STRUCTURAL DESIGN

ENGLISH ACTIVITY

The activity consists of investigating the settlement test procedure in normalized concrete that is
applied in Colombia.

OSCAR HERNANDO CUARAN CUARAN

CODIGO: D7302265

DANIEL RICARDO TOLOZA MEDINA

D 7302217

OSCAR NIRAY MEDINA MELO

D7301803
Introduction

The concrete acceptance test is the process of testing representative samples of the
concrete supplied to a project.

Acceptance tests include testing of concrete in a plastic state such as settlement, air
content, density (unit weight) and temperature, and tests on hardened concrete such as
strength and other durability properties, in accordance with contract requirements or
specifications. of the project.

The hardened concrete tests are carried out following standards to determine if the
concrete placed has the potential to develop the properties defined by the professional
designer.

The results of these test tests are not intended to predict the behavior of concrete in the
structure. There are different variables that occur during the construction process, which
will produce an effect on the properties of the concrete placed on the site, which go
beyond the control of the concrete contractor.
The activity consists of investigating the settlement test procedure in normalized
concrete that is applied in Colombia.

The structural behavior of the concrete depends on its design, good placement practices
and quality control. Quality control is defined as the set of actions and decisions that are
taken in order to meet the specifications of the same and verify compliance with the
required requirements. This should be preventive rather than corrective; therefore, it is
vitally important to carry out tests on fresh concrete with which it is sought to guarantee
compliance with specifications in hardened state.

It is of vital importance to understand the property of fresh concrete that refers to the ease
with which it can be mixed, transported, placed, compacted and finished without losing its
homogeneity

In Colombia, the degree of handleability that is appropriate for each structure is

determined depending on the size of the elements to be built and the size of the
reinforcement. This is handled in our country by the method of measuring the consistency
or fluidity determined by The trial of settlement with the cone slump according to
Colombian technical norm 396 is actually used in many parts of the world, as we can
conclude that this test method does not measure the workability of the concrete, it only
determines its consistency.

. http://blog.360gradosenconcreto.com/ensayo-de-asentamiento-del-concreto-ntc-396/

http://blog.360gradosenconcreto.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Ensayo-asentamiento-concreto.jpg
A sample of fresh concrete is placed in a conical trunk mold and compacted by a rod. The
mold rises allowing the concrete to settle. The settlement corresponds to the difference
between the initial position and the displaced position of the upper surface of the concrete.

Equipment:

Cone of Abrams

The sample must be made in a mold resistant to the attack of the cement paste. The
minimum size of the metal must be No.16 (BWG); If the mold has been made using the
embossing process, no wall point should have a thickness of less than 1.14 mm. The mold
must have the shape of the lateral surface of a truncated cone of 203 mm + - 3.0 mm in
height. The bases must be open, parallel to each other and perpendicular to the axis of the
cone. The mold must be provided with handles and devices to hold it with the feet. The
mold can be manufactured with or without seams. When a seam is required, this must be
done. The interior of the mold should be free of dents and be relatively smooth, without
protrusions, such as protruding rivets. A mold attached to a base can be accepted instead
of the one illustrated, provided that the arrangement of the fastening elements allows its
removal without movement of the mold.

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Compactor rod

It must be steel, cylindrical, smooth, 16 mm in diameter and with a length of approximately

600 mm; The compactor end must be hemispherical with a diameter of 16 mm.

It is used to compact the concrete in preparation for the slump test and prepare the
cylindrical specimens as well as in the performance of air content tests. Made of
galvanized steel.

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Sample:

It is understood as a composite sample that is formed by several portions of the same

bachada. The concrete sample from which the specimens are obtained must represent the
total of the batch and must be obtained in accordance with NTC 454.
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cemento.jpg

Sampling:

The total time elapsed between obtaining the first and the last portion of the composite
sample should be as short as possible and in no case should it exceed 15 min.

