{"id":31123,"date":"2023-09-03T02:05:53","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T20:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=31123"},"modified":"2025-04-16T09:25:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T03:55:41","slug":"reinforced-aerated-autoclaved-concrete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/reinforced-aerated-autoclaved-concrete\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Reinforced Aerated Autoclaved Concrete (RAAC)?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>About Reinforced Aerated Autoclaved Concrete (RAAC):<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a\u00a0<strong>lightweight, bubbly form of concrete<\/strong> that was\u00a0<strong>used in roofs, floors, and walls between the 1950s and 1990s.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It\u00a0<strong>looks like standard concrete,<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>but compared with the \u201ctraditional\u201d reinforced materi<\/strong>al, which is typically denser,\u00a0<strong>Raac is weak and less durable.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The material was f<strong>avoured in construction\u00a0<\/strong>projects\u00a0<strong>because of its lightweight thermal properties.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How is it made?<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>I<\/strong>t is made from a\u00a0<strong>combination of cement, lime, water, and an aeration agent.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The m<strong>ixture is poured into moulds and then subjected to high pressure and hea<\/strong>t,\u00a0<strong>known as autoclaving, to create a lightweight, strong, and porous material.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Advantages over Standard concrete:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It is\u00a0<strong>cheaper<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It is also\u00a0<strong>quicker to produce and easier to install.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Insulation Properties:<\/strong> RAAC has\u00a0<strong>excellent thermal insulation properties due to the air bubbles\u00a0<\/strong>within the material.<\/li>\n<li>It\u00a0<strong>helps maintain a comfortable indoor temperature w<\/strong>hile reducing heating and cooling energy consumption.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Why is it a risk?<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The<strong> concrete is aerated and \u201cbubbly\u201d, contains no \u201ccoarse aggregate\u201d<\/strong> and is\u00a0<strong>less dense<\/strong> than traditional concrete, being around a third of the weight.<\/li>\n<li>It\u00a0<strong>could easily absorb moisture,<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>weakening the material and also corroding steel reinforcement within.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>This means\u00a0<strong>it is more prone to collapse over time.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1) What is Concrete?<\/h3>\n<p>Concrete is a versatile and widely used construction material composed of a mixture of cement, water, aggregates (such as sand, gravel, or crushed stone), and often various chemical additives or admixtures. It is a fundamental building material known for its strength, durability, and versatility. Concrete is used in a wide range of construction applications, including buildings, bridges, roads, dams, and more.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraphindia.com\/world\/100-schools-across-england-ordered-to-close-buildings-as-they-are-constructed-using-unsafe-concrete\/cid\/1963261\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>100 schools across England ordered to close buildings as they are constructed using unsafe concrete<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reinforced Aerated Autoclaved Concrete is a lightweight, bubbly form of concrete that was used in roofs, floors, and walls between the 1950s and 1990s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}