Effect of Incorporation of Rice Husk Ash Instead of Cement on the Performance of Steel Fibers Reinforced Concrete

The production of rice is significant worldwide; the husk produced is generally used as a combustible material for the preparation of paddies, delivering energy through direct combustion as well as by gasifying. Annually, 7.4 million tons of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) is produced and poses an incredible danger to the environment, harming the land and the encompassing zone where it is unloaded. In the transformation of rice husk to ash, the ignition cycle eliminates the natural products, leaving silica-rich remains. These silica-rich remains have proven to have potential to be utilized in concrete as a limited substitution of cement to enhance the concrete compressive strength. Steel fibers' incorporation increases the concrete tensile strength, balances out concrete samples, and changes their brittle behavior to a more ductile response. In the current study, the influence of various doses of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) used in concrete in the presence and absence of steel fibers and concrete performance has been examined. A total of nine mixes have been designed: one was a control, four were without steel fibers containing only RHA, and the last four mixed RHA with steel fibers from 0.5 to 2%. Tests with 5, 10, 15, and 20% percentages of RHA replacing the concrete have been targeted. Results have been compared with the reference samples and the reasonability of adding Rice Husk Ash to concrete has been studied. From the results, it was noted that about 10% of cement might be replaced with Rice Husk Ash mixed in with steel fibers with almost equal compressive strength. Replacing more than 15% of cement with RHA will produce concrete with a low performance in terms of strength and durability.