1

Chapter 1.

Introduction

Preview

This chapter describes important applications of concrete, and examines the

reasons that concrete is the most widely used structural material in the world
today. The principal components of modern concrete are identified and defined.
A brief description of the major concrete types is given.
For the benefit of beginning students, an introduction to important
properties of engineering materials, with special reference to concrete, is also
included in this chapter. The properties discussed are strength, elastic modulus,
toughness, dimensional stability, and durability.

1. Concrete as a Structural Material

In an article published by the Scientific American in April 1964, S. Brunauer and L.E.
Copeland, two eminent scientists in the field of cement and concrete, wrote:

The most widely used construction material is concrete, commonly made by

mixing portland cement with sand, crushed rock, and water. Last year in the U.S.
63 million tons of portland cement were converted into 500 million tons of
concrete, five times the consumption by weight of steel. In many countries the
ratio of concrete consumption to steel consumption exceeds ten to one. The total
world consumption of concrete last year is estimated at three billion tons, or one
ton for every living human being. Man consumes no material except water in such
tremendous quantities.

Today, the rate at which concrete is used is much higher than it was 40 years
ago. It is estimated that the present consumption of concrete in the world is of the
order of 11 billion metric tonnes every year.
Concrete is neither as strong nor as tough as steel, so why is it the most widely
used engineering material? There are at least three primary reasons. First, concrete1
possesses excellent resistance to water. Unlike wood and ordinary steel, the ability of
concrete to withstand the action of water without serious deterioration makes it an
ideal material for building structures to control, store, and transport water. In fact,
some of the earliest known applications of the material consisted of aqueducts and
waterfront retaining walls constructed by the Romans. The use of plain concrete for
dams, canals, and pavements is now a common sight almost everywhere in the world
(Figs. 1-1 and 1-2). Structural elements exposed to moisture, such as piles,
foundations, footings, floors, beams, columns, roofs, exterior walls, and pipes, are

1
In this book, the term concrete refers to portland-cement concrete unless stated
otherwise.
 2

frequently built with reinforced and prestressed concrete (Fig. 1-3). Reinforced
concrete is a concrete usually containing steel bars, which is designed on the
assumption that the two materials act together in resisting tensile forces. Prestressed
concrete is a concrete in which by tensioning the steel tendons, a precompression is
introduced such that the tensile stresses during service are counteracted to prevent
cracking. Large amounts of concrete find their way into reinforced or prestressed
structural elements. The durability of concrete to aggressive waters is responsible for
the fact that its use has been extended to many hostile industrial and natural
environments (Fig. 1-4).
The second reason for the widespread use of concrete is the ease with which
structural concrete elements can be formed into a variety of shapes and sizes (Figs.
1-5 to 1-10). This is because freshly made concrete is of a plastic consistency, which
enables the material to flow into prefabricated formwork. After a number of hours
when the concrete has solidified and hardened to a strong mass, the formwork can be
removed for reuse.
The third reason for the popularity of concrete with engineers is that it is usually
the cheapest and most readily available material on the job. The principal
components for making concrete, namely aggregate, water, and portland cement are
relatively inexpensive and are commonly available in most parts of the world.
Depending on the components’ transportation cost, in certain geographical locations
the price of concrete may be as high as 75-100 U.S. dollars per cubic meter, at others
it may be as low as 60-70 U.S. dollars per cubic meter.
Some of the considerations that favor the use of concrete over steel as the
construction material of choice are as follows:
Maintenance. Concrete does not corrode, needs no surface treatment, and its strength
increases with time; therefore, concrete structures require much less maintenance.
Steel structures, on the other hand, are susceptible to rather heavy corrosion in
offshore environments, require costly surface treatment and other methods of
protection, and entail considerable maintenance and repair costs.
Fire resistance. The fire resistance of concrete is perhaps the most important single
aspect of offshore safety and, at the same time, the area in which the advantages of
concrete are most evident. Since an adequate concrete cover on reinforcement or
tendons is required for structural integrity in reinforced and prestressed concrete
structures, the protection against failure due to excessive heat is provided at the same
time.
Resistance to cyclic loading. The fatigue strength of steel structures is greatly
influenced by local stress fields in welded joints, corrosion pitting, and sudden
changes in geometry, such as from thin web to thick frame connections. In most codes
of practice, the allowable concrete stresses are limited to about 50 percent of the
ultimate strength; thus the fatigue strength of concrete is generally not a problem.
 3

