DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH PERFORMANCE

CONCRETE USING BOTTOM ASH AS FINE

AGGREGATE

ABSTRACT
High performance concrete (HPC) is a concrete which possess most desirable
properties during fresh as well as hardened stage. The ingredients which are used for
making High Performance Concrete (HPC) contribute most optimally and efficiently
to the various properties like compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural
strength as well as durability. Appropriate use of supplementary cementitious
materials and super plasticiser gives good results. Usually GGBFS and micro silica
which are the industrial by-products are used as supplementary cementitious
materials to produce HPC. In this paper, study of the effect of bottom ash as fine
aggregate, hooked end steel fibres, GGBFS and micro silica on the mechanical
properties of HPC M80 grade was performed. The dosage of fibre was 1%. Water
binder ratio was 0.26. The mix proportion adopted was 1:1.25:2.3 and the dosage of
super plasticiser was 1%. The compressive strength HPC obtained was 97.60 MPa
without bottom ash and 91.20 MPa with 25% bottom ash. Addition of 25% bottom ash
seems to be the optimum level of replacement.
Key words: High performance concrete, micro silica, GGBFS, steel fibre, super
plasticiser, mechanical properties.
Cite this Article: S. Loveley Kumari and T.S. Thandavamoorthy, Development of
High Performance Concrete using Bottom Ash as Fine Aggregate. International
Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(12), 2017, pp..
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=12

1. INTRODUCTION
Concrete is the most popular and versatile construction material all over the world. Normally,
it is prepared using cement, crushed stone, river sand and water. Here, cement is a binder
which joins together all other ingredients. Initially it is in a fluid state and hence moulded to
any desired shape. It gradually hardens along with curing becoming a hard rock like mass and
at the same time gaining strength in this process. Generally, it is tested in the Compression
Testing Machine in the laboratory and its strength is determined. This is called compressive
strength of concrete and expressed in N/mm2. It is called normal strength concrete and its
strength varies from 25 N/mm2 to 55 N/mm2.
Certain applications require a higher strength along with fulfilment of certain parameters.
In India, the consumption of concrete is more than 100 million cubic metres a year.
Conventional concrete is designed on the basis of compressive strength which does not meet
many functional requirements such as impermeability, resistance to high temperature,
durability in severe environments, resistance to frost, etc. Therefore there is a need to develop
such a concrete to meet the special requirements. In this context the above requirements can
be successfully met by High Performance Concrete (HPC). Products that serve for longer
duration are called high performance products. The term HPC has been attributed to concrete
mixtures with the following properties: high workability, high strength, and high durability.
The shell roof of Library building of Indian Parliament was constructed using HPC in which
micro silica was used. The objective of developing HPC is to give optimized performance
characteristics for the given set of materials, usage and exposure conditions, consistent with
requirement of cost, service life and durability. (M. Vijaya Sekhar Reddy and I.V. Ramana
Reddy , 2012).
The HPC is a new construction material in the modern world and has strength greater than
70 N/mm2. It has certain characteristics which are developed for a particular application and
environment. It will give excellent performance in the structure in which it is constructed.
The ACI has defined HPC as concrete that meets certain requirements of specified
performance and uniformity which can hardly be achieved by concrete prepared with
conventional materials with normal mixing, placing and curing process.
At present HPC is produced by using river sand as fine aggregate. The consumption of
river sand continuously leads to its scarcity too. Also, it affects the living organisms of river
severely because the surface of river sand goes downwards in the river bed. This will affect
the storage capacity of river and leads to severe water scarcity during lean season.
Considering all these factors, the National Green Tribunal of India has banned mining of river
sand (Urmi Goswami,2013). For conserving the natural resources and preservation of
environment, there is an imperative need to develop alternative material for replacing natural
sand. Bottom ash is an industrial waste that can be explored as an alternative to sand.
Bottom ash is agglomerated ash particles, formed in pulverized coal furnaces that are too
large to be carried in the flue gases and impinge on the furnace walls or fall through open
grates to an ash hopper at the bottom of the furnace. Physically, bottom ash is typically grey
to black in colour and is quite angular. Bottom ash is coarse, with grain sizes spanning from
fine sand to fine gravel. Bottom ash is similar to natural sand. It is clear from published
literature that there is a strong possibility of coal bottom ash being used as
substitute/replacement of the conventional fine aggregate, i.e., river sand. Its use in concrete
becomes more significant and important in view of the fact that sources of natural sand as fine
aggregates are getting depleted gradually, and it is of prime important that substitute for sand
be explored (Singh, M., Siddique, R, 2013). However, it is quite evident that bottom ash is fit
to be used as a replacement for sand as fine aggregate (Y. Bai , 2004) and is usually
sufficiently well-graded in size to avoid the need for blending with other fine aggregates to
meet requirements of gradation. The use of bottom ash in normal strength concrete is a new
dimension in concrete mix design and if applied on large scale would revolutionize the
construction industry, by economizing the construction cost and decreasing the ash
accumulation. Typical sample of bottom ash is shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 1 Bottom Ash

