International Journal of

Advanced Structures and Geotechnical Engineering

ISSN 2319-5347, Vol. 03, No. 01, January 2014

Experimental Investigation on High Performance Concrete with

Partial Replacement of fine aggregate by Foundry Sand with cement by
Mineral Admixtures
M. RANJITHAM, B. PIRANESH, A. VENNILA
Department of Civil Engineering, Sri Krishna College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Email: shrewdranju@gmail.com,piranesh@hotmail.com,vnilaa.21@gmail.com
Abstract: High performance concrete appears to be a better choice for a strong and durable structure. In this
project, investigations were carried out on strength properties such as compressive strength, split tensile strength
and flexural strength of M75 grade of HPC mixes with different replacement levels such as 10%, 20%, and 30%
of foundry sand with fine aggregate and 10%, 20%, 30% and replacing cement by mineral admixtures such as
fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag by adopting water-binder ratio of 0.3. Conplast SP430 is based
on Sulphonated Napthalene Polymers can be used as a super plasticiser for better workability for high
performance concrete. The HPC mix, grade M75 concrete is designed as per ACI 211.4R-08 Guide for
selecting proportions for high strength concrete with Pozzolana Portland cement and other cementitious
materials. Mechanical characteristics like Compressive strength, Split-tensile strength, Flexural strength were
examined. The result of these investigations demonstrates the strength characteristics of foundry sand based
concrete mixes. Based on the results obtained, the replacement of 30% foundry sand with 3% of super plasticiser
which superior strength characteristics was arrived. The details of the investigations along with the results are
presented in this report.
Keywords: High Performance Concrete, High Strength, Foundry Sand, Fly Ash, Ground Granulated Blast
Furnace Slag
Introduction:
High performance concrete (HPC) is a concrete that
meets special combinations of performance and
uniformity requirements which cannot always be
achieved routinely using conventional constituents
and normal mixing and placing and curing practices.
To produce high performance concrete it is generally
essential to use chemical and mineral admixtures in
addition to the same ingredients, which are generally
used for normal concrete. In recent times, many
researches are going on for improving the properties
of concrete with respect to strength, durability, and
performance as a structural material. There are many
materials like fly ash, furnace slag, foundry sand and
silica fume etc. One among these special concrete is
the foundry sand which is new emerging as one of
new generation construction material in producing
high strength and performance concrete for special
structures. The interest in fly ash and ground
granulated blast furnace slag started in enforcement
of air pollution control in many countries. This
implies that the industry had to stop releasing fly ash
and foundry sand into the atmosphere. To find
solution to this problem studies were initiated and
after some investigations, it was found that the
foundry sand could be used as a very useful material
in concrete. Foundry sand in concrete for quite some
time in countries like Norway and U.S very high
strength concrete is being produced using this fine
highly reactive industrial by product. In India,
improved Foundry sand and fly ash is finding its use
now a day.

Materials Used:
A. Cement
Portland-Pozzolana cement of grade 53 was used for
casting all the specimens should be confirming to IS
1489 (Part 1 ) : 1991. Portland-pozzolana cement can
be produced either by grinding together Portland
cement clinker and pozzolana with addition of
gypsum or calcium sulphate, or by intimately and
uniformly blending Portland cement and fine
pozzolana. Portland-pozzolana cement produces less
heat of hydration and offers greater resistance to the
attack of aggressive waters than normal Portland
cement. Moreover, it reduces the leaching of calcium
hydroxide liberated during the setting and hydration
of cement. Specific gravity and fineness modulus of
cement is 3.15 and 7.5 respectively.
B. Fine aggregate
Clean and dry river sand available locally was used.
Sand passing through IS 4.75 mm sieve was used for
casting all the specimens. Specific gravity and
fineness modulus is 2.64 and 2.79 respectively.
C. Coarse aggregate
Coarse aggregate passing through 12.5 mm sieve as
given in IS 383 1970 was used for all the
specimens. In addition to cement paste- aggregate
ratio, aggregate type has a great influence on concrete
dimensional stability. Specific gravity and fineness
modulus is 2.77 and 5.90 respectively.
D. Foundry sand
Foundry sand is high-quality uniform silica sand that
is used to make moulds and cores for ferrous and
nonferrous metal castings. Foundry sand is a by-

