Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 258–268

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Microstructure, strength, and durability of eco-friendly concretes

containing sugarcane bagasse ash
Seyed Alireza Zareei a,⇑, Farshad Ameri b, Nasrollah Bahrami b
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
b
Young Researchers and Elite Club, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

h i g h l i g h t s

Sugarcane bagasse ash as a partial replacement of cement in is investigated.

Compressive strength, tensile strength, impact resistance tests were performed.

Incorporation of Bagasse Ash improved durability and quality of SCC.

Improvements in strength and impact resistance in lightweight concrete are observed.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents an extensive experimental study to investigate the possibility of using sugarcane
Received 2 February 2018 bagasse ash (SCBA) as a partial replacement of cement in ordinary, lightweight, and self-compacting con-
Received in revised form 30 May 2018 cretes. For this purpose, specimens containing 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25% SCBA in addition to a control spec-
Accepted 17 June 2018
imen were prepared. To evaluate the mechanical properties of concrete specimens, compressive strength,
tensile strength, impact resistance, workability, water absorption, and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV)
tests were performed. The results indicated that improvements in strength and impact resistance in light-
Keywords:
weight concrete are observed as compared with the control sample when cement was replaced with
Sugarcane bagasse ash
Ordinary concrete
bagasse ash at 5%. It was also found incorporation of BA improved durability and quality of SCC.
Lightweight concrete Ó 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Self-compacting concrete
Mechanical properties
Impact resistance
Ultrasonic pulse velocity

1. Introduction disposal of the waste materials, is to use them to replace cement.

Production of cement is an energy consuming process resulting
in depletion of raw materials, landfill issues, and mainly global
warming [1]. High volumes of construction and reciprocal wastes
are produced and improper disposal of these waste materials have
caused significant environmental impacts such as flood occurring
and destruction of natural landscapes. Percentage of constructional
waste production in different countries such as Spain, England,
Australia, japan, Italy, Poland, and Finland has been reported about
70%, 50%, 44%, 36%, 30%, 26%, and 14% in average [2]. On the other
hand, a 46% growth in cement production indicates a high volume
use of concrete up to 1.6 billion tons yearly [3,4]. One alternative
for reducing the environmental impacts associated with the
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: a.r.zareei@khuisf.ac.ir (S.A. Zareei), farshadameri@khuisf.ac.ir
(F. Ameri).
Many studies investigated the use of different wastes such as
micro-silica, fly ash [5], palm oil fuel ash [6], cement kiln dust
[7], rice husk ash, slag, manufactured materials such as metakaolin
[8–11], or natural materials such as zeolite and volcanic tuff
[12,13] to replace cement. The utilization of these pozzolans
reduces the manufacturing costs and energy consumption [2,14],
improves the mechanical properties such as strength and durabil-
ity, and reduces shrinkage and permeability [15].
In the past decade a number of studies investigated the perfor-
mance of concrete containing sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA). It is
one the main agricultural by-products [16–18], which is produced
after burning bagasse in cogeneration plants of sugarcane indus-
tries. This material is non-usable and is landfilled, causing environ-
mental pollution [1]. Fig. 1 shows that Brazil and India are the
largest producers of SCBA in 2014, owing a share of 50% of the
world’s production volume.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.06.153
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
 S.A. Zareei et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 258–268 259

Iran lightweight, and self-compacting. Thereafter, the mechanical prop-

United States
Mexico 1% erties of specimens including compressive and tensile strength,
2% Other
2%
Guatmala 17% ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), impact resistance, and water
Brazil
2%
32%
absorption coefficient were evaluated through an extensive exper-
Colombia imental program.
2%
Australia
3% 2. Experimental program
Pakistan
4% India
Thailand 20% 2.1. Materials
7%
China
8% 2.1.1. Cement
Brazil India China Thailand Pakistan Australia In this research, cement type II, i.e., anti-sulfate with moderate
Colombia Guatmala United States Mexico Iran Other heat of hydration was used. The physical properties and chemical
composition of the cement are tabulated in Table 1.
Fig. 1. World production of sugarcane bagasse (thousand metric tons) in 2014 [19].

