Concrete

1. Find the meaning of the highlighted expressions in the text, and post them to the Glossary in Moodle. Also, add any other term which is unknown to you. Hardens: make or become hard or harder. Stonelike: resembling stone in hardness. Water-and-fire-resisting: material that is able to resist the effects of water and fire without giving in. Compressive: flatten by pressure; squeeze into less space. Tensile strength: is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before necking, which is when the specimen's cross-section starts to significantly contract. Poured: flow or cause to flow in a steady stream. Fusing: join, blend, or coalesce to form a single entity. Melt (a material or object) with intense heat, so as to join it with something else. Volcanic-ash: consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than 2 millimeters (0.1 in) in diameter. Brick ribbing: a curved brick member supporting a vault or defining its form. Sewerage: the provision of drainage by sewers. Water-proofing: describes objects relatively unaffected by water or resisting the ingress of water under specified conditions. Such items may be used in wet environments or under water to specified depths. Waterproofing describes making an object waterproof or water-resistant. Pipes: a tube used to convey water, gas, oil, or other fluids. Mesh: material made of a network of wire or thread. Limitless: without a limit; very large or extensive. Hardscape construction: Hardscape, or "hardscaping," consists of the inanimate elements of landscaping, especially any masonry work or woodwork. Deck: a floor of a ship, especially the upper, open level. A floor or platform, as in a bus or car park. Informal the ground or floor. Stresses: pressure or tension exerted on a material object. Slabs: a large, thick, flat piece of stone or concrete. Spring: move suddenly or rapidly upwards or forwards. 2. Open a new page on your wiki, call it “concrete” and post there: • Definitions (concepts found in the text) • Look for images of spaces created using: reinforced concrete, precast concrete, prestressed concrete and concrete-shell. **__ Architecture Design of Hanoi Museum by Gerkan, Marg and Partners (reinforced concrete). __** **__ Precast concrete: Earthquake Resistance Green Prefab House Design with Precast Concrete Structure is one of Stylish House Design reference for you who want new architecture model idea. __** **__ Prestressed concrete: Boutiron Bridge near Vichy is probably the most important structure in the development of prestressed concrete __** **__ Concrete-shell: Kresge Auditorium Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shown from the rear, roof being replaced, designed by Eero Saarinen. __**  • What is the difference between tiltwall construction, tilt-up panel construction and pre-cast concrete construction? (See the link for “precast concrete”) 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 pouring large slabs of concrete called panels directly at the job site. The panels are then tilted up into position around the building's slab. Because the concrete tiltwall forms are assembled and poured directly at the job site, no transportation of panels is required. One major benefit of this is that the size of the panels is limited only by the needs of the building and the strength of the concrete panels themselves. Because concrete tilt-up walls are poured outdoors, contractors are at the mercy of climatic conditions. The precast concrete building process is similar to tilt-up construction, but it addresses the challenges presented by weather. For precast concrete buildings, work crews do not set up forms at the job site to create the panels. Instead, workers pre cast concrete panels at a large manufacturing facility. Because the precast concrete forms are poured indoors, this activity can take place regardless the weather conditions. After curing, the precast concrete panels are trucked to the job site. From this point, precast concrete buildings are assembled in much the same manner as tiltwall buildings. The fact that precast concrete walls are formed at a manufacturing facility resolves the weather issue, but presents a different limitation not found in tilt-up construction. Because the panels must be transported - sometimes over long distances - places a substantial limitation on how wide or tall each panel can be. This places greater design restrictions on architects and limits the applications where precast construction can be used. Clearly, tilt-up or tiltwall construction and precast concrete are similar processes. Because tilt-up affords more flexibility, it is the method of choice in locations where the weather allows it. Precast concrete is a suitable choice in circumstances where environmental factors and the construction schedule preclude tiltwall as a viable option.
 * 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 solid of great compressive but low tensile strength.
 * Reinforced concrete was developed to add the tensile strength of steel to the compressive strength of mass concrete. The metal is embedded by being set as a mesh into the forms before pouring, and in the hardened material the two act uniformly. The combination is much more versatile than either product; it serves not only for constructing rigid frames but also for foundations, columns, walls, floors, and a limitless variety of coverings, and it does not require the addition of other structural materials.
 * Concrete-shell construction permits the erection of vast vaults and domes with a concrete and 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 factory conditions 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 reinforcement is set under tension to produce a live force to resist a particular load. Since the member acts like a spring, it can carry a greater load than an unstressed member of the same size.