AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON FLEXURAL BEHAVIOR OF PROSOPIS JULIFLORA ASH CONCRETE

This study is on partial replacement of cement by Prosopis juliflora (also known as seemai karuvel in local areas) and its characteristic behavior in concrete. The juliflora powder of 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5% & 10% used to replace cement by weight and M 30 concrete was prepared. The investigation include casting of specimens for each proportions to obtain its compressive strength, split tensile strength by testing cylindrical concrete specimen of standard size and flexure behavior by prism of size 100 mm x 100 mm x 500 mm. The test results were compared with the strength of nominal concrete. On testing the compressive strength the concrete with 2.5% juliflora was found to be efficient of 133%. The split tensile strength on testing the cylindrical concrete specimen was found to be 3.5 MPa with 2.5% julliflora. Testing of prism provided the flexural strength of 6.64 MPa. It was concluded that replacing 2.5% of cement by juliflora powder may reduce the cost of construction by saving the cement.