International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology

E-ISSN 0976-3945

Research Article
AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE PROPERTIES
OF CONCRETE CONTAINING MANUFACTURED SAND
Priyanka A. Jadhava and Dilip K. Kulkarnib

Address for Correspondence

a

Research Scholar, Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Maharashtra,
India- 400 076.
b
Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Rajarambapu Institute of Technology Rajaramnagar,
Islampur, Maharashtra, India-420 409
ABSTRACT
The effect of water cement ratio on fresh and hardened properties of concrete with partial replacement of natural sand by
manufactured sand was investigated. Concrete mix design of M20 (2900 psi) grade was done according to Indian Standard
code (IS: 10262). Concrete cube, beam and cylindrical specimens were tested for evaluation of compressive, flexural and
split tensile strength respectively. Workability was measured in terms of slump and compacting factor. The concrete exhibits
excellent strength with 60% replacement of natural sand, so it can be used in concrete as viable alternative to natural sand.
This paper puts forward the applications of manufactured sand as an attempt towards sustainable development in India. It
will help to find viable solution to the declining availability of natural sand to make eco-balance.
KEY WORDS: manufactured sand, natural sand, aggregate, cement.

INTRODUCTION
Conventionally concrete is mixture of cement, sand
and aggregate. Properties of aggregate affect the
durability and performance of concrete, so fine
aggregate is an essential component of concrete. The
most commonly used fine aggregate is natural river
or pit sand. Fine and coarse aggregate constitute
about 75% of total volume. It is therefore, important
to obtain right type and good quality aggregate at
site, because the aggregate form the main matrix of
concrete or mortar [1, 2].
The global consumption of natural sand is very high,
due to the extensive use of concrete. In general, the
demand of natural sand is quite high in developing
countries to satisfy the rapid infrastructural growth,
in this situation developing country like India facing
shortage in good quality natural sand [3, 4].
Particularly in India, natural sand deposits are being
depleted and causing serious threat to environment as
well as the society. Increasing extraction of natural
sand from river beds causing many problems, loosing
water retaining sand strata, deepening of the river
courses and causing bank slides, loss of vegetation on
the bank of rivers, exposing the intake well of water
supply schemes, disturbs the aquatic life as well as
affecting agriculture due to lowering the underground
water table etc are few examples.
In past decade variable cost of natural sand used as
fine aggregate in concrete increased the cost of
construction. In this situation research began for
inexpensive and easily available alternative material
to natural sand. Some alternatives materials have
already been used as a part of natural sand e.g. flyash, slag limestone and siliceous stone powder were
used in concrete mixtures as a partial replacement of
natural sand [5]. However, scarcity in required
quality is the major limitation in some of the above
materials. Now a days sustainable infrastructural
growth demands the alternative material that should
satisfy technical requisites of fine aggregate as well
as it should be available abundantly.
Amnon and Hadassa (2006) studied the effect of high
levels of fines content on concrete properties. Hudson
B.P. (1997) has taken a review of various tests in his
article manufactured sand for concrete. Ilangovan et.
IJAET/Vol.III/ Issue II/April-June, 2012/101-104

al (2006) studies the strength and behaviour of

concrete by using crushed rock dust as fine
aggregate, they investigated the possibility of using
crushed rock as 100 % replacement for sand, with
varying compacting factors. Nagraj T.S. (2000)
studied the proportioning concrete mixes with rock
dust as fine aggregate. Safiuddin et. al (2007) carried
investigation on utilization of quarry waste fine
aggregate in concrete mixtures.
On this basis, manufactured sand offers viable
alternative. It is purpose made fine aggregate
produced by crushing and screening or further
processing i.e. washing, grading, classifying of
quarried rock, cobbles, boulders or gravels from
which natural fine aggregate had been removed.
RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
The main objective of the present work was to
systematically study the effect of water cement ratio
and percentage replacement of manufactured sand by
natural sand as 0.4, 0.45, 0.5, 0.55 and 0%, 20%,
40%, 60%, 80% and 100% respectively on the
strength propertied of concrete. The study was
carried out on M20 grade concrete with 0.5 water
cement ratio. Manufactured sand can be used as fine
aggregate, but it has to satisfy the technical requisites
like workability and strength. On this aspect research
on concrete with manufactured sand is scarce, so this
paper investigates the concrete produced with
manufactured sand.
MATERIALS
Aggregate: - Coarse aggregate (12mm [70%] and
10mm [30%] [0.5 and 0.4 in]) was used, which was
manufactured from locally available rock. Summary
of material properties were presented in Table 1
according to Indian Standard [6, 7]. Locally available
river sand as fine aggregate (4.75mm to 75 micron
[0.2 to 0.003 in]) was used. Manufactured sand
(4.75mm to 75 micron [0.2 to 0.003 in]) was used for
partial replacement to natural sand. Both fine
aggregate, natural and manufactured sand were from
zone II according to [6]. Sieve analysis and material
properties were presented in Table 1 and 2 according
to Indian Standards [6, 7].
Cement: - The cement used was 53 grade (Ordinary
Portland Cement) [13].

