Characteristics of Oil Contaminated Fine Aggregates in Concrete, Reinforced with Helix Micro-Rebar

Due to the world’s increasing use of unrenewable fossil fuels to generate products within the construction industry, there is a worrying factor that in the forthcoming years there may not be enough fossil fuels to keep up with the increasing demand. This extraction process of raw materials in turn leading to the construction industry being the world’s leading contributor to the pollution of our waterways, and therefore fine aggregates (Abousnina et al. 2015). This project addresses these major issues by addressing the need to replace raw materials with contaminated sands within concrete mixtures. The research undertaken will determine whether Helix Micro-Rebar can be an adequate additive in concrete mixtures to be able to counteract the negative effects that 6% (by volume of sand) of light crude oil contaminated sands have shown in concrete mixtures. This research aims to enhance or match the current standards and regulations of compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and tensile strength in concrete. In order to achieve the project objectives, the following experimental programmes were implemented: 1. Establish a controlled concrete mixture that meets a target strength of 25 MPa. This controlled mixture will be based of existing literature for comparable results at the conclusion of the study. 2. Cast and cure separate batches that consist of, controlled mixture with Helix Micro-Rebar, controlled mixture with 6% oil contamination and Helix Micro-Rebar, controlled mixture with 6% oil contamination. 3. Evaluate and analyse the influences Helix Micro-Rebar can have on concretes mechanical properties in a 6% oil contaminated mixture. 4. Compare and evaluate Helix Micro-Rebar against existing studies done on alternative industry fibres in 6% oil contaminated mixtures. The investigation concluded that the addition of Helix Micro-Rebar at a dosage rate of 25 kg/m3 in concrete, had significant positive effects on concretes mechanical properties in a 6% oil contaminated mixture. The following conclusions were established, Helix Micro-Rebar can increase the compressive strength of uncontaminated concrete by up to 18.95%, Helix Micro-Rebar enhanced the compressive strength in contaminated concrete by up to 26% on average, an increase of 3% in the concretes modulus of elasticity was seen in the contaminated mixture when Helix Micro-Rebar was included, the addition of Helix Micro-Rebar in the contaminated mixture showed a 40% increase in tensile strength