Handling Of Concrete Making Materials In The Ethiopian Construction Industry

Construction materials management is an important element in the management ofrnconstruction projects. One of the construction materials widely used in construction projects isrnconcrete. Concrete being one of the important constituents of many of the constructionrnprojects, in addition to its subjectivity to variability, requires a close and thorough care andrnhandling in construction projects. The constituents of concrete, which majority of them occurrnnaturally, are subjected to a wide range of variability and quality problems. Therefore, withrnthis respect a research was carried out to assess the situation of handling of concrete makingrnmaterials in the Ethiopian construction industry with a special emphasis given to the concreternmaking aggregates. The objective of the research was to assess the current situation of thernhandling of concrete making materials in the Ethiopian construction industry in general and torngive recommendation inline with the outcome of the results of the research. There fore, in thernresearch test results of fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and rock samples were collected andrnanalyzed. According to the result, 44%of the coarse aggregate samples considered and 77% ofrnthe fine aggregate samples considered couldn’t satisfy requirements set by different standards.rnIn addition, it has been found out that more than about 60% of the tests that the samples failedrnto satisfy don’t attribute to the natural quality of the materials. Further, researches carried outrnin different parts of Ethiopia had also shown that the naturally available material have quiternacceptable quality to be used as a concrete making material. The research also indicates thatrnthe reason why concrete making materials fail to comply with requirements attributes to thernhandling of the materials in the construction industry but not to the unavailability of materialsrnsatisfying requirements in Ethiopia. Further, from the observations made in construction sitesrnand aggregate production plants in addition to the interviews made with relevant personnel, itrnwas concluded in the research that the aggregate production in Ethiopia is not up to thernstandard with respect to quality, quantity and production process. Another conclusion drawnrnfrom the research was that the aggregate production process and handling of concrete makingrnmaterials in the Ethiopian construction industry should be upgraded in all aspects includingrnexpert training, utilization of improved production process and introduction ofrnstandardization both for the quality of the materials and the production processes. Finally,rnfrom observations made in Germany the study concluded that introduction of a ready-mixedrnconcrete production system to the Ethiopian construction industry could improve the currentrnsituation with respect to better handling and production of good quality concrete.rnKey words: concrete, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate, cement, handling, quality, pro

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