Figure 1-1 Itaipu Dam, Brazil. (Photograph courtesy of Itaipu Binacional, Brazil.)
This spectacular 12,600 MW hydroelectric project at Itaipu, estimated to cost $18.5 billion,
includes a 180-m high hollow-gravity concrete dam at the Paraná River on the Brazil–
Paraguay border. By 1982 twelve types of concrete, totaling 12.5 million cubic meters, had
been used in the construction of the dam, piers of diversion structure, and the precast beams,
slabs, and other structural elements for the power plant.
The designed compressive strengths of concrete ranged from as low as 14 MPa at 1
year for mass concrete for the dam to as high as 35 MPa at 28 days for precast concrete
members. All coarse aggregate and about 70% of the fine aggregate was obtained by
crushing basalt rock available at the site. The coarse aggregates were separately stockpiled
into gradations of 150 mm, 75 mm, 38 mm, and 19 mm maximum size. A combination of
several aggregates containing different size fractions was necessary to reduce the void
content and, therefore, the cement content of the mass concrete mixtures. As a result, the
cement content of the mass concrete was limited to as low as 108 kg /m3 , and the adiabatic
temperature rise to 19 D C at 28 days. Furthermore, to prevent thermal cracking, it was
specified that the temperature of freshly cooled concrete would be limited to 7 D C by
precooling the constituent materials.
 4

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Figure 1-2 California Aqueduct construction. (Photograph courtesy of the State of California,
Department of Water Resources)
In California, about three-fourths of the fresh water in the form of rain and snowfall is found
in the northern one-third of the state; however, three-fourths of the total water is needed in
the lower two-thirds, where major centers of population, industry, and agriculture are
located. Therefore, in the 1960s, at an estimated cost of $ 4 billion, California undertook to
build a water system capable of handling 4.23 million acre-feet of water annually. Eventually
extending more than 900 km from north to south to provide supplemental water, flood
control, hydroelectric power, and recreational facilities, this project called for the
construction of 23 dams and reservoirs, 22 pumping plants, 750 km of canals (California
Aqueduct), 280 km of pipeline, and 30 km of tunnels.
An awesome task before the project was to transport water from an elevation near the
sea floor in the San Joaquin Delta across the Tehachapi Mountains over to the Los Angeles
metropolitan area. This is accomplished by pumping the large body of water in a single 587-
m lift. At its full capacity, the pumping plant consumes nearly 6 billion kilowatt-hour a year.
Approximately 3 million cubic meters of concrete was used for the construction of
tunnels, pipelines, pumping plants, and canal lining. One of the early design decisions for the
California Aqueduct was to build a concrete canal rather than a compacted earth-lined
canal, because concrete-lined canals have relatively lower head loss, pumping and
maintenance costs, and seepage loss. Depending on the side slope of the of the canal section,
50- to 100-mm thick unreinforced concrete lining is provided. Concrete, containing 225 to
237 kg /m3 portland cement and 42 kg /m3 pozzolan, showed 14 MPa, 24 MPa, and 31 MPa
compressive strength in test cylinders cured for 7, 28, and 91 days, respectively. Adequate
speed of construction of concrete lining was assured by slip-forming operation.
 5

Figure 1-3. Central Arizona project pipeline (Photograph courtesy of Ameron Pipe Division.)
The largest circular precast concrete structure ever built for the transportation of water is
part of the Central Arizona Project – a $1.2 billion U.S. Bureau of Reclamation development,
which provides water from the Colorado River for agricultural, industrial and municipal use
in Arizona, including the metropolitan areas of Phoenix and Tucson. The system contains
1560 pipe sections, each 6.7-m long, 7.5 m outside diameter (equivalent to the height of a
two-story building), 6.4 m inside diameter, and weighing up to 225 tonnes.
 6

