International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,

www.ijtra.com Volume 3, Issue 3 (May-June 2015), PP. 127-129

LIGHT WEIGHT AGGREGATE CONCRETE BY

USING COCONUT SHELL
S. A. Kakade, Dr. A. W. Dhawale
Lecturer, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Imperial College of Engineering, Pune.
Associate Prof. & HOD, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Imperial College of Engineering, Pune.
[email protected]

Abstract- The high cost of materials for anyconventional for construction is one of the most important parts of
building is a major factor that affects the housing delivery construction for it will add strength to the concrete. Finding a
worldwide. This has necessitated research for alternative cost substitute for the aggregates used today is a task that is worth
effective materials in construction. The paper aims at analyzing studying because the quarrying of aggregates from rivers and
characteristic compressive and tensile strength of coconut shells
mountains harms the environment.
of concrete produced. By partial replacement using crushed,
granular coconut shells as a substitute for conventional coarse
aggregate in M20 grade concrete. The cube and cylinder are II. LITERATURE REVIEW
casted, tested then physical and mechanical properties are Vishwas P. Kulkarni and Sanjay kumar B. Gaikwad [1]
determined. In this studies, three different concrete mixes with Concrete is the widely used structural material in the world
different the combination of natural material content namely today. The demand to make concrete lighter has challenged
0%, 25%, 50%. Three samples specimen will be prepare for each scientists and engineers all over world. The challenge is to
concrete mixes. The parameters will be tested are compressive make lightweight concrete which decreases the concrete
strength, tensile strength. density while maintaining strength and without adversely
This paper analyzed an investigation on the behavior of
affecting the cost. A common way is to introduce anew
concrete specimens produce from coconut shell aggregate. A total
of 36 specimens with varying percentage of replacement were aggregates into the mix design to lower the concrete density.
casted and tested. The attempt is made to prove in all respect the The familiar lightweight aggregates used in lightweight
serviceability and durability, experimental study is satisfying and concrete productions are Pumice, Perlite, expanded Clay or
can be implemented in rural areas by considering all technical Vermiculite, coal slag, sintered fly ash, rice husk, straw,
aspect. sawdust, cork granules, wheat husk, oil palm shell, and
Key Words: Mix Design, Coconut Shell, Tensile strength, coconut shell. The coconut shell when dried contains
compressive strength. cellulose, lignin and ash in varying percentage.
GopalCharanBehera and Ranjan Kumar Behera[2]The
I. INTRODUCTION rapid urbanization and industrialization have increased the
There were many experimental work conducted to consumption of aggregates. So the researchers have to find the
improve the properties of the concrete by putting new alternative for the coarse aggregate. The increase in population
materials, whether it is natural materials or recycle materials increases the industrial by-products, domestic wastes etc. In
or synthetic materials in the concrete mix. The additional India that coconut shell (CS) is an agricultural waste, which
material can be replacing the aggregate, cement or just as requires high dumping yards and also is environmental
additive is natural material. A large amount of agricultural polluting agent. If this can be utilized as a coarse aggregate,
waste was disposed in most of tropical countries especially in then it should be a boom rather than ban for civil engineering
Asia in countries like Thailand, Philippine, Malaysia and society. This study aims in developing the mix design of
India. Also, India is the third largest producer forcoconut lightweight aggregate concrete using CS as coarse aggregate
products in the world. Coconut trees are widely cultivated in together with cement and river sand.
the southern India, especially Kerala. The name Kerala is KulkarniParag P. and SanapSantosh T. [3]The effective
derived from a word, ’kera’ meaning ‘coconut tree’. The way of utilizing crushed coconut shell aggregate in concrete is
Kerala state is densely populated and major population uses presented in this paper. As coconut shell is available at a low
coconut or it’s by products in their daily activities. price in most of the tropical countries. The concrete obtained
Thus tough coconut shells accumulated in the mainland using coconut shell aggregates satisfy the minimum
gets degraded in around 100 to 120 years. Therefore, there is a requirements of lightweight concrete. Hence it is possible to
serious environmental issue of disposal of these coconut made lightweight concrete making use of coconut shells as an
shells. If the waste cannot be disposed properly it will lead to aggregate in concrete. The main objective is to encourage the
social and environmental problem. The high cost of use of waste products as construction materials in low cost
conventional building materials is a major factor affecting housing. It is will serve the purpose of encouraging housing
housing delivery in India. This has necessitated research into developers in investing these materials in construction.
alternative materials of construction. However, with the quest
for affordable housing system for both the rural and urban III. METHODOLOGY
population of India and other developing countries, various The ingredients of concrete i.e. cement, fine aggregate,
proposals focusing on cutting down conventional building fine aggregate, coconut shells are tested before producing
material costs have been put forward. The use of aggregates concrete. As per Indian standard codes various test are
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 International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,
www.ijtra.com Volume 3, Issue 3 (May-June 2015), PP. 127-129
conducted on ingredients materials of the concrete. Firstly the would be more compared with the crushed stone aggregates.
dry ingredients cement, coarse aggregate, fine aggregate and Due to the high water absorption of coconut shells the
coconut shells are fed in mixer and thoroughly mixed to aggregate were pre-soaked 24 hours in potable water prior to
ensure even distribution. Then the Water is added and the mix the mixing and were the surface saturated dry condition during
is continued. Production of mix (normal concrete of grade M- mixing to prevent absorption of mixing water.
20) in the laboratory is carried out by IS method of concrete 1. The specific gravity under surface saturated dry (SSD)
mix design (IS 10262-1982). condition of coconut shell was found to be 2.38.
Coconut shell concrete is produced by adding coconut 2. It can be observed that the aggregate impact value of
shells in different percentage (i.e. 25% and 50%) replacement coconut shell aggregates are much lower compared to
for coarse aggregate. crushed stone aggregate which indicates that this
aggregates have good absorbance to shock.
3. The slump obtained for trial mix was 55mm, which has
showed that coconut shell concrete has a medium
degree of workability .The fresh concrete density and
hardened concrete density after 28 days (under SSD
condition) using coconut shell was found to be in the
range of 1975-2110kg/m3 and 1880-1930kg/m3.The 28
days compressive strength of coconut shell concrete
was found to be 21.31 and 14.88 for 25% and
50%replacement by coconut shell aggregate under full
water curing.

