DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHT-WEIGHT CONCRETE (LWC) USING POWER PLANT WASTES / LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATES

Goutam Chakraborty,
Senior Manager (Civil & Structural), Institute for Steel Development & Growth (INSDAG), 1st Floor, Ispat Niketan, 52/1A, Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata 700 019 Telephone: 033-2461-4045/47, Fax: 033-2461-4048 E-mail: insdag@cal2.vsnl.net.in; insdag@rediffmail.com; gchakro@hotmail.com ABSTRACT All over the world, engineers are taking noticeable interest in using structural steel as the basic material of construction for fast track projects. Considering higher weight to strength ratio of steel, application in Composite walling system with Coldformed Profiled Steel Sections and Light-weight Concrete (LWC), it can be optimally utilized to establish structural steel as a superior construction material both in terms of direct cost as well as saving in construction time. The application is finding more usefulness in its utility for unique properties of steel suiting to specific design requirements. Composite walling system with Cold-formed Profiled Steel Sections and Lightweight Concrete (LWC) refers to a completely new technology as regards walling system which consists of two outer skins of profiled steel sheeting with an infill of lightweight concrete. In addition, it will behave like Bi-steel composite material as has been developed by the western countries. Based on the requirement of composite walling system, it has been envisaged that the concrete to be used shall preferably be light-weight in nature without compromising the strength being achieved. Also, the material for light-weight aggregate which is intended to be used in the composite walling system should be available abundantly at a comparatively low cost than that of the conventional one. To achieve this goal pertaining to the requirement of Composite Walling System, it has been decided that a suitable concrete type has to be developed having strength equivalent to M20 grade of normal concrete along with an expected density within a range of 1500 kg/m3 to 1900 kg/m3. Based on the above, a series of test samples have been prepared and tested for determining Cube Crushing Strength of these new types of concretes. However, further validation and behavior of this new type of concrete due to composite action are now being carried out through series of experiments on actual models for different combinations of light-weight aggregates with profiled steel sheets and anchored through bush and CSK bolts. In this paper, the study regarding development of Light-weight Concrete has been represented through the outcome of series of test results pertaining to cube crushing

strength of concrete using various types of Light-weight Aggregates available as Power Plant Waste material. The results show the outcome of tests carried out with Cinder (used as coarse aggregates) fulfills our requirement. Various aspects of stipulations of other International Standards have also been compared and elaborated.

KEYWORDS 7 Days Characteristic Strength, Constant Stress, Counter-sunk Bolts, Compression Element, Cross-sectional Area, Concrete Cube, Crushing Strength, Design Requirements, Density of Concrete, Effective Area, Grade of Steel, Graphical, Light Weight Concrete, Modulus of Elasticity, Moment of Inertia, Profiled Steel Sheets, Radius of Gyration, Section Modulus, Sectional Properties, Stiffened, Strength, Stress, Ultimate Strength

1. INTRODUCTION Composite walling system with Cold Formed Profiled Steel Sections and Light Weight Concrete (LWC) refers to a new walling system consisting of two outer skins of profiled steel sheeting with an infill of lightweight concrete. Its development may be termed as an extension of the composite flooring system now well known worldwide. In addition, it will behave like Bi-steel composite material as has been developed by the western countries. The advantages of composite walling system rest in the speed and convenience of construction in line with composite flooring system. This system can be used as load bearing walls (for 3 to 4 storied buildings) as well as non-load bearing panels for high rise building. Similar system can also be developed as missile and blast-resistant walls. Apart from this, the composite walling system can also be used as a shear core and for increasing lateral stiffness of the steel framed building structure. However, panels so developed, has got a good potential in concrete buildings including application in basements etc. It can be noted that the steel sheeting will act to stabilize the building frame as soon as it is fixed, and provides permanent formwork for the infill concrete. Previous studies on non-pierced composite walls under axial and in-plane shear loading have shown that adequate load transfer devices in the form of embossments or other mechanical connections between sheeting and concrete are necessary to develop the composite action fully and to improve wall performance. Based on the requirement of composite

