Setting Time of Granite Powder Blended Banana Fibre Reinforced High Performance Concrete

Abstract

The investigation is intended to analyse the variations in setting time behaviour of high performance fibre reinforced concrete (HPFRC) after adding granite powder as substitute for cement. The replacement of cement by granite powder was consider at the rate of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%. In order to improve the performance of concrete, banana fibres are added in concrete at 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, and 1.25% by weight of cement. High strength concrete with M50 grade was designed and investigated in this study. The investigation was carried out in two stages, the stage one was predicting the optimum level of adding banana fibre based on the strength performance and the stage two was evaluating the variations in setting time performance of hardened concrete due to addition of granite powder. The setting time of concrete was conducted using penetration resistance test as per IS: 8142-1976. The slump value of the HPFRC was maintained by 80-100 mm and the dosage of superplasticizer was modified accordingly without varying the w/c ratio. Based on the results obtained in this investigation, 1% banana fibre was taken for developing the fibre reinforced concrete without affecting the 28 days compressive strength. The substitution of granite powder beyond 15% increases the setting time significantly and also affect the strength of HPFRC. The relationship between the setting time and 28 days compressive strength was predicted.