DISCUSSION
Fig.1Coconut Aggregates From studies which exhibitthat Coconut shell is less
resistance against crushing, impact and abrasion as compared
to conventional aggregate. The Density of coconut ranges 550-
650 kg/m3 and these are within the specified limits for light
weight aggregate.So there is no need to treat the coconut shell
before use as an aggregate except for water absorption. The
presence of sugar content in the coconut shell, does not affect
the setting and strength of concreteas long as it is not in a
sugar-free form. The Hydration test on coconut shell fines
with cement indicates that the inhibitory index for coconut
shell fines with cement can be classified as ‘low’ and no pre-
treatment is required for such condition. The continual
Fig.2 Preparation of Specimen increase in strength indicates that the coconut shell aggregate
does not deteriorate once coconut shell aggregates are
Details of Specimens: encapsulated into the concrete matrix. In a short term study,
Details of Specimens are given below: for 28days, properties of coconut shell aggregate concrete viz.
 Cube: For compressive test: 150mm x 150mm x Split tensile strength, Impact resistance and Elastic modulus
150mm were determined and arecompared with conventional
 Cylinder: For tensile test: 150mm (diameter) x concrete.After conducting the above test the observations that
300mm (height) are as follow. These observations shows the percent
Schedule of Specimen Preparation replacement of aggregate there will be decrease in strength.
Sr. Concrete CS W/C Compressive Tensile
No Content Ratio Test Test
7 28 7 28
Day Day Days Days
s
1. General 0% 0.46 3 3 3 3
2. CSC 25% 0.46 3 3 3 3
3. CSC 50% 0.46 3 3 3 3
Total number of specimen=36

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The average moisture content and water absorption of
crushed coconut shell was found to be 4.20% and 24%
respectively. Since the coconut shells are wood based and
organic material and therefore moisture retaining capacity
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 International Journal of Technical Research and Applications e-ISSN: 2320-8163,
www.ijtra.com Volume 3, Issue 3 (May-June 2015), PP. 127-129
Fig. 3 Comparison between compressive Strength of 3. The 28 days compressive strength of coconut shell
ConventionalConcrete And 25%and 50% concrete was found to be 21.31 for 25% replacement
ReplacementCoconut Shell Concrete by coconut shell aggregate under full water curing
and it satisfies the requirement for structural
lightweight concrete.
4. The 28 days compressive strength of coconut shell
concrete was found to be 14.88 for 50% replacement
by coconut shell aggregate under full water curing
and it can be used for less important work.
5. Reduction in weight found to be 15% and 25% for
replacement by coconut shell aggregate 25% and
50% respectively. Our project introduced the
multiplying factor 0.88 with conventional result gives
25% replacement CSC result and the multiplying
factor 0.61 with conventional result gives 50%
replacement CSC result.
Fig.4 Comparison between Tensile Strength of
Conventional Concrete And 25%And 50% REFERENCES
ReplacementCoconut Shell Concrete [1] KukarniVishwas P.,Gaikwad Sanjay kumar B. (2013)
“Comparative Study on Coconut Shell Aggregate with
V. CONCLUSION Conventional Concrete (IJEIT)
1. The coconut shell aggregates have higher water [2] Indian Standard (IS 10262-1982) Recommended
absorption because of higher porosity in its shell Guidelines for concrete mix design.
structure. The aggregate impact value of coconut [3] Indian Standard (IS 383 -1970) Specification for coarse and
shell aggregates are much lower compared to crushed fine aggregates from natural sources for concrete.
[4] Indian Standard (456:2000) Code of practice plain and
stone aggregate which indicates that this aggregates reinforced concrete.
have good absorbance to shock. [5] Indian Standard (IS 12269-1987) Specification for 53 grade
2. After 28 days the fresh concrete density and hardened ordinary Portland cement.
concrete density (under SSD condition) using [6] Properties of concrete –A. M. Neville.
coconut shell was found to be in the range of 1975- [7] Concrete Technology –M. L. Gambhir.
2111kg/m3 and 1880-1930kg/m3. [8] Concrete Technology -M. S. Shetty

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