Construction

and Building

Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 1057–1062

MATERIALS
www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Strength performance of laterized concrete

Felix F. Udoeyo *,1, Udeme H. Iron, Obasi O. Odim
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Uyo, P.M.B. 1017, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Received 18 June 2004; received in revised form 9 March 2005; accepted 10 March 2005
Available online 17 June 2005

Abstract

The results of an experimental program to investigate some characteristics of concrete containing laterite as a partial or full
replacement of sand is presented in this paper. Sand in a concrete of mix ratio 1:2:4:0.56 (cement:sand:coarse aggregate:water-ce-
ment ratio) was replaced with 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% laterite. The results show that concrete with up to 40% replace-
ment level of sand by laterite attained the designed strength of 20 N/mm2, thus indicating the possibility of using laterite as a partial
replacement for sand up to this level. It was also observed from the results that the workability of laterite concrete (LATCON) in-
creases with increase in the replacement level of sand by laterite, while the compressive, split tensile, and flexural strengths and the
percentage water absorption of the concrete decrease with increase in the replacement level of sand. Regression models relating the
strengths of LATCON are also presented in this paper.
 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Laterized concrete; Strengths

1. Introduction are large deposits could lead to a significant reduction in

The use of abundantly available materials to replace
normal aggregates in concrete for structural purposes
would prove to be economical in developing nations
provided a reliable design data base on concrete pro-
duced with such materials is established [2]. One of such
materials is laterite – a naturally occurring soil widely
spread in the tropics and subtropics. This material has
been satisfactorily used as a ‘‘fill’’ for foundation and
as a base course for highway construction [1,3]. Some re-
search efforts have been directed towards utilizing later-
ite as a primary aggregate in the manufacture of the
building blocks commonly referred to as ‘‘lateritic
blocks’’. The application of this cheap and readily avail-
able material in concrete work in the regions where there
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: felixudoeyo@yahoo.com (F.F. Udoeyo).
1
Presently Visiting Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering,
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City
Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA.
the cost of concrete [4]. Although studies on the com-
pressive strength of LATCON have shown encouraging
results, the lack of sufficient technical data has limited its
wider application in construction work. The dearth in
research data informed the need for this further work
to evaluate other relevant characteristics of LATCON
necessary for the development of standards and codes
to enhance a safe application of the concrete.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
The laterite used for this work was collected from
some borrow pits located at Otamiri, Owerri of Imo
State of Nigeria. It had a specific gravity of 2.51. The
bulk chemical composition of the laterite analyzed by
EMSL Analytical Inc. located in Westmont, NJ, USA
is presented in Table 1. The sand used was zone 2 river
sand conforming to the requirements of BS882:1983 and

0950-0618/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2005.03.002
1058 F.F. Udoeyo et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 1057–1062

Table 1 Table 2
Physical and chemical properties of laterite Test used for analysis of sample
Properties Value Property tested (1) Test used (2)
Moisture content (%) 0.22 Specific gravity ASTMC 128-73
Specific gravity 2.51 Sieve analysis BS882:1983
Loss on ignition 0.93 Aggregate crushing and impact value BS812:Part 3:1975
Compaction factor BS1881:Part 2:1970
Chemical composition (%)
Compressive strength BS1881:Part 4:1970
SiO2 77.80
Split tensile strength BS1881:Part 4:1970
Al2O3 18.40
Modulus of rupture BS1881:Part 4:1970
Fe2O3 2.38
TiO2 0.82
K2O 0.13 concrete using metallic moulds. The specimens were
MgO 0.13
demoulded after 24 h and immersed in water in a curing
P2O5 0.10
tank maintained at a room temperature for 3, 7, 14, 21,
and 28 days before testing for the various strengths. An
additional set of specimens cured for 90 days was pro-
120 duced for compression test.
Sand
Laterite Three cubes for each replacement level were produced
100 for the water absorption test. The cubes were weighed in
Percentage Passing

a balance before and after immersion in water for 24 h.

