Development of an Analytical Method for Optimization of High Strength Self-Compacting Concrete Mix Design Containing Fly Ash

self-compacting concrete is one of the most widely used concrete in the past two decades. The objective of present study is to introduce a new method for high strength self-compacting concrete mix design to both achieving maximum compressive strength and minimizing the cost of concrete. The proposed method is an analytical method. In this method, using optimization concepts such as Lagrangian function and Kuhn–Tucker conditions, and introducing a specific relationship to the compressive strength of concrete, without the need for computer computations, and based on a completely analytical method, provides optimal concrete mix design. The proposed method is a general approach and is applicable to all types of concrete. Here, for the purpose of introducing, the method used to high strength self-compacting concrete containing fly ash. An 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. Results showed that the proposed method can provide optimal mix design of high-strength self-compacting concrete while water and cement amount are the minimum amounts required for self-compacting concrete.