Mix design of high-performance concrete

Aminul Islam Laskar*

National Institute of Technology, Silchar-788010, India

ABSTRACT

A mix design procedure for high-performance concrete mixes has been presented in
this paper. Since rheological parameters and compressive strength are fundamental
properties of concrete in two different stages of production, the correlation between
rheological parameters and compressive strength has been used instead of using
water-cement ratio versus compressive strength relationship. Water-cement ratio and
aggregate volume to paste volume ratio has also been determined from rheological
behavior and used in the mix design. In the proposed method, the designer is able to
estimate rheological parameters like yield stress and plastic viscosity at the design
stage for a given target strength, in addition to ingredients of concrete.

Keywords: rheology, yield stress, plastic viscosity, mix design, high-performance

concrete

1. Introduction

The primary aim of a mix design method is to obtain proportions of concrete

ingredients that can be used for a first trial batch to produce a certain concrete for a
particular strength, long term qualities and performance. A mix design provides a
starting mix proportions that will have to be more or less modified to meet the desired
concrete characteristics. High-performance concrete (HPC) does not necessarily
require high strength but the mix proportioning should be such that permeability is as
low as possible for the particular use. Mix design of high performance concrete is
different from that of usual concrete because water-binder ratio is very low and it may
contain mineral admixtures which change the properties of fresh and hardened
concrete1. Moreover, slump or compaction factor can be adjusted using high range
water reducing admixture (HRWRA) without altering water content.

HPC requires dense, void free mass with full contact with reinforcing bars.
Workability has to be compatible with these fundamental needs to achieve high
performance concrete. To do so, mix should be such it is easy to vibrate and it is fluid
enough to pass through congested reinforcement. HPC possesses three characteristics:
high strength, high durability and high workability2. A minimum slump of 100 mm is
therefore preferred3. Durability is related to low permeability. High strength and low
permeability are linked to one another because high strength requires low volume of
pores, although these two are not necessarily related. Thus, remaining two
characteristics that need careful control and monitoring at the production stage are
high strength and high workability.

The single-point workability tests nowadays are considered as incapable of providing

an adequate characterization of workability of today's much more advanced concrete
mixtures4,5. Researchers treat fresh concrete as fluid and use fluid rheology methods
to describe concrete behavior6-8. Concrete as a fluid is most often assumed to behave
like a Bingham fluid with good accuracy4,5. In Bingham model, flow is defined by
two parameters: yield stress and plastic viscosity. Yield stress and plastic viscosity are
considered to be fundamental parameters of fresh concrete rheology. In existing mix
design methods, there is no provision to have an idea of estimating rheological
parameters like yield stress and plastic viscosity.

Mix design of HPC is complicated by the fact aggregate strength or the strength of the
cement-aggregate bond, are often the strength controlling factors and the role of
water-cement ratio is less clear. The water-cement ratio is a poor predictor of
compressive strength in high strength concrete9.
There are methods of mix design of HPC such as method proposed by Aitcin1, Mehta
and Aitcin2, Indian Standards mix design method10 among other methods. Most
commonly, purely empirical procedures based on trial mixes are used. According to
Canadian Portland Cement Association, the trial mix approach is the best for selecting
proportions for HPC9. In this paper, a new method of mix design procedure has been
discussed for design of high strength HPC. The method uses the relationship between
design parameters and rheological properties. The designer is able to estimate fresh
concrete rheological properties at the design stage in addition to mix proportions for
target strength.

2. Materials

The cement used throughout the experiment was Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC).
The 28 day compressive strength and specific gravity of cement were 50.2
N.mm–2 and 3.10 respectively determined as per IS: 12269-198711. Locally available
alluvial sand (medium; specific gravity = 2.6) inside the laboratory was used
throughout the experimental investigation unless otherwise mentioned. Particle size
distribution of aggregates is presented in Table 1 and 2. Crushed stone aggregates
(specific gravity = 2.6) of nominal maximum size 16 mm were used as coarse
aggregate. The physical properties of aggregates were determined as per IS:
2386-199712. Ordinary tap water was used for all the mixes to prepare fresh concrete.
Poly-Carboxylic Polymer (PC) with set retarding effect was used as high range water
reducing admixtures (HRWRA).
3. Mixing

Concrete was mixed in a tilting mixer (laboratory type). The following mixing
sequence was adopted:

• Mix coarse aggregate, fine aggregate cement for 2 minutes;

• Add water during mixing and mix for two minutes more;
• Stop mixing for one minute;
• Add HRWRA to the mix and mix for 3 minutes;
• Pour the concrete mix.

