Paper Title
Effect of Maximum Size of Aggregate and Fineness of Sand on Cost of Concrete
Abstract
This research presents an analytical calculation using the American Concrete Institute (ACI 211.1) and British methods (Department of the Environment) used for mix design of normal concrete to assess the difference in produced concrete cost due to difference in maximum size of aggregate, fineness of sand in Babylon local market. Four concrete targeted design strengths were designed (15, 20, 25 and 40) MPa. The design variables for each value of compressive strength were; maximum aggregate size, fineness of sand. The results obtained show that the cost of concrete using crushed aggregate is greater than uncrushed for all compressive strengths and the difference in cost increases directly with maximum size of aggregate (MSA),. The concrete cost will decrease with the increase of maximum size of aggregate value, and there is no effect of fineness modulus on concrete cost what so ever. In general, when designing a concrete mix with a specified compressive strength and fixing all other variables the ACI method gives a lower cost compared with British method for (15, 20, and 25 MPa) and higher cost for 40 MPa strength.
Keywords - Maximum Size of Aggregate, Fineness of Sand, Cost of Concrete, Slump, Compressive Strength.