Experimental Investigation on Structural Joints Cast with Concrete Containing Redmud

Cement is an important ingredient and a binder in the manufacturing of concrete. But its production releases a large amount of CO2 to the atmosphere thus degrading the environment. This can be prevented by conserving the use of cement by replacing partially with waste materials. One such material is an industrial waste called redmud, a by-product obtained from the extraction of aluminium from bauxite by Bayer process. Experimental investigation was conducted in which cement was replaced by 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% with redmud while manufacturing concrete. A mix proportion of 1: 1.462: 2.695 was adopted to obtain a target compressive strength of 30 MPa. The compressive strength increased with the increase in the percentage of redmud attaining a peak value at 15% replacement level. Such a concrete was applied in preparing structural elements like beams and joints of geometrical configuration of L, T, and +. Five numbers in each category were prepared and tested under static loading to understand the behaviour. The behaviour of beams prepared with conventional and redmud concrete was identical. Among the joints behaviour of + joint was better than other joints with higher load capacity and ductility. This paper presents the details of the experimental investigation and the conclusions drawn thererom.