80 The difference in the weight before and after immersion
in water expressed as a percentage of the weight before
60 immersion was taken as the water absorption. Table 2
shows the various test methods used in this work.
40

20
3. Results and discussion

0
0.063 0.15 0.212 0.3 0.425 0.6 1.18 2 3.35
Sieve Sizes (mm)
Fig. 1. Grain size distribution of sand and laterite.
having a specific gravity of 2.60. The particle size distri-
bution of the laterite and sand are shown in Fig. 1. The
coarse aggregate was gravel of 40 mm maximum size ob-
tained locally from Okigwe in Imo State. It had a spe-
cific gravity of 2.66, and average impact and crushing
value of 13.0% and 22.10%, respectively. ‘‘Eagle’’ brand
of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) manufactured by
Eastern Bulkcem Company Limited, situated in Port
Harcourt was used. Potable clean water conforming to
BS3148 was used for all the concrete mixes.
3.1. Workability
5.6
Fig. 2 is a presentation of the results of the workabil-
ity of LATCON measured in terms of compaction
factor (BS1881:Part 2). The plot shows that the work-
ability of the concrete increases with the replacement le-
vel of sand by laterite. Although the reason for the
observed trend was not clear, it may be that the increase
in workability with laterite content was due to the pres-
ence of laterite fines that were greater in size than the
particles of the sand replaced in the mix. It is a known
fact that aggregate size and texture affect workability
of concrete.
0.825
0.82

0.815
2.2. Methods
Compaction Factor

0.81

0.805
Concrete of 1:2:4: (cement:sand:coarse aggregate)
0.8
mix proportion containing laterite as a replacement for
sand was used for this study. The replacement levels of 0.795

sand by laterite considered were 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 0.79

and 100%. Control concrete (concrete without laterite) 0.785

were also produced for reference purpose. Batching of 0.78
all the concrete constituents was by weight, while mixing 0.775
0 20 40 60 80 100
was done manually as water (corresponding to W/
Laterite (%)
C = 0.56) was added to the mix. Three specimens for
each replacement level were cast from a single batch of Fig. 2. Compaction factor versus laterite content of LATCON.
 F.F. Udoeyo et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 1057–1062 1059

Table 3
Compressive strength of laterized concrete
Combination (%) Compressive strength (N/mm2)
fc7
Sand Laterite 3 days 7 days 14 days 21 days 28 days 90 days fc28
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)
100 0 16.30 ± 0.01a 17.47 ± 0.05 20.68 ± 0.02 21.13 ± 0.03 22.14 ± 0.02 24.14 ± 0.01 0.789
80 20 16.05 ± 0.06 17.26 ± 0.03 20.60 ± 0.00 21.26 ± 0.03 21.73 ± 0.05 23.82 ± 0.05 0.794
60 40 15.90 ± 0.03 16.37 ± 0.03 16.37 ± 0.02 20.48 ± 0.05 21.46 ± 0.05 22.90 ± 0.01 0.763
40 60 15.52 ± 0.02 15.90 ± 0.02 17.53 ± 0.03 19.72 ± 0.05 19.72 ± 0.02 22.16 ± 0.02 0.806
20 80 13.67 ± 0.03 14.99 ± 0.01 15.51 ± 0.05 17.26 ± 0.06 18.05 ± 0.02 19.32 ± 0.02 0.830
0 100 9.72 ± 0.02 11.04 ± 0.03 12.79 ± 0.02 14.77 ± 0.07 15.48 ± 0.07 17.20 ± 0.03 0.713
fc7 = 7-day compressive strength; fc28 = 28-day compressive strength.
a
Standard deviation.

3.2. Compressive strength day strength of laterized concrete was about 98% of
the strength of the plain concrete, and at 100% replace-
A total of 108 cube specimens of size 150 mm were ment level the strength of the former was 70% of that of
tested for compression. The test results are summarized the latter. A one-way analysis of variance with a com-
in Table 3. Each value is the mean of a triplicate test re- puted least square difference (LSD) at 0.05 significance
sult. The compressive strength of all LATCON speci- level equal 0.05 and 0.08 N/mm2 for the 28- and 90-days
mens increased with age but decreased with increase in strengths, respectively, shows the existence of statistical
the replacement level of sand. Fig. 3 shows the strength difference between the mean strength of the plain con-
of LATCON expressed as a ratio of the corresponding crete and that of LATCON. The explanation for the ob-
strength of control concrete of the same age. The plot served trend is not far-fetched; the laterite which consists
shows that at 20% replacement level of sand the 28- of quartz and granular aggregates of kaolinite clay par-
ticles weakly cemented by sesquioxide (Fe2O3 and
Al2O3) has less compressive strength than the sand it re-
1.05
3 days
places in the concrete matrix, thus the reduction in com-
1
7 days
pressive strength of laterized concrete compared to plain
Compressive Strength Ratio

