Abstract

The water-cement ratio is a convenient measurement whose value is well correlated with the
strength and durability of concrete. In general, lower water–cement ratios produce concrete
with high compressive strength, compressive strength is the basic mechanical properties and
one of the indicators to determine the performance of a concrete. This practical presents
investigation on the effect of water requirement on compressive strength of concrete by using
ordinary portland cement (OPC). The water-cement ratio is one of the most important
parameters that affect the performance (mechanical properties) of hardened cement, thus
obtaining the best water requirement translates to the best mechanical properties. commonly
practiced concrete consist of cement, fine and coarse aggregates were prepared at different
water-cement ratios ranging from 0.5 to 1.0. The mixtures (fresh concrete) were prepared
according to required water-cement ratio. 7 days-compressive and flexural strengths of the
concrete were determined. The strength results were compared to other groups with different
water-cement ratio and relative strengths are reported. It was observed that the compressive
strength of the concrete with water-cement ratio w/c = 0.6 was the highest while at 0.8 and
1.0, the compressive strength of concrete experienced a reduction. It was observed that as the
water-cement ratio increased from 0.5 to 0.6, concrete experienced increment in the
compressive and flexural strength and reduced on the following increment of water-cement
ratio.

Introduction
Concrete is the product of cementing substance, aggregates and water. properties of fresh
concrete are extremely important. Consistency and workability of fresh concrete are
significant criteria for the concrete mix design proportioning and important properties
affecting the placing of fresh concrete on site and the later performance of the hardened state
of concrete. Water-cement ratio has great influence on the workability and strength of
concrete. Workability represents diverse characteristics of freshly mixed concrete that are
difficult to measure quantitatively. Workability involves certain characteristics of fresh
concrete such as cohesiveness and consistency. The strength is developed from the hydration
process due to the reaction between cement and water. Concrete is stronger in compression
than in tension, It is known that concrete strength is affected by changing the water–cement
ratio and cement dosage (Yasar et al., 2004). The water-cement ratio affects the durability,
permeability and shrinkage cracking of concrete. This practical investigates the influence of
water-cement ratio on the compressive and flexural strength of concrete containing ordinary
Portland cement (OPC) at different water-cement ratio. The results obtained for the
compressive and flexural strength for concrete were compared with other groups. Portland
cement, aggregates and water are the most widely used materials in the production of basic
concrete mix design although an admixture may be added for modification of its properties.
The problem in the proportioning of concrete using mixtures of cement, fine, and coarse
aggregate along with applied water cement ratio is how to get desirable concrete properties
such as strength, durability and due economy for the intended structure. Portland cement is a
finely-ground powder which, in the presence of water, has a chemical reaction along with
hydration during and after setting and hardening forming a very strong and durable binding
material. The present work aims at experimentally comparing the compressive strength of
hardened concrete under varied cement-water ratio.