MALLA REDDY INSTITUTE OF TECHNILOGY AND SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

ACADEMIC YEAR 2022-2023
Major Project stage-1

TITLE: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF LIGHT WEIGHT

CONCRETE USING SAW DUST AND RICE HUSK

Batch Number : A4

Roll Number : 19S11A0197

19S11A0191
19S11A0184

Guide Name : Mr.ABDUL ADHIL PASHA

Section (As per JNTUH) : A- Section

STABILIZATION OF SOIL USING WASTE PLASTIC POWDER AND FLY ASH
CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

The high and rising cost of convectional building materials is a major factor affecting the
construction industry in developing countries with Ghana not being an exception. In the search of
cutting down conventional building material costs many suggestions have been put forward and
one of the ideas in the forefront has been the sourcing, improvement and use of alternative and
non-convectional local construction material and considerable effort has been directed towards
using agricultural or industrial waste as construction material. Some of these wastes include
sawdust, pulverized fuel ash, palm kernel shells, slag, coconut husk, fly ash among others which
are produced from milling stations, thermal power station, waste treatment plants etc.The
utilisation of these wastes as a form of concrete enhancement is of fundamentalinterest to industry
players in the developing regions where present-day construction materials are not readily
available or are too expensive.
This research will look into the potential ofsawdust; a waste and low energymaterial as
anenhancement of concrete.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The persistent and increasing cost of convectional materials for the production of concrete is a
major factor affecting the development of shelter and other infrastructural facilities in developing
countries including Ghana. There arises the need for engineering consideration of the use of waste,
cheaper and locally available materials to helpindustry players and other stakeholders to meet
desired need, enhance self-efficiency, and lead to an overall reduction in construction cost for
sustainable development.

1.3 Aim
The aim of this study is to look into the possible use of sawdust as enhancement of concrete for
domestic construction.

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1.4 Objectives
The main objective of this study is to;

➢ Carry out specific design mix for the concrete production

➢ Conduct laboratory test to ascertain the physical and mechanical properties of the concrete
➢ Evaluate, analyse and discuss data from the study
1.5 Scope of Study
This study encompasses an investigation into some physical and mechanical properties of the
concrete mixed with the sawdust as an enhancement. The property to be determined is the slump,
density, compression and the split tensile strength on the various concrete cubes to be
produced.Also,the research work is presented in five (5) chapters. Chapter one provides a general
introduction to the research. After this introduction is literature review which is chapter two.
Chapter three and four are the experimental studies and analysis of the results respectively and
chapter five summaries the key findings of the study, their implications and recommendation.

1.6 Justification of Study

Sawdustis a waste material from the saw milling industrial. It is causing an immense challenge to
producers in relation to its massive disposal problems. Further studies on the impact of the
improper disposal of sawdust on the environment revealed a worrying outcome of which some of
them are pollution of the soil with phenol compounds which in tend reduces the soil productivity
and the directcontamination of lakes, water bodies and the associate impurities which have
negative impacts on the living ecosystem.

Sawdust is cheap, waste material from the lumber industries and readily available. The advantage
of using this waste product is twofold, firstly to reduce the waste which is a headache to the
industries and secondly would help to produce an innovative building material at a low cost for
low cost housing.

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1.7 Limitations of Study
The insufficient moulds and cost constraints limited the researcher to produce concrete cubes not
enough at a go.

Furthermore, time and resources to some degree contributed to the drawback of the work in the
sense that the researcher had in mind to assess the durability of concrete enhance with sawdust.

In spite of the challenges enumerated, the research went on smoothly and on course as envisaged
without any major hitchesin the face of the limitations above.

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CHAPTER-2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter is a review of literature that has been done by other researchers on the variouswaste
materials in cementitious composite as enhancement.

2.1 Concrete
Concrete is a combination of cement, fine and coarse aggregates and water, which aremixed in a
particular proportion to get a particular strength.

