Affordable housing issue: Experimental investigation on properties of eco-friendly lightweight concrete produced from incorporating periwinkle and palm kernel shells

In recent times, sustainable production of concrete is now considered a major issue due to continuous depletion of raw resources. Thus, this current study investigates the physical and strength performance of eco-friendly concrete produced with the combination of periwinkle (PWS) and palm kernel shells (PKS) used as an alternative for granite. Two mix ratios of 1:2:4 and 1:1.5:3 (cement: sand: granite) were considered with a 28-day target strength of 20 N/mm2 and 25 N/mm2, respectively. A total number of 144 cubes were produced with PWS and PKS was used as partial replacement for granite in the concrete mixes considered. Physical properties of the materials were determined, while the hardened concrete samples were tested for their density and compressive strength. Obtained results showed that both PWS and PKS are lightweight materials compare to granite, thus significantly influence the concrete density. The results revealed a decreasing trend in the strength development for the mixes. The compressive strength decreases as the combined content of PWS and PKS increases in the concrete mixes. However, concrete containing PWS and PKS produced from mix-ratio of 1:1.5:3 exhibited some comparable strength compare to the control. The results showed that PWS and PKS can be combined equally and used in the production of lightweight concrete at an optimum of 5%. This implies that low-cost lightweight concrete can be produced using a combination of palm kernel and periwinkle shells, thus helping to provide affordable housing and also preserving raw materials.