Scoria sand replacement in structural concrete

Abstract

Scoria is found abundantly in Ethiopia. The use of scoria so far has been limited to highway construction as a base course, as mortal aggregate in masnory con- 1truction and for the production of hollow concrete block1. However, 1coria, which can replace sand and cnuhed itone agsregate1, has not been u1ed in reinforced concrete comtructiom. Thi& may be attributed to lack of sufficient technical data necessary for struc· turol design. The availability of scoria in large quantitie1, where sand ii scarce and crushed stone is expemive, can have a significant reduction in cost in concrete construction. If the proper 1trengt·h parameters are identified and comtruction procedures of grain grading and concrete mixe1 are e1tabli&hed a cheap local building material could be introduced to the building industry. The purpose of thi& paper ii to present an exper· imental investigation on the strength of scoria concrete by replacing the normal siliceous sand (fine) aggregates by 1coria. The experimental results of concrete strength in compreuion strength and tensile strength are pruented.