Waste Composite as Fine Aggregate Replacement for Lightweight Concrete

With the rapid increase in population, the non- biodegradable waste generated is increasing exponentially which can be potentially a good resource for construction material replacement. Fine aggregates are an important constituent of the concrete mix. This paper presents an experimental investigation conducted on multiple combinations of waste materials with an aim to produce a sustainable concrete mix. Desired concrete properties like weight, tensile strength, compressive strength, workability, cost effectiveness are checked and compared. More than 70% of the aggregates were replaced with waste materials including waste glass, rice husk ash, waste plastic, and M- sand. Other than these, EPS beads and clay balls were used as aggregate replacements to make the concrete lightweight. Waste Fly Ash has been used as a partial replacement for cementitious materials. All the procured materials were first tested for all the different properties including specific gravity, water absorption, fineness modulus, moisture content to ensure concrete quality. The same materials were also tried in different proportions to obtain the most suitable and efficient concrete mix with the proper replacement of aggregates. More than 70 concrete cubes were tested for desired concrete properties. It was found that a concrete mix with 10% crushed waste glass, 3% EPS beads, 10% Rice Husk Ash, 18% Clay balls, 10% Plastic and 50% M-Sand as aggregates’ replacement with 5% waste fly ash and 15% silica fumes as cementitious materials’ replacement produced the best result in terms of the testing criteria. This paper proposes a lightweight concrete mix with commendable properties with experimental evidences.