Figure 1-4 Statfjord B offshore concrete platform, Norway. (Photograph courtesy of Norwegian
Contractors, Inc.)
Since 1971, 15 concrete platform requiring about 1.3 million cubic meters of concrete have
been installed in the British and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea. Statfjord B, the largest
concrete platform, built in 1981, has a base area of 18,000 m 2 , 24 oil storage cells with
about 2 million barrels of storage capacity, four prestressed concrete shafts between the
storage cells and the deck frame, and 42 drilling slots on the deck. The structure was built
and assembled at a dry dock in Stavanger; then the entire assembly, weighing about 40,000
tonnes, was towed to the site of the oil well, where it was submerged to a water depth of about
145 m. The prestressed and heavily reinforced concrete elements of the structure are exposed
to the corrosive action of seawater and are designed to withstand 31-m high waves.
Therefore, the selection and proportioning of materials for the concrete mixture was
governed primarily by consideration of the speed of construction by slip-forming and
durability of hardened concrete to the hostile environment. A freeflowing concrete mixture
(220-mm slump), containing 380 kg/m3 of finely ground portland cement, 20 mm of maximum-
size coarse aggregate, a 0.42 water-cement ratio, and a superplasticizing admixture was
found satisfactory for the job. The tapered shafts under slip-forming operation are shown in
the figure above.
 7

Figure 1-5. Interior of the Sports Palace in Rome, Italy, designed by Pier Luigi Nervi, for the Olympic
games in 1960.
Nervi was a creative engineer with full appreciation of structural concept, practical
constructability, and new materials. He was a pioneer of “ferro-cement” technology,
which involves embedding a thin metallic mesh in a rich cement mortar to form
structural elements with high ductility and crack-resistance. The photograph above
shows the Palazzo dello Sport dome built with a 100-m span for a seating capacity of
16,000. Thin-walled precast elements were created with great flexibility, elasticity,
and strength capacity.
 8

Figure 1-6 Fountain of Time: A Sculpture in Concrete. (Photograph courtesy from

David Solzman)
“Time goes, you say? Ah, no. Alas, time stays; we go.” Concrete is an extraordinary material
because it can be not only cast into a variety of complex shapes, but also given special
surface effects. Aesthetically pleasing sculpture, murals, and architecture ornaments can be
created by suitable choice of concrete-making materials, formwork, and texturing techniques.
Fountain of Time is a massive 120- by 18- by 14-ft (36 by 5 by 4 m) work of art in concrete on
the south side of the University of Chicago campus. The sculpture is a larger-than-life
representation of 100 individual human figures, all cast in place in the exposed aggregate
finish. In the words of Steiger, the central figure is Time the conqueror, seated on an armored
horse and surrounded by young and old, soldiers, lovers, religious practitioners, and many
more participants in the diversity of human life, finally embracing death with outstretched
arms. Lorado Taft made the model for this sculpture in 1920 after 7 years of work. About the
choice of concrete as a medium of art, the builder of the sculpture, John J. Earley, had this to
say: “Concrete as an artistic medium becomes doubly interesting when we realize that in
addition to its economy it possesses those properties which are the most desirable of both
metal and stone. Metal is cast, it is an exact mechanical reproduction of the artist’s work, as
in concrete... Stone (sculpture) is an interpretation of an original work and more often than
not is carried out by another artist. But stone has the advantage of color and texture which
enable it to fit easily into varied surroundings, a capability lacking in metal. Concrete,
treated as in the Foundation of Time, presents a surface almost entirely of stone with all its
visual advantages while at the same time offering the precision of casting that would
otherwise only be attained in metal.”
 9

Figure 1-7. Candlestick Park Stadium, San Francisco, California.

