Properties
Of
Concrete
with
Coconut
Shell
and
Fallen
Leaves
as
Aggregate
Replacement
By
Nadine
Marie
Silva
and
Noel
Calatrava
Jr.
RATIONALE
Man
has
been
using
fiber
to
reinforce
building
materials
for
thousands
of
years
for
example
mud
huts
using
straw
in
the
mix.
Asbestos
reinforcing
was
phased
out
once
its
health
risks
became
known.
Todays
fiber
reinforced
concrete
(FRC)
is
a
long
way
advanced
on
mud,
though.
Synthetic
(and
even
natural)
fibers
may
be
added
to
the
concrete
mix,
whether
it
is
to
be
steel
reinforced,
or
not.
A
wide
range
of
fibers
from
fine
steel
fibers
to
glass
and
polypropylene
are
used
today,
and
new
fibers
are
being
explored.
Fibers
are
usually
used
in
concrete
to
control
cracking
due
to
plastic
shrinkage
and
to
drying
shrinkage.
They
also
reduce
the
permeability
of
concrete
and
thus
reduce
bleeding
of
water.
Some
types
of
fibers
produce
greater
impact,
abrasion,
and
shatter resistance
in
concrete.
Generally
fibers
do
not
increase
the
flexural
strength
of
concrete,
and
so
cannot
replace
momentresisting
or
structural
steel
reinforcement.
Indeed,
some
fibers
actually
reduce
the
strength
of
concrete.
Some
recent
research
indicated
that
using
fibers
in
concrete
has
limited
effect
on
the
impact
resistance
of
the
materials.
This
finding
is
very
important
since
traditionally,
people
think
that
ductility
increases
when
concrete
is
reinforced
with
fibers.
The
results
also
indicated
that
the
use
of
micro
fibers
offers
better
impact
resistance
to
that
of
longer
fibers.
Furthermore,
with
the
increase
of
infrastructure
development
across
the
world,
the
demand
for
construction
materials
also
increased,
resulting
to
the
raise
in
the
necessity
of
concrete,
which
is
a
premier
civil
engineering
construction
material
with
aggregates
forming
on
the
major
part.
The
use
of
natural
aggregate
leads
to
a
question
about
the
preservation
of
natural
aggregates
sources.
In
addition,
operations
associated
with
aggregate
extraction
and
processing
are
the
principal
causes
of
environmental
concerns.
In
light
of
this,
in
the
contemporary
civil
engineering
construction,
using
alternative
materials
in
place
of
natural
aggregate
in
concrete
production
makes
concrete
as
sustainable
and
environmentally
friendly
construction
material.
Different
alternative
waste
materials
and
industrial
by
products
such
as
fly
ash,
bottom
ash,
recycled
aggregates,
foundry
sand,
china
clay
sand,
crumb
rubber,
glass
were
replaced
with
natural
aggregate
and
investigated
properties
of
the
concretes.
Apart
from
above
mentioned
waste
materials
and
industrial
by
products,
few
studies
identified
that
coconut
shells,
the
agricultural
by
product
can
also
be
used
as
aggregate
in
concrete.
On
the
other
hand,
fallen
leaves
are
one
of
those
products
from
nature,
which
is
considered
to
be
a
waste.
They
are
either
placed
on
a
stockpile
or
incinerated
to
become
a
useless
ash.
In
light
with
this,
the
researchers
have
proposed
to
use
such
waste
materials
to
use
as
a
replacement
for
aggregate
as
a
property
of
Concrete.
Further
explanation
would
be
discussed
on
the
studies
succeeding
parts.