Experimental Testing Of Rice Husk Ash Concrete Beams

The feasibility of making concrete with rice husk ash (RHA) as partial replacement of cement has already been established. Its strength and durability properties have been extensively studied. But its suitability as a structural concrete has hardly been studied. With a view to establish the RHA concrete as a structural material, investigation was carried out on rectangular concrete beams of size 150 mm × 200 mm × 2000 mm in the laboratory by casting with concrete containing 10 per cent RHA and testing the same under monotonic loading up to failure. The capacity of the beam, and its failure and crack pattern were studied. The paper presents the details of the experimental programme as well as a comparison of the behaviour of RHA concrete beams with that of the conventional concrete. Pertinent conclusions drawn from the investigation are also presented.