Study on partial replcement of cement with marble powder in concrete

Concrete is an important construction material and there is problem in acquiring its main constituents namely cement, sand, fine and coarse aggregates, and water. After all the issues, the greatest environmental concerns in construction industry are the production of cement which emits large amount of Carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Therefore, the past two decades of research was diverted primarily in making concrete without cement or at least partially in low or high volumes, replacing cement by suitable alternatives from industrial wastes. Marble by its variety of products has been widely used in structures since ancient times and with the increase in production of marbles it increases the waste during quarrying by means of cutting, sawing, shaping and finishing processes. These waste contains heavy metals which makes the water unfit for use and also creates environmental problems having great impact on human health as well as on nature. Waste management of the marble powder is planned and tried to investigate the effect of utilizing it for partial replacement of cement in concrete. Aiming for a preliminary study, M30 grade concrete is designed and partial replacement up to 25% is considered, the three directional properties like workability, strength and durability characteristics are investigated. It is observed that the optimum level of replacement of cement with marble powder is observed to be 15% for strength and 10% for durability requirements.