The settlement or air content test or both is initiated within 5 min after obtaining the final
portion of the composite sample. The trials are completed as soon as possible. The
molding of the specimens for the resistance test (see NTC 550) is started within 15 min
after the elaboration of the composite sample. The period of time between obtaining the
sample and using the samples should be as short as possible. The sample is protected
from the sun, the wind and any other source of rapid evaporation and contamination by the
use of a cover of non-absorbent material.

Test procedure:

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 The mold is moistened and placed on a rigid, flat, moist and non-absorbent horizontal
surface. This is fi rmed with the feet and filled with the sample of concrete in three layers,
each one of a third of the volume of the mold approximately.

Each layer should be compacted with 25 strokes of the rod, evenly distributed over its
cross section. For the bottom layer it is necessary to slightly tilt the rod giving
approximately half of the blows near the perimeter and advancing with vertical blows in a
spiral, towards the center. The bottom layer should be compacted throughout its
respective thickness, so that the rod penetrates slightly into the immediately lower layer.

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Results:

The settlement must be recorded in millimeters, with an approximation of 5 mm and is

determined as follows:

Settlement = 305 - height in millimeters after seated concrete.

When filling the top layer, concrete must be stacked on the mold before compacting. If in
doing so, it sits below the upper edge, concrete must be added so that there is an additional
amount on the mold at all times. After compaction, the last layer should be smoothed flush
with the surface of the concrete using the compactor rod. Immediately remove the mold,
lifting it carefully in a vertical direction. The mold is lifted at a distance of 300 mm for 5 s + -
2 s, by a uniform upward movement without producing lateral torsional movement to the
concrete. The complete operation, from the moment the mold begins to fill until it is
removed, must be carried out without interruption for a maximum time of 2 min, 30 s.6.4
Immediately the settlement is measured, determining the vertical difference between the
upper part of the mold and the center displaced from the surface of the sample. If a
pronounced collapse or a detachment of the concrete towards one side of the sample
occurs, the test should be rejected and carried out again on another position of the sample.

You should also consider the conditions of placement, since today there are multiple
systems of emptying and placement such as roller compacted concrete, cast concrete,
sliding forms, vibrating rules, conveyor belts, vibratory rollers, pumping , the tremie tube-
funnel system, injection methods and self-compaction technology, among others, that
require greater or lesser plasticity (cohesion) of the mixture; As is known, this condition
depends largely on the content of fines. The system of compaction is also important
because the maximum resistance is achieved when the unit mass of the concrete (with
normal weight stone aggregates) is also maximum.

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FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE MANEJABILITY

The most important factors that influence the manageability of a mixture are the following

GRADATION OF FINE ADDED

A badly graded sand, with excess or defect of particles of a given size, can present a large
amount of empty spaces that must be filled with cement paste and water so that the
mixture is manageable and not porous. The most important recommendations, related to
the gradation of the sand, can be summarized in the following.

A) The fine aggregate must not retain more than 45% between two consecutive
meshes, considering the series of sieves numbers 4, 8, 16, 30, 50 and 100.
B) For the mixture to be more manageable, cohesive, have less surface water and
present good texture for a good finish, the fine aggregate used, especially in thin walls
with smooth finish, must have more than 15% of particles passing through No. 50 mesh
(297 m) and more than 4% mesh No. 100 (149 m)
C) The use of very fine or very coarse sands should be avoided; with the former,
mixtures will be obtained that segregate and with the second rough mixtures

GRADING OF THE THICK AGGREGATE

With respect to the gradation of the coarse aggregate the same can be said as for the fine
aggregate. A gravel or a badly graded crushed, will present excess vacuums that must be
filled with mortar so that the mixture is manageable.

A different concept on the influence of aggregate granulometry on the handling, strength

and cement content of a mixture is used to dose discontinuous granulometry concrete; if a
coarse aggregate of discontinuous granulometry is used (eliminating intermediate sizes)
and a fine aggregate in which the finest particles are discarded, it is possible to obtain an
equal strength with a lower cement content and equal manageability than with aggregates
of continuous granulometry .

