Concrete Strength

What primary factor affects concrete strength?

Expand Hint
Concrete is a building material that is composed of cement, water, and aggregates such as sand or gravel. Sometimes other ingredients are added to the mix to achieve specific properties.
Hint 2
The primary factor is a ratio of two key components in the mixture.
Concrete is a building material that is composed of cement, water, and aggregates such as sand or gravel. Sometimes other ingredients are added to the mix to achieve specific properties.

The concrete strength is primarily influenced by the water-cement (W/C) ratio, which is the ratio of the weight of water to the weight of cement in a concrete mix. The graph shown illustrates how the compressive strength of both air-entrained and non-air-entrained concrete is affected by this ratio. Air entrainment in concrete refers to the deliberate introduction of small air pockets into the mixture through the use of an air entraining agent during the mixing process. While water content impacts workability, increasing water without also increasing cement will decrease the strength of the concrete. Superplasticizers are commonly used to enhance workability, while air entrainment can improve durability.
Water-cement (W/C) ratio
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