An Experimental Study on the Effects and Properties of Concrete by Replacement of Natural Sand with Robosand as Fine Aggregate

Concrete is the most widely used composite construction material. Fine aggregate plays a very important role for imparting better properties to concrete in its fresh and hardened state. Generally, river sand was used as fine aggregate for construction. Due to the continuous mining of sand from riverbed led to the depletion of river sand and it became a scarce material. Also, sand mining from river bed caused a lot of environmental issues. As a substitute to river sand, Robo sand has been used. In this present experimental study a comparative study has been carried out to check the usability of Robo sand in place of natural sand. This study involves determination of some major properties of concrete like compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural tensile strength and durability in acidic medium made of both the sands. Based on proposed studies, quality of Robo sand is equivalent to natural sand in many respects, such as cleanliness, grading, strength, angularity, specific gravity. Conclusion have been arrived that Robo sand produced from VSI (vertical shaft impact or) is a suitable and viable substitute to river sand and could be effectively used in making concrete which provides adequate strength and durability for the concrete. In the design of concrete structures, concrete is taken into account by taking its compressive strength value. The compressive strength of the concrete made of Robo sand is observed to be very nearer to the strength of the concrete made of natural sand in the present investigation, there by 100% replacement is reasonable.