First International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering and Technology

Experimental Study of Artificial Sand Concrete

M. R. Chitlange,

Dr. P. S. Pajgade,

Dr. P. B. Nagarnaik,

Head,
Applied Mechanics Dept.,
Government Polytechnic,
Aurangabad.

Prof. & Head, Civil Engg. Dept.,

Prof. Ram Meghe Institute of
Technology & Research,
Badnera, Amravati.

Prof. & Head,

Civil Engineering Dept.,
G. H. Raisoni College of Engineering,
Nagpur.

mrchitlange1@rediffmail.com

ati_ppajgade@sancharnet.in

pbnagarnaik@rediffmail.com

crushers specially designed for producing cubical,

comparatively smooth textured, well graded sand are
good enough to replace natural sand partially or fully.
Tests were conducted on cubes and beams to study
the strength of concrete made of quarry rock dust and
results were compared with the natural sand concrete.

Abstract
Conventionally concrete is a mix of cement, sand and
aggregate. There is a large variation in the strength of
concrete due to variation in the strength of aggregates
used. There is scarcity of natural sand due to heavy
demand in growing construction activities which
forces to find the suitable substitute. The cheapest and
the easiest way of getting substitute for natural sand is
by crushing natural stone to get artificial sand of
desired size and grade which would be free from all
impurities. This paper presents the feasibility of the
usage of artificial sand obtained by crushing basalt
over
natural
sand
considering
technical,
environmental and commercial factors. For the
purpose of experimentation concrete mixes are
designed for M20, M30 and M40 grades by 100%
replacement of natural sand to artificial sand.
Compressive and flexural tests are conducted to study
the strength of concrete using artificial sand and the
results are compared with that of natural sand
concrete.

2. Literature review
It was found that the compressive flexural strength
and durability studies of concrete made of quarry rock
dust were nearly 10% more than those of conventional
concrete(1). It was reported the significant increase in
compressive strength, tensile strength, and modulus of
rupture for M20 and M30 concrete mixes with 20%
and 40% replacement of natural sand with stone dust.
The workability of the concrete mixes decreased with
an increase in percentage of stone dust.(2) Concrete
with stone crusher dust was reported to show 17%,
7%, 20% higher compressive, tensile, flexural
strengths respectively than those of conventional
concrete. The differences in the strengths were
possibly due to the sharp edges of stone dust providing
stronger bond with cement compared to the rounded
shape of river sand. (3) In another study the concrete
made of stone dust of about 48 MPa strength showed
10%, 24%, and 26% higher strength in compression,
tension, and flexural tension respectively over the
controlled concrete(4). It was tried experimentally to
explore the use of crusher dust, stone chips and fly ash
in self compacting concrete. Test results indicated that
for SCC sufficiently low water to powder ratio can be
attained even with the use of crusher dust, leading to
high compressive strength. (5) It indicates that water
requirement is higher in such concrete to maintain
desired workability. The compressive, flexural and
bond strength were improved in with partial
replacement of natural sand by crusher rock dust but
slump value of fresh concrete was significantly
reduced(6).

Key Words - Natural sand, Artificial sand,

Concrete mix, Super plasticizer, Compressive
strength, Flexural strength.
1. Introduction
Concrete is the most widely used versatile building
material all over the world. Concrete technology has
made significant advances in recent years which
results in economical improvement of the strength of
concrete. This economical development depends up on
the intelligent use of the locally available materials.
One of the important constituent of conventional
concrete is natural sand, which is expensive and
scarce. In the process of producing widely used 20
mm and 10 mm nominal size of aggregate, a
significant amount of crusher dust and stone chips in
the size range of 2 to 6 mm are obtained. The modern

978-0-7695-3267-7/08 $25.00 2008 IEEE

DOI 10.1109/ICETET.2008.164

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It is seen from the above studies, there is a large

variation in the strength enhancement of the concrete
made from artificial sand. This variation may be due
to the type and strength of the parent rock, the size and
shape of the particle, the dust content, etc. To
encourage the use of locally available artificial sand,
promotes the study to check its suitability in the
concrete.

conditions. The mixes are designed for M20, M30 and

M40 concrete with 100% replacement of natural sand
by artificial sand. For comparison of behavior of
natural and artificial sand, the natural sand was sieved
and used in the same proportion as the percentages of
fractions observed in artificial sand. All other
ingredients of concrete i.e. cement, coarse aggregate,
water cement ratio were kept same. To restrict the
water cement ratio to 0.5 with desired workability,
accelerating super plasticizer was used as admixture in
the percentage of cement weight. The adopted mixes
proportions by weight batching method are
summarized in table 6.

3. Materials
3.1 Cement
Ordinary Portland Cement Birla Super of 53 grade
confirming to IS 12269 1987 was used. The physical
properties are tabulated in table 1.

No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Table 2
Physical properties of fine aggregate
Property
Natural sand Artificial
sand
Specific gravity
2.60
2.73
Bulk density kg/m3
1560
1762
Fineness modulus
2.66
3.01

Table 1
Physical properties of Cement
Property
Value
Specific gravity
3.10
Fineness m2/kg
297
Normal consistency
30.50 %
Initial setting time
164 minute
Final setting time
244 minute
Soundness
0.90 mm
7 days Compressive strength
49.2 MPa

Table 3
Sieve analysis details of Natural and Artificial Sand
IS Sieve
Percentage Passing
Designation Natural sand
Artificial sand
4.75 mm
100
100
2.36 mm
85.25
76.70
1.18 mm
70.62
51.40
600 micron
54.80
35.20
300 micron
18.2
20.70
150 micron
5.00
15.00

3.2 Fine aggregate

Natural sand obtained from the river and normally
available in the market was used. The artificial sand
obtained from local crusher was used. The physical
properties of natural and artificial sands are listed in
table 2. The sieve analysis details are given in table 3.
Both types of fine aggregates are confirming to zone II
of IS 383-1970. Details of sieve analysis are shown in
figure 1.

Table No. 4
Physical properties of coarse aggregate
No.
Property
Value
1
Specific gravity
2.96
2
Bulk density kg/m3
1620
3
Fineness modulus 25mm (A1)
7.57
4
Fineness modulus 12.5mm (A2)
6.13

3.3 Coarse aggregate

Table 5
Details of sieve analysis of Coarse Aggregate
IS Sieve
Percentage Passing
Designation
25 mm (A1)
12.5mm (A2)
40 mm
100
--20 mm
42.42
100
10 mm
0.30
83.0
4.75 mm
0.24
3.4
2.36 mm
-0.1
1.18 mm
--600 micron
--300 micron
--150 micron
---

Crushed natural rock stone aggregate of nominal

size up to 25 mm (A1) and aggregate passing 12.5 mm
(A2) were used. The aggregates A1 and A2 are
proportioned by trial in the mixes. The physical
properties of these coarse aggregates are listed in table
4. The sieve analysis details of (A1) 25 mm and (A2)
12.5 mm coarse aggregate are shown in table 5 and in
figure 2.

4. Concrete Mix Design

Concrete mixes were designed in accordance with
IS 10262-1982 and IS 456-2000 by assuming good
degree of quality control and moderate exposure

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Table 6
Concrete Mix Proportions (kg)
Material
M20
M30
Cement
310
385
Artificial sand
612
590
Coarse aggregate A1
520
504
Coarse aggregate A2
780
755
Water
155
174
Super plasticizer (Lit)
3.1
3.85
Slump value (mm)
90
75
Compaction factor
0.90
0.87
Water / Cement ratio
0.50
0.45
Cement/Aggregate ratio
1:6.16 1:4.80

Table 7
Compressive strength of concrete
Grade
Avg. 7days
Avg. 28 days
strength in MPa
strength in MPa
Natural Artificial Natural Artificial
Sand
Sand
Sand
Sand
M20
21.20
21.85
37.04
38.92
M30
26.15
26.65
41.85
43.76
M40
29.86
30.35
47.84
49.65

M40
450
556
480
720
180
4.5
55
0.87
0.40
1:3.90

Grade

5. Experimentation
The exact amount of concrete ingredients were
weighed and mixed thoroughly in laboratory concrete
mixer till the consistent mix was achieved. The
workability of fresh concrete was measured in terms
slump value and compaction factor. The standard
cubes of 150 mm size and beams of 100x100x500
were cast in steel moulds and compacted on a
vibrating table. Six cubes and six beams of each grade
with natural and artificial sand were cast for testing.
The specimens were cured in water for 7 and 28 days
by immersion. The cubes were tested after 7 and 28
days curing and the average strength was calculated.
The acceptance criteria using IS 456-2000 is followed.
The results are tabulated in table 7 and plotted in
figure 3 and figure 4. The beam specimens were tested
under two point loads for flexural strength after 7 and
28 days of curing. The average values are listed in
table 8 and shown in figure 5.

