A Combined Strength and Cost Analysis of Concrete by Using Four Different Matrixes of Materials

Md. Tanvir Ehsan Amin¹,^* Md. Abdul Basit ¹ Md. Monirul Islam ^1
1 Department of Civil Engineering, IUBAT-International University of Business Agriculture and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
^*Corresponding author: E-mail: samiha.buet@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Among all construction materials, concrete remains the only choice for most structures, and after water, it is the most widely used substance throughout the world. This article represents the research on four different combinations of concrete mixtures prepared with partially replaced fine aggregate as glass powder and iron powder, partially replaced coarse aggregate using demolished concrete, and uses of GI wire fiber as additional materials with various diameters. The primary investigation was conducted based on the concrete compressive strength with various percentages and sizes of materials. From the experiment, it is found that using glass powder and iron powder as partially replaced fine aggregate has shown an 18% and a 24% increase in compressive strength respectively up to a certain percentage. For demolished concrete, although the strength decreases by percentage, the use of GI wire fiber as additional materials shows remarkable enhancement in the strength of concrete. In this article, cost analysis is also carried out and combined iron powder is found to be the most effective material among four different combinations of concrete mixers for both strength and cost.

KEYWORDS: Concrete, GI wire, glass powder, iron powder, demolished concrete, recycled concrete

Introduction

In the construction industry, a huge quantity of concrete is used which are also considered as highly consumed construction materials of the world. Because of the extensive usage of this material many researchers are investigating the engineering properties of this material and trying to develop the substitute constituents of the concrete mix(Afshinnia & Rangaraju, 2016; Chen, Xu, Chen, & Lui, 2016; Damdelen, 2018; Emon, Manzur, & Sharif, 2017; Hooi & Min, 2017; Mohajerani et al., 2017; Ramdani, Guettala, Benmalek, & Aguiar, 2019; Satyaprakash, Helmand, & Saini, 2019; Verian, Ashraf, & Cao, 2018; Zhou & Chen, 2017). The primary ingredient of concrete is cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate, water and admixture (Mindess & Francis, 2008). Among the components, coarse and fine aggregate occupy 70% to 80% of the total volume of concrete (Verian, Ashraf and Cao, 2018) which indicates that the major strength and cost of concrete depend upon the type of aggregate used in construction. Hence, research and practice on sustainability in construction can be supportive to protect the world’s ecosystem, preserve natural resources, and improve the environmental conditions of all living creatures on earth. Reusing and recycling of natural waste, demolishing the construction waste, and minimizing industrial waste in the construction industry can be an attempt to achieve the goal. However, for a developing country like Bangladesh, where inert materials like fine and coarse aggregate is very expensive, recycling would be a great achievement to create a sustainable environment. The primary aim of this experiment is to assess the performance of concrete prepared with different types of compositions, such as galvanized iron (GI) wire fiber with mixed concrete, partial replacement of coarse aggregate by demolished concrete, and partial replacement of fine aggregate by glass powder and iron powder. Performance refers to a very broad spectrum, and it is imperative to narrow down the focus on the specific parameters that are intended to be inspected.