14 days
21 days concrete. However, since the designed strength of 20 N/
0.95 28 days
90 days mm2 was still attained by the concrete when 0–40% of
0.9 the sand was replaced, laterite could therefore be used
0.85
as a partial replacement of sand within these levels.
Early-age strength development is always of interest
0.8
to engineers and concrete technologists. The trend for
0.75 the 287 -day strength ratio presented in Table 2 shows that
all the LATCON cubes attained above 70% of their 28-
0.7
day strength at 7 days.
0.65

0.6 3.3. Split tensile strength

0 20 40 60 80 100
Laterite Content ( %) A total of 90 standard concrete cylinders of sizes
Fig. 3. Compressive strength of laterized concrete compared with 150 mm diameter and 300 mm height were tested for
strength of control concrete. the indirect tensile strength. The test results are shown

Table 4
Split tensile strength of laterized concrete
Combination (%) Split tensile strength (N/mm2)
Sand Laterite 3 days 7 days 14 days 21 days 28 days
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
100 0 2.95 ± 0.03 2.97 ± 0.06 3.12 ± 0.01 3.17 ± 0.03 3.24 ± 0.04
80 20 2.85 ± 0.01 2.94 ± 0.01 3.09 ± 0.02 3.11 ± 0.03 3.16 ± 0.04
60 40 2.81 ± 0.01 2.84 ± 0.05 3.01 ± 0.00 3.06 ± 0.01 3.08 ± 0.04
40 60 2.59 ± 0.01 2.64 ± 0.01 2.72 ± 0.03 2.80 ± 0.09 2.81 ± 0.02
20 80 2.48 ± 0.02 2.52 ± 0.03 2.61 ± 0.02 2.63 ± 0.01 2.67 ± 0.03
0 100 2.30 ± 0.04 2.38 ± 0.02 2.42 ± 0.03 2.46 ± 0.01 2.49 ± 0.01
1060 F.F. Udoeyo et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 1057–1062

in Table 4. Each value represents the average of three Generally, the trend observed and discussed for com-
test results. The split tensile strength was calculated pressive strength of LATCON holds true for the split-
according to BS1881:Part 4:1970 as follows: ting test results, but the decrease in strength of
2P splitting test specimens with increase in replacement le-
fs ¼ ð1Þ vel, and the increase in strength with age were compar-
PLD
atively lower in value than those of the compressive
in which fs = split tensile strength, P = peak load on strength. The split tensile strength of laterized concrete
cylinder, L = length of specimen, and D = diameter of compared with that of control concrete presented in
specimen. Fig. 4 shows that the strength of the former was between
77% and 99% of the latter for the investigated replace-
1.05 ment levels. Fig. 5 shows the 28-day split tensile strength
3 days
Split Tensile Strength Ratio

7 days
14 days
of laterized concrete related to the compressive strength
1 21 days
28 days
of the concrete of corresponding age. The relationship
could be described by the following regression equation
0.95
(in N/mm2):
2
0.9 fs ¼ 0.013ðfcu Þ þ 0.372f cu þ 5.187 ð2Þ
0.85 in which fs = split tensile strength and fcu = compressive
strength.
0.8

3.4. Flexural strength

0.75

A total of 90 beams of size 150 · 150 · 750 mm were

0.7
0 20 40 60 80 100 tested for flexural strength. Table 5 summarizes the test
Laterite Content ( %) results. In all the tested specimen fracture occurred with-
Fig. 4. Split tensile strength of laterized concrete relative to that of in the central one-third of the beam, hence according to
control concrete. BS1881:Part 4:1970, flexural strength (modulus of rup-
ture) was calculated as follows:
3.4 PL
fb ¼ ð3Þ
bd 2
Split Tensile Strength ( N/mm2 )

3.2

in which fb = modulus of rupture, P = the maximum

3
load on the beam, L = span of beam, b = width of beam,
2.8 and d = depth of beam.
The trend of the flexural test results as could be ob-
2.6
served is similar to that of the compressive strength. A
2.4 comparative study would also show that the values ob-
tained for flexural strength are higher than those of split-
2.2
ting strength. This was expected since modulus of
2 rupture over-estimates the tensile strength of concrete
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 due to the assumption that stress is linearly proportional
Compressive Strength (N/mm2 )
to the distance from the neutral axis whereas the actual
Fig. 5. Relationship between split tensile and compressive strengths of stress distribution near failure is nonlinear parabolic.
LATCON. The flexural strength of laterized concrete compared

