How Soil Classification Guides Foundation Type Selection

 

A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel, produces concrete. Concrete is the most widely used material in existence and is behind only water as the planet's most-consumed resource.^[2]

Cements used in construction are usually inorganic, often lime- or calcium silicate-based, and are either hydraulic or less commonly non-hydraulic, depending on the ability of the cement to set in the presence of water (see hydraulic and non-hydraulic lime plaster).

Hydraulic cements (e.g., Portland cement) set and become adhesive through a chemical reaction between the dry ingredients and water. The chemical reaction results in mineral hydrates that are not very water-soluble. This allows setting in wet conditions or under water and further protects the hardened material from chemical attack. The chemical process for hydraulic cement was found by ancient Romans who used volcanic ash (pozzolana) with added lime (calcium oxide).

Non-hydraulic cement (less common) does not set in wet conditions or under water. Rather, it sets as it dries and reacts with carbon dioxide in the air. It is resistant to attack by chemicals after setting.

The word "cement" can be traced back to the Ancient Roman term opus caementicium, used to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed rock with burnt lime as binder.^[3] The volcanic ash and pulverized brick supplements that were added to the burnt lime, to obtain a hydraulic binder, were later referred to as cementum, cimentum, cäment, and cement. In modern times, organic polymers are sometimes used as cements in concrete.

World production of cement is about 4.4 billion tonnes per year (2021, estimation),^[4][5] of which about half is made in China, followed by India and Vietnam.^[4][6]

The cement production process is responsible for nearly 8% (2018) of global CO₂ emissions,^[5] which includes heating raw materials in a cement kiln by fuel combustion and release of CO₂ stored in the calcium carbonate (calcination process). Its hydrated products, such as concrete, gradually reabsorb atmospheric CO₂ (carbonation process), compensating for approximately 30% of the initial CO₂ emissions.^[7]

Cement materials can be classified into two distinct categories: hydraulic cements and non-hydraulic cements according to their respective setting and hardening mechanisms. Hydraulic cement setting and hardening involves hydration reactions and therefore requires water, while non-hydraulic cements only react with a gas and can directly set under air.

By far the most common type of cement is hydraulic cement, which hardens by hydration (when water is added) of the clinker minerals. Hydraulic cements (such as Portland cement) are made of a mixture of silicates and oxides, the four main mineral phases of the clinker, abbreviated in the cement chemist notation, being:

C₃S: alite (3CaO·SiO₂);

C₂S: belite (2CaO·SiO₂);

C₃A: tricalcium aluminate (3CaO·Al₂O₃) (historically, and still occasionally, called celite);

C₄AF: brownmillerite (4CaO·Al₂O₃·Fe₂O₃).

The silicates are responsible for the cement's mechanical properties — the tricalcium aluminate and brownmillerite are essential for the formation of the liquid phase during the sintering (firing) process of clinker at high temperature in the kiln. The chemistry of these reactions is not completely clear and is still the object of research.^[8]

First, the limestone (calcium carbonate) is burned to remove its carbon, producing lime (calcium oxide) in what is known as a calcination reaction. This single chemical reaction is a major emitter of global carbon dioxide emissions.^[9]

$\displaystyle \ce CaCO3 -> CaO + CO2$

The lime reacts with silicon dioxide to produce dicalcium silicate and tricalcium silicate.

$\displaystyle \ce 2CaO + SiO2 -> 2CaO.SiO2$

$\displaystyle \ce 3CaO + SiO2 -> 3CaO.SiO2$

The lime also reacts with aluminium oxide to form tricalcium aluminate.

$\displaystyle \ce 3CaO + Al2O3 -> 3CaO.Al2O3$

In the last step, calcium oxide, aluminium oxide, and ferric oxide react together to form brownmillerite.

$\displaystyle \ce 4CaO + Al2O3 + Fe2O3 -> 4CaO.Al2O3.Fe2O3$

A less common form of cement is non-hydraulic cement, such as slaked lime (calcium oxide mixed with water), which hardens by carbonation in contact with carbon dioxide, which is present in the air (~ 412 vol. ppm ≃ 0.04 vol. %). First calcium oxide (lime) is produced from calcium carbonate (limestone or chalk) by calcination at temperatures above 825 °C (1,517 °F) for about 10 hours at atmospheric pressure:

$\displaystyle \ce CaCO3 -> CaO + CO2$

The calcium oxide is then spent (slaked) by mixing it with water to make slaked lime (calcium hydroxide):

$\displaystyle \ce CaO + H2O -> Ca(OH)2$

Once the excess water is completely evaporated (this process is technically called setting), the carbonation starts:

$\displaystyle \ce Ca(OH)2 + CO2 -> CaCO3 + H2O$

This reaction is slow, because the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the air is low (~ 0.4 millibar). The carbonation reaction requires that the dry cement be exposed to air, so the slaked lime is a non-hydraulic cement and cannot be used under water. This process is called the lime cycle.

Perhaps the earliest known occurrence of cement is from twelve million years ago. A deposit of cement was formed after an occurrence of oil shale located adjacent to a bed of limestone burned by natural causes. These ancient deposits were investigated in the 1960s and 1970s.^[10]

Cement, chemically speaking, is a product that includes lime as the primary binding ingredient, but is far from the first material used for cementation. The Babylonians and Assyrians used bitumen (asphalt or pitch) to bind together burnt brick or alabaster slabs. In Ancient Egypt, stone blocks were cemented together with a mortar made of sand and roughly burnt gypsum (CaSO₄ · 2H₂O), which is plaster of Paris, which often contained calcium carbonate (CaCO₃),^[11]

Lime (calcium oxide) was used on Crete and by the Ancient Greeks. There is evidence that the Minoans of Crete used crushed potsherds as an artificial pozzolan for hydraulic cement.^[11] Nobody knows who first discovered that a combination of hydrated non-hydraulic lime and a pozzolan produces a hydraulic mixture (see also: Pozzolanic reaction), but such concrete was used by the Greeks, specifically the Ancient Macedonians,^[12][13] and three centuries later on a large scale by Roman engineers.^[14][15][16]

There is... a kind of powder which from natural causes produces astonishing results. It is found in the neighborhood of Baiae and in the country belonging to the towns round about Mount Vesuvius. This substance when mixed with lime and rubble not only lends strength to buildings of other kinds but even when piers of it are constructed in the sea, they set hard underwater.

— Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, Liber II, De Architectura, Chapter VI "Pozzolana" Sec. 1

The Greeks used volcanic tuff from the island of Thera as their pozzolan and the Romans used crushed volcanic ash (activated aluminium silicates) with lime. This mixture could set under water, increasing its resistance to corrosion like rust.^[17] The material was called pozzolana from the town of Pozzuoli, west of Naples where volcanic ash was extracted.^[18] In the absence of pozzolanic ash, the Romans used powdered brick or pottery as a substitute and they may have used crushed tiles for this purpose before discovering natural sources near Rome.^[11] The huge dome of the Pantheon in Rome and the massive Baths of Caracalla are examples of ancient structures made from these concretes, many of which still stand.^[19][2] The vast system of Roman aqueducts also made extensive use of hydraulic cement.^[20] Roman concrete was rarely used on the outside of buildings. The normal technique was to use brick facing material as the formwork for an infill of mortar mixed with an aggregate of broken pieces of stone, brick, potsherds, recycled chunks of concrete, or other building rubble.^[21]

Lightweight concrete was designed and used for the construction of structural elements by the pre-Columbian builders who lived in a very advanced civilisation in El Tajin near Mexico City, in Mexico. A detailed study of the composition of the aggregate and binder show that the aggregate was pumice and the binder was a pozzolanic cement made with volcanic ash and lime.^[22]

Any preservation of this knowledge in literature from the Middle Ages is unknown, but medieval masons and some military engineers actively used hydraulic cement in structures such as canals, fortresses, harbors, and shipbuilding facilities.^[23][24] A mixture of lime mortar and aggregate with brick or stone facing material was used in the Eastern Roman Empire as well as in the West into the Gothic period. The German Rhineland continued to use hydraulic mortar throughout the Middle Ages, having local pozzolana deposits called trass.^[21]

Tabby is a building material made from oyster shell lime, sand, and whole oyster shells to form a concrete. The Spanish introduced it to the Americas in the sixteenth century.^[25]

The technical knowledge for making hydraulic cement was formalized by French and British engineers in the 18th century.^[23]

John Smeaton made an important contribution to the development of cements while planning the construction of the third Eddystone Lighthouse (1755–59) in the English Channel now known as Smeaton's Tower. He needed a hydraulic mortar that would set and develop some strength in the twelve-hour period between successive high tides. He performed experiments with combinations of different limestones and additives including trass and pozzolanas^[11] and did exhaustive market research on the available hydraulic limes, visiting their production sites, and noted that the "hydraulicity" of the lime was directly related to the clay content of the limestone used to make it. Smeaton was a civil engineer by profession, and took the idea no further.

In the South Atlantic seaboard of the United States, tabby relying on the oyster-shell middens of earlier Native American populations was used in house construction from the 1730s to the 1860s.^[25]

In Britain particularly, good quality building stone became ever more expensive during a period of rapid growth, and it became a common practice to construct prestige buildings from the new industrial bricks, and to finish them with a stucco to imitate stone. Hydraulic limes were favored for this, but the need for a fast set time encouraged the development of new cements. Most famous was Parker's "Roman cement".^[26] This was developed by James Parker in the 1780s, and finally patented in 1796. It was, in fact, nothing like material used by the Romans, but was a "natural cement" made by burning septaria – nodules that are found in certain clay deposits, and that contain both clay minerals and calcium carbonate. The burnt nodules were ground to a fine powder. This product, made into a mortar with sand, set in 5–15 minutes. The success of "Roman cement" led other manufacturers to develop rival products by burning artificial hydraulic lime cements of clay and chalk. Roman cement quickly became popular but was largely replaced by Portland cement in the 1850s.^[11]

Apparently unaware of Smeaton's work, the same principle was identified by Frenchman Louis Vicat in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Vicat went on to devise a method of combining chalk and clay into an intimate mixture, and, burning this, produced an "artificial cement" in 1817^[27] considered the "principal forerunner"^[11] of Portland cement and "...Edgar Dobbs of Southwark patented a cement of this kind in 1811."^[11]

In Russia, Egor Cheliev created a new binder by mixing lime and clay. His results were published in 1822 in his book A Treatise on the Art to Prepare a Good Mortar published in St. Petersburg. A few years later in 1825, he published another book, which described various methods of making cement and concrete, and the benefits of cement in the construction of buildings and embankments.^[28][29]

Portland cement, the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-speciality grout, was developed in England in the mid 19th century, and usually originates from limestone. James Frost produced what he called "British cement" in a similar manner around the same time, but did not obtain a patent until 1822.^[31] In 1824, Joseph Aspdin patented a similar material, which he called Portland cement, because the render made from it was in color similar to the prestigious Portland stone quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. However, Aspdins' cement was nothing like modern Portland cement but was a first step in its development, called a proto-Portland cement.^[11] Joseph Aspdins' son William Aspdin had left his father's company and in his cement manufacturing apparently accidentally produced calcium silicates in the 1840s, a middle step in the development of Portland cement. William Aspdin's innovation was counterintuitive for manufacturers of "artificial cements", because they required more lime in the mix (a problem for his father), a much higher kiln temperature (and therefore more fuel), and the resulting clinker was very hard and rapidly wore down the millstones, which were the only available grinding technology of the time. Manufacturing costs were therefore considerably higher, but the product set reasonably slowly and developed strength quickly, thus opening up a market for use in concrete. The use of concrete in construction grew rapidly from 1850 onward, and was soon the dominant use for cements. Thus Portland cement began its predominant role. Isaac Charles Johnson further refined the production of meso-Portland cement (middle stage of development) and claimed he was the real father of Portland cement.^[32]

Setting time and "early strength" are important characteristics of cements. Hydraulic limes, "natural" cements, and "artificial" cements all rely on their belite (2 CaO · SiO₂, abbreviated as C₂S) content for strength development. Belite develops strength slowly. Because they were burned at temperatures below 1,250 °C (2,280 °F), they contained no alite (3 CaO · SiO₂, abbreviated as C₃S), which is responsible for early strength in modern cements. The first cement to consistently contain alite was made by William Aspdin in the early 1840s: This was what we call today "modern" Portland cement. Because of the air of mystery with which William Aspdin surrounded his product, others (e.g., Vicat and Johnson) have claimed precedence in this invention, but recent analysis^[33] of both his concrete and raw cement have shown that William Aspdin's product made at Northfleet, Kent was a true alite-based cement. However, Aspdin's methods were "rule-of-thumb": Vicat is responsible for establishing the chemical basis of these cements, and Johnson established the importance of sintering the mix in the kiln.

