We all know the strength of concrete depends upon many factors such as properties of construction material, Mix Ratio & Working conditions.
Workability of concrete is face value for all these factors. A single value that indicates the overall strength of concrete.
Here we are going to discuss the importance of Workability of concrete.
Workability is a property of concrete.
In simple terms, concrete workability means the ease of fresh concrete which can be mixed, placed and compacted fully over the formwork without concrete segregation (Honeycomb) & bleeding.
Proper Guidance has been given in IS Code 1199-1959 (Complete IS Code List) for concrete workability.
Conditions | Degree of Workability |
Shallow Sections | Very Low |
Mass Concrete & Light reinforced sections slab, beam & column | Low |
Heavy Light reinforced sections slab, beam & column | Medium |
Trench fill, In-situ piling, Tremie concrete | High & Very High |
How easily you can handle the concrete determines its types as
Workability of concrete is directly proportional to
As you know Cement is a vital ingredient in concrete which acts as a glue between aggregates to form a strong concrete.
The workability of concrete depends on the amount of water which is mixed with cement to create the proper cement paste.
As per IS code, the recommended water-cement ratio ranges between 0.4 to 0.6 for good workability.
If the water content increases in concrete then the workability also increases but eventually after a certain stage, segregation & bleeding will occur. It develops some serious issues like shrinkage & creep of concrete.
The aggregate properties affect the workability of concrete as listed below.
The rapid hardening cement will reduce the workability compared to ordinary Portland cement because it is hydrated more rapidly and also its influence on bleeding.
The increase in water content should be necessary to increase the workability on hot days. The environment temperature makes the water in the concrete to evaporate soon which affects the workability
So the ambient temperature also affects the workability of concrete.
High workability is required for heavy reinforcement formwork because it is not possible to use vibration to compact the concrete. So the concrete has to be compact & settle by itself.
As we know it’s easy to place concrete on slab than a beam.
The workability may be affected by the use of admixture. The main purpose of admixture usage on concrete is to increase the workability and less amount of water is enough while using it.
Concrete workability can be increased by
So far we have discussed the importance of concrete workability & the factors affecting it. Now its time to analyse the concrete that you made according to the instruction
Here we have listed some of the lab and field tests to measure the workability.
Read the article at least 2 times to understand the topic better.
Hope you have learnt something useful today. Happy Day 🙂
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