Concrete, from the Latin word Concretusmeaning compact or condensed, plays a vital role in the
construction industry. According to Bjorn (2001) Concrete is used more than any other man-made
material in the construction world.A survey conducted in America by the America Concrete
Institute, revealed that concrete powers a US $35billion industry; employing more than two million
workers in the USA alone and more than 89000km of highways in the USA are paved with this
material. The use of concrete in construction dates back to the ancient civilization.Campbell and
Fork (2005) claims that a close analysis of ancient Egyptian pyramid has shown that concrete may
have been employed in their construction and also the widespread use of many concrete in many
Roman structures has ensured that many survived to the present day. The bath of Carcicalla in
Rome is just one example. This example explains the strength and durability of concrete. But some
have stated that the secret of concrete was lost for thirteen centuries until 1756, when the British
engineer, John Smeathon pioneered the use of hydraulic lime in concrete, using pebbles and
powered brick as aggregate. Though, the Canal Du Midi was built using concrete in 1670.

Concrete is strong in compression as the aggregate efficiently carries compression load. However,
it is weak in tension as the cement holding the aggregate in place can crack, allowing the structure

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to fail. Reinforced concrete solves these problems by adding steel reinforcing bars, steel fibers,
glass fibre or plastic fibre to carry tensile loads upon it or to some extent by the inclusion of a

sufficient volume of certain agricultural or industrial waste as fibres (Sohail, 2008).Tensile strength
of concrete is a measure of its ability to resist forces, which stretch or bend it. Unlike steel, the
concrete is sufficient in strength only in one direction (Wong, 2004).

Wong (2004) ascertained thatthe tensile strength of concrete is approximately one-tenth of the
compressive strength and it is not generally used in the design of concrete structure. Nevertheless,
is an important property in many applications and theaddition of fibre is one of the primary reasons
to increase tensile strength.

Parker and Ambrose (1991) claims that the elasticity of concrete is relatively constant at low stress
levels but starts decreasing at higher stress levels as matrix cracking develop and it has a very low
coefficient of thermal expansion and as it matures concrete shrinks.

According to Neville and Brooks (1990) all concrete structures will crack to some extent, due to
shrinkage and tension and concrete that are subjected to long-duration forces is prone to creep.
Creep in material science is the tendency of a solid material to slowly move or deform permanently
under the influence of stresses.

In heterogeneous materials like concrete, quality of the constituent proportions inwhich they are
mixed determine the strength and properties of the resulting products. A goodknowledge of the
properties of cement, aggregates and water is required in understanding thebehavior of concrete.
In ordinary structural concrete, the aggregates occupy about 70 to 75% of the volume of the
hardened mass.

Concrete exceeding 2000kg/m3 are classified as dense concretes and less dense concrete are those
made by aerating the mix (cellular concrete) by using light weight aggregates or by omitting the

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fine aggregate (no fines) concrete, and are classified as light concrete (Jackson and Dhir,1988).

2.2Constituents of Concrete
2.2.1 Cement
Cement is the setting agent of concrete and the bulk of cement used is Portland cement.

Jackson and Dhir (1988) ascertained that different types of cement produce concrete having
different rates of strength development. In rapid hardening Portland cement, the chemical reaction
initially proceeds at faster rate and thus gaining its working strength earlier than ordinary Portland
cement.This assertion was confirmed by Sohail (2008)that Portland cements are mainly hydraulics;
therefore they depend upon water rather than air for strength development.

2.2.2Aggregates

These are materials which are mixed with the cement to form concrete and there are two types of
aggregates namely fine andcoarse aggregates.All-in aggregate is a material composed of both fine
and coarse aggregates.However, Orchad(1979) classified aggregate according to their metrological
characteristics and can be divided into heavyweight, normal weight and lightweight aggregate. The
latter two can also be divided according to their particle size into rounded, irregular, angular and
flaky and according to their texture into glassy, smooth, granular, rough, crystalline, and heavy
combed and porous.

Heavyweight aggregate such as scrap iron, magnetite, and barite are used to make concrete for
radiation shielding and has a relative density or specific gravity of 4.0 or above(Atkin,2008).
Orchad(1979) confirms that the principal natural light weight aggregate in use are volcanic in
origin and others also include pumice, sawdust, and wood shavings and asbestos.

On the other hand normal weight aggregate of the natural class include sand and gravels, crushed
rock such as granite, quartzite, syeliteetc and those made artificially include broken brick and air-
cooled blast furnace slag.