In the US the first large-scale use of cement was Rosendale cement, a natural cement mined from a massive deposit of dolomite discovered in the early 19th century near Rosendale, New York. Rosendale cement was extremely popular for the foundation of buildings (e.g., Statue of Liberty, Capitol Building, Brooklyn Bridge) and lining water pipes.^[34] Sorel cement, or magnesia-based cement, was patented in 1867 by the Frenchman Stanislas Sorel.^[35] It was stronger than Portland cement but its poor water resistance (leaching) and corrosive properties (pitting corrosion due to the presence of leachable chloride anions and the low pH (8.5–9.5) of its pore water) limited its use as reinforced concrete for building construction.^[36]

The next development in the manufacture of Portland cement was the introduction of the rotary kiln. It produced a clinker mixture that was both stronger, because more alite (C₃S) is formed at the higher temperature it achieved (1450 °C), and more homogeneous. Because raw material is constantly fed into a rotary kiln, it allowed a continuous manufacturing process to replace lower capacity batch production processes.^[11]

Calcium aluminate cements were patented in 1908 in France by Jules Bied for better resistance to sulfates.^[37] Also in 1908, Thomas Edison experimented with pre-cast concrete in houses in Union, N.J.^[38]

In the US, after World War One, the long curing time of at least a month for Rosendale cement made it unpopular for constructing highways and bridges, and many states and construction firms turned to Portland cement. Because of the switch to Portland cement, by the end of the 1920s only one of the 15 Rosendale cement companies had survived. But in the early 1930s, builders discovered that, while Portland cement set faster, it was not as durable, especially for highways—to the point that some states stopped building highways and roads with cement. Bertrain H. Wait, an engineer whose company had helped construct the New York City's Catskill Aqueduct, was impressed with the durability of Rosendale cement, and came up with a blend of both Rosendale and Portland cements that had the good attributes of both. It was highly durable and had a much faster setting time. Wait convinced the New York Commissioner of Highways to construct an experimental section of highway near New Paltz, New York, using one sack of Rosendale to six sacks of Portland cement. It was a success, and for decades the Rosendale-Portland cement blend was used in concrete highway and concrete bridge construction.^[34]

Cementitious materials have been used as a nuclear waste immobilizing matrix for more than a half-century.^[39] Technologies of waste cementation have been developed and deployed at industrial scale in many countries. Cementitious wasteforms require a careful selection and design process adapted to each specific type of waste to satisfy the strict waste acceptance criteria for long-term storage and disposal.^[40]

Components of cement:
comparison of chemical and physical characteristics^{[a][41][42][43]}

Property		Portland cement	Siliceous[b] fly ash	Calcareous[c] fly ash	Slag cement	Silica fume
Proportion by mass (%)	SiO2	21.9	52	35	35	85–97
	Al2O3	6.9	23	18	12	—
	Fe2O3	3	11	6	1	—
	CaO	63	5	21	40	< 1
	MgO	2.5	—	—	—	—
	SO3	1.7	—	—	—	—
Specific surface (m2/kg)[d]		370	420	420	400	15,000 – 30,000
Specific gravity		3.15	2.38	2.65	2.94	2.22
General purpose		Primary binder	Cement replacement	Cement replacement	Cement replacement	Property enhancer
^ Values shown are approximate: those of a specific material may vary. ^ ASTM C618 Class F ^ ASTM C618 Class C ^ Specific surface measurements for silica fume by nitrogen adsorption (BET) method, others by air permeability method (Blaine).

Modern development of hydraulic cement began with the start of the Industrial Revolution (around 1800), driven by three main needs:

• Hydraulic cement render (stucco) for finishing brick buildings in wet climates
• Hydraulic mortars for masonry construction of harbor works, etc., in contact with sea water
• Development of strong concretes

Modern cements are often Portland cement or Portland cement blends, but other cement blends are used in some industrial settings.

Portland cement, a form of hydraulic cement, is by far the most common type of cement in general use around the world. This cement is made by heating limestone (calcium carbonate) with other materials (such as clay) to 1,450 °C (2,640 °F) in a kiln, in a process known as calcination that liberates a molecule of carbon dioxide from the calcium carbonate to form calcium oxide, or quicklime, which then chemically combines with the other materials in the mix to form calcium silicates and other cementitious compounds. The resulting hard substance, called 'clinker', is then ground with a small amount of gypsum ( CaSO₄·2H₂O) into a powder to make ordinary Portland cement, the most commonly used type of cement (often referred to as OPC). Portland cement is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, and most non-specialty grout. The most common use for Portland cement is to make concrete. Portland cement may be grey or white.

Portland cement blends are often available as inter-ground mixtures from cement producers, but similar formulations are often also mixed from the ground components at the concrete mixing plant.

Portland blast-furnace slag cement, or blast furnace cement (ASTM C595 and EN 197-1 nomenclature respectively), contains up to 95% ground granulated blast furnace slag, with the rest Portland clinker and a little gypsum. All compositions produce high ultimate strength, but as slag content is increased, early strength is reduced, while sulfate resistance increases and heat evolution diminishes. Used as an economic alternative to Portland sulfate-resisting and low-heat cements.

Portland-fly ash cement contains up to 40% fly ash under ASTM standards (ASTM C595), or 35% under EN standards (EN 197–1). The fly ash is pozzolanic, so that ultimate strength is maintained. Because fly ash addition allows a lower concrete water content, early strength can also be maintained. Where good quality cheap fly ash is available, this can be an economic alternative to ordinary Portland cement.^[44]

Portland pozzolan cement includes fly ash cement, since fly ash is a pozzolan, but also includes cements made from other natural or artificial pozzolans. In countries where volcanic ashes are available (e.g., Italy, Chile, Mexico, the Philippines), these cements are often the most common form in use. The maximum replacement ratios are generally defined as for Portland-fly ash cement.

Portland silica fume cement. Addition of silica fume can yield exceptionally high strengths, and cements containing 5–20% silica fume are occasionally produced, with 10% being the maximum allowed addition under EN 197–1. However, silica fume is more usually added to Portland cement at the concrete mixer.^[45]

Masonry cements are used for preparing bricklaying mortars and stuccos, and must not be used in concrete. They are usually complex proprietary formulations containing Portland clinker and a number of other ingredients that may include limestone, hydrated lime, air entrainers, retarders, waterproofers, and coloring agents. They are formulated to yield workable mortars that allow rapid and consistent masonry work. Subtle variations of masonry cement in North America are plastic cements and stucco cements. These are designed to produce a controlled bond with masonry blocks.

Expansive cements contain, in addition to Portland clinker, expansive clinkers (usually sulfoaluminate clinkers), and are designed to offset the effects of drying shrinkage normally encountered in hydraulic cements. This cement can make concrete for floor slabs (up to 60 m square) without contraction joints.

White blended cements may be made using white clinker (containing little or no iron) and white supplementary materials such as high-purity metakaolin. Colored cements serve decorative purposes. Some standards allow the addition of pigments to produce colored Portland cement. Other standards (e.g., ASTM) do not allow pigments in Portland cement, and colored cements are sold as blended hydraulic cements.

Very finely ground cements are cement mixed with sand or with slag or other pozzolan type minerals that are extremely finely ground together. Such cements can have the same physical characteristics as normal cement but with 50% less cement, particularly because there is more surface area for the chemical reaction. Even with intensive grinding they can use up to 50% less energy (and thus less carbon emissions) to fabricate than ordinary Portland cements.^[46]

Pozzolan-lime cements are mixtures of ground pozzolan and lime. These are the cements the Romans used, and are present in surviving Roman structures like the Pantheon in Rome. They develop strength slowly, but their ultimate strength can be very high. The hydration products that produce strength are essentially the same as those in Portland cement.

Slag-lime cements—ground granulated blast-furnace slag—are not hydraulic on their own, but are "activated" by addition of alkalis, most economically using lime. They are similar to pozzolan lime cements in their properties. Only granulated slag (i.e., water-quenched, glassy slag) is effective as a cement component.

Supersulfated cements contain about 80% ground granulated blast furnace slag, 15% gypsum or anhydrite and a little Portland clinker or lime as an activator. They produce strength by formation of ettringite, with strength growth similar to a slow Portland cement. They exhibit good resistance to aggressive agents, including sulfate.

Calcium aluminate cements are hydraulic cements made primarily from limestone and bauxite. The active ingredients are monocalcium aluminate CaAl₂O₄ (CaO · Al₂O₃ or CA in cement chemist notation, CCN) and mayenite Ca₁₂Al₁₄O₃₃ (12 CaO · 7 Al₂O₃, or C₁₂A₇ in CCN). Strength forms by hydration to calcium aluminate hydrates. They are well-adapted for use in refractory (high-temperature resistant) concretes, e.g., for furnace linings.

Calcium sulfoaluminate cements are made from clinkers that include ye'elimite (Ca₄(AlO₂)₆SO₄ or C₄A₃S in Cement chemist's notation) as a primary phase. They are used in expansive cements, in ultra-high early strength cements, and in "low-energy" cements. Hydration produces ettringite, and specialized physical properties (such as expansion or rapid reaction) are obtained by adjustment of the availability of calcium and sulfate ions. Their use as a low-energy alternative to Portland cement has been pioneered in China, where several million tonnes per year are produced.^[47][48] Energy requirements are lower because of the lower kiln temperatures required for reaction, and the lower amount of limestone (which must be endothermically decarbonated) in the mix. In addition, the lower limestone content and lower fuel consumption leads to a CO
₂ emission around half that associated with Portland clinker. However, SO₂ emissions are usually significantly higher.

