Construction and Building Materials 46 (2013) 1–7

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Construction and Building Materials

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Strength and durability properties of concrete made with graniteindustry waste

0950-0618/$ - see front matter � 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.04.018

⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department of Civil Engineering, SethuInstitute of Technology, Kariapatti, Virudhunagar 626 115, Tamil Nadu, India. Tel.:+91 989451881.

E-mail address: gganeshprabhu@gmail.com (G. Ganesh prabhu).

M. Vijayalakshmi a, A.S.S. Sekar b, G. Ganesh prabhu c,⇑a Dept. of Civil Engineering, Fatima Micheal College of Engineering, Tamil Nadu, Indiab Dept. of Civil Engineering, Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering, Tamil Nadu, Indiac Dept. of Civil Engineering, Sethu Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, India

h i g h l i g h t s

� Utilization of granite industry waste in concrete production was carried out.� Effect of GP waste on mechanical and durability properties of concrete was evaluated.� Inclusion rate up to 15% does not affect the strength and durability properties.� Optimum inclusion rate of GP waste was recommended for concrete production.

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 26 February 2013Received in revised form 3 April 2013Accepted 5 April 2013Available online 10 May 2013

Keywords:ConcreteGranite powderWasteCompressive strengthDurabilityCarbonationChlorideSulphate

a b s t r a c t

Granite stones processing industry from Tamilnadu state produces tons of non-biodegradable fine pow-der wastes and utilization of that hazardous waste in concrete production will lead to green environmentand sustainable concrete technology. The main objective of this study is to experimentally investigate thesuitability of granite powder (GP) waste as a substitute material for fine/natural aggregate in concreteproduction. The experimental parameter was percentage of granite powder substitution. Concrete mix-tures were prepared by 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% of fine/natural aggregate substituted by GP waste.Various mechanical properties such as compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength;ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and elastic modulus were evaluated. To ensure the reliability of its usagein aggressive environments, the durability properties such as water permeability, rapid chloride penetra-tion (RCPT), carbonation depth, sulphate resistance and electrical resistivity was also determined. Theobtained test results were indicated that the replacement of natural sand by GP waste up to 15% ofany formulation is favorable for the concrete making without adversely affecting the strength and dura-bility criteria however it is recommended that the GP waste should be subjected to a chemical bleachingprocess prior to blend in the concrete to increase the sulphate resistance.

� 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Among the 32 states in India, Tamilnadu state has the 45% of to-tal granite reserve. Using different types of cutting method, granitestones are machined from the quarries and that blocks are trans-ported to the nearby processing plants. Then the stones are indus-trially processed such as sawing and polishing, finally theprocessed stones are used for decorative purposes. During thisindustrial process, the fine granite particle and the water mixedtogether and become a granite colloidal waste. When the stoneslurry is disposed in landfills, its water content is drastically re-

duced and the waste becomes a dry mud consisting of very finepowder that can be easily inhaled by human being and animals.In addition to that, it is a non-biodegradable waste that causes pol-lution and environmental damage. The data available from the lit-erature, the amount of wastes in the different production stages ofthe granite industry reaches some 20–25% of its global production,meaning millions of tons of colloidal waste per year and disposal ofthose fine wastes is one of the environmental problems worldwidetoday. With increasing restrictions on landfills in nearby area, thecost of deposition also become increase and the industries areforced to find ways for reusing that wastes. Even though the reuti-lization of granite wastes has been practiced, the quantity ofwastes reutilized in that way is still negligible. Hence, the needfor its application in other industries is become very imperative.Past few decades, the construction industry especially the concreteindustry has utilized almost all stone industrial waste to resolve

Fig. 1. X-ray diffraction of the GP by-product.

2 M. Vijayalakshmi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 46 (2013) 1–7

the environmental problem. The first known study in this topic in-volved that utilization of granite dust for making aerated concreteand ceramic production conducted by Beretka and Taylor [1]. Testresults of Moreira et al. [2] illustrated that the ceramic bodies con-taining granite powder waste are adequate for manufacture ofstructural ceramic and the employed methodology is environmen-tally correct. Experimental results of Saboya et al. [3], Ilker Bekiret al. [4], Binici et al. [5], Corinaldesi et al. [6] and Hebhoub et al.[7] demonstrated that the waste marble and granite powder canbe potentially used as a substitution for fine aggregates in concreteproduction and the mechanical properties of concrete were foundto be conforming to the concrete production standards. RecentlyFlexikala and Partheeban [8] found that the replacement of sandby granite powder has beneficial effect on the mechanical proper-ties of concrete and the values of both plastic and drying shrinkageof granite powder concrete was nominal than the ordinaryconcrete.

