Strength Studies in Concrete with M-Sand and Silica Fume

Abstract: The huge quantity of concrete is consumed by construction industry all over the world. In India, the conventional concrete is produced using natural sand from river beds as fine aggregate. Decreasing natural resources poses the environmental problem and hence government restriction on sand quarrying resulted in scarcity and significant increase in its cost. This paper presents the optimization of partial replacement of natural sand by M sand with silica fume. Concrete mixes were evaluated for compressive strength and split tensile strength. The ordinary Portland cement was partially replaced with silica fume by 0, 5, 7.5 and 12.5% and natural sand was replaced with manufactured sand by five proportions with 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40%. The results indicated that there is an increase in the compressive and split tensile strength of concrete at 30% of M-Sand and 7.5% of silica fume.

Keywords: M-Sand, silica fume, compressive strength and split tensile strength.