DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-COMPACTING LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE

MADE OF PALM OIL CLINKER

ILYA BINTI JOOHARI

A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Master of Engineering (Civil – Structure)

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

JUNE 2015

iii

To my beloved family, lecturers and friends

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First, I would like express my thanks to Allah S.W.T for the given opportunity

to study, learn and finish this research.

Next, my sincere gratitude goes to my supervisors, Dr. Roslli Noor Mohamed

for his support, guidance and advices. Please forgive all my wrong doings and lacks

of meeting and commitment. Without your blessings, my study will never be

successful here and thereafter.

To my parents, Joohari Hashim and Romlah Musa, thanks for all the

encouragement and endless support. Thanks as well for all the financial support

throughout the process of this research.

Lot of thanks also to Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi

Malaysia for giving me an opportunity to gain the experience, widen my knowledge

and information provided to me had simplified my work throughout the study period.

Next, to the entire laboratory technician especially for those who guide me to

use all the laboratory equipment from the very first step to the last step.

Last but not least, to all my supportive friends, for helping me during

laboratory work and keep guiding me forward until I was able to finish this report. I

hope my findings in the study will expand the knowledge in this field and contribute

to all of us in the future.

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ABSTRACT

This report presents the findings on development of self-compacting

lightweight concrete using lightweight aggregate. In this study, palm oil clinker

(POC) is used to replace normal gravel as course aggregate in concrete. There are two

types of mix design in this project which are the normal self – compacting concrete as

the control mix and the POC mix with 100% POC replacement for course aggregate.

Slump flow test is carried out at fresh state to measure the self – compactability of the

concrete. At hardened state, compressive strength test is conducted using cubes for

these two types of concrete mix at the age of 7 and 28 days. Splitting tensile and

flexural strength test were also conducted using cylinders and prisms, on the age of

28 days, respectively and were also wet – cured. The result shows that by using POC

as lightweight aggregate and superplasticizer as the admixture, lightweight self –

compacting concrete with high workability and strength almost similar to normal self

– compacting concrete can be produced. This study also includes a vertical load test

on a 500 mm x 500 mm wall with thickness 125 mm for both types of mix design.

Throughout the test, data such as load capacity, behavior of cracks and failure mode

were observed. The test results showed that specimens with POC achieved almost

similar performance in terms of ultimate load capacity with only 14.3% difference.

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ABSTRAK

Laporan ini membentangkan penemuan terhadap pembangunan konkrit ringan

pemadatan sendiri menggunakan agregat ringan. Dalam kajian ini, batu hangus kelapa

sawit (BHKS) telah digunakan bagi menggantikan batu kerikil biasa sebagai agregat

kasar di dalam konkrit. Terdapat dua jenis bancuhan konkrit dalam projek ini, iaitu

konkrit pemadatan sendiri biasa sebagai bancuhan kawalan dan bancuhan daripada

BHKS dengan menggunakan 100% BHKS bagi menggantikan agregat kasar. Ujian

aliran runtuhan telah dijalankan pada keadaan basah bagi mengenalpasti

kebolehpadatan sendiri konkrit. Pada keadaan keras pula, ujian kekuatan mampatan

telah dijalankan dengan menggunakan kiub bagi kedua-dua jenis konkrit pada umur 7

dan 28 hari. Ujian kekuatan tegangan dan lenturan juga telah dilakukan dengan

masing-masing menggunakan silinder dan prisma pada umur 28 hari dan juga telah

diawet basah. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa menggunakan BHKS sebagai

agregat ringan dan superspasticizer sebagai bahan campuran, konkrit ringan

pemadatan sendiri dengan kebolehkerjaan serta kekuatan tinggi boleh dihasilkan.

Kajian ini turut melibatkan 500 mm x 500 mm dinding dengan ketebalan 125 mm di

bawah beban menegak bagi kedua-due jenis bancuhan konkrit. Sepanjang ujian

dijalankan, data-data seperti kapasiti beban, kelakuan retak dan mod kegagalan telah

