Experimental studies on strength and durability properties of alternative fine aggregate in concrete and mortar

Abstract

It is common practice to use Natural River Sand (RS) that occurs newlinenaturally as fine aggregates in construction. The excessive mining of sand from newlineriverbeds and quarries in recent years has resulted in environmental imbalances newlineand increased the price. Not only does the excessive RS extraction threaten the newlinestability of riverbanks, but it also threatens the ecosystems. Continued depletion newlineand mining of natural river sand is increasing demand and driving up the cost. newlineConsequently, sustainable infrastructure growth is in high demand. Nowadays, newlineresearchers are concentrating on using alternative fine aggregates to meet the newlinedemand for natural fine aggregates. These alternate materials must possess the newlinesame characteristics as sand from natural river sand. In this study, it has been newlinedecided to focus on the Coal Bottom Ash (CBA), Eco Sand (ES), Steel Slag newline(SS) and Quarry sand (QS) as alternate fine aggregate. CBA is the non-combust newlineresidue gathered from the bottom of coal-burning furnaces. ES consists of very newlinefine particles, a by-product of cement production. Steel slag is a residue of the newlinesteel-production process that is extracted in steel-making furnaces as the newlinemolten steel is separated from the impurities. Quarry sand is a by-product of newlinethe mining of coarse aggregates. This current research is to examine the newlinestrength and durability of concrete including, Steel Slag, Coal Bottom Ash, Eco newlineSand and Quarry Sand as a partial replacement for fine aggregate. Various newlineratios of mortar and concrete specimens are cast using alternate fine aggregates. newlineFurthermore, the flexural behaviour of beams containing alternate fine newlineaggregate and standard RC beams also studied. newlineMaterial characteristics have been performed using SEM, XRD, newlineEDX techniques on CBA, ES, SS, and QS. It has been observed that CBA newlineseems to be smaller of all while ES is larger in size. newline newline