STUDY ON USE OF BOTTOM ASH

AND
SILICA FUME IN CONCRETE

Under the guidance of

T.Sujatha
Asst.Professor
Civil Engineering Dept

Sumitted by
Asha Sedeq
138WID8701

STUDY ON USE OF BOTTOM ASH AND

SILICA FUME IN CONCRETE
ABSTRACT
The possibility of substituting natural fine aggregate with industrial by-products such as waste
bottom ash offers technical, economic and environmental advantages which are of great
importance in the present context of sustainability in the construction sector.
Bottom ash is part of the non-combustible residue of combustion in a furnace or incinerator. In
an industrial context, it usually refers to coal combustion and comprises traces of combustibles
embedded in forming clinkers and sticking to hot side walls of a coal-burning furnace during its
operation. The portion of the ash that escapes up the chimney or stack is, however, referred to
as fly ash. The clinkers fall by themselves into the bottom hopper of a coal-burning furnace and
are cooled. The above portion of the ash is referred as bottom ash. Bottom ash is replaced with
fine aggregate accordingly in the range of 10-50% by weight for M30 mix to determine
compression test, split tensile test, flexural test.

Silica fume is an ultrafine powder collected as a by-product of the silicon and ferrosilicon alloy
production and consists of spherical particles with an average particle diameter of 150 nm. The
main field of application is as pozzolanic material for concrete. Silica fume is added to cement
accordingly in the range of 5-20% by weight for M30 mix to determine compression test, split
tensile test, flexural test.

Under the guidance of

T.Sujatha
Asst.Professor
Civil Engineering Dept

Submitted by
Asha Sedeq
138W1D8701

Literature review
OF BOTTOM ASH AS
REPLACEMENT OF FINE AGGREGATES IN CONCRETE
[1]P.Aggarwal1,

Y.Aggarwal1,

S.M.Gupta1EFFECT

Civil Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra India

ASIAN JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING (BUILDING AND HOUSING)

VOL. 8, NO. 1 (2007) PAGES 49-62
The experimental investigations carried out to study the effect of use of bottom ash as a
replacement of fine aggregates. The strength development for various percentages (0-50%)
replacement of fine aggregates with bottom ash is compared to the strength development of
normal concrete.
The conclusions drawn from the study are
1. The workability of concrete decreased with the increase in bottom ash content due to the
increase in water demand, which is incorporated by increasing the content of superplasticizer.
2. The density of concrete decreased with the increase in bottom ash content due to the low
specific gravity of bottom ash as compared to fine aggregates.
3. Compressive strength, Split tensile strength and Flexural strength of fine aggregates replaced
bottom ash concrete specimens were lower than control concrete specimens at all the ages.
4. Bottom ash concrete attains split tensile strength in the range of 121-126% at 90 days of split
tensile strength of normal concrete at 28 days.
[2] Mohd Syahrul2, Fadhluhartini Muftah2, Zulkifli Muda2 The Properties of

Special Concrete Using Washed Bottom Ash (WBA) as

Partial Sand Replacement
2

Faculty of Civil Engineering, University Teknologi MARA, Pahang, Malaysia.

International Journal of Sustainable Construction Engineering & Technology

Vol 1, No 2, December 2010, page 65-76
The WBA is a waste material that is taken from electric power plant and
the source material is called as bottom ash. Different concrete mixes with
constant water to cement ratio of 0.55 were prepared with WBA in different
proportions as well as one control mixed proportion.
Bottom ash of 10% cement replacement by weight is not suitable for
concrete because it has produce a lower strength concrete at the early ages
which can results in ruptures during construction. The mechanical properties
of special concrete with 30% WBA replacement of natural sand is found to be
an optimum.