"Natural" cements corresponding to certain cements of the pre-Portland era, are produced by burning argillaceous limestones at moderate temperatures. The level of clay components in the limestone (around 30–35%) is such that large amounts of belite (the low-early strength, high-late strength mineral in Portland cement) are formed without the formation of excessive amounts of free lime. As with any natural material, such cements have highly variable properties.

Geopolymer cements are made from mixtures of water-soluble alkali metal silicates, and aluminosilicate mineral powders such as fly ash and metakaolin.

Polymer cements are made from organic chemicals that polymerise. Producers often use thermoset materials. While they are often significantly more expensive, they can give a water proof material that has useful tensile strength.

Sorel cement is a hard, durable cement made by combining magnesium oxide and a magnesium chloride solution

Fiber mesh cement or fiber reinforced concrete is cement that is made up of fibrous materials like synthetic fibers, glass fibers, natural fibers, and steel fibers. This type of mesh is distributed evenly throughout the wet concrete. The purpose of fiber mesh is to reduce water loss from the concrete as well as enhance its structural integrity.^[49] When used in plasters, fiber mesh increases cohesiveness, tensile strength, impact resistance, and to reduce shrinkage; ultimately, the main purpose of these combined properties is to reduce cracking.^[50]

Electric cement is proposed to be made by recycling cement from demolition wastes in an electric arc furnace as part of a steelmaking process. The recycled cement is intended to be used to replace part or all of the lime used in steelmaking, resulting in a slag-like material that is similar in mineralogy to Portland cement, eliminating most of the associated carbon emissions.^[51]

Cement starts to set when mixed with water, which causes a series of hydration chemical reactions. The constituents slowly hydrate and the mineral hydrates solidify and harden. The interlocking of the hydrates gives cement its strength. Contrary to popular belief, hydraulic cement does not set by drying out — proper curing requires maintaining the appropriate moisture content necessary for the hydration reactions during the setting and the hardening processes. If hydraulic cements dry out during the curing phase, the resulting product can be insufficiently hydrated and significantly weakened. A minimum temperature of 5 °C is recommended, and no more than 30 °C.^[52] The concrete at young age must be protected against water evaporation due to direct insolation, elevated temperature, low relative humidity and wind.

The interfacial transition zone (ITZ) is a region of the cement paste around the aggregate particles in concrete. In the zone, a gradual transition in the microstructural features occurs.^[53] This zone can be up to 35 micrometer wide.^{[54]: 351â€Å}  Other studies have shown that the width can be up to 50 micrometer. The average content of unreacted clinker phase decreases and porosity decreases towards the aggregate surface. Similarly, the content of ettringite increases in ITZ. ^{[54]: 352â€Å} 

Bags of cement routinely have health and safety warnings printed on them because not only is cement highly alkaline, but the setting process is exothermic. As a result, wet cement is strongly caustic (pH = 13.5) and can easily cause severe skin burns if not promptly washed off with water. Similarly, dry cement powder in contact with mucous membranes can cause severe eye or respiratory irritation. Some trace elements, such as chromium, from impurities naturally present in the raw materials used to produce cement may cause allergic dermatitis.^[55] Reducing agents such as ferrous sulfate (FeSO₄) are often added to cement to convert the carcinogenic hexavalent chromate (CrO₄²⁻) into trivalent chromium (Cr³⁺), a less toxic chemical species. Cement users need also to wear appropriate gloves and protective clothing.^[56]

In 2010, the world production of hydraulic cement was 3,300 megatonnes (3,600×10^⁶ short tons). The top three producers were China with 1,800, India with 220, and the United States with 63.5 million tonnes for a total of over half the world total by the world's three most populated states.^[57]

For the world capacity to produce cement in 2010, the situation was similar with the top three states (China, India, and the US) accounting for just under half the world total capacity.^[58]

Over 2011 and 2012, global consumption continued to climb, rising to 3585 Mt in 2011 and 3736 Mt in 2012, while annual growth rates eased to 8.3% and 4.2%, respectively.

China, representing an increasing share of world cement consumption, remains the main engine of global growth. By 2012, Chinese demand was recorded at 2160 Mt, representing 58% of world consumption. Annual growth rates, which reached 16% in 2010, appear to have softened, slowing to 5–6% over 2011 and 2012, as China's economy targets a more sustainable growth rate.

Outside of China, worldwide consumption climbed by 4.4% to 1462 Mt in 2010, 5% to 1535 Mt in 2011, and finally 2.7% to 1576 Mt in 2012.

Iran is now the 3rd largest cement producer in the world and has increased its output by over 10% from 2008 to 2011.^[59] Because of climbing energy costs in Pakistan and other major cement-producing countries, Iran is in a unique position as a trading partner, utilizing its own surplus petroleum to power clinker plants. Now a top producer in the Middle-East, Iran is further increasing its dominant position in local markets and abroad.^[60]

The performance in North America and Europe over the 2010–12 period contrasted strikingly with that of China, as the global financial crisis evolved into a sovereign debt crisis for many economies in this region^{[clarification needed]} and recession. Cement consumption levels for this region fell by 1.9% in 2010 to 445 Mt, recovered by 4.9% in 2011, then dipped again by 1.1% in 2012.

The performance in the rest of the world, which includes many emerging economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America and representing some 1020 Mt cement demand in 2010, was positive and more than offset the declines in North America and Europe. Annual consumption growth was recorded at 7.4% in 2010, moderating to 5.1% and 4.3% in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

As at year-end 2012, the global cement industry consisted of 5673 cement production facilities, including both integrated and grinding, of which 3900 were located in China and 1773 in the rest of the world.

Total cement capacity worldwide was recorded at 5245 Mt in 2012, with 2950 Mt located in China and 2295 Mt in the rest of the world.^[6]

"For the past 18 years, China consistently has produced more cement than any other country in the world. [...] (However,) China's cement export peaked in 1994 with 11 million tonnes shipped out and has been in steady decline ever since. Only 5.18 million tonnes were exported out of China in 2002. Offered at $34 a ton, Chinese cement is pricing itself out of the market as Thailand is asking as little as $20 for the same quality."^[61]

In 2006, it was estimated that China manufactured 1.235 billion tonnes of cement, which was 44% of the world total cement production.^[62] "Demand for cement in China is expected to advance 5.4% annually and exceed 1 billion tonnes in 2008, driven by slowing but healthy growth in construction expenditures. Cement consumed in China will amount to 44% of global demand, and China will remain the world's largest national consumer of cement by a large margin."^[63]

In 2010, 3.3 billion tonnes of cement was consumed globally. Of this, China accounted for 1.8 billion tonnes.^[64]

Cement manufacture causes environmental impacts at all stages of the process. These include emissions of airborne pollution in the form of dust, gases, noise and vibration when operating machinery and during blasting in quarries, and damage to countryside from quarrying. Equipment to reduce dust emissions during quarrying and manufacture of cement is widely used, and equipment to trap and separate exhaust gases are coming into increased use. Environmental protection also includes the re-integration of quarries into the countryside after they have been closed down by returning them to nature or re-cultivating them.

Carbon concentration in cement spans from ≈5% in cement structures to ≈8% in the case of roads in cement.^[65] Cement manufacturing releases CO₂ in the atmosphere both directly when calcium carbonate is heated, producing lime and carbon dioxide,^[66][67] and also indirectly through the use of energy if its production involves the emission of CO
₂. The cement industry produces about 10% of global human-made CO
₂ emissions, of which 60% is from the chemical process, and 40% from burning fuel.^[68] A Chatham House study from 2018 estimates that the 4 billion tonnes of cement produced annually account for 8% of worldwide CO
₂ emissions.^[5]

Nearly 900 kg of CO
₂ are emitted for every 1000 kg of Portland cement produced. In the European Union, the specific energy consumption for the production of cement clinker has been reduced by approximately 30% since the 1970s. This reduction in primary energy requirements is equivalent to approximately 11 million tonnes of coal per year with corresponding benefits in reduction of CO
₂ emissions. This accounts for approximately 5% of anthropogenic CO
₂.^[69]

The majority of carbon dioxide emissions in the manufacture of Portland cement (approximately 60%) are produced from the chemical decomposition of limestone to lime, an ingredient in Portland cement clinker. These emissions may be reduced by lowering the clinker content of cement. They can also be reduced by alternative fabrication methods such as the intergrinding cement with sand or with slag or other pozzolan type minerals to a very fine powder.^[70]

To reduce the transport of heavier raw materials and to minimize the associated costs, it is more economical to build cement plants closer to the limestone quarries rather than to the consumer centers.^[71]

As of 2019^[update] carbon capture and storage is about to be trialed, but its financial viability is uncertain.^[72]

Hydrated products of Portland cement, such as concrete and mortars, slowly reabsorb atmospheric CO2 gas, which has been released during calcination in a kiln. This natural process, reversed to calcination, is called carbonation.^[73] As it depends on CO2 diffusion into the bulk of concrete, its rate depends on many parameters, such as environmental conditions and surface area exposed to the atmosphere.^[74][75] Carbonation is particularly significant at the latter stages of the concrete life - after demolition and crushing of the debris. It was estimated that during the whole life-cycle of cement products, it can be reabsorbed nearly 30% of atmospheric CO2 generated by cement production.^[75]

Carbonation process is considered as a mechanism of concrete degradation. It reduces pH of concrete that promotes reinforcement steel corrosion.^[73] However, as the product of Ca(OH)2 carbonation, CaCO3, occupies a greater volume, porosity of concrete reduces. This increases strength and hardness of concrete.^[76]

There are proposals to reduce carbon footprint of hydraulic cement by adopting non-hydraulic cement, lime mortar, for certain applications. It reabsorbs some of the CO
₂ during hardening, and has a lower energy requirement in production than Portland cement.^[77]

A few other attempts to increase absorption of carbon dioxide include cements based on magnesium (Sorel cement).^[78][79][80]

In some circumstances, mainly depending on the origin and the composition of the raw materials used, the high-temperature calcination process of limestone and clay minerals can release in the atmosphere gases and dust rich in volatile heavy metals, e.g. thallium,^[81] cadmium and mercury are the most toxic. Heavy metals (Tl, Cd, Hg, ...) and also selenium are often found as trace elements in common metal sulfides (pyrite (FeS₂), zinc blende (ZnS), galena (PbS), ...) present as secondary minerals in most of the raw materials. Environmental regulations exist in many countries to limit these emissions. As of 2011 in the United States, cement kilns are "legally allowed to pump more toxins into the air than are hazardous-waste incinerators."^[82]

The presence of heavy metals in the clinker arises both from the natural raw materials and from the use of recycled by-products or alternative fuels. The high pH prevailing in the cement porewater (12.5 < pH < 13.5) limits the mobility of many heavy metals by decreasing their solubility and increasing their sorption onto the cement mineral phases. Nickel, zinc and lead are commonly found in cement in non-negligible concentrations. Chromium may also directly arise as natural impurity from the raw materials or as secondary contamination from the abrasion of hard chromium steel alloys used in the ball mills when the clinker is ground. As chromate (CrO₄²⁻) is toxic and may cause severe skin allergies at trace concentration, it is sometimes reduced into trivalent Cr(III) by addition of ferrous sulfate (FeSO₄).