Bagasse burns at temperature levels between 500 and 550 °C
and produces raw bagasse ash. It is found that for every ten tons
of sugarcane crushed in a sugar mill, generally about three tons
of bagasse is produced [20]. The main constituents of SCBA include
cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, ash, and wax [21]. It is shown that
improvements in mechanical properties such as tensile and flexu-
ral strength, flexural modulus, hardness, and impact resistance can
be obtained by optimizing the processing methods, or applying
chemicals to produce modified supplementary materials [22].
Raw bagasse ash (BA) with large particle size and high porosity
requires more water, which results in lower compressive strength
of concrete; however, when ground up into small particles the
compressive strength significantly increases [23]. It was observed
that the compressive strength of concrete containing 15% BA as
partial replacement of cement had improved [24]. Radkeh et al
showed that strength properties slightly changed by replacing
cement with up to 10% BA and then the strength decreased with
higher values of BA. Rukzon et al. [25,26].
Results of some studies [25–28] reported improvements in
durability. Chemical and physical properties of hardened concrete
such as the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and
water absorption indicated the effects of incorporating SCBA in
concrete. Chusilp et al. [29] evaluated the mechanical properties
of concrete containing BA ranging from 3 to 10% and reported
improvements in strength compared to the reference sample. The
optimum percentage of BA was obtained equal to 30%, which led
to higher compressive strength and lower water permeability at
the ages of 28 and 90 days [30].
Payá, J., J. et al. reported that combustion produces ashes with
high amount of unburnt matter, silicon, and aluminum oxides
[31]. The pozzolanic materials contain high amount of amorphous
silica, which possibly react with the free lime produced from the
hydration of cement, leading to the formation of new silicate
hydrate, which significantly improves the mechanical properties
as well as the durability of concrete [28,32,33].
The purpose of this research is to utilize the sugarcane bagasse
ash (SCBA) as partial replacement of cement in concrete to reduce
the environmental impacts of disposing this waste material. For
this purpose, concrete specimens with 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25% SCBA
were manufactured for three types of concretes including ordinary,
2.1.2. SCBA
Sugarcane bagasse consists of approximately 50% of cellulose,
25% of hemicelluloses, and 25% of lignin [34]. Each ton of sugarcane
generates approximately 26% of bagasse at a moisture content of
50% and 0.62% of the residual ash [35]. The chemical composition
of the residual ash mainly consists of silicon dioxide (SiO2) [24].
The ash used in this study was brought from Seven Hills Province
located in Khuzestan city, Iran. The ash was dry and black and it
was heated at 700 °C for 1 h and then it was used to replace cement
at different percentages. Fig. 2 shows the raw and burnt SCBA
material. Fig. 3 shows the X-ray diffraction (XRD) of as-received
SCBA, where the high amount of quartz and calcite indicates bio-
mass burnt at a high temperature, which was in agreement with
the results obtained by Arif et al. [36], whose XRD data showed a
predominance of quartz with no or little pozzolanic activity. The
amount of quartz in SCBA is due to the presence of sand adhered
to the sugarcane. The amount of sand is about 2% in weight even
after washing the harvested sugarcane bagasse [37], which
increases after the loss of organic matter. Scanning electron micro-
scopy (SEM) was used to examine the microstructure of BA as
shown in Fig. 4. Burnt silica particles with irregular structure cause
lesser fluidity. The similar results were observed in the previous
studies on fly ash with spherical shape as the reason of better
workability [38] or in the case of silica-fume and metakoaline, with
lesser fluidity [39,40].
2.1.3. Micro-silica
The amount of micro-silica was controlled to be constant in all
mixes at 10% with particle size of 0.1 lm. As stated before, the poz-
zolanic properties of sugarcane bagasse ash is partly due to the
high volume of silica [29,41–43]. Paya et al. showed that combus-
tion produces ashes with high amount of unburnt matter, silicon,
and aluminum oxides [31]. Because of proper pozzolanic activity,
bagasse ash has been suggested as an excellent alternative com-
pendious material in some studies.
Furthermore, it was found that the particle size has a significant
effect on the pozzolanic activity of the ash, i.e., the smaller the par-
ticle size the larger the surface area, resulting in a greater reactivity
[44]. Cordeiro et al. concluded that a good correlation exists
between the specific surface area, that is, the surface area
associated with the measured particle size distribution, and the

Table 1
The physical properties of cement, SCBA, and micro-silica.

