Comparison of river sand concrete with quarry dust concrete

What is it about?

River sand is conventionally used as fine aggregate in the production of normal concrete. There is concern that the growing use of natural sand in concrete may cause negative environmental impact such as non-reversible landscape changes and threat to river ecosystems. This paper examines the possibility of using quarry dust as replacement of river sand in concrete, and compares the properties of river sand concrete with quarry dust concrete.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Large volumes of quarry dust are produced by rock quarrying industries and only a little fraction of the quarry dust is used as filler in wearing courses of asphalt pavements. Using quarry dust as an alternative to river sand in concrete can provide solutions to problems of waste management of quarry dust, environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources. Our findings show that quarry dust concrete can be applied in non-structural members and lightly-loaded members where high strength is not a prerequisite.

Perspectives