From the past research, it was observed that there were bound-less investigations done with the marble powder by-product as asubstitute material in concrete production besides investigationson granite powder (GP) waste as a filler material in concrete pro-duction is not widespread. The main objective of this study is toexperimentally investigate the suitability of granite industry wasteas a substitute material for fine aggregate in concrete productionand aimed to study the physical and chemical properties of theGP waste as well. The experimental parameter was percentage ofgranite powder substitution. The concrete cubes and cylinder spec-imens were prepared with 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% of naturalsand is substituted by GP waste. Fresh concrete properties evalu-ated by slump cone test and the mechanical properties were eval-uated through density, split tensile, flexural, compressive strength,UPV and elastic modulus test. Durability tests such as water andchloride permeability test, electrical resistively, carbonation depthand sulphate resistance test were also conducted on granite pow-der concrete to ensure the reliability of its usage in aggressiveenvironments.

2. Materials

2.1. Portland cement and aggregate

The commercial Portland cement supplied by India cements was used in thisstudy. The specific gravity of the cement was tested according to IS 8112:1989[9] and the obtained value was about 3.14. Natural sand passing through4.75 mm sieve and having a specific gravity of 2.48 was used in this study. The max-imum size and the specific gravity of the coarse aggregate were 20 mm and 2.67respectively. According to IS 2386(1):1963 [10], grain size distribution analysiswas carried out on both fine and coarse aggregate.

2.2. Granite powder

The granite powder (GP), which is a by-product obtained from granite process-ing industry was used in this study. To verify the physical and chemical character-ization of the granite powder, the following tests were carried out at NationalTesting House at Chennai, Tamilnadu. The obtained specific gravity and specific sur-face area value of GP waste was about 2.386 and 351 m2/kg respectively, which wasequivalent to the finesse of the cement. To verify the physical characterization ofthe GP by-product, its grain size distribution analysis was carried out and it was ob-served that, 55% of granite powder was less than 150 lm and the 31% of particleswere less than 45 lm. The chemical analysis results were shown that the GP wastecontains about 72.14% of soluble silica (Sio2) and 17.13% of alumina (Al2O3), indicat-ing very suitable for concrete production. The X-ray diffraction analysis, Fig. 1shows that the presence of Quartz about 3% and Microcline about 1%. The remainingGP by-product consists of amorphous silica, whose low crystallinity making themmostly undetectable by X-ray diffraction [6].

2.3. Concrete

The concrete mix proportion was designed by IS method [11] to achieve thestrength of 30 N/mm2 and the designed mix proportion was 1:1.39:2.77 by weight.The designed water cement ratio was 0.40 and the formulations of various mixturesproportion were listed in Table 1.

3. Experimental program

3.1. Preparation and testing of specimens

The concrete mixtures were prepared by Portland cement, natural sand, coarseaggregate (Blue metal) and GP by-product. Among the six series of mixtures, onewas the control mixture and the remaining five mixtures were containing GP wastesubstitution in various proportions such as 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%. For all themixtures, aggregates were weighed in dry condition and the mixtures were mixedtogether for 4–5 min in a laboratory counter current mixer. Workability of the freshconcrete was verified by slump test apparatus. Compressive and splitting tensilestrength of the concrete was measured using 150 mm � 150 mm � 150 mm cubesand 150 mm � 300 mm cylinders respectively. In addition beams were preparedto determine the flexural strength of the concrete. All the cubes, cylinders andbeams were cast in three layers and each layer was fully compacted by using a nee-dle vibrator for beams and a vibrating table for other specimens. After casting, spec-imens were kept in a room temperature for 24 h, thereafter demoulded andtransferred to the curing tank until their testing dates. Compressive strength ofthe cube was measured by compression testing machine (CTM) having a capacityof 2000 kN at the age of 7, 28 and 90 days. The flexural and splitting tensile strengthof the concrete was measured by flexure testing machine (FTM) and by CTM respec-tively at the age of 28 days. For each mixture three specimens were tested and testswere carried out according to the relevant IS standards.

