Equation-Based Concrete Mix Proportioning

Mix proportioning of pumping concrete is a more critical process than hand-placed concrete as all the components of the concrete mixture are pushed to their limits. Thus, the procedures of existing mix design methods that are commonly adopted for designing normal strength hand placed concrete mixes cannot be directly applied for designing pumping concrete mixes. The present study is the humble effort to develop an approach for the optimum selection of water-cement ratio and water reduction in a mix proportioning of pumping concrete to ensure the required strength and pumping capability of a mix. The concept of paste content has been used to determine the pumping capability of a mix. Indian Standard (IS) method has been used for the mix proportioning of pumping concrete. Empirical equations have been derived and used to predict the water-cement ratio and water reduction for the mix proportioning of pumping concrete. Mixes of different workability has been related to standardizing the mix proportioning of pumping concrete with the same derived empirical equations.