Increase strength, economy
Mix design hints for
fly-ash concrete
A waste product is now salvaged and is used as an
admixture for concrete.
iscarded as a waste prod-
D
uct for many years, fly ash
is today considered a good
admixture for concrete.
Fly ash is a finely divided residue
that is usually the result of the com-
bustion of powdered coal in boilers
at about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit
collected by precipitators. There
was a time when power plants, steel
mills and other large producers of
this form of pozzolan paid to have
the byproduct hauled away. That
was until fly ash was discovered to
be a useful product.
The characteristics of fly ash that
make it valuable for use in concrete
are its (1) high fineness, (2) low car-
bon content, (3) uniformity, (4) high
percentage of fused silica and (5)
mostly spherical shape, which con-
tributes toward great plasticity.
The balance of these attributes,
working together with the other ma-
terials in fly ash, determines its ulti-
mate value in concrete.
The three reasons for which fly
ash is most commonly employed in
concrete mixtures are: (1) to in-
crease cementitious compounds
developed; (2) to correct deficiency
in the extreme fines in some sands;
and (3) to counteract or reduce ce-
ment-aggregate reactions or dam-
age due to sulphate attack.
General considerations
Before dealing specifically with
the development of a mix design us-
ing fly ash in these three applica-
tions, let us explore the general na-
ture of fly ash and its actions in
concrete.
The silica found in fly ash com-
bines with the lime liberated as ce-
ment hydrates in forming cementi-
tious compounds, adding apprecia-
bly to the development of strength,
durability and other performance
qualities important in concrete. Of
course, this action continues only as
long as the cement hydrates and lib-
erates lime. Many believe this char-
acteristic renders fly ash useful as a
cementitious substance only when
the concrete undergoes an extend-
ed period of wet curing.
Test reports showing this vulnera-
bility were made with concrete
where cement was replaced with fly
ash on a volume-per-volume basis
up to 30 percent as in mass con-
crete. Later studies where the mix
was reproportioned to give equal
28-day strengths of the fly ash mix
to the control mix showed no such
evidence. (See NRMCA Report No.
53 “Effect of Curing Conditions on
Compressive Strength of Concrete
Test Specimens” by Delmar L.
Bloem.)
For many years fly ash was used
chiefly in mass concrete where its
slower strength-gaining curve, its
fineness (which helps compensate
for the lack of cement fines in lean
mass-concrete mixtures), and re-
duction in heat of hydration peaks
all helped to achieve the perfor-
mance qualities desired. Fly ash, or
some other pozzolan, is still used in
virtually all mass concrete for dams.
Recent tests and field uses have
shown that fly ash in a concrete
mixture can prove valuable in many
other types of applications. No
longer is it uncommon to hear of
using fly ash concrete for industrial
floors, high-rise building construc-
tion, residential construction, pre-
cast products, tunnels, and other
common applications.
Because it is much lower in cost
than portland cement and can de-
velop cementitious products, fly ash
can be used as an economical ce-
ment replacement material to in-
crease strengths.
Fly ashes can vary greatly from
generating station to generating sta-
tion in their ability to contribute to
strength development. Howe ve r,
once this ability is proved by tests as
given in ASTM C-618, it remains
uniform. Ability will hinge on such
matters as the chemical and physi-
cal properties of the fly ash itself, the
characteristics of the other mix in-
gredients (especially the cement),
and such jobsite conditions as tem-
perature and curing.
Reputable sellers of fly ash for
concrete will provide information
on its physical and chemical char-
acteristics, and such data is valuable
in forming an initial evaluation of its
applicability to a job.
There are no established physical
and chemical criteria for determin-
ing the value of a given fly ash as a
concrete admixture. Therefore, it is
advisable to test a fly ash with the
materials with which it will be used.
Less easy to ascertain, but highly
important in deciding whether to
use a fly ash, will be its uniformity.
As previously noted, if the fly ash is
received from a station that is on
uniform load, and if its quality has
been checked out against ASTM
Standards, it is probable that it will
actually contribute to the uniformi-
ty of the concrete. On the other
hand, a fly ash that varies during the
progress of a project will necessitate
frequent adjustments of the mix
proportions and an undesirably
high coefficient of variation. Ask for
the names of other firms that have
used fly ash for long periods of time
to ascertain their experience.
In addition to the quality of the fly
ash and job concreting practices,
the percentage of cement replaced
will also determine the effect on
strength (and other concrete prop-
erties). Ordinarily reduction of ce-
ment will range from 10 to 30 per-
cent to give equal early strength.*
 If fly ash is being employed to in- John Hancock Center,
crease strength, it will most likely be Chicago’s new towering
used as an admixture. That is, it will landmark, stands on fly
be in addition to the regular amount ash concrete.
of cement and not a partial substi-
tute for it. This holds true in the ma-
jority of projects. In jobs for which
the specifications are aimed at a giv-
en strength at 3 months or more,
some fly ashes may be of value even
as a partial cement replacement.
