The use of agricultural waste materials for concrete making

Abstract

This paper presents laterite as fine aggregate and agricultural waste materials such as periwinkle shell, (PS) and palm kernel shell (PKS) as coarse aggregate for making concrete. Saturated surface dry (SSD) bulk density and compressive cube strength tests of concrete made from these were carried at the concrete age of 28 days. The result of this investigation showed that the average SSD bulk density of the concrete was 1840Kg m-3. The maximum compressive cube strength recorded was 16.59 Nmm-2 and the mix ratio was 0.8 : 1 : 1.2 : 0 : 0.95 corresponding to water : cement : laterite : PKS : PS respectively. It was found that the concrete could be used in structures like lintels and for mass concrete flooring but not in reinforced concrete. The result also showed that compressive cube strength increased as PKS decreased and PS increased.

Keywords: Laterite, Periwinkle shell, Palm kernel shell, concrete, compressive cube strength