Development of a Simplified Methodology for British DoE Concrete Mix Design Procedure using python

Abstract

Most of the methods of concrete mix design developed over the years were geared towards manual approach. Apart from being characterized by rigorous complication in computation, manual concrete mix design is prone to errors and mistakes inherent in the calculation during interpolations and reading of charts. Thus, this research introduces an innovative integration of Python algorithms into mobile applications for concrete mix design. The tables used in this algorithm are the same as those used in the British Method, however, Charts or Figures in the British method were converted into linear and polynomial equations. Python program was written to ease the use of the algorithm and it was also configured into the backend of a mobile application for user-friendliness. The results obtained from the algorithm were compared with those obtained based on the British method manual calculations and available datasets. The percentage errors between the algorithm results and manual calculations were found to range from 0.65% to 3% across all examples. The developed algorithm is a reliable tool for automating DoE concrete mix design. It is recommended for engineers to enhance accuracy and efficiency in mix design computations.