Experimental Study on Concrete Structural Elements Using Calcined Clay and Basalt aggregate

Abstract

The term ‘Sustainable’ environmentally means “green”. The deteriorating environment is driving the worldwide focus on sustainable development. It is to be noted that the largest impact on nature and environment is by the construction industry. Previously, the concern on environment formed a small part of construction development. We know that cement is the main constituent of concrete. Production of large quantity of cement results in increasing CO2 emissions and the consequence being Greenhouse Effect. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of using basalt aggregates in concrete mixes. Concrete is the most important engineering material and the addition or replacement of some of the materials may change the properties of the concrete. In recent years a lot of research been carried out in order to obtain more durable and long term performance of concrete structures in the dynamic environment. An experimental program is set up to test the effect of basalt aggregate content and its combinations with calcined clay with variation of percentages in concrete mixes. Different aggregate percentage combinations were used in this study for basalt and calcined clay respectively. The laboratory investigation included measurement of compressive strength, tensile strength and flexural strength. In addition the source aggregate properties were considered in this study: specific gravity and absorption for coarse aggregates and fine aggregate. The result of this investigation indicates a general improvement in mix properties with the introduction of basalt aggregates in the mix.