This paper gives an overview of “Recommendation for Mix Design of Fresh Concrete and Construction Placement related Performance Evaluation─2016”， which is the revised edition of the “Recommendation for Mix Design of Fresh Concrete and Construction Placement related Performance Evaluation” published approximately ten years ago by JSCE. This revised edition includes not only the latest information on concrete construction and materials to benefit the work of on-site technicians, but also a new chapter on the consideration of filling ability at the design stage. It is complemented by “Test method for passability of concrete through obstacle in box-shaped container with vibration (JSCE-F 701-2016)”， a newly established JSCE standard that covers methods to evaluate workability other than the slump test method.

Nine organizations conducted joint research for the purpose of establishing design and construction methods for concrete structures that use low-carbon concrete containing a large quantity of supplementary cementitious materials. The “Guidelines for Design and Construction of Concrete Structures Using Low-Carbon Cementitious Materials” were proposed based on the results obtained from the experiments and analyses. These guidelines define binders that increase the replacement ratio of supplementary cementitious materials compared with the cements that are commonly used domestically in Japan for the purpose of reducing carbon dioxide emissions during material manufacturing as “low-carbon cementitious materials”, and set out principles for the design and construction of concrete structures that apply such materials, as well as related considerations.

Fly ash from coal-fired power plants and other sources has various merits as a concrete admixture in terms of the improvement of durability, workability, and so on. The use of fly ash also mitigates the environmental impact of concrete by extending its life and reducing the amount of natural resources used for its manufacture. The Ishinomaki Plant has begun manufacturing carbon-free fly ash from the combustion ash of the coal-fired boiler it uses for in-house power generation. This paper summarizes the basic experimental results for concrete that uses carbon-free fly ash.

The quality of the surface layer of concrete, which significantly affects the durability of concrete structures, is greatly influenced by construction factors. This paper introduces a visual evaluation method that leads to quality improvement through application of the PDCA cycle based on evaluation of the quality of the surface layer by naked eyes. The visual evaluation method herein described was developed for general structures such as piers and abutments, and for tunnel lining concrete. The characteristics of the visual evaluation method identified in the process of experimental construction applying this method for quality attainment are described, and various ideas implemented by contractors during the experimental construction and their results are introduced.