CUBE TEST

U. L. MOHAMED AZAB
MT/HNDCIVIL/07/13
ICBT MOUNT CAMPUS
Table of Content

Aim……………………………………………………………………….1
Introduction……………………………………………………………….1
Theory…………………………………………………………………….1
Materials & Apparatus……………………………………………………1
Procedure………………………………………………………………….1
Results…………………………………………………………….……….2
Calculation………………………………………………………………...2
Discussion………………………………………………………………….3
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………4
Reference…………………………………………………………………..4
Aim:

Determining the strength of a Concrete mix

Introduction:

Concrete is a mostly used material in any construction works. Therefore it should be capable
of bearing the applied load. Cube test is one method of checking the compressive strength of
concrete to find out the maximum loads it could bear in order to meet the required designed
strength calculated.

Theory:

Compressive strength of concrete can be determined by Cube crushing test. Normally tests can
be conducted in the age of 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after curing for harden concrete cubes.
Strength of concrete increases with the age of concrete and it’s assumed that 98% - 99% of
strength achieved in 28 days. Normally 15% to 20% of strength achieved in 7 days. But
strengthening rate of concrete depends on many factors such as temperature, moisture and
curing method.

Apparatus:

1. 3 Standard Cubes (150mm x 150mm x 150mm)

2. Compression testing machine
3. Steel road (25mm x 25mm )
4. Hand float
5. Grease oil

Procedure:

1. Cubes were cleaned by wire brush without any dirt sticking on the mold and all the
joints and nuts were tightened.
2. A thin coat of grease oil applied inside the cubes and the joints.
3. Cubes were filled by concrete mix as 3 layers each layer tamped 35 times uniformly
using the steel rod.
4. After filling the cubes completely over flowing concrete was wiped by hand float.
5. Date was recorded and all three cubes were left for settling in the laboratory for 24
hours after labeling each cubes.

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 6. After 24 hours molds were removed carefully and cubes were kept in the curing tank
and covered by wet sack in the temperature of 18 – 20 degree Celsius.
7. After 7 days cubes were removed from the curing tank.
8. Plates of Compression machine were cleaned and dusted and placed the cube on the
center of the lower plate of the compression machine. Bottom plate was raised until the
upper surface of the cube touches the upper plate and load is applied slowly until cube
get crushed.
9. Repeated the same procedure for other two cubes and the maximum loads were
recorded.

Results:

COMPRESSION
DATE OF DATE OF AGE DURING
CUBE NO. STRENGTH
CUBE MADE TESTING TESTING
(𝑁/𝑚𝑚2 )
1 06.08.2015 13.08.2015 7 19.5
2 06.08.2015 13.08.2015 7 21.2
3 06.08.2015 13.08.2015 7 19.8
Average 20.17
Calculation:

Calculate the value of standard deviation

(𝑋1 − 𝑋2)
𝑆=
√(𝑁 − 1)

𝑋1 = Average of Compression Strength

𝑋2 = Actual Cube Compression Strength (Compression strength value for each cube)

𝑁 = Total number of cubes

(20.17 − 19.5)
𝑆1 = = 0.47
√(3 − 1)

(20.17 − 21.2)
𝑆2 = = −0.73
√(3 − 1)

(20.17 − 19.8)
𝑆3 = = 0.26
√(3 − 1)

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Discussion:

1. Why the inner surface of the mold shall be coated the grease oil.

The reason for coating the cube mold by grease oil inside is to prevent the concrete
from being adhesive to the mold, So removing the cubes from the mold after 24 hours
will be easy and water won’t mix with oil because of the different density so it will
prevent the water which is in the mix leaking through the mold joints if we apply grease
oil well in the inside joints of the molds.

2. How can the value of standard deviation describe the strength and quality of the
concrete?

Standard deviation means the deviation of a set of variables from the mean value. For
example when a same test is repeated and if it’s provides the different answers it’s better
to find out how spread the answers varies to judge the accuracy of the measurements.
Its helps to measure the Strength and the quality of the concrete.
The most used way to calculate the spread of different result is standard deviation.
Standard deviation indicates how individual measurements of compressive loads of
concrete varies from the average measurement of compressive loads of the concrete. In
other way even though having a same grade, concrete cubes fails for various
compressive strength due to various reasons such as materials and errors in the test. So
it’s difficult to identify the accurate strength of a concrete cube. Therefore Standard
deviation method is recommended to calculate the strength and the quality of concrete
cubes.

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 So if Standard deviation is low the quality will be high and values will be near to the
mean value. But if SD is high that means poor quality and values will be having much
different from the calculated mean value.

Conclusion:

Cube test is very ideal for working sites to check whether the strength of concrete satisfy
the designed mean strength and it’s a very cost effective way. According to the test
conducted, the mean compressive strength of cube is 20.17 𝑁/𝑚𝑚2 and the 𝑆1 , 𝑆2 , 𝑆3
values are indicates that how the compressive strength could vary for each cube and
these values are nearly close to the mean strength.
Wet sack was used to cover the cubes in order to produce moist to the cubes in the
curing process because the curing tank wasn’t enough to cover the cubes fully. If there
any small error occurs in the cube casting procedure, it will affect the whole test and
could give faulty results in the calculation. So it’s important to carry out the test
according the instruction. Laboratory tests should be conducted with care so ensuring
the safety while handling the Compression testing machine is vital.

References
Anon., 2014. Civilblog.org. [Online]
Available at: http://civilblog.org/2014/05/11/what-is-standard-deviation-and-how-to-calculate-it-
with-an-example-calculation/
[Accessed 19 08 2015].