Strength Characteristics of High Strength Concrete using M-sand

Background/Objectives: The construction industry mainly aims at sustainable construction with the available natural resources by reducing the negative environmental impacts on environment. Over a period of time, the scarcity of fine aggregate has become one of the most complex and challenging problem in the construction field. In India, the escalation in the price of natural river sand leads to the demand in the alternate construction material by considering Manufactured Sand (M sand) as a fine aggregate which solve the problem of scarcity. The focus of the present investigation is to assess the potential of using Manufactured sand as a replacement to fine aggregate in M60 grade concrete. Fly ash and silica fume also used to reduce the cement content and as a voids filler material. Methods Statistical Analysis: In the present investigation, it is aimed at to study 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of traditional fine aggregate replaced with M- sand. The test results are obtained by conducting compressive strength test, split tensile strength test and flexural strength test after 3, 14, 28 and 60 days of curing. Findings: The strength characteristics of concrete shows higher its strength with the partial and 100% replacement of M-sand in fine aggregate for all the curing period studied. An increase of 6.27% and 14.65 % in compressive and split tensile strength is observed by the full replacement of river sand with M- sand at the curing period of 28th day. Application/Improvements: Use of Manufactured sand in high strength concrete serves better alternative for the river sand. The utilization of manufactured sand in concrete as fine aggregate reduces the problem in scarcity of natural sand and reduces the time delay and cost of the construction.