Properties Density Specified surface Compressive strength Bulk density Fineness Water Particle size
(g/cm3) area of Blain (g/cm2) at 28 days (MPa) (g/cm3) modulus absorption (lm)
Cement 3.17 3800 40.3 1.13 – – 13
SCBA 1.51 2600 – – 1.04 0.8 0.4  0.5
Micro-silica 2.33 2  105 – 0.65 – – 0.1  0.2
260 S.A. Zareei et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 258–268

Fig. 2. (a) Raw dry sugarcane, (b) SCBA.

was shown that BA particles are smaller than that of cement, while
Q Q: Quartz micro-silica particles are much smaller than that of BA and cement.
C: Crystobalite
Ca Ca: Calcite It was found that the particle size has a significant effect on the
pozzolanic activity of the ash, i.e., the smaller the particle size the
larger the surface area resulting in a greater reactivity [44].
X-ray counts

Q Cordeiro et al. [45] concluded that a good correlation exists

C between the specific surface area, that is, the surface area associ-
C ated with the measured particle size distribution, and the poz-
CQ
Q Q Q zolanic activity of the residual RHA. Fig. 5 shows the particle size
distribution of SCBA. The particle size distribution was obtained
by using a LA-960 Laser Particle Size Analyzer HORIBA. It was
shown that BA particles are smaller than that of cement, while
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
micro-silica particles are much smaller than that of BA and cement.
2 (Cu K radiation)
The physical and chemical properties of cement, SCBA, and
Fig. 3. X-ray diffraction pattern of SCBA. micro-silica are tabulated in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.

pozzolanic activity of the residual RHA. Fig. 5 shows the particle 2.1.4. Aggregates
size distribution of SCBA [42]. The particle size distribution was Crushed gravel with particle size of 4.75–19 mm and density of
obtained by using a LA-960 Laser Particle Size Analyze HORIBA. It 2650 kg/m3 were used as coarse aggregates for ordinary and

Fig. 4. SEM micrograph of fine fibrous particles of SCBA.

 S.A. Zareei et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 258–268 261

100 micro-silica were considered for all concrete mixtures. In the mix-
90 ing process, dry materials were firstly poured in the mixer to be
80 mixed for 2 min. Then, half of the required water and cementitious
Passing percentage (%)

70 materials were added to the mixture and mixed for 3 min. Finally,
60 a solution made from remaining water and the super-plasticizer
50 were added to be mixed for 5 min. The paste preparation method,
40 type of mixer, and time of adding super-plasticizer are among the
30 key factors influencing cement and super-plasticizer interaction
20
[46]. The cast specimens were demoulded after 24 h and were
10
immersed in water at 23 °C to be cured until the required age,
0
1 10 100 i.e., 28 days. The concretes mix designs are presented in Table 3.
Sieve mesh size (µm)
Cement Silica fume SCBA
2.3. Methods
Fig. 5. Particle size distribution of cement, silica fume, and SCBA.
Table 4 presents the standard test methods used to evaluate the
fresh and hardened concrete properties. For the fresh ordinary and
Table 2 lightweight concrete, slump test was conducted according to ASTM
The chemical composition of cement, SCBA, and micro-silica. C143/C143M-12 [47] and fresh density was determined based on
Compound Na2 O Cao K2O Fe2 O3 SiO2 Al2 O3 MgO ASTM C138/C138M-14. For the fresh self-compacting concrete
Cement 0.1 66.1 0.6 2.5 21.5 6 2 (SCC) some specific tests were conducted. These tests are designed
SCBA 0.87 8.17 1.32 5.47 64.23 9.08 2.97 to evaluate the fresh SCC in terms of filling ability, passing ability,
Micro-silica 0.29 0.11 0.25 1.1 95 1.12 0.14 and resistance to segregation. In this study, T50, V funnel, and
L-Box tests were carried out to determine the fresh self-
self-compacting concretes. High durable pumice with the density compacting concrete properties. Further, for the hardened concrete
of 700 kg/m3 was used for the lightweight concrete. Graded river different tests were performed to determine the mechanical prop-
sand brought from Sofeh mine located in Isfahan with the particle erties of each concrete. To investigate the effects of bagasse ash on
size of 0–5 mm and specified weight of 2570 kg/m3 was used as compressive strength of concrete, three cubic samples with the
fine aggregate. Crushed limestone with fineness modules less than dimensions of 15  15  15 cm were prepared for each mixture,
125 lm was used as coarse aggregates to increase the powdered resulting in 54 specimens and were tested at the age of 28 days
materials in SCC mixtures. according to ASTM C39/C39M-14 standard test method [48]. A
total number of 54 cylindrical samples with the dimensions of
15  30 cm were used to evaluate the tensile strength of concrete
2.2. Concrete mix design specimens in accordance with ASTM C496/C496M-11 [49]. To
determine the impact resistance of concrete, two samples with
An extensive experimental study was conducted on concretes the dimensions of 10  10  10 cm were made for each mixture
containing sugarcane bagasse ash. For this purpose, cement was to test the impact resistance of concrete specimens according to
partially replaced with 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% bagasse ash in ASTM G544 [50]. Water absorption ratio was evaluated using 18
three types of concrete including ordinary, lightweight, and self- cubic specimens with the dimensions of 15  15  15 cm at the
compacting. A constant water to cement ratio of 0.4 and 10% age of 28 days according to ASTM C642-13 [51].

