Effect of Sand Fines and Water/Cement Ratio on Concrete Properties

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Date
2018
Authors
Yalley, Paa Kofi Peter
Sam, A
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Publisher
Civil Engineering Research Journal
Abstract
Sand fines (clay/silt) and water/cement ratio have been reported to be one of the causes of weakness in concrete strength. A study was conducted to determine the effect of fines content in sand and water/cement ratio on some properties of concrete. Fines content in sand of 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10% and 12% as well as water/cement ratio of 0.55, 0.6 and 0.7 were used. The concrete were prepared using the basic mix 1:2:4. Workability test on flesh concrete as well as compression and split tensile strengths were conducted in accordance with BS 1881. The results show that, workability of concrete decreased as fines content increases. At the same level of fines content, workability increases when the W/C increased. The study again revealed that up to 4% fines content, compressive strength increased as the fines content increases. There was a decreased in the compressive strength with increased in all W/C. The same trend was found for the tensile splitting strength results. Predicting the effect of fines and W/C on work ability and strengths of concrete using regression analysis suggest that, over 80% of the variation in the workability and strengths were influenced by fines and W/C. It was concluded from the study that, fines content of 4% in sand and water/cement ratio of 0.55 is appropriate for concrete for structural use.
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Citation
PP, Y., & Sam, A. (2018). Effect of sand fines and water/cement ratio on concrete properties. Civil Engineering Research Journal, 4(3).