Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

… grading curve The identification and description of meaningful fresh concrete parameters has a history that is almost as old as concrete technology itself. Different concrete, installation and compaction concepts have produced various different mix compositions and specific test methods. Here, the desire for a simple method, suitable for construction sites, for predicting and testing certain properties of fresh concrete usually exceeds the desire to be able to describe physical properties such as flow behaviour scientifically with great accuracy. Simple site tests such as flow spread, especially in combination with the visual perception of experienced concrete workers, provide the basis assessing the properties of fresh concrete on site. Under constant and favourable conditions with optimized grain size distribution and the most efficient grain shape where the individual batches only differ according to the amount of water and perhaps the concrete admixtures, such procedures still frequently form an appropriate evaluation basis for comparing similar batches.