ASSESSMENT OF CHARACTERISTIC STRENGTH OF PALM KERNEL SHELL CONCRETE

ASSESSMENT OF CHARACTERISTIC STRENGTH OF PALM KERNEL SHELL CONCRETE

ABSTRACT

Palm kernel shell is a lightweight aggregate that is gotten from agricultural waste which is environmental friendly. This research was focused on the assessment of characteristic strength of palm kernel shell concrete, in view of the fact that the use of lightweight aggregate is not prominent in the construction industry in this party of the world. It will also help in reducing construction cost in areas where they are in abundance. The various changes in compressive and flexural strength with respect to curing age which has been evaluated. The aim was achieved by casting the beam and cubes with total replacement of granite with PKS and also casting an equivalent control to give a basis for comparison and a water cement ratio of 0.65 at 1:2:4 total beam and cubes of 24 and 24 respectively and were cured for 7, 14, 21 and 28days crushing 3 each for the PKSC and NWC for each curing day up to the age of 28 days. The results of crushing values are as follows for 7, 14, 21 and 28 days; 14.47N/mm², 18.49N/mm², 20.33N/mm² , 23.00N/mm²  and 7.40N/mm², 9.20N/mm²; 11.30N/mm² , 13.10 N/mm², for NWC and PKSC respectively. The value for the flexural strength is as follow; 1.87, 0.91, 1.36, 1.81 and 0.34, 0.34, 0.40, 0.34 for NWC and PKSC respectively. The results showed that the compressive and flexural strength improved with age of curing, through the compressive and flexural strength of PKSC is low as compared to that of the NWC. It was concluded that the compressive and flexural strength of NWC is higher than that of PKSC. Through PKSC is a LWC, but was designed with the corresponding design of NWC. It can therefore be concluded that palm kernel shell is a lightweight aggregate, and can be used to produce lightweight concrete. Recommendation: The use of PKSC should be design to the standard design method of lightweight concrete in other to achieve an optimal output with ranges of water cement ratio of 0.65 to 0.70 in other to get a workable mix without the addition of more water during mix.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Concrete is formed when fine, cement, coarse aggregates and water, are mixed in a particular proportion uniformly to the expected strength. The mix’s method can either be manual or mechanical. Lightweight Concrete (LC) has been in use since the time of ancient Roman and that has lead to its famousity due to its lower density and thermal insulation properties (Chandra and Berntsson, 2002), than when compared to NWC. According to Islam (1999), paste is formed when there is chemical reaction between the cement and water, there bye binds the various particles of the aggregate together. The mixture forms a rock-like solid mass when solidify, there by having a  considerable compressive strength whereas the tension has little resistance.

When compared with NWC, LC helps in a great way to reduce the dead load of a structural component, which makes it considerable in the construction of multi-storey buildings. Whereas, several studies on LC concern “semilightweight” Concretes can be achived from lightweight coarse aggregate and natural fine aggregate. Considering that lightweight fine aggregate has been used in determining the place of natural sand to manufacture the “total-lightweight” (Berra and Ferrara, 1990).

PKS are gotten from threshing or crushing mill to remove the palm seed after the palm kernel oil has been extracted. During the process of extracting the oil at the mill industry the solid residues and liquid wastes are obtained (Olutoge,1995). PKS are known to have stony and hard endocarps that serve as protective covering for the palm kernel which are usually in diverse sizes and shapes. They are naturally sized, light in weight and are appropriate for replacing coarse aggregates in lightweight construction, since they are known to be hard and of organic   origin, once used to produce concrete, they hardly contaminate or leach to form toxic substances, since they are attracted together in matrix form. (CEB – FIP, 1977); This gives PKS produced lightweight concrete an advantage over aerated concrete, since permeability is low and the chance for carbonation is reduced. Okafor (1988) described palm kernel shell to have irregular shape after cracking and therefore its shape cannot be defined. The shape takes pattern of cracking on the shell and usually composed of many shapes ranging from semi-circular shapes, parabolic, other irregular and flaking shapes. After cracking, the edges of the shells are rough and spiky and the overall shape becomes concave and convex with a fairly smooth surface. There is no fixed thickness for the shell, this depends on the species from which it is obtained, ranging from 1.5 mm to 4 mm and usually between 2 mm and 3 mm.

The rise in the need for concrete in construction industry using NWA such as granite and gravel has greatly reduces the availability of natural stone and has lead to the damaged of the environment leading to imbalance of the ecological system (Short and Kinniburgh, 1978). Therefore, there is the necessity to explore and find out good replacement material to replace the natural stone. In the developed countries, construction industries have researched many natural and artificial LA that can serve as replacement for conventional aggregates thereby bringing down the structural sizes of the members. This has brought incredible changes in the development of LC high rise structures using LC. However, in Nigeria, the construction industry is yet to fully make use of LC in the construction of high rise structures. The requirement of vegetable oil is regularly increasing and commercial cropping of palm oil is needed in the feature (Ramli,2003).

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

 Continuous increase in the cost is one of the major challenges the construction industry is encountering and quality discharge of great number of developmental project, such projects are dependent on some factors of production that is the cost of materials (Achuenu, 1991). In line with these Shetty (1999), the price of concretes primarily depends on; cost of material and labour. The labour cost can be in the following aspects; formwork, batching, mixing, transportation, placing and curing.

As a result of the ongoing increase in the cost of granite and the process of production, epileptic power supply is another issue of great concern; the above issue tends to necessitate an alternative means of power supply thereby preventing high cost overrun and carbon dioxide which has dangerous effect on that given environment And this has necessitated this research work in other to look in to alternative method of getting building materials of lower cost.

