Oil Palm Shell Concrete Research Articles

Durability of lightweight OPS concrete under different curing conditions

The use of waste materials and by products from different industries for building construction has been gaining increased attention due to the rapid depletion of natural resources. It has been found that oil palm shell (OPS), which is a waste from the agricultural sector, can be used as coarse aggregate for the manufacture of structural lightweight concrete. However, for OPS concrete to be used in practical applications, its durability needs to be investigated. Therefore, this paper presents the durability performance of OPS concrete under four curing regimes. The durability properties investigated include the volume of permeable voids (VPVs), sorptivity, water permeability, chloride diffusion coefficient and time to corrosion initiation from the 90-day salt ponding test, and Rapid Chloride Penetrability Test (RCPT). Results showed that the durability properties of OPS concrete were comparable to that of other conventional lightweight concretes and proper curing is essential for OPS concrete to achieve better durability especially at the later ages.

Lightweight concrete made from oil palm shell (OPS): Structural bond and durability properties

The first part of this experimental program was to determine the structural bond properties of lightweight concrete incorporating solid waste oil palm shell (OPS) as coarse aggregate and also to compare its behaviour with other types of lightweight aggregate concretes. Other properties of OPS concrete namely the split tensile strength, modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity were also determined. The structural bond properties were determined through pull-out test. The results showed that the experimental bond strength of OPS concrete was much higher than the design bond strength as stipulated by BS 8110. In general, the properties of OPS concrete compared well with that of other structural lightweight concretes and the results obtained encourage the use of OPS as aggregates for the production of structural lightweight concrete. The second part of the experimental program investigates the durability performance of OPS concrete through water permeability and water absorption tests.

Quality improvement of oil palm shell (OPS) as coarse aggregate in lightweight concrete

An experimental investigation on the quality improvement of oil palm shell (OPS) as a coarse aggregate in lightweight concrete was conducted using several pre-treatment methods, and the pre-treated OPS aggregates were exposed to severe alkaline, acidic and strong sulphate solutions. Tests conducted on the OPS aggregates were water absorption and aggregate impact value, and tests conducted on OPS concrete were the slump, demoulded density and compressive strength. The PVA solution showed the best performance in quality improvement of OPS aggregate as well as OPS concrete among other pre-treatment methods.

Destructive and Non-Destructive Properties of OPS (Oil Palm Shell) Lightweight Concrete

The compressive strength as destructive test and, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and dynamic modulus of elasticity (E d ) as non-destructive tests have been carried out on a new lightweight concrete produced using oil palm shell (OPS) as coarse aggregate, as a way to establish the usefulness of these tests to determine the strength of OPS concrete. To investigate the effect of moisture content in concrete on compressive strength, UPV and E d , four types of curing have been employed and the results are discussed. OPS aggregates yield lightweight concrete and the lesser density of concrete influences the results of the tests. The tests also have been conducted on specimens after exposure to high temperatures to determine the residual strength properties. Similarly the results are reported from the tests on specimens exposed to environment with high sulphate content. It is observed that for OPS concrete, UPV tests predict the compressive strength accurately. OPS concrete has attained the highest values in UPV, E d and compressive strength under full water curing condition compared with other types of curing. Journal of Civil Engineering Research and Practice Vol.1(2) 2004: 55-66

Concrete from an agricultural waste-oil palm shell (OPS)

Wastes are produced in large quantities from agro-based industries and the use of these waste materials in construction industry would contribute towards a cleaner environment. It also results in a cost effective construction material. A concrete using oil palm shell (OPS) as coarse aggregate has been found useful as structural concrete. As the bulk density of OPS is much less than stone aggregate OPS concrete becomes a lightweight concrete with a density of about 1850 kg/ m 3 . The compressive strengths of OPS concrete range from 20 to 24 N/ mm 2 for 28 days; this satisfies the strength requirement of structural lightweight concrete. A test on concrete floor slab using OPS concrete is also discussed.

Engineering properties of concrete with oil palm shell as coarse aggregate

In a short-term study, for up to 90 days, properties of oil palm shell (OPS) concrete namely compressive strength, flexural strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, drying shrinkage and initial surface absorption, have been determined and a comparison is made with control concrete. Two conditions of curing, namely, one to simulate the practical curing condition and another laboratory curing condition, are employed. It is observed that OPS concrete has sufficient strength to be accepted as structural lightweight concrete and that the trend of behaviours of OPS concrete and control concrete is very similar. However, the modulus of elasticity of OPS concrete is lower compared to control concrete and ISA is more in OPS concrete compared with control concrete.

Mix design for oil palm shell concrete

The mix design of lightweight concrete using oil palm shell (OPS) as aggregate differs widely from the procedure of mix proportioning for conventional concrete with crushed stone aggregate. The mix design depends on the properties of aggregates. The 28-day compressive strengths of OPS concrete designed according to the ACI method for conventional concrete and methods mentioned in references [A. Short, W. Kinniburgh, Lightweight Concrete, third ed., Applied Science Publishers, London, 1978; M.S. Shetty, Concrete Technology, S. Chand, India, 1993] for lightweight aggregate concrete have been found to be very much less than the targeted design strength of OPS concrete. It is confirmed that the mix design method of ACI and methods mentioned in the above references fail for the design of mix for OPS aggregates. A trial mix design for concrete with OPS as coarse aggregate has resulted in acceptable strength of 24 N/mm 2 for 28-day. Fly ash as mineral admixture and calcium chloride as an accelerator have also been used to study the improvement in strength.

Long-term strengths of concrete with oil palm shell as coarse aggregate

Concrete using oil palm shell (OPS) as coarse aggregate has been found useful as structural lightweight concrete. Long-term investigation up to 365 days on compressive strength of OPS concrete for different curing environments has been carried out. A comparative study has also been conducted on control concrete using crushed stone as coarse aggregate. In the six types of curing that includes some of the field and laboratory conditions of curing, the compressive strengths of OPS concrete range from 20 to 24 N/mm 2 for 28 days; this satisfies the strength requirement of structural lightweight concrete.