Sustainability and Quality of Precast Concrete

The history of cement itself goes back thousands of years. The first sign of cement use comes from the Egyptians, with the use of lime as the “calcareous adhesive”, which they burnt and powdered and can be found cementing the pyramids together still. The Greeks were the next to use lime mortar, “prepared much as it is prepared today.” They also found that certain volcanic deposits combined with water gave increased strength and durability to the mortar. This technological advance was copied by the Romans who were able to make an “admirable hydraulic cement” as they saw constructing a building out

The precast components used are a combination of abutment footings and caps, wingwall sections and parapets, end posts, and approach slabs designed, manufactured, and installed by Oldcastle Precast Rehoboth. Mass.

“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).

When reading of the concrete that the ancient Romans used, and learning of their unique mixture of volcanic ash and slaked lime (“pozzolana”) I find it most interesting that this concrete still proves to be standing in some places today! It is said to be less sturdy than what we use here in America (Andrews, 2012) but no doubt it gave modern civilization the ingenuity to create what we use today.

This is the most recent type of concrete formwork. It’s an emerging tech for RCC construction as well as architectural design work. This materials’ flexibility creates the ability to make concrete of any shape.

The Romans didn’t invent concrete however, it was how they mixed and what material they used in their concrete, that made it special. They used a material called pozzolana as the basis for the mixture. This chocolate colored material was essentially the ashes originating from volcanoes found near Greek settlements (Kamm, n.d.). With this new

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

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;

Although our reading states "the indubitably Roman invention of concrete." (Kamm, 2009), concrete was used on a smaller scale for thousands of years before the Romans emerged. The earliest records of cement being used dates to the Nabateans, the likely builders of Petra, with evidence showing use as early as 6500 BCE (Gromicko

The development of concrete was a major step forward for Romans. Its strength, flexibility, convenience and low cost - when compared to any other building material - made arch, vaults and domes much easier to build. Roman concrete was typically made from a mixture of lime mortar, water, sand and pozzolana, a fine, ochre-colored volcanic earth, which set well even

In order to discuss concrete; one must first mention cement. Cement is a water-based binder used to bind other building materials together. It is used in the production of mortar and concrete during the construction process. Concrete is a material used in construction, made by mixing aggregate, cement, small stones and water. Cement is important because it hold structures together. Many sources states concrete was invented 1756 by a British Engineer named John Smeaton. He did so by mixing pebbles as a coarse aggregate into a powdered brick into the cement. Years layer in 1824, a English inventor named Mr Joseph Aspdin created the first true artificial cement by burning ground limestone and clay together. He is also noted for creating today’s popular concrete; Portland cement. Many buildings use concrete because of its strong element. It solidifies then hardens after mixing with water and placement due to the chemical process known as hydration. Water reacts with the cement, which bonds the other components together, eventually creating a stone-like material. Concrete is used to make pavements, pipe, various structures, foundations, roads, bridges, brick walls and so on. It is either produced site-cast or pre-cast. Site-cast Concrete is standard concrete that is poured into site-specific forms and cured on site; the concrete is created on the actually construction site. Precast concrete is a construction

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.

However: concrete-like structures were built in southern Syria and northern Jordan in around 6500 BC (Gromicko.& Shepard, n.d.); and ancient Assyrians and Babylonians are known to have used a form of concrete with a bonding agent of clay, while Egyptian concretes used lime and gypsum for bonding (Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.). Some Greek cities on the coast of Turkey also used concrete around 200 BCE using lime (Gascoigne, 2001).

A specific subset of recycled aggregates is recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) where the masonry content is limited to not more than five per cent. The performance characteristics of RCA are better than RA and consequently there are fewer restrictions on the use of RCA in concrete (BS 8500-2)

In the most general sense of the word, a concrete is a substance that solidifies to act as glue. Romans were the first to use “modern cement “for purposes of masonry made of crushed stone with vivid lime as binder. They named this substance “caementicium opus “which was later referred to as cement, cimentim , cäment and cement.