%MurNBconcretefirst071451; ]> Memorandum from R. L. Murray and A. C. Menius to Dr. Clifford K. Beck [a machine-readable transcription] Murray, Raymond L. Menius, A. C. Creation of machine-readable version: Russell S. Koonts Creation of digital images: Russell S. Koonts Conversion to TEI.2-conformant markup: NCSU Science and Technology Electronic Text Center. ca. 9 kilobytes NCSU Libraries. Raleigh, NC. Modern English, MurNBconcretefirst071451

Available from: NC State University Archives

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URL: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/archives/etext/engineering/reactor/murray/

 2000

Nuclear Reactor Digitization Project

Raymond L. Murray Reactor Project Notebook

 Illustrations have been included from the print version. Scanned by Russell Koonts with Photoshop 5.0 software. Memorandum from R. L. Murray and A. C. Menius to Dr. Clifford K. Beck <author>Raymond L. Murray</author> <author>A. C. Menius</author> <respStmt> <resp/> <name/> </respStmt> </titleStmt> <editionStmt> <p></p> </editionStmt> <extent>2 pp.</extent> <publicationStmt> <publisher></publisher> <pubPlace></pubPlace> <date></date> <idno>Manuscript copy consulted: NCSU Libraries call number UA105.16</idno> </publicationStmt> <seriesStmt> <p/> </seriesStmt> <notesStmt> <note></note> </notesStmt> </biblFull> </sourceDesc> </fileDesc> <encodingDesc> <projectDesc> <p>Prepared for the NCSU Libraries Science and Technology Electronic Text Project.</p> </projectDesc> <editorialDecl> <p>Spell-check and verification made against printed text using Notetab spell checker.</p> <p>The lineation of the manuscript has been maintained and all end-of-line hyphens have been preserved.</p> <p>The images exist as archived TIFF images, one or more JPEG versions for general use, and thumbnails.</p> <p id="ETC">Keywords in the header are a local Electronic Text Center scheme to aid in establishing analytical groupings.</p> </editorialDecl> <refsDecl> <p>ID elements are given for each page element and are composed of the text's unique cryptogram and the given page number, as in NEprop033050a for the title page of Clifford Beck's Proposal.</p> </refsDecl> <classDecl> <taxonomy id="LCSH"> <bibl> <title>Library of Congress Subject Headings July 14, 1951 English non-fiction; prose LCSH 24-bit color; 400 dpi Memorandum from R. L. Murray and A. C. Menius to Dr. Clifford K. Beck Typescript 2 pp. July 14, 1951 MurNBconcretefirst071451

NCSC-25July 14, 1951 TO: Dr. Clifford K. Beck FROM: R. L. Murray and A. C. Menius SUBJECT: Reactor Concrete Tests (Preliminary Report)

This report summarizes the recent investigations of reactor concrete mixes by Professor C. R. Bramer of the Civil Engineering Department. We are glad to report that the experiments were very successful, thanks to Mr. Bramer's ingenuity.

Two shipments of barytes aggregate were tested. 1. Sweetwater, Tennessee - supplied by L. A. Woods. 2. Cartersville, Georgia - supplied by New Riverside Ochre Co. The first of these consisted of two separate sizes: what will be labeled "coarse," ranging from 1" maximum diameter stones to about 1/4", with very little fine material; what will be labeled "fine," ranging from a 1/4" maximum down below that transmitted by a 16 mesh screen; of the fine material 62% goes through that screen, the rest is retained. The second shipment was a uniformly graded mixture ranging from 1" down to 1/32". The Colemanite was the sand from the West Coast; Portland cement types I, II and III (High-early) were on hand.

In previous tests, the mortar had failed to set, which was attributed by Oak Ridge people to be due to the large amount of water that is normally added to make the consistency proper for pouring. Thus in the present experi- ments, efforts were made to minimize the water content. As the basic proportions of materials, the Oak Ridge Figures for a cubic yard were used: Barytes3970 lb.Colemanite400 lb.Portland Cement830 lb.Water310 lb. (37.5 gal.)

The following table gives the composition of the several batches used to make test cylinders: A. June 19: One seventeenth (1/17) of the above weights were taken. Assuming that the Sweetwater barytes coarse was 3/4" ASTM and the fine was 3/8," the latter was acreened to remove all material smaller than 16 mesh. The ratio of "coarse" to "new fine" was then taken as 16.6 to 1. The weights (in lb.) resulting were: Coarse barytes220New fine barytes13.25Air Temperature 80°Colemanite23.5Humidity 70%Type III cement48.8

One cylinder was made with 21.5 lb. of water which was 11.8% more than the Oak Ridge specification, the slump was negligible. A second was made with an arbitrary added amount of water giving a one-inch slump. The first cylinder set up slowly, and after a week is still not completely firm; the second was even softer.

B. June 21. The fraction of the cubic yard mix used in this case was 1/85. The alterna- tive of type II cement was tried, with the weights below: Coarse barytes44.05New fine barytes2.65Air Temperature 82°Colemanite4.70Humidity 76%Type II cement9.80Water3.64 (Oak Ridge)

C. June 21. The fine barytes was not screened in this test. Proportions were adjusted somewhat: Coarse barytes36.05Fine barytes10.65Temperature and Humidity asColemanite4.70above.Type II cement9.80Water4.14 (11.4% over specification)
 Neither of these mixes have become firm or show any signs of even doing so.

D. June 22. On the assumption that the dissolved colemanite inhibits the portland cement action, the colemenite was not added until the mixture of cement, aggregate and water had set for 45 minutes. The Georgia barytes was used. Barytes46.70Air temperature 82°Colemanite4.70Humidity 75%Type III cement9.80Water4.00 (11% excess)
 This mix set up in about 24 hours and after three days is judged to be quite adequate.

It would be concluded tentatively that: a. Georgia Barytes is a preferable aggregate, from the standpoint of uniformity of gradation (and cost). b. Type III cement should be used. c. Special "late" mixing of colemanite is needed. Professor Bramer states that a contractor can do this. It is estimated that the water excess might be cut in half, or even more if a wetting agent such as Darex is used. Tests on those ideas and a neutron absorption experiment to determine whether the colemanite is uniformly enough distributed are planned.

The specific gravity was measured to be 3.4.