Physical and mechanical properties of lightweight expanded clay aggregate concrete

2023-1-27
Uysal, Orkun
Expanded clay aggregate is an artificial type of aggregate manufactured from clay, and it has a porous nature, making it lighter than normal weight aggregates. When used in concrete, this porous nature is decisive in the physical and mechanical properties of concrete. A comprehensive experimental study was carried out on physical and mechanical properties like density, absorption capacity, porosity, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity. In this context, 13 different mixtures were designed, and 234 specimens were produced for the desired tests. The wet density of the mixtures varied between 1559 – 1980 kg/m3. Specimens were much lighter than normal aggregate concrete but still met the structural needs. Unlike the vast majority of studies found in literature, this experimental study also investigated the effects of moisture state on the mechanical properties, thus the compressive strength and the modulus of elasticity tests were conducted for specimens in moist and oven-dry states. It was observed that moisture reduced the compressive strength of concrete but increased its modulus of elasticity. The dry compressive strengths of mixtures were found to be 9% higher than moist compressive strength on average. The reduction in static modulus of elasticities from moist to dry state was found to be 26% on average. The study also includes an evaluation of modulus of elasticity prediction models from widely accepted codes. Moreover, a new model was proposed in estimating the dry and moist modulus of elasticity of expanded lightweight aggregate concretes by using the dry and moist density and compressive strength. The proposed model's accuracy was also assessed using the data from experimental studies found in the literature conducted on relevant topics.

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Citation Formats
O. Uysal, “Physical and mechanical properties of lightweight expanded clay aggregate concrete,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2023.