Week 9

CONSTRUCTION
MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY
CONCRETE MIX DESIGN

Departemen Teknik Sipil

Fakultas Teknik
Universitas Hasanuddin
Concrete Mix Design
 Concrete mix design may be defined as the art of selecting
suitable ingredients for concrete and determining their relative
proportions with the object of producing concrete with a
particular minimum strength and durability as economically as
possible.
 The purpose of concrete mix design is to ensure the most
optimum proportions of the constituent materials to fulfill the
requirement of the structure being built.
 Mix design should ensure the following objectives:
 To achieve the designed/desired workability in the plastic
stage
 To achieve the desired minimum strength in the hardened
stage
 To achieve the desired durability in the given environmental
conditions
 To produce concrete as economically as possible 01
Basic Considerations

The following points must be considered

while designing concrete mix:
 Cost
 Specification
 Workability
 Strength and Durability

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Concept of Mix design
 The relationships between aggregate and paste are
the two essential ingredients of concrete.
 Workability of the mass is provided by the lubricating
effect of the paste and is influenced by the amount
and dilution of the paste.
 The strength of concrete is limited by the strength of
the paste, since mineral aggregates, with rare
exceptions, are far stronger than the paste
compound.
 Essentially, the permeability of concrete is governed
by the quality and continuity of the paste since little
water flows through aggregate either under pressure 03
or by capillarity.
Concept of Mix design
 Since the properties of concrete are governed to a considerable
extent by the quality of the paste, it is helpful to consider more
closely the structure of the paste.
 With the given materials, the four variable factors to be
considered in connection with specifying a concrete mix are :
a) Water-Cement ratio
b) Cement content or cement-aggregate ratio
c) Gradation of the aggregates
d) Consistency.

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Method of Proportioning
 ACI Standard 211.1 “Recommended practice for selecting
proportion for concrete”
 BS DoE Method
 IS: 10262-2009 “Concrete mix proportioning guidelines”
 JSCE Method
 SNI Method

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ACI Standard 211.1
The design steps are given below:
i. Selection of slump
ii. Selection of maximum aggregate size
iii. Determination of mixing water and air content
iv. Computation of target mean compressive strength
v. Selection of w/c
vi. Determination of cement content, coarse aggregate, and fine
aggregate
vii. Adjustments for aggregate moisture

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BS DoE Method
The properties of concrete mixtures depend on the quality of
the raw materials, i.e., cement, aggregates, and w/ c used. The
design steps for the concrete mix design are as follows:
i. Selection of w/c
ii. Determination of free water content followed by cement
content
iii. Computation of total volume of aggregates followed by
determination of fine and coarse aggregate content
iv. Adjustments for aggregate moisture
v. Determination of final proportions
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IS: 10262-2009
The w/c has an important role in the compressive strength of
concrete mixtures and is selected on the basis of the grade of
concrete and type of exposure. The steps involved in the mix
design of concrete are as follows:
i. Selection of w/c
ii. Selection of free water content
iii. Determination of cement content
iv. Determination of fine and coarse aggregates

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Common Terminologies
 Mean strength is the average strength obtained  Standard deviation: This is the root
by dividing the sum of the strength of all the mean square deviation of all the results.
cylinders by the number of cylinders. This is denoted by s or σ.

𝛴𝑥 Where:
𝑥̅ = x = mean strength ∑ 𝑥 − 𝑥̅
𝑛 𝜎=
x = sum of strength of cylinders 𝑛−1
n = number of cylinders
Where:
 Variance: This measures variability or difference σ = Standard deviation,
between any observed data from the mean n = number of observations
x = particular value of observations
strength. 𝑥̅ = arithmetic mean

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 01: Data to be collected Example:

 Fineness modulus of selected fine  Design a concrete mix for the construction of an
elevated water tank.
aggregate (FA).
 The specified concrete design strength is 30 MPa
 Unit weight of dry rodded coarse at 28 days measured on standard cylinders.
aggregate (CA).
 The specific gravity of FA and C.A. are 2.65 and
 Specific gravity of coarse and fine 2.7, respectively.
aggregates in SSD condition  The dry-rodded bulk density of C.A. is 1600
kg/m3, and the fineness modulus of FA is 2.80.
 Absorption characteristics of both coarse
and fine aggregates.  Ordinary Portland cement (Type I) will be used.
 C.A. is found to be absorptive to the extent of
 Specific gravity of cement.
1%, and free surface moisture in the sand is
found to be 2 percent.

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 02: Target mean strength

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 03: Water / Cement ratio
 Find the water/cement ratio from the
strength point of view from Table 11.5.
 Find also the water/ cement ratio from a
durability point of view from Table 11.6.
 Adopt lower value out of strength
consideration and durability
consideration.
 Since OPC is used, from table 11.5, the
estimated w/c ratio is 0.47.
 From exposure condition Table11.6, the
maximum w/c ratio is 0.50
 Therefore, adopt w/c ratio of 0.47

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 03: Water / Cement ratio

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 04: Maximum size of aggregate & workability
 Decide maximum size of aggregate to be
used. Generally for RCC work 20 mm
and prestressed concrete 10 mm size
are used.
 Decide workability in terms of slump for
the type of job in hand. General guidance
can be taken from Table 11.7.
 Maximum size of aggregate 20 mm.
 Slump of concrete 50 mm

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 05: Cement content

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 06: Weight of coarse aggregate

 From Table 11.4, the bulk volume of dry-rodded

coarse aggregate per unit volume of concrete is
selected for the particular maximum size of
coarse aggregate and fineness modulus of fine
aggregate.
 The weight of C.A. per cubic meter of concrete is
calculated by multiplying the bulk volume with
bulk density.
 From Table 11.4, for 20 mm coarse aggregate, a
fineness modulus of 2.80, the dry-rodded bulk
volume of C.A. is 0.62 per unit volume of
concrete.

The weight of Coarse Aggregate = 0.62 𝑥 1600 =

992.0 𝑘𝑔 𝑚3

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 07: Weight of fine aggregate

 From Table 11.9, the first estimate of the density

of fresh concrete for 20 mm maximum size of
aggregate and non-air-entrained concrete = 2355
kg/m3
 The weight of all the known ingredients of
concrete
 Weight of water = 185 kg/m3
 Weight of cement = 394 kg.m3
 Weight of C.A. = 992 kg/m3

Weight of Fine Aggregate = 2355 – (185 + 394 +

992) = 784.0 𝑘𝑔 𝑚3

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 07: Weight of fine aggregate
 From Table 11.9, the first estimate of the density
of fresh concrete for 20 mm maximum size of
aggregate and non-air-entrained concrete =
2355 kg/m3
 Alternatively, the weight of F.A. can also be found
out by absolute volume method, which is more
accurate, as follows.

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 07: Weight of fine aggregate Step 08: Proportions

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American Concrete Institute Method of Mix Design (ACI-211.1)
Step 09: Adjustment for Field Condition Step 10: Final Design Proportions

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