a. IS456 mentions that beyond 35%, is not considered as cementitious when we are talking of minimum cement
b. Why design concrete with minimum power, cement should be minumum and powder should be high.
c. Fly ash doesnot replacement doesnot provide equal strength. To maintain strength, refer to efficiency factor method developed
in research under me.
M5 with expected strength of 33.6 > 31.6 MPa,
Water Cem FA Total Powder Min powder FA%
170 340 0 340 340 0%
170 298 53 350 350 15%
170 291 97 388 388 25%
170 286 154 440 440 35%
170 279 229 508 279/0.65=429 45%
155 255 208 463 255/0.65 = 392 45%
All will provide equal strength and acceptable M25 design.
With design strength going up, higher fly ash % become impossible, so M30 onwards
35% is realistically correct max fly ash. But with M25, M20, M15 and M10, we have
have higher FA%
eg. M10 target strength = 15.8 Let us assme we design for 18MPa
Water Cem FA Total Powder Min powder
170 180 220 400 276 55%
155 164 201 365 252 55%
170 171 317 488 262 65%
155 156 289 445 239 65%
for M10, non structural concrete - Mild exposure is 220 and 240 moderate , all these mix designs are acceptable.