Performance investigation of palm kernel shell ash in high strength concrete production

By the increasing amount of waste materials, it eventually dumped into the environment and covering a larger area of the landfill which cause several environmental pollution problems. The utilization of Palm Kernal Shell Ash (PKSA) in concrete might bring a great benefit in addressing both environmental and economic issues. This article investigates the effect of PKSA as a partial cement replacement of High Strength Concrete (HSC). Several concrete mixtures were prepared with different PKSA of 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% replaced by the cement mass. This procedure was replicated twice for the two different target mean strengths of 40 MPa and 50 MPa. The mixtures were prepared to test different fresh and hardened properties of HSC including slump test, the compressive strength of 3, 7, 14, 28, and 90 days, flexural strength of 28-days, drying shrinkage, density measurement, and sorptivity. It was observed 10% PKSA replacement as optimum percentage which reduced the drying shrinkage, sorptivity, and density and improved the late-age compressive strength of concrete.