Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 6, June (2014), pp. 73-86 IAEME
73
AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON STRENGTH PROPERTIES OF
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT WEIGHT AGGREGATE CONCRETE MADE FROM
AGRICULTURAL BY PRODUCT SUCH AS WOOD ASH
1
Dr. V.BHASKAR DESAI,
2
K.MALLIKARJUNAPPA,
3
A.SATHYAM,
4
G.RAJKUMAR
1
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, JNTUA College of Engineering,
Anantapuramu 515002, A.P.
2
Dy. Executive Engineer, Dharmavaram Municipality, Dharmavaram 515671, & Research
Scholar, JNTUA College of Engineering, Anantapuramu 515002, A.P.
3
Conservation Assistant Gr-I, Archaeological Survey of India, Anantapuramu Sub Circle,
Anantapuramu & Research Scholar, JNTUA College of Engineering, Anantapuramu 515002, A.P.
4
M.Tech Student, JNTUA College of Engineering, Anantapuramu 515002, A.P.
ABSTRACT
Structural lightweight aggregate concrete is an important and versatile material, which offers
a range of technical, economic and environmental-enhancing and preserving advantages and is
designed to become a dominant material in the new millennium. By the development of economy
and increasing production of consumer goods the amount of waste materials is increasing. There
exists a serious need for recovery and reuse of industrial and agricultural wastes. Annually different
types of wastes are being generated in large quantities from the industries. One of them is wood ash.
In this investigation an attempt to convert wood ash into aggregates which can be used as
replacements for natural aggregates has been done. The reason for this approach is due to the
demand for artificial light weight aggregates while the natural aggregate resource is depleting.
Pelletization process is used to manufacture artificial lightweight aggregate using wood ash. A
review indicates that studies have not been much reported on the pelletization of wood ash
aggregates. In this study, the engineering performance of water cured wood ash pellets including the
effect of lime and cement additions for concrete production purposes are investigated and the results
obtained are quite satisfactory for the related design requirements.
In this present experimental investigation an attempt is made to study the strength properties
of light weight aggregate concrete, such as wood ash aggregate concrete. By varying the percentage
of wood ash aggregate in concrete replacing the conventional granite aggregate in percentages of 0,
25, 50, 75, 100 by volume/weight of concrete, the properties such as compressive strength, split
tensile strength, flexural strength, modulus of elasticity etc., are thought to be studied by casting and
testing around 120 samples consisting of 30 plain cube specimens of size (150mm*150mm*150mm),
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
AND TECHNOLOGY (IJCIET)
ISSN 0976 6308 (Print)
ISSN 0976 6316(Online)
Volume 5, Issue 6, June (2014), pp. 73-86
IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijciet.asp
Journal Impact Factor (2014): 7.9290 (Calculated by GISI)
www.jifactor.com
IJCIET
IAEME
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print),
ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 6, June (2014), pp. 73-86 IAEME
74
60 cylinders of size (150mm*300mm) and 30 beams of size (100mm*100mm*500mm). Present
investigation is expected to throw some light on better understanding of various engineering
properties of wood ash light weight aggregate concrete.
INTRODUCTION
The construction industry, one of the largest industries in the world, is notorious for having a
major role in depletion of natural raw materials that are used in the production of concrete. Concrete
is the major construction material and plays a vital role in the development of current civilization. It
is the most used man-made material in the world since its invention. The massive use of concrete as
a construction is due to its versatile properties. Properties such as strength, durability, affordability
and abundance of raw materials make concrete the first choice material for most of the construction
purposes. Increasing amount of industrial by products and Wastes has become a major environmental
problem. These by products and wastes are not only difficult to dispose but also they also
cause serious health hazards. The main aim of the environmental agencies and governments
is to minimize the problems of disposal and health hazards of these wastes and by-
products. The productive use of these materials is one of the best ways to alleviate
some of the problems of the solid waste management. One of the key solutions is to utilize these
wastes in the concrete. Because of the environmental and economical reasons, there has been
a growing trend for the use of industrial wastes or by-products as a supplementary material
in the production of the concrete. There are several types of industrial wastes or by-products
which can be utilized in the concrete either as a replacement of cement or sand or coarse
aggregate or as an additive material. Some of these wastes are Wood-ash, Fly Ash, Ground
Granulated Blast Furnace Slag, Metakaolin, Rice husk ash, Groundnut ash, Waste Glass,
Plastics etc. Utilization of these wastes enhance the properties of the concrete also. Significant
researches have been going on in various parts of the world related to these subjects. Some
waste products have established their credential in their usage in concrete while others are in
progress for finding the potential applications in concrete and construction industries.
