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Introduction
The British method of concrete mix design, popularly referred to as the "DOE method is used in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world and has a long established record. The method originates from the "Road Note No 4 which was published in Great Britain in 1950 The DOE method utilizes British test data obtained at the Building Research Establishment, the Transport and Road Research Establishment, and the British Cement Association. The aggregates used in the tests conformed to BS 882 and the cements to BS 12 or BS 4027
On the basis of tests the DOE Method provides a Table and a Figure from which one can estimate the free water/cement ratio, which will provide a given strength for concrete made from given coarse aggregate and cement types. It is assumed that the workability of a concrete mix depends primarily on: The Free Water Content; The Fine Aggregate Type and, to a lesser degree, the Coarse Aggregate Type; The Maximum Size of Coarse Aggregate. On the basis of tests the DOE Method provides Figures from which on can estimate the percentage of fine aggregate, which for given a free water/cement ratio will provide a given workability for concrete made from fine aggregate of a given grading.
The mix design is carried out according to the DOE Method in the following Five stages. Stage (I):Determine Free Water/Cement Ratio Required for Strength Stage (II). Determine Free Water Content Required for Workability Stage (III). Determine Required Cement Content Stage (IV). Determine Total Aggregate Content Stage (V). Determine Fine Aggregate Content
Calculate the fine and coarse aggregate contents from the total aggregate content obtained in Stage (IV) and the percentage of fine aggregate.
Target mean strength = specified characteristic strength + Standard Deviation X Risk Factor Risk factor is on the assumption that 5% of results are allowed to fall less than the specified d characteristic strength
Table gives the approximate compressive strength of concretes made with a free w/c ratio of .50
Using the table find out the 28 days strength for the approximate type of cement and types of Coarse aggregate Mark a point on the Y axis in Fig equal to the compressive strength read form table which is at a W/C ratio of .50.through this intersection point ,draw a parallel dotted curve nearest to the intersection point Using this new curve ,we read off W/C ratio as against target mean strength.
STEP 3
Next decide water content for the required workability expressed in terms of slump taking into consideration the size of aggregate and its type from Table
Step 4
Find the cement content knowing the water/ cement ratio and water content. Cement content is calculate simply dividing water content by W/C ratio . The cement content so calculated should be compared with minimum cement content specified from the durability consideration as given in table 9.20 and higher of the two should be adopted . Sometime maximum Cement content is also specified .The calculated cement content must be less than the specified maximum cement content
Step 5
Find out the total aggregate content .This requires an estimate of the wet density of the fully compacted concrete .This can found out from Figure for appropriate water content and specific gravity of aggregate .If the specific gravity is unknown, the value of 2.6 for uncrushed aggregate and 2.7 for crushed aggregate can be assumed. The aggregate content is obtained by subtracting the weight of cement and water content from weight of fresh Concrete.
Step 6
Then, proportion of fine aggregate is determined in the total aggregate using Figure
11.5.The parameters involved in Fig are maximum size of coarse aggregate ,level of workability ,the water/cement ratio ,and the percentage of fines passing 600 micron seive.Once the proportion of F.A is obtained ,multiplying by weight of total aggregate give the weight of fine aggregate. then the weight of C.A can be found out. Course aggregate .As a general Guidance the figure given below can be used
The proportion so worked out should be tried in a trail mix and confirmed about its suitability for the given concrete structure
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