Determination of uni-axial bending resistance of reinforced fly ash concrete columns

Abstract

As a by-product from coal burning of thermal power plants, fly ash has appropriate physical properties and chemical composition that can be utilised for the concrete industry, in a form of a fine-mineral additive to reduce cement up to 25% by mass and to enhance the workability of concrete. However, the negative effect of fly ash on the strength of reinforced concrete (RC) members has not been considered in current design provisions. Hence, the determination of uni-axial bending resistance of a basic member - RC column - having 20% cement weight replaced by fly ash is presented in this paper in the following research steps: (i) Experimental investigation on a number of 8 RC column specimens; (ii) Validation of test results with a number of code provisions including Eurocode 2, ACI 318-19, and TCVN 5574:2018; and (iii) Proposal of a simplified justification approach for TCVN 5574:2018 to be capable of modelling the reduction and predicting the uni-axial bending resistance of reinforced fly ash concrete columns.