Performance of Fine Aggregate Replaced Pond Ash on strength of Concrete

There is a great demand for the concrete, the second largest consumed material and concrete making materials, for constructions due to stimulated growth of infrastructure worldwide. This lead to the scarcity of natural resources, resulting in creating vast interest in the research area to look for alternative materials which could satisfy both strength and performance criteria of concrete constructions. Pond ash, a waste product of thermal power plants, is one such material, that can be adopted as a suitable material as a fine aggregate in concrete, replacing natural sand partially or fully. Encouraging the usage of such a waste material as constituent in concrete so as to address the issues related to its disposal, environmental and ecological problems, is a social responsibility of researchers, thus contributing to 3Rs-Reduce Reuse and Recycle, there by promoting sustainable construction. It is commonly thought that as inert filter, fine aggregate has a very little effect on the finished concrete properties. However fine aggregate (natural sand or alternative material) and its characteristics play a substantial role in controlling the workability, strength, and durability of concrete constructions. Thus its detailed characterization is essential to boost the confidence of user. So in this report behavior of pond ash is studied. Change in compressive strength and slump values are studied.

1. Thirty six concrete matrices were designed with 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 100 percent pond ash by replacing fine aggregate.

2. The concretes of M20 with 0 percent pond ash and 100 percent fine aggregate shows compressive strength at 28 days curing 89.51 percent higher than conventional comparison mixes respectively.

3. The slump values got on decreasing from 50mm for 0 percent pond ash to 0mm for 100 percent pond ash.