Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols.

405-408 (2013) pp 2782-2788 Online: 2013-09-03

© (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.405-408.2782

Research on the Mixture Ratio Design of Ultra-High Strength Concrete

LiBin Xu1,3,a,, NaiQian Feng2,3,Ir. Dr.Tew Kia Hui 3
1
Guizhou Science Research and Design Institute of CSCES, China
2
Tsinghua University, China
3
Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
a
xudingding1980@163.com

Keywords: ultra-high strength concrete, mineral admixtures, mixture ratio design

Abstract: Ultra-high strength concrete (including the coarse aggregate of over 5mm), with high
compressive strength and strong durability, is regarded as a new-type building material that could
economize on raw materials, land and energy and the development trend of concrete technology both
at home and abroad. However, the large consumption of binding materials, low water-binder ratio and
the viscous mixture are prone to give rise to the inferior pumping capacity, pipe blockage and pipe
break, thus preventing its massive application in the real projects. Therefore, through the design of
reasonable mixture ratio, this paper makes up and produces the pumping ultra-high strength concrete
of over 100MPa that contains coarse aggregate by adopting the compound design of mineral
admixtures, such as slag powder, fly ash and ganister sand so as to optimize the relevant parameter of
the mixture ratio. Finally it comes to the conclusion that while making up the ultra-high strength
concrete of over 100MPa, it is much more reasonable to appropriately add the mixing amount of the
mineral admixtures, increase the water-cement ratio and decrease the water-binder ratio.

Introduction
Currently, with the massive construction of the skyscrapers (with building height of over 400m),
the ultra-high strength concrete of more than 100MPa (including the coarse aggregate) has been
developed and applied. C80 high strength and high performance concrete is applied to Burj Dubai of
UAE, the tallest building in the world (the height is 828 meters) and C100 concrete is applied to
Guangzhou International Financial Center (the height is 441 meters). Therefore, on the basis of the
features of the mineral admixtures, such as the slag powder, fly ash and ganister sand, this paper
makes up the pumping ultra-high strength and high performance concrete of over 100MPa that could
meet the requirements of super-high pumping by adopting the mixture ratio design of high
water-cement ratio and low water-binder ratio.

Selection of Raw Materials

In this paper, PO42.5 and PII52.5 cement are selected with their 28d compressive strength of
48MPa and 60MPa. Meanwhile, S95 slag powder is also selected with the 28d activity index of
102%; the specific surface area of ganister sand is 16.8 m2/g and the SiO2 content is 95% with the
activity index of 110%. Meanwhile, the specific surface area of ground phosphate rock is 420 m2/kg
with the 28d activity index of 89.1(%). The II-level fly ash is also selected.

Mixture Ratio Design Thoughts

Along with the progress of concrete technology, it is by no means a difficult task to make up a
concrete of over 100MPa. Actually, the real difficulty lies in the fulfillment of the workability and
durability while meeting the demands of the ultra-high strength. Due to the super viscosity of the high
strength and high performance concrete, the shear force between the concrete and the pipe increases in
the process of pumping. The information shows that the adhesive force is 0.01MPa when the
W/C=0.385 and 0.04MPa when the W/C=0.28, which is 4 times larger than the former[1]. Therefore,

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 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 405-408 2783

so as to make up the C100 UHPC and UHP-SCC and fulfill the technical demands of ultra-high
pumping, the contradictions between low W/B and high fluidity shall be addressed, so does the
contradictions between high viscosity of the mixture and the fluidity, the contradictions between
high-pressure pumping and anti-segregation delamination as well as the contradictions between
construction under high temperature, long distance transportation, ultra-high pumping and long-time
plasticity-maintenance. The technical plans for solving the contradictions between ultra-high strength
and high fluidity of high performance concrete include:
①.Optimize the grading of aggregate, decrease the voidage so as to give full play of the lubrication
of the slurry and increase the fluidity of the concrete;
②.Use the polycarboxylate superplasticizer of high water-reducing rate and decrease the
water-binder ratio of the concrete (below 0.22) and increase the fluidity;
③.Capitalize on the activity of the ultrafine mineral powder and the filling effect of the powder to
decrease the water-binder ratio of the concrete, increase the fluidity and the strength and improve the
durability of the concrete.

