Innovative utilization of fly ash in concrete tiles for sustainable construction

Abstract

The disposal of fly ash has been causing a severe headache to the environmentalist sallacross the globe. The effective utilisation of fly ash is restricted only to manufacture of bricks, producing fly ash based pozzolanic cement and use in pavements. To utilize the fly ash in high volume the innovative idea is to utilize it as a replacement of fine aggregate in concrete tiles. The present investigation deals with the manufacturing and characterization of concrete tiles with fly ash as a replacement of fine aggregate. A mix design for M 40 grade concrete was carried out. Fine aggregate was replaced with fly ash, where the fly ash content varied from 0%-40% with an interval of 10%. Various physical strength parameters such as wet transverse strength, water absorption and resistance to wear were determined for the concrete tiles.Also the natural frequencies of tiles were determined by subjecting them to dynamic tests.The influence of fly ash content was studied for all the strength parameters. The experimental results indicate that there is significant improvement in strength and durability characteristics over control concrete when fine aggregate is replaced with fly ash up to 30% replacement. This ensures the suitability of the use of fly ash based concrete tiles. Since fly ash is used for sand replacement, it helps in minimizing the depletion of mineral resources.