Experimental investigation on fibre reinforced bacterial concrete with partial replacement of coarse aggregate by steel slag

Abstract

ABSTRACT newlineWhatever legacy the building may have cracks have all powers to spoil newlineboth their aesthetic view and strength. Structural cracks cause s damages to newlinebuildings, Monuments etc., and it may also lead to collapsing of the structure. newlineCracks let in moisture and increase the permeability of the concrete which newlineresults in corrosion of reinforcement. By using bacterial concrete, the cracks newlinecan be avoided. The bacterium to be used in this work is Bacillus Subtilis which newlineis a gram positive cell bacterium. The bacterium increases the compressive and newlinetensile strength of the building for the similar grade of conventional concrete. newlineThus it does not allow cracks to occur. Bacteria remain active for 200 years. It newlineis also harmless to human and eco-friendly. The bacteria absorb the moisture newlinein the building and increase its growth and reproduction. Even if any cracks newlineoccur, the bacteria self-heals the crack. Concrete plays a vital role in the design newlineand construction of the nation s infrastructure. Almost three quarters of the newlinevolume of the concrete is composed of aggregates. These are obtained from newlinenatural rocks and river beds, thus degrading the rocks slowly. This issue of newlineenvironmental degradation, and need for aggregates today demands for the newlineusage of any other alternative source. In this study an attempt is made to use newlinesteel slag, a by-product from the steel industry as a replacement for coarse newlineaggregate in concrete and find the optimum replacement level of steel slag as newlinecoarse aggregate and also steel fibres are added. M30 grade of concrete was newlineused. Tests on Compressive strength, Split tensile strength were conducted on newlinespecimens. It was concluded that replacing some percentage of coarse newlineaggregate with the steel slag enhances the strength. The results showed that newlinereplacing about 50 percent of steel slag aggregates for coarse aggregate and newlineaddition of steel fibres at volume fraction of 3% increases the strength of the newlineconcrete when compared to the conventional concrete mix.