Cast-in-place and precast concrete elements can be assembled to produce large structures of
different shapes. The photograph shows Candlestick Park Stadium, now known as 3Com Park
in San Francisco, California, which was constructed in 1958 with about 60,000 seating
capacity. The roof canopy is supported by 24-ft (7.3 m) cantilevered precast concrete girders.
Through a roof girder connection the cantilevered concrete member is supported by joining it
to a cast-in-place concrete bleacher girder.

2. Components of Modern Concrete

Although composition and properties of materials used for making concrete are
discussed in Part II, here it is useful to define concrete and the principal concrete-
making components. The following definitions are adapted from ASTM C 1252
(Standard Definition of Terms Relating to Concrete and Concrete Aggregates), and
ACI Committee 116 (A Glossary of Terms in the Field of Cement and Concrete
Technology):
Concrete is a composite material that consists essentially of a binding medium within
which are embedded particles or fragments of aggregate. In hydraulic-cement
concrete, the binder is formed from a mixture of hydraulic cement and water.
Aggregate is the granular material, such as sand, gravel, crushed stone, crushed blast-
furnace slag, or construction and demolition waste that is used with a cementing
medium to produce either concrete or mortar. The term coarse aggregate refers to the
aggregate particles larger than 4.75 mm (No. 4 sieve), and the term fine aggregate
refers to the aggregate particles smaller than 4.75 mm but larger than 75 microns (No.
200 sieve). Gravel is the coarse aggregate resulting from natural disintegration by
weathering of rock. The term sand is commonly used for fine aggregate resulting
from either natural weathering or crushing of stone. Crushed stone is the product
resulting from industrial crushing of rocks, boulders, or large cobblestones. Iron
blast-furnace slag, a by-product of the iron industry, is the material obtained by
crushing blast-furnace slag that solidified by slow cooling under atmospheric
conditions. Aggregate from construction and demolition waste refers to the product

2
The ACI committee reports and the ASTM (American Society for Testing and
Materials) standards are updated from time to time. The definitions given here are
from the ASTM standard approved in the year 2004.
 10

obtained from recycling of concrete, brick, or stone rubble.

Mortar is a mixture of sand, cement, and water. It is like concrete without a coarse
aggregate. Grout is a mixture of cementitious material and aggregate, usually fine
aggregate, to which sufficient water is added to produce a pouring consistency
without segregation of the constituents. Shotcrete refers to a mortar or concrete that is
pneumatically transported through a hose and projected onto a surface at high
velocity.
Cement is a finely pulverized, dry, material that by itself is not a binder but develops
the binding property as a result of hydration (i.e., from chemical reactions between
cement minerals and water). A cement is called hydraulic when the hydration
products are stable in an aqueous environment. The most commonly used hydraulic
cement for making concrete is portland cement, which consists essentially of
reactive calcium silicates; the calcium silicate hydrates formed during the hydration of
portland cement are primarily responsible for its adhesive characteristic, and are
stable in an aqueous environment.
The foregoing definition of concrete as a mixture of hydraulic cement, aggregates,
and water does not include a fourth component, namely admixtures that are frequently
used in modern concrete mixtures. Admixtures are defined as materials other than
aggregates, cement, and water, which are added to the concrete batch immediately
before or during mixing. The use of admixtures in concrete is now widespread due to
many benefits which are possible by their application. For instance, chemical
admixtures can modify the setting and hardening characteristic of the cement paste by
influencing the rate of cement hydration. Water-reducing admixtures can plasticize
fresh concrete mixtures by reducing the surface tension of water; air-entraining
admixtures can improve the durability of concrete exposed to cold weather; and
mineral admixtures such as pozzolans (materials containing reactive silica) can reduce
thermal cracking in mass concrete. Chapter 8 contains a detailed description of the
types of admixtures, their composition, and mechanism of action.
 11

