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Concrete slab on grade

The concrete slab on grade was the technique used in the floor of the industrial production hall, this concrete slab on grade was a concrete slab of thickness 20 cm placed over 25 cm of small gravel over compacted sand soil, it was divided into 27 equal slabs of 6.6m width and 33m length each and with mesh steel reinforcement of 6 10/m at 7cm depth from the top of concrete, expansion joints were created every 33m with the whole depth of the concrete slab while contraction joints were created every 4m to a depth of 3cm from the surface of the concrete slab, a trowel was used to finish the concrete surface to make it a smooth surface, the full details of the steps of this technique will be described below.

Steps
Creating the concrete slab on grade of the production hall required many steps which are as follows: 1. Compaction of the subgrade material The subgrade material was sand soil, it was compacted using a single smooth drum vibratory compactor after reaching the suitable water content by adding water to it. 2. Placing and compacting small gravel and sand After compacting the subgrade, a layer of small gravel mixed with sand was added, the thickness of this layer was 25 cm, water was added to this layer and then this layer was compacted with a single smooth drum vibratory compactor as shown in figure 1. Figure 1

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3. Installing formwork Steel beams and angles were used to form the boarders and wooden segments were used with the help of some steel reinforcement bars and metal ties to increase the strength of these steel members and to support them and to prevent them from any movement, see figure 2 and figure 3, the steel boarders were leveled and aligned using total station and a string. 4. Installing thin plastic material After installing the formwork and before installing the steel reinforcement, thin plastic material which was produced in the form of rolls were installed over the small gravel and sand layer, and this material reduced the amount of the water absorbed by the soil from the concrete, see figure 3. 5. Installing mesh steel reinforcement The mesh steel reinforcement of each slab consisted of smaller meshes which are formed in site and then carried to their position of installation and joined together, the reinforcement was 6 10 /m in both directions and at depth of 7 cm from the top level of the concrete slab, see figure 3. 6. Concrete work After installation of formwork and placing of the mesh steel reinforcement, then it is ready for concrete that required many stages which are batching , mixing, transporting, placing, consolidation, finishing, and curing. Figure 2

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Figure 3

Batching Batching is the process of proportioning cement, water and aggregates prior mixing concrete, for the concrete slab on grade of the industrial production hall the batching was done in a central batch plant 500m away from the site, this central batch plant used for servicing truck mixers. Mixing Truck mixers were used for mixing concrete, the central batch plant served the truck mixers with aggregate and cement then water was added to begin mixing, the water cement ratio was 0.4. Transporting Truck mixers were used to transport concrete from the central batch plant to the construction site, the capacities of these truck mixers varies, some trucks had capacities of 6 cubic meters and others had capacities of 8 cubic meters. Placing The concrete was placed directly from the truck mixers to its final position, figure 4 shows the placing of concrete from the truck mixers to the concrete final position.

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Figure 4

Consolidation Consolidation is the process of removing air voids in concrete as it is placed, and that was achieved using a mechanical vibrator by inserting it in the concrete and then it was withdrawn and moved to another location of concrete when cement paste became visible at the top of the vibrator. Finishing The finishing operation included two main operations which are screeding, and troweling. Screeding was done to bring the concrete surface to the required grade and then the concrete is floated, see figure 5. Troweling was done using walk-behind trowel to bring a smooth dense surface to the concrete, troweling was done when the concrete could support the weight of a person and after adding a special material that is necessary to troweling process, see figure 6. Curing Curing was done to provide the required water and temperature for the concrete, curing was done for 7 days by ponding water on the surface of concrete.

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Figure 5

Figure 6

y Joints
Two types of joints were formed, the first type is expansion joints and the second type is contraction joint. Expansion joints of 3cm width were formed every 33m with depths equal the depth of the concrete slab and then filled with sealant. Contraction joints of 3cm width were formed every 4m with depths of 3cm from the surface of the concrete.
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