Effect of Fly Ash on Strength of Concrete

An enormous amount of fly ash is generated in thermal power plants in India, which affects the environment and living organism. By means of fly ash in concrete in place of cement reduces the consumption of natural resources, diminishes the environmental pollution and also economical as replacing the cement which is costlier by the fly ash. The recent investigations by many researchers have revealed that the use of cementitious materials such as fly ash and GGBS in concrete is trustworthy and also economical. This present experimental research is to study the using non-conventional building material like fly ash for the development of new material and technologies. The present study involves replacing of cement with fly ash in the range of 30, 40 and 50% by mass of cement for M-30 grade concrete mix with 0.48 water cementitious material ratio. Concrete cubes, cylinders and prisms are cast, tested and compared in terms of strength at different ages of curing. The experimental results have revealed that the compressive strength has increased marginally for specimens with replacement of cement by 30% fly ash at age of 7, 28, 56 and 91 days.