Mix design procedure, tests,

and standards 1
Mohammed Sonebia, Ammar Yahiab
a
Queens’ University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom, bUniversity of Sherbrooke,
Sherbrooke, QC, Canada

1.1 Mix design procedure of SCC

1.1.1 Background
The mix design of SCC is chosen to achieve the required all performance criteria for
the concrete in both the fresh and hardened states. As in the case of vibrated concrete,
the water-to-supplementary cementitious materials (w/cm) is one of the fundamental
mixture parameters governing the properties, including rheology, strength, and dura-
bility of SCC. As in the case of normal vibrated concrete, the w/cm is one of the fun-
damental key factor governing. However, in designing SCC, there are a number of
factors that should be taken into consideration to a greater degree than conventional
concrete. These include: (1) properties of locally available raw materials, including
physical properties of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) mineral additions
and aggregates, (2) proper selection of chemical admixtures to ensure good compat-
ibilities with the selected SCM, and (3) adapt the fresh properties given the casting
method (pumping, etc.), geometry of cast element and reinforcing bars arrangements.
Mix design of SCC should consider both the fresh and hardened properties
according to the application on hand. The consideration shall include specifications
for the content of SCM and fillers, the water content or w/cm, the volume of coarse
aggregate, the sand-to-aggregate ratio (S/A), as well as the air content for durability
specifications. Proper selection of the type and combinations of chemical admixtures
is part of the mix design process and depends on the flow characteristics requirement
given the application on hand. In principle, three basic mixture-proportioning
approaches for designing SCC mixtures have been used: powder type (i.e. increasing
the powder content and fine fractions in the form of fly ash, blast-furnace slag or lime-
stone filler); viscosity agent type (i.e. using suitable viscosity-modifying admixture to
improve stability of the mixture); and combined type (i.e. combining the above-
mentioned approaches).

1.1.2 Mix design approach

In principle, three different approaches have been used for the production of SCC. The
first approach consists in increasing the content of ultra-fines particles by the addition
of SCM. This approach was mainly based on increasing the supplementary
Self-Compacting Concrete: Materials, Properties, and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817369-5.00001-5
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