The effect of synthesized rice husk ash to compressive strength of reactive powder concrete containing quartzite powder

Abstract

The very high strength of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is possible to produce due to the availability of a pozzolanic material in the mixture and application of the packing density method to obtain the optimum density of the mixture proportions. Rice husk ash is a natural source of high silica (SiO2) with readiness in huge volumes. In this study, the RPC mixtures were produced from a fixed content of 25% silica fume of the cement weight combined with synthesized rice husk ash (SRHA) of 10%, 20%, and 30% by cement weight. Mix proportions were obtained by using the Modified Andreassen Packing Model method. This study aims to determine the width of slump flow and compressive strength under normal and steam curing of RPC with low cement content (650 kg/m3). The results demonstrated that the intermix of silica fume with synthesized rice husk ash up to 30% provides an advance on the slump flow width and compressive strength of RPC containing local quartzite powder under normal and steam curing.