DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

CE 1132 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS Practical 3

Assignment Design of concrete mix according to BRE mix design method Marks 5%
Learning Ability to design specified concrete mix having specified properties using
Outcome available materials according to BRE mix design method
1. Application of knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering 1

2. Effective communication 0

3. In-depth technical competence in at least one engineering discipline 2

4. Ability to undertake problem identification, formulation and solution 3

5. Ability to utilize a systems approach to design and operational
3
performance
Programme
6. Individual and team work 2
Outcomes
7. Understanding of the social, cultural, global and environmental
responsibilities of the professional engineer, and the need for sustainable 0
development
8. Understanding of the principles of sustainable design and development 0
9. Understanding of professional and ethical responsibilities and
1
commitment to them
10. Expectation of the need to undertake life-long learning and capacity to
2
do so
0 not covered under this 1 covered to some extent
2 covered to a greater extent 3 one of the main themes of the subject
Lecturer Prof. S.M.A. Nanayakkara

Student Name
Registration Number:
Date of Assignment: Date Due:
Initial Submission Date: Re Submission Date:

Assessed By:
Signature Date

Lecturers Remarks

Important

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 1 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

1. Please note that plagiarism is treated as a serious offence and therefore the work you
produce must be individual and original.
2. All sources of information must be referenced using Harvard Referencing where a
reference list / Bibliography should be included at the end of the assignment.
3. Please note that the submission date given for the assignment (14 days after the date of
performance for the laboratory session) is the final date that you can submit the assignment.
If the given submission date is a public holiday, redefined submission deadline will be at
1300 hr of the immediate following working day. Late submissions will be graded lower.
4. Assignments returned to students for corrections must be re-submitted within 10 days
5. Failure to re-submit the previously marked assignment with the re-submitted assignment
will mean that results cannot be released for the respective unit.

Plagiarism

Although research and discussion form an essential part of the assignment, deliberate copying of
the work of others or unacknowledged copying from printed or electronic sources is NOT
permitted. Disciplinary actions will be taken against those who are found guilty of plagiarism.
Signing of this sheet is required to indicate your compliance with the above regulations.

Students Signature: .. Date: .

Students Comments, (Prior to the submission) if any:

..
...
.
..

Students feedback, (After the the submission) if any:

..
..
..
...
.
..

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 2 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

BRE MIX DESIGN METHOD ( DoE mix design method)

The Departrnent of the Environment of the Building Research Establishment (BRE) of United
Kindom published the document "Design of normal concrete mixes" in 1975, originated from the
long established Road Note 4 and revised in 1988. The second edition of this publication was
published in 1997 with minor amendments to allow for changes in the terminology and
properties of the materials used and for changes in various British Standard Specifications. This
method is known as DoE method which replaces traditional method based on Road Note 4 but
this method follows broadly similar principles to those used in Road Note 4.

Requirements to be specified in this method are;

1. characteristic compressive strength fmin( and % defectives.),

2. Cement Strength class,
3. slump,
4. maximum aggregate size,
5. maximum free water/cement ratio,
6. maximum cement content,
7. minimum cement content,

STEP 1: Estimation of free w/c ratio

In order to allow for the variability of concrete strength, a target mean strength is defined as
follows:
f m fc K s
Where, f m = target mean strength
fc specified characteristic strength
K probability factor (depends on the % defectives)
S standard deviation ( based on the past test results)

Since the strength of a concrete mainly depends on the free water cement ratio, consideration of
strength leads to the determination of the free/water cement ratio. (Using compressive strength
vs. free water/cement ratio graph)

STEP 2: Estimation of free water content

Since the workability of concrete depends on the size and type of aggregate and on the free water
content, the free water content is found using the three factors (i.e specified slump, max. size of
agg. and type of agg.) which are known. The free water content is obtained from Table 3.

STEP 3: Estimation of cement content

The cement content is now determined from the free water content & the free water/ cement
ratio. This cement content should be checked against the minimum & maximum values specified
in BS 8110.

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 3 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

STEP 4: Estimation of aggregate content

The free water content and the relative density of the aggregate on saturated surface dry basis are
used to determine the density of the fully compacted concrete, and hence the total aggregate
content. If no information is available regarding relative density, an approximation can be made
by using a value of 2.6 for uncrushed and 2.7 for crushed aggregate.