Table 3
Concrete mix design.

Concrete Mix code W/b BA (%) Cement Micro- Water Gravel Pumice (kg/m3) Sand Limestone Super Plasticizer
(kg/m3) silica (%) (kg/m3) (kg/m3) (pumice) (kg/m3 ) powder plasticizer (kg/m3 )
(kg/m3 )
OCBA CTL 0.40 0 400 10 180 900 – 760 – – 15
OCBA5 0.40 5 380 10 180 900 – 760 – – 15
OCBA10 0.40 10 360 10 180 900 – 760 – – 15
OCBA15 0.40 15 340 10 180 900 – 760 – – 15
OCBA20 0.40 20 320 10 180 900 – 760 – – 15
OCBA25 0.40 25 300 10 180 900 – 760 – – 15
LWCBA CTL 0.40 0 450 10 200 – 360 500 – – 15
LWCBA5 0.40 5 428 10 200 – 360 500 – – 15
LWCBA10 0.40 10 405 10 200 – 360 500 – – 15
LWCBA15 0.40 15 383 10 200 – 360 500 – – 15
LWCBA20 0.40 20 360 10 200 – 360 500 – – 15
LWCBA25 0.40 25 338 10 200 – 360 500 – – 15
SCCBA CTL 0.40 0 450 10 198 350 – 520 150 20 –
SCCBA5 0.40 5 428 10 198 350 – 520 150 20 –
SCCBA10 0.40 10 405 10 198 350 – 520 150 20 –
SCCBA15 0.40 15 383 10 198 350 – 520 150 20 –
SCCBA20 0.40 20 360 10 198 350 – 520 150 20 –
SCCBA25 0.40 25 338 10 198 350 – 520 150 20 –

CTL: control.
OCBA: ordinary concrete in which SCBA was used in partial substation for cement by weight.
LWCBA: lightweight concrete in which SCBA was used in partial substation for cement by weight.
SCCBA: SCC in which cement was replaced partially with SCBA by weight.
262 S.A. Zareei et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 258–268

Table 4 80
Standard test methods to determine concrete properties in fresh and hardened states.

Compressive strength (MPa)

70
test Standard age 60
Slump test ASTM C143/C143M-12 Fresh concrete 50
Fresh density ASTM C138/C138M-14 Fresh concrete
40
Water absorption ASTM C642-13 28 Day
Compressive strength ASTM C39/C39M-14 28 Day 30
Splitting tensile strength ASTM C496/C496M-11 28 Day 20
Impact resistance test ASTM G544 28 Day
10
Ultrasonic pulse velocity ASTM C 137/C 597–16 28 Day
0
CTL 5 10 15 20 25
3. Results and discussion SCBA percent

3.1. Fresh concrete OCBA LWCBA SCCBA

Fig. 8. Compressive strength for different concrete mixtures.

