Effect of Accelerated Curing on Strength of Quaternary Blended Cement Concrete with Recycled Aggregate

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation carried out on accelerated curing of Quaternary Blended Cement (QBC) Concrete with and without recycled aggregate. Cement is partially replaced with fly ash, micro silica and nanosilica to produce QBC Concrete. The variables of study include the grade of concrete, powder content and percentage of recycled aggregate. Two grades of concrete M-40 and M-60 were used in this investigation. Based on the earlier studies, fly ash and micro silica are kept constant as 20% and 10% respectively while nanosilica is varied as 2% and 3%. Three percentages of recycled aggregate as partial replacement of natural aggregate (0%, 50% and 75%) were used. Two methods of curing were employed; boiling water method and hot air curing. The test results are encouraging and it is observed that 90% of the design strength could be achieved in one day for both the grades of concrete by curing at 100°C for a period of 3 hours. Keywords: Quaternary Blended Cement Concrete (QBCC), Fly ash (FA), Micro silica (SF), nanosilica (NSF), Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA), Accelerated Curing.