Experimental Study of Replacement of VSI Sand by Sea Sand in Concrete

Abstract

Concrete is a construction material used widely over the world and it is very difficult to find versatile alternative for concrete. Concrete is made up of cement, fine aggregates (sand), coarse aggregates and water. Fine aggregate is one of the constituents of concrete which influences concrete mix design substantially. Generally river sand / crushed sand is used as fine aggregate. But considering today’s situation, due to greater demand of river sand, it has become nearly obsolete. Overuse of river sand has led to environmental concerns, depleting of sand and increase in price. Hence an alternative is needed to river sand. Sea sand is available all over the world in large quantity at sea shore so it can be used as fine aggregate in concrete.  In this project work, engineering properties of sea sand and standard sand are compared. Sea sand is used as replacement to standard sand in 0%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 30% & results are compared to find out optimum percentage of sea sand to be used in concrete. Also formula for water required to be added in cement- sand mortar cubes is derived.

Key words: Sea-sand, FA, Equation of Water-Cement ratio for Sea-Sand, Compressive Strength