Seminar Report

2017-2018

INTRODUTION

Ready-Mixed Concrete (IS: 4926-2003) as “Concrete mixed in a stationary mixer in a central

batching and mixing plant or in a truck mixer and supplied in the fresh condition to the
purchaser either at the site or into the purchaser’s vehicles.” Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) is
delivered to the worksite, often in transit mixers capable of mixing the ingredients of the
concrete just before the delivery of a batch. This results in a precise mixture, allowing
specialty concrete mixtures to be developed and implemented on construction sites. The
second option available is to mix the concrete at the batching plant and deliver the mixed
concrete to the site in an agitator truck, which keeps the mixed concrete in correct form.

In the case of the centrally mixed type, the drum carrying the concrete revolves slowly so as
to prevent the mixed concrete from "segregation" and prevent its stiffening due to initial set.
However, in the case of the truck-mixed concrete, the batched materials (sand, gravel and
cement) are carried and water was added just at the time of mixing. In this case the cement
remains in contact with the wet or moist material and this phase cannot exceed the
permissible period, which is normally 90 minutes.

The use of the Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) is facilitated through a truck-mounted 'boom
placer' that can pump the product for ready use at multistoried construction sites. A boom
placer can pump the concrete up 80 meters.

Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) is preferred to onsite concrete mixing because of the precision
of the mixture and reduced work site confusion. It facilitates speedy construction through
programmed delivery at the site and mechanized operation with consequent economy. It also
decreases labor, site supervising cost and project time, resulting in savings. Proper control
and economy in use of raw material results in saving of natural resources. It assures
consistent quality through accurate computerized control of aggregates and water as per mix
designs. It minimizes cement wastage due to bulk handling and there is no dust problem and
therefore, Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) is usually ordered in units of cubic yards or meters.
It must remain in motion until it is ready to be poured, or the cement may begin to solidify.
The Ready Mixed Concrete is generally released from the hopper in a relatively steady stream
through a trough system. Workers use shovels and hoes to push the concrete into place. Some

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projects may require more than one production run of Ready Mixed concrete, so more trucks
may arrive as needed or additional batches may be produced off site and delivered

Figure 1 - Modern Ready Mixed Concrete Plant

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HISTORY

Ready-mixed concrete was first patented in Germany in 1903, but the means of transporting it
had not been developed sufficiently by then to enable the concept to be commercially
exploited. The first commercial delivery of RMC was made in Baltimore, USA in 1913 and
the first revolving drum type transit mixer, of a much smaller capacity than those available
today, was born in 19263 . By the late 1920s and 1930s, RMC was introduced in some of the
European countries.

Some of the early plants were of a very small capacity. In 1931, a ready-mixed concrete plant
set up at what is now the site of Heathrow airport, London, had a 1.52 m3 (2_yd3 ) capacity
central mixer, supplying six 1.33 m 3 (1 1'4 _yd3 ) capacity agitators with an output of 30.58
m 3 l hr (40 yd3 /hr). Aggregates were stored in a four-compartment one of about 76.45 m
(100 yd3 ) capacity. The cement was handled manually in bags. Till the beginning of World
War II, there were only six firms producing RMC in the UK. After the war, there was a boost
to the RMC industry in the whole of Europe, including the UK. In the mid-nineties, there
were as many as 1,100 RMC plants in the UK, consuming about 45 percent of the cement
produced in that country.

In Europe, the European Ready Mixed Concrete Organization (ERMCO) was formed in 1967
and is a federation of the national associations of the respective countries. In 1997 there were
5,850 companies represented by it having a turnover of 15 billion ECUs and producing a total
of 305 million m3 of RMC4 . Cement consumption ranged from 33-62 percent of total
cement sales, and RMC consumption of 0.3-1.4 m 3 /capita/annum (0.72 - 3.36 ton)

In the USA, till 1933, only 5 percent of the cement produced was utilized through the RMC
route. ASTM published the first specification of ready-mixed concrete, C34, in 1934. The
industry in USA has progressed steadily. During 1950 to 1975, the RMC industry's
consumption of total OPC used in the USA increased from 1I3rd to 2/3rd and by 1990, this
consumption increased to 72.4 percent of the total OPC used in that countr/. There were as
many as 5,000 RMC companies in the country in 1978. This number however, dropped to

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3,700 in 1994 with only 6 to 7 percent of the companies controlling nearly 50 percent of the
Ri\1C market share. According to Gaynor, this trend of consolidation of the market has
fostered greater technical sophisticationS in the industry.