Figure 1-8. Baha’i Temple, Wilmette, Illinois. (Photograph courtesy from David
Solzman)
The Baha’i Temple is an example of the exceedingly beautiful, ornamental architecture that
can be created in concrete. Describing the concrete materials and the temple, F. W. Cron
(Concrete Construction, V. 28, N.. 2, 1983) wrote: “The architect had wanted the building
and specially the great dome, 27-m diameter, to be as white as possible, but not with a dull
and chalky appearance. To achieve the desired effect Earley proposed an opaque white
quartz found in South Carolina to reflect light from its broken face. This would be combined
with a small amount of translucent quartz to provide brilliance and life. Puerto Rican sand
and white portland cement were used to create a combination that reflected light and
imparted a bright glow to the exposed-aggregate concrete surface. On a visit to the Temple of
Light one can marvel at its brilliance in sunlight. If one returns at night, the lights from within
and the floodlights that play on its surface turn the building into a shimmering jewel. The
creativity of Louis Bourgeois and the superbly crafted concrete from Earley Studios have
acted in concert to produce this great performance.”
 12

Fig. 1-9 Precast concrete girders from the Skyway Segment of the eastern span crossing
the San Francisco Bay. (Photograph courtesy of Joseph A. Blum)
The Loma Pietra earthquake caused damage in the eastern span of the San Francisco
Bay Bridge. After years of studying the seismic performance of the bridge, the
engineers decided that the best solution was to construct a new span connecting
Oakland to the Yerba Buena Island. The two new twin precast segmental bridges will
accommodate five lanes of traffic in each direction and a bike path on one side. The
superstructure, constructed using the segmental cantilever method, will require 452
precast girders, each weighting as much as 750 tons.
 13

a) January 1994 b) September 1994

c) May 1995 d) September 1995 e) February 1996

Figure 1-10 Construction Sequence of the Petronas Twin Towers. (Photographs
courtesy from the Thornton Tomasetti Group)
The Petronas Towers in Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur, is the tallest building
in the world. The 452-m high structure composed of two, 88-story buildings and their
pinnacles, optimized the use of steel and reinforced concrete. Steel was used primarily
in the long-span floor beams, while reinforced concrete was used in the central core,
in the perimeter columns, and in the tower perimeter ring beams. The strength of the
concrete used in the building and foundation ranged from 35 to 80 MPa. The concrete
mixture for the 80 MPa concrete contained 260 kg / m3 portland cement, 260 kg / m3
of a cementitious and pozzolanic blending material, 30 kg / m3 silica fume, and 10
l / m3 high-range water reducer to obtain a water-cement ratio of 0.27. The strength
test was performed at 56 days to allow the slower reacting materials, such as fly ash,
to contribute to the strength gain. High-strength mixtures were used in the lower level
columns, core walls, and ring beams. Compared to a steel structure, an added benefit
of using reinforced concrete was efficient damping of vibrations, an important
consideration for the building’s occupants in light of the structure’s potential
exposure to moderate and high winds.
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 14

3. Types of Concrete
Based on unit weight, concrete can be classified into three broad categories. Concrete
containing natural sand and gravel or crushed-rock aggregates, generally weighing
about 2400 kg/m 3 (4000 lb/yd 3 ), is called normal-weight concrete, and it is the
most commonly used concrete for structural purposes. For applications where a higher
strength-to-weight ratio is desired, it is possible to reduce the unit weight of concrete
by using natural or pyro-processed aggregates with lower bulk density. The term
lightweight concrete is used for concrete that weighs less than about 1800 kg/m 3
(3000 lb/yd 3 ). Heavyweight concrete, used for radiation shielding, is a concrete
produced from high-density aggregates and generally weighs more than 3200 kg/m 3
(5300 lb/yd 3 ).
Strength grading of cements and concrete is prevalent in Europe and many other
countries but is not practiced in the United States. However, from standpoint of
distinct differences in the microstructure-property relationships, which will be
discussed later, it is useful to divide concrete into three general categories based on
compressive strength:
1. Low-strength concrete: less than 20 MPa (3000 psi)
2. Moderate-strength concrete: 20 to 40 MPa (3000 to 6000 psi)
3. High-strength concrete: more than 40 MPa (6000 psi).
Moderate-strength concrete, also referred to as ordinary or normal concrete, is used
for most structural work. High-strength concrete is used for special applications. It is
not possible here to list all concrete types. There are numerous modified concretes
which are appropriately named: for example, fiber-reinforced concrete, expansive-
cement concrete, and latex-modified concrete. The composition and properties of
special concretes are described in Chapter 12.
Typical proportions of materials for producing low-strength, moderate-strength, and
high-strength concrete mixtures with normal-weight aggregate are shown in Table 1-
1. The relationships between the cement paste content and strength, and the water-
cement ratio of the cement paste and strength should be noted from the data.

