American Journal of Construction and Building Materials

2020; 4(1): 22-26

http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ajcbm
doi: 10.11648/j.ajcbm.20200401.14
ISSN: 2640-0022 (Print); ISSN: 2640-0057 (Online)

The Mechanical Properties of Fly Ash Concrete Reinforced

with Bamboo Fibers
Henock Eshetu Aweke1, Tesfaye Alemu Mohammed2
1
Department of Civil Engineering, (Construction Technology and Management), Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
2
Department of Civil Engineering, (Structural Engineering), Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Email address:

To cite this article:

Henock Eshetu Aweke, Tesfaye Alemu Mohammed. The Mechanical Properties of Fly Ash Concrete Reinforced with Bamboo Fibers.
American Journal of Construction and Building Materials. Vol. 4, No. 1, 2020, pp. 22-26. doi: 10.11648/j.ajcbm.20200401.14

Received: March 22, 2020; Accepted: April 3, 2020; Published: May 15, 2020

Abstract: In addition to the economic advantages, using fly ash in cement has enormous effect on the mechanical
properties of the concrete. Moreover, Researchers have identified that the addition of fibers to concrete increases its
mechanical properties. Therefore, Better concrete product using both fly ash and fibers especially natural fibers which are
more economical and eco-friendlier than the other fibers for an improved concrete strength production is the major aim of
this research. This experimental investigation had been undertaken to study a fly ash concrete reinforced with bamboo
fibers. The optimum percentage of fly ash to replace cement was first determined by compressive strength test for different
percentages by weight of fly ash substitution. After that, mechanical properties of the fly ash concrete were studied with the
addition of three different percentages of bamboo fibers. Mix designs were formulated for all percentage and then,
Specimens were casted and tested for computing compressive strengths, indirect tensile strengths and flexural strengths for
7th and 28th day period. In the experiments, non-fibrous 25% fly ash substituted with cement concrete (the optimum
percentage which was first determined using compressive strength) were compared with the 25% flyash substituted with
cement for the individual fibers percentages. The standard 150mm cube compressive strength of bamboo fiber reinforced
Fly Ash Concrete (BFRFAC) with 0.10% addition of bamboo fiber by weight of concrete showed an increment of 12.44%,
Whereas bamboo fiber reinforced Fly Ash Concrete with 0.2% and 0.30% addition of bamboo fiber by weight of concrete
showed a compressive strength reduction of 9.33% and 33.03% respectively compared to non-fibrous fly ash concrete.
Bamboo fiber reinforced Fly Ash Concrete with 0.10% and 0.20% bamboo fiber addition by weight of concrete showed an
increment in mean split tensile strength of 5.81% and 0.12% respectively; whereas 0.30% additions of bamboo fiber by
weight of concrete showed split tensile strength reduction of 14.54% compared to non-fibrous fly ash concrete. Mean
Flexural strength of bamboo fiber reinforced Fly Ash Concrete with 0.10%, 0.20% and 0.30% addition of bamboo fiber by
weight of concrete showed an increment by 2.48%, 5.98% and 7.80% compared to non-fibrous fly ash concrete respectively.
Keywords: Fly Ash, Bamboo Fiber, Compressive Strength, Split Tensile Strength, Flexural Strength

Industrial and agricultural waste by-products such as fly

1. Introduction ashes ground granulated slag and rice husk ashes are used as
Concrete is world most used construction material with its supplementary cementitious materials in concrete. The
main ingredient, cement, with its fabrication accounts for 5 to incorporation of supplementary cementitious materials not
10% of the global carbon emission. This has driven scientists only improves the mechanical properties of concrete but also
to create innovative alternatives with smaller carbon reduces the cement consumption by replacing part of cement
footprints. Therefore, scientists and researchers are studying with these materials [1]. Over the last decades intensive
additions and material replacements to raise the concrete’s research and development works has been taking place in the
performance to reduce its consumption, thus lowering the field of fiber reinforced concrete. In developing countries, the
overall environmental impact. idea of using fibers to improve strength and ductility of the
 American Journal of Construction and Building Materials 2020; 4(1): 22-26 23

