Advantages Of Concrete

Concrete floor is one of the most durable materials in the world. It can be made with waste products which help to reduce the consumption of valuable materials. It also can be made from fly ash, slag cement, and silica fume, all waste byproducts from steel mills, power plants and other manufacturing facilities.

Concrete can be looked at as a material made from sand, gravel and cement. According to Lambert (2002), “the first major concrete users were the Egyptians in around 2,500 BC and the Romans from around 300 BC”. Roman concrete like modern concrete was an artificial building material made up of aggregate, binding agent and water. Aggregate could be gravel, chunks of stone, chunks of rubble, broken bricks, etc. Binding agent could be mud , lime or gypsum, mixed with rubbles stone. The Roman added pozzolona, a special volcanic dust found in central Italy (Archserve, n.d). The addition of pozzolona made the bond with the aggregate far stronger than what was traditionally being used. This development drastically changed and shaped construction work in the life of Rome.

“Roman concrete (opus caementicium), like modern concrete, is an artificial building material composed of an aggregate, a binding agent, and water. Aggregate is essentially a filler, such as gravel, chunks of stone and rubble, broken bricks, etc. Binding agent is a substance which is mixed with the aggregate wet (water added) and solidifies when it dries, or "sets." Many materials, even mud, can be a binding agent, and used to make, what we generally call, mortar. Historically lime or gypsum, mixed with rubble stones, have been used as binding agents in making a strong mortar” (Roman Concrete).

First, concrete durable. Concrete is something that will outlive other products up to three times over (“What Makes…”). In addition to durability, concrete is efficient. Concrete can be made with byproducts from power plants, and other aspects of manufacturing. Concrete is primarily made up limestone, the most abundant material on Earth. Above all of this concrete can be recycled. Concrete can be crushed and recycled into another structure or product, reducing the need to mine the limestone for production. Concrete also allows water to pass through which reduces the chance of flash flooding, erosion, and water table depletion as compared to other materials. This is a major check in the sustainability of concrete; the conservation of soil, landscape and ecosystems. Concrete is a very green option when it comes to building

All ancient cultures around the world, are Identified with the way in which they choose to build their cities and connecting infrastructure. The Romans seem to have been the king of architecture, especially when, they as a people were able to build a lot of public buildings, which are grand in size and opulence. Many of these structures still exist today, The Colosseum, and Pantheon. But the Romans were able also to build roads, bridges, and aqueducts. All of these things mentioned above were ONLY made possible by two things, Concrete and arches ! Let’s talk about concrete. It was a Roman invention and I have taking a direct quote from our reading to describe what concrete is;

Concrete is the ultimate building block of society; there are a plethora of ways that it has been used. Romans were some of the first, in recorded history, to use it; they used it to build their aqueducts and even the Colosseum. If anything, the Romans were some of the first to make huge developments in concrete, and they were some of the first to actually use concrete on a large scale. America has also used concrete on a large scale, using concrete to build the Hoover Dam and the Grand Coulee Dam. Those examples show how concrete is an incredibly strong and durable building material that has remained standing after all these years and will continue to be the primary

According to Yegul (Accessed 2015), Roman concrete or opus caementicium was developed around 45 BCE. Concrete was used by the Romans as a building material because it converts to a hard surface like a rock when mixed in the right combination of components. It takes three components to make a concrete substance. The three substances are an aggregate such as limestone, a binding agent such as clay or mud, and water.

Concrete is used for many different things in daily life, although is often taken for granted. Concrete has a very deep history that leads us up to the modern day concrete and variations of. Most people will turn a blind eye, but at one point in history concrete was a stellar invention that had many different purposes and uses and still does today.

In this quotation from the author Vitruvius, he explains the process and creation of concrete, emphasizes on its durability and how it can withhold the forces of nature. This new formula had a higher silica content then before, which essentially allowed to concrete to set under water and made it stronger then before.10 Overall, the use of concrete was crucial to construction in ancient Rome because it was extremely durable compared to other materials such as brick, stone, or wood.11 Having a successful and powerful empire was very important to the Roman’s as they believed that without a strong foundation, a strong empire would not be possible.12

Most people think concrete is an impenetrable solid. But in actually, concrete is a porous material with many capillaries and voids throughout the surface. Although concrete is strong in compressive strength, it is weak in tensile stength and elasticity. Concrete can tolerate heavy loads, but it is susceptible to damage which causes it to break apart over time.

Roman concrete, like its modern counterpart, is an artificial building material composed of an aggregate, binding agent and water. Aggregate can be anything from mud, rubble to stones and broken bricks. Binding agent of choice for the Romans was pozzolona, a form of volcanic dust found in central Italy.

Aggregate is one of the basic constituents of concrete. Its quality is of considerable importance because about three-quarter of the volume of concrete is occupied by aggregates. One of the physical properties of aggregate that influence the property of concrete is the grading of aggregate. The grading of aggregate defines the proportions of particles of different size in the aggregate. The grading of fine (size < 5 mm) and coarse (size > 5 mm) aggregates are generally required to be within the limits specified in BS 882: 1992.

Concrete is the most important construction material because it is difficult to find out another material of such versatility and mouldability at such a cheap price.

Concrete is a important product that is used in the construction of building and infrastructures. A concrete has to have strength, durability and quality to make a strong and stable infrastructure. This study will tell us does ACC concrete mix is a very good product in the market. Does it pose a strong contender to its competitors in the current market and does the brand image of ACC ltd. plays any role in purchasing of its products.

Fly ash offers both environmental advantages and also improves the performance and quality of concrete. It affects the plastic properties of concrete by improving workability, reducing water demand, segregation and bleeding and lowers heat of hydration increases the strength, reduces permeability, reduces the corrosion of steel, increases sulphate resistance, and reduces alkali aggregate reaction. It reaches its maximum strength more slowly than concrete made with the port land cement. Also, Concrete is a relatively brittle material, when subjected to normal stresses and impact loads. The tensile strength of concrete is less due to widening of micro-cracks existing in concrete subjected to tensile stress. Due to presence of fiber, the micro-cracks are arrested. The introduction of fibers is generally taken as a solution to develop concrete in view of enhancing its flexural and tensile strength. Fiber reinforced concrete is a short discrete, uniformly dispersed and randomly oriented suitable fibrous material used to increase structural integrity. The amount of fibers added to concrete mix is measured as percentage of the total volume of composites. Aspect ratio (l/d) is calculated by dividing fiber length (l) by its diameter