Use of Unprocessed Rice Husk Ash and Pulverized Fuel Ash in the Production of Self-compacting Concrete

Abstract

We investigated the properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) mixtures comprising ternary combinations of Type 1 Portland cement (OPC), untreated rice husk ash (RHA), and pulverized fuel ash (FA). The SCC mixtures were produced with a controlled slump flow in the range between 67.5 to 72.5cm diameter with a constant total powder materials content of 550kg/m3. RHA and/or FA were used to replace in powder materials with 20 or 40 wt%. The fresh and hardened properties including water requirement, workability, density, compressive strength development and ultrasonic pulse velocity were determined. Self-compacting concrete mixtures formulated using ternary blends exhibited significant improvements in physical properties compared to SCC mixtures containing only RHA or FA.