brittle material has been adopted for thousands of years with 2. Materials and Methods
the use of straw, horse-hair, etc. in bricks, concretes and other
products. The possibility of using these fibers in normal Materials used in the experiment were Cement, fly ash
concrete, provided simple production methods could be (class F), fine and course aggregate, bamboo fiber and water.
employed, would obviously offer a unique low-cost local 2.1. Materials
material for concreting and other purposes.
The function of fibers in concrete is mainly to inhibit crack 2.1.1. Cement and Water
initiation and propagation and improve the mechanical From locally produced cements 42.5R Dangote Ordinary
properties of concrete [2] such as compressive strength, Portland Cement was used.
tensile strength, flexural strength, impact resistance and The water used for mixing and curing of concrete should
toughness. Addition of fibers provides better performance for be free from materials that significantly affect concrete
the concrete while flyash in the mixture may adjust the quality. Therefore, potable water was used both for mixing
workability and improve strength gain in later ages [3]. and curing.
Fly ash is the material collected in the dust-collection
systems that remove particles from the exhaust gases of 2.1.2. Fine Aggregate
power plants that burn pulverized coal. It consists mostly of In this specific research work, local river sand was used as
small spheres of glass of complex composition involving fine aggregate. Physical properties of fine aggregates like
silica, ferric oxide, and alumina. specific gravity and absorption capacity (ASTM C 128),
It is a finely-divided amorphous alumino-silicate with fineness modulus (ASTM C 136), silt content and moisture
varying amounts of calcium, which when mixed with content (ASTM C 566) were determined. The physical
portland cement and water, will react with the calcium properties of sample fine aggregate are presented in the table
hydroxide released by the hydration of portland cement to below.
produce various calcium-silicate hydrates (C-S-H) and Table 1. Physical properties fine aggregate.
calcium-aluminate hydrates. Some fly ashes with higher
amounts of calcium will also display cementitious behavior No Physical properties tests Results
1 Silt content 2.41%
by reacting with water to produce hydrates in the absence of 2 Moisture content 3.31%
a source of calcium hydroxide. These pozzolanic reactions 3 Absorption capacity 3.73%
are beneficial to the concrete in that they increase the 4 Bulk specific gravity 2.35
Bulk specific gravity (SSD) 2.44
quantity of the cementitious binder phase (C-S-H) and, to a Bulk specific gravity (Apparent) 2.58
lesser extent, calcium-aluminate hydrates, improving the long 5 Fineness Modulus 2.65%
term strength and reducing the permeability of the system.
Both of these mechanisms enhance the durability of the 2.1.3. Coarse Aggregate
concrete. Basaltic crushed rock was used as coarse aggregate in
Fibers are small discrete reinforcing inputs produced from sample preparation for this specific experimental study. The
various materials like steel, glass, carbon and natural sources maximum aggregate size of coarse aggregate was 20 mm.
in various shapes and sizes [5]. Plain concrete possesses two Physical properties of coarse aggregate; like specific gravity
major drawbacks as a structural material. They behave in and absorption capacity (ASTM C 127), moisture content
brittle or semi brittle fashion and possess a very low tensile (ASTM C 566) and sieve analysis (ASTM C136) were
strength. Compared to other construction materials, it determined.
possesses a low specific modulus, limited ductility and little The physical properties of course aggregate are
resistance to cracking. Micro cracks develop in the material summarized in the table below.
during its manufacture due to inherent volumetric and micro
Table 2. Physical properties course aggregate.
structural changes, and an essential discontinuous,
heterogeneous system thus exists even before any external No Physical properties tests Results
1 Maximum size 20mm
load is applied. In addition to the low tensile strength, the
2 Moisture content 1.63%
material possesses little resistance to tensile crack 3 Unit weight 1887.24kg/m3
propagation in turn results in low fracture toughness and 4 Absorption capacity 1.90%
limited resistance to impact and explosive loading. It has 5 Bulk specific gravity 2.85
Bulk specific gravity (SSD) 2.91
been found that addition of small closely spaced and Bulk specific gravity (Apparent) 3.01
uniformly dispersed fibers to concrete would act as crack 6 Fineness Modulus 1.97%
arrestors and substantially improve the tensile strength and
other properties of concrete. This type of concrete is called as 2.1.4. Fly Ash (Class F)
fiber reinforced concrete [4, 6]. Fly ash from C and E BROTHERS steel company (located
Therefore, in this study, the properties of both fresh and in Debrezeyt) was used which is a by-product of a
hardened fly ash concrete reinforced with bamboo fibers tried bituminous coal to manufacture reinforcement bars. The fly
to be studied. ash used was ASTM C616-03 or ACI-232.2R Class F Flyash
which is classified as low calcium flyash or ASTM class F
24 Henock Eshetu Aweke and Tesfaye Alemu Mohammed: The Mechanical Properties of Fly Ash
Concrete Reinforced with Bamboo Fibers

