Course Name : Materials & Methods of Construction

Course Code: ARCH 3151

Mr.A.Kandasamy
Lecturer, Civil section

Chapter 1
CONCRETE MIX DESIGN
Chapter Outline
Concrete Mix design and design
problems

Course outcomes covered

Identify and describe the legal codes,
standards, and legal responsibilities
Describe how the compliance with a
code
is achieved

DEFINITION

Concrete mix design is defined as the appropriate

selection
and proportioning of constituents to produce a
concrete with pre-defined characteristics such as
workability, strength and durability in the fresh and
hardened states.

The purpose of mix design is to find the quantity of

concrete constituents as per the standard codes &
regulations.

The selection and proportioning of

materials depend on:
The structural requirements of the
concrete
The environment to which the structure
will be exposed
The job site conditions, especially the
methods of concrete production,
transport, placement, compaction and
finishing
The characteristics of the available raw
materials
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 Workability : Aconcreteis said to be

workable if it is easily transported,
placed, compacted and finished without
any segregation.
Durability: Durability of concrete may
be defined as the ability of concrete to
resist weathering action, chemical
attack, and abrasion while maintaining
its desired engineering properties.
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The consistency of fresh

concrete depends on
Water Content
(kg/m3)
W/c Ratio
Fineness Modulus of
the Aggregate
Use of Water
Reducers
(Plasticizers / Super
plasticizers)
Type and shape of
Aggregate
Entrained Air

Mix temperature
aggregates dust
cement type
additions (silica
fume, fly-ash, slag,
fibers), etc.

Types of Mixes
Nominal mixes

In the past the specifications for concrete

prescribed the proportions of cement, fine and
coarse aggregates. These mixes of fixed
cement-aggregate ratio which ensures
adequate strength are termed as Nominal
mixes.
These offer simplicity and under normal
circumstances, have a margin of strength
above that specified.
However, due to the variability of mix
ingredients the nominal concrete for a given
workability varies widely in strength.
8

Nominal mixes
Traditional way of mix proportion
specified in terms of fixed ratios of
Cement : Sand : coarse aggregate (In
general by volume)

Useful for small works

Useful for routine concrete construction
Limited up to M20 grade
Requires high cement content
9

Standard mixes
The nominal mixes of fixed cement-aggregate ratio
(by volume) vary widely in strength and may result in
under- or over-rich mixes. For this reason, the
minimum compressive strength has been included in
many specifications. These mixes are termed
Standard mixes.
The concrete mixes has been designated into a
number of grades as M10, M15, M20, M25, M30, M35
and M40. In this designation the letter M refers to the
mix and the NUMBER refers to the Characteristic
Compressive Strength at the age of 28 days curing in
N/mm2 .
The mixes of grades M10, M15, M20 and M25
correspond approximately to the mix proportions
10
(1:3:6), (1:2:4), (1:1.5:3) and (1:1:2) respectively.

11

Designed Mixes
In these mixes the performance of the concrete is
specified by the designer but the mix proportions are
determined by the producer of concrete, except that
the minimum cement content can be laid down.
This is most rational approach to the selection of mix
proportions with specific materials in mind possessing
more or less unique characteristics.
Several methods of mix design evolved over the years
in different countries
Ex: ACI practice, British practice, Indian Standard
recommendations. etc.

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FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR MIX

DESIGN
The grade designation giving the characteristic
strength requirement of concrete.
The type of cement influences the rate of
development of compressive strength of concrete.
Maximum nominal size of aggregates to be used
in concrete may be as large as possible within the
limits prescribed by standards.
The cement content is to be limited from
shrinkage, cracking and creep.
The workability of concrete for satisfactory
placing and compaction is related to the size and
shape of section, quantity and spacing of
reinforcement and technique used for
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transportation, placing and compaction.

Factors affecting the choice of mix proportions:

The various factors affecting the choice of mix proportions are:

1. Compressive strength
It is one of the most important properties of
concrete and influences many other
describable properties of the hardened
concrete. The mean compressive strength
required at a specific age, usually 28 days,
determines the nominal water-cement ratio of
the mix. The other factor affecting the
strength of concrete at a given age and cured
at a prescribed temperature is the degree of
compaction. According to Abrahams law
the strength of fully compacted concrete

 2. Workability
The degree of workability required
depends on three factors. These are the
size of the section to be concreted, the
amount of reinforcement, and the method
of compaction to be used. For the narrow
and complicated section with numerous
corners or inaccessible parts, the
concrete must have a high workability so
that full compaction can be achieved with
a reasonable amount of effort. This also
applies to the embedded steel sections.
The desired workability depends on the
compacting equipment available at the
site.

 3. Durability
The durability of concrete is its
resistance to the aggressive
environmental conditions. High
strength concrete is generally more
durable than low strength concrete.
In the situations when the high
strength is not necessary but the
conditions of exposure are such that
high durability is vital, the durability
requirement will determine the
water-cement ratio to be used.

