Study On Behaviour Of Translucent Concrete

V.Swamy nadh
1
and Kuppusamy Mohan
2
School of mechanical and building sciences
VIT chennai ,chennai 6000127
swamy_vvv@yahoo.com , mohan.kuppusamy@vit.ac.in
Abstract Concrete is a solid material which has a tendency to
with stand the compressive strength (load bearing) only. By
switching the extra only one ingredient our aim is to give extra
properties for plane cement concrete, like visibility and tensile
strength which cannot be seen in normal traditional concrete. By
using the concept of total internal reflections we made the
translucent concrete reality that is nothing but by using of optical
fiber. In this paper we are discussing about the mechanical
properties of translucent concrete.
KeywordsOptical Fiber;microsilica; total internal reflection;
Translucent concrete.
I.Introduction
By the concept of green buildings 3 countries are fighting
for whos the best eco friendly country, up on India is the one.
By the name RUEDO (environment in Spanish) a eco
friendly war is going on in different universities in India. By
the instructions given by Indian Green Building Council
(IGBC) ,in fact 50% day lighting is mandatory in green
buildings and for this they are giving 3 credits in the
curriculum . To make these a reality and as a civil engineering
we want to do it by using concrete, as we know that concrete is
a solid material which has a tendency to with stand the strength
acting up on it and nothing can be seen from that, so we had
make use of concept in physics called total internal
reflections which can be seen in optical fiber. We make use of
this concept and made the concrete translucent. By switching
the ingredients of normal concrete we can make it possible.
Aron Lusongi was the first person to introduce the translucent
concrete in the year 2003. He made this happen by inserting the
optical fiber by 4% of the weight of cement [1]. His main
intension is to make translucent concrete which can be used as
both wall and window. In this paper we are discussing about
the making of concrete blocks by using optical fiber and our
aim is to use of optical fiber blocks in all the parts of building
mainly wall, window, and columns and as well as beams . And
admixtures we are using are micro silica. Use of micro silica
and optical fiber in concrete will be discussed in this paper.

Fig.1 Translucent concrete block
II.Materials and methods
A. Materials required for making of translucent concrete
We need six types of materials for the making of
translucent concrete, For the first making of normal plane
concrete blocks we can use IS iron moulds, for making of
transparent concrete we need a special moulds like foam board
or wooden moulds. We had used wooden moulds for
preparation of blocks size 150*150*150mm as in fig.2 and
foam board moulds for preparation of panels size
150*150*25, and optical fibers of 0.378mm diameter, micro
silica, cement, coarse aggregate of 10mm size finally fine
aggregate of 1.75mm.

B. Making of translucent concrete mould
We come up with two types of approaches to make
translucent concrete in this paper, one is switching the
ingredients with only optical fibers and second one is switching
the ingredients with optical fiber and micro silica. % of optical
fiber depends on, no of holes inserted in the cube prepared and
this % should be according to weight of cement. % of silica can
be varied as we like, for making we had taken 4% according to
the weight of cement [2]. Preparation of cube starts with
selection of size of block , we selected 150*150*150*mm
block and which two sides are drilled with holes of 2mm driller
bit as shown in fig3.

Fig.2 Wooden moulds with optical fibers
C. Making of Translucent Concrete
Here they are six steps to do the translucent concrete
1. Preparation of wooden or foam board mould of required
sizes
2. Drill the holes on any two sides of moulds and Insert the
optical fibers as in fig3 in the drilled holes by the %
weight of cement.
3. Calculation of mix design according to IS10262:2009, and
by considering sieve analysis according to IS 456:2000.
4. According to mix proportions mix the concrete and insert
the concrete in to the prepared moulds by the help of hand
vibration.
5. Keep it a side for 24 hours and then remove the mould after
that
6. Then the translucent concrete is ready, keep the moulds for
curing for about 3, 7, 14, 28days.

Fig.3 Insertion of optical fiber in concrete mould
III. Construction methods and materials

A. Analysis of materials % by mix design concept
For every constructions codal provisions are required. In
India we make use of IS456:2000 for the construction of
buildings and exact proportions of materials for high strength
concrete structures can be known only by mix design which is
given in IS 10262:2009. By using this concept we are
preparing a M20 concrete by taking optical fiber as mineral
admixtures. And the design procedure is different from
different grade of concrete, we had used basic M20 concrete
for making of translucent concrete, coarse aggregate size
10mm, fine aggregate size 1.75mm by considering sieve
analysis, water cement ratio is 0.45, the technical data for
making of translucent concrete is
1. Type of concrete : M20
2. Type of cement :OPC
3. % Of Optical Fiber : 1.3
4. Water/Cement ratio :0.45
5. Block size :150*150*150
6. Panel size of :150*150*25
7. Diameter of optical fiber : 0.37
8. Fine Aggregate : 1.75mm
9. Coarse Aggregate :10mm

Fig.4 Translucent Concrete Panel
IV. Mechanical properties for translucent concrete

