Strength and durability properties of concrete containing quarry rock dust as fine aggregates

Common river sand is expensive due to excessive cost of transportation from natural sources. Also large-scale depletion of these sources creates environmental problems. As environmental transportation and other constraints make the availability and use of river sand less attractive, a substitute or replacement product for concrete industry needs to be found. River sand is most commonly used fine aggregate in the production of concrete poses the problem of acute shortage in many areas. Whose continued use has started posing serious problems with respect to its availability, cost and environmental impact. In such a situation the Quarry rock dust can be an economic alternative to the river sand. Quarry Rock Dust can be defined as residue, tailing or other non-voluble waste material after the extraction and processing of rocks to form fine particles less than 4.75mm. Usually, Quarry Rock Dust is used in large scale in the highways as a surface finishing material and also used for manufacturing of hollow blocks and lightweight concrete prefabricated Elements. Use of Quarry rock dust as a fine aggregate in concrete draws serious attention of researchers and investigators. This paper presents the feasibility of the usage of Quarry Rock Dust as hundred percent substitutes for Natural Sand in concrete. Mix design has been developed for three grades using design an approach IS, ACI, USBR, RN.No.4 and BRITISH for both conventional concrete and quarry dust concrete. Tests were conducted on cubes and beams to study th