flyash. percentage of fly ash substitution to cement were compared

with a plain concrete as shown in the figure below.
2.1.5 Bamboo fiber
Bamboo plants for this study were collected from SNNP
region, Gurage Zone, a place called Sebatbet. These bamboo
plants are of highland bamboo (Yushinia Alphina) species.
The structure of bamboo culm is hollow cylinder, and it
consists a serious of segmented part called internode that are
adjoined by respective node. The characteristics of this
bamboo stem has a diameter of 8-10cm, length of internode
ranges between 15-50cm, thickness of bamboo stem about 1-
2cm with height of 10-15m.
2.2. Sample Preparation

A Fly ash replacement percentage of 15, 20, 25 and 30

were used in this study. This percentage of replacements was
Figure 1. 28th day compressive strength for different percentage of fly ash
chosen based on the recommendation on ACI 211.4R-8, for substitution.
class F Fly ash type it is recommended to use 15-25% of
replacement to cement. In addition to that the percentages for Table 4. 28th day compressive strength comparison for different percentage
the addition of bamboo fibers were used based on earlier of fly ash substitution.
researches. % Fly ash 28th day Compressive
% Increase or decrease
The samples were casted for compressive strength test, substitution strength
0 29.258 -
splitting tensile strength test and flexural strength test. For
15 20.84 28.77% decrease
each of the tests three (and at least two for flexural strength 20 22.871 21.83% decrease
test) specimens were kept in order to show the repeatability 25 24.864 15.02% decrease
of the result through which to minimize the effect of 30 19.825 32.24% decrease
extraneous or uncontrollable variable. The number of
3.2.2. Fresh Concrete Properties
samples for this study was 54 cubes, 24 cylinders and 16
Among the fresh concrete properties slump test and fresh
beams, totally 94 samples were tested.
concrete density tests are investigated for each concrete
mixture incorporating, 0% (with 25% fly ash substitution)
3. Results and Discussion (H0), 0.1% (with 25% fly ash substitution) (H1), 0.2% (with
25% fly ash substitution) (H2), and 0.3% (with 25% fly ash
3.1. Chemical Compositions of Class F Fly Ash
substitution) (H3) addition of bamboo fiber by weight of
Table 3. Chemical properties of fly ash. concrete.
Properties sample ASTM-C-618
SiO2 63.12
Al2O3 26.78 Min 70%
Fe2O3 0.54
CaO 0.15 max 10%
MgO 0.35
Na2O 0.05
K2O 0.26
SO3 0.03
P2O5 0.08
TiO2 1.97 Figure 2. Slump results for different percentage of bamboo fibers.
H2O 2.56 max 3%
LOI 4.11 max 5%

