CHAPETR ONE

CLASSIFICATION OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

1.1 General Introduction of construction
Building materials have an important role to play in this modern age of technology. Although
their most important use is in construction activities, no field of engineering is conceivable
without their use. Also, the building materials industry is an important contributor in our national
economy as its output governs both the rate and the quality of construction work. There are
certain general factors which affect the choice of materials for a particular scheme. Perhaps the
most important of these is the climatic background. Obviously, different materials and forms of
construction have developed in different parts of the world as a result of climatic differences.
Another factor is the economic aspect of the choice of materials. The rapid advance of
constructional methods, the increasing introduction of mechanical tools and plants, and changes
in the organization of the building industry may appreciably influence the choice of materials.
1.1.1 Construction Industry
Construction Industry is an industry which is involved in the planning, execution and evaluation
(Monitoring) of all types of civil works. Physical infrastructures such as Building,
Communication and Energy related construction works; Water supply and Sewerage civil works,
etc are some of the major projects / programs in the construction Industry.

The Construction Industry can be categorized into three major sectors; namely,

a) Transport and Communication (Road, Railway, Airway, and Telecommunication

related physical works);
b) Water and Energy Works ; and
c) Buildings and Other Physical Infrastructures. Accordingly, their capital budget
requirements vary extensively depending on the focus the economical trend requires
for the nation development.
2.1. Nature of the Industry
Construction Industry has long been realized as one among the most important enablers for
social, economic and political development of countries. Specifically this fact is strengthened in
the case of least developing countries like Ethiopia.

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 The execution of construction activities may be defined as economic and social activities
engaged in producing, assembling, installing for either new or existing physical infrastructures.
This indicates that the construction process encompasses an industrial process to account for its
name, the Construction Industry. However, most construction activities involve considerable on
site productions where the characteristics for industry processes could not apply. This will be
more applicable in the cases of countries like Ethiopia where use of manufacturing construction
elements for assembly is largely minimal. That is use of Labor Intensive and Construction On-
Site dominated the way how construction executions are carried out. As a result, Construction
Works can more represent the case of construction activities in the case of least developing
countries than Construction Services.

Table 1.1: Construction Industry-Sectoral Linkages

Sectors Building Other Civil Works
Agriculture Offices, Storages, Equipment Shades Irrigation Schemes, Rural Access
Roads
Education Offices, Stores Class rooms, Libraries, Internal and External Roads and
Laboratories, etc Installations
Energy Offices, Storages, Garages Hydro Power Schemes, Electricity &
Power Stations and lines
Industry&Commerce Factories, Offices, Workshops,Storages Internal and External Installations
Health Offices, Clinics, Health Centers, Internal and External Roads&
Hospitals Installations
Transportation & Offices Storages, Stations Airports, Roads, Rail Ways,
communication Telecommunication lines
Water Resources Offices Storages Water supply & sewerage distribution
lines, Treatment plants
Defense Offices, camps, Training centers Defense Schemes

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Construction Industry is unique from the other industries due to the following fact
I. Fragmented Industry
Ii. Long Production Cycle
Iii. Transient Organization Nature
Iv. Unpredictable Work Load
V. Subject to Environmental Impact
1.1.2 Main Parties in the Construction project
The main players in the construction project are:
1) The Client: The client is the initiator and owner of the project
2) The Consultant: The consultant transfers the wish of the owner into realizable form and
makes the study, design and possibly the supervision.
3) The Contractor: The contractor is the one who performs the work.
4) Insurance Companies: A Contractor is required to provide bid bonds as a condition of being
allowed to bid, and then they must provide insurance for Performance bonds and payment
bond prior to award of the contract. Insurance companies provide bid bonds, performance
and payment bonds, and they also service the liability and property insurance needs of
contractors.
5) Banks: Banks provide the working capital contractors need to build the project. Banks also
provide bonds for bid and performance.
6) Suppliers: The quality of a construction project is very dependent on the quality of the
suppliers used by individual contractors.
7) Permitting Agencies: These agencies represent the interests of public safety. They
administer publicly funded construction projects, and they ensure private construction
projects comply with zoning laws and building codes.
8) Public: The public is impacted by every construction activity. Impacts are both good and
bad.
Duties and Responsibilities of main parties
The duties of the following main participants will be dealt in the sections to follow:
• The Client – the initiator
• The Consultant – the professional advises
• The Contractor – the one who constructs the entire projects.

