PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF FINE AGGREGATE

WITH EGGSHELL (ES) AND SNAILSHELL (SS) IN THE

PRODUCTION OF HIGHWAY CONCRETE
STRUCTURES

BY

AMUSAT, WAHEED OLAIDE

MATRIC NUMBER: 2007/0594

A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING COLLEGE
OF ENGINEERING FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF
AGRICULTURE ABEOKUTA

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THEAWARD

OF BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING, (B.ENG Hons.) DEGR EE OF THE
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE ABEOKUTA, OGUN
STATE NIGERIA.

JULY, 2012.

   
 ABSTRACT
Egg and Snail shell fine grains obtained by crushing the shells have been established to be
a good accelerator for cement-bound materials and this would be useful for road
construction work at the peak of rainy seasons for reducing setting time of stabilized road
pavements. However this should be achieved not at the expense of other vital properties of the
stabilized matrix. This is part of the effort in adding value to agricultural materials which
probably cause disposal problems. This study is therefore aimed at determining the suitability of
using egg and snail shells as partial replacement for fine aggregates (sand) in highway concrete
structures. A total of 120 concrete cubes of size 150 x 150 x 150 mm3 with different percentages
by volume were made. Crushed shells as fine aggregate are added in proportions; 21/2, 5, 71/2, 10,
121/2 and 15% with other concrete components in the right measurement appropriate in making
highway concrete. Slump test, concrete cube test, water curing test and Compressive strength test
of the concrete are determined and compared. Also the increase in eggshell content considerably
increased the strength properties of the soil-cement eggshell mixtures up to 35% in the average
but fell short of the strength requirements except the durability requirement was satisfied.
Egg and snail shells as partial replacement for sand were quite satisfactory with less compromise
in compressive strength requirements for concrete mix ratios 1:2:4.

Trial mixes was carried out to determine the appropriate water/cement ratio of the manually
mixed concrete pastes. The highest water/cement ratio of the trial mixes that was obtained in
samples having only shells as coarse aggregate; that is, 0.75, was subsequently used to produce
mixes for concrete test samples to ensure uniformity since water/cement ratio is a factor in the
strength characteristics of concrete. Batching of materials was done by volume with a normal
mix proportion of 1:2:4.

Compressive strength test was carried out on the cubes at four levels of curing: 7, 14, 21 and 28
days. The test specimens was brought out of water and air-dried for two hours. The cubes was
then tested in accordance to BS 1881 Part 116 (1983) using the compressive Testing Machine.