In Japan, the first RMC plant was set up in 1949. Initially, dump trucks were used to haul
concrete of low consistency for road construction. In the early 1950s, mixing type truck
mixers were introduced and since then there has been a phenomenal growth of the industry in
that country. By 1973, there were 3,413 RMC plants6 in Japan and this number rose to 4,462
by the end of the 1970s. By 1992 Japan was the then largest producer of RMC, producing
181.96 million tons of concrete6 . In many other countries of the world, including some of the
developing countries like Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, as well as certain countries in the
Gulf region, the RMC industry is well-developed today.

The development of RMC industry world over has followed'S' curve. The progress during the
formative years say upto 10 years is slow, then it follows high growth path for the next 30 to
40 years and again it start slowing down until it reaches a plateau. The growth pattern of
RMC world over can be divided into three phases. The phase I or the introduction phase is
considered upto 10% cement consumption by the RMC industry. The phase II or the growth
phase is assumed upto 50% cement consumption and phase III or consolidation phase is
considered thereafter. During the consolidation phase, the growth touches the plateau and
shows a nominal growth in the range of 1-2%..

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DEVELOPMENT OF RMC IN INDIA

Ready-mixed concrete plants arrived in India in the early 1950s, but their use was restricted
to only major construction projects such as large dams. Later on RMC was also used for other
large projects such as construction of long-span bridges, industrial complexes, etc. These
were, however, captive plants which formed an integral part of the construction project. RMC
in a true commercial sense had yet to arrive in the country. In 1974, a techno-economic
feasibility study for setting up of RMC plants in India was conducted by the Central Building
Research Institute (CBRI) , Roorkee7 . The study recommended setting up of RMC plants in
major metropolitan towns of the country. It also suggested the use of fly ash as a partial
replacement of cement to effect savings.

In the late 1970s, the then Cement Research Institute of India (CRI) - now the National
Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCB) - carried out a techno-economic viability
study of RMC, to be transported without agitation8 . In this study, it was observed that the
conventional RMC would be uneconomical under the then-prevailing conditions, wherein
only small volumes of concrete (1 m3 or less) could be handled at a time, thereby making the
transportation cost higher. To reduce the total cost, the study suggested that only a part of the
mixing water (about 60 percent) be added at the central plant and such a "semi-dry" mix be
transported in non-agitating trucks to the construction site, where the mix could be discharged
from the truck to the mixer and remixed with the addition of the balance water. This study
further recommended that once the demand for RMC went up, conventional agitator trucks
could be introduced without any change in the central infrastructure. Based on this study, a
feasibility report for setting up of RMC plant at Delhi was jointly prepared by the NCB and
the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) in 1988.

It was during the 1970s when the Indian construction industry went overseas particularly to
the Gulf region, that an awareness of Ready-mixed concrete was created among Indian
engineers, contractors and builders. Indian contactors in their works abroad used RMC plants
of 15 m3lhr to 60 m3lhr capacity, and some of these plants were brought to India during the
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mid - 1980s. In the meantime Indian equipment manufacturers also started manufacturing
small Rl\1C plants. It was only after cement was fully decontrolled, and particularly since the
early 1990s, that RMC has been talked about on a commercial basis. The first plant belonging
to Ready-Mix concrete Industries, was set up at Pune in 1993. It had its own aggregate
quarry. Later in 1994, the Associated Cement Companies Ltd set up the first commercial
plant at Bandra in Mumbai, which was followed by another in Navi Mumbai. After this, a
number of players have set up RMC plants in the country, mainly in the metropolitan areas.
Based on the information obtained from various RMC manufacturers, there were 47 plants in
existence in the country by the end of year 2001 with a total capacity of 2,576 m3/h.

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EQUIPMENT REQUIRED IN READY MIX CONCRETE

Following are the equipment required in Ready Mix Concrete

1. Batching plant

2. Transit mixer

Batching:-

Batching plants are classified as

1. Manual

2. Semiautomatic

3. Fully automatic

Storage:-

Storage of the raw materials is done by following methods: - INLINE BINS Inert raw
materials like fine & coarse aggregates are stored in bins called as “Inline Bins” where the
trucks carrying fine & coarse aggregate can dump the material easily.