This has lead towards the effort of integrating this waste wood-ash as main ingredient
in light weight aggregate production thus opening a new horizon in agro concrete research
and at the same time offering alternatives to preserve natural coarse aggregate for the use of
future generation. Success in incorporating this material as partial coarse aggregate
replacement in concrete making would contribute towards reduction in the quantities of wood-
ash ending up as waste.
PELLETIZING PROCESS
The Pelletization process is used to manufacture light weight Coarse aggregate. Some of the
parameters that need to be considered for the efficiency of the production of pellets are speed of
revolution of pelletizer disc, moisture content, angle of pelletizer disc and duration of Pelletization
(HariKrishnan and RamaMurthy, 2006)
1
. Usually the different types of pelletizer machines are used
in practice to make the pellets such as disc or pan type, drum type, cone type and mixer type. With
mixer type pelletizer small grains are formed initially and are subsequently increased. In the cold
bonded method, increase of strength of pellets depends on the increase of the lime and cement ratio
by weight. Moisture content and angle of drum parameter influence the size growth of pellets. The
dosage of binding agent is more important for making the Wood Ash (WA) aggregate balls. Initially
some percentage of water is added in the binder and remaining water is sprayed during the rotation
period because while rotating without water in the drum, there is a tendency (for Lime & Cement) to
form lumps and does not increase the even distribution of particle size. After number of trial mixes
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print),
ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 6, June (2014), pp. 73-86 IAEME
75
finally, the mix proportion in percentage of 47:47:6 i.e. pozzolanic material: lime: cement is adopted
for further work. The pellets are formed approximately in duration of 6 to 7 minutes. The cold
bonded pellets are hardened by normal water curing method for 28 days. Plate 1 shows a view of
drum pelletizer used for pelletization.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Etiegni and Campbell (1991) (2) studied the effect of combustion temperature on yield and
chemical properties of wood ash. For this investigation, lodge-pole pine saw dust collected from a
saw-mill was combusted in an electric furnace at different temperatures for 69 hours or until the ash
weight became constant. The results showed that wood ash yield decreased by 45% when
combustion temperature were increased from about 5501100
Where P = Maximum load in Newton
D = Diameter of the cylinder in mm
L = Length of the cylinder in mm
The results are presented in table 4.
C) Testing Of Beams for Flexural Strength
The loading arrangement to test the specimens for flexure is as follows. The element was
simply supported over the span of 500mm. The specimen was checked for its alignment
longitudinally and adjusted if necessary. Required packing was given using rubber packing. Care is
taken to ensure that two loading points at the same level. The loading was applied on the specimen
using 15 ton pre-calibrated proving ring at regular intervals. The load was transmitted to the element
through the I- section and two 16mm diameter rods were placed at 166.67mm from each support. For
each increment of loading the deflection at the centre and at 1/3
rd
points of beam were recorded using
dial gauge. Continuous observations were made. Before the ultimate stage the deflection meters were
removed and the process of load application was continued. As the load was increased the cracks got
widened and extended to top and finally the specimen collapsed in flexure. At this stage the load was
recorded as the ultimate load. Making use of the above data flexural strength was calculated using
the following formula.