[3] Ilker Bekir Topu and Turhan Bilir Effect of Bottom Ash as Fine Aggregate on

Shrinkage Cracking of Mortars

ACI Materials Journal,
Volume. 107, No. 1, January-February 2010. Page 48-56
In this study, the effect of the bottom ash (BA), as fine aggregate in mortar or concrete, on
shrinkage cracking is observed on mortar specimens. The replacement was made by weight; the
replacement ratios for BA as fine aggregate were 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100%.
After that, unit weights, ultrasonic pulse velocity, flexural and compressive strengths, and length
changes due to free shrinkage were determined by producing 1.58 x 1.58 x 6.3 and 0.984 x 0.984
x 11.22 in. (40 x 40 x 160 and 25 x 25 x 285 mm) prismatic mortar specimens for each series.
Furthermore, the modulus of elasticity was also determined by producing 5.91 x 5.91 x 5.91 in.
(150 x 150 x 150 mm) cubic mortar specimens. Finally, a ring test was conducted to determine
the effect of BA on shrinkage cracking. The widths of the cracks during the ring test were
measured using an optical crack microscope.
From the experimental tests concluded that the optimum ratios for the use of BA as a mineral
admixture in mortars was a BA content of approximately 40 to 50% in the means of ultrasonic
pulse velocity and flexural and compressive strengths. Consequently, the usage of BA as fine
aggregate was acceptable and appropriate regarding this comparative study.
[4] M.P.KADAM 3, DR.Y.D. PATIL4 EFFECT OF COAL BOTTOM ASH AS

SAND REPLACEMENT ON THE PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE WITH

DIFFERENT W/C RATIO
3

Department of civil engineering, NDMVPS KBTCOE, Gangapur road, Nasik, India

Department of Applied Mechanics, S V National Institute of Technology, Ichchhanath, Surat,
India
4

International Journal of Advanced Technology in Civil Engineering,

ISSN: 2231 5721, Volume-2, Issue-1, 2013 pages 45-50
The effects of coal bottom ash as fine aggregates in place of sand was used and compressive
strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, Modulus of Elasticity, Density and water
permeability are studied. The natural sand was replaced with coal bottom ash by 0%, 10%, 20%,
30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, and 100% by weight, as water absorption of bottom ash
was more so that quantity of water was increased to achieve 100 mm slump. Mix design M-35
grade of concrete was used to study the different harden properties of concrete.
The test shows that compressive strength for 7, 28, 56 and 112 days was increased up to 20%
replacement and after that compressive strengths were decreased from 30% to 100%
replacement. The modulous of elasticity of reference concrete was 32.20 10 3 N/mm2. The
modulous of elasticity for 10 % replacement was increased by 1.55 % to 1.24% for 10% and 20
% replacement respectively.

[5] Kiyoshi Kohno5 and Hiroyuki Komatsu6 Use of Ground Bottom Ash and Silica

Fume in Mortar and Concrete

ACI Journal sp 91-63
The use of industrial by-products such as bottom ash and silica fume with high silica content, as
replacement the admixture for mortar and concrete.The early strengths uch as 7,28 days are
decreased gradually,but when steam curing and autoclave curing are used, concretes using
ground bottom ash and silica fume have higher compressive strength as compared with concrete
without them and the mixing of these by-products has a good effect on concrete under
accelerated curing. According to the mortar tests, the optimum ratio of ground bottom ash is
approximately 5 percent as substitute for cement or 10 percent in addition to cement, and that of
silica fume is from 5 to 10 percent or from 10 to 15 percent, respectively.
[6] Prof. Vishal S. Ghutke7 , Prof. Pranita S.Bhandari8 Influence of silica fume on

concrete
7,8

Civil Engineering Department, Priyadarshini College of Engineering/ Nagpur

University, India
IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE)
e-ISSN: 2278-1684, p-ISSN: 2320-334X PP 44-47
Traditionally, Ordinary Portland cement is used for making the civil
structures. Portland cement can be partially replaced by silica fume. Silica fume is
non metallic and non hazardous waste of industries. It is suitable for concrete mix
and improves properties of concrete i.e. compressive strength etc. The main
objective of this research work is to determine the optimum replacement
percentages which can be suitably used under the Indian conditions. .It has been
seen that when cement is replaced by silica fume compressive strength increases
up to certain percentage (10% replacement of cement by silica fume).But higher
replacement of cement by silica fume gives lower strength. The effect of Silica fume
on various other properties of Concrete has also been evaluated. This paper is a
very good tool for the beginners to understand the effect and have an overlook of
Silica Fume on Concrete.
With the increase in w/cm ratio strength of concrete decreases. The optimum value
of compressive strength can be achieved in 10% replacement of silica fume. As
strength of 15% replacement of cement by silica fume is more than normal
concrete. The optimum silica fume replacement percentage is varies from 10 % to
15 % replacement level. Workability of concrete decreases as increase with % of

silica fume. Compressive strength decreases when the cement replacement is

above 15% of silica fume.

