CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. General to Introduction of Study

Concrete is by far the most widely used construction material today. Concrete
has attained the status of a major building material in all branches of modern
construction. It is possible to control the properties of cement concrete with a wide
range by using appropriate ingredients and by applying special processing techniques˗
mechanical, chemical and physical. Concrete is the best material of choice where
strength, durability, permanence, impermeability, fire resistance and abrasion
resistance are required. In present world, inflation is one of the main problems faced
by every country. It has become essential to lower the construction cost without much
compromise as far as strength and durability of the structure is concerned. The
lowering of cost can be brought in number of ways. Among all the methods available,
the most optimum at the disposal is the use of waste material as substitute. The
strength of concrete depends upon the components such as aggregate, quality of
cement, water cement ratio, workability, normal consistency of mix proportion and
age of concrete. The newer building materials are used to accelerate the construction
work, in which the mixture plays an important role in characteristics of concrete.
For the improvement of the properties of cement mortar and concrete or the
construction cost to be economic, admixtures are added with the cement mix and
these are either naturally occurring compounds or chemicals produced in industrial
process. According to ASTM, after chemical analysis if the sum of Iron oxide
(Fe2O3), Silicon oxide (SiO2) and Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) is more than 70% then the
material would be declared as a pozzolanic material. It is observed by many
researchers that there is an increase of compressive strength of mortar with the use of
pozzolanic materials. The use of supplementary cementitious materials, such as fly
ash, silica fume and blast furnace slag, in concrete construction is widespread.
Supplementary cementitious materials may considerably improve the strength and
durability of concrete. A number of relatively new supplementary cementitious
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materials, such as rice husk ash, sewage sludge ash, and oil shale ash, have undergone
extensive research. The development of natural material cementitious composites to
produce building materials for construction is going for many years.
Myanmar is one of the largest rice producing countries and per capita rice
consumption is higher than that in any other countries. There are three main biomass
byproducts come from rice viz. rice straw, rice husk and rice bran. After burning a
huge amount of rice straw, ash is produced and dumped as waste which creates an
environmental problem though some time it is used in the agricultural land. For
decreasing the cost of construction materials and raising environmental concerns,
considerable efforts are being taken worldwide to utilize local natural waste and
byproduct materials to improve the performance of construction materials. Rice straw
is one of the major agricultural byproducts and available all parts of the world. During
growth, rice plants absorb silica from the soil and accumulate it into their structures.
Amongst the agricultural waste, rice straw has a very high potential for the production
of very effective secondary raw material. It is mainly due to its random availability,
very high silica content and relatively low cost. Rice straw and husk are composed of
both organic and inorganic matter. Organic matter consists of cellulose, lignin, hemi
cellulose, some proteins and vitamins while the major component of inorganic
minerals is silica. When cellulose is burned, only silica is left which is grinded to fine
powder which is used as pozzolana. Rice straw has about 15% ash after burn, thus for
every 1000 kg of rice straw burnt 150 kg ash are produced.
Granite is an igneous rock which is widely used as construction material in
different forms. Granite industries produce lot of dust and waste materials. Granite
powder is one of the byproducts in granite stone crushing process, not being used for
any applications other than filling-up low lying areas is identified as a replacement
material for cement in concrete. The utilization of granite powder in concrete could
turn this waste material into a valuable resource with the added benefit of preserving
environment. This granite powder waste can be utilized for the mixing of concrete as
partial replacement of cement. With the enormous increase in the quantity of waste
needing disposal, acute shortage of dumping sites, sharp increase in the transportation
and dumping costs necessitate the need for effective utilisation of this waste. The
objective of reduction of construction cost can be met and it will also help to
overcome the problem associated with its disposal including the environmental
problems of the region. Therefore, rice straw ash and granite powder are used as
partial replacement of cement and the effect of rice straw ash and granite powder in
concrete are studied.
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1.2. Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study are mentioned in the following.
1. To determine the physical properties of local materials such as cement,
rice straw ash, granite powder, fine and coarse aggregates,
2. To investigate the compressive and tensile strength of mortar with various
content of rice straw ash and granite powder as cement replacement and
3. To evaluate the compressive strength of concrete with different
percentages of rice straw ash and granite powder as cement replacement.

1.3. Scope of the Study

To meet the objects, the following scope has been set up.
1. Local product cement such as Crown cement is used.
2. Replacement percentages of both rice straw ash and granite powder (5%,
10%, 15% and 20%) are selected to use as the cement replacement
according to silica content of them.
3. To know the physical properties of cement, the fineness test, specific
gravity test, normal consistency test, and setting time test and soundness
test are carried out according to ASTM standard.
4. Specific gravity, sieve analysis and water absorption tests are carried out
for fine and coarse aggregates.
5. Compressive and tensile strength tests on mortar are carried out at 7 days,
28 days and 90 days.
6. Mix design of concrete (non-air-entrained concrete) is calculated
according to ACI method.
7. Compressive strength test of concrete with various replacement
percentages of rice straw ash and granite powder are performed at 7 days,
28 days and 90 days respectively.

1.4. Outlines of the Study

This study consists of five chapters. Chapter one presents the introduction,
objectives, scope and outlines of the study. Chapter two includes literature review.
Chapter three consists of testing on physical properties of studied materials (cement,
rice straw ash, granite powder, fine and coarse aggregates). Chapter four describes
testing on strength of mortar and concrete. In chapter five, discussion, conclusion and
recommendations are presented for this study.