Coconut shell waste as an alternative lightweight aggregate in concrete- A review

This review article highlights the physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of coconut shells, and the fresh and hardened properties of the coconut shell concrete are summarized and were compared with other types of aggregates. Furthermore, the structural behavior in terms of flexural, shear, and torsion was also highlighted, with other properties including shrinkage, elastic modulus, and permeability of the coconut shell concrete. Based on the reviewed literature, concrete containing coconut shell as coarse aggregate with normal sand as fine showed the 28- day compressive strength between 2 and 36 MPa with the dried density range of 1865 to 2300 kg/m3. Coconut shell concretes showed a 28-day modulus of rupture and splitting tensile strength values in the ranges of 2.59 to 8.45 MPa and 0.8 to 3.70 MPa, respectively, and these values were in the range of 5-20% of the compressive strength. The flexural behavior of CSC was found similar to other types of lightweight concrete. There were no horizontal cracks on beams which indicate no bond failure. Whereas, the diagonal shear failure was prominent in beams with no shear reinforcements while flexural failure mode was seen in beams having shear reinforcement. Under torsion, CSC beams behave like conventional concrete. Finally, future recommendations are also suggested in this study to investigate the innovative lightweight aggregate concrete based on the environmental and financial design factors.