A cement plant consumes 3 to 6 GJ of fuel per tonne of clinker produced, depending on the raw materials and the process used. Most cement kilns today use coal and petroleum coke as primary fuels, and to a lesser extent natural gas and fuel oil. Selected waste and by-products with recoverable calorific value can be used as fuels in a cement kiln (referred to as co-processing), replacing a portion of conventional fossil fuels, like coal, if they meet strict specifications. Selected waste and by-products containing useful minerals such as calcium, silica, alumina, and iron can be used as raw materials in the kiln, replacing raw materials such as clay, shale, and limestone. Because some materials have both useful mineral content and recoverable calorific value, the distinction between alternative fuels and raw materials is not always clear. For example, sewage sludge has a low but significant calorific value, and burns to give ash containing minerals useful in the clinker matrix.^[83] Scrap automobile and truck tires are useful in cement manufacturing as they have high calorific value and the iron embedded in tires is useful as a feed stock.^{[84]: p. 27â€Å} 

Clinker is manufactured by heating raw materials inside the main burner of a kiln to a temperature of 1,450 °C. The flame reaches temperatures of 1,800 °C. The material remains at 1,200 °C for 12–15 seconds at 1,800 °C or sometimes for 5–8 seconds (also referred to as residence time). These characteristics of a clinker kiln offer numerous benefits and they ensure a complete destruction of organic compounds, a total neutralization of acid gases, sulphur oxides and hydrogen chloride. Furthermore, heavy metal traces are embedded in the clinker structure and no by-products, such as ash or residues, are produced.^[85]

The EU cement industry already uses more than 40% fuels derived from waste and biomass in supplying the thermal energy to the grey clinker making process. Although the choice for this so-called alternative fuels (AF) is typically cost driven, other factors are becoming more important. Use of alternative fuels provides benefits for both society and the company: CO
₂-emissions are lower than with fossil fuels, waste can be co-processed in an efficient and sustainable manner and the demand for certain virgin materials can be reduced. Yet there are large differences in the share of alternative fuels used between the European Union (EU) member states. The societal benefits could be improved if more member states increase their alternative fuels share. The Ecofys study^[86] assessed the barriers and opportunities for further uptake of alternative fuels in 14 EU member states. The Ecofys study found that local factors constrain the market potential to a much larger extent than the technical and economic feasibility of the cement industry itself.

Growing environmental concerns and the increasing cost of fossil fuels have resulted, in many countries, in a sharp reduction of the resources needed to produce cement, as well as effluents (dust and exhaust gases).^[87] Reduced-footprint cement is a cementitious material that meets or exceeds the functional performance capabilities of Portland cement. Various techniques are under development. One is geopolymer cement, which incorporates recycled materials, thereby reducing consumption of raw materials, water, and energy. Another approach is to reduce or eliminate the production and release of damaging pollutants and greenhouse gasses, particularly CO
₂.^[88] Recycling old cement in electric arc furnaces is another approach.^[89] Also, a team at the University of Edinburgh has developed the 'DUPE' process based on the microbial activity of Sporosarcina pasteurii, a bacterium precipitating calcium carbonate, which, when mixed with sand and urine, can produce mortar blocks with a compressive strength 70% of that of concrete.^[90] An overview of climate-friendly methods for cement production can be found here.^[91]

• "Cement" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). 1911.

 

As the name implies, timber piles are made of wood.

Historically, timber has been a plentiful, locally available resource in many areas. Today, timber piles are still more affordable than concrete or steel. Compared to other types of piles (steel or concrete), and depending on the source/type of timber, timber piles may not be suitable for heavier loads.

A main consideration regarding timber piles is that they should be protected from rotting above groundwater level. Timber will last for a long time below the groundwater level. For timber to rot, two elements are needed: water and oxygen. Below the groundwater level, dissolved oxygen is lacking even though there is ample water. Hence, timber tends to last for a long time below the groundwater level. An example is Venice, which has had timber pilings since its beginning; even most of the oldest piles are still in use. In 1648, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam was constructed on 13,659 timber piles that still survive today since they were below groundwater level. Timber that is to be used above the water table can be protected from decay and insects by numerous forms of wood preservation using pressure treatment (alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ), chromated copper arsenate (CCA), creosote, etc.).

Splicing timber piles is still quite common and is the easiest of all the piling materials to splice. The normal method for splicing is by driving the leader pile first, driving a steel tube (normally 60–100 cm long, with an internal diameter no smaller than the minimum toe diameter) half its length onto the end of the leader pile. The follower pile is then simply slotted into the other end of the tube and driving continues. The steel tube is simply there to ensure that the two pieces follow each other during driving. If uplift capacity is required, the splice can incorporate bolts, coach screws, spikes or the like to give it the necessary capacity.

Cast iron may be used for piling. These may be ductile.^{[citation needed]}

Pipe piles are a type of steel driven pile foundation and are a good candidate for inclined (battered) piles.

Pipe piles can be driven either open end or closed end. When driven open end, soil is allowed to enter the bottom of the pipe or tube. If an empty pipe is required, a jet of water or an auger can be used to remove the soil inside following driving. Closed end pipe piles are constructed by covering the bottom of the pile with a steel plate or cast steel shoe.

In some cases, pipe piles are filled with concrete to provide additional moment capacity or corrosion resistance. In the United Kingdom, this is generally not done in order to reduce the cost.^{[citation needed]} In these cases corrosion protection is provided by allowing for a sacrificial thickness of steel or by adopting a higher grade of steel. If a concrete filled pipe pile is corroded, most of the load carrying capacity of the pile will remain intact due to the concrete, while it will be lost in an empty pipe pile. The structural capacity of pipe piles is primarily calculated based on steel strength and concrete strength (if filled). An allowance is made for corrosion depending on the site conditions and local building codes. Steel pipe piles can either be new steel manufactured specifically for the piling industry or reclaimed steel tubular casing previously used for other purposes such as oil and gas exploration.

H-Piles are structural beams that are driven in the ground for deep foundation application. They can be easily cut off or joined by welding or mechanical drive-fit splicers. If the pile is driven into a soil with low pH value, then there is a risk of corrosion, coal-tar epoxy or cathodic protection can be applied to slow or eliminate the corrosion process. It is common to allow for an amount of corrosion in design by simply over dimensioning the cross-sectional area of the steel pile. In this way, the corrosion process can be prolonged up to 50 years.^{[citation needed]}

Concrete piles are typically made with steel reinforcing and prestressing tendons to obtain the tensile strength required, to survive handling and driving, and to provide sufficient bending resistance.

Long piles can be difficult to handle and transport. Pile joints can be used to join two or more short piles to form one long pile. Pile joints can be used with both precast and prestressed concrete piles.

A "composite pile" is a pile made of steel and concrete members that are fastened together, end to end, to form a single pile. It is a combination of different materials or different shaped materials such as pipe and H-beams or steel and concrete.

Construction machinery used to drive piles into the ground:^[15]

• Pile driver is a device for placing piles in their designed position.
• Diesel pile hammer is a device for hammering piles into the ground.
• Hydraulic hammer is removable working equipment of hydraulic excavators, hydroficated machines (stationary rock breakers, loaders, manipulators, pile driving hammers) used for processing strong materials (rock, soil, metal) or pile driving elements by impact of falling parts dispersed by high-pressure fluid.
• Vibratory pile driver is a machine for driving piles into sandy and clay soils.
• Press-in pile driver is a machine for sinking piles into the ground by means of static force transmission.^[16]
• Universal drilling machine.

Construction machinery used to construct replacement piles:^[15]

• Sectional Flight Auger or Continuous Flight Auger
• Reverse circulation drilling
• Ring bit concentric drilling

• Eurocode EN 1997
• International Society for Micropiles
• Post in ground construction also called earthfast or posthole construction; a historic method of building wooden structures.
• Stilt house, also known as a lake house; an ancient, historic house type built on pilings.
• Shallow foundations
• Pile bridge
• Larssen sheet piling

• Italiantrivelle Foundation Industry Archived 25 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine The Deep Foundation web portal Italiantrivelle is the number one source of information regarding the Foundation Industry. (Link needs to be removed or updated, links to inappropriate content)
• Fleming, W. G. K. et al., 1985, Piling Engineering, Surrey University Press; Hunt, R. E., Geotechnical Engineering Analysis and Evaluation, 1986, McGraw-Hill.
• Coduto, Donald P. Foundation Design: Principles and Practices 2nd ed., Prentice-Hall Inc., 2001.
• NAVFAC DM 7.02 Foundations and Earth Structures U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, 1986.
• Rajapakse, Ruwan., Pile Design and Construction Guide, 2003
• Tomlinson, P.J., Pile Design and Construction Practice, 1984
• Stabilization of Organic Soils Archived 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
• Sheet piling handbook, 2010

• Deep Foundations Institute

 

CFRPs have become a notable material in structural engineering applications. Studied in an academic context as to their potential benefits in construction, CFRPs have also proved themselves cost-effective in a number of field applications strengthening concrete, masonry, steel, cast iron, and timber structures. Their use in industry can be either for retrofitting to strengthen an existing structure or as an alternative reinforcing (or prestressing) material instead of steel from the outset of a project.

Retrofitting has become the increasingly dominant use of the material in civil engineering, and applications include increasing the load capacity of old structures (such as bridges, beams, ceilings, columns and walls) that were designed to tolerate far lower service loads than they are experiencing today, seismic retrofitting, and repair of damaged structures. Retrofitting is popular in many instances as the cost of replacing the deficient structure can greatly exceed the cost of strengthening using CFRP.^[35]

Applied to reinforced concrete structures for flexure, the use of CFRPs typically has a large impact on strength (doubling or more the strength of the section is not uncommon), but only moderately increases stiffness (as little as 10%). This is because the material used in such applications is typically very strong (e.g., 3 GPa ultimate tensile strength, more than 10 times mild steel) but not particularly stiff (150 to 250 GPa elastic modulus, a little less than steel, is typical). As a consequence, only small cross-sectional areas of the material are used. Small areas of very high strength but moderate stiffness material will significantly increase strength, but not stiffness.

CFRPs can also be used to enhance shear strength of reinforced concrete by wrapping fabrics or fibers around the section to be strengthened. Wrapping around sections (such as bridge or building columns) can also enhance the ductility of the section, greatly increasing the resistance to collapse under dynamic loading. Such 'seismic retrofit' is the major application in earthquake-prone areas, since it is much more economic than alternative methods.

If a column is circular (or nearly so) an increase in axial capacity is also achieved by wrapping. In this application, the confinement of the CFRP wrap enhances the compressive strength of the concrete. However, although large increases are achieved in the ultimate collapse load, the concrete will crack at only slightly enhanced load, meaning that this application is only occasionally used. Specialist ultra-high modulus CFRP (with tensile modulus of 420 GPa or more) is one of the few practical methods of strengthening cast iron beams. In typical use, it is bonded to the tensile flange of the section, both increasing the stiffness of the section and lowering the neutral axis, thus greatly reducing the maximum tensile stress in the cast iron.