walling system, it has been envisaged that the concrete to be used shall preferably be light weight in nature without compromising the strength. 2. SELECTION OF LIGHT WEIGHT AGGREGATE It has been envisaged that the material for light weight aggregate which is intended to be used in the composite walling system should be available abundantly at a comparatively low cost than that of the conventional one. Such material should also not contain any harmful substances as it may hamper the required strength of concrete both in short as well as long term duration. Keeping in view of these facts, the Coal Mill Rejects (looks like coal but having a very low carbon content) of Thermal Power Plants have been selected as one of the alternatives to be used as Light Weight Aggregate. The other alternatives as has been considered is fully burnt Jhama Brick bats broken into the required sizes for use as an alternative to conventional Stone chips. The third category of the Light Weight Aggregate chosen is Cinders as available in Low Capacity Captive Power Plants. All these materials are having their characteristic behavior associated with both advantages and disadvantages as concerned with their use. The Coal Mill Rejects used as light weight aggregate bears a typical granular structure with dry density around 2100 kg/m3 and the strength is slightly less than that of conventional stone chips. But, water absorption is as low as 1.75%. These are abundantly available throughout India in any of the recently built higher capacity Thermal or Super-thermal Power Plants. Fully burnt Jhama Brick bats are having slightly better characteristic strength along with lower density (about 1500 kg/m3) as compared to Coal Mill Rejects, but making of aggregates from fully burnt Jhama Bricks conforming to the required size is highly labour intensive and may not be economically viable. The water absorption of burnt Jhama Bricks (5.26%) is comparatively higher than coal mill rejects. On the other hand, Cinders as received from very old and low capacity Power Plants, are not abundantly available throughout India, but due to formation of clinker at very high temperature (the boiler temperature) the dry density of Cinder is as low as 1100-1300 kg/m3 with a moderate strength but water absorption is very high (more than 20%). Due to fusion at very high

temperature (to the tune of 800 to 1000 degree Celsius), the structure of cinder looks like glass with a glossy surface (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: View from Top Showing Granulated Silica Based Texture of Cinder

3. DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHT WEIGHT CONCRETE In order to fulfill the requirement of Composite lightweight Walling System, the need for developing a suitable concrete type having strength equivalent to M20 grade of normal concrete along with an expected density within a range of 1500 kg/m3 to 1900 kg/m3 is envisaged. Also, the light weight material which is intended to be used in the composite walling system should be available abundantly at a comparatively low cost than that of the conventional one. As a result the overall self-weight of the building will reduce substantially and thereby causing considerable reduction in the weight of seismic lumped mass. Based on the above criteria and properties of light weight aggregates, three sets of samples have been prepared for determining the Cube Crushing Strength of these new types of concrete and the results of 7 days strength have been furnished in the following Tables.

Table 1:
Fine aggregat e (sand zone III) Kg/m3 515.80 515.80

Mix Proportions and Properties of Light Weight Concrete made from broken Jhama Brick Bats.
Coarse aggregate (Jhama Bats 20mm graded) Kg/m3
Bone Dry S.S.D Cond.

Cement (AmbujaPPC) Kg/m3 416.52 416.52

Mix No.

Water kg/m3

Fresh density Kg/m3

Air dry Density, Kg/m3

7 days

Oven dry Density, Kg/m3

7 days

Compressive Compressive Strength, Strength, (Air Dry) (Oven Dry) MPa MPa
7 days 7 days

A B

673.6

730.54

232.1 194.7

1843.5 1906.4

1914.52 1954

1768.71 1849

21.27 23.04

29.36 25.33

Table 2:

Mix Proportions and Properties of Light Weight Concrete made from Cinder (Collected from CESC, Cossipore Thermal Power Plant)
Coarse aggregate (Cinders, 20mm graded) Kg/m3 Bone Dry S.S.D Cond. Fresh density Kg/m3 Air dry Density, Kg/m3 7 days Oven dry Density, Kg/m3 7 days Compressive Strength, (Air Dry) MPa 7 days Compressive Strength, (Oven Dry) MPa 7 days

Cement (AmbujaPPC) Kg/m3

Fine aggregate (sand zone III) Kg/m3

Mix No.

Water Kg/m3

C D

416.52 416.52

515.80 515.80

505.1

680

360.6 194.7

1732.0 1785.0

1711.28 1853.00

1568.75 1700.70

11.56 14.77

12.67 18.98

Table 3:

Mix Proportions and Properties of Light Weight Concrete made from Coal Mill Rejects (Collected from CESC, Budge Budge Thermal Power Plant)
Coarse aggregate (Coal Mill Rejects) 20mm graded) Kg/m3
Bone Dry S.S.D Cond.

Cement (Ambuja PPC) Kg/m3

Fine aggregate (sand zone - III) Kg/m3 515.80 515.80

Mix No.