TABLE 1-1 TYPICAL PROPORTIONS OF MATERIALS IN CONCRETE MIXTURES OF

DIFFERENT STRENGTH

Low-strength Moderate-strength High-Strength

(kg/m3) (kg/m3) (kg/m3)
Cement 255 356 510
Water 178 178 178
Fine Aggregate 801 848 890
Coarse aggregate 1169 1032 872

Cement paste proportion

percent by mass 18 22.1 28.1
percent by volume 26 29.3 34.3
Water/cement by mass 0.70 0.50 0.35
Strength, MPa 18 30 60
 15

4. Properties of Hardened Concrete and their Significance

The selection of an engineering material for a particular application has to take into
account its ability to withstand the applied force. Traditionally, the deformation
occurring as a result of applied load is expressed as strain, which is defined as the
change in length per unit length; the load is expressed as stress, which is defined as
the force per unit area. Depending on how the stress is acting on the material, the
stresses are further distinguished from each other: for example, compression, tension,
flexure, shear, and torsion. The stress-strain relationships in materials are generally
expressed in terms of strength, elastic modulus, ductility, and toughness.
Strength is a measure of the amount of stress required to fail a material. The
working stress theory for concrete design considers concrete as mostly suitable for
bearing compressive load; this is why it is the compressive strength of the material
that is generally specified. Since the strength of concrete is a function of the cement
hydration process, which is relatively slow, traditionally the specifications and tests
for concrete strength are based on specimens cured under standard temperature-
humidity conditions for a period of 28 days. Typically, the tensile and flexural
strengths of concrete are of the order of 10 and 15 percent, respectively, of the
compressive strength. The reason for such a large difference between the tensile and
compressive strength is attributed to the heterogeneous and complex microstructure of
concrete.
With many engineering materials, such as steel, the observed stress-strain
behavior when a specimen is subjected to incremental loads can be divided into two
parts (Fig. 1-11). Initially, when the strain is proportional to the applied stress and is
reversible on unloading the specimen, it is called the elastic strain. The modulus of
elasticity is defined as the ratio between the stress and this reversible strain. In
homogeneous materials, the elastic modulus is a measure of the interatomic bonding
forces and is unaffected by microstructural changes. This is not true of the
heterogeneous multiphase materials like concrete. The elastic modulus of concrete in
compression varies from 14 × 103 to 40 × 103 MPa ( 2 × 106 to 6 × 106 psi). The
significance of the elastic limit in structural design lies in the fact that it represents the
maximum allowable stress before the material undergoes permanent deformation.
Therefore, the engineer must know the elastic modulus of the material because it
influences the rigidity of a design.
At a high stress level (Fig. 1-11), the strain no longer remains proportional to the
applied stress, and also becomes permanent (i.e., it will not be reversed if the
specimen is unloaded). This strain is called the plastic or inelastic strain. The
amount of inelastic strain that can occur before failure is a measure of the ductility of
the material. The energy required to break the material, the product of force times
distance, is represented by the area under the stress-strain curve. The term toughness
is used as a measure of this energy. The contrast between toughness and strength
should be noted; the former is a measure of energy, whereas the latter is a measure of
the stress required to fracture the material. Thus, two materials may have identical
strength but different values of toughness. In general, however, when the strength of a
material goes up, the ductility and the toughness go down; also, very high-strength
materials usually fail in a brittle manner (i.e., without undergoing any significant
plastic strain.)
Although under compression concrete appears to show some inelastic strain
before failure, typically the strain at fracture is in the order of 2000 × 10−6 , which is
considerably lower than the failure strain in structural metals. For practical purposes,
 16

therefore, designers do not treat concrete as a ductile material and do not recommend
it for structures that are subject to heavy impact loading unless reinforced with steel.