 4. Maximum nominal size of

aggregate
In general, larger the maximum size of
aggregate, smaller is the cement
requirement for a particular water-cement
ratio, because the workability of concrete
increases with increase in maximum size
of the aggregate. However, the
compressive strength tends to increase
with the decrease in size of aggregate.
Standards recommend that the nominal
size of the aggregate should be as large

5. Grading and type of aggregate

The grading of aggregate influences the mix
proportions for a specified workability and watercement ratio.
Very lean mix is not desirable since it does not contain
enough finer material to make the concrete cohesive.
The type of aggregate influences strongly the
aggregate-cement ratio for the desired workability and
stipulated water cement ratio.
An important feature of a satisfactory aggregate is the
uniformity of the grading which can be achieved by
mixing different size fractions.

6. Quality Control
The degree of control can be
estimated statistically by the
variations in test results. The
variation in strength results from the
variations in the properties of the
mix ingredients and lack of control
of accuracy in batching, mixing,
placing, curing and testing. The
lower the difference between the
mean and minimum strengths of the
mix lower will be the cementcontent required. The factor

Mix Proportion designations

The common method of expressing the
proportions of ingredients of a concrete mix is in
the terms of parts or ratios of cement, fine &
coarse aggregates.
For e.g., a concrete mix of proportions 1:2:4
means that cement, fine and coarse aggregate
are in the ratio 1:2:4 or the mix contains
one part of cement
two parts of fine aggregate and
four parts of coarse aggregate.
The proportions are either by volume or by
mass.
The water-cement ratio is usually expressed in

Given Data:
GRADE of Concrete = M 30
Specific Gravity of Cement
= 3.15
Specific Gravity of Coarse Aggregates = 2.85
Specific Gravity of Fine Aggregates = 2.73
Maximum size of Aggregates
= 20 mm
Percentage of Fine aggregate
= 36%
Accepted proportion of results 1 in 5, 20%
Site Control
= GOOD

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 Step I:- Compute Target Mean Compressive Strength:

Fck =

fck +

(t * S)

Fck =

Target Mean Compressive Strength at 28 days in

N/Sq.mm

fck

Characteristic Compressive Strength at 28 days in

N/Sq.mm

Standard Deviation in N/Sq.mm ( from table 2)

A Statistic, depending on accepted proportion of

low results. ( from table 1)

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 Step II: Select the Water cement ratio ( from table 3)

Water cement ratio =
Step III: Select the water content per cubic metre
( from table 4)
Water content =
Step IV:- Compute the quantity of cement as follows.

Cement

Water content
------------W/C Ratio

=
23

Step VI:- Then we find the quantities of Fine & Coarse aggregate by
absolute volume method.
V = (W+C/Sc+(1/p) * (fa/Sfa)) * (1/1000)
and
V = (W+C/Sc+(1/(1-p)) * (ca/Sca)) * (1/1000)

- (Eq.1)
- (Eq.2)

Where
V = Absolute volume of fresh concrete = 1 m3
W = Mass of Water content (Kg) per m3 of concrete
C = Mass of Cement (Kg) per m3 of
concrete
p = Percentage of fine aggregate.
fa = Mass of fine aggregate
ca = Mass of coarse aggregate
Sc = Specific gravity of cement.
Sfa = Specific gravity of fine aggregate.
Sca = Specific gravity of coarse aggregate.
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 Fine aggregate:
V = (W+C/Sc+(1/p) * (fa/Sfa)) * (1/1000)

Coarse aggregate
V = (W+C/Sc+(1/(1-p)) * (ca/Sca)) *
(1/1000)
25

Cement
=
Fine aggregate
=
Coarse aggregate
=
Water
=

Ratio: Cement : FA : CA : Water

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Table 1: Values of

Accepted proportion of low

results

1 in 5,

20%

0.84

1 in 10,

10%

1.28

1 in 15,

6.7%

1.50

1 in 20,

5%

1.65

1in 40,

2.5%

1.86

1 in 100, 1%

2.33
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Table 2: Standard Deviation

Grade of Concrete

Assumed Standard Deviation

(N/mm2)
Good Site Control

Fair Site Control

M20, M25

4.0

5.0

M30, M35
M40,M45
M50

5.0

6.0

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Table 3: Water-Cement ratio

Minimum expected W/C

S.
No.

Concrete
Grade

M10

0.9

M15

0.7

M20

0.55

M25

0.50

M30

0.45

M35

0.40

M40

0.35

M45

0.30

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Table 4: Water content

concrete.

per m3 of

Maximum size of
Aggregate
(mm)

Water Content per cubic

metre of concrete
(Kg)

10

208

20

186

40

165

30

Calculation of gel/space ratio

Problem : Determine the quantity of M 20 Concrete

required for casting cube (100 x100 x100) mm. Take density
of concrete as 2400 kg/cubic metre. Assume 20% extra.

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