Civil Engineering Materials

Book Preface

This book covers the construction materials content for undergraduate courses in Civil Engineering, and related subjects. The aim of the method or presentation is to cover the basic science, before moving on to a detailed analysis of the materials. The chapters on the science include mechanical, thermal, electrical, and transport properties of materials, and discuss the basic theory, as well as the relevance to applications in construction. The book then moves on to consider in detail each of the key materials, such as concrete and steel, and to discuss their properties, with reference to the basic science from the initial chapters.

The book is written for the age of the Internet, in which facts are readily obtained from websites. It therefore concentrates on demonstrating methods to obtain, analyse, and use information from a wide variety of sources.

Improving materials offers great scope for energy saving and environmental gains. These gains should be considered at all stages of the design and specification process, so they are discussed throughout the book.

The subject of construction materials is an area where there have been some very expensive mistakes, such as the use of High-alumina cement and calcium chloride in concrete, at times when there was ample published research to show that they should not have been used. Therefore, in addition to Chapter 15 explaining how to write detailed reports on materials experiments, Chapter 16 includes details of methods of assessment of published literature.

With the wide availability of research reports on the properties of materials, clients are now asking for calculations for the design life of structures, particularly reinforced concrete, for which the durability generally depends on the transport properties. This book presents the basic theories, and equations necessary for these calculations, and gives numerical examples of how they may be applied.

Construction materials are continually being replaced with new products. This book is, therefore, intended to give guidance on the assessment of new materials, rather than simply concentrating on those that are currently available. This includes methods to assess and analyse data on physical properties such as strength, permeability, and thermal conductivity. Similarly, new standards are continually being produced, and are now immediately available for all engineers to download. This book seeks to show the principles of test methods, so new ones can be understood and applied.

Materials cause many problems on site, and are a major area for improvement. There are, however, few simple right answers. Students will find this different from, say, the study of structures, where calculations give just one correct value for the size of a structural member. When considering the correct solution for a problem with durability, there are many different possibilities that may be appropriate for different situations, and the aim of this book is to provide the basis for the choice.

It is no longer possible for engineers in Europe to treat US Customary (Imperial) units as things of the past that are only found in the United States. When looking for a material property on the Internet, the data that is found will frequently come from the United States, and will frequently be in pounds per square inch, or degrees Fahrenheit, or similar units. All engineers should be familiar with these units, so they can make use of all the mass of data that is available on the web. The different units and the methods needed to use them are discussed in Chapter 1.

Detailed suggestions for appropriate chapters to be included at each level of a course, together with solutions to tutorial questions, and suggested laboratory exercises, are included in an Instructor’s Manual that accompanies this book (available online to instructors who register at textbooks.elsevier. com/9780081002759).

Students with a particular interest in transport processes in concrete and durability modelling are referred to “Transport Properties of Concrete” by the same author, also published by Elsevier (Woodhead imprint).