COMPARISON OF THE MECHANICAL AND TRANSPORT BEHAVIOR OF PIT SAND AND QUARRY DUST CONCRETE

In recent times, there is growing interest among many countries in the global south in the use of manufactured sand (quarry dust) for concrete production instead of natural sand (pit sand), the traditional sand for concrete formulation. However, the engineering data underpinning the interest in the use of quarry dust is not well documented. In this study, a comparative investigation was made between the use of the two fine aggregates, quarry dust (QD), and pit sand (PS). Two different batches of concrete with a strength class of 30MPa were prepared. The engineering parameters investigated included compressive strength, water absorption, porosity, and chloride penetration. The late strength of 28 and 56 days of pit sand (PS) was approximately 18 and 19% higher than quarry dust (QD). The chloride penetration at the late curing period of 28 and 56 days for pit sand was 4 and 7% lower than the quarry dust concrete. The test results indicated that the strengths and transport properties of the pit sand concrete performed much better than those of the quarry dust concrete