Mix Design of Concrete

Prof. Ravindra Gettu and Dr. Radhakrishna Pillai

Building Technology and Construction Management Division
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Madras
 Outline
• Review of Traditional Concrete Mix Design Methods
• Mix Design Principles
• Indian Standard Mix Design procedures
• ACI and British methods
• Advanced methods for mix design of HPC etc.
 Review of Traditional Concrete
Mix Design Methods
Main objective was to attain compressive strength.
• Characteristic 28-day strength
• Cubes/cylinders
• Other properties are empirically correlated to strength

Other commonly prescribed parameters are:

• Workability (defined in terms of slump)
• Maximum aggregate size (MSA)

Governing factor: COST

 Review of Traditional Concrete
Mix Design Methods
Components that need to be specified
• Cement type and dosage
• Aggregates (nature, grading, density, coefficient of
absorption)
• Aggregate proportions
• Water content
• Admixture type and dosage

Other aspects that affect the properties (should be

mentioned but almost never done):
• Mixing sequence
• Reference temperature
 Review of Traditional Concrete
Mix Design Methods
Early mix design
• Volumetric
• e.g., 1:2:4 mix = nominal Cement : Sand : Gravel proportions

• Mixed (i.e., cement in bags, and aggregates by

volume)

• Water content was modified to attain required

workability (w/c = ?)

Mix design based on the mass of the components is more

reliable.
 Traditional Mix Design
Effect of w/c
• Abrams’ law (1919):
A
fc  w/ c
B
where, fc is the compressive strength of concrete and
A & B are empirical constants.

• Férét’s rule (1896):

2
 Vc 
fc  K  
 Vc  Vw  Va 
where, Vc, Vw & Va are the absolute volumes of
cement, water and air, respectively, and
K is an empirical constant.
 Traditional Mix Design
Effect of w/c

Neville
 Traditional Mix Design
Ideal aggregate grading

Fuller-Thompson curve (1907)

q
 d 
Pt   
D 
where
Pt is the fraction of solids finer than size d,
D is the maximum size and
q is an empirical constant (with a lowest practical value of
0.5). A higher value of q leads to a higher void content.

Mindess & Young

 Traditional Mix Design
Ideal aggregate grading
ASTM grading limits and the Fuller’s curve

Mindess & Young

 What is Workability?
• Workability is not a fundamental material property!
• Must be related to the type, method etc. of construction

• ASTM C125:
• “the property determining the effort required to manipulate a freshly
mixed quanitiy of concrete with minimum loss of homogeneity
• Here, “manipulate” means early age operations of placing,
compaction, and finishing

• Mindess et al. 2003

• “The amount of mechanical work, or energy, required to produce full
compaction of the concrete without segregation”

• Two aspects to be considered are

• Consistency and Cohesiveness
Mix Design Principles – Improve consistency

• Consistency  Ease to flow

• The water demand can be decreased and the required
slump can be achieved by
• Increasing the maximum aggregate size (MSA)
• Reducing the angular and rough textured particles
• Replacement of cement with fly ash
• Increasing the entrained air

Mehta & Monteiro

Mix Design Principles – Improve cohesiveness

• Cohesiveness  compactibility and finishability

• The cohesiveness can be improved by
• Increasing the fine/coarse aggregate ratio
• Increasing the cement paste/aggregate ratio
• Replacing the cement with fly ash

Mehta & Monteiro

Indian Standards Method:- IS 10262:2009
Bases:
• Compressive strength of a workable concrete is
governed by its w/c
• For a given type and grading of aggregates, the
workability is governed by the water content

Input:
• Required strength
• Workability level (i.e., slump)
• Limitations on w/c
• Minimum cement dosage
• Type and maximum size of aggregate
 Indian Standards Method:- Steps

• Step 1: Target mean compressive strength

• Step 2: Water-cement ratio
• Step 3: Water content
• Step 4: Cementitious materials content
• Step 5: Coarse aggregate proportion and combinations
• Step 6: Fine aggregate proportion
• Step 7: Mix calculations
 Indian Standards Method: Step 1
Target mean 28-day compressive strength (fck):

mean = failure level + t  standard deviation.

