- Concrete is one of the widely used construction material in the world. Road, buildings and other numerous structures use concrete as a fundamental material in the construction of support columns, walls and floors.
- It is mixture of aggregate or course materials such as gravel or crushed rocks mixed with binding materials such as cement and sand. The ratio of gravel, sand, cement and water varies and determines the strength and durability of the structure.
- Other additives such as fly ash, chemicals, minerals and silica are also added to increase its compressive strength, ability to harden and workability. Because concrete has low tensile strength, steel reinforcement bars are used during construction.
Concrete Batch Manufacturing and Distribution Process
- Concrete batch manufacturing process is a modern method of producing high quality concrete for specialized applications. In the batch process, concrete is prepared, mixed and transported to the site using specialized equipment and trucks.
- The batch process has a concrete mixer and specialized trucks for transporting the materials to construction sites. The batch mixer produces ready mixed concrete plant based on the structural engineer requirements.
- Batching plants are mainly classified as ready mix of central mix plants. Ready mix plants mix all the materials except water while central mix plants provide concrete with all materials plus water.
Customized Ready Mix Concrete for Special Structures
- Concrete batching plants have the capacity to produce different mixtures of concrete based on the design and engineering requirements. Concrete plants have mixers, batchers, aggregate bins that enable the plant operators to vary concrete ratio and achieve the desired structural properties.
- Careful addition of chemical and mineral admixtures as well as varying the ratio of aggregate, sand and cement produces special concrete suitable for most modern structures.
Structural Advantages of Using Ready Mix Concrete as Compared to on Site Mixing
- Ready mix concrete is advantageous as compared to onsite mix as it is mixed according the desired ratio. This ensures that concrete has the desired structural strength, workability and durability.
- Batch manufacturing plants have advanced mixers which ensure that the concrete is uniformly mixed. Common mixers include twin shaft, tilt and pan mixers. The already mixed concrete is inspected to ensure that it’s of high quality and is uniformly mixed.
- Batch processing plants have advanced and computerized systems. These systems include automatic weighing systems, PLCs, conveyors, heaters and chillers. This makes the production process very fast, accurate and produces a uniform and consistent mix.
- Unlike on site mixing, the production and transportation of concrete is done under a controlled environment. This prevents physical and chemical change of the mixture and ensures that setting, compaction and curing processes occur as intended.
- Mixing concrete at these plants prevents the dangerous and harmful dust from sand and cement from affecting workers and causing environmental pollution at construction sites.
Conclusion
Batch concrete plants are used to produce high quality concrete mixtures made according to the engineer’s recommendation. Alteration of the mixtures per batch enables the production of special concrete suitable for different structures. The process is fast accurate and produces high quality concrete.