Concrete Types and Concrete Ratio

     Hi Everyone welcome to "The Civil Engineer", In this article, I am going to explain the various types of concrete that were used for the construction and their respective ratios for the specific type of work. Concrete is the Protein that builds up the muscles of the building or structure. The Greater the quality the greater the strength of the structure. Various places need various types of concrete grades due to the load that acts in that part. There are two types of mix concrete: Nominal Mix and Design Mix. 

Nominal Mix

    These are the concrete mix that can be prepared with a standard ratio if you take M20 Grade Concrete the ratio will be 1:1.5:3, which means 1 part of Cement, 1.5 parts of Sand, and 3 parts of Aggregate. In the same manner, the various grades of  Concrete are,

M5 - 1:5:10

M7.5 - 1:4:8

M10 - 1:3:6

M15 - 1:2:6

M20 - 1:1.5:3

M25 - 1:1:2

    Up to the M25 Grade were known as the nominal mix concrete. The above grades were the standard grades of concrete that were used for various purposes.

Design Mix

    The Design mix was the concrete that was specifically designed for a specific purpose. The ratio is made in such a way that it can attain the desired compressive strength. Various admixtures were used to attain the strength.

Uses of different types of Concrete Grades

    Each and every grade of concrete has a specific or multiple purpose. This purpose was selected because of the final strength that they provide. Let me say for example, the M10 grade is used for flooring of the structures and they are used as PCC i.e. Plain Cement Concrete which means there will be no reinforcement used in that concrete and the final strength the M10 can attain after 28 days of curing is 10Mpa (Mega Pascal). Like this various kinds of grades have various purposes.

M10 - Normally used for Plain Concrete areas like Non- Structural works, Pavements, and for 

M15 - Used for Pavement Krebs and Floor Blinding

M20 - Foundation and domestic floors, driveways, internal slabs, and workshop bases.

M25 - Multi-purpose concrete mix, all-purpose use.

Design Mix

  Above M25 grade all were called a design mix because the ratio is designed according to our needs by altering the ratio and strength after 28 days of curing. For the design mix various factors were considered like the environment in which the concrete needed to be poured. For example, if the concrete needs to be designed for the construction of a heavy pier in the middle of the ocean then the concrete need to be designed in such a way that it needs to withstand both the salt content of the ocean as well as it needs to prevent the percolation of water into the concrete to avoid erosion without compromising the compressive strength. So various admixtures were added to the mix to achieve the desired result. This kind of concrete is known as the design mix.