Experimental Results and Discussions

Mixture Ratio Design of Concrete of 70~100MPa
The experiment of this stage selects 40 groups of concrete mixture ratio with design strength grade
ranging from 75MPa to105MPa and slumps restricted around 200mm. The dosage of the binding
materials is controlled around 500 kg/m3, 550 kg/m3, 600 kg/m3 and 650kg/m3. The proportion
adjustment of the binding materials is shown in Table 1. The water consumption is controlled around
160~165 kg/m3, the water-binder ratio around 0.32~0.25 and sand coarse aggregate ratio around
0.38~0.42. In this stage of experiment, machine-made sand, which contains 3.1% of mountain flour,
is utilized for preparation. It is necessary to consider about the influence of the mix design parameters
like binding material dosage, water-binder ratio, water consumption per cubic meter and sand coarse
aggregate ratio on workability of concrete and 3d, 7d and 28d compressive strength.

Table 1 The Adjusted Proportion of the Mineral Admixtures of Different Varieties

in Binding Materials
No. Proportion of Mineral Admixture
1 100% Cement
2 80% Cement+20% Slag Powder
3 90% Cement+10% Ganister Sand
4 80% Cement+20%Phosphorous Slag Powder
5 80% Cement+20% Fly ash
6 70% Cement+20% Slag Powder+10% Phosphorous Slag Powder
7 70% Cement+20% Slag Powder+10% Fly ash
8 70% Cement+15% Phosphorous Slag Powde+15% Fly ash
9 60% Cement+25% Slag Powder+5% Ganister Sand+10% Phosphorous Slag Powder
10 60% Cement+25% Slag Powder+5% Ganister Sand +10% Fly ash
2784 Progress in Industrial and Civil Engineering II

Table 2 Linear Regression Analysis Table for the Relations between Binder-Water Ratio,
Cement-Water Ratio and Strength
Operational Formula for the Relationship between Linearly Dependent
No. Age
Binder-Water Ratio and Strength Coefficient
1 3d f=21.5×(B/W)-9.1 R2=0.57
2 7d f=18.2×(B/W)+11.5 R2=0.53
3 28d f=23.6×( B/W)+3.4 R2=0.49
Operational Formula for the Relationship between
/ / /
Cement-Water Ratio and Strength
4 3d f=8.3 ×(C /W) +44.9 R2=0.22
5 7d f=4.7× (C /W) +63.2 R2=0.09
6 28d f=1.8×(C /W)) +82.4 R2=0.01
Operational Formula for the Relationship between
/ / /
Binder-Water Ratio, Cement-Water Ratio and Strength
7 3d f=19.7 ×( B / W) + 2.3 × (C /W) -8.6 R2=0.58
8 7d f=19.1 ×( B / W) -1.1 × (C /W) +11.3 R2=0.53
9 28d f=29.5 ×( B / W) -7.3 × (C /W) +2.0 R2=0.59

Table 2 shows that, due to the addition of slag powder, fly ash and ganister sand to the high strength
concrete, the linear dependence between strength and binder-water ratio, cement-water ratio is not
that obvious, which is demonstrated by the small linear dependence R2 in Table 2. To explore the
reasons, for one thing, the different contribution rate of mineral admixtures to strength gives rise to
the poor linear dependence; for another, the brittleness of the ultra-high strength concrete, evenness of
the test-piece and the internal deficiencies are prone to give rise to the discrete strength values.
However, the following rules could be drawn from Table 2:
①The first to the third formula is derived in Table 2 when the binder-water ratio and compressive
strength are separately analyzed. The binder-water ratio has a positive correlation with the
compressive strength; to be more specific, the large binder-water ratio is usually accompanied with
the high strength. Meanwhile, the correlation slowly decreases along with the growth of the age.
②The fourth to the sixth formula is derived in Table 2 when the cement-water ratio and
compressive strength are separately analyzed. The cement-water ratio has a positive correlation with
the compressive strength; specifically, the large cement-water ratio is usually accompanied with the
high strength. However, the linear correlation dramatically decreases along with the growing age.
Such fact indicates that when making up the high strength cement, the cement may exert enormous
influences on the early strength; however, with the ongoing of the hydration reaction, the28d
compressive strength’s linear correlation with cement-water ratio is virtually zero, indicating that the
28d compressive strength is free from the influence of the cement-water ratio, which is contrary to the
rule of “cement-water ratio decides the strength”. To analyze the reasons, it finds out that the mineral
admixtures, such as mineral powder, ganister sand, fly ash and phosphorous slag powder, with
superior activity, cannot be taken as inert material. In the mixture ratio design, it replaces part of the
cement due to its features of activity. Meanwhile, it also demonstrates that as the result of the
hydration reaction between minerals of different varieties and cement as well as the grain collocation
between them,( cement + various mineral admixtures) is superior than （cement + single mineral
admixtures）, which unquestionably overmatches cement alone.
③By considering the influence of binder-water ratio and cement-water ratio on the compressive
strength of concrete in a comprehensive manner, the compressive strength has a positive correlation
with binder-water ratio and cement-water ratio when the age is 3d; that is to say, large binder-water
ratio and cement-water ratio are inevitably accompanied with the high strength. However, the
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 405-408 2785