Figure 1-11. Stress-strain behavior of a steel specimen subjected to incremental

loads.

Concrete is a composite material, however, many of its characteristics do not

follow the laws of mixture. For instance, under compressive loading both the
aggregate and the hydrated cement paste, if separately tested, would fail elastically,
whereas concrete itself shows inelastic behavior before fracture. Also, the strength of
concrete is usually much lower than the individual strength of the two components.
Such anomalies in the behavior of concrete can be explained on the basis of its
microstructure, specially the important role of the interfacial transition zone between
coarse aggregate and cement paste.
The stress-strain behavior of the material shown in Fig. 1-11 is typical of
specimens loaded to failure in a short time in the laboratory. For some materials the
relationship between stress and strain is independent of the loading time; for others it
is not. Concrete belongs to the latter category. If a concrete specimen is held for a
long period under a constant stress, for instance 50 percent of the ultimate strength of
the material, it will exhibit plastic strain. The phenomenon of gradual increase in
strain with time under a sustained stress is called creep. When creep in concrete is
restrained, it manifests itself as a progressive decrease of stress with time. The stress
relief associated with creep has important implications for the behavior of plain,
reinforced, and prestressed concrete structures.
Strains can arise even in unloaded concrete as a result of changes in the
 17

environmental humidity and temperature. Freshly formed concrete is moist; it

undergoes drying shrinkage when exposed to the ambient humidity. Similarly,
shrinkage strains result when, due to the heat generated by cement hydration, hot
concrete is cooled to the ambient temperature. Massive concrete elements register
considerable rise in temperature because of poor dissipation of heat, and significant
thermal shrinkage occurs on cooling. Shrinkage strains can be detrimental to
concrete because, when restrained, they manifest themselves into tensile stresses. As
the tensile strength of concrete is low, concrete structures often crack as a result of
restrained shrinkage caused by humidity and temperature changes. In fact, the
cracking tendency of the material is one of the serious disadvantages in structures
built with concrete.
Professional judgment in the selection of construction materials should take into
consideration not only the strength, dimensional stability, and elastic properties of the
material but also its durability, which has serious implications for the life-cycle cost
of a structure. Durability is defined as the service life of a material under given
environmental conditions. Generally, watertight concrete structures endure for a long
time. The excellent conditions of the 2700-year-old concrete lining of a water storage
tank on the Rodos Island in Greece and hydraulic concrete structures built by the
Romans are a living testimony to the long-term durability of concrete in moist
environments. In general, there is a relationship between strength and durability when
low strength is associated with high porosity and high permeability. Permeable
concretes are, of course, less durable. The permeability of concrete depends not only
on mix proportions, compaction, and curing, but also on microcracks caused by
normal temperature and humidity cycles. Finally, as discussed in Chapter 14,
ecological and sustainability considerations are beginning to play an important role in
the choice of materials for construction.

5. Units of Measurement
The metric system of measurement, which is prevalent in most countries of the world,
uses millimeters, centimeters, and meters for length; grams, kilograms, and tonnes for
mass; liters for volume; kilogram force per unit area for stress; and degrees Celsius
for temperature. The United States is the only country in the world that uses old
English units of measurement such as inches, feet, and yards for length; pounds or
tons for mass, gallons for volume, pounds per square inch (psi) for stress, and degree
Fahrenheit for temperature. Multinational activity in design and construction of large
engineering projects is commonplace in the modern world. Therefore, it is becoming
increasingly important that scientists and engineers throughout the world speak the
same language of measurement.
The metric system is simpler than the old English system and has recently been
modernized in an effort to make it universally acceptable. The modern version of the
metric system, called the International System of Units (Système International
d’Unités), abbreviated SI, was approved in 1960 by 30 participating nations in the
General Conference on Weights and Measures.
In SI measurements, meter and kilogram are the only units permitted for length
and mass, respectively. A series of approved prefixes, shown in Table 1-2, are used
for the formation of multiples and submultiples of various units. The force required to
accelerate a mass of 1 kilogram by 1 meter is expressed as 1 newton (N), and a stress
of 1 newton per square meter is expressed as 1 pascal (Pa). The ASTM Standard E
380-70 contains a comprehensive guide to the use of SI units.
 18

