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Experimental studies on Iron-ore tailing based interlocking paver blocks

Article  in  International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering · June 2012

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ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 05, No. 03

www.cafetinnova.org June 2012, P.P. 501-504

Experimental Studies on Iron-Ore Tailing based Interlocking Paver

Blocks
RAVI KUMAR C. M, ANIL KUMAR, PRASHANTH. M. H and D. VENKAT REDDY
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Surathkal. Karnataka, Srinivas nagar-575025,
Mangalore, India
Email: sushil_cm@yahoo.com, anil_nitk@yahoo.com, mh_prashanth@nitk.ac.in, dvr1952@gmail.com

Abstract: Interlocking concrete block pavers (ICBP) has been extensively used in many of the countries due to
concern with durability. They are utilized in a variety of commercial, municipal and industrial applications. The
superior engineering properties, low maintenance, ease of placement and removal, aesthetic appeal and immediate
availability are the primary reasons for choosing concrete block pavement over other paving surfaces. ICBP are
colored using iron oxide pigments. The present investigation details the properties of ICBPs mixed with iron ore
tailings as a partial replacement for cement. The paper discusses the experimental studies on strength characteristics
and water absorption of iron ore tailings based concrete paver blocks by considering actual area and plan area and
results has been compared with that of conventional concrete paver blocks.
Keywords: Interlocking Concrete Block Paver, Iron Ore Tailing, Plan Area, Actual Area

Introduction: Concrete Block Pavements (CBP):

Concrete paver blocks were first introduced in Holland These are being used in various countries for low
in fifties as replacement of paver bricks. Now these volume roads, parking lots, traffic intersections,
concrete pavers are very popular all over the world. The container yards, etc. The concrete blocks can be either
pavers are used in all conditions like Non traffic areas, precast or cast in situ. A precast concrete block
light Traffic areas, Medium Traffic areas, Heavy and pavement consists of individual blocks of hand held size
very heavy traffic areas. Interlocking concrete block units laid on a thin bed of sand, called bedding sand,
pavement, an environment friendly and labour intensive flanked by edge restraints on either side of the
technology, has been developed at Central Road pavement. The blocks are separated by about 2 to 4mm
Research Institute (CRRI), India for providing and the gaps are filled with jointing sand. A granular or
pavements in areas where conventional types of cement bound sub-base is provided below the bedding
construction are less durable due to many technical and sand to lower the stress on the sub-grade.
environmental constraints. Iron ore tailing is the waste
A comparative study on strength of different mixes
product obtained from the mining industry which has
including iron ore tailing in different proportions has
become a great problem for the mining industry mainly
been done against conventional concrete mix. The
in handling and disposing them. This work has been
compressive strength and water absorption have been
done to exploit the waste of industry mainly iron ore
determined for each mix for 7 days and 28 days of
tailing and been used in concrete for their improvement
curing period.
in strength.
Types of Interlocking Blocks:
ICBP has many advantages as detailed below:
The Industrial Standards Committee classifies CIBs by
1. They have a unique ability of transferring loads and
their size and shape. Basic CIBs are categorized as
stresses over large areas for paving.
either 1 or 0 types, while a modified block is
2. They have a good wearing resistance and adequate
categorized as I, S, U, or R type by its intended usage
skid resistance
(sidewalks or roads). There are four generic shapes of
3. Laying can be done by unskilled labor under proper
paver blocks named as types A, B, C and D. In the
supervision.
present experimental work the paver block of I shaped
4. Immediate use after laying.
chamfered blocks which comes under type B has been
5. Maintenance cost is less
used.
6. No thermal expansion and contraction of concrete.

#02050319 Copyright ©2012 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY. All rights reserved.