M20
M30
M40

Table 8
Flexural strength of concrete
Avg. 7 days
Avg. 28 days
strength MPa
strength MPa
Natural Artificial Natural Artificial
Sand
Sand
Sand
Sand
3.05
3.25
4.83
5.15
3.35
3.55
5.05
5.43
3.63
3.86
5.41
5.85

3. The percentage increase in flexural strength at the

end of 7 days for artificial sand concrete is 6.55%,
5.97% and 6.33% for M20, M30 and M40 grades of
concrete respectively over natural sand concrete.
4. The percentage increase in flexural strength at the
end of 28 days for artificial sand concrete is 6.62%,
7.52% and 8.13% for M20, M30 and M40 grades of
concrete respectively over natural sand concrete.
5. It is observed that use of admixture is necessary in
all grades of concrete to restrict water cement ratio
to 0.5 and below.
6. The excessive bleeding of concrete is reduced by
using artificial sand.
7. It can be seen that mixes with artificial sand as fine
aggregate gives consistently higher strength than the
mixes with natural sand. The sharp edges of the
particles in artificial sand provide better bond with
cement than the rounded particles of natural sand
resulting in higher strength.
8. The purchase cost of artificial sand is about 70% to
that of natural sand and considering cost of
screening, washing and wastage due to oversize
particles of natural sand, the artificial sand concrete
may be 20% cheaper than that of natural sand
concrete.
9. The test results obtained from well planed and
carefully performed experimental programme
encourages the full replacement of natural sand by
artificial
sand
considering
the
technical,
environmental and commercial factors.

6. Conclusions
From the above results, following conclusions are
drawn.
1. It is observed from the figure 3, that the
compressive strength of M20, M30 and M40 grade
concrete at 7 days, using artificial sand is marginally
but consistently higher than the conventional
concrete using natural sand. The percentage increase
is 3.07% for M20, 1.92% for M30 and 1.64% for
M40 grade concrete, respectively.
2. From figure 4, the compressive strength of M20,
M30 and M40 grade concrete at 28 days using
artificial sand again consistently higher than the
conventional concrete using natural sand. The
percentage increase is 5.08%, 4.56% and 3.78% for
M20, M30 and M40 grade concrete respectively.

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Percentage passing

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Natural sand
Artificial sand

0.15mm

0.30mm

0.60mm

1.18mm

2.36mm

4.75mm

IS sieve designations

Percentage passing

Fig. 1 Sieve analysis of Fine Aggregates

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

A1 (25mm)
A2 (12.5mm)

1.18mm

2.36mm

4.75mm

10mm

20mm

40mm

IS sieve designations

Compresive Strength MPa

Fig. 2 Sieve analysis of Coarse Aggregates

30.35

29.86

30

26.65

26.15
21.85

21.2
20

M20
M30
M40

10

0
Natural sand

Artificial sand

Fig. 3 - Compressive strength at 7 days

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Compresive Strength MPa

60

49.65

47.84

50

41.85

37.04

40

43.76

38.92

M20
M30

30

M40

20
10
0
Natural sand

Artificial sand

Fig. 4 - Compressive strength at 28 days

Flexural strength MPa

7
6

4.83 5.05

5
4

3.05

3.35

3.63

3.25

3.55

5.41

5.15

5.43

5.85

3.86

M20
M30

M40

2
1
0
N.S. 7 days

A.S. 7 days

N. S. 28 days

A.S. 28 days

Fig. 5 Flexural strength at 28 days

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______ Code Of Practice for Plain &
Reinforced Concrete IS 456: 2000, Bureau
of Indian Standards, New Delhi.
______ Recommended Guidelines for
concrete mix Design, IS 10262: 1982,
Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi.
______ Specification for 53 Grade ordinary
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