Apply Principles and Testing of Concrete and Soil
Overview
This unit of study aims to provide students with an understanding of concrete and soil in civil engineering projects. They will gain knowledge of the engineering properties of concrete as a construction material, and understand how the constituents of concrete affect its strength, workability, and durability. Students will also learn to conduct laboratory tests to determine the workability and compressive strength of concrete samples.
Additionally, they will develop an understanding of the engineering properties of soils and their significance in civil engineering applications. Students will acquire the skills to plan and carry out soil sampling and laboratory tests to determine various strength and compressibility parameters of soils, ensuring their suitability for construction projects.
Requisites
31-May-2026
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Understand soil properties, soil behavior, and the role of the compaction techniques in improving soil performance when working on civil engineering projects
- Understand the properties of concrete constituents, mix ratio and additives, and their impacts on strength and durability when working with concrete
- Understand the properties of plastic concrete and the importance of workability when using concrete in engineering projects
- Identify ways of proper handling of plastic conrete that impact the strength, development and finishing of hardened concrete when transporting, placing, compacting and curing
- Identify and follow relevant OHS/WHS and workplace procedures when planning and conducting laboratory activities
- Plan, conduct and report on soil tests when working on civil engineering projects, enabling the determination of soil classification and selected soil indices
- Plan, conduct and report on relevant concrete tests that define its workability, shrinkage and compressive strength when working with concrete
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
On-campus |
4.00 | 16 weeks | 64 |
| On-campus Lab |
2.00 | 16 weeks | 32 |
| Unspecified Activities Independent Learning |
3.38 | 16 weeks | 54 |
| Total | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULOs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assignment | Individual | 10-20% | 1,2,4 |
| Examination | Individual | 40-50% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Laboratory Practicals | Individual | 40-50% | 1,2,3,5,6,7 |
Hurdle
As the minimum requirements of assessment to pass a unit and meet all ULOs to a minimum standard, a student must have achieved:
(i) an aggregate mark of 50% or more, and
(ii) at least 40% in the final exam.
Students who do not successfully achieve hurdle requirement (ii) will receive a maximum of 45% as the total mark for the unit.
Content
Soil
- Origin and the process of soil formations
- Classification of Soils
- soil particle density test
- Atterberg limits test
- sieve analysis test
- Engineering Properties of soils
- shear strength test
- permeability test
- California bearing ratio (CBR) test
- Compaction theory and stabilisation
- compaction test
- Soil stabilisation and related parameters
Concrete
- Properties of concrete constitutes and additives, and their effects on concrete
- Concrete mix design for different concrete strengths
- Properties and workability of plastic concrete
- Properties and durability of hardened concrete, including elasticity, shrinkage, creep, cracks, freeze/thaw
- Handling of plastic concrete for proper strength development, including trasporting, placing, compacting and curing
- Tests relevant to concrete
- moisture content of sand
- slump test
- compressive strength test including making concrete test specimens on a given concrete mix
- test of concrete with admixture.
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.