Flexural Behavior of Beams Incorporating GGBS as Partial Replacement of Fine Aggregate in Concrete

Abstract

Ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) is obtained as waste product from the Iron industries, Ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS or GGBFS) is obtained by quenching molten iron slag (a by-product of iron and steel-making) from a blast furnace in water or steam, to produce a glassy, granular product that is then dried and ground into a fine powder. Investigations were carried out to explore the possibility of using GGBS as a replacement of sand in concrete mixtures. This paper presents the results of study undertaken to investigate the feasibility of using GGBS as fine aggregate in concrete. The effects of replacing fine aggregates by GGBS on the compressive strength of cubes, split tensile strength of cylinders and flexural strength of beams are evaluated in this study. Five test groups were constituted with the replacement percentages of 0%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% .The results showed the effect of GGBS on RCC concrete elements has a considerable amount of increase in the compressive, split tensile and flexural strength characteristics. Leaching studies revealed that GGBS does not leach heavy metals like Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, Mo etc and also indicates that the leaching of heavy metals was well below the toxicity limits even under aggressive conditions.