Via the field survey carried out by the researcher before this research work, it was seen that the cost of coarse aggregate had fluctuated; the fluctuation in cost has been attributed to great demand and inadequate availability of granite as the need arises.

Palm kernel shell concrete is a good replacement for normal weight concrete production in areas in which they are in abundance as it is a close substitute and an alternative solution to high cost of granite. And looking at the fact that palm kernel shell does not poses health risk during the manufacture and the usage of the palm kernel shell is environmental friendly.

This research seeks to determine the prospect of PKS as used for the total replacement of coarse aggregate for concrete production in the Construction Industry of Nigerian, putting in to consideration the high cost of granite and the low and abundance of palm kernel shell in the western region, south-south and middle belt of Nigeria.

1.3 NEED FOR THE STUDY

Considering the population increase in Nigeria has led to the demand for housing to shelter the populace. The cost of construction has also increased sporadically in this nation as a result of increase in the cost of cement and coarse aggregate day by day, therefore there is need for an alternative material that could serve as a good substitute for them and still perform the expected function The continuous increase in the cost of materials is a major challenges confronting the construction industry and the effective and efficient discharge of complex developmental projects is determined by the factors of production; the cost of construction materials (Achuenu 1991).

Falade (1995), researched on the suitability of PKS as aggregates in dense and light concrete production for structural and non-structural usage, many similar efforts in the direction of managing the waste strategically to enhance the use of PKS concrete for structural performance. Civil engineering and Building practice and construction projects in Nigeria depend on concrete to a great extent. According to (Kirkaldy and Sutatanto,1976), most countries that produce palm oil, considered palm kernel shell as waste, causing significant disposal problems.

The process of making and utilization of PKS, which is of low cost and predominant in most south west areas of Nigeria, in construction; considering that it improve some properties of the concrete, it will also save the environment from gaseous pollution, therefore this work examined the utilization of PKS as course aggregate in view of putting to place its performance by determining the flexural and compressive strength of the concrete produced.

1.4 AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The project was aim at assess the suitability of PKS for use, as coarse aggregate in lightweight production concrete. The aim shall be carried out through the following objectives:

The specific objectives are:                                               

1. To determine the properties of the aggregates.
2. To determine the workability test of the concrete.
3. To carry out flexural and compressive strengths of the concrete.
4. To compare the results in I, II and III above in order to establish any difference in the concrete.

1.5 METHODOLOGY

The methodology employed for this research work was essentially laboratory experimentation and entails the use of laboratory experiments on the cubes that was cast from the concrete gotten from the PKS as coarse aggregate.  All the samples ware tested based on laboratory test to determine the compressive and flexural strength of the cast palm kernel shell concrete cubes.  Information was obtained from the relevant standard and codes of practice (BS 812 PT2, ASTM etc), text books, articles, journals, lecture notes and past researches which provide information on the study area. Sieve analysis and other relevant tests which will help determine the quality of the PKS that was used which was carried out according to the stipulated standards. The concrete produced from the palm kernel shell was tested for water/cement ratio, workability, bulk density, specific gravity, water absorption capacity, abrasion and resistance moisture content. Dangote cement was used as the ordinary Portland cement.

mechanical and Physical properties of PKS was determined via the means of the following tests: bulk density, specific gravity test, aggregate impact value tests and slump. Cube crushing tests were carried out to determine the flexural and compressive strengths of palm kernel shell concrete. The sieve analysis was carried out using the sieves arranged in decreasing size of opening and shaker in order to distinguish the samples of the aggregate to fractions. The curvature, coefficients of uniformity and gradation were determined. The mixing of the concrete was carried out mainly by hand mix with the aid of a shovel. The fine aggregate (fine aggregate) was poured on the mixing try, on a spot where it was been mixed uniformly with cement. The total numbers of concrete cubes that was cast was 48 numbers of (100 x 100 x 100mm) and (100 x 100 x 450mm) sizes for the compressive and flexural strengths test of the normal weight and palm kernel shell aggregate respectively. The concrete cubes specimens was cured for 7, 14, 21 and 28, curing ages respectively. The samples ware crushed in order to determine the flexural and compressive strength.

Table 1: Details of laboratory tests that was carried out on the materials.

Source; lab work, 2013

Three (3) numbers of Cubes was crushed for flexural and compressive strength each crushing day, for the NWC and PKSC respectively.

Total numbers of Cubes for compressive strength test (100 x 100×100mm) = 24 cubes.

Total numbers of Cubes for flexural strength test (100 x 100×450mm) = 24 cubes.

Total numbers of cubes for compressive and flexural strength test = 48 cubes.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION TO THE STUDY

The scope of the study is focused on the actual use of PKS as a total replacement of granite in concrete production. This project also compared the compressive and flexural strength of granite and palm kernel shell with a mix’s of 1:2:4 and 0.65 water/cement ratio at maximum mean flexural and compressive strength for the various curing days. This research carried out the following laboratory test:

• Bulking and bulk density test
• Consistency test
• Moisture content test
• Specific gravity test
• Workability test
• Slump test
• Co-efficient of uniformity
• Setting time test
• Soundness test
• Sieve analysis test
• Compressive and flexural strengths

The Results obtained was subjected to statistical, graphical and mathematical analysis to generate reasonable, logical and scientific conclusion from which recommendations were drawn. However the aggregate impact value was not carried out, as the equipment required for the test is not available in the laboratory. Fluctuation in electrical power supply has also limited some experimental works cause delays and the time frame for the research work has also been a limitation to the extent to which the research was been carried out.

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