Effect of type of coarse aggregate on the strength properties and fracture energy of normal and high strength concrete

Abstract

An attempt has been made in the present work to study the effect of type of coarse aggregate on the strength properties and fracture energy of M30, M50 and M80 grade of concretes. The aggregate used in this study includes Grey Granite (GG), Anorthosite (AS) Charnockite (CK) Limestone, (LS) and Gneiss (GS). The result shows that the strength of concrete is greatly influenced by the aggregate types in high strength concrete. However, the aggregate has not impacted the Normal Strength Concrete as the strength is governed by the characteristics of interfacial transition zone, rather than aggregate. Among all aggregates, the Grey Granite aggregate has produced concrete with highest compressive strength followed by Anorthosite, Charnockite, Limestone and Gneiss indicating that the surface texture, structure and mineralogical composition played a dominant role. The similar trend was noticed even in fracture energy and modulus of elasticity of high strength concrete.