Concrete

== Concrete    Concrete is a manufactured mixture of cement and water, with aggregates of sand and stones, which hardens rapidly by chemical combination to a stonelike, water-and-fire-resisting solid of great compressive but low tensile strength  ==

Concrete
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 Concrete was employed in ancient Egypt and was highly developed by the ancient Romans. They increase the architectural methods, particularly the development of domes and vaults to cover large areas, of foundations, and of structures such as bridges and **sewerage **systems where **water-proofing **was essential.

Egypt

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Rome





Reinforced concrete: It was invented (1849) by Joseph Monier, who received a patent in 1867.
 Joseph Monier promoted reinforced concrete for use in railway ties, **pipes **, floors, arches, and bridges

Concrete is often used in **hardscape construction **. For instance, concrete may be used to form the flooring of a patio, or concrete footings may be used to support a wooden **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">deck

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">Three 20th-century developments in production are destined to have a radical effect on architecture. The first, **__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">concrete-shell construction __**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">permits the erection of vast vaults and domes with a concrete and steel content so reduced that the thickness is comparatively less than that of an eggshell

The second development, **__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">precast-concrete construction __**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">, employs bricks, slabs, and supports made under optimal factory conditions to increase waterproofing and solidity, to decrease time and cost in erection, and to reduce expansion and contractions. **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Finally, **__ prestressed concrete __**<span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">provides bearing members into which reinforcement is set under tension to produce a live force to resist a particular load. Since the member acts like a **<span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">spring **<span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">, it can carry a greater load than an unstressed member of the same size.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">What is the difference between tilt-wall construction, precast- concrete construction and tilt-up panel construction?
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">If we read the definition of Tilt-up walls, tilt-up panels and precast- concrete construction we could think that they are almost the same thing, but in fact they have little differences from each other very important!. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"> Tilt-wall consists in the construction of panels made on bricks, slabs or supports. Those panels are raised into position around the building's perimeter and formed the exterior walls of the structure. This kind of “big and uniformed wall” is made taking into account the exactly measures of the building.



<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"> Precast-concrete construction is quite similar to tilt-walls construction, except that the concrete wall panels are formed at a manufacturing facility and transported to the job site by trailer, rather than fabricated directly at the site (like tilt-wall does).

Contrasting to those similar methods, we have simple Tilt-up panels’ construction, which consist in pouring the concrete into wooden forms at the construction site, then lifted to form outside and inside walls. This easy and time-saving method is catching on in most segments of construction due also its cheap preparation.

<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-size: 110%;"> So, each one of those 3 methods has advantages and disadvantages depending of the kind of work we want to make. But they have something in common, the use of concrete and the formation of panels like the easier, cheaper and quicker way to construct. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">

<span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Why is concrete important? <span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 128); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> I think the importance of concrete is due to its ability to be mold in different ways and sizes. Concrete has been used for a long time on the human history. At the beginning (for Egyptians) concrete was something like a experiment, because they mixed it with other materials in any kind quantities looking for the good method to obtain the best properties of concrete, that as we all know are strength, fire resistance and it easy production. <span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 128); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> After Egyptians, the Roman gave its contribution to develop methods to increase concrete properties and nowadays engineers continue doing the same. That is due to the flexibility concrete have to be mixed to other materials without show any physic or chemical change in its structure.

On the past Romans made bath, the Coliseum and the Pantheon with animal fat, milk and blood as admixture, engineers now used different kind of cement composition. The result has been almost the same because people have created beautiful, functional and strong buildings since the beginning of concrete use. <span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 128); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> I am not really sure if on the future concrete will be so useful as today, because scientist and architects are always looking for the production of new materials more resistant, cheaper and with a beautiful texture or color. But before that happens concrete as the steel, wood and glass will continue been the most common and used materials on construction. <span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 128); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">