Howe ve r, the replacement of as
little as 10 percent of the cement
with a like amount of fly ash will re-
duce all strengths up to and includ-
ing 28 days. Proper proportioning
technique gives desired strength at
any age.
When the weight of fly ash is
greater than the weight of the ce-
ment it replaces, the strength loss, if
any, is often reduced. On the other Fly ash aggregate went
hand, used as an admixture, it will into lightweight
usually cause an increase in concrete for the West
strength at all ages, although its ef- Virginia University
fect here will be more noticeable at Coliseum.
3 or more months.
When fly ash is employed as an
economy measure, it is best to test
the fly ash thoroughly with the mix
designs in which it will be used and
compute the real cost of obtaining
and storing the fly ash and batching
the concrete. Although one of the
main advantages of fly ash in con-
crete is its fineness, this characteris-
tic can be bothersome when han-
dling the material in much the
manner as handling cement. It must
be transported and stored, separate correct a deficiency in fines (espe- valuable. The main factors to con-
batching equipment is needed, and cially material passing the No. 200 sider are its availability and cost,
precautions must be taken against sieve) in concrete sands. Proper use and its effect on concrete perfor-
dust collecting to prevent a neigh- of fly ash under these circumstances mance. The former can be checked
borhood nuisance. The additional reduces the amount and rate of easily through a local fly ash suppli-
cost of handling this extra “cement” bleeding, increases workability, and er, but the latter can be determined
must be included if a true compari- improves finishability, especially of accurately only by conducting your
son of material costs is to be made. lean mixtures. own tests.
Relatively little fly ash is used in Generally speaking, the higher
concrete in an effort to economize the specific surface (fineness) of the Combats undesirable reactions
in materials, with mass concrete be- fly ash, the greater its effect on in- Alkali-aggregate reaction is a de-
ing the exception. In this case its creasing workability. Unlike some structive phenomenon encoun-
other attributes of providing fines in other fine pozzolanic materials, fly tered in concrete in some areas. The
lean mixes and lowering heat of hy- ash does not usually increase the alkalies in certain cements (the
dration peaks account for a great water demand and likewise will not sodium and potassium) react with
deal of the acceptance it enjoys. affect shrinkage. siliceous constituents of certain ag-
If adding a finely divided material gregates to form products of greater
Corrects fines deficiency would be beneficial to your con- volume than the combined volumes
Fly ash can be used effectively to crete, fly ash can prove to be most of the reactive materials.
 This creates a destructive expan-
Table I—Chemical Requirements for Fly Ash sive force within the concrete mass,
which manifests itself in cracking
Bureau of Corps of ASTM and spalling. Under field conditions
Reclamation Engineers it has been found that the avoidance
of cements with a high alkali con-
Silicon dioxide (SiO2)+aluminum tent (more than 0.60 percent Na2O)
oxide (Al2O3)+ferric oxide (Fe2O3) or the use of non-reactive aggre-
not less than 75.0 70.0 70.0 gates is an effective safeguard
Magnesium oxide (MgO), not more than 5.0 5.0 ... against this reaction.
Sulfur trioxide (SO3), not more than 4.0 4.0 5.0 However, it is not always practica-
Loss on ignition, not more than 5.0 6.0 12.0 ble to use cement and aggregates
Moisture content, not more than 3.0 3.0 3.0 that conform to these requirements.
Then it may be possible to eliminate
Exchangeable alkalies as Na2O, not
or lessen the chances for an alkali-
more than 2.0 1.5 1.5
aggregate reaction by using fly ash.
Fly ashes are usually not as effec-
tive in reducing this phenomenon
as are materials that are high in opal
Table II—Physical Requirements for Fly Ash content. However, if fly ash is readi-
ly available locally, it is worth trying
Bureau of Corps of ASTM in concretes where a borderline re-
Reclamation Engineers action is occurring. Typically, from
20 to 35 percent fly ash is used by
Fineness weight of the cement. Never use fly
Mean particle diameter, microns, ash in concentrations of 10 percent
or less in concrete that is suscepti-
not more than ..... ..... 9.0
ble to alkali-aggregate reaction,
Specific surface, Blaine air per-
because it may actually increase
meability apparatus, cm2/cc, not the rate and amount of the phe-
less than 7000 6500 ...... nomenon.
Material retained on No. 325 mesh Fly ash has proved to be of great
sieve, percent, not more than 12 ...... ...... value in combating deterioration of
concrete subjected to sulfate attack.
