ABSTRACT
The Department of Environment (DOE) method of proportioning concrete is one of the oldest and structured methods of proportioning concretes. Understanding this method in addition to other methods provides another insight into many other ways to engineer concrete to achieve the required performance. The best part of this method was that it helped the user to design concrete not just for 28-days’ strength but also for strengths at any other age. The method does not require precision of a perfectionist mathematician but an artistic imagination to interpolate the water cement ratio for required strength. Concrete has a very high degree of variation; hence, mathematical precision is not as much necessary as having the sense of direction when the result is a different strength or property and want to move towards the desired strength or property. The method also laid down guidelines for designing concrete with fly ash in addition to ordinary Portlant cement (OPC) as a binder. This methodology has provided an inspiration for many other standards across the world for developing mix-proportioning guidelines.
How will concretes for strength requirement at age of 3 or 7 days be designed?
Crushed aggregates require higher water than rounded aggregates and gravel, but how is the water content found when one aggregate is crushed and another is rounded?
