Concrete
Technology
VNK
1 Copyright@VNK
2
Unit-6 Concrete Mix Design
• Concrete is a very complex material. Its properties as fresh as well hardened
concrete is a function of right mix of constituents of concrete, which if not
done properly will adversely affect the properties of concrete. Hence right
judicious proportion of all the constituents is most important.
• Concrete mix design (CMD) is therefore scientific and systematic process
of choosing economical relative proportion of various ingredients from
available material which gives cohesive concrete of desired workability in
fresh stage and desired strength and durability in hardened stage.
• It is the step by step procedure for selection of water-cement ratio, water
content and estimation of coarse aggregate content and fine aggregate
content done in a laboratory with actual material which is going to be used.
Copyright@VNK
3
A good concrete mix should have following important properties.
• It should meet the strength requirement of the structure, which is measured
in compressive strength.
• Fulfill the durability requirement
• It should be mixed, transported and easily compacted
• It should be economical.
• It is therefore good concrete, which makes your house safe for life and
ultimately saves your money.
Copyright@VNK
4
Advantages of Mix Design Concrete
• Design mix is more scientific than the nominal mix.
• Mix design is widely used for more extensive and important concrete
works.
• Mix design is based on the actual available material to be used in
construction work.
• If the locally available material can satisfy the standard criteria, it can be
used for making mix design concrete so that the mix can reduce the cost of
importing material from outside.
• The quantity of the ingredient to be used are rational, i.e. it’s neither
overused nor underused.
• It is based on the laboratory trial/error experiment method.
• It gives an assurance of strength.
• Mix design concrete is performance-based concrete.
• The designer can use admixtures rationally to modify the properties of
concrete according to their requirement.
• Slump and strength can be related, i.e. for strength. We can use different
slump by changing water/cement ratio with or without the use of
admixtures so that it suits the concreting of different elements.
Copyright@VNK
5
Guidelines for Mix Design
There are various standard guidelines available for making a design mix
concrete such as,
• IS Method – Concrete mix proportioning guidelines (Bureau of Indian
Standards – I.S. 10262- 2009) and Recommended Guidelines for Concrete
Mix Design- I.S. 10262- 1982,
• BS Method – (British Standard – BS EN 206- 1 and its complementary
standards BS 8500 parts 1& 2)
• ACI Method – (American Standard – ACI 211, 211- 91, reapproved-
2002).
• Mix design is the most intellectual and rational approach for the selection
of specific materials with their proportion and more or less for the unique
characteristics. Design mix contains weight batching. It not only makes
Copyright@VNK
concrete of desired strength but also it is cost efficient.
6
Study the following code in detailed,
IS code
ACI code
BS code
Copyright@VNK
