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Concrete Mix Design

This document provides information on designing concrete mixes, including: - The basic procedure for mix design applies to most concrete, including pavements, and involves balancing strength, durability, and workability. - The mix design process involves 5 stages: determining the free water/cement ratio for strength; free water content for workability; cement content; total aggregate content; and fine and coarse aggregate contents. - Factors that affect the mix design include the target mean strength, standard deviation of strength, type and strength class of cement, aggregate type and grading, and restrictions on water/cement ratio and cement content.

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Syahmi Fadzi
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282 views23 pages

Concrete Mix Design

This document provides information on designing concrete mixes, including: - The basic procedure for mix design applies to most concrete, including pavements, and involves balancing strength, durability, and workability. - The mix design process involves 5 stages: determining the free water/cement ratio for strength; free water content for workability; cement content; total aggregate content; and fine and coarse aggregate contents. - Factors that affect the mix design include the target mean strength, standard deviation of strength, type and strength class of cement, aggregate type and grading, and restrictions on water/cement ratio and cement content.

Uploaded by

Syahmi Fadzi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ENGINEERING MATERIALS

Concrete Mix
Design
Learning outcomes (Week 7)
At the end of the lecture student will be able to;

• Have knowledge, state, define and explain the basic


science and engineering fundamentals pertaining to
the design of concrete mix (CO1, CO3-PO1, PO10)

• Able to carry out design of normal concrete (CO3-


PO1,PO10)
Introduction
• The basic procedure for mix design is applicable to
concrete for most purposes including pavements.

Strength

Concrete
mixes
should
meet;
Durability Workability
Basic concepts of mix design
Strength Margin
• Due to variability of concrete strength the mix must be
designed to have a significantly higher mean strength than the
strength specified.
Measurement of Workability
• In general, two alternative test methods are used, the slump
test which is more appropriate for the higher workability
mixes, and the Vebe time test which is particularly approriate
for those mixes which are to be compacted by vibration.
Free-water
• The total water in a concrete mix consists of the water
absorbed by the aggregate to bring it to a saturated surface
dry condition, and the free water available for the hydration of
the cement and for the workability of the concrete.
Types of aggregate
• The type of aggregate becomes of greater importance for
concrete having a high specified strength.
• If the specified strength at 28 days is 50 N/mm2 or more it
may become necessary to use crushed aggregate rather than
uncrushed gravel.
Aggregate Grading
• Mix design concrete deal with aggregate having three nominal
maximum sizes of 40 mm, 20 mm and 10 mm.
• The coarse aggregate content itself can be subdivided if single
sized 10, 20 and 40 mm materials are to be combined.
• The best proportions will depend on aggregate shape and
concrete usage but the following ratios are suggested as a
general guide:
1:2 for combination of 10 and 20 mm material
1:1.5:3 for combination of 10, 20 and 40 mm material
• The grading of the fine aggregate, characterized by the
percentage passing the 600 µm test sieve.
The mix design process
• Stage 1 deals with strength leading to the “free-water/cement
ratio”
• Stage 2 deals with workability leading to the “free-water
Content”
• Stage 3 combines the results of Stages 1 and 2 to give the
“cement content”
• Stage 4 deals with the determination of “the total aggregate
content”
• Stage 5 deals with the selection of the “fine and coarse
aggregate contents”
Margin and target mean strength

fm= fc+ k s
• where fm = the target mean strength
fc = the specified characteristic strength
ks = the margin, which is the product of:
s = the standard deviation
k = a constant
• The constant k is derived from the mathematics of the normal
distribution and increases as the proportion of defectives is
decreased, thus:
k for 10% defectives = 1.28
k for 5% defectives = 1.64
k for 2.5% defectives = 1.96
k for 1% defectives = 2.33
Cement strength variation
• This is due to the variation in the quality of the materials used,
variation in the mix proportion due to the batching process
and variation due to sampling and testing.
• Standard deviation (s) of the strength of concrete cubes at 28
days made with Portland cement class 42.5 from different
works is about 5 N/mm2.
• The standard deviation due to the variability of the cement
from a single work is about 3 N/mm2.
• Concrete cube strengths follow the normal distribution.
• There is therefore always the probability that a result will be
obtained less than the specified strength.
• Specify the quality of concrete not as a minimum strength but
as a ‘characteristic strength’ below which a specified
proportion of the test results, often called ‘defectives’, may be
expected to fall.
The distribution of results
• Variation in concrete strengths follows the normal distribution
such as that shown in Figure below.

Normal distribution of concrete strength


• The proportion of results less than some specified value is
represented by the area beneath the curve to the left-hand
side of a vertical line drawn through the specified value.
• This normal distribution curve is symmetrical about its mean,
has a precise mathematical equation and is completely
specified by two parameters, its mean “ x ” and its standard
deviation “s”.
• The standard deviation is a measure of the variability
calculated from the equation:

• where x = an individual result


n = the number of results
x = the mean of the n results
• Standard deviation increases as the specified characteristic
strength increases up to a particular level.
• This type of relationship is shown in Figure below, the
standard deviation being independent of the specified
characteristic strength above 20 N/mm2 .

Relationship between standard deviation and characteristic strength


Type and strength class of cement
• Class 52.5 Portland cements initially proceeds at a faster rate
than in class 42.5 Portland cements; the effect of this on
typical concretes having a free water/cement ratio of 0.5.
• The strength development shown in Table 2 applies to a
concrete with a cement content of about 300 kg/m3 cured in
water at 20°C.
• Such a mix made with Portland cement class 42.5 has a 7-day
strength about 70% of that attained at 28 days.
• Richer mixes initially gain strength more rapidly so that 7-day
strength may well exceed 75% of the 28-day strength.
Relationship between compressive
strength and free water/cement ratio
Trial mixes
1) Unrestricted mix design
2) Mix restricted by maximum water/cement ratio
3) Mix restricted by maximum water/cement ratio and
minimum cement content
4) Mix restricted by minimum cement content
5) Mix restricted by maximum cement content
Modifications to mix design
method
1) Adjustment due to water absorption and surface-wet
(moisture content) of aggregate.
2) Adjustment due to variation in target mean strength.
3) Adjustment due to variation in workability.
4) Adjustment due to variation in density.
Thank you

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