Experimental investigation on strength and durability characteristics of concrete containing nano silica and micro silica

Abstract

The technology of construction materials is used only for the development concrete in the presence of nano technology. Nano silica is the one and only material which takes the maximum attention of researchers. Silica has been used in concrete and micro silica acts as a filler to be a reactive pozzolan. As per past research, silica fume increases the mechanical properties and durability of concrete. Nano silica and micro silica obtained from the locally available suppliers were used in the investigation. The investigation was carried out for Conventional Concrete (CC) with cement, cement concrete with partial replacement of cement with nano silica (NS1) and cement concrete with partial replacement of cement with nano silica and micro silica (NS2). The mechanical properties such as compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and the structural property for the Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) were investigated in the laboratory tests. The reinforced concrete structural elements have been designed with M60 grade concrete and Fe 415 grade steel reinforcement. The concrete mixes have been prepared with nano silica, micro silica and also as plain cement concrete. The numerical study on beam was conducted by solid modelling in ANSYS software for the same parameters considered in the experimental investigation. The results were compared and it was found that the results of experimental investigation are almost closer to that of the numerical investigation. newline