Chloride permeability of the concrete mixtures was performed according toASTM C 1202-97 [12] and resistance to the penetration of chloride ions were mea-sured by determining the electrical conductance of concrete. A concrete disc havinga diameter and thickness of 102 mm and 51 mm respectively was prepared and al-lowed to cure for 28 days. Afterwards, both ends of the disc was sealed with cell,one which filled with 3% NaCl solution, the other one filled with 0.3N NaOH solu-tions. A potential difference of 60 V was maintained across the two cells and theamount of charge passed to the specimen was monitored for the duration of 6 h.The amount of chloride penetration was measured in terms of Coulombs. A concretepermeability test apparatus supplied by AIMIL Ltd., India was used in this study todetermine the water permeability of the concrete and the test was performedaccording to IS 3085:1965 [13]. The water permeability of the cubes was obtainedby measuring the water volume that passes through the specimen under constantair pressure 10 kg/cm2. For carbonation test, cylinders having a dimension of150 mm � 300 mm were prepared for all mixtures and allowed to cure for 28 days.Later than, all the specimens were air cured for the duration of 90 days and180 days then they were split. The split surface of the concrete was thoroughlycleaned and the phenolphthalein indicator was uniformly applied along the entirelength using brush. The average depth was measured at three points to the nearest1 mm, from the external surface to the colorless phenolphthalein region. The elec-trical resistivity of the concrete was determined using concrete electrical resistivitymeter supplied by AIMIL Ltd., India under saturated condition.

3.2. Descriptions of mixtures

Among the six mixtures, five mixtures were prepared with natural sand substi-tuted by GP by-product and the remaining one was control mixtures (CM). To iden-tify the mixtures easily, the each mixtures was designated with the names such asCM, CGP 5%, CGP 10%, CGP 15%, CGP 20% and CGP 25%. For example CGP 10% spec-ifies that the concrete mixture made with 10% of natural sand is substituted by GPwaste.

Table 1Concrete mixture proportions.

Mixture Control mixture CGP 5% CGP 10% CGP 15% CGP 20% CGP 25%

W/C ratio 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4Water (kg/m3) 186 186 186 186 186 186Cement (kg/m3) 465 465 465 465 465 465Sand (kg/m3) 603 572 542 512 482 451Coarse aggregate (kg/m3) 1086 1086 1086 1086 1086 1086Granite powder (GP) (kg/m3) 0 31.94 63.88 95.83 127.77 159.71

M. Vijayalakshmi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 46 (2013) 1–7 3

4. Result and discussion

4.1. Fresh concrete properties

Slump value of the fresh concrete was measured using slumpcone, time ranged from immediate after mixing, 30 min and60 min, it is the convenient method and useful to control the qual-ity of the concrete. Fig. 2 explains the effect of GP waste on theworkability of the fresh concrete. For all the mixtures there wasa significant losses in slump was observed with time in additionto that the workability of the concrete decreases with the increasesin the substitution rate. The poor workability was observed formixture of CGP 20% and CGP 25% when compared to the other mix-ture. The workability and the water demand of the concrete de-pend upon the particle shape, particle size distribution andsurface texture. Compared to the natural sand, the GP has a veryrough and angular geometry and more than 90% particle size areless than 50 lm i.e.) very fine powder. The rough and angular tex-ture of the granite powder increase the friction between the coarseaggregate and paste and the increased specific surface area of thepowder increasing the water demand by increased water absorp-tion. As a result the workability of the concrete reduced furtherwhen increasing the substitution of the GP. Hence the water re-quired for the mixtures need correction based on the amount ofGP by-product added. The another possible factor that density ofthe GP waste which was contributed to low down the paste vol-ume and this decrease in the paste volume decreases the cohesive-ness and thus leads to decreased workability.

4.2. Mechanical properties

4.2.1. Compressive strengthCompressive strength is the most important property of the

hardened concrete. The concrete cubes were cast, cured and testedaccordance with the IS standard and the 7, 28 and 90 days com-pressive strength results are listed in Table 2. The main objectiveof this research is to utilize the GP waste in concrete making withconform to the concrete production standards and not to enhance

020

40

60

80

100

120

140

Slu

mp

loss

val

ue

(mm

)

Imm. After mixing After 30 min After 60 minDuration

CM CGP 5% CGP 10% CGP 15% CGP 20% CGP 25%

Fig. 2. Slump loss value of concrete versus duration at different substitution rate ofGP by-product.

