LECTURE6

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The University of Utah
Department of
Civil & Environmental Engineering
CVEEN 4221 Concrete Design
Lecture #6 Concrete Strength and Properties

Wight Chapter 3
File: LECTURE6.PDF
CVEEN 4221 – Concrete Design

LECTURE 6 – Concrete Strengths and Properties
A. Strength of Concrete
f 'c – 28 day compressive strength of a concrete cylinder (cylinder must have diameter at least
3x maximum aggregate size with a height of 2x the diameter). In concrete design, whenever
a variable contains a ‘prime’ mark, compressive stresses only are being considered.
How long does concrete take to reach its full compressive strength?
Basic Definition:
Portland Cement – “This term is applied to the finely pulverized product resulting from the
calcination to incipient fusion of an intimate mixture of properly proportioned argillaceous
and calcareous materials, to which no greater than 3 percent has been made subsequent to
calcination.” – From: ‘Reinforced Concrete’, American Technical Society, 1924.
The following definition is also acceptable and perhaps even more appropriate:
“Cement is the paste that holds concrete together”. – Jerod Johnson
Factors affecting concrete strength:

w/c ratio – water/cement ratio, lower usually means better, but more costly.
Type of cement:
Type I – normal
Type II – sulfate resistance
Type III – high early strength
Type IV – low heat of hydration – dissipates heat slowly, i.e. for dams or other
large volume castings.
Type V – high sulfate resistance
See page 51 of Wight for more info.
Supplementary Materials – (admixtures, air entrainment, silica fume)
Curing Conditions – moisture, temperature
Age – older is stronger
f ‘c : 3000 psi
4000 psi
5000 psi
6000-10,000 psi (high strength concrete)
What are some applications for each of the strengths (f ‘c) shown above?
-you will likely cover mix designs in another class (e.g. CE Materials).
Must f’c always be taken as the 28-day strength? What about 56 days?...maybe more?
B. Unit weight of concrete:

NW (Normal weight concrete) = 150 pcf
LW (Lightweight concrete) = 110 pcf Whenever you see the lambda factor in
ACI Documents (λ), it is most likely
What are some applications for each? addressing some aspect of lightweight
concrete.
File: LECTURE6.PDF
C. Durability of Concrete
Concrete is composed of water, cement (paste), fine/coarse aggregates, admixtures (fly ash,
silica fume, DCI, air entrainment).
-you are engineers, never call concrete ‘cement’
Corrosion of steel: corroded steel occupies approximately ____x the volume of uncorroded
steel.
What happens to the concrete as the reinforcing begins to corrode?
______________________________________________________________
To prevent corrosion, use:

Silica fume – make concrete less permeable
DCI – chemical admixture to inhibit corrosion
Epoxy coating of bars or Galvanization – protective barrier
Hydrophobic admixtures (e.g. Anti-hydro).
Increase coverage over bars – more distance for corrosive agents to travel
Prevent standing water by positively sloping structure – removes pooled corrosive
agents.
Cathodic Protection Methods – Passive and active systems to interrupt the electrolytic
process.
Use prestressing/post tensioning.
Spalling of concrete: spalling of concrete exposed to moisture and freeze/thaw cycles can be
inhibited by providing air entrainment to the concrete. How does air entrainment help?
Chemical attacks (i.e. sulfate attack): mitigate by using correct concrete type.
Overworking concrete - works air out of concrete surfaces, causes large aggregate to settle to
bottom of formwork, makes an overall non-homogenous mix. Mitigate by following correct
ACI procedures for placing and working concrete. DO NOT overwork concrete on exterior
surfaces that will be subject to freeze/thaw.
Some ideas for improving life cycle costs that you might provide the owner during the design
of a parking garage are:
__________________________ __________________________
__________________________ __________________________
__________________________ __________________________
__________________________ __________________________
Note: Some of the oldest, most historic, and widely recognized structures in the world are made of
unreinforced concrete. Corrosion of reinforcement is most often the issue behind deterioration of
modern concrete structures. So, why don't we just use unreinforced concrete? Hint: It takes an
engineer to make a structure that just barely stands. Also, do all structures need to last as long as the
Pantheon in Rome (above)?

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File: LECTURE6.

The University of Utah

CVEEN 4221 Concrete Design

Lecture #6 Concrete Strength and Properties

CVEEN 4221 – Concrete Design

Factors affecting concrete strength:

B. Unit weight of concrete:

What happens to the concrete as the reinforcing begins to corrode?

To prevent corrosion, use:

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