STEP 5: Estimation of coarse & fine aggregate contents

The percentage of fine aggregate content in the total aggregate content depends on grading of
fine aggregate. For a given slump & w/c ratio, the proportion of fine aggregates is obtained from
charts given in BRE publication (Fig.4). This is used to calculate the fine aggregate content and
the coarse aggregate content.

STEP 6 : Adjustment for moisture in aggregates

The calculations described in Step 5 are based on the assumption that the aggregates are in the
saturated surface dry condition but the actual moisture content of the aggregates can vary
significantly from this condition, and will influence the amount of water that should be added to
the mixture.

If the aggregates are wet (the moisture content is greater than the absorption capacity), the
aggregates contain free moisture that will be added to the batch of concrete. If the aggregates are
air dry (the moisture content is less than the absorption capacity), the aggregates will pull water
from the mixture. In both cases, the slump of the fresh concrete and the strength of the hardened
concrete will differ from the expected values. Therefore, the actual amount of water supplied
with the aggregates must be calculated so that the correct amount of water is added to the
mixture. In addition, the desired weight of the aggregates must be adjusted for the change in
water content.

CALCULATION OF QUANTITIES FOR TRIAL MIX

The last step of the mix design process is the calculation of quantities for trial mix. The
calculated proportions are based on a yield of 1 m3. The desired volume of trial mix is 0.035 m3.
Further adjustment to the trial mix proportions can be made depending on the performance of the
trial mix.

CALCULATIONS

Specified characteristic strength of concrete = .N/mm2 at days with 5 %

defective.

As there is insufficient data to calculate the variation in strength of concrete produced in the
laboratory, the standard deviation is obtained from curve A in Figure 1 below.

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 4 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

Figure 1: Relationship between std. deviation and characteristic strength

Standard deviation = N/mm2

K . For .. defective from Table 1.

Table 1 : Probability factor K

% Defective K
10 1.28
5 1.64
2.5 1.96
1 2.33
Margin = K Standard deviation
= .
= N/mm2
Target mean strength = characteristic strength + margin
= . +
= . N/mm2

Cement type = Ordinary Portland Cement

Aggregate type Coarse: crushed
Fine : uncrushed

From Table 2, obtain the approximate compressive strength of concrete with free water/ cement
ratio of 0.5 for the reqired strength class of cement, coarse aggregate tpye and age.

Draw the curve through the selected strength data from Table 2 parallel to the family of curves in
Figure 2. Obtain the free w/c ratio corresponding to the target mean strength.

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 5 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

Table 2: Approximate compressive Strength of concrete mixes made with 0.5 w/c ratio

Figure 2: Relation between compressive strength and free water/cement ratio

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 6 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

Check value found from the graph with the maximum free water/cement ratio spefied and use the
minimum value.

Free water cement ratio = .

The specified slump = mm.
The specified maximum size of aggregate =.. mm.
From Table 3, the approximate free water content required to give the specified slump with the
given maximum size of aggregate is . kg/m3 for crushed aggregates
and . kg/m3 for uncrushed aggregates

Table 3: Approximate free water content required to give various levels of workability.

Maximum size of
Slump(mm) 0-10 10-30 30-60 60-180
aggregate
V-B (sec) >12 6-12 3-6 0-3
(mm) (in)
Type of
aggregate
Uncrushed 150 180 205 225
10 (3/8)
Crushed 180 205 230 250
Unrushed 135 160 180 195
20 (3/4)
Crushed 170 190 210 225
Uncrushed 115 140 160 175
40 (3/2)
crushed 155 175 190 205

Note: When coarse and fine aggregates of different types are used the free water content is
estimaated by the expression:
2 1
3 3
where Wf = free-water content appropriate to type of fine aggregate
and Wc = free-water content appropriate to type of coarse aggregate.