4. Experimental Program

A large number of high-performance concrete mixtures were prepared in the

laboratory for the present study. Rheological tests were carried out to investigate the
effect of percentage sand, sand zones such as coarse, medium and fine, nominal size
of coarse aggregate and aggregate volume-paste volume ratio. For the determination
of rheological parameters, average of three readings was taken.

Rheological tests were performed with a rheometer fabricated in the laboratory

(Figure 1). It consists of a 150 mm diameter flat circular vane plate driven by a motor
through a gearbox. Vane plate is mounted coaxially with a cylindrical container
(effective diameter = 270 mm) with sleeve and bearing arrangement to ensure
accurate alignment. The cylindrical container is provided with vertical ribs of 20 mm
projection at a pitch of 60 mm along the circumference. Ribs are also welded at the
bottom of the cylinder. The effective gap between the bottom and the shearing surface
is 75 mm. The effective concrete height above the vane plate is also 75 mm. The
no-slip condition at top of the cylinder is achieved by providing 20 mm high mesh of
blades. The blade mesh can be detached as and when necessary. The torque of the
motor and hence the vane plate is controlled by varying input voltage with a 10
ampere AC variac. The number of revolution of the vane plate is measured with a
non-contact infrared digital tachometer, by focusing at the retro-reflective tape glued
to the spindle. The spindle has a pulley welded to it that is used for calibration
purpose only. The torque provided by the rheometer was calibrated in terms of input
AC voltage by rotor blocking method. A spring balance anchored to a fixed object is
fitted to the pulley of the spindle. When the motor is switched on, the spring balance
blocks its rotor and the spring balance reading is noted. This arrangement gives the
braking torques at different voltages. In the present study, concrete was sheared at
each step for 30 seconds. Stepwise increasing shear stress sequence followed by a
decreasing shear stress was used and the down curve was taken to draw the flow
curve. Calibration of torque was validated by testing a magneto-rheological fluid
(MRF 132DG) and comparing the data with measurement made by RS1 rheometer.
The MR Fluid (magneto-rheological fluid) is a suspension of micron sized
magnetizable particles in a carrier fluid (density = 2980-3180 kg/cu.m; solid content
by weight = 80.98%; operating temperature = –40 to +130 ºC). The fluid can be used
in a shear mode. It responds to an applied magnetic field with a change in rheological
behavior. This property enables MR fluid to find its use in various control devices
such as brakes and clutches, dampers, shock absorbers etc. In many engineering
applications, Bingham model can be effectively used to describe essential fluid
properties. It was observed that both the readings agreed reasonably well. The detail
of the set up was presented elsewhere13. The expression for the total torque in the
present rheometer is given by
In the present equipment, d (diameter of the vane plate) = 0.270 m; h (effective gap
between bottom of the vane plate and the bottom of the cylinder) = 0.075 m; t (height
of the ribs of vane plate) = 0.025 m and g (effective gap of the annulus) = 0.060 m.
Substituting these in Equation 1, one has the following equation

The above Equation 2 is in Bingham's form. Comparing Equation 2 with Bingham's

equation, total shear stress (Pa) in terms of torque (N.m) can be expressed as

The overall shear strain rate (per second) in terms of rotational frequency (rpm) can
be written as
Both the quantities g. and t can be observed during the experiment. By plotting the
values of (γ, τ), one has the flow curve from which τ 0 and µ can be obtained.

After the rheological tests were over, fresh concrete mixes were transferred to the
concrete mixer again. Balance concrete and mortar left in the cylindrical container
were cleaned manually and transferred to the mixer. The concrete mixes were then
mixed for two minutes and transferred to the bucket. Concrete was placed in cube
mould in three layers; each layer compacted by 16 mm rod 25 times. Final
compaction was achieved by vibration table in a standard manner. Between 1-2 hours
of casting, when the surface of concrete in cube moulds became dry, wax based
curing compound was sprayed on the surface of concrete. After 24 hours of casting,
concrete cubes were cured in a curing tank for 28 days. Compressive strength was
determined after 28 days and the average of three readings were reported as the
required strength.

