Abstract
The increasing demand for sustainable construction material has led researchers to explore alternatives to traditional cement. This study investigates the use of bagasse ash as a partial replacement of cement and natural fibers to improve concrete properties. Bagasse ash is an agro-industrial byproduct from the sugar industry rich in silica and pozzolanic properties and is adequate to replace a cement content level. This study replaces the cement partially with
bagasse ash in different percentages (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) and introduces natural fiber (coir fiber) to improve toughness and crack resisting. A series of test were conducted to determine the compressive strength, flexural strength, split tensile strength and durability characteristics of the modified concrete mixes. Based on the findings, using 10% bagasse ash and 0.75% of coir fiber yield the superior mechanical properties, water permeability and propagation resistance. There in an increase of 12.98%, 8.21% compressive strength at 28 and 56 days respectively. The optimum percentage of coir fibre is 0.75% with addition of 10% of bagasse ash with an increase in compressive strength of 16.8% and 20.1% at 28 days and 56 days. These enhancements were attributed to the combined effect of pozzolanic reaction from bagasse ash and the fiber bridging mechanism.
Address
S. Sivakumar: Department of Civil Engineering, PSNA College of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul, 624622, India
S. Srividhya: Department of Civil Engineering, Kangeyam Institute of Technology, Tirupur 638108, India
C. Subramanian, R. Prakash: Department of Civil Engineering, Alagappa Chettiar Government College of Engineering and Technology, Karaikudi 630003, India
