Economical Concrete Mix Design Utilizing Blended Cements, Performance-Based Specifications, and Pay Factors

This report showcases several new approaches of using materials science and structural mechanics to accomplish sustainable design of concrete materials. The topics addressed include blended cements, fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC), internal curing with lightweight aggregate, and statistical process control (SPC). Materials, methodologies, and test methods to enhance the performance and durability of concrete are addressed. Properties of pozzolans, blended cements, fly ashes, and other materials, along with proposed categories of high-performance concrete (HPC) mixtures using high-volume fly ash are briefly described. Early-age cracking and drying shrinkage are addressed in detail, as they both reduce load-carrying capacity and accelerate deterioration, resulting in increased maintenance costs and reduced service life. New developments in HPC materials using FRC are proposed, and it is shown that considerable cost savings can be realized by using fiber concrete mixtures. Internal curing techniques as a means of improving the quality of concrete using pre-soaked lightweight aggregate as an internal water supply were studied. The superior results of internally cured samples with lightweight aggregates, especially sintered bottom ash, indicate a great potential for using them in hot-weather concreting or when external curing is not possible. A new method for statistical data processing of concrete strength data also is presented. Technical tools were developed to improve performance-based specifications and statistical process control methods using cumulative sum (CUSUM) and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA). Both of these approaches allow for process control and quality control (QC) monitoring of the materials. This report concludes with specifications for quality assurance (QA) and introduces quality measures as criteria for reducing the costs.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.azdot.gov/ADOTLibrary/publications/project_reports/PDF/AZ633.pdf
• Corporate Authors:

  Arizona State University, Tempe

  Fulton School of Engineering
  P.O. Box 9309
  Tempe, AZ  United States  85287-9309

  Arizona Department of Transportation

  Research Center
  206 South 17th Avenue, MD075R
  Phoenix, AZ  United States  85007

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Bakhshi, Mehdi
  • Laungrungrong, Busaba
  • Bonakdar, Aboozar
  • Mobasher, Barzin
  • Borror, Connie M
  • Montgomery, Douglas C
• Publication Date: 2013-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 130p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Admixtures; Concrete curing; Durability; Fiber reinforced concrete; Mix design; Performance based specifications; Properties of materials
• Candidate Terms: Blended cement
• Uncontrolled Terms: Statistical process control
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Materials; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways; I32: Concrete;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01484260
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-AZ-13-633
• Contract Numbers: SPR-PL1 (181) 633
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jun 19 2013 8:33AM