Durability of concrete made with groundnut shell ash as cement replacement

Abstract

Concrete was considered in time past to be very durable, however many structures continue to show signs of deterioration during the specified or traditionally expected service life. The process of deterioration is more often caused by environmental factors. These have continued to enhance further research on processes as well as effective preventive measures on how best the use of available materials continually to produce durable concrete. The objective of this research is to investigating durability of using concrete produced with groundnut shell ash as replacement for cement. Groundnut Shell ash (GSA) was used to replace cement in percentages of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% respectively. Sulfuric acid was used to provide the acid environment required for the short time durability test which comprise of 0.0005 %Ammonia (NH3), 0.00001 %Arsenic (As), 0.0002 %Chloride (Cl), 0.0001 %Heavy metals (Pb), 0.0001 %Iron (Fe), 0.00002 %Nitrate (No3), 0.00015 %, Oxygen absorbed (O), 0.0025 %and Non-volatile residue. Concrete Cubes were cast for control and three (3) samples for each for various percentage of cement replacement with 7, 14, 21 and 28 days curing period, a Second batch samples were inserted into sulfuric acid for another 28 days to determine durability of concrete. The results shows a loss in weight of the concrete with increase in curing age while decreases with increase in the dosage of GSA. With treatment, the concrete cube has a lower percentage loss in strength and the lowest value of percentage loss in strength achieved at 10% GSA at 28 days curing in sulfuric acid with a value of 0.18%. The reduction in percentage loss in weight recorded in the treated samples shows that concrete produced with GSA are more durable when compare to natural concrete.