Concrete mix design using optimization principles and based on experimental results

Existing resources limitation and abundant use of concrete has made the necessity of objected employment of funds especially for mass production of this type of material. Concrete mix design is one of the most important criteria that should be changed in order to optimal and mass production of concrete. The objective of present research is to present a new method for concrete mix design using the principles of optimization. Practicability of this work is very important because it is based on theoretical and experimental studies considering conditions of production of concrete in Iran. Optimization model of the concrete mix design is first developed accounting for effects of experimental results. Then using an optimization algorithm، optimal concrete mix design is obtained for the concrete with the strength under consideration. Presented process and model can be developed for similar problems. Case study’s results show that optimal concrete mix design is obtained while maximum dimension of coarse aggregate and consequently amount of coarse aggregate is increased. It is shown that the developed method is able to minimize costs of casting concrete in addition to making the automatic mix design process.