The aggregates required are fed by the means of aggregate belt conveyer. On the aggregate
belt conveyer the aggregates are weighed automatically by means of computer form the
computer room presents on the plant.

Silos:-

Cement & Flash are stored in airtight container called as “Silos”. The required quantity of
cement & fly ash is extracted by the silos. There are two cement silos and one silo of fly ash

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Fig. 2. Equipments required for Ready Mix Concrete

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TYPES OF READY MIX CONCRETE

There are three types of ready mix concrete (RMC) depending upon the mixing of the various
ingredients as given below:

1. Transit mixed concrete

2. Shrink mixed concrete
3. 3. Central mixed concrete

1. Transit mixed concrete

It is also called dry batched concrete because all the basic ingredients including water are
charged directly into the truck mixer. The mixer drum is revolved fast at charging speed
during the loading of the material and after that it continues rotating at a normal agitating
speed. In this type of ready mix concrete, also three types of variations are possible as given
below:
Concrete mixed at job site:
While being transported towards the destination, the drum is revolved at a slow or
agitating speed of 2 rpm, but after reaching the site just before discharging the
material, it is revolved at maximum speed of 12 to 15 rpm for nearly 70 to 100
revolution for ensuring homogeneous mixing.
Concrete mixed in transit
The drum speed is kept medium during the transit time, i.e. approximately 8 rpm for
about 70 revolutions. After 70 revolutions, it is slowed down to agitating speed of 2
rpm till discharging the concrete

Concrete mixed in the yard

The drum is turned at high speed or 12-15 rpm for 50 revolutions. This allows a quick
check of the batch. The concrete is then agitated slowly while driving to the job site.
Concrete mixed in transit:

The drum is turned at medium speed or about 8 rpm for 70 revolutions while driving
to the job site. The drum is then slowed to agitating speed.

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2. Shrink mixed concrete

The concrete is partially mixed in the plant mixer and then balance mixing is done in the
truck mounted drum mixer during transit time. The amount of mixing in transit mixer
depends upon the extent of mixing done in the central mixing plant. Tests should be
conducted to establish the requirement of mixing the drum mixer.

3. Central mixed concrete

Central-mixing concrete Batch plants include a stationary, plant-mounted mixer that mixes
the concrete before it is discharged into a truck mixer. Central-mix plants are sometimes
referred to as wet batch or pre-mix plants. The truck mixer isused primarily as an agitating
haul unit at a central mixoperation. Dump trucks or other non-agitat-ing unit’s aresometimes
be used for low slump and mass concrete pourssupplied by central mix plants. About 20% of
the concrete plantains the US use a central mixer. Principal advantages include:

Faster production capability than a transit-mix plant

•Improved concrete quality control and consistency and

•Reduced wear on the truck mixer drums.

There are several types of plant mixers, including:

•Tilt drum mixer

•Horizontal shaft paddle mixer

•Dual shaft paddle mixer

•Pan mixer

•Slurry mixer

The tilting drum mixer is the most common American central mixing unit. Many central-mix
drums can accommodate up to12 yd3 and can mix in excess of 200 yd3 per hour. They are
fast and efficient, but can be maintenance-intensive since they include several moving parts
that are subjected to a heavy load. Horizontal shaft mixers have a stationary shell and rotating
central shaft with blades or paddles. They have either one or two mixing shafts that impart
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significantly higher horsepower in mixing than the typical drum mixer. The intensity of the
mix-ing action is somewhat greater than that of the tilt drum mixer. This high energy is
reported to produce higher strength concrete vi-ato thoroughly blending the ingredients and
more uniformly coating the aggregate particles with cement paste. Because of the horsepower
required to mix and the short mixing cycle required to complete mixing, many of these
mixers are 4 or 5yd3 units and two batches may be needed to load a stand-ard truck or
agitator. Pan mixers are generally lower capacity mixers at about 4 to 5yd3 and are used at
precast concrete plants.

Slurry mixing The slurry mixer is a relative newcomer to con-crete mixing technology. It can
be added onto a dry-batch plant and works by mixing cement and water that is then loaded as
slurry into atruck mixer along with the aggregates. It is reported to benefit from high-energy
mixing. Another ad-vantage is that the slurry mixer reduces the amount of cement dust that
escapes into their.