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Nevertheless, aggregate should be free from significant quantities of substances which are
chemically incompatible with cement, reduce bond with aggregate, decomposes and attract
moisture and causes staining (Chudley and Greeno,2003).

2.2.3 Water
Water for concrete should be reasonably free from impurities such as suspended solids, organic
matter and salt which may adversely affect the setting, hardening and durability of the concrete. It
is usually specified as being of a quality fit for drinking(Taylor, 1991).

According to Chudley and Greeno(2003) a proportion of the water is required to set up a chemical
reaction which hardens the cement. The remainder is required to give the mix workability and will
evaporate from the mix while it is curing, leaving minute voids.Excesswater gives a porous
concrete of reduced durability and strength.The quantity of water to be used in the mix is usually
expressed in terms of the water/cement ratio which is the weight of water in the concrete divided
by the weight of cement.

2.3 Admixtures
Admixtures are materials other than cement, aggregate and water that are added to concrete either
before or during its mixing to alter its properties such as workability, curing temperature range, set
time or colour that are not obtainable with plain concrete mixes.

Some admixture has been in use for a very long time such as calcium chloride to provide a cold
weather setting concrete. According to the US Federal Highway Administration concrete
admixtures have been used since Roman and Egyptian times, when it was discovered that adding
volcanic ash to the mix allowed it to set under water. Similarly the Romans knew that adding horse
hair made concrete less liable to crack while it hardened and adding animal blood made it more
frost –resistant.Others are more recent and represent an area of expanding possibilities for
increased performance.Admixturesmust not compromise the characteristics of the final product
and in normal use, admixture dosages should be less than 5% by mass of cement, and are added to
the concrete at the time of batching/mixing (Atkin, 2008).

The chemistry of concrete admixtures is a complex topic requiring in-depth knowledge and

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experience. A general understanding of the options available for concrete admixtures is necessary
for acquiring the right product of the job, based on climatic conditions and job requirement. Based
on their functions, the common types of admixtures are as follows;

• Accelerators speed up the hydration (hardening) of the concrete. Typical materials used are CaCl2,

• Ca (No3)2 and NaNo3(Sohail, 2008). However, use of chlorides may cause corrosion in steel
reinforcing and is prohibited in some countries and therefore nitrates may be favoured(Sohail,
2008).

• Retardersslow the hydration of concrete, and are used in large or difficult pours where partial
setting before the pour is completely undesirable. Typically polyol retarders are sugar, sucrose,
sodium gluconate, glucose, citric acidand tartanic acid.

• Air entrainmentsadd and entrain tiny air bubbles in the concrete, which will reduce damage during
freeze-thaw cycles thereby increasing the concrete’s durability. However, entrained air is a trade-
off with strength as each 1% of air may result in 5% decrease in compressive strength (Sohail,
2008).

• Super Plasticizersalso knowas plasticizers, include water-reducing admixtures. It is a ‘high range

water reducer’ that allow water reduction or greater flowability without substantially slowing set
time or increasing air entrainment. According to Ilangovana, Mahendrana and Nagamanib (2008)
they can maintain a specific consistency and workability of plastic or ‘fresh’ concrete at a greatly
reduced amount of water allowing it to be placed more easily.

• Water Reducingadmixtures require less water to make a concrete of equal slump or increase the
slump of concrete at the same water content. They are mostly used for hot weather concrete placing
and to aid pumping.

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Nonetheless,admixtures cannot compensate for bad practice and low quality materials (Spencer
and Cook 1983).

2.4 Design of Mixes

The proportioning of ingredient of concrete is governed by the required performance of concrete
in two states, namely the plastic state and hardened states.

According to Parker and Ambrose (1991)the process of selecting suitable ingredients of concrete
and determining their relative amounts with the objective of producing aconcrete of the required
strength, durability and workability as economically aspossible is term the concrete mix design.
The choice of a mix design is affected by many factors among others are water/cement ratio, the
type of cement, required characteristics strength, maximum aggregate size, fine and coarse
aggregate, grading zone of the fine aggregate etc.

In addition, Jackson and Dhir (1988) claims that as a result of variability of concrete in production,
it is necessary to design the mix to have a mean strength greater than the specified characteristics
strength.