Compressive strength
It has also been used in concrete ex-
With portland cement, percent of
posed to sea water, and sulfate- or
control, 28 days, not less than 80 75 85 acid-bearing soil waters. It is espe-
with lime, 7 days, min. psi 800 900 800 cially helpful in cases where a low-
Increase in drying shrinkage of mor- cement-content concrete has been
tar bar, percent shrinkage of specified. It is generally used at a
rate of 1 part fly ash to form 2 to 5
pozzolan bar minus percent shrink-
parts portland cement, either by
age of control bar, not more than 0.04 ...... 0.03
weight or absolute volume. Accord-
Water requirement, percent, not more ing to Report No. C-1224 by the Di-
than 103 0* 105 vision of Research, U.S. Bureau of
Reduction of reactive expansion at Reclamation, all fly ashes tested
14 days, percent, not less than 60 75 ...... greatly improved the resistance of
concrete to sulfate attack regardless
Mortar expansion at 14 days, percent,
of the type of cement used.
not more than ..... ..... 0.020
Soundness, autoclave expansion, General mix design
percent, not more than ... 0.50 0.50 The foregoing states a number of
facts that will bear on the propor-
* This specification requires that a mortar with a natural pozzolan and 115 per- tions of a mix design incorporating
cent of the water content of the control mortar or with a fly-ash pozzolan and fly ash. These include such matters
103 percent of the water content of the control shall have a flow equal to or as checking on the effect of using a
greater than that of the control. very fine material with the cement
content and gradation of the fine
aggregates to be used; determining
the optimum fly ash content for the
purpose intended; and obtaining a
chemical and physical analysis of
the fly ash to help ascertain its effec-
tiveness in combating an undesir-
able reaction or to predict its effect
for the application in question.
Air entrainment
There are some additional mat-
ters that should be kept in mind
when designing a fly ash mix. While
a low-carbon fly ash uniformly pass-
ing specifications in all respects has
about the same air-entraining agent
demand as an equivalent volume of
portland cement, a fly ash of high-
carbon content and non-uniformity
can produce difficulty in maintain-
ing uniformity of air content. With
some fly ashes in certain concrete
mixtures, it is necessary to increase
the amount of the air-entraining
agent as much as four times or more
than needed with a mix not incor-
porating fly ash.
Since air-entraining admixtures
are organic, this sometimes leads to
problems in maintaining strength
and durability. In addition, because
the amount of the air-entraining
agent needed hinges on fineness
and carbon content of the fly ash,
factors that can vary considerably in
some fly ashes, it may be a problem
keeping the air content within ac-
ceptable tolerances.
Although many fly ashes do not
increase the water demand of a mix
and do increase the impermeability
of the concrete, care should be tak-
en to avoid one that is course or has
a high-carbon content when water-
tightness and volume stability are
needed properties.
Avoid using fly ash in a high-ce-
ment-content mix, except in the
case of sands considerably deficient
in extreme fines, because water de-
mand can go up. If a water-reduc-
ing agent is used in the mix (stan-
dard practice for fly ash mixes), the
quantity of the agent used should be
computed based on the total
amount of both cement and fly ash
used.
When designing a concrete mix-
ture employing fly ash (either for ad-
ditional strength or as an economy
measure), first clearly define the
concrete performance features
wanted. Then design a regular mix
to act as a guideline. Often a stan-
dard mix design will already have
been prepared for the type of con-
crete needed. Afterward, design and
mix a batch of the fly-ash-concrete
alternative.
Compare the strength developed
and the water demand. Compare
the workability and finishability. By
such comparisons the designer
should either be able to adjust the
proportions and come up with a
workable mix design or come to the
conclusion that the plain mixture is
preferable.
Fly ash is definately taking an in-
creasingly important place in con-
crete construction, both in amount
used and in the diversity of applica-
tions. Recently a new association,
the National Ash Association, was
formed in Washington, D.C., to pro-
mote the sale of fly ash. In Canada, a
firm is building a prototype $1.5
million plant near Toronto, which
will be devoted exclusively to pro-
cessing fly ash for use as a concrete
admixture. The plant will have a ca-
pacity of 200,000 tons annually and
is just the first in a number of such
plants planned for Canada.
Summary
Quality concrete is produced by
giving careful attention to the quali-
ty of its ingredients and exercising
close control of mixing and placing
procedures. ASTM Standards are
available to cover all ingredients
normally used in concrete, includ-
ing cements, aggregates and admix-
tures. ACI provides recommended
practices that can be followed in
putting the ingredients together to
obtain desired results. Specifically,
we have attempted in this article to
cover the contribution of fly ash in
achieving quality concrete.
Simple tests are: (1) check fly ash
for passing ASTM C-618, (2) deter-
mine, by a series of tests, whether
the fly ash uniformly passes this test
requirement, (3) prepare laboratory
test mixes of concrete to achieve de-
sired results, (4) make sure quality
control measures are employed that
will assure field concrete of a quality
consistent with laboratory concrete.
We can expect to see increasingly
large amounts of the 30 million tons
of fly ash produced annually in the
United States and Canada find its
way into concrete. If used knowl-
edgeably, it can pave another way to
increasing the versatility and quality
of our already uniquely versatile
material.
* See Lovewell, C. E., and Washa,
George W., “Proportioning Concrete
Mixtures Using Fly Ash,” ACI Journal,
Proceedings, V. 54, No. 12, June 1958,
pp. 1093-1102.
This is the fifth in a series of articles on
mix design. Others appeared in Sep-
tember 1968 and January, March and
May 1969.
PUBLICATION#C690263
Copyright © 1969, The Aberdeen Group
All rights reserved