In the United States, prestressed concrete cylinder pipes (PCCP) account for a vast majority of water transmission mains. Due to their large diameters, failures of PCCP are usually catastrophic and affect large populations. Approximately 19,000 miles (31,000 km) of PCCP were installed between 1940 and 2006. Corrosion in the form of hydrogen embrittlement has been blamed for the gradual deterioration of the prestressing wires in many PCCP lines. Over the past decade, CFRPs have been used to internally line PCCP, resulting in a fully structural strengthening system. Inside a PCCP line, the CFRP liner acts as a barrier that controls the level of strain experienced by the steel cylinder in the host pipe. The composite liner enables the steel cylinder to perform within its elastic range, to ensure the pipeline's long-term performance is maintained. CFRP liner designs are based on strain compatibility between the liner and host pipe.^[36]

CFRPs are more costly materials than commonly used their counterparts in the construction industry, glass fiber-reinforced polymers (GFRPs) and aramid fiber-reinforced polymers (AFRPs), though CFRPs are, in general, regarded as having superior properties. Much research continues to be done on using CFRPs both for retrofitting and as an alternative to steel as reinforcing or prestressing materials. Cost remains an issue and long-term durability questions still remain. Some are concerned about the brittle nature of CFRPs, in contrast to the ductility of steel. Though design codes have been drawn up by institutions such as the American Concrete Institute, there remains some hesitation among the engineering community about implementing these alternative materials. In part, this is due to a lack of standardization and the proprietary nature of the fiber and resin combinations on the market.

Carbon fibers are used for fabrication of carbon-fiber microelectrodes. In this application typically a single carbon fiber with diameter of 5–7 μm is sealed in a glass capillary.^[37] At the tip the capillary is either sealed with epoxy and polished to make carbon-fiber disk microelectrode or the fiber is cut to a length of 75–150 μm to make carbon-fiber cylinder electrode. Carbon-fiber microelectrodes are used either in amperometry or fast-scan cyclic voltammetry for detection of biochemical signalling.

CFRPs are now widely used in sports equipment such as in squash, tennis, and badminton racquets, sport kite spars, high-quality arrow shafts, hockey sticks, fishing rods, surfboards, high end swim fins, and rowing shells. Amputee athletes such as Jonnie Peacock use carbon fiber blades for running. It is used as a shank plate in some basketball sneakers to keep the foot stable, usually running the length of the shoe just above the sole and left exposed in some areas, usually in the arch.

Controversially, in 2006, cricket bats with a thin carbon-fiber layer on the back were introduced and used in competitive matches by high-profile players including Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey. The carbon fiber was claimed to merely increase the durability of the bats, but it was banned from all first-class matches by the ICC in 2007.^[38]

A CFRP bicycle frame weighs less than one of steel, aluminum, or titanium having the same strength. The type and orientation of the carbon-fiber weave can be designed to maximize stiffness in required directions. Frames can be tuned to address different riding styles: sprint events require stiffer frames while endurance events may require more flexible frames for rider comfort over longer periods.^[39] The variety of shapes it can be built into has further increased stiffness and also allowed aerodynamic tube sections. CFRP forks including suspension fork crowns and steerers, handlebars, seatposts, and crank arms are becoming more common on medium as well as higher-priced bicycles. CFRP rims remain expensive but their stability compared to aluminium reduces the need to re-true a wheel and the reduced mass reduces the moment of inertia of the wheel. CFRP spokes are rare and most carbon wheelsets retain traditional stainless steel spokes. CFRPs also appear increasingly in other components such as derailleur parts, brake and shifter levers and bodies, cassette sprocket carriers, suspension linkages, disc brake rotors, pedals, shoe soles, and saddle rails. Although strong and light, impact, over-torquing, or improper installation of CFRP components has resulted in cracking and failures, which may be difficult or impossible to repair.^[40][41]

The fire resistance of polymers and thermo-set composites is significantly improved if a thin layer of carbon fibers is moulded near the surface because a dense, compact layer of carbon fibers efficiently reflects heat.^[42]

CFRPs are being used in an increasing number of high-end products that require stiffness and low weight, these include:

• Musical instruments, including violin bows; guitar picks, guitar necks (fitted with carbon fiber rods), pickguards/scratchplates; drum shells; bagpipe chanters; piano actions; and entire musical instruments such as carbon fiber cellos, violas, and violins, acoustic guitars and ukuleles; also, audio components such as turntables and loudspeakers.
• Firearms use it to replace certain metal, wood, and fiberglass components but many of the internal parts are still limited to metal alloys as current reinforced plastics are unsuitable.
• High-performance drone bodies and other radio-controlled vehicle and aircraft components such as helicopter rotor blades.
• Lightweight poles such as: tripod legs, tent poles, fishing rods, billiards cues, walking sticks, and high-reach poles such as for window cleaning.
• Dentistry, carbon fiber posts are used in restoring root canal treated teeth.
• Railed train bogies for passenger service. This reduces the weight by up to 50% compared to metal bogies, which contributes to energy savings.^[43]
• Laptop shells and other high performance cases.
• Carbon woven fabrics.^[44][45]
• Archery: carbon fiber arrows and bolts, stock (for crossbows) and riser (for vertical bows), and rail.
• As a filament for the 3D fused deposition modeling printing process,^[46] carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (polyamide-carbon filament) is used for the production of sturdy but lightweight tools and parts due to its high strength and tear length.^[47]
• District heating pipe rehabilitation, using a CIPP method.

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The key aspect of recycling fiber-reinforced polymers is preserving their mechanical properties while successfully recovering both the thermoplastic matrix and the reinforcing fibers. CFRPs have a long service lifetime when protected from the sun. When it is time to decommission CFRPs, they cannot be melted down in air like many metals. When free of vinyl (PVC or polyvinyl chloride) and other halogenated polymers, CFRPs recycling processes can be categorized into four main approaches: mechanical, thermal, chemical, and biological. Each method offers distinct advantages in terms of material or energy recovery, contributing to sustainability efforts in composite waste management.

Process	Matrix recovery	Fiber recovery	Degradation of Mechanical Properties	Advantages/Drawbacks
Mechanical	X	X	X	+No use of hazardous chemical substances  +No gas emissions  +Low-cost energy needed  +Big volumes can be recycled -Poor bonding between fiber/matrix -Fibers can damage the equipment
Chemical		X		+Long clean fibers +Retention of mechanical properties +Sometimes there is high recovery of the matrix -Expensive equipment -Possible use of hazardous solvent
Thermal		X	X	+Fiber length retention +No use of hazardous chemical substances +better mechanical properties than mechanical approach +Matrix used to produce energy -Recovered fiber properties highly influenced by process parameters -some processes have no recovery of matrix material

The mechanical process primarily involves grinding, which breaks down composite materials into pulverulent charges and fibrous reinforcements. This method is focused on both the thermoplastic and filler material recovery; however, this process shortens the fibers dramatically. Just as with downcycled paper, the shortened fibers cause the recycled material to be weaker than the original material. There are still many industrial applications that do not need the strength of full-length carbon fiber reinforcement. For example, chopped reclaimed carbon fiber can be used in consumer electronics, such as laptops. It provides excellent reinforcement of the polymers used even if it lacks the strength-to-weight ratio of an aerospace component.^[48]

This method consists in shredding CFRP by pulsed electrical discharges. Initially developed to extract crystals and precious stones from mining rocks, it is now expected to be developed for composites. The material is placed in a vessel containing water and two electrodes. The high voltage electrical pulse generated between the electrodes (50-200 kV) fragments the material into smaller pieces.^[49] The inconvenient of this technique is that the energy consumed is 2.6 times the one of a mechanical route making it not economically competitive in terms of energy saving and needs further investigation.

Thermal processes include several techniques such as incineration, thermolysis, pyrolysis, gasification, fluidized bed processing, and cement plant utilization. This processes imply the recovery of the fibers by the removal of the resin by volatilizing it, leading to by-products such as gases, liquids or inorganic matter.^[50]

This technique consists in exposing the composite to a hot and oxygen-rich flow, in which it is combusted (450–550 °C, 840–1,020 °F) . The working temperature is selected in function of the matrix to be decomposed, to limit damages of the fibers. After a shredding step to 6-20 mm size, the composite is introduced into a bed of silica sand, on a metallic mesh, in which the resin will be decomposed into oxidized molecules and fiber filaments. These components will be carried up with the air stream while heavier particles will sink in the bed. This last point is a great advantage for contaminated end-of-life products, with painted surfaces, foam cores or metal insert. A cyclone enables the recovery of fibers of length ranging between 5 and 10 mm and with very little contamination . The matrix is fully oxidized in a second burner operating at approximatively 1,000 °C (1,850 °F) leading to energy recovery and a clean flue gas.^[51]

The chemical recycling of CFRPs involves using a reactive solvent at relatively low temperatures (below 350°C) to break down the resin while leaving the fibers intact for reuse. The solvent degrades the composite matrix into smaller molecular fragments (oligomer), and depending on the chosen solvent system, various processing parameters such as temperature, pressure, and catalysts can be adjusted to optimize the process. The solvent, often combined with co-solvents or catalysts, penetrates the composite and breaks specific chemical bonds, resulting in recovered monomers from the resin and clean, long fibers with preserved mechanical properties. The required temperature and pressure depend on the type of resin, with epoxy resins generally needing higher temperatures than polyester resins. Among the different reactive mediums studied, water is the most commonly used due to its environmental benefits. When combined with alkaline catalysts, it effectively degrades many resins, while acidic catalysts are used for more resistant polymers. Other solvents, such as ethanol, acetone, and their mixtures, have also been explored for this process.

Despite its advantages, this method has some limitations. It requires specialized equipment capable of handling corrosive solvents, hazardous chemicals, and high temperatures or pressures, especially when operating under supercritical conditions. While extensively researched at the laboratory scale, industrial adoption remains limited, with the technology currently reaching a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 4 for carbon fiber recycling.^[52]

The dissolution process is a method used to recover both the polymer matrix and fibers from thermoplastic composites without breaking chemical bonds. Unlike solvolysis, which involves the chemical degradation of the polymer, dissolution simply dissolves the polymer chains into a solvent, allowing for material recovery in its original form. An energy analysis of the process indicated that dissolution followed by evaporation was more energy-efficient than precipitation. Additionally, avoiding precipitation helped minimize polymer loss, improving overall material recovery efficiency. This method offers a promising approach for sustainable recycling of thermoplastic composites.^[53]

The biological process, though still under development, focuses on biodegradation and composting. This method holds promise for bio-based and agro-composites, aiming to create an environmentally friendly end-of-life solution for these materials. As research advances, biological recycling may offer an effective means of reducing plastic composite waste in a sustainable manner.^[54]

In 2009, Zyvex Technologies introduced carbon nanotube-reinforced epoxy and carbon pre-pregs.^[55] Carbon nanotube reinforced polymer (CNRP) is several times stronger and tougher than typical CFRPs and is used in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II as a structural material for aircraft.^[56] CNRP still uses carbon fiber as the primary reinforcement,^[57] but the binding matrix is a carbon nanotube-filled epoxy.^[58]

• Carbon fibers – Material fibers about 5–10 μm in diameter composed of carbon
• Composite repair – Composite repair patch preparation and application
• Mechanics of Oscar Pistorius's running blades – Blades used by South African Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius
• Reinforced carbon–carbon – Graphite-based composite material
• Forged carbon fiber
• Carbon-ceramic
• Carbotanium

• Japan Carbon Fiber Manufacturers Association (English)
• Engineers design composite bracing system for injured Hokie running back Cedric Humes
• The New Steel a 1968 Flight article on the announcement of carbon fiber
• Carbon Fibres – the First Five Years A 1971 Flight article on carbon fiber in the aviation field

 

In Blankenberge a first pleasure pier was built in 1894. After its destruction in the World War I, a new pier was built in 1933. It remained till the present day, but was partially transformed and modernized in 1999–2004.