 502 RAVI KUMAR C. M, ANIL KUMAR, PRASHANTH. M. H and D. VENKAT REDDY

Table 1: Chemical Composition of Iron Ore Waste

Tailing.
Serial
Constituent % by Weight
no.
1 SiO2 68.61
2 Fe2O3 25.88
3 LIO 2.92
4 Al2O3 1.15
5 CaO 0.63
6 MgO 0.34
7 Na2O 0.31
8 K2 O 0.045
9 TiO2 Traces
Mix Proportions:
Concrete mix proportion of M25 mix is obtained
referring to IS 10262-1983 as recommended. The
Figure 1 : Differentt Types of Paver Blocks proportion of cement, fine aggregate and coarse
Basic Materials: aggregate was 1:1.3:2.7 by weight and water cement
ratio is maintained as 0.45 throughout investigation.
The basic materials used for casting CIBs, are as Block making machines were used to get the desired
follows: shape with proper hydraulic pressing and vibratory
Cement: compaction. Chamfered block specimens were casted
for thickness of 80 mm.
Cement used was ordinary Portland cement of Grade 43
meeting the requirement of Indian Standard (IS 8112- Experimental Investigation:
1989). Specific gravity of cement was 3.15 In the present investigation conventional control blocks
Sand: and various mixes (composition) with varying
percentage of iron-ore tailing for paver blocks were cast
Natural river sand obtained from river Bhadra for M25 grade of concrete. Strength characteristics and
(Karnataka) has been used. Sand corresponds to zone II water absorption tests were conducted and were
of IS 383:1970 of codal requirements. The specific compared with that of conventional paver blocks.
gravity was found to be 2.65.
Table 2: Various mixes (Composition) of Paver Block
Coarse Aggregate: Indicating the Percentage of Iron Ore Tailing
Coarse aggregates were obtained from the Chitradurga
Serial % of Iron
quarry in Karnataka state. Aggregate of nominal size Composition
no. ore Tailing
was 20 mm down as per the specification of Ministry or
1 A 5
Road Transport and Highway (MORTH 2001) was
2 B 10
used. The aggregates had an average flakiness index of
about 36% (IS 2386 (part I)-1963 and Los Angeles 3 C 15
abrasion value (IS2386 (part IV)-1963) of 13%. Specific 4 D 20
gravity of coarse aggregate was 2.7. 5 E 25

Iron-Ore Tailing: Compressive Strength:

It is Industrial waste which is obtained for process of Compression test was done using universal compression
mining of iron and steel making industry. Specific testing machine. All the blocks were placed in water for
gravity of Iron-ore tailing is 3.3. a curing period of 7 days and 28 days. The load was
been applied at a constant rate of 15± 3 N/mm2/ minute
Water: until it failed. Compressive strength= (Load/Plan Area)
The water used was clean and free from deleterious x CF, when Plan area is considered Compressive
matter. strength = (Load /Actual Area), when Actual area is
Super plasticizers (High range water reducers): considered
Super plasticizer used in present investigation was 0.25
% by weight of cement.

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

ISSN 0974-5904, Vol. 05, No. 03, June 2012, pp. 501-504
 Experimental Studies on Iron-Ore Tailing based Interlocking Paver Blocks 503

Water Absorption Test: Results of Compressive Strength:

The specimens were placed in the air dryer at a constant Tables 4: Compressive Strength of Actual Area & Plan
temperature of 110 C. Once the specimens had been Area
dried for more than 24hrs,they were removed from the
drier, weighed i.e. W1 .Next the specimens were 7days 28 days

Composition
submerged in water for 24hrs and were then removed Compressive
Compressive Strength
and then weighed i.e. W2.The water absorption was Strength
(N/mm2)
obtained using the formula [(W2-W1)/W1]x100. (N/mm2 )
Actual Plan
Table 3: Correction Factor for Paver Block Thickness Actual area Plan area
area area
Nominal Correction Factors CO 23.4 22.19 31.91 30.26
block (CF)
A 28.35 26.88 37.11 35.18
Thickness Plain Chamfered
(mm) blocks blocks B 27.35 25.93 35.11 33.29
60 or 65 1 1.06 C 26.66 25.28 34.67 32.87
80 1.12 1.18 D 20.21 19.16 25.34 24.03
100 1.18 1.24 E 21.46 20.35 26.34 24.98
Calculation of Area:
Plan Area:
The plan area of interlocking block is calculated as per
IRC codal guide lines. The block shall be placed facing
up, on the card board and its perimeter is traced with the
pencil and than cut out. The weight of card board is
found as W1 and a rectangle measuring 200 mm x
100mm is cut out of same rectangle and weighed as W 2.
Thus plan area is calculated as,
Plan area= ((100 x 200)*W1)/ W2, mm2
Plan area = ((100x200)*110) / (70) = 31428.5 mm2
Actual Area:
Actual area was calculated by dividing the section into 2 Figure 3: Average Compressive Strength for 7 Days
rectangles 4 triangles and 1 respectively as shown in fig
2.
Actual area =2x (166.2x37.0) +4x (0.5x23.8x23.8) +
(116.2x126.2) = 28096 mm2

Figure 4: Average Compressive Strength for 28 Days

From the graph it was observed that Mix (composition)
Figure 2: I Shaped Paver Block A, B, C have shown increase in compressive strength
when compared to conventional Mix. Hence the
Note: all dimensions in mm.

