Investigation of the Compressive Strength and Curing Duration of Binary Blend of Groundnut Shell Ash Concrete

Abstract

This paper studied the evaluation of the compressive strength of the binary blend of groundnut shell ash concrete and curing period. The purpose of the study was to source for local materials like agricultural waste that could replace some percentages of cement in order to make it more economical in concrete in order to ascertain its usefulness in the construction industry. An experimental (quantitative) method was adopted as the research design in this work. The total concrete specimens of size 100mm x100mm produced in the laboratory were one hundred and twenty (120). The groundnut shells were completely burnt in an electric furnace to obtain the ash and 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% of the ashes were used to replace cement for a designed mix of concrete strength of 20N/mm2 at w/c ratio of 0.6, after varying the w/c ratios from 0.4 to 1.0, according to basic guidelines stated in Department of Environment method. They were cured at 7 days, 28 days, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120 days, 150 days and 200 days. The concrete cubes were taken to the compression machine for compression test. The result shows that compressive strength of the groundnut shell ash concrete increases as the curing period increases and there was decrease in the compressive strength of the pozzolanic concrete as the percentages of groundnut shell ash increases in the concrete. The binary blend of groundnut shell ash at 5% replacement had the maximum compressive strength of 23.3N/mm2 at 200 days while the control concrete compressive strength was 22.0N/mm2. This represents an increment of 1.06% of compressive strength over the control at 200 days.