The free water content required with uncrushed fine aggregate and crushed coarse
............. 2 ................ W f 2 WC
aggregate is ..........kgm3
3 3

The free water content =. kg/m3

Hence, cement content = (Free water content)/(w/c) ratio
=..
=.. kg/m3

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 7 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

Cl 6.2.4.1 of BS 8110 limits the cement content to 550 kg/m3 unless consideration is given to
shrinkage cracks/ thermal stresses. Similarly, Table 3.4 &Table 6.2 (BS 8110) give the minimum
cement content. Check the calculated cement content is within the maximum and minimum
limits and select the appropriate cement content.

Cement content is .. kg/m3.

Figure: 3 Estimated wet density for fully compacted concrete

The relative density of aggregate on saturated surface dry basis = .

From Figure 3, the concrete density = kgm3 .
The aggregate content =
=
Total aggregate content =.. kg/m3

(Total aggregate content = concrete density free water content cement content)

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 8 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

Figure 4: Recommended % of fine aggregate as a function of free w/c ratio for various values
of workability and max. agg. sizes . Numbers on each graph are the % of fines passing through a
600 m sieve.

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 9 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

Figure 4 (continued)

For maximum size of aggregate mm, slump of .. and fine aggregate with % of fines
passing through 600 m sieve ,

from Figure 4, the proportion of fine aggregate is %

Fine aggregate content = Total aggregate content fine aggregate proportion
= . %
= ..
Fine aggregate content = ...kg/m3
Coarse aggregate content = total aggregate content - fine aggregate content
=.
=. kg/m3

Adjustment of estimated coarse and fine aggregate contents to account for the surface moisture

Coarse aggregate:
Water absorption (WA) =%
Total moisture content (MC) =.%
Fine aggregate:
Water absorption =%
Total moisture content =.%

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 10 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

Moist aggregate content = SSD aggregate content x (1+(MC-WA)/100)

Fine aggregate content =.x ..= kg/m3
Coarse aggregate content =.x= kg/m3

Free water content of moist aggregates = Wt of moist agg.- wt. SSD aggregate content
Hence adjusted water content = ..- ..-.. kg/m3
= kg/m3
Trial Mix proportion
Quantities to produce ..m3 of fully compacted concrete:
Cement = .kg
Fine aggregate = .kg
Coarse aggregate = .kg
Water content = .........kg

Note1

It is important to treat the estimated water content from a paper mix design only as a guide to
the amount needed for the required workability. When the slump has been measured and, if
necessary, adjustment made to the water content and the slump retested, the total amount of
water added should be recorded.

Note 2
Quantities of materials per cubic meter should be calculated from the mix proportions used in
trial test and the wet density measured as follows:

Cement content, (C) = (c) (kg) scale factor

where the scale factor is = PD/ Total trial batch weight (kg)

(c) is the trial batch weight of cement and (PD) is the measured wet density. Similarly,
calculations may be made for the quantities of the other materials.

Test results

Initial Slump =mm

Amount of water added (if any) =kg
Final slump =.mm

Wet Density =.. kgm3

. day compressive strength of concrete

Cube 1 Cube 2 Cube 3

. . .

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 11 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

Adjustment of mix proportions

When results of the strength tests become available they are compared with the target mean
strength. If necessary an adjustment is made to the water/cement ratio by using the curves of
Figure 2. Two examples of this adjustment are shown in Figure 5,

where:
A represents the reference data given in Table 2 for the particular types of aggregate and
cement to be used and the appropriate age of test
B represents the free-water/cement ratio estimated for the trial mix
B' represents the actual free-water/cement ratio used in the trial mix when different from
B. (This situation arises if the water content of the concrete is adjusted during the
manufacture of the trial mix)
C represents the strength result of the test specimens made from the trial mix
D represents the new estimate of the free-water/cement ratio required to give the target
mean strength.

Figure 5: Two examples of the process for adjusting a

water/cement ratio using the results of a trial mix

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 12 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

B.Sc Engineering, Semester II, CE 1132 Building Construction and Materials Page 13 of 14
DepartmentofCivilEngineering

UniversityofMoratuwa

Marking Scheme:
Measurements 35%: Precision, Reliability

Calculations & Results 25%: Accuracy, Methodology, Presentation
Discussion 25%: Content, Arrangement, Presentation
Coursework Presentation 15%: Neatness, Clarity, Accordance to the format

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