In 1975, the U.S. Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act, which declares
that it will be the policy of the United States to coordinate and plan the increasing use
of the metric system of measurement (SI units). Meanwhile, a bilinguality in the units
of measurement is being practiced so that engineers should become fully conversant
with both systems. To aid quick conversion from the U.S. customary units to SI units,
a list of the commonly needed multiplication factors is given below.

TABLE 1- 2 MULTIPLE AND SUBMULTIPLE SI UNITS AND SYMBOLS

Multiplication Factor Prefix SI symbol

1 000 000 000 = 109 giga G
1 000 000 = 106 mega M
1 000 = 103 kilo k
100 = 102 hectoa h
10 = 101 dekaa da
0.1 = 10-1 decia d
0.01 = 10-2 centia c
0.001 = 10-3 milli m
0.000 001 = 10-6 micro µ
0.000 000 001 = 10-9 nanob n
a
Not recommended but occasionally used.
b
0.1 nanometer (nm) = 1 angstrom (Å) is a non-SI unit which is commonly used

To convert from: To: Multiply by:

yards (yd) meters (m) 0.9144

feet (ft) meters (m) 0.3048
inches (in.) millimeter (mm) 25.4
cubic yards (yd3) cubic meters (m3 ) 0.7646
U.S. gallons (gal) cubic meters (m3 ) 0.003785
U.S. gallons (gal) liters 3.785
pounds, mass (lb) kilograms (kg) 0.4536
U.S. tons (t) tonnes (T) 0.9072
pounds/cubic yard (lb/yd3) kilograms/cubic meter (kg/m3) 0.5933
kilogram force (kgf) newtons (N) 9.807
pounds force (lbf) newtons (N) 4.448
kips per square inch (ksi) megapascal (MPa or N/mm2) 6.895
degrees Fahrenheit (oF) degrees Celsius (oC) (oF – 32)/1.8

Test your Knowledge

1. Why is concrete the most widely used engineering material?
2. Compared to steel, what are the engineering benefits of using concrete
for structures?
 19

3. Define the following terms: fine aggregate, coarse aggregate, gravel,

grout, shotcrete, hydraulic cement.
4. What are the typical unit weights for normal-weight, lightweight, and
heavyweight concretes? How would you define high-strength concrete?
5. What is the significance of elastic limit in structural design?
6. What is the difference between strength and toughness? Why is it the
compressive strength of concrete at 28 days generally specified?
7. Discuss the significance of drying shrinkage, thermal shrinkage, and
creep in concrete.
8. How would you define durability? In general, what concrete types are
expected to show better long-time durability?

7. Suggestions for Further Study

ACI Committee Report 116R-00, Cement and Concrete Terminology, ACI Manual of
Concrete Practice, Part 1, 2001.
American Society for Testing and Materials, Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol.
04.01 (Cement, Lime, and Gypsum), 2002.
American Society for Testing and Materials, Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol
04.02 (Concrete and Mineral Aggregates), 2002.
Mindess, S., Gray R.J., and Bentur A., The Science and Technology of Civil
Engineering Materials, Upper Saddle River, NJ : Prentice Hall, 384 p , 1998.
Smith, W. F., Foundations of Materials Science and Engineering, Third Edition,
McGraw-Hill, 2003.
Ashby M.F. and Jones D.R.H., Engineering Materials 1, Pergamon Press, 1980.