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NEED OF INNOVATIVE READY MIXED CONCRETE
SELECTION MODEL

To understand current practice of Ready Mixed Concrete selection, a survey was carried out
on selected Ready Mixed Concrete plants in Central Gujarat region of India. The purpose of
the survey was to study the methodology and derive the relation between the various criteria
for enhancing the utilization of Ready Mixed Concrete. Figure 2 Given below shows the
present approach used by construction companies in selection of best Ready Mixed Concrete.

Figure 3 - The present approach used by construction companies in selection of best Ready
Mixed Concrete

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From the study of current Ready Mixed Concrete selection approach, it is felt that
stakeholders require support of scientific and mathematical technique. The present approach
of Ready Mixed Concrete selection has following shortcomings:

Need huge initial investment.

 Not affordable for small projects (small quantity of concrete).

 Needs effective transportation system from R.M.C. to site.
 Traffic jam or failure of the vehicle creates a problem if the proper dose of retarder is
not given.
 Labors should be ready on site to cast the concrete in position to vibrate it and
compact it.
 Double handling, this results in additional cost and losses in weight, requirement of go
downs for storage of cement and large area at site for storage of raw materials.
 Aggregates get mixed and impurities creep in because of wind, weather and
mishandling at the site.
 Improper mixing at the site, as there is ineffective control and intangible cost
associated with unorganized preparation at site are other drawbacks of RMC.
 There are always possibilities of manipulation; manual error and mischief as
concreting are done at the mercy of gangs, who manipulate the concrete mixes and
water cement ratio.

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READY MIXED CONCRETE (RMC) - MAJOR ADVANTAGES

The major advantages of RMC are recognized:

 Uniform and assured quality of concrete.

 Durability of RMC.
 Faster construction speed.
 Storage needs at Construction sites eliminated.
 The addition of admixtures is easier.
 Documentation of the mix design.
 Reduction in Wastage of Materials.
 RMC is eco-friendly.
 Elimination of Procurement / Hiring of plant and machinery.
 Labor associated with production of concrete is eliminated.
 Noise and dust pollution at site is reduced.
 Organization at the site is more streamlined.
 Lower labor and supervisory cost.
 Availability of concrete of any grade.

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DEMERITS OF R. M. C.

 Need huge initial investment.

 Not affordable for small projects (small quantity of concrete)
 Needs effective transportation system from R.M.C to site.

CRITERIA FRAMEWORK FOR READY MIXED CONCRETE

SELECTION

Ready Mixed Concrete selection depends upon many factors. Literature study and interview
with construction professionals were carried out to prepare the hierarchical framework for
Ready Mixed Concrete selection. Criteria which contribute towards Ready Mixed Concrete
selection are divided in 10 major groups as: Quality Control, Cost, Delivery, Quantity,
Manpower, Safety Measures, Financial Capability, Commercial Capability, Laboratory, and
Managerial Capability. These criteria are further subdivided into sub criteria. A final
framework for Ready Mixed Concrete selection criteria is given in Figure 3.

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Figure 4 - Framework for Ready Mixed Concrete selection criteria

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CONCLUSION

Ready Mix Concrete plant is a modern technique of production of concrete in large quantities
away from the actual site of placing . It is very useful in cities where demand of concrete is
very high and construction sites are in congested areas where mixing on site is not possible. It
is suitable for projects like Dam, Roads, Bridges, commercial complex, Malls and all types of
mass construction where time limit plays a vital role and where demand is huge.

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REFERENCES

[1] Concrete Technology Theory and Practice, M.S. SHETTY, S.Chand- New Delhi.

[2] IS 4926 - 2003, Standard on Ready mixed concrete – Code of Practice, BIS, New Delhi.
http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/21948400/12595375 78/name/4926.pdf

[3] An Approach for Supplier Selection for Construction Companies Through Analytical
Hierarchy Process, IJSR – INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH,
Volume : 2 | Issue : 5 | May 2013 • ISSN No 2277 – 8179

[4] Saaty, T.L. (2008) ‘Decision making with the analytic hierarchy process’, Int. J. Services
Sciences,Vol.1,No.1,pp.83–98 http://ebookbrowse.com/gdoc.php?id=413809505&
url=89ec1345c521d3ccec17ce81fabd454f

[5] AHP approach for supplier evaluation and selection in a steel manufacturing company,
Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, doi:10.3926/jiem.2008.v1n2.p54 76,

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