www.theinternationaljournal.org > RJSITM: Volume: 03, Number: 1, November-2013 Page 7 Durability studies of concrete made by bottom ash as fine aggregate M. Purushothaman, Assistant professor, Department of Structural Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar Tamilnadu, India & Rm.Senthamarai, Professor, Department of StructuralEngineering, Annamalai University,Annamalai Nagar, Tamilnadu, India Abstract The huge quantity of concrete is consumed by construction industry all over the world. In India, the conventional concrete is produced by using natural sand obtained from riverbeds as fine aggregate. Dwindling sand resources poses the environmental problem and hence government restrictions on sand quarrying resulted in scarcity and significant increase in its cost. This paper presents comparison of High Performance Concrete (HPC) and Conventional concrete (CC), by checking durability properties through the measurement of permeable voids, water absorption, acid attack and chloride permeability test as well as compressive strength test. Durability of concrete has always been important for obvious reasons. The promotional use of Bottom ash (BA) will conserve the natural resources and the use of Silica fume (SF) will reduce the consumption of cement for the sustainable development of the concrete in construction industry. KEY WORDS: high performance, durability, bottom ash, silicafume, absorption, acid attack, 1.0 INTRODUCTION One major challenge facing the civil engineering community is to execute projects in harmony with nature using the concept of sustainable development involving the use of high performance, environment friendly materials produced at reasonable cost. In the context of concrete, which is the predominant building material, it is necessary to identify less expensive substitutes. According to Isa Yuksel[5], bottom ash affects the durability properties of concrete positively when it is used as fine aggregate. It helps in conservation of natural sand. Alexander [1] remarked that addition of 10% SF by mass to the Portland cement shows greatest improvement in durability. According to Mehta [7], the three fundamental elements for supporting an environment friendly concretetechnology for sustainable development are the conservation of primary materials, the enhancement of the durability of concrete structures, and a holistic approach to the technology. Regarding the conservation of primary materials, reductions in the consumption of cement, aggregates and water, along with the use of waste materials and industrial by-products, are the principal actions to be taken in order to reduce the utilization of non-renewable resources and the negative impact on the environment. The main objective of the present investigation was to study the strength and durability performance of concretes made with bottom ash and silica fume. The durability properties were investigated through micro-structure related properties of concrete, such as, permeability, water absorption, chloride diffusion, and also through acid attack. 2.0 EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS 2.1 Materials Ordinary Portland cement53 grade (Specific gravity -3.08), 20 mm down crushed granite stones (Specific gravity -2.77), Natural river sand(Specific gravity - 2.56) were used.For HPC, Bottom ash (Specific gravity -2.35) was used to replace the fine aggregate and Silicafume (Specific gravity -1.93) was added to the cement.