Water kg/m3

Fresh density Kg/m3

Air dry Density, Kg/m3

7 days

Oven dry Density, Kg/m3

7 days

Compressive Compressive Strength, Strength, (Air Dry) (Oven Dry) Mpa Mpa
7 days 7 days

E
F

416.52 416.52

934.4

950.94

211.3 2095.00
191.6 2154.00

2083.10
2243.00

1929.79
2060.00

18.34
21.22

26.05
29.36

Similarly, for 28 Days strength using all the above materials have also been obtained and furnished in the following Tables (Materials used are for Saturated Surface Dry conditions of Coarse Aggregate): Table 4: Mix Proportions and Properties of Light Weight Concrete made from broken Jhama Brick Bats.
Coarse aggregate (Jhama Bats 20mm graded) Kg/m3
Bone Dry S.S.D Cond.

Cement (AmbujaPPC) Kg/m3

Fine aggregat e (sand zone III) Kg/m3 518.91

Mix No.

Water kg/m3

Fresh density Kg/m3

Air dry Density, Kg/m3

28 days

Oven dry Density, Kg/m3

28 days

Compressive Compressive Strength, Strength, (Air Dry) (Oven Dry) MPa MPa
28 days 28 days

416.52

730.54

191.6

1906.4

1954.50

1867

32.31

28.70

Table 5:

Mix Proportions and Properties of Light Weight Concrete made from Cinder (Collected from CESC, Cossipore Thermal Power Plant)
Coarse aggregate (Cinders, 20mm graded) Kg/m3 Bone Dry S.S.D Cond. Water Kg/m3 Fresh density Kg/m3 Air dry Density, Kg/m3 28 days Oven dry Density, Kg/m3 28 days Compressive Strength, (Air Dry) MPa 28 days Compressive Strength, (Oven Dry) MPa 28 days

Cement (AmbujaPPC) Kg/m3

Fine aggregate (sand zone III) Kg/m3

Mix No.

416.52

518.91

680

191.6

1785

1848.00

1721.00

21.82

21.42

Table 6:

Mix Proportions and Properties of Light Weight Concrete made from Coal Mill Rejects (Collected from CESC, Budge Budge Thermal Power Plant)
Coarse aggregate (Coal Mill Rejects) 20mm graded) Kg/m3
Bone Dry S.S.D Cond. Compressive Strength, (Air Dry) MPa 28 days Compressive Strength, (Oven Dry) MPa 28 days

Cement (AmbujaPPC) Kg/m3

Fine aggregate (sand zone III) Kg/m3

Mix No.

Water Kg/m3

Fresh density Kg/m3

Air dry Density, Kg/m3 28 days

Oven dry Density, Kg/m3 28 days

416.52

518.91

950.54

191.6

2154

2110

2007

24.00

22.70

4. CONCLUSION This paper discusses the detail study of first stage of development of Light Weight Concrete (LWC) jointly by INSDAG and BESU by making trials with three new types of light weight aggregates. The Tables from 1 through 6 shows encouraging results to fulfill the objective of preparation of light weight concrete for future use in steel-concrete composite walling system. As per the 28 days Characteristic Strength as observed in the Tables 4 through 6 shows the value of compressive strength of concrete well above the desired result of equivalent M20 grade of concrete. However, the effect of creep, shrinkage and aging is to be observed in the long term effect. Various aspects suggested by specialized literature and Standards 1-10 including ACI, BS and Euro code have been considered for the testing of samples as applicable for this case. However, further validation and behavior of this new type of concrete due to composite action can be obtained through experiments on actual models for different combinations of light weight aggregates with profiled steel sheets (placed on both the sides) anchored through bush and CSK bolts.
5. [1] REFERENCES Wright, H. D. 1996. The axial load behaviour of composite walling, Journal of Construction Steel Research, 39 (2): 121 - 135. [2] [3] Literature of various types of probable light weight aggregates. Hossain K. M. A. 2000, Axial load behaviour of pierced profiled composite walls, published in IPENZ conference, 2000, Vol. 27, No. 1/Civ [4] [5] [6] [7] British Standards for light weight aggregate concrete. Euro Standards for light weight concrete. Neville, A.M. and Brooks, J.J., 1996 .Concrete Technology, pp: 345-361. ACI Committee 213.R-87. Guide for structural lightweight aggregate concrete. [8] [9] [10] ACI Committee 523.1R-92. Guide for Cast-in-place low density concrete. Neville, A.M., 1996 .Properties of Concrete. pp: 688-714. The Institution of Structural Engineers and the Concrete Society (London), 1987. Guide: Structural use of lightweight aggregate concrete, pp-58.