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology

E-ISSN 0976-3945

Table 1: Physical Properties of Materials.

Table 2: Details of Sieve Analysis of Natural Sand and Manufactured Sand.

Compressive strength was measured on 150mm (5.9

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
in) cubes and Split tensile strength was measured on
The strength [flexural, split tensile and compressive]
100mm (3.9 in) diameter and 200mm (7.9 in) height
and workability [slump and compacting factor] were
cylinder that were cured in water for 28 days and it
studied on concrete with partial replacement of
tested at 28 days on compression testing machine of
natural sand by manufactured sand. This paper
20 ton. Flexural strength was measured on 100 mm
extends the previous study [8] toward the change of
(3.9 in) width, 100mm (3.9 in) depth and 500mm
water cement ratio from 0.5 to 0.4, 0.45 and 0.55.
(19.7 in) length beam that were also cured in water
Table 3 presents the M20 grade concrete mix design
for 28 days and it tested on Universal Testing
for concrete and six trial mix series based on partial
Machine (UTM) of 60 ton, two point loading adopted
replacement of natural sand by manufactured sand
over an effective span of 400mm (15.7 in). Table 4
[8]. All of the experiments were performed in normal
and 5 presented the summary of workability and
room temperature. The concrete ingredients namely
strength test results of concrete respectively. The
coarse aggregate, fine aggregate and cement were
percentage increases in all three strength as compared
first mixed in dry state, then calculated amount of
with reference mix were seen in Table 5. For each
water was added and mix it thoroughly to get a
trial mix three cube, three beam and three cylinders
homogeneous concrete mix. Workability of fresh
were casted.
concrete was determined by the slump and
compacting factor test according to Indian standers
[10].
Table 3: Concrete Mix Design for M20 Grade.

Table 4: Workability of Fresh Concrete.

IJAET/Vol.III/ Issue II/April-June, 2012/101-104

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology

E-ISSN 0976-3945

Table 5: Test Results of Concrete

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fresh Concrete
Workability: - Increasing percentage replacement of
manufactured sand decreased the workability. As
compared to previous work [8], as water cement ratio
decreases workability decreases as seen in Table 4.
Manufactured sand consumes higher amount of water
to satisfy the workability.
Hardened Concrete
Concrete mixes revealed an increase of up to 12.61%
in compressive strength, 11.44% in split tensile
strength and 14.60% in flexural strength as a result of
replacement of manufactured sand up to 60% as seen
in Table 5 and Fig.1, 2 and 3 respectively.

of natural sand by manufactured sand will yield the

maximum strengths for concrete. In this study we
observe that the overall strength of concrete is higher
and workability is lower if results are compared with
reference mix.

Fig 3: Variation in Flexural strength of concrete.

Fig 1: Variation in compressive strength of

concrete.

Fig 2: Variation in Split tensile strength of

concrete.
Concrete with manufactured sand gives better surface
finishes as seen in Fig 4. It has been observed that the
compressive, split tensile and flexural strength of
concrete with replacement of natural sand by
manufactured sand goes on increasing up to 60%
replacement. This may be due to the fact that 60%
replacement of natural sand by manufactured sand
may show the optimum reaction with optimum filler
capacity. It can be concluded that 60% replacement
IJAET/Vol.III/ Issue II/April-June, 2012/101-104

Fig 4: Comparison of Surface Finishes

CONCLUSION
The effect of concrete with partial replacement of
manufactured sand on the properties of normal
strength concrete with water cement ratio of 0.45 and
28 days compressive, split tensile and flexural
strength of 20Mpa (2900 psi) and workability (slump
and compacting factor) were studied. The effect of
percentage replacement of manufactured sand on
strength property and workability were evaluated and
compared with reference mix of 0% replacement of
natural sand by manufactured sand.
1. The compressive, split tensile and flexural
strength of concrete with 60% replacement of
natural sand by manufactured sand reveals
higher strength as compared to reference mix.
2. The overall strength of concrete linearly
increases from 0%, 20%, 40% and 60%
replacement of natural sand by manufactured
sand as compared with reference mix (mix 1).
These results were compared with previous work
[8] then found that, present study gives better
strength and higher water cement ration gives
better workability.
3. Manufactured sand has a potential to provide
alternative to natural sand and helps in

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology

maintaining the environment as well as
economical balance. Non-availability of natural
sand at reasonable cost, forces to search for
alternative material. Manufactured sand qualifies
itself as suitable substitute for river sand at
reasonable cost. The manufactured sand found to
had good gradation and nice finish (See Fig. 4),
which was lacking in natural sand. This had been
resulted in good cohesive concrete. This sand is
considered as an ideal for concrete.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thanks to Dr. (Mrs) S. S.
Kulkarni, Principal Rajarambapu Institute of
Technology, Rajaramnagar, Islampur, Maharashtra,
India-420 409, for giving all the encouragement
needed which kept our enthusiasm alive. This
research was completed during Master Degree
project of first author at Rajarambapu Institute of
Technology, Rajaramnagar, Islampur, Maharashtra,
India.
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