49151 Concrete Technology and Practice

Description

Concrete is the most common construction material used in the world. Engineers select concrete as a construction material of choice to meet a diverse range of performance requirements for robust, resilient, and sustainable concrete infrastructure. The constituent raw materials of concrete and its mix design, its production methodology, its placement and curing, and the development of its fresh and hardened properties and serviceability and durability all contribute to determine concrete’s compliance with measurable performance-based and defined prescriptive-based specifications under the criteria set out by Australian Standards and government agencies across Australia. Innovative concretes and testing methods are continuously being developed to increase the usefulness of concrete as an advanced construction material that can meet the demand of the highest performance requirements.

This subject provides an in-depth understanding and knowledge of a variety of topics relating to concrete, including practical examples and practical learning experiences adopted by the teaching team who are also practitioners working in the concrete industry. As part of the subject learning outcomes, students engage with the engineering properties of concrete and the material and mix design factors controlling these properties in order to apply this knowledge to predict the behaviour of concrete in application and service. Drawing on experimental data taken from Australian Standard test methods students determine the properties of the concrete and ascertain its behaviour. Students further apply this knowledge to design and address the material specification requirements of a concrete structures project brief, including the sustainable and service life criteria as impacted by the effects of the environment and the failure modes of the concrete. By developing and advancing professional problem-solving and design skills, students acquire the ability to select the most appropriate concrete to meet prescriptive and performance-based specification requirements through the alignment of their choice of selection. Through this subject, students acquire an array of analytical and reflective skills to contribute to concrete analysis, design and development.

Typical availability

Autumn session, City campus