2.5 Workability
If a plastic or fresh concrete is not workable, it cannot be properly placed and compacted. The
property of workability therefore becomes of vital importance.

According to kings and Evans(1987) the word workability refers to the ease with which a concrete
can be transported, placed and consolidated without excessive bleeding (surface water) or
segregation. In fact, most of these cannot be easily assessed even though some standard tests have
been established to evaluate them under specific condition.

Sohail (2008) stated that workability depends on water content, aggregate (shape and size
distribution), cementious content and age (level of hydration), and can be modified by adding
chemical admixtures like super plasticizer without changing the water-cement ratio.Raising the
water content or adding chemical admixtures will increase concrete workability but excessive

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water will leads to increased bleeding and/or segregation of aggregates (when the cement and
aggregates start to separate), with the resulting concrete having reduced quality.

2.6 Factors that Influence the Strength of Concrete

2.6.1 Concrete porosity
Voids in concrete can be filled with air or with water. Broadly speaking, the more porous the
concrete, the weaker it will be. Probably the most important source of porosity in concrete is the
ratio of water to cement in the mix (Chudley and Greeno, 2003). A study by Neville and Brooks
(1990) revealed that presence of voids in concrete reduces the density and greatly reduces the
strength; 5% of voids can lower the strength by as much as 30%.

2.6.2 Water/Cement ratio

This is the mass of water divided by the mass of cement in the mix. At higher water cement ratio
it follows that the space occupied by the additional water will remain as pore space filled with
water or with air if the concrete dries out. Kulkari et al. (1999) mentions that any water in excess
of small quantity required to hydrate the cement cause voids, every 1% of which reduces strength
by about 5%.Consequently, as the water cement ratio increases, the porosity of the cement paste
in the concrete also increases there by a decrease in compressive strength. This can be supported
by the law of Abraham’s which says that the strength of fully compacted concrete is inversely
proportional to the water-cement ratio.

2.6.3 Aggregate Paste Bond

The compactness of the bond between the paste and the aggregate is critical. Sohail (2008) revealed
in its study that if there is no bond, the aggregate effectively represents a void and voids are a
source of weakness in concrete. He further explained that compressive strength tends to increase
with decrease in size of aggregate since the coarser the grading leaner will be mix which can be
used but very lean mix is not desirable as it does not contain enough finer material to make the
concrete cohesive. However, if the aggregate is weak, the concrete will also be weak.

2.7 Strength Gain of Concrete

From a study on ‘Concrete Testing’ (1990) it was revealed that, in around 3weeks, over 90% of

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the final strength of concrete is typically reached, though it may continue to strengthen for
decades.Concrete derives its strength by the hydration of cement particles. As cited in the studies
‘Concrete Testing’, the conversion of calcium hydroxide in the concrete into calcium carbonate
from absorption of CO2over several decades further strengthen the concrete and making it more
resilient to damage. However, this reaction, called carbonation, lowers the pH of the cement pore
solution which can cause the reinforcement bars to corrode.
2.8Review ofStudies on Concrete with Natural Fibres
The concept of using fibres in a brittle matrix was first recorded with the ancient Egyptians who
used hair from animals and straw as reinforcement for mud bricks and walls in housing. This dates
back in 1500 B.C. (Balaguru and Shah, 1992). At the similar time period, about 3500 years ago,
straws were used to reinforce sun-baked bricks for a 57m high hill of ‘AqarQuf’,which is located
near Baghdad(Wong, 2004).

Natural fibres are the oldest form of fibre-reinforced composites, using fibres such as straw and
horsehair in the structure. Recently with modern technology, is possible to extract natural fibres
economically from various vegetable and animal, such as jute, bamboo and wool. These fibres
requires low amount of energy to extract. Relatively, the limited use is due to high water absorption
and low tensile strength compared to steel and synthetic fibres. Primary problems with these fibres
are their tendency tofragment in an alkaline environment. This natural fibre-reinforced composite
are commonly use for thin sheet and cement products, as well as the application for cement
cladding (Wong, 2004)

Arsene et al (2009) reported that vegetable fibers offer a cheap and sustainable approach that can
be used to reduce the overall cost of construction materials and electricity consumption. The goal
for developing such alternative technologies is to promote sustainable building materials.

