The Association of Consulting Civil Engineers (ACCE), Mysuru Centre, had organised a talk on ‘Concrete’ for its members at Sir MV Auditorium in The National Institute of Engineering (NIE) premises here recently.

On the occasion, Dr. R.V. Ranganath, Professor of Civil Engineering, BMS College of Engineering, Bengaluru, spoke on the topic ‘Modern Concrete: Changing Paradigms.’ He dealt on developments that have taken place right from the time of evolution of concrete.

He said, “As the times and needs changed, different types of concrete came into market.  While High Early Strength concrete enabled the early de-shuttering, Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) eased the process of concreting. As the name of SCC suggests, by the highly fluid nature of Concrete, the consolidation process is automatically taken care of.  In fact, with SCC, all the elements of a building such as Columns or Walls, Beams and Slabs could be simultaneously cast and this process has vastly enhanced the speed of construction.”

He went on to say that fly ash, generated in thermal power plants in the country, had become one of the vital components of concrete. He also observed that if fly ash could not be used in concrete, disposing of huge quantities of fly ash would have been an arduous and challenging task.

Dr. Ranganath also spoke about the contribution of nano materials in enhancing the properties of concrete micro-structure.

ACCE Mysuru Centre Chairman R. Sundara Murthy welcomed. Treasurer H.S. Deepak introduced the chief guest. Secretary S.B. Basavaraj proposed a vote of thanks.  Past Chairman Prof. C.N. Yadunandan presented certificates to the new members.