A variant of green concrete with industrial and agricultural waste

Abstract

The research presented in this paper aim to analyze the effects of cement replacement by fly ash in 10 vol. %, 20 vol. %, and 30 vol. % and, afterwards, the effects of mineral aggregates substitution by 50 vol. % with vegetal aggregates. The used vegetal aggregates were shredded corn cobs, and were investigated the density, the compressive and split tensile strength of concrete. The results revealed that fly ash, as cement partial replacement, decreased the compressive strength comparing to the reference concrete, meanwhile, the splitting tensile strength was improved when were used 10% and 20% vol. of fly ash. Fly ash had a positive effect on the compressive strength of the vegetal concrete, in the case of the composition with 10% and 30% vol. of industrial waste, and also on splitting tensile strength in the case of 10% and 20% vol. of replacement rate. The concrete density diminished with 1.67%, 3.12% and 3.82% in the case of 10%, 20% and 30% vol. cement replacement by fly ash, respectively. Corn cob aggregates led to a concrete density decreasing with almost 25% compared to reference concrete.