ADVANCED CONCRETE TECHNOLOGY

Selection of concrete mix proportions

(mix design)
Lecture No. 5

Engr. Muhammad Rizwan

1
Contents

• Concrete Mix Design

• Factors consider during Mix Design

• Methods of Mix Design

• ACI 211.1 Standard practice for selecting Normal,

Heavyweight and Mass Concrete - Steps

• Design Example

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 Mix Design
• Mix design/mix proportions is simply, the process of choosing
suitable ingredients of concrete and determining their relative
quantities with the object of producing as economically as
possible concrete of certain minimum properties, notably
strength, durability, and a required consistency.

• Objective
• To determine the most economical and practical combination
of readily available materials to produce a concrete that will
satisfy the performance requirements under particular
conditions of use.

• Also, to determine the proportion of ingredients that would

produce a workable concrete mix that is durable, and of
required strength, and at a minimum cost
 Mix Design
• One of the ultimate aims of studying the various properties of
the materials of concrete, plastic concrete and hardened
concrete, is to enable a concrete technologist to design a
concrete mix for a particular strength and durability.
 Mix Design
• With the given materials, the four variable factors to be
considered in connection with specifying a concrete mix are:

(a ) Water-Cement ratio - Water/cement ratio expresses the dilution of the paste

(b ) Cement content or cement-aggregate ratio – pastecement content varies

directly with the amount of paste

(c ) Gradation of the aggregates - Gradation of aggregate is controlled by

varying the amount of given fine and coarse aggregate.

(d ) Consistency - Consistency is established by practical requirements of

placing

In general all four of these inter-related variables cannot be

chosen or manipulated arbitrarily. Usually two or three factors are
specified, and the others are adjusted to give minimum
workability and economy.
 Mix Design
Factors to be considered include:

• Workability.
• Cohesiveness, slump.
• Placement conditions.
• Strength.
• Durability.
• Appearance.
• Economy.
• Minimize the amount of cement, Minimize w/c ratio.
• Minimum amount of water, to reduce cement content.
• do not sacrifice the quality.
Mix Design
Mix Design

Volume Method
Mix Design

Weight Method
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Methods of Mix Proportioning

Most commonly used method (ACI mix design)

• Other methods

• ACI 211.1 Standard practice for selecting Normal, Heavyweight

and Mass Concrete.
• ACI 211.2 Standard practice for selecting Structural lightweight
concrete.
• ACI 211.3 Standard practice for selecting Proportions for no-
slump concrete.
• ACI 211.4R Standard practice for selecting high strength
concrete with Portland cement and fly ash.
 Mix Design
ACI Mix Design
• The most common method used which is established by ACI
Recommended Practice 211.1.

• This method of proportioning was first published in 1944 by ACI

committee 613.

• In 1954 the method was revised to include, among other

modifications, the use of entrained air.

• In 1970, the method of mix design became the responsibility of

ACI committee 211. ACI committee 211 have further updated
the method (ACI–211.1) of 1991.
 Mix Design
ACI Mix Design
• The most common method used which is established by ACI
Recommended Practice 211.1.
• Any mix design procedure will provide a first approximation of
the proportions and must be checked by trial batches.
• Local characteristics of materials should be considered.

The following sequence of steps should be followed:

(1) determine the following:
• the job parameters
• aggregate properties
• maximum aggregate size
• slump
• w/c ratio
• admixtures,
(2) calculation of batch weight, and
(3) adjustments to batch weights based on trial mix.
 Mix Design
• The aim of the designer should always be to get concrete
mixtures of optimum strength at minimum cement content and
acceptable workability.

