What Is Cast-In-Situ Concrete | Cast in Place Concrete Advantages and Disadvantages | Concrete Casting Techniques

What Is Cast-In-Situ Concrete?

Cast-in-situ concrete is prepared, placed, and finished on the construction site. Another name of cast-in-situ concrete is poured-in-place concrete.

Generally, concrete slabs, concrete foundations, beam, column, wall, roof, etc., are preferred structures in cast-in-situ concrete.

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Definition of Cast in Place Concrete

Cast in place concrete is a construction technology where building components like walls, slabs are cast at the site by Formwork. This type of concrete is also finished on the site. This is termed as cast in place concrete.

What Is Cast in Place Concrete?

Cast-in-place concrete slabs, concrete foundations, beam, column, wall, roof, etc., are preferred structures in cast-in-situ concrete.

Cast-in-situ concrete is prepared, placed, and finished on the construction site. Another name of cast-in-situ concrete is poured-in-place concrete.

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Cast in Place Concrete Wall

Cast in place concrete wall is an exposed civil, structural system. Openings are provided in this system by generally filling with masonry, windows, or other cladding materials.

1. Cast in Place Concrete Wall: Fundamentals

Cast in place wall system is a wall system that is naturally a building structure system, consist of vertical load resisting the power and lateral (seismic and wind) load resistant system. This lateral system includes a shear wall, moment-resisting frame, braced frame, etc.

In this system, the vertical load resistant system is divided into two parts, and those are horizontal framings like floor system and vertical framings like column and walls.

2. Cast in Place Concrete Wall: Performance

• Thermal performance: Thermal resistance of this type of wall is not too good, but nowadays, some heat-resisting materials are provided to increase the thermal performance of the cast-in-place concrete wall.
• Moisture Protection: Naturally, in the cast in place concrete joint seal is used as moisture protection is used but sometimes, for additional coating, a sealer material or concrete is used.
• Durability: The main purpose of the cast in situ walls is for durability; it is a highly durable structure. The durability of the structure can be increased by proper water-cement ratio, minimum compressive strength, proper entrained air, etc.

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3. Cast in Place Concrete Wall: Maintenance

This type of concrete maintenance work is not too much for this concrete. The maintenance process in this type of concrete requires more workmanship.

Cast in Situ Concrete Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages of Cast in Situ Concrete

There are some pros of cast in situ concrete, those are-

1. This type of concrete easily adapts to any shape of building; that’s why it is highly preferable and widely used all over the world.
2. Cast in situ concrete can be more or less monolithic, so the joints are only provided at the same structure.
3. This type of concrete is naturally used for the two-way structural system.
4. Cast in situ concrete is very adaptable for post-tensioning.
5. In this type of concrete placing, no crane is to be needed.

Disadvantages of Cast in Situ Concrete

There are also some cons of the cast in situ concrete, those are following-

1. In cast in situ concrete, the Formwork is very time-consuming, and it requires more manpower.
2. Cast in situ concrete must be cured before it is subjected to any other loads.
3. Quality control of the finished surface of this type of concrete is not assured.
4. More manpower is required, so it is not too much an economical process.

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Cast in Place Concrete Application

There are so many applications of a cast in place concrete, those are-

• Cast-in-place concrete is widely used in different places like building walls, slabs.
• It is used in building foundations. In beams, columns: cast in situ concrete is widely used.
• The Building roof is generally made of cast place concrete.
• Rigid pavements of roads like concrete pavements are constructed by the cast-in-place concrete.

Uses of Cast in Place Concrete

1. One of the major uses of building roofs is made of generally cast-in-place concrete.
2. Another use of cast-in-place concrete is In beams, columns: cast in situ concrete is widely used.
3. Cast-in-place concrete is widely used in different places like building walls, slabs.
4. Cast in situ concrete is used in building foundations.
5. In beams, columns: cast in situ concrete is widely used.

Concrete Casting Techniques

There are different casting techniques are

1. At first, we prepare the concrete by batching and mixing.
2. Then we bring the concrete from batching plant to the construction site.
3. On the construction site, the Formwork is prepared with wood or steel.
4. Then the concrete is placed into the Formwork, and the finishing operation is done.
5. After 2-3 days, formworks are removed, and the concrete is ready for curing work.
6. The curing step is done by water curing, wet curing, moisture-retaining, and liquid membrane curing.
7. These are the techniques of concrete casting.

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Specifications of Cast in Situ Concrete

1. The availability of this concrete is very high.
2. The compressive strength and durability of this concrete are also higher than any other concrete.
3. It is very economical than other types of concrete.
4. The technique of this type of concrete casting is very user-friendly.
5. It can bear earthquake and seismic loads.

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Concrete Pouring Methodology

There are few steps of concrete pouring methodology, those are-

1. Preparation: At first, we need to prepare the portion where it is to be prepared. Any type of obstacle is removed and produces a granular sub-base over the entire area. Then the base is compacted with some compacting types of equipment.
2. Forming: Next, we create formworks for the concrete; these formworks may be wooden or steel. This is provided to hold the concrete. These formworks are designed for easy removal after the concrete is perfectly cured.
3. Pouring Placement: After Formwork has been completed, concrete is placed by the concrete pump if the concrete is not able to the casting place.
4. PR-finish: After this work, the concrete surface needs to be finished smoothly and look uniform. Then we screed the surface with trowels.
5. Finishing: Now, the final finishing operation is done over the concrete. Various textures are applied over the concrete surface.
6. Curing: At last, the curing process is done. It reduces the cracks in the concrete. The total curing process is running over 28 days. The different curing process is adopted for a different type of construction.