Fresh and hardened properties of self-compacting lightweight concrete using coarse palm oil clinker

Abstract

The utilisation of industrial waste from the palm oil industry offers benefit to the construction industry and environment. This paper presents the experimental investigation of the fresh and hardened properties of self-compacting lightweight concrete (SCLWC) using coarse palm oil clinker (POC). In this study, POC, a waste by-product of palm oil mill, was utilised at 100 % full replacement of coarse aggregates in the production of self-compacting concrete (SCC). Fresh properties of the concrete mix were determined through tests of slump flow, V-funnel, J-ring, L box and sieve segregation. Meanwhile, the hardened concrete properties were evaluated by means of density, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), compression, tensile splitting and flexural tests. The fresh and hardened properties of SCLWC were compared to normal SCC using normal weight coarse aggregates. Test results indicated that the SCLWC exhibited accepted self-compacting characteristics as recommended by European Guidelines. The SCLWC can be classified as lightweight concrete since its hardened density at 28 days was 1985 kg/m3 and good in quality according to its UPV values. In addition, the substitution of POC reduced the compressive and tensile strengths of the concrete due to its lightweight and porous nature. Based on the performance of SCLWC utilising coarse POC aggregates, the POC is potentially viable to replace natural aggregates and suitable to be used in SCLWC.