Pozzolanic Influence of Bagasse Ash on the Compressive Strength and Dry Shrinkage of Concrete

Partial replacement of cement by pozzolans has been reported to be beneficial to the construction industries. Some of the benefits include higher compressive strength, better resistance to aggressive compound or ions such as chloride ion, sulphate and mild acid. There is the need to analyse some emerging agro-based potential supplementary cementitious materials for their suitability as pozzolans and establish their required optimum dosages for maximum benefits before they can be confidently accepted as pozzolans. Therefore, this research work aims at investigating the suitability of sugarcane bagasse ash as pozzolans; through the determination of its chemical composition, compressive strength and drying shrinkage of the concrete produced from it. Concrete cubes of size 150 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm were produced and crushed at various mass percentage replacement of ordinary Portland cement with bagasse ash at 2% interval from 0% to 18% in order to determine their compressive strength. The drying shrinkage was also determined by using concrete specimens of 75 mm × 75 mm × 250mm dimension at various pozzolanic percentage replacements. The result shows that partial replacement of bagasse ash with ordinary Portland cement will give an improved concrete in terms of compressive strength and with no significant alteration to the drying shrinkage. The optimum mix percentage replacement of ordinary Portland cement with sugarcane bagasse ash was obtained at 12%.