IJASGE 030106 Copyright 2014 BASHA RESEARCH CENTRE. All rights reserved

M. RANJITHAM, B. PIRANESH, A. VENNILA

product of the castings industry typically comprising

uniformly sized sands with various additives and
metals associated with the specific casting process.
Foundry sand is the most essential raw material and
its importance is sometimes forgotten amongst
Foundry personnel. Foundry sand is as used by
Foundries is desired for its thermal resistance and
availability. Most metal casting sand (FS) is high
quality silica sand with uniform physical
characteristics. Specific gravity of foundry sand is
2.75 and fineness modulus is 2.74
E. Fly Ash (FA)
Fly ash is finely divided residue resulting from the
combustion of ground or powered coal. The hardened
fly ash concrete shows increased strength together
with a lower permeability, where the latter leads to a
higher resistance towards aggressive admixtures in
addition, partial replacement of cement with fly ash
reduces the production cost of concrete due to the
lower price of fly ash compared to cement . Class F
Fly ash(contains less than 20% lime) is collected
from Mettur Thermal Power Plant (MTTP), Mettur.
Specific gravity of fly ash 2.30 is and fineness
modulus is 7.86.
F. Ground Granulated Blast Slag(GGBS)
Ground Granulated blast furnace slag is a glassy
granular material formed when molten blast furnace
slag is rapidly chilled, as by immersion in water. The
cementations action of a granulated blast furnace slag
is dependent to large extent on the glass content.
GGBS hydrates are generally found to be more gel
like than the products of hydration of Portland
cement, so it denses the cement paste.
G. Super Plasticizer
Super plasticizer CONPLAST SP 430, based on
Sulfhanated naphthalene polymers, complies with IS
9103-1999\and ASTM C-494 [6] was used.
H. Water
In this project, casting and curing of specimens were
done using potable water which shall be free from
deleterious materials. Water plays an important role
in concrete production (mix) in that it starts the
reaction between the cement and the aggregates. It
helps in the hydration of the mix.
Mix Design:
In this investigations concrete mix design (M75) was
designed based on ACI 211.4R-1993[7].This code
presents a generally applicable method for selecting
mixture proportion for high strength concrete and
optimizing this mixture proportion on basis of trial
batches. The method is limited to high strength
concrete production using conventional materials and
production techniques. Mix proportioning details are
given below in table 2.

Table I Mix Design

Cement
1

Fine
aggregate
1.03

Coarse
aggregate
1.973

Water
0.45

Table II Details of Mix Proportions

Method of Experiment:
It is important that the constituent material of
concrete remain uniformly distributed within the
concrete mass during the various stages of handling
and that full compaction is achieved, and making sure
that the characteristics of concrete which affect full
compaction like consistency, mobility and
compatibility are in conformity with relevant codes of
practice.
The tests were carried out in accordance with relevant
IS Standards. The aggregates were tested for physical
properties such as: specific gravity and particle
distribution test. The fresh concrete was subjected to
the slump test followed by casting of concrete in
moulds for further investigations. All the mixes were
prepared by mixing the concrete in laboratory mixer
along with water and super plasticizer. For
compressive strength studies 72 cube specimens of
size 150 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm, for flexural
strength studies, 72 prism specimens of size 100 mm
x 100 mm x 500 mm and 72 cylinder specimens of
size 300 mm height and 150 mm diameter for split
tensile strength studies were prepared. All the
specimens were cast and cured for 28 days as per
standard curing methods.
Results and Discussion:
I. Properties of foundry sand and natural sand
Foundry sands consist of green sand and resin sand.
Green sands typically comprise of high-quality silica
sand, 5-10 % bentonite clay, 2 to 5 % water and less
than 5 % sea coal. The green sand process constitutes
upwards of 90 % of the moulding materials used.

