Performance of blended cement concrete by using palm oil shells as coarse aggregate

Abstract

The construction industry has an effect on social, economic and environment. Considering the materials used, such impacts depend on the production of concrete, since it is the most consumed material and its properties are associated with the consumption of Portland cement, which represents a significant part of CO2 emissions from this sector. In relation to that the use of waste materials in concrete production is beneficial. This research studied the potential use of palm oil shell (POS) as coarse aggregate to produce concrete with the purpose of replacing the coarse aggregate by using the waste materials to get more economical structure and achieving satisfactory strength reaching up to 30 MPa. In this study the effect of ground granulated blastfurnace slag as partial cement replacement was also studied. Laboratory work was conducted to determine the performance of the control sample, concrete with using palm oil shell (POS) and concrete with slag. The performance of these types of concrete were determined by the workability test, compressive strength test, ultrasonic pulse velocity test, shrinkage and expansion test, and flexural strength test of reinforced concrete beams. The workability of concrete was determined using slump test. Concrete cubes, prisms and reinforced concrete beams with the size of 100x120x2200 mm were cast and tested. The cubes tested at the ages of 7, 28 and 40 days. The results of the slump test show that POS concrete has lower slump value than normal and blended cement concrete. The compressive strength of POS concrete was lower than control sample. Results of reinforced concrete beam test show that the flexural behaviour of the control concrete and blended cement concrete were better than POS concrete. The other test results indicated that the quality of POS concrete was lower than the quality of control and blended cement concrete.