Recent Innovations in Concrete &

Foundations Leading Sustainable Growth

By

Dr. N V Nayak
Principal Advisor, Gammon India Limited
Chairman, Geocon International Pvt. Ltd

The First Memorial

Lecture
In Memory of Late Prof.
Y.S. Sane

9TH Sep
2014

Organizers : ISSE, Pune District Center

I.

Concrete

1.0 Preamble
Worldwide levels of carbon dioxide, have reached
their highest level in 3 million years, US Scientists
have said.
Times of India, Mumbai, June 2013

In 1.8bn years Earth Will Become Too Hot As Seas

Will Evaporate
Times of India, Mumbai, 20th September 2013

World Average Temperature will rise by at least 4C by

the year 2100 and at least by 8C by 2200.
Times of India, Mumbai, 21st October 2013
East Himalayan Forests Turning Brown
Times of India, Mumbai, 2nd January 2014

We have to reverse this trend, for

our survival for the future.

How?
&
Without affecting the Growth/Development by
Sustainable Development;
Why Discuss Concrete for Sustainable
Development?
o Concrete is Most Widely used construction Material

only next to water.

o It Generally produces Carbon Dioxide (CO2).

2.0 Sustainable Development

Annual World Concrete Consumption : 20000 Mt
Annual Indias Concrete consumption
: 1000t Mt
Target without increased cement : 4000 Mt

production

(4 Times)
World
Annual
Cement
Production
:4000Mt
Consumption (in 2013)
Chinas Annual Cement Production : 2350 Mt
(58.7%)
Indias Annual Cement Production : 280 Mt
(6.7%)

India
6.7%

China
58.7 %

3.0 Emission of CO2

1 t of Cement Production releases
1 t of Cement consumed in

0.9 t of CO2
(-) 0.4 t of CO2

concrete absorbs while hardening

Therefore, net 1 t of cement produced
and releases consumed in concrete

0.5 t of CO2

emits
Hence we in India release

0.34 Mt of CO2

producing & Consuming 280 Mt of Cement Annually / day

Concrete Production for Growth Must

How to make it Sustainable

4.0 Sustainable Concrete Production

6 Steps to be followed
(*)Make Compulsory use of Secondary Cementing

Material (SCM)

(Saving Roughly 60-70%)

Produce more Durable Concrete

(Increased Life Almost Double)

(*) Use Higher Strength Concrete

(Saving roughly 30%).

 (*)Use Higher Size of Aggregate (MSA) in

Concrete
(Saving roughly 10%).
(*)Use optimum Cement Content in Concrete.
Encourage use of Carbon Negative

Cement.
With (*) alone, we can produce 4 times
the concrete for given amount of
cement manufactured.

4.1 Main Secondary Cementing Materials

o Fly Ash (FA)

Annual Production 200 Mt;

o Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS);

- Annual Production : 90 Mt
o Metakaoline (MK);

Annual Production : 7000 t ( Complete Export..)

o Rice Husk Ash (RHA);
o Micro-silica (MS);
o Ultrafine Fly Ash & Ultrafine GGBS (UFFA; UFS, Alcofine) (Recent Innovations)
o Annual Production : (5000 t + 15000 t) = 20000t
o Annual Export : (2000 t + 4000 t) = 6000 t (30%)

4.2 Codal Provisions

Authors Recommendation
Use fly Ash up to = 50%
Use 70% in combination with Fly Ash +
GGBS, or 85% GGBS Alone. Why ?
Avoid Micro Silica (MS) ;
Why ?
(explained later)
Substitute MS by UFS/Alccofine, Ultrafine
Fly Ash.
Why ?

4.3 Durable Concrete

Present Practice, Design

= 50 - 60 years Life

AIM Design for Life

100 - 125 Years

Possible
Increased Life - Reduced Concrete
Requirement
Requirement

Reduced Cement

To make Durable Concrete, Concrete to

Resist certain Aggressive Environment
(Mainly 6)
1.0 Chloride corrosion
2.0 Carbonation corrosion

Solution

3.0 Alkali Silica Reaction

Common to all

4.0 Sulphate attack

Low

5.0 Industrial waste

6.0 Casual approach
Why ? (See photos
below)

w/b ratio 0.3

To make Durable Concrete, Concrete to

Resist certain Aggressive Environment

4.3.1 Chloride Corrosion

Solution
SCM Maximum Permissible
limit
GGBS in marine conditions
preferred.
Fly ash & not GGBS in Roads
In General 70% replacement
GGBS + fly ash together

4.3.2 Carbonation Corrosion

Solution
Fly ash preferred
If

GGBS
used,
Restrict to 50%; for
higher percentage
plastering is to be
adopted.

