The Quality of Concrete Made with Typical Benin City Silty Sand: Fid-Bau Portal

The Quality of Concrete Made with Typical Benin City Silty Sand

Alutu , O.E. / Ejike, E.N.

The purpose of this study is to carry out tests on concrete made with a typical Benin City silty sand and determine the major concrete quality indicators such as pulse velocity, water/cement ratio and compressive strength in order to justify the continued utilization of such sands in concrete production in and around Benin City. To do this, concrete made with the selected sand were designed using DOE mix design method and test cubes were cast in three batches. Two cubes were cast for each of the sixteen consecutive tests carried out and averages taken for each design grade strength of 10,20,30,40 and 50N/mm2. Also, pulse velocity and rebound hammer tests were carried out on the cubes before testing the cubes destructively. The results show that concrete produced with the Benin City silty sands are of good quality in all respect but generally characterized by low 28th day – characteristic strength. The sands should therefore be used in construction provided that the mean strength aimed at during design is sufficiently higher than the characteristic strength by the strength margin (ks) from structural point of view to enable every part of the structure have adequate strength.