Development of high strength lightweight concrete and performance of lightweight concrete barrier

Abstract

Up to date, concrete has been extensively used as a construction material due to its excellent properties with low cost. However, infrastructures these days are becoming taller leading to a fatal problem related with the heaviness of the concrete. In this study, experiments on the effects of the strength and weight of the concrete binder have been conducted by using bottom ash and fly ash. The properties on the concretes mixed for this study depended on the particle distribution and the compressive strength of 130MPa, density of $1.9ton/m^3$ concrete utilizing bottom ash and fly ash was manufactured. Furthermore, to reduce the weight of the bridges, not only reducing the weight of the material was considered but also reducing the weight of the structure itself. The concrete barrier is known to be the heaviest object within a bridge system and for this study, a concrete barrier using synthetic lightweight aggregates and bottom ash was used and tested against the conventional concrete to analyze each properties. Static loading test as stated in the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (2005) was used to test the light weight concrete barrier manufactured for this study. The light weight concrete barrier which was manufactured using bottom ash showed similar properties compared to normal concrete barrier. By the AASHOTO standards, the lightweight concrete barrier manufactured for this study was found to have TL-2 level.