Study on Workability High Strength Concrete Containing Pineapple Leaf Fiber (PALF)

Abstract

The addition of fibers in concrete increases bridging force in interfacial transition zones inside the concrete matrix. Pineapple Leaf Fiber (PALF) is a natural fiber that has the potential to replace artificial fibers as reinforcement on concrete. As reinforcement fiber in concrete, PALF will undergo fibrillation and water absorption in concrete mixture and will change the mechanical properties of fresh concrete. So, the purpose of this study is to study the workability characteristics of fresh state concrete given PALF. Some variations of PALF composition are 0.04, 0.09, and 0.15 % wt. of cement is mixed into fresh concrete mixture with water-cement (w/c) ratio variations of 0.35, 0.38, and 0.41. The planned concrete is high-strength concrete, then the provisions of determination of coarse and fine aggregates using sieve analysis according to high-strength concrete material standards and concrete mixtures are given superplasticizer 0.09% wt. of cement constantly for all mixtures. A slump test method is still an option in this study, where this method becomes the standard to determine workability effectively. The results showed that an increase in concrete strength was achieved in the addition of PALF composition in concrete compared to control (normal concrete), in addition to the tendency of the relationship between w/c ratio, slump value, and compressive strength in all PALF variations achieved in this study.