Partial Replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement with Sawdust Ash in Concrete

Abstract

The investigation of sawdust ash (SDA) as a partial replacement for cement in concrete was studied owing to the high cost and increasing demand for cement in a harsh economy and considering the presence of limited construction materials and waste to wealth policy. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) was replaced by 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% of SDA. Slump test and consistency test (flow table apparatus test) were conducted on the freshly mixed concrete sample, and compressive strength test was conducted on the hardened concrete cubes of 150mm2, which was cured between 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. The results revealed that the slump decreases as the SDA content increases in percentage, while the consistency of the freshly mixed concrete remarkably moves from high, medium to low as the SDA content increases. The compressive strength of the hardened concrete undergone a decrease in strength, as the partial replacement of OPC with SDA increases. By the results interpretation, it is observed that 5% to 10% SDA when replaced with OPC can still result in the desired strength of concrete.