Mechanical and durability performance of lightweight concrete (LWC) from colombian thermally expanded clay aggregates

Abstract

Lightweight concrete (LWC) has become an outstanding material in the construction sector to conform non-structural and structural members into buildings. Expanded clay aggregate is a special type of lightweight aggregate formed by heating clay with little lime content, having low unit weight, high durability, and mechanical strength. Despite the massive use of the expanded clay lightweight aggregate worldwide, their use in the Colombian context is still limited. This research reports the characterization of the behavior of lightweight concrete from Colombian expanded clay aggregates. Experimental tests on fresh and hardened state (compressive strength, apparent density, and chloride migration) were carried out on lightweight concrete added Colombian expanded clay aggregate. It was found that the inclusion of up to 50% of the Colombian expanded clay aggregate causes a 15% workability decrease, 36% compressive strength decrease, 22% apparent density decrease as well as 34% decrease in the chloride migration coefficient of the lightweight concrete. In the same way, the lightweight concrete added with 50% of Colombian expanded clay aggregate meets the lightweight concrete requirements prescribed by the ACI 318 building code in terms of compressive strength, and unit weight. From the results, it is concluded that the use of Colombian expanded clay aggregate added up to 50% by weight of conventional aggregate is feasible to manufacture structural lightweight concrete.