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ACI CONCRETE MIX DESIGN (Plain Reinforced Concrete Design)

Presentation · November 2023

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.24897.53602

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Mudassar Fiaz
International Islamic University, Islamabad
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ACI CONCRETE
MIX DESIGN Mudassar Fiaz
263-BSCE/F21
Plain Reinforced Concrete Design
WHAT IS CONCRETE MIX DESIGN?
• The concrete mix design means to find the types of materials to be used in the concrete mix in
addition to their quantities.

• If you have previous data on a certain mixture design, you can use these data to find mix design
that suits your situation. When there are no existing records or they are insufficient, the concrete
mixture must be determined by trial mixtures.
CONCRETE MIX DESIGN BY ACI
• A concrete is mainly composed of sand, concrete, gravel and water in addition with small
amount of admixtures.
REQUIRED DATA FOR MIX DESIGN
Certain design objectives must be established beforehand. These are as follows:

1. Required 28-day compressive strength, f′c.

2. Portland cement content based upon a water-to-cement (w/c) ratio.
3. Under certain conditions, the minimum specified cement content.
4. Maximum allowable w/c ratio.
5. Maximum size of the large aggregates.
6. Acceptable range of slumps and the percent of air for an air-entrained concrete.
REQUIRED DATA FOR MIX DESIGN
Also, some physical properties of used materials need to be determined in lab before proceeding
with the design process, which are:

1. Apparent specific gravity of the Portland cement.

2. Bulk specific gravities and percent of moisture present in the saturated surface dry (SSD)
condition for both the coarse and fine aggregates.
3. Rodded unit weight of the coarse aggregates. Fineness modulus (FM) of the fine aggregates.
4. Free moisture present in both the coarse and the fine aggregates.
STEPS FOR CONCRETE MIX DESIGN
1. Choice of slump.
2. Maximum aggregate size selection.
3. Mixing water and air content selection.
4. Estimation of required compressive strength.
5. Selection of Water-cement ratio.
6. Calculation of Cement content.
7. Estimation of Coarse aggregate content.
8. Estimation of weight of fresh concrete.
9. Estimation Fine aggregate content.
10. Adjustments for aggregate moisture.
1. CHOICE OF SLUMP:
Recommended Slumps for various types of Construction
If slump is not specified, a value
appropriate for the work can be Table 1 Slump In Max Slump In Min
selected from the Table. Reinforced
Foundation Walls 3 1
and Footings

Types of Construction
Plain Footings and
Substructure Walls
3 1

Beams and
Reinforced Walls
4 1

Buildings Columns 4 1

Pavements and Slabs 3 1

2. MAXIMUM AGGREGATE SIZE SELECTION
ACI 211.1 states that the maximum CA size
should not exceed:

1. one-fifth of the narrowest dimension

between sides of forms.
2. one-third the depth of slabs.
3. 3/4-ths of the minimum clear spacing
between individual reinforcing bars,
bundles of bars, or pre-tensioning
strands.
3. MIXING WATER AND AIR CONTENT
SELECTION. Table 2
The ACI Method uses
past experience to
give a first estimate
for the quantity of
water per unit volume
of concrete required to
produce a given
slump. The
approximate amount
of water required for
average aggregates is
given in Table.
3. MIXING WATER AND AIR CONTENT
SELECTION.
Water Content for air entrained concrete is:
4. ESTIMATION OF REQUIRED
COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH.
For required average compressive strength fc′r, which is to be used as the basis for calculating
concrete mix proportions, shall be the larger of following Eqs:
fc′r = fc′ + 1.34S
fc′r = fc′ + 2.33S – 500 Table 3
5. SELECTION OF WATER-CEMENT RATIO.
The required water/cement ratio is determined by strength, durability, and finish ability. The
appropriate value is chosen from prior testing of a given system of cement and aggregate or a
value is chosen from Table 3 and 4.
Table 4
6. CALCULATION OF CEMENT CONTENT.
The amount of cement is fixed by the determinations made in Steps 4 and 5 above.
The mathematical formula for determining the cement content is:

𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 = 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒r

