PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF

WATER HYACINTH FIBER

REINFORCED SELF-COMPACTING
CONCRETE USING VARIED RICE
HULL ASH AS ADMIXTURE
Credits

MAPUA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AT LAGUNA

Academic Year 2016 –2017

Roma Jill Pastrana Abion

Brent Harley Matienzo Dabu
Maritel Alohae Alanis Hernaez
Abstract
Self-compacting concrete (SCC) was first developed in Japan in 1988. The use of this mixture
in general concrete construction practice was introduced to achieve durable structures
independent of the quality construction work. Since this kind of mixture uses different kind of
admixtures, it is not cheap. Low cost materials are therefore used to make this mixture
economical.

Water Hyacinth, a problematic plant, can be utilized and have good promises for a growing
economy. Its fiber (WHF) has been used in concrete to improve the concrete's physical and
bending load properties.

Rice hull ash (RHA) has been used to replace cement in concrete mixtures. The performance
of compressive and flexural strength revealed that the addition of RHA has significant influences
over the concrete’s strength.

The objective of this research is to evaluate the performance of SCC using varied RHA as
admixture of 0.4% WHF.
 This paper presents a study on the performance evaluation of slump flow,
passing ability, and the compressive and flexural strength up to 56 days of SCC
and standard concretes with 0.4% volume fraction WHF and RHA. Three different
replacement percentages of cement with varied volume fractions were used for
both SCC and normal specimen. Results were compared to standard mixtures,
concluded that WHF-RHA provides positive result on the mechanical properties at
28 days.

Based on the result, mixture with 0.4% WHF and 10% RHA have higher
value than standard concrete in flexural test, while mixture with 0.4% WHF and
10% RHA has close range in compressive test.
List of Acronyms/Abbreviations
ACI American Concrete Institute
ANOVA Analysis of Variance
ASTM American Concrete Testing Methods
DOST Department of Science and Technology
FPRDI Forest and Paper Research Development Institute
FRC Fiber Reinforced Concrete
PVC Polyvinyl Chloride
RHA Rice Hull Ash
SCC Self-Compacting Concrete
UTM Universal Testing Machine
WHF Water Hyacinth Fiber
Definition of Terms
Admixture - added during or before mixing of concrete.
American Concrete Institute (ACI) - a non-profit technical society and standard
developing organization for concrete configuration and mixture.
American Standard Testing Methods (ASTM) - develops and publishes voluntary
consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems,
and services.
Concrete - composed of cement, fine aggregates such as sand, coarse aggregates
such as stone, and water.
Compressive strength - resistance of material from breaking under compression.
Curing - the process in which the concrete is protected from loss of moisture and
kept within a reasonable temperature range
Flexural strength - it is a measure of an unreinforced concrete beam or slab to
resist failure in bending.
Rice hull - also known as rice husk, outermost shell covering of the rice kernel.
Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) - also known as self-compacting concrete. It is a
concrete that flows through confined zone of reinforcing bars, resistance to
segregation between coarse aggregates and mortar.

Water hyacinth - also known as water lily, is an aquatic floating plant.

Introduction
In the construction industry, concrete is the most commonly used material. The
components of a concrete are cement, fine aggregates such as sand, coarse aggregates
such as stone, and water. It is usually the cheapest and most readily available material on
the job (Mehta & Monteiro, 2014). Hajime Okamura, a professor in Tokyo, Japan, proposed
the concept of self-compacting concrete (SCC). The SCC fills formworks perfectly by
flowing under the effect of its own weight, and wraps around all the reinforcing bars
without causing blockage. Reduction in manpower and placing delay are some of the
advantages of SCC. Health effects of concrete construction such as sound disappear
because vibration is not used when setting the SCC. This is why SCC tends to increase on
a large scale (Loukili, 2011).

By using modern acrylic-based superplasticizers, mineral admixtures, and

advanced viscosity-modifying agents (VMA), Fiber-Reinforced Self-Compacting According
to Mehta & Monteiro (2014), Concrete has been developed. SCC is very efficient in
accommodating the addition of fibers, because of its high workability. Fiber-reinforced self-
compacting concrete performs better under shear loading than any conventional fiber-
reinforced concrete. Admixtures are industrial waste. It is added in small quantities during
concrete mixing. According to Goncalves & Margarido (2015) admixtures are not cheap
products, but it can lead to some savings by increasing the toughness of concrete, less
cement is used, and workforce needed is also reduced.
 Agriculture is a well-known cause of water, land and air pollution. The
agricultural wastes cause problems to the country and its people. Rice hull, rice
straw, coconut husk, coconut shell and bagasse are the most common waste.
These wastes can be converted to provide renewable energy and productive uses
(Villanueva, R., Philstar, 19 February 2015).

