Chapters authored
Mixture Proportioning for Oil Palm Kernel Shell
Oil palm kernel shell (OPKS) is an organic lightweight aggregate (LWA) used as coarse aggregate in tropical countries for concrete in low-cost buildings. Concrete mixture proportioning is used to calculate the quantities of different constituents required to achieve different properties. For LWA concrete with mineral aggregate, there exist mix design methods that follow rigorous sequence of steps that consider performance specifications. However, no such method exists for concrete using organic coarse aggregate, namely, OPKS. The methods that exist for OPKS concrete that satisfy technical specifications for structural lightweight concrete (LWC) are based on trial and error or empirical methods. With trial and error method, it is not always possible to predict the value of specific properties of the concrete; however, engineers are mainly concerned with obtaining specific properties when proportioning a concrete mixture. The present topic presents a structured method for trial mix proportioning of structural LWC using OPKS as coarse aggregate. Based on the principle of the absolute volume method in ACI 213, the method is presented, following the below headings: (1) properties of constituents of OPKS concrete; (2) mix design procedure; and (3) results and discussion. Technicians in tropical oil-palm-producing countries for low-cost buildings can use the presented method.
Part of the book: Palm Oil