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METHODS OF PROPORTIONING
CONCRETE
Home/ Concrete / METHODS OF PROPORTIONING CONCRETE

The process of relative proportions of cement, sand, coarse aggregate and water, so as to obtain a
concrete of desired quality is known as the proportioning of concrete.

The proportions of coarse aggregate, cement and water should be such that the resulting concrete
has the following properties:

1. When concrete is fresh, it should have enough workability so that it can be placed in the
formwork economically.
2. The concrete must possess maximum density or in the other words, it should be strongest
and most water-tight.
3. The cost of materials and labour required to form concrete should be minimum.

The determination of the proportions of cement, aggregates and water to obtain the required
strengths shall be made as follows:

a) By desigining the concrete mix, such concrete shall be called design mix concrete, or

b) By adopting nominal mix, such concrete shall be called nominal mix concrete.

Design mix concrete is preferred to nominal mix.

Concrete of each grade shall be analysed separately to determine its standard deviation.
Standard Deviation

Where, = deviation of the individual test strength from the average strength of n samples.

n = Number of sample test results.

METHODS OF PROPORTIONING CONCRETE

(1) Arbitrary Method

The general expression for the proportions of cement, sand and coarse aggregate is 1 : n : 2n by
volume.

1 : 1 : 2 and 1 : 1.2 : 2.4 for very high strength.

1 : 1.5 : 3 and 1 : 2 : 4 for normal works.

1 : 3 : 6 and 1 : 4 : 8 for foundations and mass concrete works.

Recommended Mixes of Concrete

The concrete as per IS 456: 2000, the grades of concrete lower than M20 are not to be used in
RCC work.

M10 1:3:6
M15 1:2:4
M20 1 : 1.5 : 3
M25 1:1:2

(2) Fineness Modulus Method:

The term fineness modulus is used to indicate an index number which is roughly proportional to
the average size of the particle in the entire quantity of aggregates.

The fineness modulus is obtained by adding the percentage of weight of the material retained on
the following sieve and divided by 100.

The coarser the aggregates, the higher the fineness modulus.

Sieve is adopted for:

All aggregates : 80 mm, 40 mm, 20 mm, 10 mm, and Nos. 480, 240, 120, 60, 30 and 15.

Coarse aggregates : mm, 40 mm, 20 mm, 10 mm, and No. 480.

Fine aggregates : Nos. 480, 240, 120, 60, 30 and 15.

Proportion of the fine aggregate to the combined aggregate by weight

Where, P = desired fineness modulus for a concrete mix of fine and coarse aggregates.

= fineness modulus of fine aggregate

= fineness modulus of coarse aggregate.

(3) Minimum Void Method (Does not give satisfactory result)

The quantity of sand used should be such that it completely fills the voids of coarse aggregate.
Similarly, the quantity of cement used shown such that it fills the voids of sand, so that a dense
mix the minimum voids is obtained.

In actual practice, the quantity of fine aggregate used in the mix is about 10% more than the
voids in the coarse aggregate and the quantity of cement is kept as about 15% more than the
voids in the fine aggregate.

(4) Maximum Density Method: (Not very Popular)

Where, D = maximum size of aggregate (i.e. coarse aggregate)

P = percentage of material finer than diameter d (by weight)

d = maximum size of fine aggregate.

A box is filled with varying proportions of fine and coarse aggregates. The proportion which
gives heaviest weight is then adopted.

(5) Water Cement Ratio Method:

According to the water cement ratio law given by Abram as a result of many experiments, the
strength of well compacted concrete with good workability is dependent only on the ratio.

The lower water content produces stiff paste having greater binding property and hence
the lowering the water-cement ratio within certain limits results in the increased strength.
 Similarly, the higher water content increases the workability, but lower the strength of
concrete.
The optimum water-cement ratio for the concrete of required compressive strength is
decided from graphs and expressions developed from various experiments.
Amount of water less than the optimum water decreases the strength and about 10% less
may be insufficient to ensure complete setting of cement. An increase of 10% above the
optimum may decrease the strength approximately by 15% while an increase in 50% may
decrease the strength to one-half.
According to Abrams Law water-cement law, lesser the water-cement ratio in a
workable mix greater will be the strength.
If water cement ratio is less than 0.4 to 0.5, complete hydration will not be secured.
Some practical values of water cement ratio for structure reinforced concrete

0.45 for 1 : 1 : 2 concrete

0.5 for 1 : 1.5 : 3 concrete

0.5 to 0.6 for 1 : 2 : 4 concrete.