the concrete properties. As expected the addition of GP by-productdoes not affect the compressive strength of the concrete up to 15%of substitution rate and the compressive strength of the concreteincreased upon aging. Fig. 3 clearly shows that in all ages the com-pressive strength values of the mixtures CGP 5%, CGP 10%, CGP 15%were neither close nor little higher than the control mixture (CM).However the lowest compressive strength obtained for CGP 20%and CGP 25% mixtures that have a poor workability. The decreasedworkability is attributed to increased specific surface area and spe-cific density of the GP waste which is create the increases in de-mand of paste volume and reduce the workability of the concreteresulting poor compactness. The compactness of the concrete is in-versely proportional to the porosity of the concrete. Thus increasesin porosity can led to the reduction in compressive strength. Thekeen observation of Fig. 5 shows that the early age (i.e. 7 days)compressive strength of the mixtures CGP 5%, CGP 10%, CGP 15%showed better gain in strength when compared to the CM. The rea-son is attributed to the denser matrix of the GP waste and the bet-ter dispersion of the cement grains. Furthermore the increasedspecific surface area and the siliceous property of the GP by-prod-uct may be act as nucleation sites for the early reaction products[14]. This nucleation, accelerating the hydration process and signif-icantly increase the C3S content as a result increase in compressivestrength of the concrete was observed in the early stage. From theabove results it was concluded that the GP substitution rate up to15% which led to the acceptable fresh concrete properties in termsof workability and also acceptable difference in mechanicalproperties.

The aggregate densities, mix proportions, water content and de-gree of hydration are deciding the density of the concrete. It wasexpected that the substitution of GP by-product may affect thedensity of the concrete. Nevertheless the density value of the con-crete does not change considerable with the substitution rate of upto 15% in addition the differences in the density values are rela-tively small and acceptable. The above results are fairly agreementthe compressive strength results. Fig. 4 shows the relationship be-tween the density and compressive strength of the GP concrete.

4.2.2. Split tensile strength and flexural strengthThe split tensile strength and flexural strength of the concrete

measured at the age of 28 days and the strength values are listedin Table 2. Fig. 5 clearly shows that substitution of GP waste muchnot affect the tensile and flexural strength and the strength valuesof the mixtures CGP 5%, CGP 10%, CGP 15% and somewhat equal orlittle lower than the control mixture. However a close observationof Fig. 5 exhibits that the increases in substitution rate of GP wasteaffect strength and the decrease in strength was significant beyond15% (mixtures CGP 20% and CGP 25%). As said earlier the decreasesin strength can be attributed to the demand in cement paste vol-ume which is contributed to the poor interlocking between theaggregate and cement paste.

4.2.3. Relation between compressive and split tensile strengthThe compressive strength of the concrete alone usually mea-

sured for the purpose of quality control. The tensile strength of

Table 2Mechanical properties of concrete mixtures.

Mixturedesignation

Compressive strength Split tensilestrength

Flexuralstrength

7 days 28 days 90 days 28 days

CM1 21.34 39.12 42.65 3.4 6.30CM1 22.56 38.85 41.46 3.1 5.90CM1 24.34 40.43 42.11 3.6 6.10CM1 average 22.75 39.46 42.07 3.4 6.10CGP 5%-1 23.67 39.07 42.67 3.2 5.90CGP 5%-2 25.63 39.26 40.54 3.0 6.20CGP 5%-3 24.95 39.65 41.76 3.5 5.80CGP 5%

average24.75 39.32 41.66 3.2 5.97

CGP 10%-1 25.64 39.24 42.98 3.3 5.82CGP 10%-2 25.12 40.12 43.12 3.1 5.70CGP 10%-3 24.56 40.15 42.60 3.4 5.81CGP 10%

average25.11 39.83 42.90 3.3 5.77

CGP 15%-1 24.23 38.32 41.12 2.9 5.55CGP 15%-2 23.56 38.78 40.25 3.0 5.75CGP 15%-3 24.41 38.56 42.13 2.8 5.30CGP 15%

average24.07 38.55 41.17 2.9 5.53

CGP 20%-1 22.10 38.12 39.21 2.4 4.50CGP 20%-2 23.15 37.12 39.65 2.1 4.20CGP 20%-3 23.59 37.53 37.92 2.0 4.00CGP 20%

average22.95 37.59 38.93 2.2 4.23

CGP 25%-1 21.35 35.31 36.13 1.7 3.25CGP 25%-2 22.19 35.73 36.95 1.5 3.43CGP 25%-3 21.68 34.16 37.10 1.6 3.10CGP 25%

average21.74 35.06 36.73 1.6 3.26

0

10

20

30

40

50

7 Days 28 Days 90 Days

Curing of concrete

Com

pre

ssiv

e S

tren

gth

(N/m

m2 )

CM CGP 5% CGP 10% CGP 15% CGP 20% CGP 25%

Fig. 3. Compressive strength of concrete mixtures at different ages-comparison.