International Journal of Advanced Structures and Geotechnical Engineering

ISSN 2319-5347, Vol. 03, No. 01, January 2014, pp 28-33

Experimental Investigation on High Performance Concrete with Partial Replacement of fine aggregate by
Foundry Sand with cement by Mineral Admixtures

Table III Chemical Properties of Foundry Sand

Compound
Calcium Oxide
Silicon di Oxide
Aluminum Oxide
Magnesium Oxide
Phosphorus
Ferric Oxide
Potassium Oxide
Sodium Oxide
Loss on ignition

Percent by weight

(CaO)
(SiO2)
(Al2O3)
(MgO)
(P2O5)
(Fe2O3)
(K2O)
(Na2O)
(LOI )

0.14
87.91
4.7
0.30
0.01
0.94
0.25
0.19
5.15

K. Properties of Ground Granulated Blast Slag

Table VII Chemical Properties of Ground Granulated
Blast Slag
Compound
Calcium Oxide
(CaO)
Silicon di Oxide (SiO2)
Aluminum Oxide
(Al2O3)
Magnesium Oxide (MgO)
Ferric Oxide
(Fe2O3)

Percent by weight
40
35
16
6
3

L. Slump test
The slump flow test is used to assess the horizontal
free flow of HPC in the absence of obstructions. The
test method is based on the conventional slump test.
Test method The diameter of the concrete circle is a measure for
the filling ability of the concrete. It is the most
commonly used test, and gives a good assessment of
IS 2386 (Part III) filling ability. It gives no indication of the ability of
the concrete to pass between reinforcement without
1963
IS 2386 (Part I) blocking, but may give some indication of resistance
to segregation. The higher the slump flow value, the
1963
IS 2386 (Part I) greater is its ability to fill formwork under its own
weight. Acceptable range for HPC is from 50 to 80
1963
& IS 383 1970 mm.

Table IV Physical Properties of Foundry Sand

and Natural Sand
Property

Specific
gravity
Fineness
modulus
Sieve analysis
for
grading

Natu
ral
sand
2.64

Found
ry
sand
2.75

2.79

2.74

II

Nearly
II

J. Properties of fly ash

Table V Chemical Properties of Fly Ash
Compound
Calcium Oxide
(CaO)
Silicon di Oxide (SiO2)
Aluminum Oxide
(Al2O3)
Magnesium Oxide (MgO)
Potassium Oxide (K2O)
Sodium Oxide
(Na2O)

Percent by weight
18.67
45.98
23.55
1.54
1.80
0.24

Table VI Physical Properties of Fly Ash

Compound
Calcium Oxide
(CaO)
Silicon di Oxide (SiO2)
Aluminum Oxide
(Al2O3)
Magnesium Oxide (MgO)
Potassium Oxide (K2O)
Sodium Oxide
(Na2O)

Percent by weight

Fig. 1 Slump value for different % of mixes

M. Compressive strength test
The compressive strength for concrete with
replacement of natural sand with foundary sand of
10%, 15%, 20%, and cement by mineral admixtures
at the age of 7,14 and 28 days was found as shown in
Table VIII and Fig.2.

18.67
45.98
23.55
1.54
1.80
0.24

International Journal of Advanced Structures and Geotechnical Engineering

ISSN 2319-5347, Vol. 03, No. 01, January 2014, pp 28-33

M. RANJITHAM, B. PIRANESH, A. VENNILA

Table VIII Compressive Strength

FA
by %
of
cement

GGBS
by %
of
cement

Average compressive strength

MPa
14 days
43

28days
75

37

45

75

37

50

77

20

42

54

79

10

10

45

51

86

M6

15

15

43

55

83

M7

20

20

41

53

82

M1

M2

10

10

M3

15

15

M4

20

M5

7 days
35

28 days

M1

M2

M3 M4
Mixes

M5

M6

Fig. 2 Comparison of compressive strength

for different mixes

M = mega, Pa = pascal,FS = Foundry sand, FA =Fly ash, FA =fine

aggregate, GGBS = Ground Granulated Blast Slag

The compressive strength continued to increase as the

curing period increased. The control mix had a
compressive strength of 75MPa at 28 days. Addition
of increasing amounts of foundary sand generally
increased. The greatest compressive strength was
achieved when the mixture contained 30% of fine
aggregate replacement of foundary and 10 % addition
of Ground Granulated Blast Slag(GGBS) with the

14 days

Compressive
strength(MPa)

Mix

FS by
% of
FA

7 days
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

water cement ratio 0.3. Improvement stemmed from

the void-filling ability of the smaller particles and was
more pronounced at lower w/c ratios.
A. Split tensile strength
The split tension test result is shown in Table IX and
Fig 3.
7 days

