Strength Assessment of Concrete Cubes Containing Variable Mixtures of Portland Cement and Granite Dust of the Maddhapara Mine, NW Bangladesh

Abstract

Granite dust is a waste material which is produced during crushing and grinding process of granite stone. The annual production rate of the Maddhapara Granite Mine is 1.65 million metric tons from the underground mine. It has been estimated that the average weight of the granite dust is about 10% of the total weight of the annually produced granite rock from the Maddhapara Mine. The granite dust in Bangladesh is negligible in construction works, although it has a huge potential for the replacement of natural fine aggregates. The granite dust of Maddhapara Mine may be an alternative to natural sand for construction works. The present research highlights the compressive strength behavior of concrete cubes containing granite dust as a fine aggregate associated with variable mixtures of Portland cement. The three stages of working methods have been applied in the present research work, like- (i) collection of samples from the field, (ii) grain size analysis, and (iii) compressive strength test of concrete cubes with different curing periods of 7, 14 and 28 days. Compressive strength test was carried out on five concrete cubes with grades of M5, M10, M15, M20, M25. The grain size distribution curve as well as Cu (9.88) and Cc (0.671) values reveal that the Maddhapara granite dust is classified as well graded sand that can be enhanced high compressibility and shear strength. The compressive strength values of 14 and 28 days curing periods reveal that the M15 grade is a good quality option because of its high compressive strength associated with reasonable amount of cement and granite dust ratio. From the technical points of view, it can be focused that the Maddhapara granite dust can be used in various purposes. Appropriate utilization of granite dust would not only save the large amount of construction cost, but also would open a new window for the economic sector of the mine.