compressive strength has a positive correlation with binder-water ratio but a negative correlation with
the cement-water ratio with the cement-water ratio when the age is 7d and 28d. Correspondingly, the
large binder-water ratio and small cement-water ratio often give rise to the high strength. In Table 2,
the formula 2, 8 and 9 shows that it is necessary to appropriately add mineral admixtures while
making up the high strength concrete; it is particularly true if the strength is increasingly high. It might
be different to the general mixture ratio design thoughts that the increase in the strength equals to the
augment of the water-cement ratio. To investigate the reasons, when the dosage of the unit volume
cement exceeds 500kg/m3, the early concrete may generate enormous heat of hydration with
self-constriction excessively larger than normal concrete, thus resulting in the internal minor fissure,
particularly around the coarse aggregate and the unsatisfactory strength growth at the later stage. At
the meantime, under the conditions of large dosage of cement and few mineral admixtures, the
Ca(OH)2 hydrated by cement cannot be transferred into tobermorite with high strength and compact
structure, which leads to the slow strength growth at the later stage.
The aforesaid analysis refers to the comprehensive analysis of the cement-water ratio, binder-water
ratio and compressive strength in the 40 groups of mixture ratio. However, the linear regression
analysis of the amount of mineral admixtures of different kinds, binder-water ratio and compressive
strength is conducted in the following part and shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Linear Regression Analysis of Binder-water Ratio and Compressive Strength
Operational formula of Linearly
No. Ratio of mineral admixtures binder-water ratio and 28d dependent
compressive strength coefficient
1 Pure cement f=12.6×(B/W)+35.9 R2=0.88
2 20% slag powder f=15.9×(B/W)+30.4 R2=0.89
3 10% ganister sand f=43×(B/W)-59.9 R2=0.89
4 20% phosphorous slag f=11.8×(B/W)+42.4 R2=0.96
5 20% fly ash f=4.2×(B/W)+65 R2=0.26
6 20% slag powder +10% phosphorous slag f=31.7×(B/W)-24.0 R2=0.93
7 20% slag powder +10% fly ash f=28.6×(B/W)-12.7 R2=0.88
8 15% phosphorous slag +15% fly ash f=22×(B/W) +2.8 R2=0.77
25% slag powder +5% ganister sand +10%
9 f=36.1×(B/W)-32.8 R2=0.99
phosphorous slag
25% slag powder +5% ganister sand +10%
10 f=36.3×(B/W)-33.3 R2=0.98
fly ash
Table 3 shows that there is a high linear dependence between binder-water ratio and compressive
strength in the mixture ratio of slag powder and phosphorous slag since the ingredient of slag powder
and phosphorous slag is similar to that of the cement, with R2 being 0.89，0.96 respectively. The linear
dependence between the binder-water and compressive strength in the mixture ratio of fly ash is 0.26,
which is relatively low because fly ash has small activity index. If multiple mineral admixtures
composed of slag powder, ganister sand, fly ash were used, the linear dependence between
binder-water and compressive strength could reach as high as 0.99, which indicates that combined
binding materials match the theory that “there is a linear relation between binder-water ratio and
strength” in the mixture ratio design and that the mixture ratio is more reasonable.
Through analyzing 40 groups of mixture ratio experiment, we can see that binder-water plays a
vital role in determining the compressive strength of the concrete in making high strength and high
performance concrete like C70, C80 and C90. Besides, as strength rises, more mineral admixtures
should be added and the effect of using the combination of several mineral admixtures is better than
using a single mineral admixture.
2786 Progress in Industrial and Civil Engineering II

