Pitroda et al.

, International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology E-ISSN 0976-3945

Research Paper
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS ON PARTIAL
REPLACEMENT OF CEMENT WITH FLY ASH IN DESIGN
MIX CONCRETE
Prof. Jayeshkumar Pitroda1, Dr. L.B.Zala2, Dr.F.S.Umrigar3
Address for Correspondence
1
Assistant Professor & Research Scholar, 2Head & Professor, Civil Engineering Department, B.V.M.
Engineering College, Vallabh Vidhyanagar-Gujarat – India
3
Principal, B.V.M. Engineering College, Vallabh Vidhyanagar – Gujarat – India
ABSTRACT:
The advancement of concrete technology can reduce the consumption of natural resources and energy sources and lessen the
burden of pollutants on environment. Presently large amounts of fly ash are generated in thermal industries with an
important impact on environment and humans.In recent years, many researchers have established that the use of
supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) like fly ash (FA), blast furnace slag, silica fume, metakaolin (MK), and rice
husk ash (RHA), hypo sludge etc. can, not only improve the various properties of concrete - both in its fresh and hardened
states, but also can contribute to economy in construction costs.This research work describes the feasibility of using the
thermal industry waste in concrete production as partial replacement of cement.The use of fly ash in concrete formulations as
a supplementary cementatious material was tested as an alternative to traditional concrete. The cement has been replaced by
fly ash accordingly in the range of 0% (without fly ash), 10%, 20%, 30% & 40% by weight of cement for M-25 and M-40
mix. Concrete mixtures were produced, tested and compared in terms of compressive and split strength with the
conventional concrete. These tests were carried out to evaluate the mechanical properties for the test results for compressive
strength up to 28 days and split strength for 56 days are taken.
KEY WORDS: Fly Ash, Compressive Strength, split strength, thermal industry waste, supplementary cementitious
materials
INTRODUCTION: such concretes with special characteristics. In the
Leaving the waste materials to the environment present experimental investigation the fly ash has
directly can cause environmental problem. Hence the been used to study the effect on compressive and split
reuse of waste material has been emphasized. Waste strength on M25 and M40 grades of concrete.
can be used to produce new products or can be used DESIGN MIX MATERIALS:
as admixtures so that natural resources are used more a) Supplementary cementitious material: Fly Ash
efficiently and the environment is protected from Fly ash is composed of the non-combustible mineral
waste deposits. These industrial wastes are dumped portion of coal. Particles are glassy, spherical ‘ball
in the nearby land and the natural fertility of the soil bearings’ finer than cement particles. Sizes of particle
is spoiled. are 0.1µm-150 µm. it is a pozzolonic material which
Fly ash is the finely divided mineral residue resulting reacts with free lime in the presence of water,
from the combustion of ground or powdered coal in converted into calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H)
electric power generating thermal plant. Fly ash is a which is the strongest and durable portion of the
beneficial mineral admixture for concrete. It paste in concrete. The fly ash is procured from Maize
influences many properties of concrete in both fresh Products (A division of Sayaji Industries Ltd) Power
and hardened state. Moreover, utilization of waste plant. This plant is located near kathwada in
materials in cement and concrete industry reduces the Ahmedabad District in Gujarat State. Fig. 1 shows
environmental problems of power plants and storage of fly ash in open fields.
decreases electricity generation costs.
Cement with fly ash reduces the permeability of
concrete and dense calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H).
Research shows that adding fly ash to concrete, as a
partial replacement of cement (less than 35 percent),
will benefit both the fresh and hardened states.
While in the fresh state, the fly ash improves
workability. This is due to the smooth, spherical Fig.1. Fly Ash stored in open fields
shape of the fly ash particle. The tiny spheres act as a a) Cement
form of ball bearing that aids the flow of the concrete The most common cement used is an Ordinary
(Morotta, 2005). This improved workability allows Portland Cement (OPC). The Ordinary Portland
for lower water-to-cement ratios, which later leads to Cement of 53 grade (Hathi OPC) conforming to
higher compressive strengths (Mindess, et al., 2003). IS:8112-1989 is used. Many tests were conducted on
In the hardened state, fly ash contributes in a number cement; some of them are specific gravity,
of ways, including strength and durability. While fly consistency tests, setting time tests, compressive
ash tends to increase the setting time of the concrete. strengths, etc.
The pozzolanic reaction removing the excess calcium
hydroxide, produced by the cement reaction, and
forming a harder CSH
The present day world is witnessing the construction
of very challenging and aesthetic structures. Concrete
being the most important and widely used material is
called upon to possess very high strength and
sufficient workability properties. Efforts are being
made in the field of concrete technology to develop Fig.2. HATHI Cement (OPC 53 grade
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 Pitroda et al., International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology E-ISSN 0976-3945
Table 1.Properties of HATHI Cement
(OPC 53 grade)

