Thermal properties of light-weight concrete utilizing Moroccan

Pozzolan
Khadija Annaba 1*, Houssine Zniker 2, Settout Hicham2, Yasmina Ed-dariy3, Hind Khana3, Mohammed Khalil
elkouifat1, Bennaceur Ouaki 1, Mouha Cherkaoui4.
1Mechanics, Materials and Thermal Laboratory (LMMT), National High School of Mines of Rabat , Morocco.
2Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Process Engineering, Ibn Tofaïl University, Kenitra, Morocco.
3 Civile Engineering and Construction Lab, Mohammadia School of Engineering,Avenue Ibn Sina B.P. 765 Agdal Rabat, Morocco.
4Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Laboratory, National High School of Mines of Rabat, Morocco.

* Corresponding author: Khadija Annaba

Abstract. Today, the poor adaptation of construction in Morocco to climatic conditions increases by 7%
per year in demand for electricity. Hence the increase in demand for new, more energy-efficient buildings
that are comfortable and environmentally friendly. In this study, new material was produced using natural
pozzolan elaborated with concrete based on pozzolanic aggregates. For the thermal characterization, the
asymmetrical hot plate method in a steady-state and transient state was applied. The dry thermal
characteristics are interesting. Thermal conductivity for Concrete samples is varied between 1.5-0.78
W/mK. A sample of concrete with 40% of pozzolanic aggregate demonstrates optimum mechanical strength
and heat conductivity.

1 Introduction The current study includes studies on the thermo-

In recent years, the world has experienced an energy
crisis due to industrial transformations and the absence
of respect for ecological principles [1]. Energy
efficiency is not excluded from this phenomenon.
Indeed, between 20 to 40% of total energy in the
developed world is consumed by the buildings sector
[2].
In Morocco, the buildings sector is an energy-intensive
sector, accounting for up to 33% of energy consumption,
of which 7% for commercial buildings and 26% for
residential buildings [3].
The ability to maintain desired thermal comfort while
using the least amount of heating and cooling energy, as
well as the influence on the energy environment, is
critical in this context [3]. As a result, there is a rising
interest in lightweight construction msaterials based on
ecologically acceptable and renewable additives for a
variety of purposes [5-6]. For between 59 and 29% of
heat losses in buildings, other studies have established a
strong correlation between the type of insulating
materials, conditioning and the reduction of energy
consumption in structures [7-8-9-10].
Because of its aluminosilicate composition, natural
pozzolan (NP) does not create a hydrolic binder when
combined with lime and H2O [11-12-13]. Magma
fragmentation produces natural pozzolans (NP).
Environmental factors, cooling duration, and the NP
production method all have important roles in the final
features and attributes [14-15-16]. The pozzolan is one
of the innovative and environmentally friendly
alternatives that have been suggested to reduce energy
usage. Although , pozzolanic cement and concrete have
been the subject of research to learn more about them as
an environmentally friendly additives. [17-18-19-20-
21].
mechanical behavior of pozzolan-based concrete within
the context of the value addition of pozzolan as an
insulating material. The authors will now discuss the
thermomechanics of concrete made of pozzolan.
pozzolanic concrete is given better thermal performance
and high durability. When it comes to the mechanical
aspect, concrete made with pozzolanic aggregates
behaved well in terms of mechanical strength despite the
relatively low replacement rate.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Used materials
Pozzolanic aggregates used in this work come from
Taza, Morocco. It is a porous(Fig.1), light, silica, and
alumina rich volcanic rock. The pozzolan has a density
of 850 kg/m3, and its thermal conductivity ranges from
0.15 to 0.20 W m-1 K-1. Using the Dreux-Gorisse
technique, there are six samples types of concrete mixes
with various amounts of natural aggregate [20-40-50-
70-80 and 100%]. The moulds of dimension 10*10*2cm
were prepared and used for thermal tests of concrete
pastes; on the other hand, moulds of dimension 4*4*16
cm are used for mechanical tests of concrete. After
curdling, samples have been cleaned of any mold and
dehydrated for 48 hours in an oven set at (75-80)°C.
2.2 Used Methods
Hot plate technique was used to test the thermal
conductivity of samples (pozzolanic concrete) under
steady state regime [24-25-26-27]
For samples with dimensions of 4*4*16 cm3, the EN
196-1 standard's criteria for flexural strength sample
must be met (fig. X). It was tested using an all-purpose
instrument with a load condition of 50Ns-1: the
CONTROLS PILOT COMPACT-line. Three
replications were used to get the average findings. The
EN196-1 requirements are used to determine the
compressive strength of the concrete sample. It is based
on the two sections that come from the flexural test,
which are each two samples of 4*4 cm2, as shown in the
figure 1.
Fig. 1 flexural and compressive strength machine
3 Results
3.1 Thermal conductivity
A crucial aspect of insulating material selection is the
measuring of thermal conductivity. It denotes a
material's capacity to transmit heat. While a result, the
content's insulating quality has increased as heat
conductivity has decreased. Fig X show the conductivity
measurements of the samples.
The concrete containing pozzolan in Fig. X clearly has
less heat conductivity than concrete without pozzolan.
The findings support the research that criticize the use
of lightweight concrete based on pozzolan studies [42–
44–45–46]. This decline in thermal conductivity can be
attributed to the pozzolans' porosity. The thermal
conductivity of pozzolanic concrete decreases from 1.5
W.m-1K-1 (regular concrete) to 0.78 W.m-1K-1 (100%
Pozzolanic concrete) as the proportion of pozzolan
aggregate increases due to an increase in the percentage
of porosity in the material.
λ (W m-1K-1)
1,5
1
0,5
0
Fig. 2. Thermal conductivity results.
3.2 Compressive and Flexural strength
Mechanical testing is required to ensure the technical
quality of a construction material. The experiment
awarded compressive and flexural strength as
mechanical properties. Figure X displays the
experimentally determined compressive and flexural
strengths of concrete prepared with and without
pozzolanic granular at a 28-day age. With the exception
of the outlier, each compressive strength number
corresponds to an average of three data samples. Each
figure for flexural strength is the average of three
outcomes. All samples' compressive and flexural
strengths increased with age, according to the data,
supporting the conclusions of [19-20]. However, once
the replacement fraction approaches 30%, the flexural
and compressive strength diminishes, as demonstrated
by the works of [18–20]. For 20% sample and at 28
days, the mechanical strength of the pozzolan concrete
was equal to that of the control concrete. Regardless of
age, the pozzolan concrete samples at 40%, 50%, 70%,
80%, and 100% consistently underperformed the control
concrete.
Mechanical strengh (MPa) 28 Days
40
30
20
10
0
Compressive strengh(Mpa) Flixural strengh (Mpa)
Fig. 3. Mechanical strength at 28 days.
4 Conclusion
The experimental results show that the materials
produced are thermally competitive. They are
interesting from the point of view of comfort and
thermal storage:
•The possibility of incorporating Pozzolan by
transforming them into lightweight insulating concrete
has explored, and the experimental results obtained have
shown exciting qualities of their thermal behaviour:
•The dry thermal characteristics are interesting. Thermal
conductivity for Concrete samples are varing between
1.5-0.78 W/mK.
• A sample of concrete with 40% of pozzolanic
aggregate demonstrates optimum mechanical strength
and heat conductivity. This specimen is ideal for
concrete that is insulative.
Elaborated materials can find applications in insulating
linings, fillings and especially partition wall elements,
blocks, insulating tiles and even visible due to the
aesthetics provided by the color of the mineral fines.
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