Slump test was performed to evaluate the fresh concrete work-
ability for ordinary and lightweight concretes. Fig. 6 shows the
effects of SCBA on the fresh concrete workability. As seen, the 30

Compressive strength variations by

slump value increases with increasing values of SCBA. Fig. 7 illus- 20
trates the effects of SCBA on the fresh concrete density. It is 10
observed that the fresh density decreases with increasing values 0
of SCBA. This is due to the fact that SCBA has a much lower density -10
5 10 15 20 25

percent
compared to cement, thus, replacing a part of cement with SCBA -20
decreases the density of the mixture Figs. 8 and 9 -30
For the self-compacting concrete some specific tests were con- -40
ducted. T50 test measures the time for the fresh concrete flow to -50
reach 500 mm in diameter. The V funnel test measures the time -60
that a defined volume of SCC passes a narrow opening. L-box test -70
method aims to evaluate the passing and blocking ability of SCC. SCBA percent
In this test, after the gate of the test equipment is released, the
OCBA LWCBA SCCBA
time that the concrete spreads along 200–400 mm in vertical part
is measured. Table 5 presents the fresh concrete test results for the Fig. 9. Compressive strength variations.
self-compacting concrete.

Table 5
140 SCC test results.
120 Mixture T50 V funnel L Box
100 L Box (h2/h1) L Box (time to reach 200 mm)
Slump (mm)

80 SCCBA0 4 10.3 0.85 1.35

SCCBA5 3.1 8.6 0.73 1.59
60
SCCBA10 2.9 8.7 0.69 1.87
40 SCCBA15 2.5 8.9 0.69 2.1
SCCBA20 2.3 6 0.53 2.2
20 SCCBA25 1.9 5.3 0.93 2.5
0
CTL 5 10 15 20 25
SCBA percent
Summarily, increasing the amount of BA incorporation, results
OCBA LWCBA SCCBA in a concrete with higher slump and flowability. Time taken to
reach 500 mm for all mixes was in the range of 1–5 s as an indica-
Fig. 6. Slump test results. tion of sufficient plastic viscosity. For 20% SCBA, the workability is
acceptable, while addition of SCBA in excess of this level cause
unworkability and lack of appropriate slump.
2600
Increasing the SCBA value improved concrete filling and passing
2400
ability for SCC. SCCBA25 clearly showed the best results in SCCBA.
Fresh density (kg/m3)

2200
As shown in Fig. 6, the reduction of slump was apparent in OCBA,
2000 LWCBA, and SCCBA mixes for BA content of 10%. Filling ability
1800 measurements of SCC showed that the concrete with 10%–20%
1600 BA content exhibited high workability, i.e., slump values increased
1400 with an increase in BA content. The similar results were observed
1200
in concrete containing 15% and 20% SCBA.
1000
CTL 5 10 15 20 25
3.2. Compressive strength
SCBA percent

OCBA LWCBA SCCBA

The compressive specimens, i.e., cubic samples with the side
length of 15 cm, were tested through a stress-controlled process
Fig. 7. Fresh density of different concrete types. (0.15–0.30 MPa/s) by using a hydraulic jack. Based on the results,
 S.A. Zareei et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 258–268 263

the compressive strength was generally decreased. For example, 10

Tensile strength variations by percent

partial replacement of cement with 15, 20, and 25% BA resulted
0
in a reduction in compressive strength by 8, 24, and 35%, respec- 5 10 15 20 25
tively. The compressive strength of LWCBA mixtures containing -10
up to 5% BA increased by 13%, then it decrease by 12%. Further
increase in BA content up to 25% resulted in strength reduction -20
up to 3%. It is notable that the compressive strength of SCCBA
decreased about 50% for the mixture containing 25% BA. -30

Any increase in the strength is attributable to transformation of

-40
CH into CSH due to pozzolanic reaction as stated by [52,53]. In all
samples except for the lightweight concrete, reduction in strength -50
SCBA percent
was observed by increasing BA content compared to the control
sample, which indicates the low pozzolanic reactivity of BA due
OCBA LWCBA SCCBA
to the formation of hydroxide during burning and grinding pro-
cesses. The same observation was made by [54,55]. Fig. 11. Correlation between tensile strength and BA percentage.

3.3. Splitting tensile test

The splitting tensile strength test was conducted on cylindrical
specimens with the dimensions of 15  30 cm. The splitting tensile
strength is calculated as below [56]:
T ¼ 2P=pld
where T is the splitting tensile strength, P refers to the maximum
applied load, and l and d represent the length and diameter of the
specimen, respectively.
Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate the effects of different BA percentages
on the tensile strength of different concrete types. As seen, increas-
ing the BA content in the concrete mixtures reduces the tensile
strength except for LWCBA in which strength remained constant
by 5% incorporation of SCBA. Replacing 10%, 15%, 20% of cement
with BA reduced the tensile strength by 17%, 2%, 12%, while 25%
BA content led to 2% increase in the tensile strength compared to
the reference sample.
Incorporation of 5% BA led to 8% and 4% reduction of tensile
strength of OCBA and SCCBA, respectively. A drastic loss in tensile
As seen in Fig. 12, a direct relationship between the tensile and
compressive strength is observed.
3.4. Impact resistance test
ð1Þ
This test examines the behavior of a material subjected to a
shock which may cause cracking, deformation, or complete rupture
of the material. Most common types of this test include the Charpy
V-notch test, the Izod test, and the Tensile Impact test. Normally,
the number of required impacts to reach a crack width of 2.5 cm
is reported.
As shown in Figs. 12 and 13, impact resistance of LWCBA and
SCCBA samples increased by 36% and 53% by adding 5% BA, how-
ever, it decreased by 37% and 44%, respectively, when 10% BA
was incorporated in the mixtures. Addition of 15% BA led to a
5
y = 0.0707x + 0.964
R² = 0.6663
Tensile strength (MPa)

4.5
strength was observed in all three types of concrete by adding 20%
BA (29% reduction in OCBA, 11% in LWCBA, and 30% in SCCBA). The 4
maximum reduction occurred in specimens with BA content of y = 0.0855x - 0.7482
y = 0.0645x + 1.0437
25%, where 40% and 33% reduction occurred in OCBA and SCCBA, 3.5 R² = 0.9942
R² = 0.9295
respectively.
3

3.3.1. Correlation between tensile strength and compressive strength 2.5

Correlation between tensile strength and compressive strength 20 30 40 50 60 70
was measured by the maximum correlation coefficient: Compressive strength (Mpa)

ft ¼ afc  b ð2Þ OCBA LWCBA SCCBA

where ft is the impact resistance or tensile strength recorded in Linear (OCBA) Linear (LWCBA) Linear (SCCBA)

MPa, fc denotes the compressive strength recorded in MPa, and a Fig. 12. Correlation between compressive strength and tensile strength.
and b are constants.

6
70
5
Tensile strength (MPa)

60
Impact resistance (Mpa)

4 50

3 40

2 30

20
1
10
0
CTL 5 10 15 20 25 0
CTL 5 10 15 20 25
SCBA percent
SCBA percent
OCBA LWCBA SCCBA OCBA LWCBA SCCBA

Fig. 10. The results of tensile strength test. Fig. 13. The results of impact resistance test.
264 S.A. Zareei et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 258–268

100 ture of 105 °C and then their weights were measured. Then, the
80 specimens were submerged into the cold water for 1 h and they
60 were weighted again in order to determine the water absorption
variations by percent

coefficient.
Impact resistance

40
20 As seen, the water permeability ratio of concrete increased with
0 increasing bagasse ash content, especially for BA content higher
5 10 15 20 25 than 15% in concrete at early ages. The highest water permeability
-20
-40 was observed in LWCBA. The water permeability ratios of 72%,
-60 107%, and 156% were obtained respectively for OCBA, SCCBA, and
-80 LWCBA containing 25% BA. The increase in water absorption of
-100 the concrete specimens can be due to the fact that cement was
SCBA percent replaced with SCBA, which increased the voids in the sample and
produced a more porous specimen.
OCBA LWCBA SCCBA

Fig. 14. Variations of impact resistance test results.

