Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Step 1: Aggregate FMs. As indicated in the table be- Step 5: Cement content. We desire a moderate ce-
low, our coarse aggregate (gravel) has an FM of 4.82 ment-to-aggregate ratio of 1:10 (per ratio listings on
and our fine aggregate (sand) has an FM of 2.75. page 368). For the required aggregate design batch
weight of 4,500 pounds the required cement is:
1 = 450 lbs.
___
Percentage retained on each sieve cement weight = 4,500
10
3
Material 8⁄ 4 8 16 30 50 100 Pan FM Step 6: Water content. Our experience in produc-
ing similar units indicates that a good total water con-
Fine —- 1 10 15 27 32 14 1 2.75
tent to start with is about 5.5% of total batch weight
Coarse —- 24 48 21 3 2 1 1 4.82 (4,500 pounds of aggregate + 450 pounds of cement)
or in this case 272 pounds of water. We know, per
Step 2: Aggregate proportioning. Knowing the FMs Step 4c, that the sand contains 5% moisture (122
we can calculate the aggregate proportions for the mix: pounds) and the gravel contains 2% moisture (41
4.82 - 3.70 1.12 pounds). This 163 pounds of water already contained
X = __________ (100) = _____ (100) = 54% in the aggregate is subtracted from the required
4.82 - 2.75 2.07
amount of water (272 pounds), leaving 109 pounds of
X = 54% fine aggregate water to be batched. Since water weighs 8.34 pounds
Y = 46% coarse aggregate per gallon, about 13 gallons of water will be used in
the first trial batch.
Step 3: Batch proportions. Our dry aggregate de- Total initial batch weights are as follows:
sign batch weight is 4,500 pounds, so we calculate: Cement 450 lbs.
4,500 54% = 2,430 lbs. of fine aggregate Sand (5% moisture) 2,552 lbs.
4,500 46% = --------
2,070 lbs. of coarse aggregate Gravel (2% moisture) 2,111 lbs.
4,500 total design batch weight Added water 109 lbs. (about 13 gallons)
of aggregate
from the initial (wet) weight, and weight to the original design batch CMU. Cement binds aggregate par-
divide it by the final weight. This is weight. Or simply multiply the de- ticles and partially fills spaces be-
the moisture correction factor. sign batch weight for each aggre- tween them.
4d. Adjust the batch weight of gate by one plus the moisture cor- 5a. Choose the cement-to-aggre-
each aggregate to maintain the rection factor (found in 4c). gate ratio that will achieve the nec-
proper mix proportions. Multiply essary CMU properties with aggre-
the design batch weight for each Step 5: Determine cement content. gates being used in the mix. Below
aggregate (3a) by the moisture cor- Cement is the final component are ranges of cement-to-aggregate
rection factor (4c) and add this needed to produce a high-quality ratios that can be used for various
Normal-weight
Sieve size Min. Max. Ideal
3
⁄"
8 0 5 0
4 20 30 25
8 10 23 15
16 10 20 15
30 10 20 15
50 10 20 15
100 0.5 15 10
Pan 0.2 10 5
FM = 3.7
Medium-weight
Sieve size Min. Max. Ideal
3
⁄"
8 0 0.3 0
4 12 22 17
8 18 27.5 23
16 16 25 20
30 11 19 15
50 5 13 9
100 5 11 7
Pan 7 13 9
FM = 3.67
Lightweight
Sieve size Min. Max. Ideal
3
⁄"
8 0.5 5 0.5
4 17 28 21
8 21 30 25.5
16 13 21 17
30 7.5 15.8 11.5
50 5 13 9
100 5.3 10.5 6.5
Pan 0.7 13.1 9
FM = 3.84
Just a start
The mix design techniques de-
scribed above can be used to de-
sign mixes for normal-weight, PUBLICATION #J960363
medium-weight, and lightweight Copyright © 1996, The Aberdeen Group
units. Extra care should be taken All rights reserved