Material Laboratory

Laboratory 1 Test on fresh concrete
Material and Concrete Technology

(CON3312)
Higher Diploma in Civil Engineering
EG114101-1NC11 Group D
Group members:
KONG HING YI 150331412
LIANG ZHONG YIN
CHAN CHI LEONG 150476059
LI CHUN KIT 150318948
II Procedure
Use the following mix proportion to prepare a batch of fresh
concrete:
Cement-8.8 kg 20 mm agg-17.6 kg
Water-4.4 kg
10 mm agg-8.8 kg
Fine agg-13.2 kg
Weight correct amount of aggregate and cement. Mix them in dry

thoroughly.
Weight correct amount of water, add it into the mixture and mix
them thoroughly.
Hold the cone firmly on the base plate, then fill
the cone by 3 equal layers of fresh concrete. Tamp each layer by 25

times with a tamping rod. Be sure to penetrate to the previous layer
when tamping.
Clean away concrete spillage with a sawing and rolling motion of the
tamping rod. Lift the cone slowly and steadily in five to ten seconds.
If the slumped concrete shear or collapse, the test must be restarted
from the first step. If true slump is achieved, continue to the next
step.
Invert the cone and stand it beside the slumped concrete. Lay the
tamping rod across the cone and above the slumped concrete.
Record the height different between the underside of the rod and
the top of the slumped concrete to the nearest 5 mm.
Clean the mould and properly tighten the bolts. Evenly apply a thin
film of mould oil on the inside surface of the mould. Fill the mould
with fresh concrete to a thickness of about 50 mm. Use a
compacting bar to compact the concrete. Refer to the table below
for the minimum of strokes. Repeat step 3 and step 4 until the
mould is full. Level the top with a trowel. Cover the mould with a
plastic sheet or Perspex cover.
Add 0.8 kg of water more into the mixture and mix them thoroughly
again.
Measure the three dimensions (l1, l2 and l3) of the cube with the
caliper.
2. Weight the stirrup immersed in water or set the balance reading
zero.
3. Place the concrete on the stirrup and fully immersed it in water.
4. Record the apparent mass of the specimen with correction for the
apparent mass
of the empty stirrup (mw).
5. Wipe the specimen to remove the surface water and weight it in
air (ma).
6. Perform the test once for each test specimen.
Clean the surface of the cube with a towel. Draw lines on two
opposite faces (not the trowelled face) of the cube such that each
face is subdivided into nine equal squares. Carefully place the cube
in the compression machine such that: z The trowelled face is
vertical, z The faces with lines drawn are vertical and accessible
from the front or rear of the compression machine. Apply loading of
158 225 kN to hold the cube. For each face, test with the Schmidt
rebound hammer on the centre of each square and record the
rebound number
Identify and remove the cube specimen from curing tank. Wipe off
excess water from specimen surfaces with a piece of cloth. Record
the date of the specimen cast. Record the cube if it is having an
edge broken for 20mm or more in any direction. Place the cube in
cube checking jig with the trowelled surface upwards. Check the
contract between the cube and the jib with the feeler gauges. Turn
the cube through 90 and repeat the check. Measure the length
(l1), width (l2) and height (l) between the three pairs of opposing
faces of the cube with a caliper. Weigh the cube. Place the cube on
the centre of the lower platen with the trowelled surface of the cube
vertical. Apply the test load steadily so that the stress is increased
at a rate within the range of 0.2 N/mm2 per second to 0.4 N/mm2
per second until no greater load can be sustained. Record the
maximum load applied (F) to the cube specimen.
Place the test specimen in the centering jig with packing strips and
loading pieces. Place the jig in the compression machine carefully
so that the spacemen is located centrally. Applied the load steadily
and without shock such that the stress is increased at a rate within
the range of 0.02 MPa/s to 0.04 MPa/s. Record the maximum load
attained (F).
Carefully place the specimen in the flexural loading device such

that: z the trowelled face is vertical, z the specimen is in the centre
of the loading device, and z the longitudinal axis of the specimen is
at right angle to the rollers. Applied the load steadily and without
shock such that the stress is increased at a rate within the range of
0.03 MPa/s to 0.06 MPa/s. Record the maximum load attained.
(Failures outside the middle one-third of the distance between the
supporting rollers shall render the test invalid.)
34
42
30
36
44
44
41
3
3
42
41
4
2
40
4
4
48
42
38
4
0
3
7
First Cube (normal)