= fck + t × s
 Indian Standards Method: Step 1
Target mean 28-day compressive strength (fck):

fck = fck + t × s

where fck is the desired characteristic 28-day

compressive strength, s is the standard deviation and t
is a factor that depends on the accepted proportion of
low results and the size of the sample.

• If P(fck > fck) > 0.95, then t is 1.64. For other acceptable
low values, t-values are provided in a table.

• In the absence of test results, standard deviation values

are suggested in Table 1 of IS 10262:2009 (e.g., M30
concrete, with good degree of control, s can be taken as
5 MPa) – see next slide
Indian Standards Method: Step 1 (cont’d.)
 Indian Standards Method: Step 2
• Water-cement ratio (w/c) is obtained as a function of the
Exposure Condition and the Type and Grade of
Concrete (Table 5 of IS 456:2000).

For example, for

an M25
reinforced
concrete for
“moderate”
exposure
condition, the
maximum free
w/c is 0.50 and
minimum cement
content is
300 kg/m3.
 Indian Standards Method: Step 3
• Water content is obtained from Table 2 of IS 10262:2009
depending on the nominal maximum aggregate size
(NMSA).
• The obtained value is then
modified for changes in the
shape of coarse aggregate
type, admixtures, desired
slump etc., if any.
• For a slump of 25-50 mm
and NMSA of 20 mm, the
water content is 186 liters.
• This can be increased by
3% for every additional
25mm slump
(e.g., 186+186(3/100) = 191.6 liters
for a slump of 75mm)
 Indian Standards Method: Step 4
Cementitious materials content

• Cement content is calculated from the w/c and the water

content.

• For example, in the above case of 0.50 w/c and water

content of 191.6 liters, the cement content is 383 kg/m3
(>300 kg/m3  OK)

• The quantities of mineral admixtures (fly ash, slag, silica

fume, etc.) may be calculated at this time.
 Indian Standards Method: Step 5
Coarse aggregate proportion and combinations
• Table 3 in IS 10262:2009 provides the volume of coarse
aggregates per unit volume (i.e., volume fraction) of total
aggregates for different zones of fine aggregates and
NMSA.
• All aggregates need to be in
the saturated, surface-dry
(SSD) state
• Different coarse aggregates
can be used such that an
overall grading conforming
to the Table 2 of IS 383 for
a particular NMSA is
obtained.
Zones of fine aggregates (IS 383)

Coarser Finer

!
Percentage passing (%)
Zones of fine aggregates (IS 383)

Upper limit

Sieve opening size (mm)

 Indian Standards Method: Step 6
Fine aggregate

• Volume fraction of fine aggregates is calculated as follows:

VFfine aggregates = 1 – VFcoarse aggregates

 Indian Standards Method: Step 7
MIX calculations

• First the absolute volume of cementitious materials, water,

and the chemical admixture are found as follows:

Vingredient = Wingredient / (SGingredient x 1000)

• Vaggregates = Vtotal – V(cement + water+ chemical admixture)

• Wcoarse = Vaggregates x VFcoarse x SGcoarse x 1000

• Wfine = Vaggregates x VFfine x SGfine x 1000

where, V, VF, W, and SG indicate the volume, volume
fraction, mass, and specific gravity of materials
 ACI Mix Design Method
Bases:
• Strength depends mainly on the w/c
• For a certain maximum aggregate size, the workability
is controlled mainly by the water content
• Cement characteristics are generally constant

