International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395 -0056 Volume: 03 Issue: 07 | July-2016 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072 © 2016, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 4.45 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1524 Experimental study on properties of concrete reinforced with basalt bars Jibin C Sunny 1 , Preetha Prabhakaran 2 1( M.tech student, Sree Narayana Gurukulam College of Engineering, Ernakulam, Kerala, India) 2 (Asso. Professor, Civil Dept., Sree Narayana Gurukulam College of Engineering, Ernakulam, Kerala, India) ---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract - Conventional steel bars used in the construction industry are susceptible to various attack such as corrosion and other environmental attacks. Basalt bar is made from basalt rock which can be used as an alternative to steel bars of reinforced concrete structures. In this paper, the properties such as flexural strength of concrete beams and axial load of concrete columns reinforced with steel as well as basalt reinforced concrete are studied. A total of 12 beam specimens and 6 column specimen are cast and tested. In beams, number of tension bars is varied as two and three where as in columns, a single type of specimen with four numbers of longitudinal bars is used. Result shows that flexural strength of beams is improved largely whereas axial load carrying capacity of columns for basalt reinforced specimen is less than that of steel reinforced specimen. Key Words: Axial load, basalt bars, concrete beams, concrete columns, flexural test, steel bars … 1. INTRODUCTION Concrete structures made up of steel reinforced bars are normally used in construction industry. But steel reinforced structures are susceptible to corrosion attack which affect its durability and strength parameters. Non corrosive fiber bars as reinforcement of concrete structures is an alternative solution to this. Basalt bar is a type of polymer reinforced bar which can be used as an alternative to steel up to an extent. Basalt bar is lighter than steel bar as its density is much lower. The main advantage of basalt bar are that it is naturally resistant to chemical attack such as alkali, rust and acids. Basalt bars are obtained from basalt rocks which is the most common type of rock in earth crusts. Basalt rocks are volcanic igneous rocks which are located at a depth of hundreds of kilometers beneath the surface by the cooling of molten lava. In 2012, Enrico Qugliarini studied and confirm that BFRP rods and BF ropes shows better tensile strength than GFRP products [1]. BFRP bars shows good mechanical property as it could be considered as same category of GFRP bars [2].One of the main advantage of basalt bar is that its durability performance is high [3]. Basalt rebars which are non- corrosive can be considered as an alternative for steel reinforcement of concrete structures [4]. In the case of reinforced columns, the axial load carrying capacity increases from rectangular to square and then square to circular [5]. 2. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM 2.1 Materials The compressive strength of hardened concrete was found to be 34.9 N/mm2 at 28th day when tested for concrete cubes of 150mmx150mmx150mm size. Slump obtained was 105 mm after conducting slump tests. In the experimental study Ordinary Portland Cement 53 grade is used. Specific gravity of the cement is obtained as 3.15 and standard consistency is 38%.Cement is having an initial setting time of 30 minutes and fineness of 2%. Locally available M sand is used as fine aggregate and 20 mm nominal size aggregates are used as coarse aggregate. Specific gravity of fine aggregate and coarse aggregate are 2.7 and 2.81 respectively. Masterglenium sky 8233 is used as admixture for concrete. Table -1: Mix proportion Cement Fine aggregate Coarse aggregate Admixture Water Cement ratio 1 1.44 2.66 0.5% of cement 0.43 2.2 Beam specimen Twelve rectangular concrete beams were cast and tested for this experimental study to find out the flexural strength of beams. The beams were 1000 mm long, with rectangular cross section of 150 x 200 mm. Basalt bars of 8 mm in diameter and steel bars of 8 mm in diameter were used as the longitudinal main bars. Two steel bars of 8 mm in diameter are used as compression reinforcement of all the beams. Basalt bars of 8mm diameter with two and three numbers are respectively used as tension reinforcement. To compare it with control specimen, steel bars of 8mm diameter with two and three numbers are also used as tension reinforcement. Steel bars with 6 mm in diameter and 172 mm spacing are used as shear reinforcement in all the specimen. M30 graded concrete with a water cement ratio of 0.43 is used in this experimental study. Thickness of cover selected in all the beam specimens are 25 mm. The reinforcement detailing for beam specimen are given as shown in Fig-1 and Table-2