MULUNGUSH UNIVERSITY
CIE 311 CIVIL ENGINEERING
CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES
Civil Egineering Department
Third year
Semister 1 2018
Construction Materials
Eng. M. Chilanga
(c) September 2018
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The Construction Industry: An Overview
1. Construction Materials
2. Key players on a construction project
3. Site organization and personnel
4. Site Safety, health and environment (SHE)
5. Temporary works
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1.Construction Materials
Introduction
A wide range of building materials is available for the
construction of buildings and structures. The proper
selection of materials to be used in a particular
building or structure can influence the original cost,
maintenance, ease of cleaning, durability and, of
course, appearance.
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
The proper selection of materials to be used in a particular construction
project includes but not limited to the following factors
• Strength
• Availability
• Durability
• Workability
• Ease and cost of Transportation
• Economic aspects in terms of original investment and cost of
maintenance
• Availability of the skilled labour required to install some types of
material
• Ease maintenance and Cleaning
• Cultural acceptability or personal preference
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
Classification
1. According to their phases
2. 2.According to their internal structure & chemical composition
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
Phase Classification
Gases : Air, oxygen, CO2
Liquids : Water, chemical admixtures
Semi-solids : Fresh pastes, mortars, asphalt
Solids : Metals, hardened concrete
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
Internal Structure & Chemical Composition Classification
1.Metals : (formed by metallic bonds)
A.Ferrous (iron, cast iron, steel)
B.Non-ferrous (aluminum, copper, zinc, lead)
2.Polymers : (long chains having molecules of C, H, O, N which are
formed by covalent bonding.
Natural (rubber, asphalt, resins, wood)
Artificial (plastics)
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
Internal Structure & Chemical Composition Classification
3.Ceramics : (mainly aluminosilicates formed by mixed bonding,
covalent and ionic)
Structural clay products (bricks, tiles, pipes)
Porcelains
4.Composite Materials :
Natural (agglemerates)
Artificial (Portland cement, concrete)
5.Reinforced Composite Materials : (reinforced concrete, reinforced
plastics)
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
One of the most important task of an engineer is to select the most
suitable material for a given civil engineering structure
Factors Determining the Choice of Proper Material for a Structure
A. Strength, rigidity & Durability Requirements
• Permanent loading → Creep Strength
• Repeated loading → Fatique Strength
• Impact loading → Toughness & Resilience
• Surface loading → Hardness & Resistance to abrasion
B. Environmental Requirements
• –Temperature change → coefficient of thermal conductivity
• –Moisture movement → permeability
• –Chemical effects → chemical composition
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
Factors Determining the Choice of Proper Material for a Structure
C. Economy. Choose the cheaper & available materials considering
• Initial cost
• Useful life
• Frequency of maintenance
• Cost of maintenance
• Salvage value
• Comfortability
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
General Properties of Civil Engineering Materials
• Physical
• Mechanical
• Chemical
• Other
Thermal, Acoustical, Optical, Electrical
** Most CE Applications Focus on Physical & Mechanical Properties**
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
General Properties of Civil Engineering Materials
Physical Properties
• Properties of physical structure
• density
• specific gravity
• porosity
• permeability
• surface energy
• texture (micro, macro)
• other (color, thermal expansion, shape
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
General Properties of Civil Engineering Materials
Mechanical Properties
Resistance to applied loads (stress) initially & over time
• stiffness
• strength
• fracture / yielding
• (brittle / ductile)
• tension
• compression
• flexure (bending)
• torsion
• direct shear
• multiaxial
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
Determining the Properties of Civil Engineering Materials
Properties of materials are determined by
•Laboratory testing
•Field testing.
To avoid inconsistencies in test results STANDARDS are devised which
describe the test apparatus and the procedure.
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1.Construction Materials Cont’
COMMONLY USED MATERIALS
There are many construction materials available for construction of CE
structure, and these include,
• concrete,
• Steel,
• Aluminium,
• Various Alloys,
• plastics,
• timber,
• earth etc
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