Concrete Mix Design for Paving

Many specifying authorities seek to assure the quality of concrete provided to them by choosing a prescriptive approach that narrowly defines the quality or source of raw materials, and the proportions in which they are used. This is preferred by some concrete suppliers because it relieves them of the responsibility and risk of fine tuning a mix. The negative sides is that it stifles innovation, is specific to a given locality, and may not be the most sustainable approach. The alternative is for the specification to be based on performance requirements. This means there have to be good test methods to assess the critical performance characteristics and that suppliers have to be prepared to take on additional risk along with the potential reward of reducing costs.

What is the question?

The term mix design means different things to different people. Implicit behind it are three different activities, which are all critical to the people involved. One is the act of fine tuning a mix based on ongoing data. This is common in ready-mix plants where they have a constant source of materials and some freedom to tweak a mix to maintain performance through careful quality-control monitoring. Another activity is developing new a mix using numerical models for theoretical materials that seek to optimize proportions based on assumed relationships between cost, performance, and dosage. A third approach is finding a starting point for a trial mix based on the requirements of a specification and the availability of materials in a given location. This is the position that paving contractors find

themselves in when bidding and constructing slipform pavements in different locations.

Assumptions
Time and effort goes into the structural design of a pavement. The alignment is optimized, support layers are argued over, and concrete thickness is analyzed in great detail. Implicit behind these activities is that the concrete delivered will be potentially strong and durable enough for its environment. It also is assumed that every load delivered will meet performance expectations. These performance requirements often are unclear. Typically the parameters measured include strength, air content, and slump, which provide limited information about the concrete's real quality. The questions that should be asked are: What are the critical requirements? How are they attained? How can they be measured?

What is wanted from a mix and why?

FRESH (PLASTIC) PROPERTIES. Contractors worry about fresh concrete because it affects their ability to place and finish it correctly and cost effectively. They look at: Uniformity. Operation of a slip form paving machine is

sensitive to variability from each load to load. It is desirable that every load is similar to the one before. Workability. Slip form paving is extremely sensitive to the workability of the mixtoo wet and there is edge slump, too stiff and it is difficult to consolidate and maintain smoothness. Air void system. The ability of the concrete to resist freezing and thawing cycles in cold climates is strongly dependant on the quality of the air void system. Are there enough small

bubbles to protect the concrete without reducing strength excessively? Segregation. If the mix is unstable and segregates, there is significant risk that the ability to resist abrasion from traffic is compromised. Bleeding. Mixes that do not bleed are likely to crack, but excessive bleeding will compromise the durability of the top surface of the pavement, leading to scaling and polishing. Setting. Timing of saw cutting to prevent random cracking is dependent on setting time. Variation from batch to batch will increase the risk of random cracks. Likewise, extended setting times increase the risk of plastic shrinkage cracking in hot weather. HARDENED PROPERTIES. Pavement owners primarily are concerned about how long the concrete is going to last. In addition to plastic properties, a mix also must be durable and strong. Strength. Structural designs are based on the assumption that the concrete will achieve a given strength. This is not often a problem, particularly in severe climates because the efforts to make the concrete potentially durable will lead to high strengths anyway. It should be noted that high strength is not a guarantee of durability. Rapid early strength development may be desired to facilitate construction, but may reduce longer term strength. Cracking. Premature attention paid to cracking design may lead to rapid loss of serviceability. Cracking prevention is complex and requires detailing, materials issues, and workmanship. Durability. Materials can be selected and proportioned to make the mix potentially durable. However, it may still be possible for performance to be compromised through poor workmanship, such as improper curing.

COMPROMISE. Sometimes, decisions made to address one concern may compromise another. This means that a significant effort must be paid to balancing often mutually exclusive demands. An example is that permeability will be reduced, leading to improved durability, when decreasing the water-cementitious materials ratio. However, this also will make the mix more difficult to handle and increase the risk of cracking. A sound understanding of the whole system ensures good engineering decisions.

What goes into a mix?

Concrete is a heterogeneous mixture of a number of different materials. This section discusses how these materials affect the properties of a mix. Understanding these interactions helps the designer to select the right materials and appropriate dosages. Portland cement mixed with water and supplementary cementitious materials form the paste, or glue, that binds aggregate together. The quality of the paste primarily controls the long-term performance of the system, while the quantity of the paste has a strong influence on the workability. Fine and coarse aggregates occupy the bulk of the volume and affect workability and durability. CEMENTS. Portland cement reacts with water to form a material that is strong in compression yet weak in tension. The reaction is initially rapid but slows over time, continuing in the weeks and months to follow, if water remains. If the system dries out early, the reaction stops, thereby causing the mix to fall short of its potential. This is why curing is so important. Hydration of cement paste is exothermic, meaning that considerable heat generates around the time the mix sets. The effect of that property results in the mix turning from a fluid to a solid at close to its highest temperature. Subsequent cooling to ambient temperatures sets up significant stresses, depending on the relative temperatures of the mix and the environment.

