Short term durability study of groundnut shell ash blended self consolidating high performance concrete in sulphate and acid environments

Groundnut shell ash (GSA) has been used in concrete production by various authors as supplementary cementitious materials with limited utilization for self-consolidating concrete. For this reason, investigation of effect of groundnut shell ash on strength properties of self-consolidating high performance concrete (SCHPC) in sulphate and acid environment at high substitution level of 40% by total weight of binder was conducted. The principal characteristics measured were fresh properties (filling ability, passing ability and segregation resistance) and compressive strength of ordinary Portland cement OPC/GSA concrete at varying substitution level (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%) after curing in water and in three different chemical solutions (CaSO 4 , MgSO 4 and H 2 SO 4 ) of 5% concentration each at 7, 14, 28 days hydration period. The designed mix of 40Mpa maximum strength target was used to produce a total of 225 cube size of 100 × 100 × 100 mm. The investigations revealed significantly improved fresh and hardened properties as well as durability of the developed SCHPC at 10% GSA substitution level as compared to that of the control concrete mix. Conclusively, GSA is a suitable SCM and can be substituted up to 30% cement replacement to produce SCHPC with improved engineering properties in an aggressive environment.