Effect of Mix Ratio and Curing Water on the Compressive Strength of Oil Palm Shell (OPS) Aggregate Concrete

Introduction

1.1 Preamble

Natural resources of the world are drastically dwindling due to the increasing demand of natural aggregate for the construction industry. The frequent use of natural aggregate in some areas led to environmental degradation, and has given impetus to studies and researches for sustainable development by using different waste products in the construction industry. Lightweight aggregates from industrial waste such as fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag, bed ash has led to sustainable materials but due to the lack of production techniques, many of the developed and under-developed countries have not been able to use them to their advantage.

If the weight of the structure is decreased by using lightweight aggregate in concrete, it will in turn reduce the foundation cost due to reduction in self-weight, which has been convincingly proved in developed countries (Alengaram, 2013). Reddy et al., (2014) stated that the consumption of the primary aggregate was 110 million tonnes in the U.K. during 1960 and reached nearly 275 million tonnes in the year 2006. Similarly 2 billion tones of aggregate are produced each year in the United states and it is expected to increase to more than 2.5 billion tonnes by the year 2020 (Reddy et al., 2014).

It has been predicted that the demand for concrete is expected to grow to approximately 18 billion tons a year by 2050. Such heavy demands draw attention and preservation of natural aggregates, which are a matter of grave concern. Since aggregates contribute about 60− 80% of the volume of the concrete, effective and efficient use of agricultural waste contributes to energy saving, conservation of natural resources and reduction of the cost of construction materials.