Such phenomenon is attributed to the fact that the individual particles are placed in such a
way that they are in contact with each other, the voids are filled with a uniform matrix and
the compressive loads are transmitted especially by the direct contact between the coarse
aggregate particles. and not by the mortar (which is weaker). The latter transmits tensile
and shear stresses.

SHAPE AND SUPERFICIAL TEXTURE OF THE AGGREGATES

Thick aggregates with elongated, flattened, rough, rough and angular particles require a
greater amount of mortar in a mixture than those composed of rounded and smooth
particles, in order to preserve a comparable manageability. For fine aggregates, in turn,
the same observation can be made, with respect to water or paste content.
The main recommendations related to the shape and texture of the aggregates are the
following:

A) It should try to use, as far as possible, the natural sands instead of those obtained
during the rock crushing process (manufactured or crushed sands).

B) Among the coarse aggregates, especially the crushed aggregates, those that have an
approximately rounded or cubic shape should be preferred. A moderate percentage of
flattened or elongated particles can be allowed so that their effect on the handling of the
mixture is not important (maximum 15%).

RELATIVE QUANTITIES OF PASTE AND AGGREGATES

The manageability of fresh concrete is determined by the lubricating effect of the cement
paste and water, which is influenced by the amount of paste with respect to that of the
aggregates. If this relationship has a high value, the aggregates will be able to move freely
within the concrete mass. If the amount of paste is reduced to a point where it is not
enough to fill the empty spaces and allow the aggregates to "float," the mixture will
become grainy and rough.

PASTE FLUID

For a quantity of paste and aggregates, the plasticity of the mixture will depend on the
relative amounts of water and cement in the paste. A paste with little water and a lot of
cement will be very rigid, it will not be able to admit the addition of aggregates without
becoming entirely unmanageable. On the contrary, if the water content is high and the
cement is low, the paste can become so fluid that it is not able to prevent the segregation
of the aggregates (especially of the coarse sizes); the heavier solids will settle and the
water will accumulate on the surface of the mixture producing the phenomenon known as
exudation

Fresh pasta is a suspension, but not a cement solution in water. The more dilute, the
larger the space between the cement particles and then the weaker the structure of the
paste in any state of hydration of the same. Therefore, in plastic mixtures the strength of
the concrete will vary as an inverse function of the water / cement ratio, which is a way of
expressing the degree of dilution of the paste
CONCLUSIONS

From the above it can be deduced that the manageability of a concrete depends
indisputably and in large part on the proportions of its aggregates, of the water - cement
ratio, since there are several additional factors that intervene in it such as the properties of
the cement, the content of air, the presence and properties of additives, temperature,
among others.

In conclusion, the test of consistency of concrete, or "slump test", serves to evaluate its
ability to adapt easily to the formwork that will contain

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Use the recommended protective equipment

• The tamping should be strong and the cone should not be moved at the time of
compaction because it can cause a large amount of air in the sample

• The compaction of the different layers has to be done very carefully as the rod must not
touch the previous layer

• The sample should be introduced to the cone immediately as the water can evaporate
and modify the cone result.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

http://ingcivil-notasapuntes.blogspot.com.co/2015/02/ensayo-de-consistencia-del-
concreto.html

http://ingevil.blogspot.com.co/2008/10/ensayo-de-abrams-toma-de-muestras-para_07.html

ftp://ftp.unicauca.edu.co/cuentas/geanrilo/docs/FIC%20y%20GEOTEC%20SEM%202%20
de%202010/Tecnologia%20del%20Concreto%20-
%20%20PDF%20ver.%20%202009/Cap.%2004%20-%20Manejabilidad.pdf

http://construaprendiendo.blogspot.com.co/2012/02/ensayo-para-determinar-el-
asentamiento.html.