To Study Mechanical and Durability Properties of High Strength Concrete by Replacing Cement with Rice Husk ASH

Abstract

Cement is generally considered the most expensive ingredient of the concrete and its demand is also increasing day by day. This demand for cement and concrete can be met by the partial cement replacement. Energy and cost savings can result when industrial and agricultural by-products such as fly ash, silica fumes, pond ash, and marble dust powder are used as a partial replacement. Among these various products, use of rice husk ash in the production of concrete is very important for India. India is one of the largest rice producers in the world. India produces about 122 million ton of paddy every year. It has been estimated that each ton can lead to 40 kg of rice husk ash. Rice husk when burnt in a controlled manner does not cause pollution. When properly burnt it produces high SiO2 content and thus it has excellent pozzolanic properties. Various researches have shown that rice husk ash can increase the strength and impermeability of the concrete. Our work which is presented in this report mainly deals with evaluating one type of commercially available RHA and to determine the properties such as workability, mechanical properties (compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength) and durability properties (Acid attack and Chloride attack). In this study, many tests were performed to determine the various properties of concrete which are namely workability, mechanical properties and durability of concrete. To determine the workability we have performed the compaction factor test. Mechanical properties such as compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength were determined by compressive strength test, split tensile strength test and flexural strength tests in accordance with Indian standards. Durability tests like acid attack test and chloride attack tests were also performed on the concrete. All these tests were performed for various percentages of rice husk ash in the concrete. As Fly ash based Portland Pozzolana Cement was used the variation of rice husk ash had to be limited because in Portland Pozzolana cement, the cement is already replaced with fly ash. We varied percentage of rice husk ash with an increment of 2.5% from 0% up to 10%. We have also compared results of all these tests with variation in replacement percentages (0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10%) of rice husk ash in cement in form of graphs, bar charts and tables in this report.