3.6. Ultrasonic pulse test
significant drop in impact resistance of SCCBA by 9%. Further
In this test, the strength and quality of the concrete specimen is
increase in BA content up to 25% led to an increase in impact resis-
determined by measuring the velocity of an ultrasonic pulse and
tance value of LWCBA and SCCBA up to 27% and 16%, respectively
the time taken to pass through a concrete specimen. Some param-
Figs. 14 and 15
eters such as density and elastic properties of the material signifi-
cantly affect the UPV variations. The transducers are placed on two
3.5. Concrete durability: short term water absorption
sides of the concrete sample and the pulse velocity is determined
by the following relation [57]:
Diffusion, migration, permeation, and convection are consid-
ered as transport mechanisms used in durability estimations [3]. Width of the specimen
The coefficient of water absorption is the average of two measure- Pulse velocity ¼
Time taken by pulse to go through the specimen
ments: the specimens were surface dried in an oven at a tempera-
ð3Þ
Strength, homogeneity, trapped air, internal flaws, crack occur-
5
rence, segregation, honeycombing, compaction, workmanship,
4.5 durability, and effectiveness of crack repair are of factors measured
Short term water absorption

4 by using this test [58]. This test was conducted after 28 days of
3.5 curing according to the provisions of ASTM C 137 and by using
3 Ultrasonic Concrete Tester 110–240 V 50/60 Hz 1Ph. The results
2.5 OCBA showed that addition of BA caused a slight reduction in UPV as seen
2 LWCBA in Fig. 16, which is in consistent with those reported in other works
1.5 SCCBA [59]. Some studies reported that any increase in the substitution of
1 cement by BA beyond 10% can negatively affect the compressive
0.5
strength of mortars and concretes [28,44,60–62]. UPV passing
through a solid is strongly influenced by density, elastic properties,
0
CLT 5 10 15 20 25 and phases involved inside the material [63,64]. In fact, the higher
SCBA percent the UPV is estimated, the material is denser. Furthermore, the sensi-
tivity of UPV is dependent on the age and strength of the concrete.
Fig. 15. Water absorption coefficient. The results of UPV test are given in Table 6 and Fig. 16.

4800

4600

4400 Perfect
4200
UPV (m/s)

4000

3800 Good
3600

3400

3200
Uncertain
3000
CTL 5 10 15 20 25
SBCA percent

OCBA LWCBA SCCBA

Fig. 16. UPV test results at 28 days.

 S.A. Zareei et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 258–268 265

Table 6
UPV test results at 28 days.

Mix UPV (m/s) Mix UPV (m/s) Mix UPV (m/s)

CTL1 4368 CTL2 3467 CTL3 4521
OCBA5 4345 LWCBA5 3558 SCCBA5 4476
OCBA10 4327 LWCBA10 3426 SCCBA10 4482
OCBA15 4362 LWCBA15 3512 SCCBA15 4438
OCBA20 4276 LWCBA20 3444 SCCBA20 4420
OCBA25 4223 LWCBA25 3461 SCCBA25 4402

It was also indicated that an increase in BA content led to higher in higher UPV. As it can be seen from the figures, the compressive
reductions of UPV in samples. Moreover, a significant beneficial strength positively contributes to UPV variations at 28 days, which
effect of the addition of 10% micro-silica on UPV was observed as can be translated into more reasonable relation found to be estab-
it was kept constant at a sufficient level. lished in later ages. Two factors are responsible for strength of OCBA
at early ages. First, the pozzolanic reaction can be highly activated
3.6.1. Correlation between UPV and compressive strength with small particle size, which increases the compressive strength
A sound correlation between UPV and compressive strength of the specimen. Second, filling ability of bagasse ash particles to fill
was observed as shown in Fig. 17. The following relationship is the voids and air spaces, which produces a denser concrete. If cali-
established between the aforementioned parameters: bration curve of specimens is provided at 90 days, compressive
strength estimations are closer to reality. At later ages variation of
f c ¼ aV  b ð4Þ UPV cause significant changes in the compressive strength [65,66].
It was reported that incorporation of SCBA from 10% to 20% in the
where V refers to the ultrasonic pulse velocity recorded in m/s. mixture led to a reduction in UPV values [44].
As seen, for higher compressive strength value higher UPV was
obtained, especially in concrete samples with higher densities. Fur-
thermore, the effects of incorporating BA was more pronounced in 3.6.2. Correlation between UPV and water absorption coefficient
SCCBA in comparison with OCBA. The highest UPV was obtained in According to the results a negative correlation was observed
SCCBA as an indication of the direct relationship between UPV and between water absorption coefficient and UPV as shown in
compressive strength variations in self-compacting concrete sam- Fig. 18. Concrete containing bagasse ash showed less UPV values
ples with R-square of 0.88. The same trend was observed for LWCBA with increasing values of water absorption ratio due to the
samples: an increase in BA content in lightweight concrete resulted microstructure changes in the cementitious matrix. Higher ratios

