What is the difference between plum concrete and plain

concrete?
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10 Answers

Kishan Naik, Management Trainee (Civil) at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited

Answered Nov 13, 2018 · Author has 126 answers and 895.7k answer views
Plain cement concrete (PCC)

The mixture of cement, fine aggregate (sand) and coarse aggregate is called plain cement concrete (PCC) .

Main Purpose of PCC

1. It is used as a protective layer for the RCC above so that water from the RCC is not absorbed by
the earth below.
2. Moisture available in soil should not absorbed by R.C.C footings which causes corrosion of
reinforcement.
3. Provides a base for the concrete and also helps workers to set out the structure above in a
easier way. It provides a flat base for upcoming foundation rather than undulated base.
4. The effective depth of RCC member is achieved as the form-works can be easily and sturdily
fixed.
 5. As the Grade of comcrete of PCC and Foundation is different it also provide material difference
for ground bactrial effect on foundation.
6. Act as a cover to reinforced cement concrete i.e. resist corrosion of steel bars in footings.
7. Some time it can decrease the stresses to the soil.
Plumb concrete:-

The original idea of the use of aggregate as an inert filler can be extended to the inclusion of large stones
unto 300 mm size in a normal concrete, thus the apparent yield of concrete for a given amount of
cement is increased. The resulting concrete is called ‘Plum Concrete’ .
These large stones are called ‘plums’ and used in a large concrete mass. The volume of plums should
not exceed 20 to 30 % of the total volume of the finished concrete and they have to be well
dispersed throughout the mass. This is achieved by placing a layer of normal concrete, then spreading the
plums, followed by another layer of concrete and so on. Care must be taken to ensure that no air is
trapped underneath the stones.

Purpose of plum concrete:

 Plum concrete is a special type of concrete which is usually done where the surface is uneven and to
minimize the costing of concrete.
Practical Example:- below footings of residential buildings where in a small portion where the slope of
ground below single footing is 1:10 to 1:50 in that case to save the cost of concrete plum is usually
preferred. This finally leads to minimize the construction cost of building in all.

Happy learning :-)

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Related QuestionsMore Answers Below

 What is the ratio needed for plum concrete?

 What is the design mix of plum concrete for different grades of concrete?
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Ashish Dubey, Civil Engineer

Answered Apr 12, 2019
Originally Answered: What is the difference between plum concrete and plain cement concrete?
The plum concrete

The plum concrete is defined as a mixture of coarse aggregate and cement that are placed below
the foundation or footing of a structure so as to achieve a level surface for equal distribution of
load.

The word plum means large stones which are termed as boulders or coarse aggregates if technically
speaking.

The plum concrete is actually an economical variation of mass concrete.

The use of plum concrete is preferred if the required thickness of PCC is excessive or large.

This is mainly done below the foundations where due to the steep slope of the strata, the quantity of
leveling course could be excessive.

Plain Cement Concrete

The mixture of cement, fine aggregate (sand) and coarse aggregate is called plain cement concrete (PCC).

Plain cement concrete (PCC) is used to provide rigid impervious bed to RCC in foundation where the earth
is soft and yielding. PCC can be used over brick flat soling or without brick flat soling.

Materials used for producing PCC:

Cement: we generally use Portland cement as bonding material in PCC.

Fine Aggregate: Sand is used as fine aggregate. The FM of sand should be 1.2 to 1.5.

Course Aggregate: We normally use brick chips for producing PCC. Stone chips can also be used for this
purpose.

168 views

Prasath Jayachandran, YouTuber (2017-present)

Answered Aug 14, 2018 · Author has 337 answers and 241.9k answer views
Plum Concrete

Plain Concrete

1.9k views · View 3 Upvoters

Tgk Reddi, former Not an Employee Now. at Grefs (1964-1980)

Answered Jan 17, 2018
3/4″ aggregate means graded aggregates of all sizes below 3/4″. The more the thickness of concrete the
more should be the size of coarse aggregate. Fine sand is unsuitable for concrete. In mass concrete, its
dimensions are so large that large size aggregate is beneficial. Unusually large sized aggregate called
plums are required for optimum strength. Aggregate should be graded. This’s important.

2.7k views · View 2 Upvoters

Abinet Alemu, Project Mager (2014-present)

Answered May 22, 2018
simply plain concrete is any concrete mix without reinforcement steel,

palm concrete is concrete mix with relatively big stone (bolder)

other simple way

Plain concrete--is about with steel or without steel

palm concrete is --is about adding bolder in to the traditional concrete mix

this question also was here What is the difference between plum concrete and plain concrete?
2.2k views · View 1 Upvoter

David Wilmshurst, Technical Manager - Materials Consultancy and Lab (1985-present)

Answered Jan 6, 2018 · Author has 4.5k answers and 2.4m answer views
Plums are just big bits of aggregate. They may he hand placed into mass concrete, or machine placed
“dumped”, but in either case, usually after the concrete is placed.