Recycling waste from agricultural products is now in demand in today's

modern world, it lessens the waste and at the same time uses it in sustainable
construction practices. These sustainable constructions are both environmental
friendly and low-cost as they can be easily found based on the locally available

Water hyacinth is known as the world's worst aquatic plant because it has
the ability to cover the entire waterways rapidly. According to the study
conducted by Frezina (2013), it blocks sunlight from reaching native aquatic
plants, which often leads to fish killings. It also creates a prime habitat for
mosquitos and species of snail. Since the plant proliferates, it hinders water
transportation by making some water areas impassable. It also blocks canals and
drainages, which lead to flooding. With these characteristics of water hyacinth it
has become a major ecological and economic problem in some countries.
materials.

Fortunately, a study conducted by Kua et al. (2014), revealed that water

hyacinth has its benefits. It has been widely used for composting, food for cattle,
 Water hyacinth's uptake capacity has been validated in several field
studies as well. It has a high nutrient uptake rate compared to the macrophytes
(Rodrí-Gallego etal., 2004); therefore, it has the potential to significantly reduce
nutrient concentrations in a water body depending on the extent of cover and
density (Pinto-Coelho & Greco, 1999).

Rice hull, also known as rice husk, is the outermost layer of the paddy
grain, which is separated during the removing operation of paddy rice. Tons of
husks are produced annually, which causes enormous disposal problem. Few
studies were made to turn it as a usable product. Mehta & Monteiro (2014)
concluded that when the husk went under combustion, it turns into ash and it can
be added in producing concrete

Water hyacinth and rice can be easily found in tropical countries like the
Philippines, China and India; therefore, it would be easy for the researchers to
look for sources. In this study, the researchers focused on incorporating the
treated fiber of the water hyacinth plant with varied rice hull ash as admixture.

The main objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of self-
compacting concrete mixtures using 10%, 20%, and 30% rice hull ash as
admixture with volume fraction of 0.4% water hyacinth fibers to the mechanical
properties (compressive and flexural strength) and by conducting preliminary
tests (L-Box test, V-Funnel test, and Abrams cone or Slump flow test) of self-
 Nowadays, researchers have been interested in using fly ash and natural
fibers. Aside from being a renewable source and for being cheap, it also has the
mechanical property that is very essential especially in the infrastructural sector.

The significance of this study is to utilize the fiber coming from the
problematic plant known as the water hyacinth with varying rice hull ash as
admixture in 10%, 20% and 30% volume fractions. By producing self-compacting
concrete from the WHF and RHA, the disposal for waste will lessen benefiting the
economical sector, while agricultural sectors will benefit from it by minimizing the
blockage of irrigation channels, rivers, and other waterways. Finally,
infrastructural benefit will be achieved by providing additional information by
means of improving and widening the scope of self-compacting concrete using
the fibrous plant and varied rice hull ash as its admixture.
Scope of the Study
The study mainly focused on conducting tests to evaluate the mechanical
properties of water hyacinth fiber-reinforced concrete with volume fractions of
10%, 20%, and 30% as replacement for cement. The Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA) was used in this study to compare the relationship of the concrete
mixture having 0.4% water hyacinth fibers and 0% rice hull ash to the concrete
mixtures with 0.4% water hyacinth fibers and varying percentages of rice hull
ash. Cost analysis was neglected in the study since this was experimentation
purpose only.

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework
Methodology

Data gathering and several experiments were conducted to evaluate

the performance of 0.4% Water Hyacinth Fiber reinforced self-compacting
concrete using 10%, 20% and 30% Rice Hull Ash as admixture to assess the
flowability of Self-Compacting Concrete using Slump Test, to determine the
passing ability and filling ability using L-box and V-funnel Test. Tests
conducted to determine the compressive and flexural strength. A statistical
method called Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the
significant change in each strength test. All of which were compared to the
controlled sampled.
Materials and equipment
Water hyacinth fibers and rice hull ash are the main materials that were used in this
experiment which were purchased from Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines and from Los Baños,
Laguna, Philippines, respectively. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was also used for the treatment of the
water hyacinth fiber.