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The basic properties of freshwater-based bottom ash from Hsinta power plant and the
feasibility relating to such bottom ash, replacing natural sand, as fine aggregate in concrete
were studied. (L.-W. Quo et al, 2009). The bottom ash concrete designed in this study has
high flowability with slump of 230 ± 20 mm and slump flow of 500 ± 100 mm. The physical
property of bottom ash demonstrates that the bottom ash has lower specific gravity than
natural sand.
Investigation was conducted on the effect of bottom ash as replacement of fine aggregate
in concrete. (Aggarwal et al 2007) In this connection, the author carried out different tests on
concrete mixes to investigate various strength properties such as compressive strength,
flexural strength and splitting tensile strength. The strength development for various
percentages of 0 - 50% replacement of fine aggregates with bottom ash was equated to the
strength development of normal concrete at various ages.
A study was conducted to investigate the influence of utilization of bottom ash as partial
replacement of fine aggregate in different percentages of 0% to 30%, on the properties of
concrete such as compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength and modulus of
elasticity. ( Raju et al , 2014) It was observed that the compressive strength of bottom ash
concrete increased when compared to that of the control concrete. Split tensile strength
increased with percentage replacement of bottom ash whereas modulus of elasticity decreased
with all percentages of replacement.
Experimental investigation was carried out to determine the feasibility of using bottom
ash as fine and coarse aggregate in high strength concrete possessing a compressive strength
of 60 MPa to 80 MPa.( Kim and Lee , 2011)
Fibre reinforced cellular concrete (FRCC) of low density and high strength is attainable
with the addition of bottom ash because of its relatively high strength. The feasibility of
utilizing bottom ash wastes as aggregates in FRCC was determined. The flow characteristics
of cement mortar with bottom ash aggregates and the influence of type and size of aggregate
on density of concrete and its compressive strength were examined. (Lee et al,2010)
The effect of using bottom ash as a replacement of sand on the properties of HPC was
investigated. (Purushothaman and Senthamarai ,2013) In this experimental programme out of
10 mixes prepared, 5 contained bottom ash as fine aggregate and the remaining 5 were
conventional concrete. The cement content in both concretes varied from 300 kg/m3 to 500
kg/m3. In the bottom ash concrete (BAC) 10% of silica fume by volume of cement was added.
The bottom ash content in the concrete was 40%. Compressive, split tensile and flexural
strength of both concretes were evaluated at 7, 28, 56, and 90 days. The results of both
categories of concretes were compared.
Concrete is a brittle material. It contains numerous micro cracks even during
manufacturing. The presence of micro cracks in the interface between mortar-aggregate is
responsible for the inherent weakness of plain concrete (A.M. Shende et al ,2012) Under
loading the micro cracks coalesce into a single crack. When loaded this crack propagate and
due to this the structure collapses limiting its capacity. This weakness can be improved by
adding short fibres. The fibres bridge the crack, as a result of this the cracking capacity is
increased. Steel fibre is the commonly used in the preparation of concrete. Fibre is used in
concrete because of its excellent tensile strength in flexure, resistance to splitting and impact,
permeability, and frost resistance. Addition of fibre increases toughness, resistance to shock
and plastic shrinkage (A. Rana, 2013) Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) has become a new
material that is viable and used in various constructions such as building pavements, large
industrial floors, and runways(P.Iyer et al, 2015). The differences in properties of concrete
containing without fibres and with fibres were studied and compared. (Ghaffar, 2014). This
investigation was carried out using several tests to evaluate compressive and flexural strength.
A total of eleven mix batches of concrete containing 0% to 5% with an interval of 0.5% by
weight of cement and „Hooked‟ steel fibres were tested to determine the enhancement of
mechanical properties of concrete. An experimental investigation was carried out to assess the
durability performance of high-strength steel fibre reinforced concrete (HSFRC) for different
w/c ratios ranging from 0.4 to 0.25. The concrete strength variation was between 55.6 MPa
and 86.5 MPa. Silica fume replacement was between 5% and 10%. Crimped steel fibers with
volume fractions of Vf = 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5%, with an aspect ratio of 80 were used in this
study. Test results indicated that inclusion of steel fibres into silica fume concrete improved
the compressive strength by 13% and that concrete mixes possessed better durability
performance (P. Ramadoss and K. Nagamani ,2008)
From a review of literature it was inferred that little progress has been made on the
investigation of concrete in which bottom ash was used as a fine aggregate as replacement in
various percentages. Particularly, properties of HPC containing bottom ash were not evaluated
extensively. Therefore the objective of the present investigation is to develop bottom ash HPC
and investigate in detail its strength and durability properties

3. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) of 53 grade as specified by IS. 12269 equivalent to ASTM
C 150 was used as a binder in the preparation of concrete. The cement was tested as per the
procedure given in IS 4031 . Crushed blue granite stone of maximum size 20 mm conforming
to IS: 383 equivalent to BS: 882 was used as coarse aggregate. River sand conforming to IS
383 and bottom ash were used as fine aggregate. Potable water was used for mixing concrete.
A mix ratio of 1:1.25: 2.3 with water binder ratio of 0.26 was used. The mix proportion was
arrived at by trial and error process. Micro silica was used as an admixture. Along with
normal concrete, bottom ash at the replacement level of 25%, 50%, and 75% was adopted.
The dosage of steel fibre used was 1% by volume of cement. Superplasticizer used was 1%.
Concrete was prepared using a pan mixture (Fig. 2). Using this concrete, six cubes, six
cylinders and six prisms in each category were prepared for various testing (Fig. 3).
Compressive strength of HPC was determined by testing cubes in Compression Testing
Machine (CTM) (Fig. 4). Split tensile strength was determined by testing cylinder in CTM
(Fig. 5). Flexural strength of HPC was evaluated by testing HPC prism in UTM (Fig. 6). The
HPC was tested at elevated temperature of 300°C for different durations of 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr
to determine its resistance to heat.

Figure 2 Pan mixture Figure 3 Preparation of specimens (Cubes)

Figure 4 Testing on cubes Figure 5 Testing on cylinder

Figure 6 Test on prism

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Tests for the evaluation of compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength,
resistance against elevated temperature of HPC specimens were conducted, and the results are
presented and discussed below.
Results of compressive strength of HPC for conventional concrete and bottom ash
concrete with different percentages of bottom ash are presented in Table 1.
 Table 1 Compressive strength
Specimen designation Bottom ash 7 day strength 28 day strength
% MPa MPa
HPC 0 0 78.2 97.60
HPC25 25 73.7 92.10
HPC50 50 70.5 88.06
HPC75 75 67.8 78.20

Compressive strength of conventional HPC without bottom ash at 7 days was 78.2 MPa.
This value shows that the concrete has been qualified as HPC. The 28th day strength of HPC
without bottom ash was 97.60 MPa which is 24.74 MPa higher than that of 7 day strength.
The 7 day strength of HPC with 25% bottom ash was 73.7 MPa which also qualifies as HPC.
The corresponding strength of HPC with 25% bottom ash content was 92.10 MPa which is
24.97% higher than that of HPC25 at 7 days. With further increase in bottom ash content the
strength decreased even though the 28 day strength was above 70 MPa which is the minimum
strength of any HPC. The optimum bottom ash content is observed to be 25%.
The test for the determination of split tensile strength of HPC of various categories
conducted on cylinders of 150 mm dia. and 300 mm long are presented in Table 2.