4.3.3 Damp patches on the surface of a

reinforced concrete arch affected by ASR
Solution
High permissible % of
SCM like
fly ash (25 to 50%)
GGBS (50 to 70%)
Metakaoline (10 to
20%)
Silica Fume (5 to
10%)

4.3.4 Sulphate Attack

Solution
High percentage of
GGBS 1st
preference
Fly ash 2nd
preference
Not to be
preferred
Silica Fume
Metakaoline

4.3.5 Pile Concrete in Industrial

Environment
Normally

we determine pH, Chloride and

Sulphate in ground Water and Subsoil;

Many other factors of ground water affect

performance of concrete;
These are of importance in Industrialized Areas.
Why? [See Figures]

Influence of Industrial Wastes on Structures

Solution:
GGBS : > 50% (1st
Preference)
: < 50% (2nd Preference)
Fly Ash :

50% (3rd Preference)

Summary of effectiveness of SCM on concrete

Type
SCM

of %
Addition
with
respect
to

Fly ash

26%
50%

Silica
Fume
Metakaol

On
Carbonat
ion
Resistan
ce

Total
Cementit
ious
content
10%
to Good
to Moderate
25%
Very Good

GGBS

Resistanc
e
to
AlkaliSilica
Reaction/
Expansio
n

Excellent

Moderate

On
Chloride
Resistan
ce

On
Sulphat
e
Resistan
ce

On
Industri
al
Waste

Good

Good

Excellent

Good

a) Slightl
y
better
than
OPC

Very
Good

Very
Good

b) Better
than
1(a)
Very
Good

Excellent
Very
Good
Very

Excellent Excellent
Moderate -

to

50%

Very Good

Moderate

50 to 70%

Excellent

Poor

5 to 10%

Excellent

Moderate

10 to 20%

Excellent

Moderate

Moderate

Category

Preferential order of Various

SCM

Alkali-Silica
Reaction

Fly ash (High%), GGBS (high%),

Silica Fume, Metakaoline

Carbonation

Fly ash, GGBS (<50%), Silica

Fume, Metakaoline
GGBS (>50%)
Fly ash (>26%), GGBS (>50%)

Chloride
Corrosion

Silica Fume, Metakaoline

Fly ash (25%), GGBS (50%)
GGBS (>50%)

Sulphate
Resistance

Fly ash
Silica Fume, Metakaoline
GGBS (> 50%)

Industrial Waste

GGBS (<50%)
Fly ash (<50%)

4.3.6 CASUAL APPROACH

Innumerable cases

Densely Reinforced Beam-Column Junction

Solution
Self Compacting Concrete

Benefits of Ultrafine Slag and Fly ash

Better Workability & Retention Period
Better Pumpability
Early Strength Gain
Reduced Drying Shrinkage
Better Sulphate Resistance
Better Pore Size and Particle Packing (Reduced permeability)
Better Resistance to Industrial Waste
Reduced Cost

Recent & Future Developments of Concrete

Ultrafine Slag & Ultrafine Fly ash - Need Fast

Implementation
Self curing concrete

- High Priority

Dry mixing of concrete in

Batching plant

- High Priority

Industry waste as aggregate

Bendable concrete
Self cleaning concrete
Self healing concrete (Bacterial concrete)
Carbon negative cement
controlled permeability formwork

5.0 Foundations :
Pile Foundations - Bored Cast-in-situ

Preamble
Simple innovations are referred
here which will have great effect
on durability and sustainability

5.1 Removal of Concrete above cutoff level

Chipping of concrete by
Jack Hammer by Wedge
Method Widely adopted

Taets Pile
Breaker

5.1 Removal of Concrete above cutoff level

Performance of Taets

Taets Pile breaker Costly

but time effective and
quality suspect

Consequences
Micro Cracks
getting developed
in Piles below cutoff
level and chances
of endangering its
performance.
Measures for
Improved
Performance ??
???

