Women as Concrete Machines..

While we were having a beer, one of my Zambian friend, Earnest told me that their women are concrete machines (wow!!! Sure SL contractors think of importing few of them )

While thinking of that good idea, i thought to write my next blog on Concrete technology.

If you are a site engineer, the first thing you have to know is when you mix cement with water it is hot!!! That’s mean there will be a heat generation. This is same as Man (cement) met a Women (Water) , you know it is hot....isn’t it my friends??

Now bigger the Man you have to be careful about the result (ha ha...) Same applies to the concrete as well .If the concrete thickness is more than 1 m, as a site engineer you have to introduce temperature control procedures while on concreting. Otherwise you will end up a with concrete which dressed with crocodile type cracks.
The heat generation will cause to the increase of temperature to 50-60 Celsius. (you can fry a egg on that ha ha )

As a rule of thumb, allowable maximum temperature difference between exterior and internal concrete is 20 Celsius.

Eg.
Boy(cement)+girl(water) = children (heat)....age deference between children(heat) should be 20 ( but in my case it is less than that ha ha ha)



So let us see the more details of how to control the heat if you are supervising a concreting of more than 1 m thick ( I take this 1m as rule of thumb and it is not a theoretical figure)
1. Use of cooler parts of the day for concreting
2. Using ice water to mix the concrete
3. Keeping cement content to minimum levels
4. Using steel form works

Above methods are usual practical adoptions. But if the temperature issue is more critical you have to adopt more academic type solution such as concrete mix design alteration.

So good luck friends... with your concrete machines....