IMPACT OF BAGASSE ASH ON MECHANICAL PROPERTY AND EARLY AGE TEMPERATURE DEVELOPMENT OF CONCRETE

The manufacturing of cement, an essential construction material, leads to the release of a significant amount of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, high power consumption, and health effects. In order to address all effects associated with cement production, there is a need to develop an alternative way of replacing cement by utilizing either industrial or agricultural waste, as a source of raw materials for the production of cement to improve the mechanical property and to retard the heat of hydration of concrete. Bagasse is a plentiful by-product from sugar factories, which is burnt to generate the power required for different activities in the industry. The burning of bagasse leaves bagasse ash as a waste which has led to intensified environmental concerns. The role of sugarcane bagasse ash as a supplementary cementitious material on mechanical property and early-age temperature development of concrete are experimentally investigated for replacement ratios of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by volume of cement and two grades of concrete; C-20/25 and C-40/50 representing normal and high strength of concrete respectively, were used. The mechanical properties of the concrete are investigated through a compressive strength test, splitting tensile strength test and flexural strength test. A 400*400*400mm3 mold lined with an insulator made of 50 mm expanded polystyrene on each side and the bottom side was used to investigate the early-age temperature development of concrete for 12 hours at a 15-minute time interval.