Fig 1: The mixture shows symptoms Fig 2: The mixture shows fine workability.
of slight segregation.
In addition, through the test of newly concrete mixture of the 40 groups of experiment, we can find
that when water-binder ratio is lower than 0.30, concrete mixture will become sticky. Although
additives can be added to increase fluidity, slight symptoms of segregation would still arises since
stones are accumulated amid the concrete mixture, as is shown in Fig 1. So, the ratio of different
ingredients in mineral admixtures should be adjusted properly, especially the amount of ganister sand.
Ganister sand is a powder that is ultrafine and can be filled among cement slag (powder and fly ash)
particles to squeeze out the extra water, so its actually functions as a lubricating paste. The mixture
with ganister sand is shown is Fig 2. The spherical shape of fly ash also helps to increase the fluidity
of the concrete. Experiment shows that the workability of concrete can be improved though adding
5% ganister sand and other additive. Water consumption per cubic meter is also an important factor in
making pumped high-strength concrete. Experiment shows that reducing water consumption and
adding external superplasticizer use leads to segregation and the stones would be prone to sink. A
number of experiments shows that per cubic meter water use should be controlled around
160~170kg/m3 and inverted slump time should be controlled within 10s. in this way, the concrete
would be easier to be pumped.
To summarize, the basic mixture ratio of high-performance machine-made sand concrete above
100MPa is shown in table 4.

Table 4：Basic Mixture Ratio of High-performance Machine-made Concrete C90（kg/m3）

Additive
Cement Slag Fly Machine-
Ganister Gravel Solid
Conch powder ash made sand water
sand 5~20cm polycarboxyic
PO.42.5 S95 II Coarse sand
acid additive
480 100 50 20 650 950 160~170 2.0

Design of Mixture Ratio of 100~130MPa Concrete

100~130MPa concrete (including coarse aggregate of over 5mm) is a multicomponent uneven
multiphase mixture and the factors influencing its mixture ratio are complicated because the quality
of raw materials is varied; the contradictions of different requirements for performances need to be
balanced and technological conditions can also be different. Therefore, this project carries out a
unary linear regression and binary linear regression analysis research. The mixture ratio and result of
the experiment is shown in table 5.
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 405-408 2787