So. There is little difference. It is just that the plums displace concrete, and in some cases make the
concrete cheaper. And improve drying shrinkage and raise elastic modulus. If using good rock

8.1k views · View 7 Upvoters · Answer requested by NZIRORERA Alexandre

Kushal Gautam, former Civil Engineer

Answered Feb 13, 2018
Plum concrete is concrete with stones in it .

340 views

Rumel Islam, Design Engineer (2015-present)

Answered Jun 4, 2018
Type of concrete consistent large size stones as an aggregate (plum), with interstices filled
with concrete is knows as plum concrete. Massively Used in Massconcrete work like gravity dams,
embakments and below the structures. Plain concrete is defined as concrete used for structural
elements having no reinforcement.

1.8k views · View 1 Upvoter

Sanjay Dusane, works at Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Answered Mar 4, 2018 · Author has 151 answers and 97.4k answer views
PLUM CONCRETE IS THE MIX OF BOULDER + LEAN CONCRETE USED FOR MASS CONCRETE —
PLUM MAY BE 15% TO 20 %

185 views

Tulsibhai Kharadi, Diploma Rural Devlopment & Reading, Government Politechnic College (1996)
Answered Feb 28, 2018
In concrete work use 25% Home Page is called plum concrete.

1.2k views
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 What is Plum Concrete?
Category: Field Tips

The word plum means large stones which are termed as boulders or coarse
aggregates if technically speaking.

The plum concrete is actually an economical variation of mass concrete.

The use of plum concrete is preferred if the required thickness of PCC is
excessive or large.
This is mainly done below the foundations where due to steep slope of the
strata, the quantity of leveling course could be excessive.

Contents
 Definition of Plum Concrete
 Application of Plum Concrete
 Mix Design of Plum Concrete
 Construction Methodology of Plum Concrete
 Specifications for plum Concrete
 Difference between Plum Concrete and Mass Concrete
o
 What’s further…???
Definition of Plum Concrete
The plum concrete is defined as:-

A mixture of coarse aggregate and cementthat are placed below

the foundation or footing of a structure so as to achieve a level
surface for equal distribution of load.
 What is Plum
Concrete?

Application of Plum Concrete

1. In one example the plum concrete can be used below footings of residential
buildings having small portion where the slope of ground below single footing
is 1:10 to 1:50 so to save the cost of concrete plum concrete is usually
preferred. This will result in minimization of the construction cost of building as
a whole.
2. Plum Concrete is also used in areas that require massive concrete placements
like concrete dams or bridge piers. In such cases pieces of rock about 150 mm
in size are used as coarse aggregates to mix a plum concrete.
3. Similarly in another example; suppose the foundation pit for a machinery bed
is proposed to have a certain depth but the hard stratum is available at 3 m
below the ground level. Whereas in design It was proposed that the depth of
foundation for bed would be 1.5 m. Since the foundation has to be rested on
the hard strata of soil, so plum concrete of lean ratio with 80mm -100mm size
stones would be poured which will be rammed upto 1.5 m and thereafter
regular designed raft, footings may be laid.
Mix Design of Plum Concrete
I was actually working on a building project a few years back, when I joined the
project the excavation work was nearly done and my senior engineer told me
that they are getting prepared for placement of plum concrete. And when I heard
the word “plum concrete” I was stunned as I haven’t heard that thing in the past
as I was fresh obviously :D.

But the reason of explaining above fact was that I had actually worked on the
project where we placed plum concrete. So for that particular project we used
40% boulders and 60% concrete which means M15 was used.

Construction Methodology of Plum

Concrete
Step 1 – Transportation of Plum Material
The boulders are large Stone size which can be lifted by laborers easily, not too
big or small.
Step 2 – Leveling and Cleaning – Surface Preparation
The first step that is done initially is leveling and cleaning of the surface by
removal of soft soil that can cause low bearing capacity. After clearing and
grubbing water is sprayed to the surface to make it wet before placement of
plum concrete. The reason of sprinkling water is to ensure proper bond of plum
concrete with the ground surface. After sprinkling of water anti-termite
chemical is sprayed which is essential now a days for the flawless foundation of
a structure.
Step 3 – Pacing and Spreading of Plum Concrete
Boulder’s are spread over the ground with little gapping layer by layer and
concrete is spread using pump all over the boulder’s in each layer which slowly
permeate inside the gapping between boulder’s. This helps to bind it properly,
after pouring concrete, boulders are thrown into the concrete again and the
process repeats till required level surface is reached.
 Step 4 – Curing of Plum Concrete
Curing should be done for next 7 days minimum. Jute bags are spread over the
whole area of plum concrete to retain moisture for a long time after curing.
Boulder’s should be inspected before spreading and if any dirt or Clay is found,
then it should be washed properly.