Table IX Split Tensile Strength

14 days

split tensile strength(MPa)

7
28 days

6
5

4
3
2
1
0
M1

M2

M3 M4
Mixes

M5

M6

M7

Fig. 3 Comparison of split tensile strength for

different mixes
M = mega, Pa = pascal,FS = Foundry sand, FA =Fly
ash, FA =fine aggregate, GGBS = Ground Granulated
Blast Slag

It is a method of determining the tensile strength of

concrete using a cylinder which splits across the
vertical diameter. It is expressed as the minimum
tensile stress (force per unit area) needed to split the
material apart.We observed that the development of
tensile strength of mixes increases as the replacement
of natural sand by 10 % of GGBS gives higher
strength compared to the control mix.

International Journal of Advanced Structures and Geotechnical Engineering

ISSN 2319-5347, Vol. 03, No. 01, January 2014, pp 28-33

M7

Experimental Investigation on High Performance Concrete with Partial Replacement of fine aggregate by
Foundry Sand with cement by Mineral Admixtures

B. Flexural strength test

A beam specimen is casted to test the flexural
strength of the concrete. After casting the test
specimen it is cured for 7 days and 28 days and tested
for maximum load. The result is given the Table X.
Fig. 4 shows the variation in flexural strength for
different replacement with respect to controlled
concrete for 7 days, 14 days and 28 days respectively.
Table X Flexural Strength Test Results

Fig. 4 Comparison of flexural strength for

different mixes
The flexural strength continued to increase as the
curing period increased. The control mix had a
flexural strength of 75MPa at 28 days. Addition of
increasing amounts of foundary sand generally
increased 20% replacement. The greatest flexural
strength was achieved when the mixture contained
30% of fine aggregate replacement of foundary and
20 % addition of Ground Granulated Blast Slag
(GGBS) with the water cement ratio 0.3.
C. Discussion
The compressive strength continued to increase as the
curing period increased. The control mix had a
compressive strength of 75MPa at 28 days. Addition
of increasing amounts of foundary sand generally
increased. The greatest compressive strength was
achieved when the mixture contained 30% of fine
aggregate replacement of foundary and 10 % addition

of Ground Granulated Blast Slag (GGBS) with the

water cement ratio 0.3. Improvement stemmed from
the void-filling ability of the smaller particles and was
more pronounced at lower w/c ratios. We observed
that the development of tensile strength of mixes
increases as the replacement of natural sand by
foundry sand and 10 % of GGBS gives higher
strength compared to the control mix. The flexural
strength continued to increase as the curing period
increased. The control mix had a flexural strength of
75MPa at 28 days. Addition of increasing amounts of
foundary sand generally increased 20% replacement.
The greatest flexural strength was achieved when the
mixture contained 30% of fine aggregate replacement
of foundary and 20 % addition of Ground Granulated
Blast Slag(GGBS)
Conclusion:
In this study it has been found that adding optimum
superplasticizer dosage the workability is reached. So
that the required slump value can be obtained for
HPC. The slump value for M75 grade using foundry
sand and fly ash is reduced.For 30% fly ash and 30%
GGBS replacement, the fresh properties observed
were good as compared to 10%, 20% replacement.
Hence fly ash replacement is effective for HPC in
order to attain high strength. Compare to ordinary
concrete M75 grade concrete attain good strength by
using lower water/binder ratio. Hence segregation
and bleeding occurs in the concrete can be reduced.
Foundry sand substitution generally results in
favourable outcomes and is highly recommended for
all HPC mixes. The strength of concrete structures
using foundry sand is always similar to conventional
concrete. The presence of foundry sand and mineral
admixtures increasing the compressive strength and
also withstanding the maximum load.Compare to fly
ash GGBS attains good strength as cement
replacement.
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International Journal of Advanced Structures and Geotechnical Engineering

ISSN 2319-5347, Vol. 03, No. 01, January 2014, pp 28-33

M. RANJITHAM, B. PIRANESH, A. VENNILA

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International Journal of Advanced Structures and Geotechnical Engineering

ISSN 2319-5347, Vol. 03, No. 01, January 2014, pp 28-33