Physical properties of concrete containing coconut shell as coarse aggregate

Abstract

The increasing price of development content is a matter of issue. The reason for improve in price is popular requirement of concrete and lack of raw material. Hence the concrete technologists must search for some cost-effective substitute to the coarse aggregate. Physical properties of concrete with the coconut shell aggregate (CSA) as coarse aggregate replacements were studied. In this study, a concrete mix of 1:2:4 was used control concrete and coconut shell concrete. Control concrete with the normal aggregate and for the coconut shell aggregate with 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% coarse aggregate replacement with coconut shell were made by using cylinder. Every portion of percent coarse aggregate replacement has 3 samples. Thirty cylinders were casted and their workability and compressive strength were evaluated at 7 and 28 days. Constants water to cementitious ratio of 0.6 was managed for all the concretes. Properties like compressive strength, water absorption and moisture were examined in the lab. The result showed that the workability increased with increase in coconut shell aggregate replacement. Concrete produced by 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% replacement attained 28-day compressive strengths of 18.11 MPa, 15.51 MPa, 14.92 MPa, and 8.65 MPa. The use of coconut shells as partial replacement for conventional aggregates should be encouraged as an environmental protection and construction cost reduction measure.