Effect of replacement of normal weight coarse aggregate with oil palm shell on properties of concrete

Oil palm shell (OPS) is a waste from the agricultural sector and is available in large quantities in the tropical regions. This paper investigates the effect of the replacement of normal weight coarse aggregate by oil palm shells on the compressive strength, density, modulus of elasticity, workability and water absorption. The gradation of substitution was 0, 28, 55, 83 and 100 . Two mixes based on high strength concrete (HSC) with binder (cement + silica fume) content of 550 and 600 kg/m 3 were used. The results show that the compressive strength, density and modulus of elasticity decrease and workability and water absorption increase by the percentage of OPS substitution increase. The results of this study show that there is a possibility of producing lightweight concretes using more than 40 OPS in HSC mixes with adequate strength and also achieve a saving in the self-weight of about 28 . © 2012 King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals