Mechanical Characterization and Robustness of Self-compacting Concrete with Quarry Dust Waste and Class-F Fly Ash as Fillers

Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) is a special type of concrete which does not require any form of external forces to get compacted. However, it behaves similar or better to conventionally vibrated concrete when it gets hardened. The present study focuses on developing SCC with a constant powder content of 600 kg/m³ with 450 kg/m³ of cement. The remaining portion of class-F fly ash (150 kg/m³) was replaced step by step with a waste material from granite crushing industries called as quarry dust waste (QDW); which is available in abundance at crushed sand factories as a waste material resulted from the washing of crushed granite to remove very fine particles. The effects of replacement were studied at fresh and hardened states of SCC. Apart from the mechanical properties such as compressive, flexural, and split tensile strengths, the ultrasonic pulse velocity assessment was performed to ensure the integrity of test specimens. Robustness, which is the ability of SCC to perform similar way in the case of any small fluctuations in material design or properties is also studied in the present paper. The study revealed that the quarry dust waste can be incorporated in making SCC with reliable fresh and hardened properties. Additionally, the robustness of SCC with quarry dust waste is good and within acceptable limit. Moreover, the incorporation of quarry dust waste makes the concrete more sustainable.