According to Bentur et al(1990), for fibre reinforced concrete, the fibre acts as secondary

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reinforcement, when the fibre volume dosage rate is much lower (less than 2% by volume) and is
mainly used for crack control purpose. James (1990) confirmed this assertion that minimum fibre
volume dosage rate for fibres in concrete matrix should be approximately 0.25%-1.5%. This was
further confirmed by Wong (2004) that when fibre volume dosage is around 2% and more concrete
is not workable and is stiff.

Fibrecan be use with admixtures such as superplasticizer, air entraining, set retarding, set-
accelerating admixtures and all types of cement and concrete mixtures. These produce special
types of concrete with desired characteristics in fresh and hardened concrete. They provide
significant improvement to the fibre-reinforced concrete used in the fields.

Agopyan (1988)established thatnatural fibre reinforced concrete has been used for making roof
tiles, corrugated sheets, pipes, silos and tanks.

According to Swamy and Mangat (1975) the major advantage of fibre reinforcement is to impart
additional energy absorbing capability and to transform a brittle material into a pseudo ductile
material. Fibres in cement or in concrete serve as crack arrestor which can create a stage of slow
crack propagation and gradual failure.

Furthermore, a study by Yalley and Kwan (2009) on the ‘Use of Coconut Fibre as an Enhancement
of Concrete’ concluded that the addition of concrete fibres significantly improved many of the
engineering properties of the concrete notably torsion, toughness and tensile strength. The ability
to resist cracking and spalling are also enhanced.However, theyestablished the addition of fibres
adversely affected the compressive strength and might be due to difficulties in compaction which
consequently created voids.

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Moreover, a study bySivaraga and Kandasamy on the ‘potential reuse of waste rice husk as fibre
composites in concrete’ used a weight fraction of 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% to avoid balling effect during
mixing of concrete. They established that the addition of rice husk fibre reduces the workability of
concrete and that the compressive strength do not show major improvement, but the significant
properties such as tensile strength, modulus of rapture and impact strength showed
majorimprovement and concluded that since concrete is strong in compression, the improvement
in remaining properties exhibit the possibility of reusing the rice husk in concrete construction to
improve the performance of structures marginally.

Nonetheless, Balaguru and Shah (1992) reported that fibres that are long and at higher
volume/weight fraction were found to ball up during the mixing process. The process called
‘balling’ occurs, and causes the concrete to become stiff and reduces in workability with increase
volume dosage of fibres. This has a tendency to influence the quality and strength of concrete.

On the practice of purpose, Dunstan and Swamy (1986) recommends that key to good practice
dealing with fibre reinforced concrete and fibres are emphasis on the manufacture, design and
construction, as all materials used for engineering or building purpose, quality and design are
interdependent. Failure in performing adequately in practice will results customer dissatisfaction,
inadequately quality control and potential of defects appear on structures.

2.9 Studies on Sawdust in Concrete

Sawdust, a loose particle or wood chippings obtained as by-products from sawing of timber into
standard useable sizes are available in abundance in the tropical and sub tropical countries of the
world with Ghana not being an exception. In Ghana specifically, they are available in large
quantities especially in the Western, Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Eastern regions of Ghana. Sawdust
is the main by-product from timber and timber is one of the oldest structural materials used by
man. Temples and monuments built several years ago, which still remain in excellent condition
show the durability and usefulness of timber (kullkarni, 2005). Currently, sawdust has little or no
economical value in Ghana andonly being used as a fuel for cooking and in Art works. Looking at

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the large volumes of sawdust produced by the milling industry and its little economical
value/waste, it always poses great challenge to producers in relation to its disposal. Now, the
disposal method adopted is open burning method which causes immense nuisance to the
environment and health hazard to people and animals.

Recently, the use of agricultural and industrial waste like sawdust, fly ash, sisal, coconut fibre
among others as ingredient in concrete production is gaining popularity because of increasingly
stringent environmental legislation.The use of sawdust in concrete production in Ghana has been
investigated and it revealed that they are not commonly used in the construction industry but often
discarded as waste material.Clean sawdust without a large amount of bark has proved to be
satisfactory. This does not introduce a high content of organic material that may upset the reactions
of hydration (Neville, 2000).