Portland cement (Type I), gravel, and sand were purchased at a local hardware. These
materials were then mixed with water along with the water hyacinth fibers and the rice hull ash to
form the concrete mixture.

The equipment used in the experiment for the preparation of the concrete specimens were
mixing pans, weighing scale for determining the weight of materials, shovel for collection and mixing
of large quantities of sand, gravel and concrete mix, slump cone, ruler, tampering rod for slump test,
and molds used for the concrete samples.

Materials for the molds such as plywood, nails, PVC pipes, and metal wires were all purchased
from a local hardware. A Universal Testing Machine (UTM) was used to determine the maximum
load and breaking load for the computation of compressive and flexural strength, respectively.
Research Procedure
The summary of the research flow chart is illustrated in Figure 11. A total
of 48 specimens were produced with three trials for both mechanical tests.
Detailed procedural steps were stated hereafter.
Chemical Treatment, Drying and Cutting of Water Hyacinth Fibers
For 24 hours, the water hyacinth fibers were submerged in 10% Sodium
Hydroxide (NaOH)as shown in Figures 12, 13, and 14.
 The fibers were washed in distilled water and dried for a 2 days, then cut
into 40-millimeter fibers. These strands of water hyacinth fibers were added as an
additional element for the concrete mix.
Density Determination of Water Hyacinth Fiber
The mass was obtained by weighing the dry treated water hyacinth fibers in
the weighing scale. It was submerged in distilled water for 24 hours to achieve
the 100% saturation of the water hyacinth fiber. The water content of the water
hyacinth fiber was obtained by subtracting the acquired dry treated water
hyacinth fiber to the wet treated water hyacinth fiber. For the volume of the water
hyacinth fiber, the absorption of the water hyacinth fiber was multiplied to the
density of the water. Sample masses of the wet treated WHF and dry treated WHF
are shown in Figures 21 and 22.

The density of water hyacinth fiber was determined using Equation 1:

Where:
Burning of Rice Hull
The burning of the rice hull was done manually. The researchers prepared
a metal drum with holes at the bottom and sides to be used as a burning
chamber. The drum was filled with rice hull and was set above an open fire to
ignite the rice hull. When the rice hull caught fire, the open fire was extinguished
and removed to avoid any of the ash coming from it to mix with the rice hull ash.
Adequate ventilation was applied in order to keep the flame burning at high
temperatures thus producing the desired white rice hull ash. This was done in an
open space near one of the researchers‟ house at Villa Adelina, Pulo, Cabuyao
City.
Designing of Concrete Mixture
The concrete mix used in this experiment is patterned according to ACI specifications. An ASTM
standard mold for concrete cylinders and rectangular concrete were used in pouring the concrete mix.
In preparing the concrete mix, a shovel was used to facilitate the mixing of sand, gravel, cement and
water. The quantity of cement, sand, gravel, WHF and RHA that has been used can be seen in Table
10.
 All the samples contained 0.4% volume of treated water hyacinth
fibers. Six control samples were produced; three plain concrete cylinders and
three plain concrete beams all of which contained 0% rice hull ash admixture
and 0.4% water hyacinth fibers. Along with the control samples, three of each
cylindrical and beam samples were produced for each percentage of rice hull
admixture which were 10%, 20% and 30% by volume fraction respectively.
Measuring Flowability, Passing ability, and Filling ability of the SCC Mix
ASTM C1611M Slump Flow

This procedure aims to measure the flowability and filling ability of the
SCC mix with 0.4% volume of WHF and partial replacement of RHA as admixture.
Flow spread was measured with this test. Abrams cone with an internal
upper/lower diameter equal to 100/200 mm and a height of 300 mm, base plate
with dimensions shown in Figure 15, ruler (graduated in mm) for measuring the
diameters of flow spread, and a bucket with a capacity of 6 L.
 The slump cone was completely filled without consolidation, lifted and the
spread of the concrete was measured. The spread should range from 650mm to
800mm. The slump flow spread, S will be computed using Equation 8:

