Performance Evaluation of Foam Concrete with Silica Fume in Structural Applications

Abstract

Lightweight concrete (LWC) is gaining prominence as a sustainable newlineconstruction material due to its reduced density, lower material consumption, and newlineenhanced energy efficiency. Among the other types of lightweight concrete s, Foam newlineConcrete (FC) stands out as an innovative and environmentally friendly alternative, newlinecharacterized by its self-compacting nature, thermal insulation properties, and potential newlinefor incorporating industrial by-products such as fly ash and silica fume. FC is produced newlineby mixing cement-based slurry with foam. FC due to its high air-void nature in concrete newlineproduces low compressive strength. Therefore, incorporating coarse aggregate reduces newlinethe air-void ratio and improves compressive strength. The aim of the study is to develop newlinea sustainable FC mix using silica fume as a cement replacement and the addition of newlinecoarse aggregate for structural application. newlinePreliminary investigations were performed on the basic raw materials and the newlinemix design was formulated based on a trial-and-error method. A total of 19 mixes with newlinevarying proportions of Foam Volume (FV) and Coarse Aggregate (CA) were carried newlineout. Mechanical tests such as compression test, split tensile test, and flexural strength newlinetest were performed. From The results 3% FV and fine aggregate to coarse aggregate newlineratio of 1:1 was found to be optimized FC mix (3F2C50A i.e., 3F = 3% FV, 2C = 1:2 newlineFA/C and 50A = replacement of 50% CA with FA). After optimizing the FC mix, Silica newlineFume (SF) was replaced from 2% to 10% as a binder ratio to improve the properties and newlinedurability of FC. The Fresh and hardened concrete properties of FC were studied. From newlinethe results, it indicates that FC with 3% FV, fine aggregate to coarse aggregate ratio of newline1:1 and 10% SF was considered to be an optimized mix (3F2C50A10S i.e., 3F = 3% newlineFV, 2C = 1:2 FA/C, 50A = replacement of 50% CA with FA and 10S = 10% SF) and FC newlinewith 3% FV and without coarse aggregate was found to be a conventional mix (3F2C newlinei.e., 3F = 3% FV and 2C = 1:2 FA/C). newline