5. Proposed Method of Mix Design Procedure

Proposed method of mix design is a combination of empirical results and

mathematical calculations based on absolute volume method. The water content is
assumed to be inclusive of HRWRA content. The procedure is initiated by selecting
different mix characteristics or material proportions in the following sequence:

5.1. Estimation of yield stress and plastic viscosity

In a mix design procedure, trial batches are prepared in the laboratory and workability
is measured after arriving at all the ingredients of concrete. If the workability criterion
is satisfied, cubes or cylinders are cast for compressive strength test. If desired level
of workability is not obtained, adjustments of the constituents of concrete are again
made and trial batch is prepared. The fact that rheological parameters are fundamental
properties of fresh concrete and compressive strength is the most important hardened
property of concrete, the correlation curves between rheological properties and
compressive strength of concrete was used in the mix design. The correlation graphs
are presented in Figure 2 and 3. The details of the correlation may be found
elsewhere14.

5.2. HRWRA dose, sand content

It was observed that optimum dose of high range water reducing admixtures
(HRWRA) is around 1.5% by weight of cement beyond which it does not
significantly reduce yield stress and plastic viscosity. For yield stress, the optimum
sand content is 30% for minimum yield strength; between 30-40% sand, plastic
viscosity is minimum. IS code also assumes sand content equal to 28% when zone 2
(medium) sand is used.

5.3. Water cement ratio and aggregate-paste volume ratio

Since water-cement ratio is not a good predictor of strength in case of HPC,

relationship between water-cement ratio and compressive strength has not been used.
In fact, there may be various combinations of water-cement ratio and paste volume to
aggregate volume ratio. The water-cement ratio can be obtained from Figure 4 for a
given target strength. Extrapolation may be done to obtain values not presented in the
figure.

5.4. Aggregate content

Coarse aggregate content depends on the particle shape. The coarse aggregate content
may be determined from Aitcin1.

5.5. Cement content

Cement content may simply be calculated once aggregate volume-paste volume ratio
and water-cement ratio is known. Water content here is the free water content
including HRWRA.

5.6. Correction factors

Corrections are to be made in the mix design for different zones of sand and
maximum size of coarse aggregates. To do this, a reference mix as per IS:
10262-1982 has been considered and rheological parameters of this reference mix
were obtained with the present rheometer. The reference mix is follows:

• 53 grade OPC = 571 kg/cu.m;

• Indian Standard zone II sand = 436 kg/cu.m;
• Coarse aggregate of nominal size 10 mm = 1083 kg/cu.m;
• Water = 200 L/cu. m inclusive of HRWRA;
• PC as HRWRA = 7.7 kg/cu.m;
• Water-cement ratio = 0.35;
• Percentage sand = 28%.

Now, comparing the values of yield stress and plastic viscosity of the various other
mixes with the rheological parameters of the reference mix, correction factors have
been calculated and presented in Table 3. These correction factors were derived from
the experimental results of the variation of rheological parameters with sand gradation
and maximum size of coarse aggregates.
The steps of present mix design procedure are as follows:

• Assume sand = 28% and take air content as follows:

• For 10 mm nominal maximum size of aggregate (Msa): air = 3%
• 12.5 and 16 mm: air = 2.5%
• 20 mm: air = 2%.

These are as per the provisions of IS: 10262-1982.

• Assume HRWRA dose = 1.5% by weight of cement.

• From Figure 2 and Figure 3, read τ 0, µ for target given strength.
• Calculate correction factors: K = k1k2, K* = k1* k2* from Table 3.
• Corresponding to K τ0, obtain aggregate volume- paste volume ratio
from Figure 4 and choose water-cement ratio.
• Assume quantities of coarse aggregate from Aitcin1, depending on particle
shape.
• Calculate cement and water content.

6. Examples of Mix Design of HPC Using Proposed Method

Example 1: Data:
i) Cement: OPC, sp gravity = 3.1, 53 grade as per IS: 12269-1987.

ii) Sand: zone II as per IS: 2386-1963, sp gr = 2.6

iii) Coarse aggregate: crushed, 10 mm msa, sp gr = 2.6

iv) HRWRA: Poly-carboxylic ether polymer, no mineral admixtures.

To design a mix for target strength = 70 MPa.

a) Assume air content = 3.0 %, PC = 1.5% bwc,

b) From Figure 2 and Figure 3, obtain values of yield stress and plastic viscosity for
70 MPa as τ 0 = 310 Pa; µ = 60 Pa.s.

c) Calculate K τ 0 = 1.0 × 1.0 × 310 = 310 Pa,

K*µ = 1.0 × 1.0 × 60 = 60 Pa.s from Table 3.

d) Refer Figure 4, take w/c ratio = 0.35;

Aggregate-paste volume ratio at w/c ratio = 0.35 and K τ0 = 310 Pa is approximately

equal to 1.52.

e) Assume coarse aggregate content = 1085 kg/cu.m and sand = 435 kg/cu.m so that
sand = 28%.

f) Substitute sand and coarse aggregate content in the following expression:

The final proportions of the ingredients (kg/cu.m) are as follows:

• Cement = 573;
• Sand = 435;

• Coarse aggregate = 1085 kg/cu.m;

• Water = 200.5 kg/cu.m including HRWRA;

• HRWRA = 8.6 kg/cu.m

• Water/cement ratio = 0.35.