diperhatikan. Hasil ujian menunjukkan bahawa specimen dengan BHKS mencapai

prestasi hampir sama dari segi kapasiti beban muktamad dengan hanya perbezaan

14.3%.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER CONTENT PAGE

TITLE i

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES xi

LIST OF FIGURES xii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiv

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background 1

1.2 Problem Statement 3

1.3 Objectives of Study 4

1.4 Scope of Study 4

1.5 Limitation of Study 5

1.6 Significant of Study 6

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Introduction 7

2.2 Lightweight Concrete 7

2.2.1 Classification of Lightweight Concrete 8

2.2.2 Types of Lightweight Concrete 9

2.2.2.1 LWA Concrete 9

2.2.2.2 Aerated Concrete 11

2.2.2.3 No-fines Concrete 12

2.2.3 The Use of Lightweight Concrete 13

2.2.4 Advantages of Lightweight Concrete 14

2.2.4.1 Advantage of Constructing 15

Wall Panel using Lightweight Concrete

2.2.5 Durability of Lightweight Concrete 16

2.2.5.1 Chemical Attack 16

2.2.5.2 Physical stresses 16

2.2.5.3 Mechanical Damage 17

2.3 Self Compacting Concrete 17

2.3.1 Materials for Self Compacting Concrete 18

2.3.1.1 Cement for SCC 18

2.3.1.2 Aggregate for SCC 19

2.3.1.3 Admixture for SCC 20

2.3.2 Advantages of Self Compacting Concrete 20

2.3.3 Properties of Hardened Self 21

Compacting Concrete

2.3.3.1 Structural properties 21

2.3.3.2 Compression Strength 22

2.3.3.3 Tensile strength 22

2.3.3.4 Bond strength 23

2.3.3.5 Durability 23

2.3.3.6 Structural Performance 23

2.3.4 Mix Design Requirements 24

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2.3.5 Test Methods on Self Compacting Concrete 26

2.3.5.1 Slump Flow Test 27

2.3.5.2 V Funnel Test 28

2.3.5.3 L Box Test 28

2.3.5.4 U Box Test 30

2.3.5.5 Fill Box Test 31

2.3 Critical Comment 31

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 33

3.1 Introduction 33

3.2 Flowchart of Research Methodology 34

3.3 Materials and Design Mix of Lightweight 35

Self Compacting Concrete (LWSCC)

3.4 Experimental Work for Mix Design 37

3.4.1 Slump Flow Test 38

3.4.2 Compressive Strength Test 39

3.4.3 Splitting Tensile Test 40

3.4.4 Flexural Tensile Test 41

3.5 Experimental Work for Wall Samples 41

3.5.1 Formwork of Samples 42

3.5.3 Concreting of Samples 43

3.5.4 Curing Period 44

3.5.5 Testing of Samples 44

3.6 Data collection and analysis 47

3.7 Concluding remarks 47

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 48

4.1 Introduction 48

4.2 Properties of Lightweight Aggregates 49

4.2.1 Specific Gravity 49

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4.3 Properties of Normal Weight and Lightweight 49

Self – compacting Concrete

4.3.1 Properties of Fresh Concrete (Workability) 49

4.3.2 Properties of Hardened Concrete 51

4.3.2.1 Compressive Strength and Density 51

4.3.2.2 Splitting Tensile Test 53

4.3.2.3 Flexural Tensile Test 54

4.4 Behavior of Normal weight and Lightweight 55

Wall Panel

4.4.1 Load – Deflection 55

4.4.2 Crack Distribution 57

4.4.3 Mode of Failure 60

4.4.4 Ultimate Load 61

5 CONCLUSION 63

5.1 Conclusion 63

5.2 Recommendation 64

REFERENCES 66

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Application of different types of LWA 10

2.2 Properties of SCC 22

3.1 Parameters of test samples 42

3.2 Material Properties 43

3.3 Constituent Material Composition for SCC and LWSCC 43

4.1 Properties of SCC and LWSCC (Fresh Concrete) 50

4.2 Compressive Strength of Normal 52

Self – Compacting Concrete

4.3 Compressive Strength of Lightweight 52

Self – Compacting Concrete

4.4 Splitting Tensile Strength 53

4.5 Flexural Tensile Strength 55

4.6 Failure Load 62

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Blocks made from LWA 10

2.2 Aerated concrete blocks 11

2.3 Porous no-fines concrete used as a wall 13

2.4 SCC with high workability 18

2.5 SCC produce better finished surface 21

2.6 SCC mix design procedure 24

2.7 Slump test apparatus and diameter of slump measured 27

2.8 Funnel test apparatus 28

2.9 L Box apparatus 29

2.10 U box test apparatus 30

2.11 Fill box test apparatus 31

3.1 Preparation of clinker 35

3.2 Concrete if lift to flow on the circle spread 38

3.3 Compression testing machine 39

3.4 Splitting tensile test 40

3.5 Flexural tensile test 41

3.6 Formwork for both walls 42

3.7 Concrete casted into the formwork 44

3.8 The wall is painted 45

3.9 The set up of testing 46

3.10 Testing arrangement 46

4.1 Slump flow of normal SCC and lightweight SCC 50

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4.2 Compressive test results for normal SCC and

lightweight SCC 52

4.3 Splitting tensile test results for normal SCC and

lightweight SCC 54

4.4 Flexural tensile test results for normal SCC and

lightweight SCC 55

4.5 Load vs Deflection 57

4.6 Cracks and mode of failure of normal SCC 59

4.7 Cracks and mode of failure of lightweight SCC 60

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ASTM – American Society for Testing and Materials

