Strength and Durability Properties of Quaternary Cement Concrete Made with Fly Ash, Rice Husk Ash and Limestone Powder

Blending of a large amount of waste materials such as fly ash, silica fume, rice husk ash (RHA), etc. is being done in large extents in the manufacture of cement and cementitious products. A lot of work has been done on replacement of cement with fly ash and RHA, which have shown good results with respect to strength and durability. In addition, Limestone Powder (LP), produced as by-product of stone crushers in limestone quarries, is also used as partial replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement. High amount of powders is being collected and utilization of this by-product is a big problem from the aspects of disposal, environmental pollution and health hazards. The existing blending methodology of binary blending (mixing one Supplementary Cementitious Material (SCM) with cement) and ternary blending (mixing two SCMs with cement) has improved the performance of concrete. The objective of this study aims to characterize the optimum percentage of SCMs fly ash, RHA and LP in a quaternary mix, with respect to strength and durability. As expected, the quaternary mix is very effective in enhancing the compressive, tensile and flexural strength along with durability of the concrete.