Fig.5 Mechanical properties of differnet optical fibers
The main problem in construction sector is to gain the
maximum tensile strength to the members. In the present paper
we make use of optical fiber to make translucent concrete,
optical fiber not only have a tendency to transmit light but also
has extra property of maintaining of tensile strength of about
2.79 N/mm
2
as shown in fig.5, when we are using optical fiber
of thickness 0.378mm in diameter and we can gain the tensile
strength of 7.89N/mm
2
when we are using optical fiber size of
1.3mm dia.
A. Compressive Strength of Translucent Concrete Block
For the normal concrete cube of 150*150*150* mm of
M20 mix design we can gain maximum compressive strength
of 20-28 N/mm
2
, for the concrete containing optical fiber can
gain 2% extra when compared to normal concrete, the graph
showing the cross head travel and the load . The load gained in
7 days of curing is about 14.7 N/mm
2
as shown in fig 7 and in
the normal concrete it is about 15.6N/mm
2
. As graph showing
the 7 days compressive strength of the translucent concrete ,
there is load vs. cross head and load vs. time , which showing
peak load of 324KN .Research and Development of Plastic
Optical Fiber Based Smart Transparent Concrete[3], Four
mortar specimens of 100100100 mm each was casted with
a sand/cement/water ratio of 1:2:0.44. They had four various
POF area ratios: 3.14%, 3.80%, 4.52% and 5.3%. and for the
above ratios the compressive strength in KN 220.0, 228.0
,194.0, 182.0.


Fig.6.U.T.M test for translucent concrete block


Fig7..showing Load Vs Cross head of translucent concrete
block


Fig.8. Showing Load Vs Time of translucent concrete block

B. Tensile Strength Characteristics Of Optical Fibers
By the use of optical fiber in making of concrete blocks it
increases the compressive strength of the concrete and also
gain the tensile characteristics in additional, the graph showing
the stress Vs strain the yield point, which strikes the Y-axis at
36N/mm
2
and X-axis at 2.12N/mm
2
in fig.9. [4]A Study on
Transparent Concrete: A Novel Architectural Material to
Explore Construction Sector has got the tensile bending
strength of 7 N/mm
2
when they were using a optical fiber of
2mm in diameter.





Fig.9.Showing Stress Vs Strain curve of optical fiber

V.COST COMPARISON
Here in this paper we are comparing the cost of three
different properties of cubes fig.10. As per the recent cost of
the materials in India, for the preparation of different cubes we
need different materials, as a person from small scale cannot
invest the money for making of houses or industries
architectural view strong, but we are preparing the translucent
concrete with the cost no more than 3% of the normal concrete.
By the use of this translucent concrete there is no much
difference in the expenditure between the normal building and
the translucent concrete buildings.


Fig.10.Showing cost comparition of different types of
cubes
VI.RESULTS
A. Technical data
1) 7 days Compressive strength of Translucent
concrete:14.7 N/mm
2

2) 7 days Compressive strength of normal concrete :
15.6 N/mm
2

3) Bending tensile strength of optical fiber of 0.37mm :
2.7 N/mm
2

4) Tensile strength of optical fiber of 1.44 mm :
7.2 N/mm
2

5) Ingradients : 98.7% concrete and 1.3% optical fiber
6) Block size: 150*150*150mm
7) Pannel size : 150*150*25mm



VII. Discussions
In 2003 the idea of translucent concrete came into
existence by the great man Aron Losonczi an Hungarian
architecture. He made the things possible by placing the extra
ingredients in to the concrete called optical fiber. The concept
of optical fiber is transmission of light from one end to other
end by the concept TOTAL INTERNAL
REFLECTIONSwhich can be seen in the only material called
optical fiber. He had taken 4% of optical fiber by weight of
cement and prepared the panels, he did not use any aggregate
in the making because he had used this panels for the dividing
walls and not for any load baring structures [4]. Here in this
paper we are making of translucent concrete with adding of
aggregate also, and we are saying that by the use of aggregate
also we can prepare the translucent concrete blocks and can
gain three different types of properties which cannot seen in
the plane cement concret,they are high compressive strength
,tensile strength and translucent property.

VII.Conclusions
Translucent concrete was the next building material in the
history of concrete, it behaves like wall, glass, and it can bare
both compressive and tensile loads acting on it. In this paper
by the preparation of translucent concrete with 1.3% optical
fiber we can maintain both translucence and strength of
concrete. We got the compressive strength of 14.7N/mm2.
And a tensile strength of 7.2N/mm2, which cannot be seen in



the normal plane concrete. Coast of translucent concrete is not
more when compared to plane cement concrete which is of
only 10% increase. So we can suggest the translucent concrete
for the future building material.

Acknowledgement
The Author thankfully acknowledge to K.Mohan
kuppusamy faculty S.M.B.S, Dr.Helan shanthi program chair ,
Dr.Baskar rao faculty of S.M.B.S of structural engineering
department and my friends vignan ,anamika , harini, srikanth,
satish, annanya.

REFERENCES .
[1] Light transmitting concrete by ron Losonczi in 2001
[2] Plastic Optical Fibers (POF) in sensing current status and
prospects by Kalymnios, D. 17th International Conference on Optical
Fiber Sensors SPIE, 5855, 2005.
[3] Research and Development of Plastic Optical Fiber Based
Smart Transparent Concrete Zhi Zhou et all in 2011
[4] Study on translucent concrete by Anjulie in 2011
[5]A study on transparent concrete by Bhavin K. Kashiyani,
Varsha Raina, Jayeshkumar Pitroda, Dr. Bhavnaben K. Shah
in feb 2013
[6] Optical fiber in the modeling of translucent concrete by
M.N.V.Padmabhushan et all in may 2013