Strength-Cementitious Material-Water Relationship for Proportioning of Fly Ash-Based Concrete
Under identical conditions of mixing, curing, compaction, and testing, the relationship between the compressive strength of concrete (f c ) and water-cementitious material ratio (w/cm) is critical to proportion a workable concrete mixture for specified target properties. The relationship between strength and w/cm is developed in the generic format for fly ash-based concrete involving nondimensional parameters; strength ratio (f c /f m ), and w/cm The f c /f m is the ratio of f c and compressive strength of the standard mortar (f m ). The standard mortar is proportioned with the cementitious material of the same composition and fine aggregates that will be used in the concrete mixture. The f m is tested following the standard procedure to test the compressive strength of cement. The hydration characteristics of cementitious materials are incorporated in the relation. The test results confirm the satisfactory performance of a new relation in proportioning a fly-ash-based concrete mixture.