Table 2 Split tensile strength

Specimen designation Bottom ash 7 day strength 28 day strength
% MPa MPa
HPC 0 0 6.53 8.30
HPC25 25 6.05 8.12
HPC50 50 5.80 7.74
HPC75 75 4.85 5.56

The 7 day split tensile strength of HPC without bottom ash was 6.53 MPa and its 28 day
strength was 8.30 MPa which is 27.96% higher. The 7 day strength of HPC with 25% bottom
ash was 6.05 MPa and the corresponding 28 day strength was 8.12 MPa which is 34.21%
greater. With further increase in bottom ash the strength decreaseed. Therefore 25% bottom
ash content is found to be optimum.
Prism specimens of size 150 mm × 150 mm × 700 mm were subjected to bending and
their flexural strengths were determined. The results obtained for various category of HPC are
presented in Table 3.

Table 3 Flexural strength

Specimen designation Bottom ash 7 day strength 28 day strength
% MPa MPa
HPC 0 0 7.80 9.76
HPC25 25 6.70 8.14
HPC50 50 5.18 7.50
HPC75 75 4.32 6.64

The flexural strength of HPC without bottom ash at 7th day was 7.80 MPa and at 28th day
was 9.76 MPa which is 25.13% greater. The 7th day flexural strength of HPC containing 25%
bottom ash was 6.70 MPa and the corresponding strength at 28 day was 8.14 MPa which is
21.49% higher. When the bottom ash content was increased further the strength at both days
decreased. As for bottom ash, 25% replacement seems to be optimum.
HPC specimens were kept in oven at 300C for 1 hr, 2hr, and 3 hr. No damage was
observed. HPC of all categories sustained the elevated temperature very effectively.

5. CONCLUSIONS
HPC with mix proportion of 1:1.25:2.3 and water binder ratio of 0.26, super plasticiser dosage
of 1 %, and steel fibre content of 1% was prepared for testing. This HPC consisted of
conventional concrete as well as that contained bottom ash as replacement for fine aggregate
at 25%, 50% and 75%. Specimens like cube, cylinder, and prism were cast. They were tested
under compressive loading, split tensile loading, flexural loading, and elevated temperature.
In each category three specimens were cast and tested. The compressive strength of HPC
without bottom ash was 97.60 MPa at 28 days and that with 25% bottom ash was 92.10 MPa.
This strength was more than 70 MPa that qualifies for HPC. With further increase in bottom
ash the compressive strength decreased, however, remaining above 70 MPa the minimum
strength required for HPC. The split tensile strength in the case of HPC without bottom ash at
28 days was 8.30 MPa. The corresponding strength of HPC with 25% bottom ash was 8.12
MPa. This is almost same as that of HPC without bottom ash. With further increase in ash
content the split tensile strength decreased further. HPC without bottom ash had a tensile
strength at 28 days was 9.76 MPa. This is almost one-tenth of the corresponding compressive
strength. The tensile strength of HPC with 25% bottom ash was 8.14 MPa. This is
approximately 8.84% of the corresponding strength of conventional HPC. With the increase
in ash content the strength diminished. This clearly shows that the tensile strength in bending
of conventional HPC is far greater than that of ordinary conventional concrete of comparable
mix proportion.
Under elevated temperature HPC of all categories, i.e., containing, 0%, 25%, 50%, and
75% bottom ash was able to resist the heat without any damage. From all these tests it is
concluded that 25% bottom ash content provide an optimum dosage in making a proper HPC
with required strengths in all respect.

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