DURABILITY
AND STRENGTH PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE CONTAINING
COAL BOTTOM ASH
[7] Milagre Martins9, IM, Gonalves10, A and Marques11

I. M. Martins,10 A. Gonalves, Laboratrio Nacional de Engenharia Civil,

Portugal
11
J. C. Marques, Beto Liz, Portugal
International RILEM Conference on Material Science , 6-10 September 2010,
Aaschen. RILEM Publications SARL , 275 - 283 (9).
This study evaluates the influence of replacing cement by bottom ashes or fly
ashes, from the same Portuguese coal power station, on the properties of fresh and
hardened concrete, namely on workability, compressive strength, accelerated
carbonation, chloride diffusion, absorption and capillary porosity. The results
revealed that concrete incorporating coal bottom ash have a performance
analogous to that of concrete with coal fly ash, although it is necessary to increase
the dosage of admixture to control the loss of workability that is generally observed
with bottom ash. Coal bottom ash can than be envisaged as a promising addition
type II for concrete.
The leaching tests showed that the contents of cadmium, lead, copper,
chromium, nickel and zinc released from bottom ash meet the same limits for
deposition on landfill as fly ash. Tests on concrete showed that the ground bottom
ash reduces the workability, and it is therefore necessary to increase the admixture
content to ensure the same slump and keep the w/b ratio, particularly for lower
binder contents. If the w/b ratio is maintained, concretes made with bottom ash
exhibit performance similar to that of concretes with fly ash, both in terms of
compressive strength and resistance to environmental actions.

INTRODUCTION
The use of river sand as fine aggregate leads to exploitation of natural resources,
lowering of water table, sinking of bridge piers and erosion of river bed.
If fine aggregate is replaced by by specific percentage and in specific size range, it will
decrease fine aggregate content.
Cement is the mixture of calcareous, siliceous, argillaceous and other substances Cement
is used as a binding material in mortar and concrete.

BOTTOM ASH:
The use of river sand as fine aggregate leads to exploitation of natural resources,
lowering of water table, sinking of bridge piers and erosion of river bed. If fine aggregate is
replaced by was bottom ash by specific percentage and in specific size range, it will decrease
fine aggregate content and thereby reducing the ill effects of river dredging and thus making
concrete manufacturing industry sustainable. The most common type of coal-burning furnace in
the electric utility industry is the dry, bottom pulverized coal boiler. When pulverized coal is
burned in a dry, bottom boiler, about 80 percent of the unburned material or ash is entrained in
the flue gas and is captured and recovered as fly ash. The remaining 20 percent of the ash is dry
bottom ash, a dark gray, granular, porous, predominantly sand size minus 12.7mm ( in)
material that is collected in a water-filled hopper at the bottom of the furnace
Bottom ash is collected at the end of the grate in a Waste-to-Energy plant. Bottom ash is used in
road construction, as a foundation material, in noise barriers, as a capping layer on landfill sites
and in some countries as an aggregate in asphalt and concrete.

SILICA FUME:
Silica fume is generally known as micro-silica. It may be added directly to
concrete as an individual ingredient or in a blend of Portland cement. Silica Fume is a byproduct
of silicon alloys such as ferrochromium, ferromanganese, ferromagnesium, and calcium silicon.It
is collected during the reduction of high-purity quartz with coal in electric furnaces.
Silica fume improves the properties of fresh and hardened concrete.

 Fresh concrete made with silica fume is more cohesive.

Silica fume improves the durability of concrete.
Lack of bleeding allows a more efficient finishing process.
Lower the material cost, make design more elegant.
Reduces self weight & heat built up.Silica fume reduces segregation and bleeding.
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF SILICA FUME CONCRETE
Item

Requirement (%)

SiO2

97.6

Al2O3

0.70

Fe2O3

0.28

Cao
Mgo
K2O

0.30
0.50
0.80

Na2O

0.26

METHDOLOGY:

Determination of material properties.

Calculation of mix design
Calculation of weight of material
Casting of 6cubes, 6cylinders, 6beams for 7days and 28 days.
Testing
Comparison of results for various proportions bottom ash with replacement of fine
aggregate & addition of silica fume with cement.