While driving by a construction site, if you probably thought 'yuck!!! what is that ugly thing' you were probably looking at a concrete-mixer.
There are several types of concrete each with it's production process. For this article I shall focus on Pre-cast concrete, site-mixed concrete and Ready Mixed Concrete.
Concrete is made by mixing cement, fine aggregates(sand), aggregates(a coarse mix of small rocks/crushed gravel , limestone or granite), water and chemical additives.
The oldest form of mixing concrete is to take some poor sod, give him all the above mentioned stuff(other than maybe the chemicals), give him a big vessel and something to stir it all with. This was the Australopithecus stage of concreting. The next stage came when the concrete mixer was invented.
Site Mixer:
Also called a cement mixer, it is basically a rotating bucket. Initially muscle-powered, electric and diesel models were eventually developed. Except for some very small projects, this is almost obsolete in most of the developed world although there is still considerable,but declining, demand for it in the developing countries. They shall be explained in detail in a separate section.
The most popular method of production of concrete, these plants produce concrete in batches or continuously. These plants comprise of a cement and aggregate storage unit, a mixer, water storage units and conveyance units. These vary from truck or trailer mounted units to large capacity plants that resemble buildings.
For more information see the section on batching plants( hold it, I have to type it!!!)
There are several types of concrete each with it's production process. For this article I shall focus on Pre-cast concrete, site-mixed concrete and Ready Mixed Concrete.
Concrete is made by mixing cement, fine aggregates(sand), aggregates(a coarse mix of small rocks/crushed gravel , limestone or granite), water and chemical additives.
The oldest form of mixing concrete is to take some poor sod, give him all the above mentioned stuff(other than maybe the chemicals), give him a big vessel and something to stir it all with. This was the Australopithecus stage of concreting. The next stage came when the concrete mixer was invented.
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| A small site-mixer |
Site Mixer:
Also called a cement mixer, it is basically a rotating bucket. Initially muscle-powered, electric and diesel models were eventually developed. Except for some very small projects, this is almost obsolete in most of the developed world although there is still considerable,but declining, demand for it in the developing countries. They shall be explained in detail in a separate section.
 |
| A large capacity mixing plant loading concrete into truck-mixers |
Concrete Mixing Plants:
The most popular method of production of concrete, these plants produce concrete in batches or continuously. These plants comprise of a cement and aggregate storage unit, a mixer, water storage units and conveyance units. These vary from truck or trailer mounted units to large capacity plants that resemble buildings.
 |
| A mobile plant mounted on a trailer |
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