In Nieuwpoort, Belgium there is a pleasure pier on both sides of the river IJzer.

Scheveningen, the coastal resort town of The Hague, boasts the largest pier in the Netherlands, completed in 1961. A crane, built on top of the pier's panorama tower, provides the opportunity to make a 60-metre (200 ft) high bungee jump over the North Sea waves. The present pier is a successor of an earlier pier, which was completed in 1901 but in 1943 destroyed by the German occupation forces.

The first recorded pier in England was Ryde Pier, opened in 1814 on the Isle of Wight, as a landing stage to allow ferries to and from the mainland to berth. It is still used for this purpose today.^[12] It also had a leisure function in the past, with the pier head once containing a pavilion, and there are still refreshment facilities today. The oldest cast iron pier in the world is Town Pier, Gravesend, in Kent, which opened in 1834. However, it is not recognised by the National Piers Society as being a seaside pier.^[13]

Following the building of the world's first seaside pier at Ryde, the pier became fashionable at seaside resorts in England and Wales during the Victorian era, peaking in the 1860s with 22 being built in that decade.^[14] A symbol of the typical British seaside holiday, by 1914, more than 100 pleasure piers were located around the UK coast.^[2] Regarded as being among the finest Victorian architecture, there are still a significant number of seaside piers of architectural merit still standing, although some have been lost, including Margate, two at Brighton in East Sussex, one at New Brighton in the Wirral and three at Blackpool in Lancashire.^[4] Two piers, Brighton's now derelict West Pier and Clevedon Pier, were Grade 1 listed. The Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare is the only pier in the world linked to an island. The National Piers Society gives a figure of 55 surviving seaside piers in England and Wales.^[1] In 2017, Brighton Palace Pier was said to be the most visited tourist attraction outside London, with over 4.5 million visitors the previous year.^[15]

• Boardwalk
• Breakwater
• Dock
• Jetty
• List of piers
• Seaside resort
• Wharf

• Turner, K., (1999), Pier Railways and Tramways of the British Isles, The Oakwood Press, No. LP60, ISBN 0-85361-541-1.
• Wills, Anthony; Phillips, Tim (2014). British Seaside Piers. London: English Heritage. ISBN 9781848022645.

• The Piers Project
• National Piers Society
• Details on UK Piers including Webcams

 

A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries,^[1] by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy.

Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of applications such as pumping water from wells, aquarium filtering, pond filtering and aeration, in the car industry for water-cooling and fuel injection, in the energy industry for pumping oil and natural gas or for operating cooling towers and other components of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. In the medical industry, pumps are used for biochemical processes in developing and manufacturing medicine, and as artificial replacements for body parts, in particular the artificial heart and penile prosthesis.

When a pump contains two or more pump mechanisms with fluid being directed to flow through them in series, it is called a multi-stage pump. Terms such as two-stage or double-stage may be used to specifically describe the number of stages. A pump that does not fit this description is simply a single-stage pump in contrast.

In biology, many different types of chemical and biomechanical pumps have evolved; biomimicry is sometimes used in developing new types of mechanical pumps.

Mechanical pumps may be submerged in the fluid they are pumping or be placed external to the fluid.

Pumps can be classified by their method of displacement into electromagnetic pumps, positive-displacement pumps, impulse pumps, velocity pumps, gravity pumps, steam pumps and valveless pumps. There are three basic types of pumps: positive-displacement, centrifugal and axial-flow pumps. In centrifugal pumps the direction of flow of the fluid changes by ninety degrees as it flows over an impeller, while in axial flow pumps the direction of flow is unchanged.^[2][3]

A positive-displacement pump makes a fluid move by trapping a fixed amount and forcing (displacing) that trapped volume into the discharge pipe.

Some positive-displacement pumps use an expanding cavity on the suction side and a decreasing cavity on the discharge side. Liquid flows into the pump as the cavity on the suction side expands and the liquid flows out of the discharge as the cavity collapses. The volume is constant through each cycle of operation.

Positive-displacement pumps, unlike centrifugal, can theoretically produce the same flow at a given rotational speed no matter what the discharge pressure. Thus, positive-displacement pumps are constant flow machines. However, a slight increase in internal leakage as the pressure increases prevents a truly constant flow rate.

A positive-displacement pump must not operate against a closed valve on the discharge side of the pump, because it has no shutoff head like centrifugal pumps. A positive-displacement pump operating against a closed discharge valve continues to produce flow and the pressure in the discharge line increases until the line bursts, the pump is severely damaged, or both.

A relief or safety valve on the discharge side of the positive-displacement pump is therefore necessary. The relief valve can be internal or external. The pump manufacturer normally has the option to supply internal relief or safety valves. The internal valve is usually used only as a safety precaution. An external relief valve in the discharge line, with a return line back to the suction line or supply tank, provides increased safety.

A positive-displacement pump can be further classified according to the mechanism used to move the fluid:

• Rotary-type positive displacement: internal and external gear pump, screw pump, lobe pump, shuttle block, flexible vane and sliding vane, circumferential piston, flexible impeller, helical twisted roots (e.g. the Wendelkolben pump) and liquid-ring pumps
• Reciprocating-type positive displacement: piston pumps, plunger pumps and diaphragm pumps
• Linear-type positive displacement: rope pumps and chain pumps

These pumps move fluid using a rotating mechanism that creates a vacuum that captures and draws in the liquid.^[4]

Advantages: Rotary pumps are very efficient^[5] because they can handle highly viscous fluids with higher flow rates as viscosity increases.^[6]

Drawbacks: The nature of the pump requires very close clearances between the rotating pump and the outer edge, making it rotate at a slow, steady speed. If rotary pumps are operated at high speeds, the fluids cause erosion, which eventually causes enlarged clearances that liquid can pass through, which reduces efficiency.

Rotary positive-displacement pumps fall into five main types:

• Gear pumps – a simple type of rotary pump where the liquid is pushed around a pair of gears.
• Screw pumps – the shape of the internals of this pump is usually two screws turning against each other to pump the liquid
• Rotary vane pumps
• Hollow disc pumps (also known as eccentric disc pumps or hollow rotary disc pumps), similar to scroll compressors, these have an eccentric cylindrical rotor encased in a circular housing. As the rotor orbits, it traps fluid between the rotor and the casing, drawing the fluid through the pump. It is used for highly viscous fluids like petroleum-derived products, and it can also support high pressures of up to 290 psi.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13]}
• Peristaltic pumps have rollers which pinch a section of flexible tubing, forcing the liquid ahead as the rollers advance. Because they are very easy to keep clean, these are popular for dispensing food, medicine, and concrete.

Reciprocating pumps move the fluid using one or more oscillating pistons, plungers, or membranes (diaphragms), while valves restrict fluid motion to the desired direction. In order for suction to take place, the pump must first pull the plunger in an outward motion to decrease pressure in the chamber. Once the plunger pushes back, it will increase the chamber pressure and the inward pressure of the plunger will then open the discharge valve and release the fluid into the delivery pipe at constant flow rate and increased pressure.

Pumps in this category range from simplex, with one cylinder, to in some cases quad (four) cylinders, or more. Many reciprocating-type pumps are duplex (two) or triplex (three) cylinder. They can be either single-acting with suction during one direction of piston motion and discharge on the other, or double-acting with suction and discharge in both directions. The pumps can be powered manually, by air or steam, or by a belt driven by an engine. This type of pump was used extensively in the 19th century—in the early days of steam propulsion—as boiler feed water pumps. Now reciprocating pumps typically pump highly viscous fluids like concrete and heavy oils, and serve in special applications that demand low flow rates against high resistance. Reciprocating hand pumps were widely used to pump water from wells. Common bicycle pumps and foot pumps for inflation use reciprocating action.

These positive-displacement pumps have an expanding cavity on the suction side and a decreasing cavity on the discharge side. Liquid flows into the pumps as the cavity on the suction side expands and the liquid flows out of the discharge as the cavity collapses. The volume is constant given each cycle of operation and the pump's volumetric efficiency can be achieved through routine maintenance and inspection of its valves.^[14]

Typical reciprocating pumps are:

• Plunger pump – a reciprocating plunger pushes the fluid through one or two open valves, closed by suction on the way back.
• Diaphragm pump – similar to plunger pumps, where the plunger pressurizes hydraulic oil which is used to flex a diaphragm in the pumping cylinder. Diaphragm valves are used to pump hazardous and toxic fluids.
• Piston pump displacement pumps – usually simple devices for pumping small amounts of liquid or gel manually. The common hand soap dispenser is such a pump.
• Radial piston pump – a form of hydraulic pump where pistons extend in a radial direction.
• Vibratory pump or vibration pump – a particularly low-cost form of plunger pump, popular in low-cost espresso machines.^[15][16] The only moving part is a spring-loaded piston, the armature of a solenoid. Driven by half-wave rectified alternating current, the piston is forced forward while energized, and is retracted by the spring during the other half cycle. Due to their inefficiency, vibratory pumps typically cannot be operated for more than one minute without overheating, so are limited to intermittent duty.

The positive-displacement principle applies in these pumps:

• Rotary lobe pump
• Progressing cavity pump
• Rotary gear pump
• Piston pump
• Diaphragm pump
• Screw pump
• Gear pump
• Hydraulic pump
• Rotary vane pump
• Peristaltic pump
• Rope pump
• Flexible impeller pump

This is the simplest form of rotary positive-displacement pumps. It consists of two meshed gears that rotate in a closely fitted casing. The tooth spaces trap fluid and force it around the outer periphery. The fluid does not travel back on the meshed part, because the teeth mesh closely in the center. Gear pumps see wide use in car engine oil pumps and in various hydraulic power packs.

A screw pump is a more complicated type of rotary pump that uses two or three screws with opposing thread — e.g., one screw turns clockwise and the other counterclockwise. The screws are mounted on parallel shafts that often have gears that mesh so the shafts turn together and everything stays in place. In some cases the driven screw drives the secondary screw, without gears, often using the fluid to limit abrasion. The screws turn on the shafts and drive fluid through the pump. As with other forms of rotary pumps, the clearance between moving parts and the pump's casing is minimal.

Widely used for pumping difficult materials, such as sewage sludge contaminated with large particles, a progressing cavity pump consists of a helical rotor, about ten times as long as its width, and a stator, mainly made out of rubber. This can be visualized as a central core of diameter x with, typically, a curved spiral wound around of thickness half x, though in reality it is manufactured in a single lobe. This shaft fits inside a heavy-duty rubber sleeve or stator, of wall thickness also typically x. As the shaft rotates inside the stator, the rotor gradually forces fluid up the rubber cavity. Such pumps can develop very high pressure at low volumes at a rate of 90 PSI per stage on water for standard configurations.

Named after the Roots brothers who invented it, this lobe pump displaces the fluid trapped between two long helical rotors, each fitted into the other when perpendicular at 90°, rotating inside a triangular shaped sealing line configuration, both at the point of suction and at the point of discharge. This design produces a continuous flow with equal volume and no vortex. It can work at low pulsation rates, and offers gentle performance that some applications require.