Concrete vibrated by efficient mechanical vibrators require less water cement ratio, and hence
have more strength.

Thumb Rules for deciding the quantity of water in concrete:

(i) Weight of water = 28% of the weight of cement + 4% of the weight of total aggregate

(ii) Weight of water = 30% of the weight of cement + 5% of the weight of total aggregate

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CALCULATE QUANTITIES OF
MATERIALS FOR CONCRETE
Home/ Concrete / CALCULATE QUANTITIES OF MATERIALS FOR CONCRETE
Quantities of materials for the production of required quantity of concrete of given mix
proportions can be calculated by absolute volume method. This method is based on the principle
that the volume of fully compacted concrete is equal to the absolute volume of all the materials
of concrete, i.e. cement, sand, coarse aggregates and water.

The formula for calculation of materials for required volume of concrete is given by:

Where, Vc = Absolute volume of fully compacted fresh concrete

W =Mass of water

C = Mass of cement

Fa = Mass of fine aggregates

Ca = Mass of coarse aggregates

Sc, Sfa and Sca are the specific gravities of cement, fine aggregates and coarse aggregates
respectively.

The air content has been ignored in this calculation.

This method of calculation for quantities of materials for concrete takes into account the mix
proportions from design mix or nominal mixes for structural strength and durability requirement.

Now we will learn the material calculation by an example.

Consider concrete with mix proportion of 1:1.5:3 where, 1 is part of cement, 1.5 is part of fine
aggregates and 3 is part of coarse aggregates of maximum size of 20mm. The water cement ratio
required for mixing of concrete is taken as 0.45.

Assuming bulk densities of materials as follows:

Cement = 1500 kg/m3 = 93.642 lb/ft3

Sand = 1700 kg/m3 = 93.642 lb/ft3

Coarse aggregates = 1650 kg/m3 = 103 lb/ft3

Specific gravities of concrete materials are as follows:

Cement = 3.15

Sand = 2.6

Coarse aggregates = 2.6.

The percentage of entrained air assumed is 2%.

The mix proportion of 1:1.5:3 by dry volume of materials can be expressed in terms of masses
as:

Cement = 1 x 1500 = 1500

Sand = 1.5 x 1700 = 2550

Coarse aggregate = 3 x 1650 = 4950.

Therefore, the ratio of masses of these materials w.r.t. cement will as follows =

= 1 : 1.7 : 3.3

The water cement ratio = 0.45

Now we will calculate the volume of concrete that can be produced with one bag of cement
(i.e. 50 kg cement) for the mass proportions of concrete materials.

Thus, the absolute volume of concrete for 50 kg of cement =

Thus, for the proportion of mix considered, with on3 bag of cement of 50 kg, 0.1345 m3 of
concrete can be produced.

We have considered an entrained air of 2%. Thus the actual volume of concrete for 1 cubic meter
of compacted concrete construction will be = 1 -0.02 = 0.98 m3.

Thus, the quantity of cement required for 1 cubic meter of concrete = 0.98/0.1345 = 7.29 bags of
cement.

The quantities of materials for 1 m3 of concrete production can be calculated as follows:

The weight of cement required = 7.29 x 50 = 364.5 kg.

Weight of fine aggregate (sand) = 1.5 x 364.5 = 546.75 kg.

Weight of coarse aggregate = 3 x 364.5 = 1093.5 kg.

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Popular Questions

How to Calculate Cement Sand Aggregate in Concrete?

Introduce yourself.. I am a?
What is the grade of concrete(M20/M25 etc.) normally used in roof
casting?
What are the difference between Tender and Contract Documents?
How to prepare Construction Quotations and Estimate?

Recent Questions

office civil engineer

Core testing of low strength concrete M10
What kind of shuttering magnet used in your precast formwork system
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April 2 , 2014

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CONSTRUCTION

October 15 , 2013

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 August 21 , 2014

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November 3 , 2014

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October 16 , 2014

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September 4 , 2014

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July 2 , 2015

POPULAR CATEGORIES

Bridges Building Building Materials Building Technology Building Tips

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TypesConstruction Construction Management Construction Project Crack Repair Earthquake
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Guide Non-Destructive Tests Pavement Design Pile Foundation Precast Concrete Reinforcement Guide
Repair/Protection Guide Soil Soil Engineering Special Concrete Steel Design Steel Structures Structural
Analysis Structural Design Structural Engineering Structures Surveying Tests on
Concrete Tips Transportation Water Resources Work Procedures

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