Utilization of Quarry Dust as a Partial Replacement of Sand in Concrete Making
The use of crushed quarry dust as a partial replacement of river sand in concrete production was investigated in this study. This is expedient as quarry dust can be available at some locations with insufficient river sand for construction purposes. The use of quarry dust is also in concrete is also a measure necessary for improvement of concrete strength. River sand was replaced with quarry dust for different mix designs of concrete for 0% to 25% replacement levels with 5% intervals. The physical properties of river sand and quarry dust were tested and reported and the workability as well as compressive strengths of the concrete mixtures were also tested. It was observed that the slump values increased with increase in percentage replacement of sand with quarry dust. The compressive strength of cubes at 28 day curing for control mixture of 1:3:6 at 0% partial replacement of river sand with quarry dust was 12.6N/mm2 but compressive strengths of 21.5 N/mm2 and 26.0 N/mm2 were gotten for 1:2:4 concrete and 1:1.5:3 concrete respectively. As the quarry dust content increased to 25%, the 28day compressive strength increased to 13.58 N/mm2 and 21.57 N/mm2 for the 1:3:6 and 1:2:4 mixes respectively. Compressive strength values decreased to a value of 25.72N/mm2 for the 1:1.5:3 concrete mix. The maximum compressive strength values were reached at 20% quarry dust content at the age of 28 days for the three concrete grades investigated. The increase in compressive strength with inclusion of quarry dust was attributed to the higher specific gravity of quarry dust above river sand. The compressive strength of quarry dust concrete continued to increase with age for all the percentages of quarry dust contents. Quarry dust was recommended as a suitable partial replacement for river bed sand in concrete production.