Welcome to tarantulacurve.com
This website was developed by the civil engineering research team at Oklahoma State University under the direction of Tyler Ley and Dan Cook. The focus of the website started out to advance aggregate proportioning through gradation, but has turned into much more than that. Now, the focus has been to advance the knowledge of concrete materials, basic mixture design principles, and most importantly optimized graded concrete with gradation guidelines. These can be shown in the following sections. Remember, this website is constantly being updated and if you don't find what you are looking for please email us or check back later.
Popular Sections of This Website
The Box Test
Gradation Specification & Spreadsheet
ODOT Report from 2013
Aggregate Class
Gradation Specifications
Using aggregates effectively in a mixture is the essence of optimized graded concrete. Although the concept of proportioning aggregates may seem very basic at first, it can be very difficult to achieve the required workability. "Not enough" or "too much" sand is a very important detail that is over looked by most mixture designs. However, what is considered "not enough" and "too much"? How does aggregate grading effect segregation, finishability, edge slumping, and many numerous other mixture design issues. Many have been successful in using different aggregate gradations techniques to assist in predicting the workability of a mixture. Unfortunately, a single gradation technique has not been universally accepted to accomplish this. The ultimate goal of this research is to investigate aggregate gradation and develop techniques to assist in understanding and predicting possible mixture design issues.
Construction Materials
Throughout several conversations with people a need was shown to develop a section over basic education of construction materials with an emphasis on concrete. A general Aggregate was developed with lecture notes and videos to help lay out a fundamental understanding of aggregates. This does not necessarily focus on aggregates used just in concrete applications. The notes give information on the chemical make-up of aggregates, properties of aggregate, gradation, exacting aggregate, and using aggregates in applications. Also, a concrete repair class was developed with lecture notes and a video to help further fundamental topics of concrete repair and the materials used. Lastly, two sections are in the process of being developed over concrete mixture design and concrete durability.
Mixture Design
If you look at the variety of mixture design procedures out there and how concrete producers actually make concrete, one may think concrete mixture design process is really just black magic, voodoo, or some middle-ages science stuff. However if presented correctly, some basic mixture design principles, steps, and insights can quickly be explained and even help predict the behavior of a concrete mixture design. This section of the website goes into the different components (water, aggregate, cementitious material, and admixture), basic mixture design principles, trial batching, and meeting specifications/
Commonly Asked Q & A
We also have a question and answer tab due to the contractors, material producers, and engineers asking similar questions. To answer these questions and many more, we have broken this into a technical section and also a general section with a variety of subsections.
Publications, Reports, and other Free Downloads
Our research team is continuously compiling data and publishing our findings. Below are links to download our current publications, reports, spreadsheet, and other free downloads.
This website was developed by the civil engineering research team at Oklahoma State University under the direction of Tyler Ley and Dan Cook. The focus of the website started out to advance aggregate proportioning through gradation, but has turned into much more than that. Now, the focus has been to advance the knowledge of concrete materials, basic mixture design principles, and most importantly optimized graded concrete with gradation guidelines. These can be shown in the following sections. Remember, this website is constantly being updated and if you don't find what you are looking for please email us or check back later.
Popular Sections of This Website
The Box Test
Gradation Specification & Spreadsheet
ODOT Report from 2013
Aggregate Class
Gradation Specifications
Using aggregates effectively in a mixture is the essence of optimized graded concrete. Although the concept of proportioning aggregates may seem very basic at first, it can be very difficult to achieve the required workability. "Not enough" or "too much" sand is a very important detail that is over looked by most mixture designs. However, what is considered "not enough" and "too much"? How does aggregate grading effect segregation, finishability, edge slumping, and many numerous other mixture design issues. Many have been successful in using different aggregate gradations techniques to assist in predicting the workability of a mixture. Unfortunately, a single gradation technique has not been universally accepted to accomplish this. The ultimate goal of this research is to investigate aggregate gradation and develop techniques to assist in understanding and predicting possible mixture design issues.