• Once the w/c ratio is established and the workability or

consistency needed for the specific design is chosen, the rest
should be simple manipulation with diagrams and tables based
on large numbers of trial mixes.
 Mix Design
ACI METHOD OF PROPORTIONING CONCRETE MIXES
• The ACI Standard 211.1 is a “Recommended Practice for
Selecting Proportions for Concrete”. The procedure is as
follows:
Step 1. Choice of slump
Step 2. Choice of maximum size of aggregate
Step 3. Estimation of mixing water and air content
Step 4. Selection of water/cement ratio
Step 5. Calculation of cement content
Step 6. Estimation of coarse aggregate content
Step 7. calculation of Fine Aggregate Content
Step 8. Adjustments for Aggregate Moisture
Step 9. Trial Batch Adjustments
 Mix Design
Step 1. Choice of slump
• If slump is not specified, a value appropriate for the work can
be selected from the below Tables
 Mix Design
Step 2. Choice of maximum size of aggregate.
• Large maximum sizes of aggregates produce less voids than
smaller sizes. Hence, concretes with the larger-sized aggregates
require less mortar per unit volume of concrete, and of coarse it
is the mortar which contains the most expensive ingredient,
cement.
• Thus the ACI method is based on the principle that the
MAXIMUM SIZE OF AGGREGATE SHOULD BE THE LARGEST
AVAILABLE SO LONG IT IS CONSISTENT WITH THE DIMENSIONS OF
THE STRUCTURE.
• In practice the dimensions of the forms or the spacing of the
rebars controls the maximum CA size.

• ACI 211.1 states that the maximum CA size should not exceed:
o one-fifth of the narrowest dimension between sides of forms,
o one-third the depth of slabs,
o 3/4-ths of the minimum clear spacing between individual reinforcing bars,
bundles of bars, or pre-tensioning strands.
 Mix Design
Step 2. Choice of maximum size of aggregate.
 Mix Design
Step 3. Estimation of mixing water and air content.
• The ACI Method uses past experience to give a first estimate for
the quantity of water per unit volume of concrete required to
produce a given slump.

• In general the quantity of water per unit volume of concrete

required to produce a given slump is dependent on the
maximum CA size, the shape and grading of both CA and FA,
as well as the amount of entrained air.

• The approximate amount of water required for average

aggregates is given in Table 10.2.
Mix Design
Mix Design
 Mix Design
Step 4. Selection of water/cement ratio.
• The required water/cement ratio is determined by strength,
durability and finishability. The appropriate value is chosen from
prior testing of a given system of cement and aggregate or a
value is chosen from Table 10.3 and/or Table 10.4.
 Mix Design
Step 4. Selection of water/cement ratio.
 Mix Design
Step 4. Selection of water/cement ratio.
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Step 4. Selection of water/cement ratio.
 Mix Design
Step 5. Calculation of Cement content
 Mix Design
Step 6. Estimation of Coarse Aggregate content
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Step 6. Estimation of Coarse Aggregate content
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Step 7. Estimation of Fine Aggregate Content.

• At the completion of Step 6, all ingredients of the concrete

have been estimated except the fine aggregate.

• Its quantity can be determined by difference if the “absolute

volume” displaced by he known ingredients-, (i.e., water, air,
cement, and coarse aggregate), is subtracted from the unit
volume of concrete to obtain the required volume of fine
aggregate.

• Then once the volumes are know the weights of each

ingredient can be calculated from the specific gravities.
 Mix Design
Step 8. Adjustments for Aggregate Moisture.
• Aggregate weights. Aggregate volumes are calculated based
on oven dry unit weights, but aggregate is typically batched
based on actual weight.

• Therefore, any moisture in the aggregate will increase its weight

and stockpiled aggregates almost always contain some
moisture. Without correcting for this, the batched aggregate
volumes will be incorrect.

• Amount of mixing water. If the batched aggregate is anything

but saturated surface dry it will absorb water (if oven dry or air
dry) or give up water (if wet) to the cement paste.

• This causes a net change in the amount of water available in

the mix and must be compensated for by adjusting the amount
of mixing water added.
 Mix Design
Step 9. Trial Batch Adjustments.
• The ACI method is written on the basis that a trial batch of
concrete will be prepared in the laboratory, and adjusted to
give the desired slump, freedom from segregation, finishability,
unit weight, air content and strength.
 Mix Design
Example 1
 Mix Design
Example 1
 Mix Design
Example 1

ACI 211.1 states that the maximum CA size should not exceed:

1/5th of the narrowest dimension between sides of forms,

1/3rd the depth of slabs,

3/4th of the minimum clear spacing between individual

reinforcing bars, bundles of bars, or pre-tensioning strands.
 Mix Design
Example 1
 Mix Design
Example 1
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Example 1
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Example 1
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Example 1
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Example 1
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Example 1
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Example 2