What is Grade of Concrete?

Grade of concrete is defined as the minimum strength the concrete must posses after 28 days of construction with proper quality control.

Grade of concrete is denoted by prefixing M to the desired strength in MPa. For example, for a grade of concrete with 20MPa strength, it will be denoted by M20, where M stands for Mix.

These grade of concrete is converted into various mix proportions. For example, for M20 concrete, mix proportion will be 1:1.5:3 for cement:sand:coarse aggregates.

How to select suitable grade for concrete construction?

Grade of concrete construction is selected based on structural design requirements. There are two types of concrete mixes, nominal mix and design mix.

Nominal mix concrete are those which are generally used for small scale construction and small residential buildings where concrete consumption is not high. Nominal mix takes care of factor of safety against various quality control problems generally occurring during concrete construction.

Design mix concrete are those for which mix proportions are obtained from various lab tests. Use of design mix concrete requires good quality control during material selection, mixing, transportation and placement of concrete. This concrete offers mix proportions based on locally available material and offers economy in construction if large scale concrete construction is carried out.

Thus, large concrete construction projects uses design mix concrete.

So, suitable grade of concrete can be selected based on structural requirements. Nominal mixes for grades of concrete such as M15, M20, M25 are generally used for small scale construction.

Large structures have high strength requirements, thus they go for higher grades of concrete such as M30 and above. The mix proportions of these concretes are based on mix design.

Regular Grades of Concrete and their Uses

Regular grades of concrete are M15, M20, M25 etc. For plain cement concrete works, generally M15 is used. For reinforced concrete construction minimum M20 grade of concrete are used.