Potential Use of Volcanic Pumice as a Construction Material
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 16, Issue 6
Abstract
Volcanic pumice (VP) from Papua New Guinea was investigated and assessed for its industrial utilization. The compressive strength of several concrete mixtures using pumice as lightweight coarse and fine aggregates in different percentages was found acceptable and satisfied the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) requirement for lightweight structural concrete. Pozzolanic activity of pumice powder as a cement additive was tested according to the Italian standards and found to be acceptable. The strength activity index with Portland cement and the effectiveness of pumice admixture as cement additive in controlling alkali–silica reactions and autoclave expansion, satisfied the ASTM requirements. The utilization of VP as a heat-insulating material was tested and the results were also found to satisfy the ASTM requirements. This fact suggests that VP can be utilized in the manufacture of building blocks. The manufacturing of heat-insulating concrete or building blocks using pumice is of prime importance as an energy saver.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (1997). “Test method for air content for freshly mixed concrete by pressure method.” ASTM C 231, Philadelphia.
2.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (1998). “Test method for normal consistency of hydraulic cement.” ASTM C 187, Philadelphia.
3.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (1999). “Standard specification for lightweight aggregates for insulating concrete.” ASTM C332, Philadelphia.
4.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (2000a). “Specification for lightweight aggregates for structural concrete.” ASTM C330, Philadelphia.
5.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (2000b). “Standard specification for coal fly ash and raw or calcined natural pozzolan for use as a mineral admixture in concrete.” ASTM C 618, Philadelphia.
6.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (2000c). “Standard test method for autoclave expansion of Portland cement.” ASTM C 151, Philadelphia.
7.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (2000d). “Standard test methods for sampling and testing fly ash or natural pozzolans for use as a mineral admixtures in Portland cement concrete.” ASTM C 311, Philadelphia.
8.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (2000e). “Standard test method for slump of hydraulic cement concrete.” ASTM C 143, Philadelphia.
9.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (2001a). “Standard test method for compressive strength of cylindrical concrete specimens.” ASTM C39, Philadelphia.
10.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). (2001b). “Standard test method for sieve analysis of fine and coarse aggregate.” ASTM C136, Philadelphia.
22.
British Standards Institution (BSI). (1983). “Method for determination of compressive strength of concrete cubes.” Milton-Keynes, BS 1881, part 116, London.
12.
Canadian Standard Association (CSA) Standard. (1994). “Design of concrete structures.” CSA 23.3-94, Rexdale, Ont., Canada, 〈http/www.csa.ca〉.
13.
FIP. (1983). FIP manual of lightweight aggregate concrete, 2nd Ed., Surrey University Press, Surrey, England.
14.
Hossain, K.M. A. (1998). “Volcanic ash and pumice based blended cement.” Proc., 23rd Conf. on Our World in Concrete & Structures Incorporating 3rd Int. Seminar on Blended Cements, Volume XVII, Singapore, 297–302.
15.
Hossain, K.M. A. (1999a). “Fire durability of lightweight volcanic pumice concrete with special reference to thin walled filled sections.” Durability of building material and components 8, Vols. 1–4, Canadian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI), NRC Research Press, NRC No. 42738, Ottawa, 149–158.
16.
Hossain, K.M. A. (1999b). “Properties of volcanic ash and pumice concrete.” IABSE Rep., Vol. 80, 145–150.
17.
Hossain, K.M. A. (2001a). “The impact of 1994 Rabaul Volcanic eruptions and disaster monitoring and mitigation measures.” Proc., Int. Conf.: Cities on Volcanoes 2, Session: Volcanic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation, Auckland, New Zealand and Zurich, Switzerland.
18.
Hossain, K.M. A. (2001b). “Use of volcanic ash and pumice in the rehabilitation projects for volcanic areas of PNG.” Proc., Int. Conf.: Cities on Volcanoes 2, Session: Infrastructural Impacts and Damage Assessment, Auckland, New Zealand.
19.
Italian Chemical Society. (1954). “Symposium on pozzolans and their use.” Ann. Chim. (Rome), 44, 569–768.
20.
Kostmatka, S.H., Kerkhoff, B., Panarese, W.C., Macleod, N.F., and McGrath, R.J., (2002). “Design and control of concrete mixtures.” 7th Canadian Ed., Engineering Bulletin 101, Cement Association of Canada, Canada.
21.
Neville, A.M. (1995). Properties of concrete, 4th Ed., Longman Group Limited, Essex, England.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 16 • Issue 6 • December 2004
Pages: 573 - 577
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 ASCE.
History
Published online: Nov 15, 2004
Published in print: Dec 2004
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.