Concrete technology
Concrete has been used since Roman times and possibly earlier. The Romans even used lightweight concrete for the roof of the Colosseum. With us lightweight concrete is a development mainly of the last twenty years. The cements the Romans used were different from those which are used today.
Good, strong, long-lasting concrete did not become generally possible until cheap coal was available and therefore cheap cement. Portland cement is made from the burning of finely-ground limestone or chalk mixed with clay.
This was first patented in 1824, but the cement was not in wide use until the beginning of the present century. It was only then that concrete technology began.
Concrete was originally used only because it was a strong, cheap replacement for masonry. Very few limes ever reach the strength that cement can reach in a few day at ordinary temperatures (15c).
Concrete technology is concerned with making of plentiful good concrete cheaply.
It includes the correct choice of the cement and the water, and the right treatment of the aggregates. Those which are dug nearby must be sized, washed free of clay or silt, and recombined in the correct proportions so as to make a cheap concrete which is workable at a low water cement ratio. It is, therefore, compacted to a high density and becomes strong.
Abram's law, perhaps the oldest law of concrete technology, states that the strength of a concrete varies inversely with its water cement ratio. This means that the sand content-particularly the fine sand which needs much water-must be reduced so far as possible. The fact that the sand drinks large quantities of water can easily be established by mixing several batches of X kg of cement with Y kg of stone and the same amount of water but increasing amounts of sand. However, if there is no sand, the concrete will be so stiff that it will be unworkable therefore porous and weak. The same will be true if the sand is too coarse. Therefore, for each set of aggregates, the correct mix must be chosen after careful testing; once found, this correct mix must not be changed without any good reason. This applies particularly to the water content.
Any drinkable and many undrinkable waters can be used for making concrete. Most clear waters from the sea or river can also be used for this purpose. It is important that clay should be kept out of the concrete. The cement if fresh can usually be chosen on the basis of the maker's certificates of tensile or crushing tests, but these are always made with fresh cement.
Where strength is important, and the cement at the site is old, it should be tested.
Translator: engineer Navid Jafari