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Portland Cement Construction Aggregate Rebar

Concrete is a composite material made of cement, water, aggregate and steel rebar. It has high compressive strength but low tensile strength, so rebar is added to improve strength and ductility. Concrete must cure for 28 days to fully harden. It can be poured on site or precast off site. Concrete has excellent fire resistance without additional costs but other building materials may still pose fire risks. Properly constructed concrete has great corrosion resistance if the rebar is not exposed, requiring adequate concrete cover over the rebar according to design specifications.

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65 views1 page

Portland Cement Construction Aggregate Rebar

Concrete is a composite material made of cement, water, aggregate and steel rebar. It has high compressive strength but low tensile strength, so rebar is added to improve strength and ductility. Concrete must cure for 28 days to fully harden. It can be poured on site or precast off site. Concrete has excellent fire resistance without additional costs but other building materials may still pose fire risks. Properly constructed concrete has great corrosion resistance if the rebar is not exposed, requiring adequate concrete cover over the rebar according to design specifications.

Uploaded by

Clarence
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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 Characteristics - Generally consisting of portland cement, water, construction

aggregate (coarse and fine), and steel reinforcing bars (rebar), concrete is cheaper in
comparison to structural steel.
 Strength - Concrete is a composite material with relatively high compressive strength
properties, but lacking in tensile strength/ductility. This inherently makes concrete a useful
material for carrying the weight of a structure. Concrete reinforced with steel rebar give the
structure a stronger tensile capacity, as well as an increase in ductility and elasticity.
 Constructability - Reinforced concrete must be poured and left to set, or harden. After setting
(typically 1–2 days), a concrete must cure, the process in which concrete experiences a
chemical reaction between the cementitious particles and the water. The curing process is
complete after 28 days; however, construction may continue after 1–2 weeks, depending on the
nature of the structure. Concrete can be constructed into nearly any shape and size.
Approximately half of the cost of using reinforced concrete in a structural project is attributed to
the construction of the form-work. In order to save time, and therefore costs, structural concrete
members may be pre-cast. This refers to a reinforced concrete beam, girder, or column being
poured off site and left to cure. After the curing process, the concrete member may be delivered
to the construction site and installed as soon as it is needed. Since the concrete member was
cured off location beforehand, construction may continue immediately after erection. [9]
 Fire resistance - Concrete has excellent fire resistance properties, requiring no additional
construction costs to adhere to the International Building Code (IBC) fire protection standards.
However, concrete buildings will still likely use other materials that are not fire resistant.
Therefore, a designer must still take into account the use of the concrete and where it will
require fire hazardous materials in order to prevent future complications in the overall design.
 Corrosion - Reinforced concrete, when constructed properly, has excellent corrosion
resistance properties. Concrete is not only resistant to water, but needs it to cure and develop its
strength over time. However, the steel reinforcement in the concrete must not be exposed in
order to prevent its corrosion as this could significantly reduce the ultimate strength of the
structure. The American Concrete Institute provides the necessary design specifications for an
engineer to ensure there is enough concrete covering any steel reinforcement to prevent
exposure to water. This cover distance must be specified because concrete will inevitable crack
at locations carrying tension, or locations containing reinforcing bars for the purpose of carrying
said tension. If the concrete cracks, it provides a path for water to travel directly to the
reinforcing bars.[9] Some reinforcing bars are coated in epoxy as a second order measure of
preventing corrosion due to water contact. This method induces higher costs on the overall
project, however, due to the higher cost of the epoxy coated bars. Also, when using epoxy
coated bars, reinforced concrete members must be designed larger, as well as stronger, in order
to balance the loss of friction between the reinforcing bars and concrete. This friction is referred
to as bond strength, and it is vital to the structural integrity of a concrete member. [7]

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