Fig.5. Grit
Table 2. Properties of Aggregates

c) Aggregate
Aggregates are the important constituents in concrete.
They give body to the concrete, reduce shrinkage and
effect economy. One of the most important factors
for producing workable concrete is good gradation of
aggregates. Good grading implies that a sample
fractions of aggregates in required proportion such f) Water
that the sample contains minimum voids. Samples of Water is an important ingredient of concrete as it
the well graded aggregate containing minimum voids actually participates in the chemical reaction with
require minimum paste to fill up the voids in the cement. Since it helps to from the strength giving
aggregates. Minimum paste means less quantity of cement gel, the quantity and quality of water is
cement and less water, which is further mean required to be looked into very carefully. Water
increased economy, lower shrinkage and greater cement ratio used is 0.40 for M25 and 0.30 for M40
durability. concretes.
d) Coarse Aggregate Design Mix Methodology
The fractions from 20 mm to 4.75 mm are used as a) Design Mix
coarse aggregate. The Coarse Aggregates from A mix M25 & M40 grade was designed as per IS
crushed Basalt rock, conforming to IS: 383 are used. 10262:2009 and the same was used to prepare the test
The Flakiness Index and Elongation Index were samples. The design mix proportion is shown in
maintained well below 15%. Table 3
e) Fine aggregate Table 3. Concrete Design Mix Proportions
Those fractions from 4.75 mm to 150 micron are
termed as fine aggregate. The river sand and
crushed sand is used in combination as fine
aggregate conforming to the requirements of IS:
383. The river sand is washed and screened, to
eliminate deleterious materials and over size
particles.fig.-3, 4 & 5 fine aggregate, coarse
aggregate and grit. Table-3 gives the properties of
aggregates

b) Compression & Split Test

Standard metallic cube moulds (150*150*150 mm)
were casted for compressive and split strength. A
table vibrator was used for compaction of the hand
Fig.3. Fine aggregate filled concrete cubes.

Fig.4. Coarse aggregate Fig.6. compressive strength testing

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 Pitroda et al., International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology E-ISSN 0976-3945
The specimens were demoulded after 24 hours and
subsequently immersed in water for different age of
testing. For each age three specimens were tested for
the determination of average compressive and split
strength. Test was performed on compression testing
machine having capacity of 200 MT. figure 6 & 7
show compressive and split strength testing setup on
testing machine.

Fig.8. Compressive Strength of Cubes at 7, 14 & 28

Days for M25

Fig.7. split strength testing

RESULTS
The compressive strength results are compiled in
Table-4 and split strength in Table-5. The
compressive strength vs % replacements of cement
results are graphically shown in figure 8 and 9. The
same for split strength is in figure 9. Fig.9. Compressive Strength of Cubes at 7, 14 & 28 Days
28 days for M25 & M40 for M40
Table 4. Compressive Strength and % Change of Strength at 7, 14, 28 days for M25 & M40

TABLE 5. Split Strength and % Change of Strength at Fig.10. Split strength of cubes (150X150X150) at 56 Days
56 days for M25 & M40 for M25 & M40

Table- 6 Cost of Materials

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 Pitroda et al., International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology E-ISSN 0976-3945

Table-7 Materials for designed M25 & M40 concrete

Cost Impact on concrete 7. IS 456:2000 “Code of practice for plain and reinforced
concrete (fourth revision)”
The change in cost due to addition of fly ash
8. IS 10262:2009 “Code of concrete mix proportioning –
replacing cement is worked out in table 7. The basic guidelines (first revision)”
market rates of materials are given table 6. Cost 9. Kannan V, Ganesan K “Mechanical and transport
decrease due to reduction in cement. properties in ternary blended self compacting concrete
with metakaolin and fly ash” IOSRJMCE, ISSN: 2278-
CONCLUSION 1684 Volume 2, Issue 4 (Sep-Oct. 2012), PP 22-31
Based on limited experimental investigation 10. Kulkarni V R (2007) Roll of fly ash in sustainable
concerning the compressive & split strength of development, FAUACE
concrete, the following conclusions are drawn: 11. Malhotra, V.M., and P.K. Mehta. High-Performance,
High-Volume Fly Ash Concrete.Supplementary
• Compressive strength reduces when cement Cementing Materials for Sustainable Development, Inc.,
replaced fly ash. As fly ash percentage Ottawa, Canada, 2002, 101 pp.
increases compressive strength and split 12. Malhotra V.M. and A.A. Ramezanianpour, 1994, “Fly
strength decreases. Ash In Concrete”, published by Canadian centre for
mineral and energy technology (CANMET).
• Use of fly ash in concrete can save the coal 13. Murlidharrao (2007) Utilization of fly ash at Raichur
& thermal industry disposal costs and Thermal power station of Karnataka power
produce a ‘greener’ concrete for Corporation Ltd, FAUACE.
construction. 14. Prof. J R Pitroda, Dr L B Zala, Dr F S Umrigar (2012),
“Hypo Sludge Management: Opportunities For
• The cost analysis indicates that percent Developing Low Cost Concrete With Glass Fibres”
cement reduction decreases cost of concrete, International Journal Global Research Analysis, (GRA),
but at the same time strength also decreases. Volume: 1, Issue: 7, Dec 2012 • ISSN No 2277 – 8160,
pp-56-58.
• This research concludes that fly ash can be 15. Rajmane N P (2007) Fly ash based alternate for partial
innovative supplementary cementitious replacement of Portland cement, FAUACE.
Construction Material but judicious 16. Santhakumar A R (2008) Concrete Technology, Oxford
decisions are to be taken by engineers. University Press, New Delhi.
17. Shetty M S (2003) Concrete Technology, S.Chand and
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Company Ltd, New Delhi.
The Authors thankfully acknowledge the support
rendered by B.V.M. Engineering College, Charutar
Vidya Mandal & Jay Maharaj Construction, Vallabh
Vidyanagar, Gujarat, India for providing laboratory
facilities to carry out this work.
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