How is Ready Mixed Concrete Delivered?

Ready-mix concrete is manufactured in a batching plant under controlled conditions. There are many benefits to ready-mix concrete. Ready-mix concrete plants utilize sophisticated equipment designed to eliminate errors and create a high-quality product.

Ready-mix concrete is known for its superior durability. Ready-mix concrete structures last for decades, if not longer. Cement consumption is also reduced by 10-12 percent, which helps save resources and energy used to produce cement.

Ready-mix concrete is usually transported to the worksite in a mixer truck. Inside the mixer truck, a rotating mixer drum is set at an angle. The shell of the mixer truck contains a set of blades or fins that wrap in a spiral configuration from the head to the opening. This setup allows the concrete to load and mix when the drum moves in one direction and discharge when the drum goes in the opposite direction.

When raw materials are loaded into the truck, the drum is made to move very fast in the loading direction. The concrete is mixed, loaded, and moved to the site. During the journey, the drum rotates at between 2 and 6 rotations per minute to ensure the concrete is always properly mixed.

A mixer truck is designed to ensure the right consistency even when the concrete is mixed off-site. A mixer truck can also be used to do all the mixing while delivering. This solves one of the most common issues facing concrete suppliers – premature hardening that results from delays between mixing and transportation.

Though most trucks discharge concrete at the back, front-discharge units are growing in popularity as they offer more visibility to the driver. The driver can take the truck directly to the site and does not need anyone’s assistance to direct the discharge chute.

A traditional drum can be filled at between 60 and 80 percent capacity. A drum’s capacity primarily depends on whether it is being used as a mixer or agitator. Concrete should be transported soon after it is mixed. The plant staff must take necessary steps to minimize exposure to temperature changes, or its consistency may change.

Water can be added to maintain consistency, but it should be added all at once. The drum must be rotated at least 30 revolutions at the set mixing speed. Concrete should be delivered within 90 minutes and before 300 revolutions.

In some cases, concrete is air-entrained, or set-retarding admixtures or air-reducing is used to make up for changes due to exposure to high temperatures or air loss.

Are you looking for a reliable ready-mix supplier near you? Look no further than Bayshore Materials. We offer a wide variety of concrete and landscaping products. Whatever your needs, we will have the right product for you. To discuss your requirement with a building materials expert, call (707) 644-0859.