Webinar on “Concrete In Practice”

A Webinar on “Concrete In Practice” was organized by Department of Civil Engineering on  April 24, 2021 at 3.30pm for second year, third year and final year civil engineering students. The speaker for the session was Mr.  Siddhesh R. Kamat Mhamai, DGM, QCP, Alcolab India LLP, Goa. He gave an insight to the students on properties of concrete like cohesiveness, workability and  factors effecting workability. He stated that workability decreases with time. Ready mix concrete is more workable as drum of transit mixer rotates continuously and agitates concrete, but on site it depends on efficiency of the workforce. Quanity & characteristics of cementing materials affect workability and it is also affected by concrete batching consistency, aggregate grading, shape and surface texture. He explained effect of adding water to concrete wherein it was mentioned that with more water addition compressive strength decreases. Workability is affected by ambient air temperature and also admixtures.

He highlighted on factors affecting durability like silt content, mixing and process involved in transporting, placing, compacting and curing. He focused on factors affecting measured cube strength, representative sampling (IS 1199), assembling of cube moulds, casting of cubes(IS 516). He explained how to maintain de-moulded cubes in water at rigth temperatures, correct mode of cube failure in CTM and purpose of quality control to store cube moulds. All together, 72 participants attended the session. The talk was organized to enlighten students on practical applications of concrete to follow proper methods of mixing, casting, testing etc for better  quality work.

The Faculty coordinators were Asst Prof. Swaroopa Sail and Asst Prof. Starina Dias.