3.2. Test Results

3.2.1. Compressive Strength Test to Determine Optimum

Fly Ash Substitution Percentage
In order to determine the optimum percentage of fly ash to
substitute cement, compressive strength test was conducted
with different percentage of fly ash substitution. The
percentage substitution is based on ACI 211.4R-8.
The 28th day mean compressive test results for various Figure 3. Fresh concrete densities for different percentage of bamboo fibers.
 American Journal of Construction and Building Materials 2020; 4(1): 22-26 25

Table 5. Slump and fresh concrete density comparison for different Table 7. 28th day Flexural strength result comparison for different
percentage of bamboo fibers. percentage of Bamboo fiber.
Fresh concrete %Slump %Fresh concrete Mix 28th day Flexural strength % Increase or decrease
Slump
Mix density increase or density increase Ho 5.756 -
(mm)
(Kg/m3) decrease or decrease H1 5.899 2.48% Increase
Ho 65 2380.77 - - H2 6.109 5.98% Increase
H1 49 2367.41 24.62% 0.56% H3 6.233 7.80% Increase
H2 46 2361.22 29.23% 0.82%
H3 40 2354.85 38.46% 1.09% 3.2.5. Compressive Strength
Three 150mm sized cube samples were tested for each
3.2.3. Split Tensile Strength
percentage addition of bamboo fiber namely: 0% (with 25%
The splitting tensile strength test is an indirect tension test
fly ash substitution), 0.1% (with 25% fly ash substitution),
for concrete. It is carried out on a standard cylindrical
0.2% (with 25% fly ash substitution), and 0.3% (with 25%
specimen, tested on its side in diametric compression.
fly ash substitution) were casted for the research.

Figure 6. 28th day Compressive strength result for different percentage of

Bamboo fiber.
Figure 4. 28th days splitting Tensile strength result for different percentage
Table 8. 28th day Compressive strength result comparison for different
of Bamboo fiber.
percentage of Bamboo fiber.
Table 6. 28th days splitting Tensile strength result comparison for different Mix 28th day Compressive strength % Increase or decrease
percentage of Bamboo fiber. Ho 24.805 -
H1 27.89 12.44% Increase
Mix 28th day Splitting Tensile strength % Increase or decrease H2 22.689 9.33% decrease
Ho 2.237 - H3 18.646 33.03% decrease
H1 2.367 5.81% Increase
H2 2.24 0.12% Increase
H3 1.953 14.54% decrease
4. Conclusions and Recommendations
4.1. Conclusions
3.2.4. Flexural Strength
Flexural strength test gives another way for estimating The slump values showed a decrease for increasing in
tensile strength of concrete. During pure bending the member percentage of bamboo fiber but the mixes were within the
resisting the action is subjected to internal stresses (shear, acceptable range and workable.
tensile and compressive). For a bending force applied The 28th day test results of BFRFAC incorporating 0.1%,
downward for a member simply supported at its two ends. 0.2% and 0.3% bamboo fiber showed flexural strength
increment compared to the reference non-fibrous fly ash
concrete.
Compressive strengths with 0.1% addition of bamboo fiber
by weight of fly ash concrete increased; while both 0.2% and
0.3% bamboo fiber addition reduced the compressive
strength compared to the reference non-fibrous fly ash
concrete.
The optimum Fly ash content varies on a case by case,
here, the Substitution of cement with 25% of fly ash gave an
optimum result from the other percentages using compressive
strength test.
Figure 5. 28th day Flexural strength result for different percentage of
Bamboo fiber. Among the three bamboo fiber additions under
investigation, 0.10% bamboo fiber addition by weight of
26 Henock Eshetu Aweke and Tesfaye Alemu Mohammed: The Mechanical Properties of Fly Ash
Concrete Reinforced with Bamboo Fibers

concrete could be concluded as the optimum percentage of [6] Dr. Nataraja M. C. “Fiber Reinforced Concrete-Behaviour
bamboo fiber addition. Properties and Application” Professor of Civil Engineering,
Sri Jayachamarajendra College of engineering, Mysore-570,
4.2. Recommendations on the Current Study 2006.

