EFFECT OF PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF COARSE AGGREGATE WITH PALM KERNEL SHELL ON COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE

Abstract

This report is a comprehensive summary of the research carried out by myself on the effect ofreplacement of coarse aggregate with palm kernel shell, on the compressive strength of concrete.During the course of this research, the various tests carried out include: sieve analysis of thematerials (particle size distribution), water absorption, specific gravity teat and compressivestrength test. The sieve analysis gives results for granite, the percentage passing through 4.75mmis 0.16, for sand, the percentage passing through sieve size 0.075mm is 0.96 and for palm kernelthe percentage passing sieve size 4.75mm is 2.34. The gradation of CA, SD and PKS obtainedfrom their respective shape parameters (Cu and Cc) shows that they are poorly graded. The specificgravity tests conducted, SD and CA and PKS, the average apparent specific gravity gotten were2.62, 2.68 and 2.28 respectively. The range of specific gravity from 2.58 to 2.62 obtained for SDand GT satisfies ASTM D854-14 requirement which states that the specific gravity of aggregatesshould be between 2.55 to 2.9 and therefore justifies the use of the aggregates for this work. Waterabsorption capacity of CA and PKS 1.48 and 17.58 respectively. The slump test result carried outshows that the slump value increases with consistent addition of the additive (PKS) from 5% to25% at w/c ratio of 0.6 with the highest slump recorded at 25% partial replacement of CA. Bycomparing the normal concrete cubes with those of the palm kernel shell concrete, I was able tocome to the conclusion that although palm kernel shell concrete is used to make lightweightconcrete, the normal concrete is still better in terms of strength and durability. I thereforerecommend that beyond a percentage of 15%, palm kernel shell should not be used to replacecoarse aggregate, this is because the strength of the concrete decreases significantly after this point.