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1.1.3 Life Cycle of construction project

Life Cycle Phases in Construction Project

A standard construction project, in general, has following five major life cycle phases:
1. Initiation
2. Planning
3. Execution
4. Performance and monitoring
5. Closure
1. Initiation Phase of Construction Project
We have to create and evaluate the project in order to determine if it is feasible and if it should
be undertaken, at the beginning of the project. Here the project objective or need is identified;
this can be a business problem or opportunity. A suitable response to the need is documented in a
business case with recommended solution options. A feasibility study is conducted to examine
whether each option clearly identifies the project objective and a final recommended solution is
determined. Many questions related to the issues of feasibility i.e. “can we do the project?” and
justification like “should we do the project?” are mentioned and faced. When a solution is
approved, a project is initiated to implement the approved solution. For this, a project manager is
appointed. At this stage, the major deliverables and the participating work groups are identified.
This is the time when the project team begins to take shape. Approval is then required by the
project manager to move onto the detailed planning phase.
2. Planning Phase of Construction Project
The planning phase involves further development of the project in detail to meet the project’s
objective. The team identifies all of the work to be done. The project’s tasks and resource
requirements are identified, along with the strategy for producing them. In a broader sense
identification of each activity as well as their resource allocation is also carried out. A project
plan outlining the activities, tasks, dependencies, and timeframes is created. The project manager
is the one who coordinates the preparation of a project budget by providing cost estimates for the
labor, equipment, and materials costs. This is mainly carried out by project scheduling software
like MS project or PRIMAVERA.
This scheduling chart would help us to track the stages of our project as time passes. This is also
referred to as “scope management.” The budget of the project already estimated is used to
monitor and control cost expenditures during project implementation. Finally, we require a

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document to show the quality plan, providing quality targets, assurance, and control measures,
along with an acceptance plan, listing the criteria to be met to gain customer acceptance. At this
point, the project would have been planned in detail and is ready to be executed.
3. Execution Phase of Construction Project
This is the implementation phase, where the project plan is put into motion and the work of the
project is performed practically on site. It is essential to maintain control and communicate as
needed during each implementation stages. Progress should be continuously monitored and
appropriate adjustments are made and recorded as variances from the original plan. A project
manager is the one who spends most of the time in this step. Throughout the project
implementation, people carry out the tasks, and progress information is being reported through
regular project team meetings. The project manager uses this information to preserve control
over the direction of the project by comparing the progress reports with the project plan to
measure the performance of the project activities. If any deviation is found from the already
defined plan corrective measures are made. The first option of action should always be to bring
the project back to the original plan. If that cannot happen, the team should record variations
from the original plan and record and publish modifications to the plan. all through this step,
project sponsors, and other key stakeholders are kept informed about the project’s status as per
the agreed rate and format of communication. The plan should be updated and available on a
regular basis. Status reports should always highlight the probable end point in terms of cost,
schedule, and quality of deliverables. Each project deliverable produced should be reviewed for
quality and measured against the acceptance criteria. When deliverables have been produced and
the customer has agreed on the final solution, the project is said to be ready for closure.
4. Performance and Monitoring Phase of Construction Project
This stage is all related to the measurement of progress and performance to make sure that items
are tracking with the project management scheduling. This phase regularly happens at the same
time as the execution phase.
5. Closure Phase of Construction Project
During the final closure, the importance is on providing the final deliverables to the customer,
that is:

 Handing over project documentation to the business

 Termination of supplier contracts
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  Releasing project resources
 Communicate the closure of the project to all stakeholders.
 Last and final is to conduct lessons-learned studies to examine what went well and what
didn’t.