With the above mix proportion, rheological test was carried out and compressive
strength (cube strength) was determined after 28 days of moist curing. Prior to curing
by water, wax based curing compound was used after 2 hours from casting up to 24
hours. The laboratory results were as follows:

• τ0 = 235 Pa; m = 74 Pa.s; Slump = 170 mm and 28 day cube strength = 71.5 MPa.

Example 2: Data:

i) Cement: OPC, sp gr = 3.1, 53 grade as per IS: 12269-1987.

ii) Sand: zone III as per IS: 2386-1963, sp gr = 2.6

iii) Coarse aggregate: crushed, 16 mm msa, sp gr = 2.6

iv) HRWRA: Poly-carboxylic ether polymer, no mineral admixtures.

To design a mix for target strength = 60 MPa.

As illustrated in example 1 above, estimated yield stress = 230 Pa and plastic

viscosity = 59 Pa.s. Assuming coarse aggregate = 1085 kg/cu.m and sand = 29%, the
final mix proportions are as follows:

• Cement = 559;

• Sand = 444;
• Coarse aggregate = 1085 kg/cu.m;

• Water = 200.7 kg/cu.m including HRWRA;

• HRWRA = 7.2 kg/cu.m; Water/cement ratio = 0.36.

The laboratory results were as follows:

• τ0 =289 Pa; µ = 56 Pa.s; Slump = 180 mm and 28 day cube strength = 62.6 MPa.

Example 3: Data:

i) Cement: OPC, sp gr = 3.1, 53 grade as per IS: 12269-1987.

ii) Sand: zone III as per IS: 2386-1963, sp gr = 2.6

iii) Coarse aggregate: crushed, 16 mm msa, sp gr = 2.6

iv) HRWRA: Poly-carboxylic ether polymer, no mineral admixtures.

To design a mix for target strength = 45 MPa.

Estimated yield stress = 110 Pa and plastic viscosity = 41 Pa.s. Assuming coarse
aggregate = 1035 kg/cu.m and sand = 33%, the final mix proportions are as follows:

• Cement = 545; Sand = 516;

• Coarse aggregate = 1035 kg/cu.m;

• Water = 207 kg/cu.m including HRWRA;

• HRWRA = 8.2 kg/cu.m;

• Water/cement ratio = 0.38.

The laboratory results were as follows:

• τ0 = 160 Pa; µ = 49 Pa.s; Slump = 170 mm and 28 day cube strength = 46.2 MPa.

It may be mentioned that above mix proportion has been arrived at on the assumption
that aggregates are saturated and surface dry. For any deviation from this condition,
correction has to be applied on quantity of water as well as to the aggregate. The
calculated mix proportions shall be checked by means of trial batches. A minor
adjustment in aggregate quantity may be made to improve the finishing quality or
freedom from segregation and bleeding.

7. Conclusion

A mix design procedure for HPC has been suggested. The proposed mix design
procedure takes rheological parameters in to account to determine compressive
strength, water cement ratio and aggregate volume to paste volume ratio. Instead of
using water-cement ratio and compressive strength relationship, relationship between
compressive strength, paste volume-aggregate volume ratio, physical properties of
aggregates and rheological parameters were used in mix design. Correlation charts for
rheological parameters and compressive strength was developed based on cube test
results of several trial mixes whose rheological parameters have also been found by
the present rheometer. The ranges of Bingham parameters and compressive strength
studied in the present investigation are as follows:

• Yield stress: 40- 820 Pa;

• Plastic viscosity: 15- 120 Pa.s;

• Compressive strength (28 day): 40-90 MPa.

It is to be mentioned that it is always difficult to develop a mix design method that

can be used universally because same properties of fresh and hardened concrete can
be achieved in different ways from same materials. Since materials from different
sources can vary widely in their composition and physical characteristics, a trend
drawn from data for a single material source should not be extended to all material
sources. In fact, a broad range of data from various sources is desirable for drawing
general conclusions. The method discussed in this paper is related to calculation of the
composition of concrete containing poly-carboxylic ether polymer as HRWRA
without incorporating any mineral admixture.

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