STUDIES IN RC FLOOR SYSTEMS USING MANUFACTURED COARSE AGGREGATE

Abstract

Millions of tonnes of fuel ash available from gigantic thermal power stations pose a safe disposal problems to engineers. The presure on dumping ponds alongwith the environmental requirement of keeping the waste fuel ash submerged in water has been increasingly engaging the attention of Civil Engineers towards finding an alternative environmental friendly solution. The fly ash content of the fuel ash has been used as part replacement of cement but this constitutes a small percentage of the total ash available. Over the past thirty years now, attempts have been made to manufacture coarse aggregates out of fuel ash and use them to make what is now commonly called as lightweight structural concrete. The properties of coarse aggregates and hence concretes are slightly different from the ones made out of natural coarse aggregates. In this dissertation, attempts have been made to present the state of the art information available in regard to manufacturing of coarse aggregates, preparation of concretes, their properties and design recommendations of ACI, CP110, CEB/FIP. The manufactured coarse aggregate concretes have been found to be advantageous and economically viable when used as flexaral members. This aspect has been studied in details in the form of structural floor systems for buildings. Through the analysis and design of various types of structural floor systems, such as slab-beam, flat slab, waffle slab and grid floor, attempts have been made to show the advantages in terms of savings in the quantities of steel and concrete.