Where:
L-Box
The passing or blocking behavior of the SCC mix was determined using the
L-Box test. It measures the reached height of the SCC mix after passing the
specified gaps of steel bars and flowing within a defined flow distance. Figure 26
and 27 shows the principle and detailed dimensions of the L-box.
V-Funnel
The filling ability of the WHF reinforced concrete mix with RHA as
admixture was measured using the principle of V-funnel provided that
blocking and/or segregation do not take place. Figure 18shows the
dimensions for the V-funnel, made of steel, with a flat horizontal top that will
be used for the procedure.
 The V-funnel was placed vertically on a stable flat ground, with the top
opening positioned horizontally. The interior of the funnel should be wet with
a moist sponge or towel. The inner side of the funnel should be „just wet‟.
The gate was closed and a bucket was placed under it in order to retain the
concrete that will pass through the opening. The funnel was filled with a
sample of the SCC with 0.4% volume of WHF and partial replacement of RHA
without applying any compaction or rodding.

Excess concrete from the top of the funnel will be removed using a
straight edge. After 10 ± 2 seconds, the gate was opened and a stopwatch
will start the same moment the gate opens and stopped when a clear space
is visible inside the funnel through the opening. The reading is recorded as
the V-funnel flow time, tv, expressed to the nearest 0.1 second. The
recommended time for emptying the apparatus ranges from 6 –12 seconds
for the mix to be classified as self-compactible.
Curing
A batch of 24 samples, all of which are beams and cylinders with
0.4% volume of WHF and with 10%, 20%, 30% by volume RHA were cured for
28 days. Another batch of 24 samples, with the same components were
cured for 56 days. Curing was done by submerging the samples in a
container filled with water.
Mechanical test
The compressive strength of the WHF reinforced concrete mix with RHA
as admixture was obtained by determining the maximum load of the concrete
cylinders using the Concrete Compression Testing Machine. This procedure was
conducted at Universal Testing Laboratory and Inspection, Inc. -Calamba City,
Laguna. The test followed the ASTM C39 (Compressive strength of cylindrical
concrete specimens) standards. The dimensions of the samples were 102mm
(4in.) in diameter and 203mm (8in.) high. The compressive strength was
calculated using Equation 9 as shown below:

The flexural strength was determined by using the three-point bending

test of concrete beams using a UTM in accordance with ASTM C78 standards. This
procedure was conducted at Forest Products Research and Development Institute
(FPRDI) at University of the Philippines –Los Baños, Laguna. The dimensions of the
concrete beams were 102mm x 102mm (4in. x 4in.) section and a length 203mm
(8in.). The flexural strength of the beam was calculated using Equation 10:
Where:
Statistical Method
Comparison by averages was done for each strength test.
Comparisons were made among the averages of 10%, 20%, and 30% groups
and all of those were evaluated with respect to the 0% group.

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was the statistical tool used in the

study. With the use of ANOVA, the researchers were able to determine if the
concrete strength have had a significant change with the addition of 0.4%
volume of WHF and 10%, 20%, and 30% by volume of RHA or not.

The QI Macros (2017) for Microsoft Excel was used to analyze the
ANOVA of single factor. ANOVA of single factor was used in this study because
the performance of the WHF reinforced SCC with RHA as admixture in the
compressive and flexural strength tests were evaluated separately. The level
of significance, α, used is equal to 0.05.
Results and Discussions
Preliminary Tests Results
Tests methods such as L-Box test, V-Funnel test and Slump-flow by Abrams
cone were performed to four different concrete mixtures having 0%, 10%, 20%, and
30% volume fraction of RHA with 0.4% WHF each to characterize the mixture as a
Self-Compacting concrete. According to the results shown in Table 11, the
researchers discovered that all of the mixtures are not to be classified as Self-
Compacting concrete due to the fact that it did not satisfy all of the requirements
stated by EFNARC.

A concrete mixture is considered to be a Self-Compacting concrete when its

results are in the range of 0.8-1.0, 6-12 seconds and 650-800 mm, respectively.
Compressive Strength
A total of 12 samples were brought to the testing site after 28 days
and another 10 samples after 56 days of curing. These samples were tested
using the UTM. The compressive strengths of the concrete samples
containing water hyacinth fibers and varied rice hull ashes are shown in
Tables 12 and 13.