BS – British Standard

DOE – Department of Environment

LWSCC – Lightweight self – compacting concrete

LVDT – Linear Variable Differential Transformer

POC – Palm oil clinker

SCC – Self – compacting concrete

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background Study

Palm oil industry in Malaysia is one the leading industry contributing a lot for

the nation’s development. However, despite its generous contribution, the palm oil

industry is producing too much waste disposal, which in the long run can definitely

harm our environment. One of the main by-products of palm oil is clinker. Palm oil

clinker (POC) is the by-product from burning of fibers and husks inside the boiler

under very high temperature in order to generate the steam engine for oil extracting

process. Substituting POC in the concrete mix as course aggregate will produce

lightweight concrete due to its low density. According to the British Standard, BS

8110: Part 2: 1985, concrete having the densities of 2000 kg/m3 or less are classified

as lightweight concrete.

Globalization has improved the perspective of engineers and contractors

toward new technologies related to concrete. Among many grabbing the attention is

lightweight concrete. Lightweight concrete can be defined as the concrete with

substantially lower unit weight than that made from gravel or crushed stone. The

decrease in concrete weight reduces dead load on structure, thus making the

2

construction less expensive. This study focused on using POC as a replacement for

course aggregate in the concrete mix. Ahmad et. al. (2009) stated that POC has the

specific gravity of 2.17 compared to conventional aggregates which is 2.6.

A relatively new technology is the self-compacting concrete (SCC) which is

regard as a high performance composite, that flow under its own weight over a long

distance without segregation and without the use of vibrators. SCC produce several

benefits including improved constructability, labour reduction, increase bond to

reinforcing steel, accelerate project schedules and many more. The Akashi-Strait

Bridge in Japan is one the concrete structural building that utilizes the use of SCC

extensively.

SCC can have many benefits and will shorten the construction time. However,

special attention should be focused on for instance formwork should be designed to

withstand fluid concrete pressure that will be higher than regular concrete. Apart from

that, production of SCC require more experience and care that the conventional

concrete. According to Nascimento et. al. (2013), to be classified as SCC, the

concrete should have three basic properties which are filling ability, possibility and

segregation resistance.

Since the use of lightweight concrete in construction reduces the cost,

a research is carried out to study the development of SCC using POC as the

lightweight aggregate. This paper reports the result of experimental study on the

replacement of POC as course aggregate in the lightweight self compacting concrete

mixture with a small percentage use of superplasticizer as the admixture.

3

1.2 Problem Statement

The civil construction industry is responsible for a large consumption of

natural resources. Crushed gravel from quarries, for instance, has been the most

widely used material as course aggregate for concrete. The constant used of this

material over a long period will cause progressive exhaustion which can potentially

lead to a serious environmental impact.

An alternative to minimize the extraction of natural gravel, which proves to

generate environmental problems in the long run, is the use of palm oil clinker (POC)

from the waste of agricultural industry as a replacement for course aggregate. POC

weighing less than conventional gravel can potentially be classified as lightweight

material for production of lightweight concrete.

Self compacting concrete (SCC) which is a highly flow able concrete that

spreads into the formworks without the need of mechanical vibration poses many

advantages. By using POC as the course aggregate for the SCC, many benefits will be

obtained such as lesser exploitation of natural resources and less waste disposal from

the palm oil industry.

In terms of wall paneling, noise traveling across form one room to another

seems to be the big issue for human comfort. Therefore, the mix design can be used

for precast wall panel due to the advantage of lightweight concrete which is high in

sound absorbance.

4

1.3 Objectives of Study

With regards to the problem statement mentioned, a research study involving

laboratory experiment will be carried out with the following objectives:

i. To develop the mix design of self-compacting lightweight aggregate using

both normal and POC aggregate.

ii. To study the mechanical properties of lightweight self – compacting concrete

by using palm oil clinker as 100 % course aggregate replacement.

iii. To study the behavior of self-compacting lightweight precast wall panel with

respect to load capacity, deflection, cracking pattern and failure modes.