Olutoge(1995) in his investigation into the physical properties of rice husk ash, sawdust and palm
kernel shell found their bulk densities to be 530kg/m3, 614kg/m and 740kg/m3 respectively. He
concluded that these materials had properties which resembled those of lightweight concrete
materials.

Furthermore, Ravindrarajah et.al on their study ‘Development of sawdust for Block making’ used
the sawdust as a fine aggregate. They highlighted some problems associated with theusage of
sawdust and some of them are;

• Affect the setting and hardening of concrete

• Mixing difficulty

Also, Olutoge (2010) investigated the use of sawdust and palm kernel shells as replacement for
fine and coarse aggregates in reinforced concrete slabs. The sawdust and palm kernel shell were
used to replace both fine and coarse aggregate from 0% to 100% in steps of 25%. He evaluated the
flexural strength at 7, 14, and 28 days and the compressive strengths at 28 days and concluded that
increase in percentage of sawdust or palm kernel shell in concrete slab led to a corresponding
reduction in both flexural and compressive strength values. Also at a low replacement value of

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25% sawdust and palm kernel shell can produce light weight reinforced concrete slabs which could
be used where low stress is required at reduced cost. Finally, a weight reduction of 14.5% and
17.9% was achieved for sawdust and palm kernel shell replacement slabs respectively and that
reduction in cost up to 7.43% can be achieve for every cubic meter of slab production with use of
sawdust or palm kernel shell.

However, all these researchers used the sawdust as a replacement material for fine aggregate and
this study focuses on using the sawdust as an enhancement material for concrete.Therefore, having
been guided by lessons learnt from the literature, a suitable and comprehensive experimental study
has been developed for the research and this forms the basis of the next chapter of the study.

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CHAPTER-3

METHODLOGY

3.0 Introduction

This chapter explains the materials and method that were employed in the research work. The
experimental examination was carried out on test specimens using one basic mix proportion with
four different weight fraction of sawdust.

3.1 Materials and Methods

3.1.1 Materials Used
Sawdust

The sawdust was obtained from the Furniture and Design department of Takoradi Polytechnic. The
sawdust consisted of chippings from various hardwoods. It was sun dried and kept in waterproof
sacks.

Granite

The coarse aggregate used for the study was crushed granite graded20-5mm size. This aggregate
size is suitable for the 150mm mould for casting and which was obtained from the Westrockquarry
in Takoradi.

Sand

The sand was Pit sand sourced from Yawbielimited, Takoradi. It was further sieved through the
2mm BS test sieve in the laboratory to reduce the level of impurities and organic matter and later
air dried.

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Cement

The cement used was ordinary Portland cement manufactured by Ghacem of (32.5 Grade) and
conforming to GS 366:2004.

Water

The water used for the study was pipe borne water supplied by the Ghana Water Company Limited.
The water was visually inspected for any impurities since impure water can cause problems with
setting or premature failure of the concrete. It was established that the water wasclean and free
from any visible impurities.

Super Plasticizer

The Super-plasticiser used was acquired from Consortium in Accra. It was used to improve the
workability of fresh concrete for the selected proportions of sawdust.

3.1.2 Methods
Batching of materials was done by weight since it gave a greater accuracy. Thepercentage weight
fraction of sawdust was 0%, 0.25%, 0.50%, 0.75%, and 1%and were labeled as A, BX respectively
where BX denotes concrete with sawdust with X% of sawdust. This was done to determine the
proportion that would give theoptimum result. The A (0%) replacement was to serve as control for
the samples with the sawdust content.

In this study a total of 30cubes of concrete were cast. They were divided into five mixes in
accordance with percentage weight fraction. For a mix, a total of 6cubes were cast of which three
were for compressive test and the remaining three for split tensile test.

Mix Proportion & Procedure

A basic mix proportion of 1:1.8:2.8 was employed with a constant water/cement ratio of
0.65.Mixing of the concrete was done by hand in a 0.05m3 laboratory mixer pan with the aid of a
shovel. The fine aggregate was first poured into the pan followed by the sawdust and then the
cement. The coarse aggregate was then added and thoroughly mixed in a dry state. This was

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followed by the addition of some quantity of water with the remaining water added after a short
time of mixing. The whole constituent was mixed until an even paste was obtained.