The results on compressive strength showed that concrete samples

with 0.4% water hyacinth fibers and 10% rice hull ash has the nearest value
compared to that of the concrete samples with 0.4% water hyacinth fibers
and 0% rice hull ashes during the 28 and 56 days of curing.
 Moreover, as shown in Figure 29, the concrete samples with 0.4%
water hyacinth fibers and 10% rice hull ash as replacement for cement
similarly increased the compressive strengths while increasing the curing
days.
Flexural Strength
The results of flexural strength of concrete samples with 0.4% water
hyacinth fibers and varying rice hull ashes cured for 28 and 56 days are shown in
Tables 16 and 17, respectively. Comparing the concrete samples with varying hull
ash as replacement for cements and 0.4 % water hyacinth to that of the
controlled sample having 0.4% water hyacinth only, the results showed that the
concrete samples with 10% rice hull ash and 0.4% water hyacinth fibers had the
nearest value for 28 days of curing and even exceeding the results for 56 days of
curing.
 Furthermore, the results shown in Figure 20 indicates that addition of
rice hull ash and water hyacinth fibers increases the strength of the concrete
samples as the curing days increased.
Conclusion
The study evaluated the performance of the self-compacting concrete
samples with 0.4% WHF and varied RHA as admixture. ACI methods of
proportioning were followed in designing the concrete mix. The SCC mix
underwent slump flow tests following ASTM C1611M standards to measure its
flowability, L-box tests to measure its passing ability, and V-funnel tests to
measure its filling ability. The cured samples were subjected to ASTM C39 and
ASTM C78 tests to determine the samples‟ compressive and flexural strength.
The results obtained from the tests were compared to the control mix with 0.4%
WHF and 0% RHA.

Based on the result of the slump flow test, the control mix with 0% RHA
gave the largest spread of 810mm while the mix with 30% RHA gave the smallest
spread of 495mm. There is a 245mm difference between the result of the control
mix and of the 10% RHA mix. The values of the slump flow results of the mixes
with 10%, 20%, and 30% RHA were close being 565mm, 550mm, and 495mm
respectively. None of the samples achieved the desired SCC slump flow which is
between 650mm and 800mm. A clear pattern can be discerned from the obtained
data: The amount of RHA replacing the cement in the mixture is inversely
proportional to the slump flow.
 The results of the L-box test show that the mix with higher RHA percentage
has lower passing ratio. The results of the samples with 10%, 20%, and 30% RHA as
admixture are 0.107, 0.91, and 0.55 respectively. The control mix gave a higher result
of 0.134. The desired passing ratio ranging from 0.8 to 1.0 was not obtained by any of
the samples. The conducted V-funnel test, used to measure the flowing ability of the
SCC mix, show that the control mix and the mix with 10% RHA admixture passed the
criteria to be classified as SCC. Both mixes were emptied in 7 seconds, which is
between the minimum 6 seconds and the maximum 12 seconds. The concrete mix
with 20% and 30% RHA both failed the test finishing at a time of over 1 minute.

The results in the average compressive strength of the 0%, 10%, 20%, and
30% RHA showed that the control mix with 0% RHA obtained the highest results. The
compressive strength of the 10% RHA samples lagged behind the control samples in
the 28-daytest but narrowed the gap in the 56-daytest with a difference of only
0.20MPa from the control mix.

The obtained average flexural strength of both the 28 days and 56 days
samples show that the 10% RHA mix obtained the optimum flexural strength. The
flexural strength of the 10% RHA was higher than the control mix by 0.62MPa and
1.70MPa in the 28 days and 56 days samples, respectively. The 20% and 30% mixes
registered lower results than the control mix.
Recommendation

The researchers recommend that the future studies on the WHF and RHA incorporation
into an SCC mix use better equipment such as the L-box and V-funnel. The negative results may
have been due to the adverse effect of using wooden L-box and wooden V-funnel instead of
metal ones. Fabricated metal L-box and V-funnel may decrease the possibility of negative results
since they are smoother and does not expand due to water absorption like their wooden
counterparts.

Future researchers can use better materials in making the SCC mix such as a high quality
Portland cement and aggregates with uniform sizes to maximize compressive strength, which
the RHA mix fell short and passing ability.

Using mixing machines is highly recommended so as to minimize water loss while mixing.
This will also ensure a more even distribution of the aggregates and fibers in the concrete
compared to the concrete that was manually mixed.