Evaluation of Self Compacting Concrete with Fiber and Bagasse Ash

Abstract

The most versatile civil engineering construction material, concrete, because of its good compressive strength and flexibility, in handling as well as ability to shape it to required form, suffers from a few disadvantages because of its low tensile strength and durability. Another issue is that the production of important component of concrete, cement, is very energy consuming and impacts environment in all stages of production. To reduce these issues and also reduce the cost involved in cement, many supplementary cementitious materials are considered to substitute cement to the extent possible without impairing its mechanical properties. The tensile strength of concrete depends only with reinforcement, which is mainly steel bars. In this study industrial fiber i.e. Recron 3S is proposed to use as reinforcement and abundantly available Bagasse ash a pozzolanic materials as a replacing cement to the extent possible. Another problem in using concrete is that it requires compaction after placing, which is not always possible. This issue is circumvented by using self-compacting concrete. A study has been undertaken to produce SCC with different amounts of bagasse ash replacing the cement and with industrial fiber as reinforcement. To reduce high requirement of water for SCC required amount of superplasticizers used. The water content is determined based on slump tests, L box tests and V funnel test to obtain satisfactory passing ability and flowability for M50 concrete, respectively. Mechanical properties (compressive strength, tensile strength, and flexural strength) of this concrete with different amounts of bagasse ash are determined after curing for periods up to 90 days. Results showed that 10% replacement of cement with bagasse ash can maintain good mechanical properties.