65 51
Compressive strength (MPa)

Compressive strength (MPa)

y = 0.1435x - 564.91 49 y = 0.0674x - 191.58

60 R² = 0.9701 R² = 0.7759
47
55 45
43
50 41
39
45
37
40 35
4200 4250 4300 4350 4400 3400 3450 3500 3550 3600
UPV m/s UPV m/s

BA Linear (BA) BM Linear (BM)

(a) (b)
50
Compressive strength (MPa)

45 y = 0.1931x - 824.72
R² = 0.8842
40

35

30

25

20
4350 4400 4450 4500 4550
UPV m/s
BMP Linear (BMP)
(c)
Fig. 17. Correlation between UPV and the compressive strength; (a) Ordinary concrete, (b) Lightweight concrete, (c) Self-compacting concrete.
266 S.A. Zareei et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 258–268

4500 4 3600 5

Water absorption coeficient

Water absorption coeficient

4
4400 3
3500

UPV m/s
UPV m/s
3
4300 2
2
3400
4200 1 1

3300 0
4100 0

SCBA percent SCBA percent

UPV WA UPV WA
(a) (b)
4600 4

Water absorption coeficient

3
4500
UPV m/s

2
4400
1

4300 0

SCBA percent
UPV WA
(c)
Fig. 18. Correlation between UPV and water absorption coefficient; (a) Ordinary concrete, (b) Lightweight concrete, (c) Self-compacting concrete.

of water permeability led to lower quality of concrete texture,
especially in lightweight concrete samples.
4. Conclusions
The paper studied the effects of partial replacement of cement
with sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) on the fresh and hardened con-
crete properties. For this purpose, an extensive experimental pro-
gram was designed in which mechanical properties of three
types of concrete including ordinary, lightweight, and self-
compacting concrete containing different amounts of SCBA were
examined. To investigate the effects of SCBA on fresh concrete
properties, slump and fresh density tests were conducted on ordi-
nary and lightweight concretes, while T50, V funnel, and L-
Box tests were carried out on SCC samples. For the hardened con-
crete, mechanical tests including compressive strength, tensile
strength, impact resistance, water absorption, and ultrasonic pulse
velocity test were performed. Based on the experiment results, the
following conclusions were drawn:
SCBA. Inability of SCBA to fill the pores of concrete was the rea-
son of increased amount of water absorption.
- It was found that incorporation of SCBA up to 5% improved the
performance of concrete in terms of durability and impact
resistance.
- UPV tests indicated that the optimum cement replacement of
SCBA was 15%, 5%, and 10% in ordinary, lightweight, and self-
compacting concretes, respectively.
- Increase in water absorption in OCBA concrete is possibly due to
the low ability of bagasse ash aggregates to fill the pores.
- SCC specified tests indicated that concrete passing and flowabil-
ity increased with an increase in BA content. Accordingly, the
optimum amount of replacing cement with SCBA was deter-
mined 5% for SCC.
5. Conflict of interest
None.
Acknowledgement

- In general, partial replacement of cement with SCBA improved

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge Mr. Parham
the performance of lightweight concrete more than the other
Shoaei and Ms. Reyhaneh Rezaeian for their help and fruitful com-
concrete types.
ments during this study.
- The compressive and tensile strength tests results indicated
that 5% SCBA content improved the strength properties of ordi-
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