Saudi Journal of Engineering and Technology (SJEAT)
Volume-3 | Issue-06 | 330-335
Original Research Article
Experimental Study to Enhance Mechanical Strength Properties of Cement Concrete with Fly Ash and Natural Fibers
S. Vijayabaskaran, A. Anandraj
Published : June 30, 2018
Abstract
The production and consumption of building materials have increased to leaps
and bounds in the past few decades due to tremendous increase in population. As the
production of building materials gets increased, generation of waste materials such as
fibers, granules, ashes, effluents etc. also gets increased. Nowadays wastes of different
types are being used effectively in concrete either partially and fully which helps in
making of green concrete. Fiber reinforced concrete is a special type of concrete in which
natural or synthetic fibers with different aspect ratios are used to eliminate or reduce
crack formation and to improve various mechanical strength properties when mixed along
with fly ash, silica fumes etc. in optimal dosages. In order to study the influence of waste
on various strength properties of cement concrete, different dosages of cement are
replaced with fly ash and also with coconut fiber or wollastonite fiber were added. The
compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength were experimentally
evaluated and modulus of elasticity was empirically determined. Based on the test results,
the concrete with 20% replacement of cement with fly ash and fiber revealed effective
results when compared to concrete without fiber. Coconut fiber along with minimum
dosages of fly ash has greatly improved the flexural strength on the other hand it reduces
other mechanical properties at higher dosages. Combination of Wollastonite fiber with fly
ash helps in the improvement of overall mechanical strength of cement concrete.