Applications include:

• High capacity industrial air compressors.
• Roots superchargers on internal combustion engines.
• A brand of civil defense siren, the Federal Signal Corporation's Thunderbolt.

A peristaltic pump is a type of positive-displacement pump. It contains fluid within a flexible tube fitted inside a circular pump casing (though linear peristaltic pumps have been made). A number of rollers, shoes, or wipers attached to a rotor compress the flexible tube. As the rotor turns, the part of the tube under compression closes (or occludes), forcing the fluid through the tube. Additionally, when the tube opens to its natural state after the passing of the cam it draws (restitution) fluid into the pump. This process is called peristalsis and is used in many biological systems such as the gastrointestinal tract.

Plunger pumps are reciprocating positive-displacement pumps.

These consist of a cylinder with a reciprocating plunger. The suction and discharge valves are mounted in the head of the cylinder. In the suction stroke, the plunger retracts and the suction valves open causing suction of fluid into the cylinder. In the forward stroke, the plunger pushes the liquid out of the discharge valve. Efficiency and common problems: With only one cylinder in plunger pumps, the fluid flow varies between maximum flow when the plunger moves through the middle positions, and zero flow when the plunger is at the end positions. A lot of energy is wasted when the fluid is accelerated in the piping system. Vibration and water hammer may be a serious problem. In general, the problems are compensated for by using two or more cylinders not working in phase with each other. Centrifugal pumps are also susceptible to water hammer. Surge analysis, a specialized study, helps evaluate this risk in such systems.

Triplex plunger pumps use three plungers, which reduces the pulsation relative to single reciprocating plunger pumps. Adding a pulsation dampener on the pump outlet can further smooth the pump ripple, or ripple graph of a pump transducer. The dynamic relationship of the high-pressure fluid and plunger generally requires high-quality plunger seals. Plunger pumps with a larger number of plungers have the benefit of increased flow, or smoother flow without a pulsation damper. The increase in moving parts and crankshaft load is one drawback.

Car washes often use these triplex-style plunger pumps (perhaps without pulsation dampers). In 1968, William Bruggeman reduced the size of the triplex pump and increased the lifespan so that car washes could use equipment with smaller footprints. Durable high-pressure seals, low-pressure seals and oil seals, hardened crankshafts, hardened connecting rods, thick ceramic plungers and heavier duty ball and roller bearings improve reliability in triplex pumps. Triplex pumps now are in a myriad of markets across the world.

Triplex pumps with shorter lifetimes are commonplace to the home user. A person who uses a home pressure washer for 10 hours a year may be satisfied with a pump that lasts 100 hours between rebuilds. Industrial-grade or continuous duty triplex pumps on the other end of the quality spectrum may run for as much as 2,080 hours a year.^[17]

The oil and gas drilling industry uses massive semi-trailer-transported triplex pumps called mud pumps to pump drilling mud, which cools the drill bit and carries the cuttings back to the surface.^[18] Drillers use triplex or even quintuplex pumps to inject water and solvents deep into shale in the extraction process called fracking.^[19]

Typically run on electricity compressed air, diaphragm pumps are relatively inexpensive and can perform a wide variety of duties, from pumping air into an aquarium, to liquids through a filter press. Double-diaphragm pumps can handle viscous fluids and abrasive materials with a gentle pumping process ideal for transporting shear-sensitive media.^[20]

Devised in China as chain pumps over 1000 years ago, these pumps can be made from very simple materials: A rope, a wheel and a pipe are sufficient to make a simple rope pump. Rope pump efficiency has been studied by grassroots organizations and the techniques for making and running them have been continuously improved.^[21]

Impulse pumps use pressure created by gas (usually air). In some impulse pumps the gas trapped in the liquid (usually water), is released and accumulated somewhere in the pump, creating a pressure that can push part of the liquid upwards.

Conventional impulse pumps include:

• Hydraulic ram pumps – kinetic energy of a low-head water supply is stored temporarily in an air-bubble hydraulic accumulator, then used to drive water to a higher head.
• Pulser pumps – run with natural resources, by kinetic energy only.
• Airlift pumps – run on air inserted into pipe, which pushes the water up when bubbles move upward

Instead of a gas accumulation and releasing cycle, the pressure can be created by burning of hydrocarbons. Such combustion driven pumps directly transmit the impulse from a combustion event through the actuation membrane to the pump fluid. In order to allow this direct transmission, the pump needs to be almost entirely made of an elastomer (e.g. silicone rubber). Hence, the combustion causes the membrane to expand and thereby pumps the fluid out of the adjacent pumping chamber. The first combustion-driven soft pump was developed by ETH Zurich.^[22]

A hydraulic ram is a water pump powered by hydropower.^[23]

It takes in water at relatively low pressure and high flow-rate and outputs water at a higher hydraulic-head and lower flow-rate. The device uses the water hammer effect to develop pressure that lifts a portion of the input water that powers the pump to a point higher than where the water started.

The hydraulic ram is sometimes used in remote areas, where there is both a source of low-head hydropower, and a need for pumping water to a destination higher in elevation than the source. In this situation, the ram is often useful, since it requires no outside source of power other than the kinetic energy of flowing water.

Rotodynamic pumps (or dynamic pumps) are a type of velocity pump in which kinetic energy is added to the fluid by increasing the flow velocity. This increase in energy is converted to a gain in potential energy (pressure) when the velocity is reduced prior to or as the flow exits the pump into the discharge pipe. This conversion of kinetic energy to pressure is explained by the First law of thermodynamics, or more specifically by Bernoulli's principle.

Dynamic pumps can be further subdivided according to the means in which the velocity gain is achieved.^[24]

These types of pumps have a number of characteristics:

1. Continuous energy
2. Conversion of added energy to increase in kinetic energy (increase in velocity)
3. Conversion of increased velocity (kinetic energy) to an increase in pressure head

A practical difference between dynamic and positive-displacement pumps is how they operate under closed valve conditions. Positive-displacement pumps physically displace fluid, so closing a valve downstream of a positive-displacement pump produces a continual pressure build up that can cause mechanical failure of pipeline or pump. Dynamic pumps differ in that they can be safely operated under closed valve conditions (for short periods of time).

Such a pump is also referred to as a centrifugal pump. The fluid enters along the axis or center, is accelerated by the impeller and exits at right angles to the shaft (radially); an example is the centrifugal fan, which is commonly used to implement a vacuum cleaner. Another type of radial-flow pump is a vortex pump. The liquid in them moves in tangential direction around the working wheel. The conversion from the mechanical energy of motor into the potential energy of flow comes by means of multiple whirls, which are excited by the impeller in the working channel of the pump. Generally, a radial-flow pump operates at higher pressures and lower flow rates than an axial- or a mixed-flow pump.

These are also referred to as all-fluid pumps. The fluid is pushed outward or inward to move fluid axially. They operate at much lower pressures and higher flow rates than radial-flow (centrifugal) pumps. Axial-flow pumps cannot be run up to speed without special precaution. If at a low flow rate, the total head rise and high torque associated with this pipe would mean that the starting torque would have to become a function of acceleration for the whole mass of liquid in the pipe system.^[25]

Mixed-flow pumps function as a compromise between radial and axial-flow pumps. The fluid experiences both radial acceleration and lift and exits the impeller somewhere between 0 and 90 degrees from the axial direction. As a consequence mixed-flow pumps operate at higher pressures than axial-flow pumps while delivering higher discharges than radial-flow pumps. The exit angle of the flow dictates the pressure head-discharge characteristic in relation to radial and mixed-flow.

Also known as drag, friction, liquid-ring pump, peripheral, traction, turbulence, or vortex pumps, regenerative turbine pumps are a class of rotodynamic pump that operates at high head pressures, typically 4–20 bars (400–2,000 kPa; 58–290 psi).^[26]

The pump has an impeller with a number of vanes or paddles which spins in a cavity. The suction port and pressure ports are located at the perimeter of the cavity and are isolated by a barrier called a stripper, which allows only the tip channel (fluid between the blades) to recirculate, and forces any fluid in the side channel (fluid in the cavity outside of the blades) through the pressure port. In a regenerative turbine pump, as fluid spirals repeatedly from a vane into the side channel and back to the next vane, kinetic energy is imparted to the periphery,^[26] thus pressure builds with each spiral, in a manner similar to a regenerative blower.^[27][28][29]

As regenerative turbine pumps cannot become vapor locked, they are commonly applied to volatile, hot, or cryogenic fluid transport. However, as tolerances are typically tight, they are vulnerable to solids or particles causing jamming or rapid wear. Efficiency is typically low, and pressure and power consumption typically decrease with flow. Additionally, pumping direction can be reversed by reversing direction of spin.^[29][27][30]

A side-channel pump has a suction disk, an impeller, and a discharge disk.^[31]

This uses a jet, often of steam, to create a low pressure. This low pressure sucks in fluid and propels it into a higher-pressure region.

Gravity pumps include the syphon and Heron's fountain. The hydraulic ram is also sometimes called a gravity pump. In a gravity pump the fluid is lifted by gravitational force.

Steam pumps have been for a long time mainly of historical interest. They include any type of pump powered by a steam engine and also pistonless pumps such as Thomas Savery's or the Pulsometer steam pump.

Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in low-power solar steam pumps for use in smallholder irrigation in developing countries. Previously small steam engines have not been viable because of escalating inefficiencies as vapour engines decrease in size. However the use of modern engineering materials coupled with alternative engine configurations has meant that these types of system are now a cost-effective opportunity.

Valveless pumping assists in fluid transport in various biomedical and engineering systems. In a valveless pumping system, no valves (or physical occlusions) are present to regulate the flow direction. The fluid pumping efficiency of a valveless system, however, is not necessarily lower than that having valves. In fact, many fluid-dynamical systems in nature and engineering more or less rely upon valveless pumping to transport the working fluids therein. For instance, blood circulation in the cardiovascular system is maintained to some extent even when the heart's valves fail. Meanwhile, the embryonic vertebrate heart begins pumping blood long before the development of discernible chambers and valves. Similar to blood circulation in one direction, bird respiratory systems pump air in one direction in rigid lungs, but without any physiological valve. In microfluidics, valveless impedance pumps have been fabricated, and are expected to be particularly suitable for handling sensitive biofluids. Ink jet printers operating on the piezoelectric transducer principle also use valveless pumping. The pump chamber is emptied through the printing jet due to reduced flow impedance in that direction and refilled by capillary action.

Examining pump repair records and mean time between failures (MTBF) is of great importance to responsible and conscientious pump users. In view of that fact, the preface to the 2006 Pump User's Handbook alludes to "pump failure" statistics. For the sake of convenience, these failure statistics often are translated into MTBF (in this case, installed life before failure).^[32]

In early 2005, Gordon Buck, John Crane Inc.'s chief engineer for field operations in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, examined the repair records for a number of refinery and chemical plants to obtain meaningful reliability data for centrifugal pumps. A total of 15 operating plants having nearly 15,000 pumps were included in the survey. The smallest of these plants had about 100 pumps; several plants had over 2000. All facilities were located in the United States. In addition, considered as "new", others as "renewed" and still others as "established". Many of these plants—but not all—had an alliance arrangement with John Crane. In some cases, the alliance contract included having a John Crane Inc. technician or engineer on-site to coordinate various aspects of the program.