1. 1.4. Resources for the Construction Industry

For most of the construction projects, the resources to look into are the following;
1. Human Resources / Labor or Workmen
2. Financial Resources / Fund
3. Information Resources
4. Physical Resources such as Materials, Equipment and Other Assets
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 5. Services and Management

Human Resources / WORKMEN / Labor: All works involved, including the operation of
equipment cannot be executed without human labor. Labor in the form of technical and
managerial personnel and work forces in various trades and professions are essential to carryout
projects efficiently and effectively. All other resources are coordinated and generally the work
itself is executed by labor. Therefore careful planning, organizing and monitoring of workmen
are mandatory.
These resources are very much necessary and for the successful accomplishment of a project, the
availability of workmen from the top management including project manager to the daily laborer
staff level is very vital. These include professional, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled laborers.
Human resources can be understood in two values: Capacity and Capability. While the first
refers to the quantity of labor for the scope defined; the second covers knowledge, technology
know-how and skill as per the demands of the scopes ability. Human resources need to be
attracted, selected, developed, motivated and retained if an organization needs to successfully
accomplish project objectives. They do need also be capable of:
 Communication – Inter - personal, group interaction – skills
 Problem solving / Conflict resolution / Negotiation Skills
 Facilitating / Decision – making Skills
 Writing skills for Proposals / Reports / ToRs / MoUs; and
 Hard Skills – Planning, Implementing, Leading and monitoring tools

Financial Resources / FUND: It is obvious that one of the basic resources in the construction
industry is Fund, which should be arranged before starting any project. The project to be
conceived shall be within the fund available for it. Usually funds are available from among
Governmental institution, Private institutions and Donors in the form of loan or assistance.
In the case of Governmental entities, since budgetary resources are scarce it is advisable and in
almost all cases that a priority shall be given to projects which are very useful and necessary to
the society. However, in the case of private organizations it is the business what mater.
The objective and goal of the project is achieved successfully if and only if the fund is
sufficiently flowing to carry out the project as planned. That is, it is the regular supply of fund
that keeps projects moving progressively. It is necessary to ensure financial planning for smooth

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cash inflow and outflow to avoid delays in project activities. Financial resources shall be planned
and managed with special care due to the fact that all other resources very much depend on the
availability of funds.
Information Resources: Information can be understood in two terms: data whether processed or
not; and its technology. Both are vital for the successful implementation of projects. Contextual
information, data useful for estimating duration and costs; etc are some of informational
resources used in projects.
Information technology both the hard and soft wares have brought the processing and
management of such information becomes important and helpful in facilitating the comparison of
several alternatives. This helps in optimization or maximization of uses of project resources. As a
result, informational resources need to be managed. PMIS, MP reject, Think tool, etc are some of
the soft ware’s developed in managing information resources.
Physical Resources:
MATERIALS: The very large portion of a project cost is gone to material cost. As the material
cost component of the construction industry covers between 55-70% of the total construction
cost, proper consideration shall be given in the planning stage to design with easily available
material without compromising the quality for the intended purpose and for proper flow and
storage of materials. Care shall be provided for materials easily spoiled by climatic and expiry
conditions. This undoubtedly will affect the project if not properly managed.
EQUIPMENT: These days various plants, equipment, tools etc., are used very often in
construction activities. Provisions of equipment’s replace the hard work that can be made by
human labor taking much time within reasonable period of time. Therefore it increases efficiency
and economy. Its initial cost though high, it works for long period of time under adverse
conditions with less manpower than working in its absence which will result to be economical
for long term investment. Depending on the types and nature of construction, machinery at site
includes batching plant, mixers, trucks, tractors, excavators, dampers, cranes, vibrators, pumps
etc.
OTHER ASSETS: Physical Infrastructures and Owned Land are assets which can be collaterals
for capital base enhancement and credit facilities and are useful to develop the scarce financial
resources and getting into business access.
Services and Management:

