Partial Replacement of Fine Aggregates with Coconut Shell Ash in Concrete

Abstract

Concrete has been continuously used for infrastructural development due to which its demand as a construction material has increased. The depletion of the natural sand has been the major concern in the construction industry, and this makes the need of finding other alternative approaches for this problem. Considering that natural sand has to be saved for the future for sustainable development, there is a need of replacing this sand partially or fully with other suitable materials. Waste materials are also on an increase creating environmental problems, hence if they are incorporated into the concrete construction industry, it will reduce the environmental problems, thus helping in saving natural sand extraction. This paper focuses on using manufactured sand with varying percentages of coconut shell ash as fine aggregate along with two different types of cements (PPC and PSC) and then comparing the 7th and 28th day compressive strength, respectively. The seven days compressive strength of concrete replaced with 0, 5 and 10% of coconut shell ash as fine aggregate along with PPC and PSC was found to be 23.70, 21.33, 18.22, 24.74, 23.70 and 22.22 N/mm², respectively. The 28 days compressive strength test of concrete replaced with 0, 5 and 10% coconut shell ash as fine aggregate along with PPC and PSC was found to be 37.33, 28.00, 19.68, 26.37, 24.88 and 19.70 N/mm², respectively. As the replacement percentage kept on increasing, it was observed that the compressive strength of concrete decreased.