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

ISSN 0974-5904, Vol. 05, No. 03, June 2012, pp. 501-504
 504 RAVI KUMAR C. M, ANIL KUMAR, PRASHANTH. M. H and D. VENKAT REDDY

addition of iron ore tailing of 5%, 10%, 15% have Results of Water Absorption:
respectively shown increase in the compressive strength
The samples were taken for water absorption test. Test
of pavers. This shows the usage potential of iron ore
was carried out as per BIS guidelines. The water
tailing from 5% to 15%, which can be used under the
absorption has been plotted to different mixes
application of light traffic category which is between 30
(composition) as shown in Figure 5. The tabulated
to 35 N/mm2
values fall below 6% for all mixes (composition) as per
the codal provision for specification for Precast
Concrete Blocks for Paving.
Table 5: Mixes Indicating the Average Percentage of Water Absorption
Composition CO A B C D E
Avg. water absorption (%) 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.5
National Workshop on Cost effective Building
Technology, NITK, Surathkal, March 1998
[3] Sampathkumar N.N et al. “Utilization Waste
Tailing in Roofing Tiles & Bricks”, Workshop on
Cost effective Building Technology, NITK,
Surathkal, March 1988.
[4] Shackel.B,”The Design of Interlocking Concrete
Block Pavements for Road Traffic” Proceedings of
1st International conference on Concrete Blocks
Paving, London, pp. 23-32, 1980.
[5] Shackel.B. “Design & Construction of Interlocking
Concrete Block Pavements”, Elsevier Applied
Science, London, pp 229-230, 1990.
[6] Sunil Kumar Jaladi, “Studies on Concrete Hollow
Figure 5: Water Absorption of the Various Mixes Blocks with Iron ore Tailings as Fine Aggregate”,
M. Tech dissertation, Mangalore University, 2001.
Conclusions: [7] Sampath Kumar, N. N” Utilization of Iron ore
In the light of results obtained and observations made Waste Tailings in the Manufacture of Roofing Tiles
during the present experimental investigations, the and Bricks-Preliminary Studies”, Proceedings
following conclusions can be drawn National Workshop on cost effective building
technology ,NITK, Surathkal, Inda,1988.
 The strength obtained is more in case of actual area [8] IS 2386 Part-4,” Methods of Test for Aggregates
compared to plan area, indicating the more conservative for Concrete Mechanical Properties”. BIS, New
value for the compressive strength in the plan area. Delhi, India, 1963.
 The use of iron ore tailing from 5% to 15% has [9] IS-8112:1989, 43 grade ordinary Portland cement
shown increase in the compressive strength of the specification.
concrete compared to normal concrete. [10] IS-383:1970 specification for coarse aggregates
 Mix D and E has shown strength, lower than from sources for cement.
conventional blocks, hence addition of iron ore tailings [11] Ministry of Road Transport & Highway
from 15% to 25% has resulted in lower compression (MORTH)” Specification for Road & Bridge
strength compared to that of conventional blocks. Work.” Indian Road Congress, New Delhi, India,
References: 2001.
[12] Draft IS,” Specification for Precast Concrete
[1] Ravikumar C.M. “Experimental Studies on Blocks for Paving”, Doc: CED 5(6064), April
Interlocking Iron-ore-Tailing Based Paving Tiles”, 2003.
M-Tech (I.S) Thesis, Mangalore University, May-
June 2000. Internet URLs:
[2] Samaga B.R et al. “ Strength Characteristics at http:www.indiamart.com/dagratiles/accessed on date
Elevated Temperatures of Cement Mortar Cubes 04/05/2012
and Iron-ore-Tailings Mortar cubes”, Proceedings http: www.brickblocks.com / products html accessed on
04/05/201

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

ISSN 0974-5904, Vol. 05, No. 03, June 2012, pp. 501-504

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