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SERVICES: Services such as acquisition of land, provisions of water supply, electric power,
communication systems, etc., are very much necessary in the construction industry. Without
acquiring such services, it is too hard to implement construction activities successfully.
Therefore, well thought and due consideration shall be given to services and shall be considered
as one of the resources required for civil works projects.
MANAGEMENT: Management has come to employ a disciplined approach to the use of
available resources. To coordinate these resources and achieve the required goal, a system shall
be devised to plan, organize, execute, and control, the project. Such system which helps to
achieve the necessary goal is called Construction Management, without which it will be a
catastrophe both in cost and completion time to the project.
1.1.5 Construction Materials

Material: a substance or thing from which something else can be made. Examples: Cement,
brick, aluminum, soil, water.

Construction Materials: any material used in construction industry. Materials that are used for
construction purpose can be broadly classified based on their:

Metallic Property Physical nature Mode of production

1.1.6 Selection of construction Material

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Factors need to be considered when selecting a material for a specific use are:
i. )Economic factors
 Manufacturing cost, transportation, maintenance, etc
ii.) Properties
 Ability to accept load (stress-strain) as required, weight, thermal Expansion, etc.
 Durability
iii) Production & Construction
Availability of material & ability to fabricate into desired shapes
iv. Aesthetic
 Appearance
1.2 Classification of Materials

Due to availability of materials in a wide range, their classifications are also very wide.

Some of the criteria on which the materials can be classified are as under:

i) Based on chemical composition

 Organic materials: are those which have carbon as the basic element. Timber,
bitumen, plastics, etc.
 Inorganic materials: are metals, alloys, calcareous, silicacious and argillaceous
materials. Iron, steel, lime, sand and clay are some of the inorganic materials

ii) Based on their metallic nature

 Non-metallic: Cementing materials, concrete, timber, stones, plastics, ceramics, etc.

 Metallic:

• Ferrous: Wrought Iron, Cast iron, steel

• Nonferrous: Aluminum, copper, lead, zinc

iii. Based on their physical nature

Solids, Liquids and Gas

iv. Based on their mode of manufacture

Naturally occurring materials: are those which are available in the nature and need to be
extracted/recovered and processed. E.g. Stones, sand, timber, etc

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 Industrially produced materials: are those which can only be manufactured, by physical,
chemical or/and mechanical means in the industry. Example cement, steel, plastics, etc.

Materials produced at the construction site: materials not available in nature but produced at
the construction site. E.g. concrete, mortar, etc.

v. Based on use of materials

Binding materials: are those materials which helps two materials to bind or/and bond. E.g.
Cement, lime, bitumen, etc.

Building materials: are those which help in raising a structure/building. E.g. Bricks, stones,
concrete, etc.

Finishing materials: are those which are used for final finishing of the surface. E.g. ceramics,
paints, etc.

Insulating materials: are those which are used for insulating the buildings, may it be thermal
insulation or acoustic insulation. E.g. glass, wool, asbestos sheets, etc.

Chapter -2

Mechanical Properties of Building Materials

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Mechanical properties of the materials are finding out by applying external forces on them.
These are very important properties which are responsible for behavior of a material in its job.
The mechanical properties are,
Strength Hardness
Elasticity Plasticity
Brittleness Fatigue
Impact strength Abrasion resistance
Creep

Elasticity of Building Materials

Elasticity it's the capacity of a material to regain its initial shape and size after removal of load is
known as elasticity and the material is called as elastic material. Ideally elastic materials obey
Hooke’s law in which stress is directly proportional to strain. This is gives modulus of elasticity
as the ratio of unit stress to unit deformation. Higher the value of modulus of elasticity lowers the
deformations.

Plasticity

When the load is applied on the material, if it will undergo permanent deformation without
cracking and retain this shape after the removal of load then it is said to be plastic material and
this property is called as plasticity. They give resistance against bending, impact etc. Examples:
steel, hot bitumen etc.

Ductility

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Ductility is a measure of a material's ability to undergo significant plastic deformation before
rupture or breaking, which may be expressed as percent elongation or percent area reduction
from a tensile test.

