Thursday, May 3, 2018

GRADE OF CONCRETE & MIX DESIGN


GRADE OF CONCRETE & MIX DESIGN

INTRODUCTION TO GRADE OF CONCRETE
•      Among the many properties of concrete, compressive strength is found to be most important properties
•      It is assumed to represent the overall quality of concrete
•      Many engineering properties are generally found to be related to compressive strength of concrete
•      So, concrete is mostly graded according to its compressive strength.
•      Hence, grade of concrete is simply the representation of the compressive strength of concrete

Representation of grade of concrete
•      Grade of concrete is represented by letter “M”, which represents mix, followed by number, which is the characteristic compressive strength of 15 cm cube at 28 days, expressed in N/mm2    



Representation of grade of concrete
•      For example: Consider grade of concrete is M20
•      M refers to mix
•      20 refers to the characteristic compressive strength of 15 cm cube at 28 days, expressed in N/mm2    
•      Hence, M20 grade of concrete has characteristics compressive strength of 20 N/mm2

Code recommendation for grade of concrete
•      As per IS 456:2000, grade of concrete for RCC used shall not be less than M20
•      As per IS 456:2000, grade of concrete for PCC used shall not be less than M15
•      Grades as per table 5 of IS 456:2000 code is given below:

EXPOSURE CONDITION
PCC
RCC
Mild
-
M20
Moderate
M15
M25
Severe
M20
M30
Very severe
M20
M35
Extreme
M25
M40


Designation of Grade of concrete as per code
Group
Grade designation
Fck
Ordinary concrete
M10
10
M15
15
M20
20
Standard concrete
M25
25
M30
30
M35
35
M40
40
M45
45
M50
50
M55
55
High strength concrete
M60
60
M65
65
M70
70
M75
75
M80
80


Characteristic strength of concrete
•      Cube test result for determination of compressive strength of concrete follows normal distribution
•      It means that value of strength of material below which not more than 5% of test result results are expected to fall.
•      Suppose 100 cubes are tested and specified characteristics strength is 30N/mm2
•      Here 5% of cube means 5% of 100 = 5 and 95% of 100 = 95
•      So, if strength of more than 95 cubes is more than 30N/mm2 then 30N/mm2 is the characteristic compressive strength of concrete

TARGET MEAN STRENGTH OF CONCRETE
•      As per IS code, Target mean strength of concrete is defined as ft = fck + KS
•      Where, ft = target mean strength of concrete
•      fck = Characteristic strength of concrete
•      K is a constant and derived from mathematics of normal distribution
•      Here K is 1.65 for not more than 5% of test cubes fall under characteristics strength
•      S is standard deviation

Normal distribution curve for test result



Mix design of concrete
•      Mix design can be defined as the process of selecting suitable ingredients of concrete and determining their relative proportions with the object of producing concrete of certain minimum strength and durability as economically as possible.
•      Following two methods can be used
•      Nominal mix
•      Design mix

Nominal mix
•      In this type of mix, all the ingredients are prescribed and their proportions are specified. 
•      Used for relatively unimportant work and simple concrete work
•      It is used for concrete of M20 or lower
•      Water cement ratio is based on durability criteria, experience & practical trials.
•      Water content can be modified according to slump value (field-based test)
•      There is no scope for deviation by designer
•      Volumetric batching is used
•      It is prescriptive type
•      No quality controls
•      No entrapped air content is considered.

Design mix
•      In Design mix, quantity of each ingredients of concrete are calculated based on site condition, environment, etc. as per the code
•       It is adopted for important concrete work
•      It is used for higher grade of concrete
•      Water cement ratio based on concrete grade & 28 days compressive strength of concrete & durability of concrete.
•      Water content can be modified according to compaction factor value (laboratory-based test)
•      Weight batching is used
•      It is performance based
•      There is quality control
•      Entrapped air content considered according nominal maximum size aggregates.

NOMINAL MIX FOR different GRADE OF CONCRETE
•      Nominal mix for some grade of concrete is given below in ratio of
Cement: Sand: Coarse Aggregate
Grade of concrete
Ratio (Nominal mix)
M10
1:3:6
M15
1:2:4
M20
1:1.5:3




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