2400

2425

2450

2475

2500

2525

2550

34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Compressive strength (N/mm2)

Den

sity

(kg

/m3 )

Fig. 4. Relation between compressive strength and density of GP concrete.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

GP substitution rate (%)

Stre

ngth

(N

/mm

2)

Split tensile strength Flexural strength

Fig. 5. Relationship between GP substitution rates and split tensile strength,flexural strength of GP concrete.

4 M. Vijayalakshmi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 46 (2013) 1–7

the concrete generally determined from the compressive strengthusing empirical correlation. Based on the test results, the followingcorrelation was formulated between the compressive and flexuralstrength as expressed in the following equation:

fspt ¼ 0:241ðfckÞ0:712 MPa ð1Þ

where fspt and fck are 28 days split tensile strength and compressivestrength respectively.

4.2.4. Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and elastic modulusThe ultrasonic pulse velocity test is used to predict the strength

of the concrete related to its compactness. The UPV values of the allconcrete mixtures were determined at the end of 28 days, 60 daysand 90 days and Fig. 6 shows the relationship between the UPV val-ues and the compressive strength in all ages. IS 13311(1):1992 [15]classified the concrete as excellent, good, medium and doubtful for

the UPV values ranges from 4500 m/s and above, 3500–4500 m/s,3000–3500 m/s and below 3000 m/s respectively. In Compared tothe control mixture, the UPV values of the concrete for the substitu-tion rate of the 5%, 10% and 15% are relatively equal and the con-crete was classified as good and the measured values weregreater than 3500 m/s. The UPV values of the concrete decreaseswith the increase in substitution rate. The determined UPV valuesof the mixtures CGP 20% and CGP 25% showed low values due toits high porosity. The trend in UPV values is to increases with theincreases in the compressive strength [14]. Fig. 6 clearly shows thatfor all mixtures the correlation between the UPV values and com-pressive strength was too strong (R2 = 0.9549 for all ten mixtures).

The elastic modulus of the concrete was measured according IS13311(1):1992 [15] and the Eq. (2) were used to determine the dy-namic elastic modulus of the concrete.

E ¼ qð1þ lÞð1� 2lÞ1� l V2 ð2Þ

M. Vijayalakshmi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 46 (2013) 1–7 5

where E is the dynamic Young’s Modulus of elasticity (Mpa), q isdensity of concrete in kg/m3, V is the pulse velocity in m/s and lis the dynamic poisons ratio of the concrete. The dynamic elasticityof the concrete is normally proportional to the compressivestrength and pulse velocity of the concrete. The test results wereindicated that same situations. The elastic modulus value of themixtures CGP 5%, CGP 10%, CGP 15% were comparatively equal tothe control mixture and decreases in of elasticity was observedwhen increasing the substitution rate further.

4.3. Durability properties

4.3.1. Chloride and water permeabilityThe main critical parameter in evaluate the service life of rein-

forced concrete structures is the concrete ability to repel the pen-etration of chloride ions. With the intention that, according toASTM C1202-97 [12], chloride penetration test was conducted onall mixtures at the age of 180 and 365 days, in order to determinethe effect of GP waste on resistance to chloride transfer. Fig. 7shows the resistance of the concrete mixtures against chloridepenetration. The test result showed that the chloride permeabilityof the concrete is directly proportional to the substitution rate andthe penetration rate was increased when increasing the GP wastesubstitution rate. However the penetration values of the mixturesCGP 5%, CGP 10% and CGP 15% were almost equivalent to the pen-etration value of the CM. Mixtures CGP 20% and CGP 25% wereshowed highest permeability value and the total charge passed isabove 1500 Coulombs. The increases in the chloride penetrationis attributed to poor compaction resulting high porous microstruc-ture and a discontinuous pore system, increase the permeability ofchloride ions. On the whole, the inclusion of GP waste had a pro-found effect on the depth of chloride penetration of the concrete.The water permeability test was performed on all mixtures atthe age of 28 days and the test results are presented in terms ofpermeability coefficient. Eq. (3) was used to calculate the coeffi-cient of permeability.