Boulder’s should be strong and should not be falky. since, whole building
load is going to act upon it.
Fact is that nobody in construction site, measures that how much boulder’s and
concrete is used in doing plum concrete. Sometimes, more boulder’s are needed
when there is dearth of concrete or for economical purpose etc.
Specifications for plum Concrete
 Plum shall comprise of black trap basalt of crushing strength of minimum 100
Kg /Sqcm.
 The concrete shall be of nominal mix 1:4:8 using aggregate of maximum size
25mm.
 The volume of the plum in the concrete shall not exceed 50% of total volume.
 The crevices shall not be less than 150 mm.
 Layer shall not exceed 900mm.

The nominal maximum size of coarse aggregate should be as large as possible

within the limits specified but in no case greater than one-fourth of the
minimum thickness of the member, provided that the concrete can be
placed without difficulty so as to surround all reinforcement thoroughly and
fill the comers of the form.

As for the requirement of the aggregate size that can be used in the plum
concrete there are different recommendations by the IS code; the code says that
for most of the common works the size of 20 mm aggregate is suitable and best.
If there are no restrictions for flow of concrete into section 40 mm or larger can
also be used. But where there are reinforcement or the cover is small with the
formwork 10 mm nominal maximum size of plums should be used in plum
concrete.

Plums above 160 mm and up to any reasonable size may be used in plain
concrete work up to a maximum limit of 20 percent by volume of
concrete when specifically permitted by the engineer-in-charge.

However for all the cases, the plums shall be distributed evenly and shall not be
closer than 150 mm from the surface.

Difference between Plum Concrete and

Mass Concrete
Sometimes the people do have misunderstanding about the difference between
plum concrete and the mass concrete. The both are actually one and the other
thing; mass concrete is a term used for concrete that is placed in large size and
huge quantity that can either be a plain concrete or reinforced according to the
requirements of the structure or project. The term mass concrete is just used to
define the massiveness in quantity.

But as for the plum concrete it is by all means plain having large size of
aggregates, as explained above called plums and they can be used with different
grades of concrete.

What’s further…???
So in this post you have completely learnt about what is plum concrete, what is
the use and advantages of plum concrete, what is the mix design and what are
the different specifications or guidelines for the plum concrete.

If you think I have missed anything that you know must be added than please
do comment your thoughts below.
RELATED ARTICLES
 CIVIL ENGINEERING TERMINOLOGIES CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION PLUM CONCRETE

About the Author: saadiqbal786

2 Comments

1. Swopnil Sharma
May 23, 2018 at 4:27 pm

I wanted to ask you about Plum concrete placed as retaining and breast walls in roads.
What are its advantages over stone masonry walls? Does the plum concrete work require
formwork similar to PCC work?
Reply

1. Saad Iqbal
May 25, 2018 at 4:27 am

I personally doesn’t have experience of plum concrete as retaining wall in roads.

However, on one project we have used plum concrete for lining and erosion
protection of a Nullah i.e water stream. The flow discharge in the channel cause
erosion and disturbance to the spoil each year during flood season. So it was
decided to be protected by plum concrete. Similarly we have used plum concrete in
a culvert base i.e. instead of an RCC or Plain concrete invert slab we used the
plum concrete for protecting the bed from getting eroded. However, plum concrete
is also used as retaining wall system. I have contacted one of my friend who have
actually worked in project where Plum concrete retaining walls were used.
According to him, the sloping face of Plum masonry retaining wall should be
finished with a plywood or steel formwork. Moreover some of the advantages of
plum concrete retaining wall over stone masonry retaining wall includes fast
construction, less skilled labor required, no dressing of stone is required in plum
concrete, little bit economical as compared with reinforced concrete and stone
masonry wall.
Plums above 160 mm and up to any reasonable size may be used in plain concrete work up to
a maximum limit of 20 percent by volume of concrete when specifically permitted by the
engineer-in-charge. However for all the cases, the plums shall be distributed evenly and shall
not be closer than 150 mm from the surface.