ENHANCING THE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF LIGHT WEIGHT CONCRETE USING LECA, STEEL FIBER AND SILICA FUME

Concrete is most versatile construction material because it can be designed to with stand the harvest environments while taking on the most inspirational forms. Engineers are continually pushing the limits to improve its performance with the help of innovative chemical and mineral admixture. In this they have discovered many different techniques to mix the concrete. The main aim of this report is to Enhance the compressive strength of light weight concrete using LECA, steel fibber and silica fume. To enhance the compressive strength of concrete cube with in the category of light weight with adding LECA, silica fume and steel fibber combination in a way that one should not overcome others strength in two different grades of concrete casted. The right blend of all the materials will enhance the compressive strength of light weight concrete. In this two techniques are adopted for analysing the strength of the concrete which are as (M20 and M40). Collection of materials from different sites of each technique i.e. hand mix, miller mix, ready mix, and as per is standard 10262:2000 and through different standards (M20 & M40).The different tests which were performed are Slump cone test and compressive test on concrete specimen. The results of specimen casted using IS Standard code was showing compressive strength and tensile strength results in both the mixes i.e. M20 grade and M40 grade light weight concrete. Now when we observe that LECA is providing internal curing and external curing combined resulting in strength development of strength more then the normal light weight concrete. As we were enhancing the compressive strength of light weight concrete using leca, silica fume and steel fibber. 30% of LECA is used as an replacement to that of volume of coarse aggregate. LECA aggregates helps in internal curing of the concrete. Internal Curing (IC) for cement is a practical way of supplying additional water throughout the concrete mixture. In other words, achieving better hydration and less waste of valuable cement. This is done by consuming absorbed water in Light Expanded Clay Aggregate (LECA) which is replacing the conventional aggregate in the mixture