However after mixing, the workability of the concrete is checked by slump and the mix that did
not match up tothe desired slump value (i.e. 60mm±10mm),a dosage of superplasticizer wasadded
to the mix to improve the workability. For each mix, a total of 4cubes were cast.

Details of mixes
Calculations for the masses of constituents were carried outand have been presented in Tables 3.1
and 3.2.

Table 3.1 Mix ratio and percentage Sawdust content

Specimen A B0.25 B0.50 B0.75 B1.0

Design 1:1.8:2.8:0.65
Proportion
(cement: fine aggregate: coarse aggregate: water/cement
Weight fraction of 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.0
sawdust (%)

Table 3.2 Detail of quantities of materials used per mix per mass fraction

Specimens

Materials
A B0.25 B0.50 B0.75 B1.0

Cement(kg)

6.1 6.1 6.1 6.1 6.1

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Sand(kg)

10.9 10.9 10.9 10.9 10.9

Coarse
aggregate(kg) 17.0 17.0 17.0 17.0 17.0

Water(kg) 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0

Sawdust
content(g) 0.0 85.1 170.1 255.2 340.2

These specimens were cast for each of the mixes with A as (the control specimen) and BX(concrete
with X% sawdust content).

Workability of Mixed Concrete

The workability of the fresh concrete was checked by slump test.Theslump test apparatus was
cleaned and the wider surface was placed on thesteel plate and supported with legs. The
apparatus was filled in three layers with concrete and each layer received 25 blows from a
sixteen millimetre tamping rod. The top was smoothenedwith a float. The apparatus was gently
and sprightly lifted and placed on the plate near theconcrete. The difference in height gave the
slump value.

Method of Casting
A cubemouldof 150mmwere cleaned and oiled before each casting. The moulds were filled with
the fresh concrete in layers of three. Each layer was subject to 25 blows with the 16mmdiameter
tamping rod. This was done to remove voids from the concrete and also to avoid segregation
which in tend to affect the strength of the concrete.

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STABILIZATION OF SOIL USING WASTE PLASTIC POWDER AND FLY ASH
Curing
The specimens were removed from the moulds after24 hours of casting and weighed. Thehardened
cubes were immersed immediately in water and left to cure for 28-day curing age.

Testing Methods
a.Density Test
After 28-day curing age, the cubes were removed from the water and the weights of the samples
were taken after 1 hour of air-drying atthe Civil Engineering laboratory of Takoradi Polytechnic.
The weight was taken to determine the density of the samples and was determined as follow;

Density (kg/m3) = Weight of concrete cube (kg) / volume of cube (m3)

b. Compressive Strength
Compressive strength tests were carried out on the cubes in a 1560KN capacity ELEADR 2000
mechanical testing machine at the Civil Engineering laboratory of Takoradi Polytechnic All tests
were carried out at the samerate of loading.The smoothest parts of the cube were placed on the
machine and load was then applied. A strain gauge was attached to the compression machine and
after every 15seconds the failure load was recorded until the cube was finally crushed. Thepeak
load was noted as the crushing load. The compressive strength of each sample was determined as
follow;

Compressive strength (MPa) = Crushing load (KN) *1000/ Crossarea (mm2).

c.Tensile Strength
In addition,the center-point loading method was utilized for the split tensile test and was carried
out on the compression testing machine. Split tensile is an indirect measure of tensile strength.Load
was applied until the specimen fails in its vertical diameter and the crushing load was noted.The
split tensile strength of each sample was determined as follow;

Split tensilestrength (MPa) = Crushing load (KN)*1000 / Cross area (mm2).

It is worth mentioning that all the experimental methodologies adopted in this project conform to

the standard test procedures. All of the tests were operated successfully and safely throughout the

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STABILIZATION OF SOIL USING WASTE PLASTIC POWDER AND FLY ASH
project in the Civil Engineering Laboratory of Takoradi Polytechnic. The next chapter of the
study presents the analysis of results obtained from the experimental study.

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING,MRITS

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