ASSESMENT OF PALM KERNEL SHELL AS A COMPOSITE AGGREGATE IN CONCRETE

Abstract

This  manuscript  presents  a report on  the  physical properties of palm kernel shell used  here  as a coarse aggregate  and  their  effect  on the strength properties of palm kernel shell concrete.

Laboratory research was carried out to observe the effects of replacing crushed granite with palm kernel shell on the compressive strength and density of palm kernel shell concrete. Mix design of 1:2:4 and a water-cement ratio of 0.6 were used to produce concrete specimen cubes of size 150mm³.A total of 60 cubes were made and wholly submerged in water to cure for 28days at intervals of 7days i.e. 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after which their densities and compressive strengths were determined. Granite was replaced with palm kernel shell in the mix at 25% interval resulting in three replicates of specimen cubes at each curing age. Compressive strength and density decreased continuously as palm kernel shell was added to the mix for all the Curing ages tested. The 28day compressive strength of the palm kernel shell concrete ranged from 12.71 to 16.63N/mm², whereas the density ranged between 1562 to 2042 kg/m³. Physical properties tests conducted include sieve analysis, bulk density, moisture content and specific gravity to describe aggregates. The Specific gravities of Sharp Sand, Crushed Granite and Palm Kernel Shell were found to be 2.5, 2.76 and1.301 while their bulk densities are 1650, 1545, and 634 kg/m³ respectively. Water absorption capability tests on crushed granite and palm kernel shell were observed to be 6% in both 1hr and 24hrs and 11% in 1hr and 21.5% in 24hrs respectively. All the aggregates utilized in this research work demonstrated their suitability in concrete production given the observations and physical properties result present.