The complexity of specifications and the number of materials options available today for concrete production mean that the traditional procedure of making trial mixes is now unnecessary, expensive and time consuming. However the data generated by trial mixes can be incorporated into the development of computer-based systems and combined with knowledge generated through research and practice. J.D Dewar has spent much of the 20 years between 1979 and 1999 developing systems by which a small amount of materials data can be used confidently to predict the composition of the ideal product to...