[7] Gebler, S. H. and Klieger, P., “Effect of Fly Ash on the

Addition of fibers like bamboo fibers provides better Durability of Air-Entrained Concrete,” Proceedings of the 2nd
performance for the concrete while flyash in the mixture International Conference on Fly Ash, Silica Fume, Slag, and
adjust the workability. Natural Pozzolans in Concrete, ACI SP-91, Vol. 1, American
BFRFAC offers a holistic solution to the problem of Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI, 1986, pages 483 to
meeting the increasing demands for concrete in the future in 519.
a sustainable manner at a reduced cost, and at the same time [8] Pistilli, M. F., “Air-Void Parameters Developed by Air-
reducing the environmental impact. Entraining Admixtures as Influenced by Soluble Alkalis from
Preparing guide lines; and necessary documents, updating Fly Ash and Portland Cement,” ACI Journal, Proceedings V.
standards, enforce regulations, and promoting use of cement 80, No. 3, May-June, 1983, pages 217 to 222.
substitution alternatives like fly ash and use of fibers and [9] Malhotra, V. M. and Mehta, P. K., High-Performance, High-
natural fiber reinforced concrete production is necessary. Volume Fly Ash Concrete. Supplementary Cementing
Materials for Sustainable Development Inc., Ottawa, Canada,
4.3. Recommendations on the Future Study 2005, 124 pages.

Study on long term mechanical properties of BFRFAC. [10] Bamforth, P. B., “In-Situ Measurement of the Effect of Partial
Study on the durability of BFRFAC. Portland Cement Replacement Using Either Fly Ash or
Ground-Granulated Blastfurnace Slag on the Performance of
Mass Concrete,” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil
Engineers, Part 2, Vol. 69, September, 1980, pages 777 to 800.
References [11] Lane, R. O., and Best, J. F., “Properties and Use of Fly Ash in
[1] Mustard, J. N. and MacInnis, C., "The Use of Fly Ash in Portland Cement Concrete,” Concrete International, V. 4, No.
Concreteby Ontario Hydro." Engineering Journal, December, 7, 1982, pages 81 to 92.
1959, pages 74 to 79.
[12] Yuan, R. L. and Cook, R. E., "Study of a Class C Fly Ash
[2] J. Payá, J. Monzó, M. V. Borrachero, L. Díaz-Pinzón, and L. Concrete", Proceeding of the First International Conference on
M. Ordónez, “Sugar-cane bagasse ash (SCBA): Studies on its the Use of Fly Ash, Silica Fume, Slag, and Other By-Products
properties for reusing in concrete production,” J. Chem. in Concrete, ACI SP-79, Vol. 1, American Concrete Institute,
Technol. Biotechnol., vol. 77, no. 3, pp. 321–325, 2002. Detroit, MI, 1983, pages 307 to 319.

[3] P. Mehta and P. J. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, [13] Ghosh, R. S. and Timusk, J., "Creep of Fly Ash Concrete",
Properties and Materials. 2006. ACI Journals, Vol. 78, No. 5, Sep-Oct. 1981, pages 351 to
357.
[4] Dr. Shakel Ahmad, Altamash Raza and Hina Gupta,
“Mechanical Properties of Bamboo Fiber Reinforced [14] Tesfaye Reta Degefa.,”study on Mechanical Properties of
Concrete”. Bamboo Fiber Reinforced Concrete”, April 2017.

[5] State-of-the-Art Report on Fiber Reinforced Concrete, [15] Rooban Chakravarthy Sethu Mathavan.,”High volume Flyash
reported by ACI committee 544 (ACI 544.1R-96), Concrete Reinforced with Hybrid Fibers”, December 2016.
Reapproved 2002.