American Concrete Association (ACI) Absolute Volume Method of Concrete Mix Design The Canadian Portland Cement Association (CPCA) published in its 6 edition of \"Design and Control of Concrete Mixtures\" design methodologies for proportioning normal concrete mixtures with proportioning tables adapted from an ACI publication (\"Standard Practice for Selecting Proportions for Normal, Heavyweight and Mass Concrete\" ACI 211.1-91, ACI Committee 211 Report, American Concrete Institute, Detroit, 1991). Concrete mixtures can be proportioned by masses or volumes; this method uses Tables 3 and 4 below which allow the designer to account for the volumes of the different mix components required to produce 1 m? of concrete mix. There are two basic types of information required to perform a mix design: a) Properties of the mix components, and b) Mix Design Specifications (desired mix properties) Mix Component Properties Required: CEMENT COARSE AGGREGATE FINE AGGREGATE Desired Mix Properties: STEPS: Type Specific Gravity Nominal Maximum Particle Size SSD Bulk Specific Gravity % Absorption Capacity Dry-Rodded Density SSD Bulk Specific Gravity % Absorption Capacity Fineness Modulus Desired w/c ratio (depends on strength, durability and finish requirements) Slump range Air Entrainment Level based on environmental exposure levels 1. Essentially, the mass of water required to make 1 m* of mix is selected from Table 4 a or b (depending on air entrainment requirements) using the desired range of slump and the Nominal Maximum size of the coarse aggregate. The volume of water required is found by dividing this mass by the density of water. 2. Next the volume of air in 1 m? of mix is selected from Table 4c using the air entrainment requirements and Nominal Maximum size of the coarse aggregate. 3. Then the mass of cement required is determined from the w/c ratio for the mix. The volume of cement in 1 m? of mix is then calculated by dividing this mass by the density of cement. 1