Input:
• Fineness modulus of sand
• Aggregate grading curves and physical properties
• Air content
• Strength desired
Bases for IS Method (Recap):
• Compressive strength of a workable concrete is
governed by its w/c
• For a given type and grading of aggregates, the
workability is governed by the water content
 ACI Mix Design Method
[Link]
Steps:
1. Choose slump from table considering the type of application
2. Choose maximum aggregate size considering the element
dimensions and the reinforcement spacing
3. Obtain water content and entrapped air estimate from table as a
function of slump and maximum aggregate size
4. Obtain w/c from tables as a function of desired strength and
exposure (durability)
5. Calculate cement content
6. Obtain coarse aggregate content from table as a function of
maximum aggregate size and fineness modulus of sand
7. Determine fine aggregate content using the specific gravity
 Fineness Modulus (FM)
Parameter used to describe the grading curve of fine
aggregates (mainly in the USA)

FM = Σ(cumulative percent retained on standard sieves)/100

For sand, the sieves used are 0.15, 0.3, 0.6, 1.18, 2.36, 5 mm
and upto the largest sieve size used.
5
2.36
When the sand is coarser, FM is higher.
1.18
0.6
Normally, FM should lie between 2.3 and 3.1.
0.3
0.15
 Fineness Modulus (FM): Examples
Sieve size Mass % Cumulative Sieve size Mass % Cumulative
(mm) retained (g) retained % retained (mm) retained (g) retained % retained

5.00 6 2.0 2 5.00 15 3 3

2.36 31 10.1 12 2.36 70 14 17
1.18 30 9.8 22 1.18 110 22 39
0.6 59 19.2 41 0.6 125 25 64
0.3 107 34.9 76 0.3 100 20 84
0.15 53 17.3 93 0.15 80 16 100
<0.15 (pan) 21 6.8
Total 307 246 Total 500 307
FM = 2.46 FM = 3.07
 British Mix Design Method
Bases:
• Exact knowledge of grading curve of aggregates is
assumed
• Aggregate/cement ratio, by weight, controls the
workability
• Minimum w/c depends on the aggregate shape and
grading

Input:
• Required strength
• Cement content within permitted limits
• Workability level
• Air content
 British Mix Design Method
Steps:
• Determine the w/c through a chart using the target mean
compressive strength
• The water content is obtained from a table using the
maximum aggregate size and workability
• Cement content is calculated
• The fresh concrete density is obtained from a chart as a
function of the specific gravity of the aggregate and water
content. The total aggregate content is determined by
subtracting the cement content and water content from the
concrete density
• Proportion of fine aggregate is obtained from charts as a
function of maximum aggregate size and workability
 Baron-Lesage Method
Bases:
• The relative proportions of the aggregates should be
selected such that the void content is minimum, for a
given workability and method of placing the concrete

Input:
• Required strength
• Minimum cement content
• Workability level
 Monteiro Method
Bases:
• The strength is governed mainly by the w/c (Bolomey or
Abrams' law)
• For a certain w/c and workability, there is an optimum
aggregate/cement ratio (Lyse's law)
• For a certain aggregate/cement ratio, m, there is an
optimum cement content, C, in the concrete (Molinari
formula)

Input:
• Required strength
• Workability level
 Monteiro Nomograph

m is the aggregate/cement ratio

C is the cement content

Brandt
 Limitations of Traditional Methods

• They assume that

– The workability is governed by water and/or paste content,
and not by the incorporation of a water reducer or
superplasticizer.
• They do not consider the following
– The use of mineral admixtures can alter the fc-w/c relation
– Unconventional cements can lead to different strength,
strength evolution and/or workability.
– All aggregate grading curves are not similar or standard
 Optimization of Aggregate Proportions
(Mehta & Monteiro)
Minimizing void content in aggregate skeleton
 Optimization of Aggregate Proportions -
Ternary Combinations
Minimizing void content in aggregate skeleton  Maximizing packing density

Packing density for an aggregate mixture,

φ = ρb/ρg
where
ρb = bulk density of packed aggregate, and
ρg = absolute aggregate density

Void volume fraction = (1- φ)

Software packages are available for predicting

the maximum packing density from the grading
iso-φ lines in ternary plot curves of the aggregates - EMMA

