ABSTRACT
There is a growing awareness among researchers and engineers all over the world, especially in the developing countries, to use an indigenous material in the development of a low-cost but efficient and effective building material. Abundance and availability of raw materials are the most important factors which make a product inexpensive. In the case of concrete, an indigenous and readily available material which can save cement without sacrificing the strength and the durability will surely reduce the costs. A potential for this material is the ash from the rice husk which abounds in the countryside as an
Abstract This is an experimental study on the use of the rough and unground
ash from an open heaped-up burned rice husk as a partial cement substitute in concrete. The open heaped-up burning method is the most convenient way to dispose rice hulls, thus the ash produced is abundant and readily available especially during dry season. In this study, various percentage replacement of ash to cement were made, and were respectively introduced to four grades of concrete. Three different degrees of fineness of ash were introduced to HG1 and LG series. Fresh and mechanical properties at three curing ages were measured to evaluate the effect of this kind of ash to concrete. Test data revealed the feasibility of using this kind of ash as a construction material. At a proportion of 80:20 by volume (or 87:13 by weight) the compressive strength of a low grade RHA concrete was 93%– 100% to that of plain portland cement. The equations for the tensile property and modulus of elasticity of RHA concrete did not significantly vary compared with other experimental equations on plain portland cement concrete.
