Experimental Investigation on Partially Replacing the Fine Aggregate by using Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag in Cement Concrete

Abstract

Demand for natural sand in concrete mixing is increasing day by day. So, to reduce the utilization of natural resources usage of the industrial soil waste or secondary materials for the production of cement and concrete is encouraged in the field of construction.  One of the secondary materials and by product of steel manufacturing industries is the Grounded Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS). In this work it is investigated that the possibility of utilizing GGBS in cement concrete as a partial substitute for sand, for reducing the environmental problems related to the fine aggregate mining and waste disposal of slag. In this work, the percentage of GGBS replacement is 0,5,10 and 15% to natural sand for the standard w/c ratio of 0.4 is considered. In this work, the influence of above said percentages of GGBS in concrete on compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength at 28 days curing period were studied. The compressive, flexural and split tensile strengths are compared with the conventional concrete. The results show that the compressive strength of 15% GGBS is 18.36% higher than the conventional concrete, whereas the split tensile and flexural strengths are slightly lesser than the conventional concrete.