INFLUENCE OF RICE HUSK ASH AND SILICA FUMES IN FLEXURAL BEHAVIOUR OF SELF-COMPACTING CONCRETE

Construction of durable concrete structures requires skilled labour for placing and compacting concrete, therefore, there is a need to render the durability of the concrete structures to be independent of the quality of construction workers. For the above, self-compacting concrete is an obvious answer. This study investigates the compressive and flexural strength of the self-compacting concrete incorporating raw rice husk ash and silica fumes individually and combined as a partial replacement with rice husk ash and silica fumes with cement. This shows the need for ecological balance and the replacement of cement results in a reduction of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. The mix design is done as per code IS 10262-2019. The test result shows that 10% of replacement of rice husk ash with cement gives good compressive strength and 15% replacement of silica fumes with cement gives a better result. It also revealed that 10% rice husk ash and 10% silica fumes replaced over cement produce comparable compressive strength equal to nominal mix and 10% of silica fumes and 5% of rice husk ash gives better result when compared to nominal mix. In split tensile strength of the cylinder and flexural strength of the beam, the maximum tensile strength is achieved in 10% of silica fumes and 5% of rice husk ash than the normal conventional concrete.