Construction Materials
Throughout several conversations with people a need was shown to develop a section over basic education of construction materials with an emphasis on concrete. A general Aggregate was developed with lecture notes and videos to help lay out a fundamental understanding of aggregates. This does not necessarily focus on aggregates used just in concrete applications. The notes give information on the chemical make-up of aggregates, properties of aggregate, gradation, exacting aggregate, and using aggregates in applications. Also, a concrete repair class was developed with lecture notes and a video to help further fundamental topics of concrete repair and the materials used. Lastly, two sections are in the process of being developed over concrete mixture design and concrete durability.
Mixture Design
If you look at the variety of mixture design procedures out there and how concrete producers actually make concrete, one may think concrete mixture design process is really just black magic, voodoo, or some middle-ages science stuff. However if presented correctly, some basic mixture design principles, steps, and insights can quickly be explained and even help predict the behavior of a concrete mixture design. This section of the website goes into the different components (water, aggregate, cementitious material, and admixture), basic mixture design principles, trial batching, and meeting specifications/
Commonly Asked Q & A
We also have a question and answer tab due to the contractors, material producers, and engineers asking similar questions. To answer these questions and many more, we have broken this into a technical section and also a general section with a variety of subsections.
Publications, Reports, and other Free Downloads
Our research team is continuously compiling data and publishing our findings. Below are links to download our current publications, reports, spreadsheet, and other free downloads.
Publications
Cook, MD, Ghaeezadah, A, Ley, MT. A Workability Test for Slip Formed Concrete Pavements. Construction and Building Materials. 68. Elsevier; 2014, p. 376-383 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950061814007065
Reports
Cook D, Seader N, Ley T, Russell B. Investigation of Optimized Graded Concrete for Oklahoma- Phase 2. FHWA-OK-15-07. Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma Department of Transportation; 2015. https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/54316/FHWA-OK-15-07%202253%20Cook.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Ley, M.T., Cook, D., Fick, G.; Concrete Pavement Mixture Design and Analysis (MDA): Effect of Aggregate Systems on Concrete Mixture Properties. 2012. http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/mda_aggregates_w_cvr.pdf
Cook D, Ghaeezadah A,
Ley T. Investigation of Optimized Graded Concrete for Oklahoma. OTCREOS11.1-39.
Midwest City, OK: Oklahoma Transportation Center; 2013. http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/51000/51400/51497/OTCREOS11.1-39-F.pdf
| OKTCReport.pdf |
Cook D, Ghaeezadah A, Ley T. Investigation of Optimized Graded Concrete for Oklahoma- Phase 1. FHWA-OK-13-12. Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma Department of Transportation; 2013.
| ODOT OGC Pavement Report.pdf |
Ley, M.T., Cook, D.; Aggregate Gradations For Concrete Pavement Mixtures. CP Road Map; 2014
| mapbriefoctober2014.pdf |
Spreadsheets
Slip formed paving concrete
| ogcp_spreadsheet.xlsx |
| ogcp_spreadsheet_metric.xlsx |
Flowable Concrete
| ogcf_spreadsheet.xlsx |
PowerPoint Presentations
American Concrete Institute Spring 2013-Tyler Ley Presenting
http://www.concrete.org/Portals/0/Files/PDF/Webinars/Ley.pdf
http://www.concrete.org/Portals/0/Files/PDF/Webinars/Ley.pdf
Presentations for Slip Formed Pavements
Coarse Aggregate- Tyler Ley Presenting at the American Concrete Institute Spring 2013
Impacts of Sand- Tyler Ley Presenting at the American Concrete Institute Spring 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjMMuZ12i4c&list=UUkbsjjNtS3oiW46h9aTx5mw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjMMuZ12i4c&list=UUkbsjjNtS3oiW46h9aTx5mw
Aggregate Concepts- Tyler Ley Presenting at the American Concrete Institute Fall 2014
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