Not all plants are refineries, however, and different results occur elsewhere. In chemical plants, pumps have historically been "throw-away" items as chemical attack limits life. Things have improved in recent years, but the somewhat restricted space available in "old" DIN and ASME-standardized stuffing boxes places limits on the type of seal that fits. Unless the pump user upgrades the seal chamber, the pump only accommodates more compact and simple versions. Without this upgrading, lifetimes in chemical installations are generally around 50 to 60 percent of the refinery values.

Unscheduled maintenance is often one of the most significant costs of ownership, and failures of mechanical seals and bearings are among the major causes. Keep in mind the potential value of selecting pumps that cost more initially, but last much longer between repairs. The MTBF of a better pump may be one to four years longer than that of its non-upgraded counterpart. Consider that published average values of avoided pump failures range from US$2600 to US$12,000. This does not include lost opportunity costs. One pump fire occurs per 1000 failures. Having fewer pump failures means having fewer destructive pump fires.

As has been noted, a typical pump failure, based on actual year 2002 reports, costs US$5,000 on average. This includes costs for material, parts, labor and overhead. Extending a pump's MTBF from 12 to 18 months would save US$1,667 per year — which might be greater than the cost to upgrade the centrifugal pump's reliability.^[32][1][33]

Pumps are used throughout society for a variety of purposes. Early applications includes the use of the windmill or watermill to pump water. Today, the pump is used for irrigation, water supply, gasoline supply, air conditioning systems, refrigeration (usually called a compressor), chemical movement, sewage movement, flood control, marine services, etc.

Because of the wide variety of applications, pumps have a plethora of shapes and sizes: from very large to very small, from handling gas to handling liquid, from high pressure to low pressure, and from high volume to low volume.

Typically, a liquid pump cannot simply draw air. The feed line of the pump and the internal body surrounding the pumping mechanism must first be filled with the liquid that requires pumping: An operator must introduce liquid into the system to initiate the pumping, known as priming the pump. Loss of prime is usually due to ingestion of air into the pump, or evaporation of the working fluid if the pump is used infrequently. Clearances and displacement ratios in pumps for liquids are insufficient for pumping compressible gas, so air or other gasses in the pump can not be evacuated by the pump's action alone. This is the case with most velocity (rotodynamic) pumps — for example, centrifugal pumps. For such pumps, the position of the pump and intake tubing should be lower than the suction point so it is primed by gravity; otherwise the pump should be manually filled with liquid or a secondary pump should be used until all air is removed from the suction line and the pump casing. Liquid ring pumps have a dedicated intake for the priming liquid separate from the intake of the fluid being pumped, as the fluid being pumped may be a gas or mix of gas, liquid, and solids. For these pumps the priming liquid intake must be supplied continuously (either by gravity or pressure), however the intake for the fluid being pumped is capable of drawing a vacuum equivalent to the boiling point of the priming liquid.^[34]

Positive–displacement pumps, however, tend to have sufficiently tight sealing between the moving parts and the casing or housing of the pump that they can be described as self-priming. Such pumps can also serve as priming pumps, so-called when they are used to fulfill that need for other pumps in lieu of action taken by a human operator.

One sort of pump once common worldwide was a hand-powered water pump, or 'pitcher pump'. It was commonly installed over community water wells in the days before piped water supplies.

In parts of the British Isles, it was often called the parish pump. Though such community pumps are no longer common, people still used the expression parish pump to describe a place or forum where matters of local interest are discussed.^[38]

Because water from pitcher pumps is drawn directly from the soil, it is more prone to contamination. If such water is not filtered and purified, consumption of it might lead to gastrointestinal or other water-borne diseases. A notorious case is the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak. At the time it was not known how cholera was transmitted, but physician John Snow suspected contaminated water and had the handle of the public pump he suspected removed; the outbreak then subsided.

Modern hand-operated community pumps are considered the most sustainable low-cost option for safe water supply in resource-poor settings, often in rural areas in developing countries. A hand pump opens access to deeper groundwater that is often not polluted and also improves the safety of a well by protecting the water source from contaminated buckets. Pumps such as the Afridev pump are designed to be cheap to build and install, and easy to maintain with simple parts. However, scarcity of spare parts for these type of pumps in some regions of Africa has diminished their utility for these areas.

Multiphase pumping applications, also referred to as tri-phase, have grown due to increased oil drilling activity. In addition, the economics of multiphase production is attractive to upstream operations as it leads to simpler, smaller in-field installations, reduced equipment costs and improved production rates. In essence, the multiphase pump can accommodate all fluid stream properties with one piece of equipment, which has a smaller footprint. Often, two smaller multiphase pumps are installed in series rather than having just one massive pump.

A rotodynamic pump with one single shaft that requires two mechanical seals, this pump uses an open-type axial impeller. It is often called a Poseidon pump, and can be described as a cross between an axial compressor and a centrifugal pump.

The twin-screw pump is constructed of two inter-meshing screws that move the pumped fluid. Twin screw pumps are often used when pumping conditions contain high gas volume fractions and fluctuating inlet conditions. Four mechanical seals are required to seal the two shafts.

Progressive Cavity Pumps are well suited to pump sludge, slurries, viscous, and shear sensitive fluids. ^[39] Progressive cavity pumps are single-screw types use in surface and downhole oil production.^[40] They serve a vast arrange of industries and applications ranging from Wastewater Treatment,^[41] Pulp and Paper, oil and gas, mining, and oil and gas.

These pumps are basically multistage centrifugal pumps and are widely used in oil well applications as a method for artificial lift. These pumps are usually specified when the pumped fluid is mainly liquid.

Buffer tank A buffer tank is often installed upstream of the pump suction nozzle in case of a slug flow. The buffer tank breaks the energy of the liquid slug, smooths any fluctuations in the incoming flow and acts as a sand trap.

As the name indicates, multiphase pumps and their mechanical seals can encounter a large variation in service conditions such as changing process fluid composition, temperature variations, high and low operating pressures and exposure to abrasive/erosive media. The challenge is selecting the appropriate mechanical seal arrangement and support system to ensure maximized seal life and its overall effectiveness.^[42][43][44]

Pumps are commonly rated by horsepower, volumetric flow rate, outlet pressure in metres (or feet) of head, inlet suction in suction feet (or metres) of head. The head can be simplified as the number of feet or metres the pump can raise or lower a column of water at atmospheric pressure.

From an initial design point of view, engineers often use a quantity termed the specific speed to identify the most suitable pump type for a particular combination of flow rate and head. Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) is crucial for pump performance. It has two key aspects: 1) NPSHr (Required): The Head required for the pump to operate without cavitation issues. 2) NPSHa (Available): The actual pressure provided by the system (e.g., from an overhead tank). For optimal pump operation, NPSHa must always exceed NPSHr. This ensures the pump has enough pressure to prevent cavitation, a damaging condition.

The power imparted into a fluid increases the energy of the fluid per unit volume. Thus the power relationship is between the conversion of the mechanical energy of the pump mechanism and the fluid elements within the pump. In general, this is governed by a series of simultaneous differential equations, known as the Navier–Stokes equations. However a more simple equation relating only the different energies in the fluid, known as Bernoulli's equation can be used. Hence the power, P, required by the pump:

$\displaystyle P=\frac \Delta pQ\eta$

where Δp is the change in total pressure between the inlet and outlet (in Pa), and Q, the volume flow-rate of the fluid is given in m³/s. The total pressure may have gravitational, static pressure and kinetic energy components; i.e. energy is distributed between change in the fluid's gravitational potential energy (going up or down hill), change in velocity, or change in static pressure. η is the pump efficiency, and may be given by the manufacturer's information, such as in the form of a pump curve, and is typically derived from either fluid dynamics simulation (i.e. solutions to the Navier–Stokes for the particular pump geometry), or by testing. The efficiency of the pump depends upon the pump's configuration and operating conditions (such as rotational speed, fluid density and viscosity etc.)

$\displaystyle \Delta p=\rho (v_2^2-v_1^2) \over 2+\rho \Delta zg+\Delta p_\mathrm static$

For a typical "pumping" configuration, the work is imparted on the fluid, and is thus positive. For the fluid imparting the work on the pump (i.e. a turbine), the work is negative. Power required to drive the pump is determined by dividing the output power by the pump efficiency. Furthermore, this definition encompasses pumps with no moving parts, such as a siphon.

Pump efficiency is defined as the ratio of the power imparted on the fluid by the pump in relation to the power supplied to drive the pump. Its value is not fixed for a given pump, efficiency is a function of the discharge and therefore also operating head. For centrifugal pumps, the efficiency tends to increase with flow rate up to a point midway through the operating range (peak efficiency or Best Efficiency Point (BEP) ) and then declines as flow rates rise further. Pump performance data such as this is usually supplied by the manufacturer before pump selection. Pump efficiencies tend to decline over time due to wear (e.g. increasing clearances as impellers reduce in size).

When a system includes a centrifugal pump, an important design issue is matching the head loss-flow characteristic with the pump so that it operates at or close to the point of its maximum efficiency.

Pump efficiency is an important aspect and pumps should be regularly tested. Thermodynamic pump testing is one method.

Most large pumps have a minimum flow requirement below which the pump may be damaged by overheating, impeller wear, vibration, seal failure, drive shaft damage or poor performance.^[45] A minimum flow protection system ensures that the pump is not operated below the minimum flow rate. The system protects the pump even if it is shut-in or dead-headed, that is, if the discharge line is completely closed.^[46]

The simplest minimum flow system is a pipe running from the pump discharge line back to the suction line. This line is fitted with an orifice plate sized to allow the pump minimum flow to pass.^[47] The arrangement ensures that the minimum flow is maintained, although it is wasteful as it recycles fluid even when the flow through the pump exceeds the minimum flow.

A more sophisticated, but more costly, system (see diagram) comprises a flow measuring device (FE) in the pump discharge which provides a signal into a flow controller (FIC) which actuates a flow control valve (FCV) in the recycle line. If the measured flow exceeds the minimum flow then the FCV is closed. If the measured flow falls below the minimum flow the FCV opens to maintain the minimum flowrate.^[45]

As the fluids are recycled the kinetic energy of the pump increases the temperature of the fluid. For many pumps this added heat energy is dissipated through the pipework. However, for large industrial pumps, such as oil pipeline pumps, a recycle cooler is provided in the recycle line to cool the fluids to the normal suction temperature.^[48] Alternatively the recycled fluids may be returned to upstream of the export cooler in an oil refinery, oil terminal, or offshore installation.

• Australian Pump Manufacturers' Association. Australian Pump Technical Handbook, 3rd edition. Canberra: Australian Pump Manufacturers' Association, 1987. ISBN 0-7316-7043-4.
• Hicks, Tyler G. and Theodore W. Edwards. Pump Application Engineering. McGraw-Hill Book Company.1971. ISBN 0-07-028741-4
• Karassik, Igor, ed. (2007). Pump Handbook (4 ed.). McGraw Hill. ISBN 9780071460446.
• Robbins, L. B. "Homemade Water Pressure Systems". Popular Science, February 1919, pages 83–84. Article about how a homeowner can easily build a pressurized home water system that does not use electricity.