Table 5
Flexural strength of laterized concrete
Combination (%) Flexural strength (N/mm2)
Sand Laterite 3 days 7 days 14 days 21 days 28 days
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
100 0 6.29 ± 0.13 6.60 ± 0.06 7.29 ± 0.29 7.73 ± 0.05 7.78 ± 0.02
80 20 5.23 ± 0.29 5.25 ± 0.29 5.27 ± 0.09 5.33 ± 0.00 5.69 ± 0.00
60 40 4.89 ± 0.20 5.00 ± 0.00 5.21 ± 0.28 5.29 ± 0.05 5.35 ± 0.04
40 60 4.72 ± 0.08 4.94. ± 0.03 4.96 ± 0.00 5.05 ± 0.06 5.12 ± 0.10
20 80 4.64 ± 0.00 4.75 ± 0.15 4.80 ± 0.09 4.86 ± 0.05 4.89 ± 0.11
0 100 4.33 ± 0.10 4.41 ± 0.12 4.44 ± 0.00 4.50 ± 0.17 4.62 ± 0.08
 F.F. Udoeyo et al. / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 1057–1062 1061

1.1 1.4
3 days
7 days

1
14 days 1.2
21 days
28 days
Flexural Strength Ratio

Water Absorption (%)

1
0.9

0.8
0.8
0.6
0.7
0.4

0.6
0.2

0.5 0
0 20 40 60 80 100
0.4 Laterite Content (%)
0 20 40 60 80 100
Laterite Content (%) Fig. 8. Water absorption versus laterite content of LATCON.

Fig. 6. Flexural strength of laterized concrete relative to that of

control concrete.
level of sand by laterite. This could be due to the filler
effect of the laterite in the concrete. The laterite fines
in addition to the cement fine must have filled more con-
with the strength of control concrete of corresponding
crete pores compared to the plain concrete, thus making
age was in the range between 58% and 83% (see Fig.
LATCON less porous.
6). The correlation between the 28-day flexural and com-
pressive strengths of LATCON within the replacement
levels considered is shown in Fig. 7. This could be de-
scribed by the following equation (in N/mm2): 4. Conclusions
2
ff ¼ 0.0939ðfcu Þ  3.217f cu þ 32.216 ð4Þ
The following conclusions can be drawn from the lab-
in which ff = flexural strength and fcu = compressive oratory investigations to evaluate some characteristics
strength. of laterite concrete:
3.5. Water absorption  The workability of LATCON increases with higher
replacement level of sand by laterite, while the per-
The results of the water absorption test presented in centage water absorption of the concrete decreases
Fig. 8 show that plain concrete (control) absorbed more with increase in replacement level.
water than LATCON. Each value is the mean of tripli-  The strengths of LATCON generally increases with
cate test results. As could be further observed the water age but decreases with increase in the replacement
absorption decreased with increase in the replacement level of sand by laterite. From the experimental data
generated in this work the ratio of the flexural and
split tensile strengths to compressive strength of
LATCON were in the range from 0.25 to 0.39 and
8 0.14 to 0.18, respectively. Concrete with 20% and
7.5 40% replacement levels of sand by laterite attained
the design strength of 20 N/mm2.
Flexural Strength ( N/mm2 )

7
 Further study on shrinkage and durability of LAT-
6.5 CON is recommended to further establish the suit-
6
ability of the material for concreting.
5.5

4.5
References

4 [1] Ajayi LA. Report of the Committee on review of materials testing,

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Compressive Strength (N/mm2 ) control and research. Unpublished Material, Federal Ministry of
Works, Owerri; 1982. 18pp.
Fig. 7. Relationship between flexural and compressive strengths of [2] Negussie T. Structural use of scoria concrete. Afr J Sci Ser A
LATCON. 1990;8(1):44–8.
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[3] Obi-Egbedi RB. Geotechnical properties of laterites – a case study [4] Orangun CO. Local materials in structural engineering. In:
of lateritic soil deposits at Obigbo, Rivers State. A Bachelor of Proceedings of the symposium on local materials in civil engineer-
Engineering thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, Federal ing construction organized by Nigeria society of Engineers, July 4,
University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria; 1998. 78pp. 1988. p. 20–7.