5.1Removal of Green Concrete above pile cut-off

Developed by
Speaker and
adopted in IRC
78 2011

Methodology
Remove
Concrete
soon
completion of Pile Concrete;

after

Generally removed manually by Tumbler

for depth up to 0.5m below ground;
Special Tool is used for deeper depth
(See Figure );
After removal, Vibrate Concrete using
Rammer (Fig in next slide);
In absence of Ramming/Vibration, Air
voids will be present in concrete which
will result in strength reduction

Scooping Tool

5.2 Removal of Green Concrete above pile cut-off

Rammer for Vibration of

Concrete after scooping

Compressive Strength
Results

5.3 L Bend to Pile Reinforcement Cage

Theoretically Not Required Except in

some special cases.
Majority Still Provide
Consequences ??????

L Bend to Pile Reinforcement Cage

(Contd..)
Reasons:
O Proper flushing may
not be possible;
O Concrete Flow also
may not be proper.
(see Adjacent pic)
Recommendations :

Avoid L Bend in Main

Reinforcement
steel
at bottom of Pile, unless
mandated

Sand,
Not
Concrete

5.4 Socketing of Pile in Weathered/Soft Rock

Many Practices are adopted to decide Socket Length;

Speaker has been Adopting Cole-Stroud Approach
Based on N Values of SPT since 1974.
(Now adopted by Bureau ofIndian Standards IS 29112010)
Main Point to note

FS = 3 in Friction and also in End Bearing.

Thorough Investigation needed

Was adopted for Zuari- Mandovi bridges for KRCL, Goa

India.
(see Adjacent Figure).

Socketing of Pile in Weathered / Soft Rock (Contd..)

O Some

Insist of doing
SPT Test. This is not
desirable from time and
cost consideration.

O To

overcome
this
problem, quality control
concept involving Pile
Penetration Ratio-PPR
has been developed.

N
Valu
e of
SPT
50

37.35

100

74.70

150

112.0
5

200

149.4
0

250

186.7
5

300

224.1
0

350

261.4
5

400

298.8
0

O PPR Reflects Energy in

tm required to Advance
Borehole of 1m2 cross
section by 1 cm

PPR Value Remarks

(tm/m2/c
m)

For N Values in
between,
Linear
Extrapolation
will be adopted
This approach
can be adopted
up to N Value of
400

5.5 .Torque Meters on Control Panel

Torque Meters

Force Meter

5.6 Convert Marine Piling to Land

Piling
In Konkan Railway Project, out

of 15 marine jobs, 13 jobs

were converted fully to land
piling by AFCONS
4.5

Km long Bridge on
Godavari River converted into
Land Piling by Gammon,
Max Depth of water ~ 14m
(See Adjacent pic)

Advantages
:
Substantial Time and
Cost Reduction

5.7 Settlement Criteria for Load Test

Settlement Criteria For Load

Test Contd
a) Curve (a) IS 2911 Part 4 1985 @ 1.5
b)
c)
d)
e)

times design load

Curve (b) - IS 2911 Part 4 2013 @ 1.5
times design load
Curve (c ) - 10% of Pile dia @ ultimate
load
Curve (d) 2% of pile dia @ 1.5 times
design load
Curve (e ) - 3% of pile dia @ 1.5 times
design load

5.8 Capacity of Under ream Piles

IS 2911 Part 3 1980
Incorrect Recommendation.

Why?

5.9 MSA in Foundations &

Substructures

Recommend

Save

40mm MSA

10% in cementitious material

5.10 Highly Innovative Indian Design

Zuari Bridge on Konkan Railway
Novel Concept Adopted for the First Time in India
o

Only 14 Well Foundations on entire Konkan Railway Project (over 100

bridges)

Caissons / Wells were pneumatically sunk.

Founding depth of one caisson was 30 m below water level.

- Workers could hardly work for hour.

Hence Novel Idea founding caisson on piles was adopted for the first time
in India
(See Pic in Next Slide)

Details of Caisson Resting on Piles

Way Forward
Determined Approach by all of us to
follow Sustainable Growth Guidelines

Saving in Piling

Minimum 25% over the present practice

Saving in Concrete
Minimum 10% over the present practice

Thank you
Jai Hind
Jai Bharat (India)
Jai Maharashtra