CONCRETE BY REPLACING FINE AGGREGATE WITH BOTTOM ASH

Energy in the form of electricity is a basic necessity for economic development and social progress. The necessity of providing electric power to the rapidly growing industrial as well as agricultural sectors has resulted in the setting up of a large number of coal based Thermal power stations in the different parts of the country. In these Thermal Power Stations, the burning coal at high temperature produces coal ash as a waste material. The huge quantity of ash being accumulated over the years is likely to pose a colossal problem for its disposal and cause environmental pollution leading to health hazards.
To minimize all these effects, a best alternative is to promote large scale utilization of coal ash, which has potential for use in the country. By utilizing coal ash into construction, “Waste material” is not wasted but a new, versatile and potential construction material is born. It is the case of changing waste into wealth and turning ash into cash.
All the investigations to evaluate the fresh concrete properties and hardened concrete properties of concrete containing bottom ash as replacement of fine aggregate. For this purpose bottom ash from Tau Devi Lal Thermal Power Plant (Panipat) was used to prepare mix of M25 grade and the properties have been compared with an equivalent mix of plain cement concrete. The various tests conducted for this purpose were Compressive Strength, Flexural Strength, Splitting Tensile Strength and workability of fresh concrete. The concrete mix was made with 20, 30, 40 and 50% replacement of fine aggregate.