Date Cast: 2015-11-11 Age: 28 day
Slump: 37mm
water cement
ratio:0.5
Appearance: damaged corner
Dimension: l =149.82mm
l=150.76mm l=150.96mm
Weight in air: 8066.1g
Weight in
water: 4696g
Maximum load attained: 1263KN
Density determined by dimension: 2365.624 kg/m3
Density determined by water displacement: 2393.430 kg/m3
Compressive strength: 55.84 N/mm2
Failure Pattern: 4
Second Cube(Extra HO):
Date Cast: 2015-11-11 Age: 28 day
Slump: 187mm
water cement ratio:0.59
Appearance: damaged corner
Dimension: l =149.1mm l=150.37mm l=150.57mm
Weight in air: 7942.5g
Weight in water: 4595.7g
Maximum load attained: 834.8KN
Density determined by dimension: 2353.572 kg/m3
Density determined by water displacement: 2373.1624 kg/m3
Compressive strength: 37.234 N/mm2
Failure Pattern: 1
Which cube has higher strength? Why its strength is higher
than another one?
First Cube strength higher than the second cube (Extra H2O),
because The more the w/c ratio is increased (that is, the more water
that is added for a fixed amount of cement), the more the strength
of the resulting concrete is reduced. This is mostly because adding
more water creates a diluted paste that is weaker and more
susceptible to cracking and shrinkage. Shrinkage leads to microcracks, which are zones of weakness. Once the fresh concrete is
placed, excess water is squeezed out of the paste by the weight of
the aggregate and the cement paste itself. When there is a large
excess of water, that water bleeds out onto the surface. The micro
channels and passages that were created inside the concrete to
allow that water to flow become weak zones and micro-cracks.
Schmidt Rebound Hammer:

Rebound
number
Concrete
strengt
h
Estimated compressive strength: 40

Actual compressive strength: 55.94
Tensile splitting strength:
Average measured diameter, d=150.26mm
Average measured length, L=299.5325mm
Maximum load attained, F=251.7KN
Tensile splitting strength: 3.5602 N/mm2
Flexural strength
Width of the specimen, d=100.9mm
Depth of the specimen, d=100.7mm
Spacing of the lower rollers, L=300mm
Maximum load attained, F=15.94KN
Flexural strength: 4.6737 N/mm2
Observation and Inference

What is the effect of the quantity of mixing
water on the workability of fresh concrete?
In general, with increasing w/c the strength should
decrease as more water will result in higher (capillary)
porosity. Ths holds at least for the commonly used w/c,
even the low ones (you can imagine that for the very low
w/c the strength would decrease again as the cement
could not hydrate sufficiently, but such low w/c are hardly
ever used). There exist empirical relationships to relate
w/c to strength but they are definetely not robust.
As for the cosistency, this depends on some additional
factors. FOr the very stiff consistency there may be a lot of
large air sockets entrapped that could be considered as

defects and therefore decrease the strength. From this
perspective, more fluid concrete should lead to better
filling of the molds and easier evacuation of (otherwise)
entrapped air. On the other hand, too fluid consistency
may lead to segregation of the mixture and problems with
strength. Also, too much plasticizer added to obtain
certain consistency may lead to slower hydration and
therefore slower develoment of strength.
Which cube, the first or the second one, you

think is stronger, why?
The first one because the water cement ratio is better
than the second one.

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Laboratory 1 Test on fresh concrete

Material and Concrete Technology

Weight correct amount of aggregate and cement. Mix them in dry

Hold the cone firmly on the base plate, then fill

the cone by 3 equal layers of fresh concrete. Tamp each layer by 25

plastic sheet or Perspex cover.

Carefully place the specimen in the flexural loading device such

First Cube (normal)

Schmidt Rebound Hammer:

Estimated compressive strength: 40

Observation and Inference

large air sockets entrapped that could be considered as

Which cube, the first or the second one, you

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