Malleability

Malleability is a substance's ability to deform under pressure (compressive stress). If malleable, a

material may be flattened into thin sheets by hammering or rolling. Malleable materials can be
flattened into metal leaf. One well-known type of metal leaf is gold leaf. Many metals with high
malleability also have high ductility. Some do not; for example lead has low ductility but high
malleability.

Strength of Building Materials

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The capacity of a material to resist failure caused by loads acting on it is called as strength. The
load may be compressive, tensile or bending. It is determined by dividing the ultimate load taken
by the material with its cross sectional area. Strength is an important property for any
construction materials. So, to provide maximum safety in strength, factor of safety is provided
for materials and it is selected depending on nature of work, quality of material, economic
conditions etc.

Where F is the force [N] acting on an area A [mm2]. The area can be the undeformed area or the
deformed area, depending on whether engineering stress or true stress is of interest. Where
(N/mm2=Mpa).

Strain of Building Materials

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The engineering strain (Deformation) is expressed as the ratio of total deformation to the initial
dimension of the material body in which the forces are being applied. The engineering normal
Strain or engineering extensional strain or nominal strain e of a material line element or fiber
axially loaded is expressed as the change in length ΔL per unit of the original length L of the line
element or fibers. The normal strain is positive if the material fibers are stretched and negative if
they are compressed. Thus, we have:

Where ɛ is the engineering normal strain, L1 is the original length of the fiber and L2 is the final
length of the fiber. Measures of strain are often expressed in parts per million or micro strains.

Brittleness:

A material is brittle if, when subjected to stress, it breaks with little elastic deformation and
without significant plastic deformation. When the material is subjected to load, if it fails
suddenly without causing any deformation then it is called brittle material and this property is
called as brittleness. Examples: concrete, cast-iron etc.

Tensile Stress

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A common situation with a simple stress pattern is when a straight rod, with uniform material
and cross section, is subjected to tension by opposite forces of magnitude (F) along its axis. If the
system is in equilibrium and not changing with time, and the weight of the bar can be neglected,
then through each transversal section of the bar the top part must pull on the bottom part with the
same force (F) with continuity through the full cross-sectional area (A). Therefore, the stress (σ)
throughout the bar, across any horizontal surface, can be expressed simply by the single number
(σ), calculated simply with the magnitude of those forces, F, and cross sectional area (A).

Creep
Creep the deformation caused by constant loads for long periods. It is time dependent and occurs
at very slow rate. It is almost negligible in normal conditions. But at high temperature conditions
creep occur rapidly. Creep is the property of material which indicates the tendency of material to
move slowly and deform permanently under the influence of external mechanical stress. It results
due to long time exposure to large external mechanical stress with in limit of yielding. Creep is
more severe in material that are subjected to heat for long time.

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Stiffness
Stiffness is the extent to which an object resists deformation in response to an applied force. The
elastic modulus of a material is not the same as the stiffness of a component made from that
material. Elastic modulus is a property of the constituent material; stiffness is a property of a
structure or component of a structure, and hence it is dependent upon various physical
dimensions that describe that component. That is, the modulus is an intensive property of the
material; stiffness, on the other hand, is an extensive property of the solid body that is dependent
on the material and its shape and boundary conditions. For example, for an element in tension or
compression, the axial stiffness is

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Where

E: is the (tensile) elastic modulus (or Young's modulus),

A: is the cross-sectional area,

L : is the length of the element.

Similarly, the torsional stiffness of a straight section is

Where

G: is the rigidity modulus of the material,

J: is the torsion constant for the section.

Toughness

* It is the ability of material to absorb the energy and gets plastically deformed without fracturing. Its
numerical value is determined by the amount of energy per unit volume. It unit is Joule/ m3. Value of
toughness of a material can be determines by stress strain characteristics of material.

• For good toughness material should have good strength as well as ductility. For example: brittle
materials, having good strength but limited ductility are not tough enough. Conversely, materials having
good ductility but low strength are also not tough enough. Therefore, to be tough, material should be
capable to withstand with both high stress and strain.

