Use of Concrete Family in RMC

Concept of family of mixes

Concretes that can be reliably related to each other
can be grouped into families and the combined
strength data from the family can be used for
conformity control.

The whole family of concrete mixes are related back to

a reference concrete mix design, which is used as the
bench mark against which all other family of concrete
mixes are related.
What is a family of concretes?
A family of concrete mixes may be based upon only
two constraints and are mix designs of varying
proportions for different applications:
 The same sourced constituent aggregates;
 The same cement type;
 The same cementitious type (PFA & GGBS); its content.
 A family of concrete mix design
 The concrete family mix design methodology begins
with the standardization of the raw material.
 Each concrete will have a different base mix design
 Each concrete mix design will result in different 28 day

compressive strengths at the same cement content of

the mix.
 Each concrete mix design will be given a reference to

identify it. When the mix design is published it will

referenced with the actual cement content of that mix
design.
 A family of concrete mix design
 Trial mixes are conducted at five or six cement/cementitious
contents to cover the range from 150 kg to 550 kg.
 Data from the trials are then used to produce the
relationships between cement content and compressive
strength, w/c ratio, total water, fine aggregate, coarse
aggregates, plastic density, admixture.
 The mix design reference is commonly known as a
"BatchBook Reference".
 Concrete Mix designs are generally presented using
materials aggregates moisture content of SSD (Saturated
Surface Dry) values
 Mix Design: Innovative Approach
 Standard mix design methods useful only for “stand
alone” mixes for a particular grade of concrete

 RMC India adopts “Concrete Family” approach as

specified in European Code EN 206

 Concrete Family: Main Advantages

◦ Changes in concrete quality can be detected rapidly
◦ action can be taken to ensure production remains in a
state of statistical control
◦ Reduces assessment period
 Mix Design: Optimization is the Key
 Crux of optimization:
◦ Best particle packing of aggregates results in least
quantity of cement/cementitious paste and hence the
optimum cement and water contents
 Procedure
◦ Fine to coarse aggregate ratio decided by laboratory
trails using particle packing concept
◦ Work of trial mixes carried out in lab for various
cement/cementitious contents
◦ Relationship established between cement contents
and compressive strengths for a particular aggregate
package is called the Main Relation Analysis (MRA)
◦ MRA will provide the cement content for a grade of
concrete after the target strength is arrived at.
Mix Design: Optimization is the Key
◦ This Mix Design Summery Data (MDSD) used to
arrive at actual mix proportions. MDSD data
validated by actual trials every year or change of
source
◦ Importance of 7 to 28 days strength ratio, which is
crucial to establish the correlation while predicting
the 28 days strength from the early age (7 days)
strength in the CUSUM.
◦ Using regression analysis, the relationship for the all
ingredients to cement content at every 5 kg interval
of cement content is determined. The data is called
the “Mix design summary data” or MDSD.
 What is Polynomial Curve?
Polynomial, mathematical expression which is a finite
sum, each term being a constant times a product of
one or more variables raised to powers.

With only one variable the general form of a

polynomial is a0xn+a1xn−1+a2xn−2+…+an−1x+an where n is a
positive integer and a0, a1, a2, … , an are any numbers.
The degree of a polynomial in one variable is the
highest power of the variable appearing with a
nonzero coefficient.