A PARAMETRIC STUDY ON EFFECT OF FLY ASH TOGETHER WITH FIBER FOR SUSTAINABLE CONCRETE

The present challenge for civil engineers is to produce high volume and high performance fly ash concrete with increased durability and service life, at lowest possible cost. Also concrete produced should have minimal negative impact on the environment, which is green and sustainable concrete. This can be achieved by reducing the use of natural lime, fine and coarse aggregates whose resources are limited and are depleting very fast day by day. It could also be achieved by utilizing maximum possible industrial by-product like fly ash in concrete as it would reduce landfill area for fly ash disposal and CO2 emission during cement manufacturing process. Effect of fly ash as replacement of cement together with fibers in concrete on durability is very well reported in literatures. However effect of fly ash as partial replacement of cement and sand together with fibers is not clearly available in literatures. Literatures show that partial replacement of cement by fly ash reduces early age strength of concrete. Partial replacement of sand by fly ash together with fiber shall compensate strength loss due to partial replacement of cement by fly ash. Due to government restrictions on natural sand mining from river beds, contractors are demanding a reliable and all weather partial or full replacement material for sand. Present study shall be a right step forward in reducing consumption of natural sand and consuming higher volumes of fly ash available in Chhattisgarh region together with fibers for sustainable and durable concrete.