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Fatigue

* In materials science, fatigue is the weakening of a material caused by cyclic loading that result
in progressive and localized structural damage and the growth of cracks. Once a fatigue crack
has initiated, each loading cycle will grow the crack a small amount, typically producing
striations on some parts of the fracture surface. The crack will continue to grow until it reaches a
critical size, which occurs when the stress intensity factor of the crack exceeds the fracture
toughness of the material, producing rapid propagation and typically complete fracture of the
structure.

* Fatigue is the weakening of material caused by the repeated loading of material. When a
material is subjected to cyclic loading, and loading greater than certain threshold value but much
below the strength of material (ultimate tensile strength limit or yield stress limit, microscopic
cracks begin to form at grain boundaries and interfaces. Eventually the crack reached to a critical
size.
* This crack propagates suddenly and the structure gets fractured. The shape of structure affects
the fatigue very much. Square holes and sharp corners lead to elevated stresses where the fatigue
crack initiates.

Hardness of Building Materials

* The property of materials to resist scratching by a herder body. MOHS scale is used to
determine the hardness of a material. Hardness is most important to decide the usage of
Particular aggregate. It also influences the workability. It is ability of material to oppose the dent
due to punch of external had and sharp object.

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* Rebound Hardness

Rebound hardness is also called as dynamic hardness. It is determined by the height of “bounce”
of a diamond tipped hammer dropped from a fixed height on the material

Impact Strength:

If a material is subjected to sudden loads and it will undergo some deformation without causing
rupture is known as its impact strength. It designates the toughness of material. The impact
Strength of a material is defined as its capability to resist a sudden applied load or force. It is
normally conveyed as the amount of mechanical energy absorbed in the process of deformation
under the applied impact loading and is expressed as energy lost per unit of thickness ft.lb/in.

Abrasion Resistance

The loss of material due to rubbing of particles while working is called abrasion. The abrasion
resistance for a material makes it durable and provided long life. Abrasion resistance refers to the
ability of an adhesive to resist wearing due to contact with another surface. Wearing occurs when
a hard rough surface slides across a softer surface, usually the adhesive material, causing the
undesired removal of material from the surface.

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Testing of Materials for Mechanical Properties

Mechanical properties are conducted to examine the performance of construction materials under
the action of external forces.

Mechanical tests are classified

A) With reference to the arrangement & direction of the external forces

 Tension Test
✓ Specimen (sample) under tension test is subjected to an axial tensile force

✓ Tensile stress is developed on cross-sectional area perpendicular to the line of action of

the force

 The specimen increase in length

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Compression Test

 Specimen is subjected to an axial compressive force

 Compressive stress is produced.

 The specimen decreases in length.

 Shear test
In this test, shearing stress is determined on the x-sectional area parallel to the line of action of
the external forces.
✓ Shear stresses exist throughout the beam.
 Bending Test
✓ Specimen is subjected to forces that give rise to bending moments
✓ The resulting stresses are compressive on one side of the neutral axis & tensile on the other
side.
 Torsion Test
✓ This test is conducted to determine the shearing strength of a material
✓ The specimens for torsion test are generally cylindrical in shape.

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B. With reference to the rate & duration of the load application

 Static Tests

✓ Made with gradually increasing load. e.g. Ordinary tests in tension & compression etc.
 ❖ Dynamic Tests
✓ Made with suddenly applied loads.
 Wear Tests
✓ Made to determine the resistance to abrasion & impact.
 Long time Tests
✓ These are made with the loads applied to the object for long period of time.
 Fatigue Tests
✓ These tests are made with fluctuating stresses repeated a large number of times.
C. With Reference to the effect on the specimen
 Destructive Test
✓ The specimens are either crushed or ruptured and made useless at the end of the tests.
✓ Tests conducted on the following materials are best
Examples Ultimate strength of steel , Compressive strength of concrete
 Non-destructive Tests
✓ Are used to test the strength of members of existing structures without affecting their
performance. Example: hammer test

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