Fresh Properties of Concrete having Banana Leaf Ash and Banana Fibres

Abstract

This paper focuses on the investigation of fresh properties of concrete with the influence of banana leaf ash and banana fibre. In this study, cement was partially replaced by 10% banana leaf ash content in weight; whereas; banana fibre was incorporated in concrete mixes at 1%, 1.5% and 2.5% by weight of cement. 1 % content of superplasticizer based on polycarboxylic ether was used. A single concrete mix ratio was developed to achieve a strength of 30MPa and slump, density, and compacting factor tests were conducted for examining the fresh concrete properties. The results exhibited that the incorporation of banana leaf ash developed fresh concrete properties, while banana fibre decreased the fresh characteristics of concrete. The incorporation of 2.5% fibre resulted in a 55% decrease of slump as compared to the reference concrete whereas 1% and 1.5% banana fibre in concrete showed a reduction of 8.2% and 16.11% as compared to reference concrete. With the significant amount of research being carried out in the domain of natural fibres and natural ashes it is important to evaluate the fresh properties of such concrete for their easy application in civil engineering.