Hydrated cement paste also deforms significantly with changes in moisture content, leading to the need to control potential shrinkage and allow for it with suitable joints or reinforcing in the system. Reducing the paste content as much as possible without compromising other parameters helps reduce this effect. SUPPLEMENTARY CEMENTITIOUS MATERIALS. Fly ash and slag

cement are byproducts from other industries thatby nature of their chemistry, glassy form and particle sizereact with cement to enhance the long-term properties of a mix. In particular, permeability is significantly reduced and resistance to alkali silica reaction and sulfate attack may be improved. Side effects include a slowing of initial hydration leading to longer setting times and lower early strengths with attendant issues with cracking. AGGREGATES. The shape, gradation, and maximum size of the aggregates effect the amount of paste required to achieve workability. A single-sized coarse aggregate tends to have a large volume of void space, requiring a large amount of paste to fill it, which increases cost and potential problems with thermal and drying shrinkage. The amount of dust in an aggregate also affects how much fluid is required to wet the surface. Dust in naturally formed aggregates may contain significant amounts of clay, which leads to higher water requirements as well as increased drying shrinkage. The quality of an aggregate is governed by potential durability issues such as alkali silica reaction or d-cracking. The former may be addressed by appropriate use of supplementary cementitious materials or lithium compounds, while the latter is reduced by using a smaller maximum size, or not using it at all. WATER. The largest issue with water in concrete is that the higher the water content in the original mix, the greater the workability, and the lower the performance of the mix. Conversely, after the mix has hardened, water must be kept available for long-term hydration to

proceed. As long as water is potable, it is considered acceptable for use in concrete, although dirty water can be used if its effects on setting time and early strength remain acceptable. ADMIXTURE. Chemical admixtures are added to concrete to enhance the performance such as providing freeze/ thaw resistance, reducing the amount of water required to achieve workability, or changing the set time. Chemical admixtures should not be used to rescue a fundamentally bad mix. Dosages are specific to the product in use, the effect desired, the chemistry of the other materials in the mix, and the temperature. As such, dosages are likely to change frequently to achieve the same mix performance from batch to batch.

How much?
Having addressed what materials are in concrete and the desired performance, choosing the proportions needed to get that performance with the materials available becomes the next step. First, some definitions of terminology that have been adopted by the industry: Mix design is considered to be the process of determining required and specifiable characteristics of a concrete mixthat is, choosing what you want. Mix proportioning is the process of determining the quantities of ingredients in the mix, or choosing what to use to get what you want.

Who should choose what?

It is not always agreed on whether the engineer or the contractor should be making some of the decisions associated with mix design and mix proportioning.

Strength, air void system parameters, and w/cm are generally considered to be the engineer's choice in order to help ensure satisfactory performance.

Slump often is specified by the engineer, although it has no direct affect on concrete quality and should be based on the placement method and equipment, which may not be known at the design stage.

SCM percentage may be based on performance requirements such as alkali silica reaction, and/or on economic and constructability requirements.

Cement content does not directly affect long-term performance for a given w/cm. It should be determined at the proportioning stage to achieve the required performance using the cementitious system selected.

Aggregate

grading. Although

good

combined

grading

is

preferred, it is still possible to make good concrete with a marginal grading, especially if alternate materials are not available locally. Admixture dosage should be based on mix properties and not on a fixed number. PROPORTIONING. Once the mix design parameters have been settled, the proportioning exercise may begin. There are a number of published approaches to this activity. The ACI 211 report uses a volumetric approach that begins with a factor based on the fineness modulus of the fine aggregate and requires several iterations. The approach used by J.M. Shilstone Sr. in 1990 starts with the combined aggregate grading and uses charts to assess there is logic whether the behind selections are approaches, acceptable. they are Although, these

fundamentally empirical. Another approach, suggested by ICAR for Self-Consolidating Concrete, is to choose an aggregate system, paste quantity, and paste quality. Using this methodology the following steps may be considered:

Combine aggregates to maximize their volume. Recognize that some extra paste is required to lubricate the mix and achieve workability. This can be assessed by using Shilstone's tools.

Choose

the

cementitious limits,

system

based and

on

balance

of

specification

durability

other

performance

requirements, cost, and availability. Choose the w/cm, again to achieve the performance requirements using the cementitious system selected. Choose air content based on freezing cycles and saturation. Add sufficient paste to fill all the voids and coat the aggregates, and a bit more to achieve workability. Details of determining this amount is under research at present. Add admixtures to control final workability and setting characteristics. TRIAL BATCHES. The selection of numbers that results from this exercise are only useful to test whether the mix performs as desired. This is because there are still some factors that will influence both fresh and hardened properties that are inadequately modeled with current methods. Such factors include the influence of cementitious chemistry on strength gain and durability; the influence of aggregate shape and texture on workability and strength; and the definition and measurement of workability. Trial batches should be conducted initially in small batches to gage overall performance, then in full scale and preferably field trials to take into account affects of batch plant size and mixing efficiency, and the effects of the weather that are not observed in a temperaturecontrolled laboratory. Beware of substituting materials without additional trial mixes; the specifications for most materials are broad enough that materials of the same classification may exhibit different performance, potentially leading to severe problems.

Closing
At the most basic level, mix design and proportioning are relatively simple exercises, but in practical terms they are a complex juggling act because of the extreme complexity of the ingredients and their interactions, the limited tools available to assess performance, and the external influences of specification and contractual requirements.