M. Santhanam
 Extension of Mix Design Principles
de Larrard's modification of Férét’s rule

2
K g Rc  Vc 
fc  fc  K  
 3.1 w / c 
2  Vc  Vw  Va 
1  
 1.4  0.4 exp 11 s / c   Based on volumes
 
where
Kg = parameter depending on aggregate type (= 4.9 for river
aggregates),
Rc is the standard cement strength (in mortar with
sand:cement:water ratio of 3:1:0.5, at 28 days),
w, c & s are the masses of water, cement and silica fume,
respectively.
Aitcin
 Extension of Mix Design Principles
Incorporation of superplasticizer – Aïtcin approach
parameter Compressive strength (MPa)
50-75 75-100 100-125 125-150
w/c 0.35-0.40 0.30-0.35 0.25-0.30 <0.25

mixing water (litre/m3) 150-160 140-150 130-140 <130

Superplasticizer (litre/m3) 5-10 7.5-15 15-20 20-30

without silica fume
Superplasticizer (litre/m3) 5-10 5-12.5 10-20 15-21.5
with silica fume and/or other
supplementary cementitious
material

Rougeron & Aitcin

Mix design of high performance concrete (HPC)
is different from that of usual concrete
Reasons are:
• Water-binder ratio is very low
• Concrete quite often contains SCMs that drastically
change the properties of fresh and hardened concrete
• Workability can be adjusted using chemical admixtures
without altering water content
 Mehta-Aïtcin Simplified Method for
High Performance Concrete (1990)
Scope:
• Normal weight concrete with compressive strength of
60-120 MPa
• Slump and MSA are not necessary for consideration
because only 10-15 mm MSA are considered and the
desired slump (200-250 mm) can be achieved using
superplasticisers
• Assumes that non-air-entrained concrete has 2%
entrapped air
• It suggests that 65% aggregate volume and 35%
cement paste volume represents an optimum solution
to meet the conflicting requirements of strength,
workability, and dimensional stability

Aitcin
 Mehta-Aïtcin Simplified Method for
High Performance Concrete (1990)
Steps:
• Obtain the water content from a table for the desired
strength level
• Chose binder composition (35%) from the following options:
1. 100% portland cement
2. 75% portland cement + 25% fly ash or blastfurnace slag, by
volume
3. 75% portland cement + 15% fly ash + 10% silica fume, by
volume
• Obtain (from a table) the fine/coarse aggregate ratio, by
volume, as a function of the strength
• Determine the weights of the concrete components using
the corresponding specific gravities
• Prepare trial mixes to obtain the superplasticizer dosage,
starting from a 1% sp/c dosage (solid content) of a
naphthalene based superplasticizer
Aitcin
Estimation of Values Needed in Mix Design

When actual values are not available, the

following can be used:

• Specific gravity of
• cement: 3.14
• blastfurnace slag: 2.90
• fly ash: 2.65
• silica fume: 2.20
• Superplasticizer: 1.2

• Coefficient of absorption of
• sand: 1%
• gravel: 0.5%

Aitcin
 Calculation of the Water Added (WA)
Components:
• Water needed for obtaining the prescribed w/c
{Wc = w/c × cement content}
• Water needed to provide saturated, surface-dry
aggregates
{Wsa = Σ(mass of aggregate fraction × coefficient of
absorption)}
• Humidity already present in the aggregates
{Wha = Σ(mass of aggregate fraction × humidity)}
• Water present in superplasticizers and other admixtures
{Wad = mass of liquid product × %water content / 100}

Water added (WA) = Wc + Wsa - Wha - Wad

[Link]
 References
• Optimization methods for material design of cement-
based composites, Ed. A.M. Brandt, E&FN Spon,
London, 1998
• Concrete: Microstructure, properties and materials,
P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Indian Concrete
Institute, Chennai, 1999
• Indian Standard IS 10262-2009, Concrete mix
proportioning, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi,
2009
• Concrete, S. Mindess and J.F. Young, Prentice-Hall,
USA, 1981
• Properties of Concrete, A.M. Neville, Pearson
Education, Delhi, 2004
• High-Performance Concrete, P.-C. Aïtcin, E&FN Spon,
London, 1998