K ¼ QAT � H

L

ð3Þ

Q and A is the quantity of water in millilitres and area of thespecimen face in cm2 respectively. T and H/L is the time in secondsand ratio of the pressure head respectively. ACI 301-89 [16]

y = -5E-06x2 + 0.0579x - 108.69

R2 = 0.9549

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

3800 3900 4000 4100 4200 4300 4400 4500UPV values (m/s)

Com

pres

sive

str

engt

h (N

/mm

2)

Fig. 6. Correlation between UPV values and compressive strength.

recommended the maximum permeability coefficient value of15 � 10�12 m/s. The test results revealed that the concrete contain-ing low GP waste showed low permeability in addition the perme-ability of the concrete increased when increasing the substitutionrate which is fairy agreed with the RCPT results. Fig. 8 clearlyshows that for all mixtures the correlation between the water per-meability and RCPT charges of GP concrete is too strong. MixturesCGP 20% and CGP 25% showed more permeability and the perme-ability ranges from 12.15 to 15.21 which is more than the recom-mended value. The reason is attributed to increased specificsurface area and specific density of the GP waste.

4.3.2. Carbonation depthCarbonation depth of all mixtures was measured at the age of

180 days and 365 days, and they were represented by the corre-sponding carbonation coefficient (C) value [17].

C ¼ X

T0:5 ð4Þ

where C is the tested carbonation depth (mm), X and T is the car-bonation depth in mm and period of exposure in months respec-tively. Carbonation depth values of all mixtures at the age of 180and 365 days are represented in Fig. 9. From Fig. 9 it can be under-stand that, the carbonation depth values of mixtures CGP 5%, CGP10% and CGP 15% were relatively close to the control mixture(CM) and the effect of GP waste on carbonation depth was signifi-cant when increasing the substitution rate beyond 15%. The keenobservation of Fig. 9 showed that the carbonation depth value ofthe concrete increases with the increase in GP waste substitutionhowever the increase in depth was not proportional. Up to 15% sub-stitution rate, for every increase in 5%, the average increase in car-bonation depth value was 1.2 mm; however the increase was notproportional beyond the substitution rate of 15%. This is a resultof the fact that low workability of the concrete resulting poor com-pactness. The carbonation depth value of mixtures CGP 20% andCGP 25% were 8.9 mm and 10.2 mm at the age of 365 days, whichwas closer to the cover of reinforcing steel bars and it may be causecorrosion. From the above observation it was concluded that, con-crete containing substitution rate up to 15% can be considered asa good concrete and the beyond the substitution rate of 15% isnot advisable for structural concrete.

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%GP substitution rate (%)

Cha

rge

pass

ed (C

olou

mbs

)

After 180 Days After 365 Days

Fig. 7. Relationship between GP substitution rate and RCPT charges of GP concrete.

300

500

700

900

1100

1300

1500

1700

1900

4 7 10 13 16Coefficient of

Permeability x 10-12 (m/sec)

Cha

rge

pass

ed (

Col

oum

bs)

Fig. 8. Relationship between water permeability and RCPT charges of GP concrete.

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%GP substitution rate (%)

Com

pres

sive

str

engt

h (N

/mm

2 )

After 28 days in normal water

After 180 days in sulphate solution

After 365 days in sulphate solution

Fig. 10. Relationship between GP substitution rate and loss of compressive strengthof concrete in NaSO4 and MgSO4 solution.

45

50

55

-cm

)

After 28 days After 180 days

After 365 days

6 M. Vijayalakshmi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 46 (2013) 1–7

4.3.3. Sulphate resistanceThe concrete cubes were immersed in solution containing

NaSO4 and MgSO4 for the duration of 180 days and 365 days andthe loss in compressive strength of concrete in NaSO4 and MgSO4

solution is shown in Fig. 10. The control mixtures (CMs) showed10% and 30% reduction in compressive strength after 180 and365 days exposure respectively. However the concrete containingGP waste showed significant loss in the compressive strengthwhen compared to the control mixtures in addition the action ofsulphate increased when increasing the substitution rate. The in-crease in sulphate action was due to the presence of kerosene, die-sel and wax traces in GP waste which has been used during theprocess of sawing and polishing. During the process of sawingand polishing, the formation of enormous heat in the blade, trans-formed the sulphur content present in the kerosene and diesel intosulphur trioxide.

