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Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

(OP)
Does anyone know of a way to cheaply increase the weight of concrete?

Its not a strength issue so I don't want to increase the grade or anything. Are there certain aggregates that increase the weight without affecting the grade?

Any help would be appreciated!

...apologies, i initially posted this in the civil engineering section

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

You can use metallic aggregates to increase the density of concrete.  It used to be done in the Nuclear design business to reduce thickness when concrete was used for shielding only.
As I remember, the contractors didn't like it because 1) It wore out their mixers and 2) It wasn't what they usually did.
If you do a google search for high density concrete, I'm sure you'll get a lot of information.

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

You can use Barite aggregate which is pretty dense.  For counterweight material, I've often (3 times) used scrap steel 'punching plugs' from a steel fabricator to increase the density.

Dik

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Drop a couple of architects in the mix winky smile

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

RonRoberts...good suggestion, problem is you have to account for the massive volume of their big heads....a dangerous mix of air and ego.

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Gold is heavy, but expensive.  Won't rust though...  

Then again, this is an opportunity to secure your investment...

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Ron... wouldn't the denseness improve the mass?  Just curious.

Dik

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

(OP)
haha, i think architect aggregate might have a future...!

Cheers for the suggestions guys, i'll get looking at Barite & metal aggregates.

Dik, out of interest, what sort of job was it you used the scrap steel on? Was it just cast in the concrete?

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Concrete ballast in ships uses pieces of rebar for large aggregate.

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

dik...you're right...didn't think about that...was only looking at the vacuum

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

not the deleterious stuff?

Dik

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Q: What do you have when you find an architect embedded up to his neck in your concrete pour?

A: Insufficient concrete

Q: What do you have when you find an architect who is fully embedded in your concrete pour?

A: A good start

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Works for Lawyers too.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Flyash maybe a good candidate. Is it still cheap?

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Is he a Lawyer or an Architect?

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

Both were under the pile, heavy, dense, and both wore gold, rust free. :)

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

For nuclear high density Google Intrusion prepakt /hanford reactor. Proceedures are described in detail. You could use a variation.Its a long way from cheap.

Intrusion Prepakt /marineconcrete.com
 

RE: Increasing the dead weight of your concrete

I have used Dolomite when available, give about 10% if I remember,
Steve

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