Flexural strength (f) =
in N/mm
2
Where M = Bending moment in N.mm
Z =
= Section modulus in mm
3
The results have been tabulated in table 9 and graphical variations have been studied.
DISCUSSION OF TEST RESULTS
1) Influence of Wa Aggregate on Cube Compressive Strength
In the present study, WA aggregate has been added in the volumetric percentages of
0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% replacing the natural conventional granite aggregate. The
corresponding cube compressive strengths at 28 days and 90 days are presented in table 3. The
variation of compressive strengths and percentage of increase or decrease verses percentage
of WA aggregate addition are shown in fig 1 for 28 days and 90 days. From the above figs, it
may be observed that with the addition of WA aggregate the cube compressive strength
decreases continuously up to 100% replacement of Granite by WA aggregate, but more than
the target mean strength of M
20
concrete has been achieved even when the natural granite
aggregate is replaced with 25% of WA aggregate as tabulated in table 3 for 90 days curing
period and the design strength of M
20
concrete is achieved when replaced with 25% of WA aggregate
as tabulated in table 3 for 28 days.
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print),
ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 6, June (2014), pp. 73-86 IAEME
79
2) Influence of Wa Aggregate on Split Tensile Strength
With the increase in percentage of replacement of granite by WA aggregate, the
percentage of decrease of split tensile strength is found to increase continuously up to 100%
as shown in fig 2 for 28 days and for 90 days. These are presented in table 4 for 28 days and for 90
days.
3) Influence of Wa Aggregate on Density
The variation of density and percentage of increase or decrease in density verses
percentage of WA aggregate added are presented in fig 3 for 28 days and for 90 days. The results
are tabulated in table 5. From the above figs and tables, it may be observed that with the
addition of WA Aggregate the density of the specimens decreases continuously up to 100%
replacement of Granite by WA Aggregate. Also the density increases with the increase of the age.
4) Influence of Wa Aggregate On Modulus of Elasticity
In this investigation E value has been calculated using two approaches. In the first approach
for calculating youngs modulus I.S.Code formula
7
, has been used because of the absence of specific
formula for light weight concrete.
E
c
= 5000f
ck
N/mm
2
Where
f
ck
= 28 days characteristic compressive strength in N/mm
2
Secondly an another formula suggested by Takafumi Naguchi et.al
8
is used, which is given below.
E
c
= k
1
x
k
2
(1.486 x 10
-3
) x
b
x
2
N/mm.
where
k
1
= correction factor for coarse aggregate i.e. 0.95
k
2
= correction factor for mineral admixture i.e. 1.026
b
= compressive strength of concrete in MPa.
= Density of concrete in kg/m
The modulus of elasticity results with various percentage replacements of natural
aggregate by WA Aggregate are presented in table 6 for 28 days and 90 days respectively. From
the results it is observed that modulus of elasticity has been decreasing with an increase in
replacement of natural granite aggregate by WA Aggregate. It is also observed that the modulus of
elasticity values are in satisfactory agreement with those calculated using both the empirical
formula. Fig 4 shows the variation of E value versus percentage of WA for 28 days and 90 days. It
also shows that E value increases with the age i.e. from 28 to 90 days.
5) Influence of Wa Aggregate on Flexural Strength
Concrete as we know is relatively strong in compression and weak in tension. In reinforced
concrete members, little dependence is placed on the tensile strength of concrete since steel
reinforcing bars are provided to resist all tensile forces. However; tensile stresses are likely to
develop in concrete due to drying shrinkage, rusting of steel reinforcement, temperature gradients
and many other reasons. Therefore, the knowledge of tensile strength of concrete is of importance.
Flexural strength of beams of size 500x100x100mm with various percentage replacements of natural
aggregate by WA aggregate are presented in the table 9 for 28 days and 90 days. From the results it
is observed that flexural strength of beams has been decreasing with an increase in replacement of
natural granite aggregate with WA aggregate. In addition flexural strength of beams is calculated
based on the I.S.code empherical formula 0.70