Table 5: Experimented mixture ratio of the relation between water-binder ratio water-cement ratio and
strength
Unit： kg/m3
Water Water Stone Stone
slag ganister
No. Binder Cement cement sand 10~20 5~10 water additive
powder sand
ratio ratio cm cm
1 0.15 0.225 600 220 80 700 600 200 135 31.5
2 0.20 0.3 500 190 60 750 625 250 150 18.0
3 0.23 0.33 450 140 60 750 625 250 150 14.3
4 0.25 0.33 450 90 60 750 700 250 150 13.2
5 0.30 0.4 450 100 50 750 700 300 180 9.0
Table 6 Test results of the relation between water-binder ratio, water-cement ratio and strength
Experiment Inverted slump Slump Extension Strength(MPa)
No. time (S) （mm） length(mm) 3d 7d 28d
1 12.4 240 470/480 98 106.1 129.2
2 11.5 255 640/620 106.7 110.7 128.8
3 3.5 230 650/650 96.7 106.5 115.7
4 6.1 225 600/670 95 101.9 119.1
5 5.6 230 630/720 79 94.4 111.9
(1) Unary linear regression analysis of strength (fc) and cement-water ratio (C/W)
① fc 3d=7.74(C / W) +69.80 R2=0.31；
② fc 7d=4.87 (C / W)+88.00 R2=0.33；
③ fc 28d=9.02 (C / W)+91.47 R2=0.70。
(2) Unary linear regression analysis of strength (fc) and binder-water ratio (B/W)
① fc 3d =4.769（B / W）+72.81 R2=0.36；
② fc 7d =3.08（B / W）+89.52 R2=0.40；
③ fc 28d=5.30（B / W）+96.20 R2=0.75。
(3) Binary linear regression analysis of strength (fc), cement-water ratio (C/W) and
binder-water ratio (B/W)
① fc 3d=20.94（B / W）-28.64 (C / W) +90.89 R2=0.44；
② fc 7d=17.35（B / W）-25.27(C / W) +105.48 R2=0.57；
③ fc 28d=10.78（B / W）-9.72(C / W) +102.33 R2=0.76。
Through linear regression analysis, the following conclusions can be reached:
(1)If R2, the linearly dependent coefficient between strength (fc) and cement-water ratio(C / W)
and binder-water ratio (B / W), is not high, we can know that UHPC is influenced by mineral
admixtures, additives, molding conditions, pressure testing conditions and other factors and that the
strength of concrete cannot be simply determined by cement-water ratio(C / W) and binder-water
ratio(B / W).
(2)From the unary linear regression analysis between strength (fc) and cement-water ratio(C /
W), strength (fc), as well as binder-water ratio (B / W), we can know that ①: strength (fc) is in direct
proportion to both cement-water ratio (C/W) and binder-water ratio (B/W). That is to say, the higher
the binder-water ratio (B/W) and cement-water ratio (C / W), the higher the strength (fc) of the
concrete will be. ②: The linearly dependent coefficient (R2) between cement-water ratio(C/W),
binder-water ratio (B/W) and strength (fc) grows bigger as time passes by and therefore the R2 at the
early stage is relatively smaller. The reason for it might be that the mineral admixtures consisting of
slag powder and ganister sand are more effective in strengthening the concrete at the earlier stage (3d,
7d), causing linearly dependent coefficient (R2) to be low at early period.
2788 Progress in Industrial and Civil Engineering II

(3)Binary linear regression analysis of strength (fc), cement-water ratio (C / W), and
binder-water ratio(B / W) shows that ①: the binary linearly dependent coefficient R2 between
strength (fc) of concrete 3d, 7d, and 28d and cement-water ratio (C / W) as well as binder-water
ratio(B / W) is on the rise but the variation of the R2 is not as obvious as that in unary linear regression
analysis. ②: In this experiment , strength is in direct proportion to binder-water ratio (B/W) and it is
inversely proportional to cement-water ratio (C/W), which shows that the strength of UHPC is mainly
determined by binder-water ratio (B/W). On the other hand, it shows that when making up the UHPC,
the design method of using low water-binder ratio and high water-cement ratio should be adopted. In
other words, to improve the strength of UHPC, the method of adding more mineral admixtures,
reducing the amount of cement and per cubic meter water consumption should be put in place. The
basic mixture ratio of making 100~120MPa concrete is shown in table 7 and this concrete has already
been applied to the west tower project in pearl river new town in Guangzhou and a pumping
experiment has been carried out.
Table 7: Mixture ratio of C100UHPC （kg/m3）
Slag Ganister Coarse aggregate
W/B Water Cement Sand Superplasticizer
powder sand 10—20mm 5—10mm
0.2 150 500 190 60 750 595 255 19.5

Conclusion
(1) When making up ultra-high strength high performance concrete, mineral admixtures are
indispensible ingredients, among which slag powder above the level of S95 should be controlled
between 25% to 30%, ganister sand between 5 to 10% and fly ash under 10%.
(2) When cement is to be used along with mineral admixtures, the performance of cement plus
multiple mineral admixtures is better than cement plus one single mineral admixture and the
performance of cement plus one single mineral admixture is better than cement alone. The
combination of multiple materials can help to the synergetic effect and the activity of different mineral
particles.
(3) When designing mixture ratio, water-cement ratio should be improved and water-binder ratio
should be lowered. Meanwhile, per cubic meter water consumption should be managed properly so as
to make ultra-high strength high performance concrete fit for pumping at 100MPa or above.

References
[1]. Feng Naiqian: Structure of High Performance Concrete. China Machine Press. 2004.1
Progress in Industrial and Civil Engineering II
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.405-408

Research on the Mixture Ratio Design of Ultra-High Strength Concrete

10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.405-408.2782