Subjects › Materials and Construction
Concrete Technology
Ingredients, mixing, placing, curing and testing of concrete.
Topics by level
Basics
School, diploma and first-year level: the ideas in plain words.
Intermediate
Degree and exam core (GATE, ESE level).
Advanced and Design
Professional design practice.
Research
Frontier topics for researchers and postgraduates.
Videos
35 percent: fly ash limit in PPC
Fly ash in Portland pozzolana cement and why there is an upper limit.
Needle vibrator: vertical in, slow out
How to compact fresh concrete without trapping air. IS 456 Cl 13.3 in our words.
Aggregate crushing value test
Stone is loaded to 400 kN in a steel mould; the fines produced tell you how tough it is. IS 2386 Part 4.
Aggregate impact value test
A falling hammer instead of a slow press, for stone that will take sudden loads.
Flakiness index test
A slotted gauge picks out thin, flat pieces that weaken a mix. IS 2386 Part 1.
Silt content: the 75 micron wash
Washing sand over a fine sieve shows how much dust and silt it carries.
Codes and standards
| Country | Designation | Scope (our words) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | IS 10262 | Guidelines for proportioning concrete mixes. | current |
| India | IS 1199 | Methods of sampling and analysis of fresh concrete, including slump. | current |
| India | IS 1489 (Parts 1 and 2) | Portland pozzolana cement (fly ash and calcined clay based). | current |
| India | IS 15388 | Silica fume for use in concrete: specification. | current |
| India | IS 16714 | Ground granulated blast furnace slag for use in cement, mortar and concrete: specification. | current |
| India | IS 2386 (Parts 1 to 8) | Methods of test for aggregates for concrete: shape, strength, soundness and more. | current |
| India | IS 269 | Ordinary Portland cement: requirements. | current |
| India | IS 383 | Coarse and fine aggregate for concrete: requirements. | current |
| India | IS 455 | Portland slag cement. | current |
| India | IS 456 | Plain and reinforced concrete: general rules for materials, durability, design and construction. | current |
| India | IS 516 | Methods of testing concrete for strength (cubes and related tests). | current |
| India | IS 9103 | Concrete admixtures: specification. | current |
| USA | ACI 211.1 | Standard practice for selecting proportions for normal, heavyweight and mass concrete. | current |
| USA | ACI 318 | Building code requirements for structural concrete. | current |
| USA | ASTM C143 | Slump of hydraulic-cement concrete. | current |
| USA | ASTM C150 | Portland cement specification. | current |
| USA | ASTM C39 | Compressive strength of cylindrical concrete specimens. | current |
| USA | ASTM C494 | Chemical admixtures for concrete. | current |
| UK | BS 8500 | UK complementary standard to BS EN 206 for specifying concrete. | current |
| Europe | EN 12350 (series) | Testing fresh concrete, including slump. | current |
| Europe | EN 12390 (series) | Testing hardened concrete, including compressive strength. | current |
| Europe | EN 197-1 | Cement: composition and conformity of common cements. | current |
| Europe | EN 206 | Concrete: specification, performance, production and conformity. | current |
| Europe | EN 934-2 | Admixtures for concrete: definitions and requirements. | current |
| Japan | JIS A 1101 | Method of test for slump of concrete. | current |
| Japan | JIS A 1108 | Method of test for compressive strength of concrete. | current |
| Japan | JIS R 5210 | Portland cement. | current |
| Japan | JIS R 5211 | Portland blast-furnace slag cement. | current |
| Japan | JSCE Standard Specifications for Concrete Structures | Japan Society of Civil Engineers specifications for design, construction and maintenance. | current |
| Australia | AS 1012 (series) | Methods of testing concrete. | current |
| Australia | AS 3972 | General purpose and blended cements. | current |
| Canada | CSA A23.1/A23.2 | Concrete materials and methods of construction; test methods. | current |
| Canada | CSA A3000 | Cementitious materials compendium. | current |
Listed in a fixed country order; no standard is ranked above another. Scopes are our summaries. Buy the standards from the issuing body for exact text.
References and further reading
Standard texts, listed in no order of merit. We do not copy text, figures, tables or solved problems from any book; our explanations and examples are original.
- M. S. Shetty, Concrete Technology: Theory and Practice, S. Chand, latest edition.
- A. M. Neville, Properties of Concrete, Pearson, 5th edition.
- P. K. Mehta, P. J. M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials, McGraw Hill, latest edition.