Friday, January 18, 2008

STRUCTURAL LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE

Structural lightweight concrete is similar to normalweight concrete except that it has a lower density. It is made with lightweight aggregates (all-lightweight concrete) or with a combination of lightweight and normalweight aggregates. Structural lightweight concrete has an air-dry density in the range of 1350 to 1850 kg/m3 and a 28-day compressive strength in excess of 17 N/mm2. Structural lightweight concrete is used primarily to reduce the dead-load weight in concrete members, such as floors in high-rise buildings.

With increasing concern over the excessive exploitation of natural aggregates, synthetic

lightweight aggregate produced from environmental waste is a viable new source of

structural aggregate material. The uses of structural grade lightweight concrete reduce

considerably the self-load of a structure and permit larger pre-cast units to be handled. In

this paper, the mechanical properties of a structural grade lightweight aggregate

made with fly ash and clay will be presented.

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