خواص الخرسانة المستخدمة بالمباني السكنية بالمناطق العشوائية

Over-population is one of the major problems facing the developing countries. Although the

responsible governmental authorities have dedicated appreciated efforts in terms of housing, a

serious gab still exists between the demanded and actually offered residences. People keep their

own building activities away from authorities’ inspection in so called shanty town areas

randomly constructed around big cities. The builders at those shanty towns use concrete as a

building material due to its well known inherent advantages. This paper aims at exploring the

properties of concrete materials used in shanty town residential buildings. Samples of concrete

materials (aggregate, water, cement, reinforcing steel), in addition to fresh concrete sample were

tested to check their compliance with national standards and building codes. The study showed

that most of the tested concrete aggregates are catastrophically away from the requirements of

standards in terms of chloride and sulfate content. The concrete characteristic strength was in the

priorities of those buildings which have to be checked for structural safety