1.4 Scope of Study

For this research, focuses were on the material properties of different concrete

design mix using palm oil clinker (POC) as course aggregate replacement, becoming

lightweight self compacting concrete (SCC). POC of size 10 mm was used as course

aggregate replacement in this study. Important material properties such as

compressive strength, tensile strength, and flexural strength were the main focus. In

order to fully understand the development of lightweight self compacting concrete

using POC, a series of test were conducted. The test conducted was at fresh state and

hardened state.

5

The concrete mix involves normal self – compacting concrete as the control

mix and the POC mix with 100% POC replacement for course aggregate. Slump test

was conducted at fresh state to ensure the concrete mix meets the requirement of 150

mm slump for it to be considered as SCC. At hardened state, compressive strength

test is conducted on the cubes of these two types of concrete mix at the age of 7 and

28 days. The test cubes are 100 mm x 100 mm x 100 mm size and wet – cured.

Splitting tensile and flexural strength test were also conducted on the age of 28 days

and were also wet – cured. The splitting tensile test consists of cylinders of size 150

mm x 300 mm, while flexural test involve prism of size 100 mm x 100 mm x 500

mm. The comparison both concrete mixes were to be observed throughout the

experiment.

Apart from obtaining material properties, two smaller scale walls of size 500

mm x 500 mm with thickness 125 mm was constructed for the testing under vertical

load. Both of the walls were wet – cured for 28 days before tested. The test involves

two point vertical loads on top of the wall. Important results such as load capacity,

deflection, cracking pattern and failure modes were noted.

1.5 Limitation of Study

Limitation of study is important to ensure the objectives of research are

achieved without any excessive wastage of material, time and work done. In this

research, two types of design mix were obtained namely normal weight self –

compacting concrete and lightweight self- compacting concrete. The materials used

include Ordinary Portland cement, sand, gravel, fly ash and superplasticizer. Palm oil

clinker (POC) is used as full substitution to conventional gravel for the lightweight

mix. The POC is obtained from a nearby palm oil plantation factory in Kulai. During

the experiment, focuses were on the physical properties as well as strength

6

development of the concrete samples for performance study. Slump flow test was

conducted to obtain physical properties of slump for each concrete mix. The

performances of the concrete studied include compressive strength, tensile strength,

and flexural strength. For these material properties, cylinders, cubes and prisms were

casted and tested according to respective material property test. The dimensions of

the moulds are according to the standard size requirement. Besides these tests, a

structural element which is a 500 mm x 500 mm x 125 mm wall panel was casted and

tested by applying vertical load only.

1.6 Significant of Study

The results of this study are expected to provide substantial information and

highlighting the contribution of palm oil clinker (POC) as a material substitution for

conventional gravel in order to produce lightweight self compacting concrete

(LWSCC). Researches done by others have proven that using POC to develop

LWSCC has improved or obtained similar material performance and eliminating any

significant negative effects. Apart from that, using POC in LWSCC will reduce the

amount of waste generated by the palm oil industry as well as decreasing the use of

natural gravel in construction industry. Another potential contribution of this study is

to provide an alternative in wall construction. Walls constructed form lightweight

aggregate can contribute positively in the precast concrete industry. If POC is widely

used to substitute natural gravel, more green or environmental friendly building

projects can be developed.

66

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A.A Maghsoudi, S. Mohamadpour, M. Maghsoudi, 2010, Mix Design and

Mechanical Properties of Self Compacting Lightweight Concrete,

International Journal of Civil Engineering.

Bashar S. Mohamad, Khandaker M. Anwar Hossain, W.L. Foo and M. Abdullah,

2000, Rapid Chloride Permeability Test on Lightweight Concrete Made

with Oil Palm Clinker, Journal of Engineering Research, Vol. 1, Issue

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Production of Self- Compacting Concrete Using Rock Breaking Residues,

Trans Tech Publication, Switzerland, Vols 785-786 pp 157-162.

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Using Liapor Lightweight Concrete, Brno University of Technology.

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Lightweight Concrete Masonry Block, University of Porto. Rua dos Bragas,

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67

K.S. Harmon, Engineering Properties of Structural Lightweight Concrete, Carolina

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M.A. Manan and K. Neglo, 2010, Mix Design for Oil Palm Boiler Clinker (OPBC)

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M. Peterson, 2008, High-Performance and Self-Compacting Concrete in Housing

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2009, Shrinkage of Malaysian Palm Oil Clinker Concrete, Universiti Tun

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