; SSD moisture content of 1.8%; oven-
dry rodded bulk density of 1950 kg/m3, moisture content in the
supplied sample is 4.9%.
• Slump should be between 25- 75 mm.
• Use standard deviation (s) as 4.8 MPa for calculating required average
compressive strength.
13.

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 • Describe the processes that take place during the carbonation of
reinforced concrete.
• If a structure is constructed with 20 mm of cover to the steel, and the
carbonation depth is 10 mm after 5 years, when would it be expected
to reach the steel?
14.
• Very large variations in the results from strength and slump tests are
observed from a particular site. Describe the possible causes of this.
State which of these causes would indicate the presence of poor-quality
concrete in the construction, and outline the methods that could be
used to detect it.
• What is the indication of shear slump and collapse slump in slump
tests?
• If on-site slump test fails, should engineers allow the contractor to
continue the concreting works?
15.
• You are specifying materials to be used in the masonry mortar for a
large housing project. The work is to be carried out in an area where
there is a good supply of a natural pozzolanic material. Describe how
you would decide on the specification.
• If a contractor proposes to increase concrete cover beyond contractual
specification (i.e. 40 mm to 70 mm), shall engineers accept the
proposal??
16.
• Your company has been hired to perform the assessment of the damage
of a building that had been exposed to a fire for 1 h. Write a memo
describing the protocol of the site investigation including what
nondestructive tests should be used to determine the best repair
strategy for the reinforced concrete structure.

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 • Why do resistivity measurements in a structure provide useful
information on the potential corrosion resistance of reinforced
concrete? List some limitations of this method.
17. When the ISAT test is carried out, the results fit approximately to the
relationship:
Flow = A × t-n, where t is time and A and n are constants. The following graph
shows the results from an experiment. What are the values of A and n?

18.
• Write a brief note on the pros and cons of construction practices for
controlling temperature rise in concrete.
• What are harmful manifestations of plastic shrinkage of concrete in (a)
reinforced columns and (b) slabs? Assuming that the air temperature
is 21°C, the concrete temperature is 24°C, and the wind velocity is 30
km/h, determine the rate of evaporation. If this rate is too high from
the standpoint of risk of plastic-shrinkage cracking, what
precautionary measures would you take? Alternatively, determine the

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 temperature to which concrete must be cooled to reduce the rate of
evaporation to a safe limit.
19. In the construction of a two-span bridge (span length = L) by using span-by-
span construction, why is a length of about 1.25L bridge segment is
constructed in the first phase of construction?
20. To detect the corrosion in a reinforcing steel bar, three acoustic emission
transducers were used. The arrangement of the transducers is shown in the
following figure. The first arrive-time differences between transducer 1 and 2
is 105μsec and between transducer 1 and 3 is 156μsec. Find out the position
of the corrosion.