S!ð0Þ SO3 þH2O

The presence of those sulphur ions in the GP waste increase thesulphate strength of the NaSO4 and MgSO4 solution, and enhancethe ettringite formation causing the deterioration of concrete.The reaction with calcium alumino ferrite is as follows.

4Cao Al2O3 Fe2O3 þH2Oþ SO�24 ! Ca6 Al2ðSO4Þ3 ðOHÞ12 2H2O

þ CaSO4 2H2O

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Car

bon

atio

n d

epth

(m

m)

After 180 Days After 365 DaysDuration of air curing

CM CGP 5% CGP 10% CGP 15% CGP 20% CGP 25%

Fig. 9. Carbonation depth of all mixtures – comparison.

From the above observation it can be concluded that the dura-bility of the concrete influenced by the reactive material present inthe GP waste. Hence it is recommended that GP waste should besubjected to chemical bleaching or oil separation process usingpetroleum ether (hydrocarbons), prior to blend in the concrete inorder to remove the oil traces present in the GP.

4.3.4. Electrical resistively testThe durability of the concrete can be evaluated through mea-

surement of electrical resistivity. The electrical resistivity of theall concrete mixtures was measured after 28 days of curing andthe values are shown in Fig. 11. In general the electrical resistivityof the concrete is directly proportional to the pores structure of thedense concrete. In other words for the higher resistivity, the corro-

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%GP substitution rate (%)

Ele

ctri

cal r

esis

tivi

ty (

k

Fig. 11. Relationship between GP substitution rate and electrical resistivity of allmixtures.

M. Vijayalakshmi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 46 (2013) 1–7 7

sion endurance may be more. Hwang et al. [18] suggested that theminimum electrical resistivity value which corrosion cannot occuris beyond 20 kX-cm. From Fig. 9, it can be understand that theresistivity value of the concrete mixtures up to 15% of substitutionrate was higher than the value suggested by Hwang et al. [18].However the electrical resistivity of the concrete was tend to de-crease when increase the substitution rate. In this study whenincreasing the substitution rate, the increased specific surface areaand specific density of the GP waste create the increases in demandof paste volume and reduce the workability of the concrete result-ing poor compactness resulting increase in high porous structure.As a result the resistivity development of the concrete mixtureswas reduced.

5. Conclusion

The study was conducted to evaluate the mechanical and dura-bility properties of the GP concrete to ensure the reliability of itsusage in aggressive environments. Based on the extensive experi-mental test results of six mixtures the following conclusion canbe made.

� The high surface specific area and rough and angular texture ofthe GP waste, have led to the significant losses in slump in addi-tion the workability of the concrete decreases with theincreases in the substitution rate.� The early age (i.e. 7 days) compressive strength of the mixtures

CGP 5%, CGP 10%, CGP 15% showed better gain in strength whencompared to the CM. The reason may be attributed to the den-ser matrix of the GP by-product and the better dispersion of thecement grains.� The split tensile and flexural strength of the concrete mixtures

CGP 5%, CGP 10%, CGP 15% were somewhat equal or little lowerthan the control mixture however significant losses in tensileand flexural strength was observed beyond the substitution rateof 15%.� UPV values of the mixtures CGP 5%, CGP 10%, CGP 15% were rel-

atively equal to the control mixture and the concrete was clas-sified as good and the measured values were greater than3500 m/s.� Based on the test results of six mixtures, the correlation

between the compressive and flexural strength was formulated.� Chloride penetration values of the mixtures CGP 5%, CGP 10%

and CGP 15% were almost equivalent to the penetration valueof the CM. However mixtures CGP 20% and CGP 25% wereshowed highest permeability value.� The chloride penetration rate and the water permeability of the

concrete were increased when increasing the GP waste substi-tution rate.

� Carbonation depth values of mixtures CGP 5%, CGP 10% and CGP15% are relatively close to the control mixture (CM) and theeffect of GP waste on carbonation depth beyond 15% is10.2 mm which is closer to the cover of reinforcing steel barsand it may be cause corrosion.� It is suggested that GP waste should be subjected to chemical

bleaching or oil separation process using petroleum ether(Hydro carbons), prior to blend in the concrete in order toremove the oil traces present in the GP.� It is recommended that the replacement of natural sand by GP

waste up to 15% of any formulation is favorable for the concretemaking without adversely affecting the strength and durabilitycriteria.

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