CE 53000 – Properties and Production of Concrete

Credits and contact hours:

Specific course information:

Catalog description: Basic properties of hydraulic cements and mineral aggregates and their interactions in concrete. Properties of plastic and hardened concrete. Modifications through admixtures. Production, handling, and placement problems. Specifications; quality control and acceptance testing; lightweight, heavyweight, and other special concretes. A one-day field trip is required.
Prerequisites:
Course status: Elective course

Specific Goals for the course:

Student learning outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course the student shall be able to:
- Learn the course’s topics (see “Topics”), acquiring a general vision of one of the most important construction materials in civil engineering: Concrete.
- Communicate effectively with a range of audiences.
- Identify, formulate and solve complex engineering problems related to concrete evaluation.
- Find autonomously the right sources to learn more about a topic, summarize and analyze the current information, discuss the current knowledge and find the gaps.
Relationship of course to program outcomes
- Outcome 1: An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
- Outcome 3: An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audience
- Outcome 4: An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgements which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental and societal contexts.

Topics:

Introduction to concrete: Aggregates, cement and water.
Supplementary cementitious materials and additives
Mechanical properties of concrete (fresh properties and hardened properties)
Curing: the importance of temperature and humidity
Introduction of non-destructive testing
Maturity method
Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity and Rebound hammer
Durability of concrete
Special concretes
Introduction to mixture proportioning
Mixture proportion of special concretes
Batching, mixing, transporting and handling concrete.
Concrete production
Cold weather concreting and hot weather concreting
Quality control
Specifications vs guidelines
Concrete and sustainability
Future of concrete
Lab I: Find your course project topic and how to find the information
Lab II: Elevator pitch – Oral presentation of your course project topic. How to sell your idea?
Lab III: Oral presentation of preliminary results and practice of giving feedback of oral presentation. How to improve your presentation?
Lab IV: Work in groups. Review the project of your peers and give them feedback of written projects. How to improve your written project?
Lab V: Oral presentations. Practice of formal presentation.
Visit from the industry: from the theory to the field. Fall 2018: Visit of the Quality Control Manager of a Concrete Company, and visit of the American Concrete Pavement Association Executive Director (Indiana Chapter) along with the quality control administrator of a contractor company with more than 50 years of experience.