Browsing by Author "Irhialebholo, Victor"

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    Determination of structural characteristics of palm kernel shell-sawdust plank laminated composite slab
    (Federal University of Technology, Owerri, 2024-04) Irhialebholo, Victor
    This work investigates the structural characteristics of Palm Kernel Shell-Sawdust-Plank laminated composite slab. The materials used in the laboratory experiments include: Ordinary Portland Cement, river sand, gravel, sawdust, plywood, nails reinforcement bars, stirrups and water. The physical and mechanical characterization tests were performed on the aggregate and sawdust used in this work. Manual mixing operation was adopted and all palm kernel shell –sawdust ingredients where batched by weight. A total of eighteen (18) cubes of size 150 x 150 x150 mm, nine (9) cylinders of size 150 x 300 mm and nine (9) beams of size 150 x 150 x 600mm were produced from mix ratios 1:1:1, 1:2:2, and 1:3:3 for compressive strength test, split tensile strength test and flexural strength test respectively. Also, a total of 32 slabs of size 1200 x1000 x 100 mm, 1200 x 1000 x 125 mm, 1200 x 1000 x 150 mm and 1200 x 1000 x 175 mm were cast for flexural strength of slab from the mix ratios 1:2:2 and 1:3:3. Out of the 32 slabs cast, 16 were produced from palm kernel shell – sawdust wooden plank laminated (25mm as the thickness of wooden plank for the laminate), 8 were produced from normal concrete ingredients (coarse aggregates, fine aggregates, cement and water) with 10mm rebar and mix ratio of 1:2:4. Water-cement ratio of 0.45 was adopted. The remaining 8 slabs were made from plain sawdustquarry dust with mix ratio of 1:3:3. The average compressive strength for the three (3) mix ratios used were 10.25 MPa, 9.08 MPa and 4.36 MPa respectively. The average flexural strength from beams samples for the three (3) mix ratios were 2.35 MPa, 2.00 MPa and 1.85 MPa; that of slab ranges from 1.84-3.17 MPa. The average split tensile strength for three (3) mix ratios are 1.950 MPa, 1.666 MPa and 1.558 MPa. The average static modulus of elasticity for the three mix are 8.90 GPa, 8.56 GPa and 6.77 GPa. The average Poisson’s ratio ranges from 0.19-0.36. The shear modulus ranges from 3.86– 2.64 MPa. The maximum deflection for the slabs were observed to occur at the size 1200 x 1000 x 100 mm no matter the core content of the slab while the minimum deflection occurs at the size 1200 x 1000 x 175 mm. The flexural strength results of slabs were compared by percentage difference and the results shows that there is significant difference between the two sets of slabs. Also comparing the results of plain palm kernel shell –sawdust slab to that of palm kernel shell – sawdust wooden plank laminated composite slab, show that laminates with plywood influence flexural strength up to 62%