𝑤/c
7. ESTIMATION OF COARSE AGGREGATE
CONTENT.
The most economical concrete will have as much as possible space occupied by CA since it will
require no cement in the space filled by CA.
8. ESTIMATION OF WEIGHT OF FRESH
CONCRETE.
Table give an estimation of total wright of fresh concrete based on nominal maximum size of
aggregate.
9. ESTIMATION FINE AGGREGATE CONTENT.
At the completion of Step 8, all ingredients of the
concrete have been estimated except the fine
aggregate. Its quantity can be determined by
difference if the “absolute volume” displaced by
the known ingredients-, (i.e., water, air, cement,
and coarse aggregate), is subtracted from the
unit volume of concrete to obtain the required
volume of fine aggregate. Then once the volumes
are knowing the weights of each ingredient can
be calculated from the specific gravities.
10. ADJUSTMENTS FOR AGGREGATE MOISTURE.
Aggregate weights. Aggregate volumes are calculated based on oven dry unit weights, but
aggregate is typically batched based on actual weight. Therefore, any moisture in the aggregate will
increase its weight and stockpiled aggregates almost always contain some moisture. Without
correcting for this, the batched aggregate volumes will be incorrect. Amount of mixing water. If the
batched aggregate is anything but saturated surface dry it will absorb water (if oven dry or air dry)
or give up water (if wet) to the cement paste. This causes a net change in the amount of water
available in the mix and must be compensated for by adjusting the amount of mixing water added.
TRIAL BATCH ADJUSTMENTS
The ACI method is written on the basis that a trial batch of concrete will be prepared in the
laboratory, and adjusted to give the desired slump, freedom from segregation, finish ability, unit
weight, air content and strength.
STEPS FOR CONCRETE MIX DESIGN
Now we will determine quantity of materials in a mix design concrete with the help of example:

EXAMPLE :
Concrete is required for an exterior column located above ground where substantial freezing and
thawing may occur. The 28-day compressive strength should be 4500 lb/in2 . The slump should be
between 1 and 2 in. and the maximum aggregate size should not exceed 3/4 in. Take S = 350 lb/in2 .
The properties of the materials are as follows:

1. Cement: Type I, specific gravity = 3.15

2. Coarse Aggregate: Bulk specific gravity (SSD) = 2.70; absorption capacity = 1%; dry-rodded unit
weight = 100 lb/ft.3 ; surface moisture = 0%
3. Fine Aggregate: Bulk specific gravity (SSD) = 2.65; absorption capacity = 1.3%; fineness modulus =
2.70; surface moisture = 3%
STEP #01 :
Slump = 1-2 inches

STEP #02 :
Maximum Aggregate size = ¾ inches

STEP #03 :
Water Content And Air Content (Air Entrained)
W = 280 lb/yd3 , Air = 6% (From Table)

STEP #04 :
Compressive Strength
fćr = fć+1.33S (Given: S=350)
= 4500+(350x1.33) = 4969psi
= 5000psi
STEP #05 :
Water Cement Ratio
W/C = 0.4 (From Table)

STEP #06 :
Cement Content
CC = Water Content = 280
W/C 0.4
= 700 lb/yd3

STEP #07 :
Course Aggregate Content
Ratio = 0.63 (From Table)
CA = 0.63x100x27lb/yd3 (1yd3 = 27ft3)
= 1701lb/yd3
STEP #08 :
Fresh Weight of Concrete
= 3840 lb/yd3 (From Table)

STEP #09 :
Weight of Fine Aggregates
FA = Weight of Concrete-CA-WC-CC
= 3840-1701-280-700
= 1159 lb/yd3

STEP #10 : Moisture Content = Absorption Capacity + Surface Moisture

Moisture Adjustment →FA = 1% + 0% = 1% = 0.001
CA = CC x (1 + MC of CA) →CA= 1.3% + 3% =4.3 = 0.043
= 1701 x (1+0.001) = 1718 lb/yd3
FA = Fine Content x (1 + MC of FA)
= 1197 x (1+0.043) = 1248 lb/yd3
FINAL WEIGHTS :
W = 280 lb/yd3 Cement = 700 lb/yd3
CA = 1718 lb/yd3 FA = 1248 lb/yd3 Cement

MIX RATIO: Course

C : FA : CA Aggregate
700 : 1248 : 1718 Fine
Aggregates
FINAL RATIO: ( ÷ by 700 )

1 : 1.782 : 2.45
 THANK YOU
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