Concrete

Definitions

Concrete is a manufactured mixture of cement and water, with aggregates of sand and stones, which hardens rapidly by chemical combination to a stonelike, water-and-fire-resisting solidof great compressive but low tensile strength.

Reinforced concrete is a material developed to add the tensile strength of steel to the compressive strength of mass concrete. The metal is embeddedby being set as a mesh into the forms before pouring, and in the hardened material the two act uniformly.

Concrete-shell construction permits the erection of vast vaults and
domes with a concreteand steel content so reduced that the thickness is comparatively less than that of an eggshell.

Precast-concrete construction, employs bricks, slabs, and supports made under optimal factoryconditions to increase waterproofing and solidity, to decrease time and cost in erection, and to reduce expansion and contractions.

Prestressed concrete provides bearing members into which reinforcementis set under tension to produce a live force to resist a particular load.

Images

Reinforced concrete



Concrete shell


Prestressed concrete



Precast concrete



Tiltwallconstruction, tilt-up panel construction and pre-cast concrete construction

Several terms: tilt-up panel construction, tiltwall construction and precast concrete building construction, are used toreference new concrete building processes.

Tilt-up and tiltwall are two terms used to describe the same process. For a tilt-up concrete building, the walls are created by assembling forms and pouringlarge slabs of cement called panels directly at the job site. The cement panels are then tilted up into position around the building's slab to form the walls. Because the concrete tiltwall forms areassembled and poured directly at the job site, no transportation of panels is required.

The precast concrete building process is similar to tilt-up construction, but it addresses the challenges...