THE USE OF LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE IN REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES AND STATUS IN TURKIYE

Ahmet DURMU, Mehmet E. ARSLAN Karadeniz Technical University, Department of Civil Engineering, 61080 Trabzon/TURKIYE durmus@ktu.edu.tr, eminarslan81@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
That ordinary concrete used in reinforced concrete structures has high unit weight is one of the undesirable properties of this concrete. Since large part of the loads on structure consist of self weight of structure or structural members. Therefore, this situation becomes a problem during passing of large spans and construction of high structures. In addition these structures are excessively affected by earthquakes because of their high self weight. On the other hand, it is well-known that ordinary concrete has high thermal conductivity and this increases heating expenses. Under the circumstances, main purpose of this study is to investigate advantages, disadvantages of lightweight concrete compared to ordinary concrete. In addition, producing, placing, properties, importance, future and application of lightweight concrete are explained. Finally some conclusions and recommendations inferred from this study are given. Key Words: Lightweight Concrete, Ordinary Concrete, Comparison, Advantages.

1 INTRODUCTION Ordinary concrete (OC) used for reinforced concrete construction has high unit weight (25 kN/m3). This situation become a problem for constructing of high buildings, especially it increases cost of foundation. In addition, in some circumstances, structural members used for passing large spans which should be fulfilled may not carry their self weight. On the other hand, in countries having limited petroleum sources and providing large amount of it in exchange for foreign currencies these structures arent economic and cause lost of energy because of their high thermal conductivity coefficient [1,2]. Today most of the industrial countries use lightweight concrete (LWC) in construction to decrease aforementioned disadvantages of OC. Some reasons of usage of LWC are that it is lightweight, its fire resistance are higher and thermal resistance is lower, it absorbs better vibrations and impact effects. Furthermore, in some regions, qualified normal weight aggregate reserves are insufficient. Thus, in such cases, it is required to produce lightweight aggregates made of clay, schist, scoria or fly ash. Initially, LWC was preferred because of its lightweight and lower thermal conductivity. Later on successful applications, it has been started to use in structural members. For this reason, it became imported to know well mechanical characteristics of LWC. Under the circumstances, main purpose of this study is to investigate advantages, disadvantages of LWC compared to ordinary concrete. In addition, producing, placing, properties, importance, future and application of LWC are explained. Finally some conclusions and recommendations inferred from this study are given.

2 PROPERTIES OF LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE LWC can be classified in three groups for their usage; insulation concrete, filling concrete and structural concrete. In addition to specific gravity, characteristic compressive strength is taken into consideration in classification of SLWC. Specific gravity and 28 day characteristic compressive strength of LWC, which can be accepted as SLWC according to different codes, are given in Table 1. and specific gravity intervals of LWC for its usage are given in Table 2 [1,3,4,5]. Table 1 Specific gravity and characteristic compressive strength of SLWC according to different codes
Standards DIN 1045 ASTM C 330 CEB-FIB TS 2511 ACI 213R03 Specific Gravity (kg/m3) 2000 1840 < 1900 < 1900 < 1840 Characteristic Compressive Strength (MPa) 16 17 16 16 17

Table 2 Specific gravity intervals of LWC for its usage

Usage Areas Insulation Concrete Filling Concrete Structural Concrete Dry Specific Gravity (kg/m3) 300 kg/m3 800 kg/m3 800 kg/m3 1400 kg/m3 1400 kg/m31900 kg/m3

As it is stated above unit weights of LWCs vary according to their usage areas, so each one has different properties. For this reason, here properties of LWC mostly used for structural purposes will be explained. a) Unit weight of LWC in structural panel walls is about 11 kN/m3 and compressive strength 13 N/mm2. The main advantage of panel walls is that they have lower thermal conductivity (0.30 kcal/m/h/C). These weight and compressive strength in building type structures are between 15-20 kN/m3 and 30-50 N/mm2. b) Behavior of LWC under dynamic effects: Wave velocity of LWC is 25% lower than that of OC. It conducts vibrations less. It absorbs impact effects better and has higher damping ratio. c) Thermal expansion ratio of LWC is approximately 25% lower than OC. Thus LWC is affected less from temperature changes. This property of LWC shows that it is useful to utilize it in statically indeterminate structures under effect of temperature changes. d) Thermal conductivity depending on unit weight and water content is lower than that of OC. e) LWC has higher fire resistance because of its lower thermal conductivity and expansion coefficient. While fire resistance of 12 cm thickness slab produced with OC is two hours, at the same condition LWC can resist four hours [6,7]. On the other hand, strength of OC decreases 45% at 650 C, this value is 10% for LWC [6]. f) Although LWC has water absorption capacity, it is influenced less by freeze-thaw effects. This can be explained that LWC has celled structure with unsaturated and this situation lets ice get expanded in the concrete. In addition LWC is more proper for cold weather condition, since it has lower thermal conductivity coefficient and keeps heat stable long time resulting from hardening of concrete [1]. g) Corrosion resistance of LWC is as much as OC. Especially its durability to sea water is higher. h) Tensile strength of LWC is about that of OC, but it considerably varies and its value can decrease in dry atmosphere conditions. i) Initial modulus of elasticity value of LWC is 50%-70% of OC. For this reason, it is expected that deflection of a LWC beam is more than that of beam produced with OC under the same loading condition.

j) Shrinkage of LWC is approximately 30% more than that of OC. This situation should be considered calculating of prestress losses. However deformation capacity of lightweight aggregates is higher. Thus possibility of cracks stemming from shrinkage is lower than OC. k) Creep of LWC is 30%-50% higher than OC and This causes increasing of prestress losses. l) It is recommended by CEB (European Concrete Committee) that development length of LWC for vertical members is equal to that of OC and for horizontal members this length should be increased by multiplied 1.2 values in ACI 318 [8] this value is 1.3 for horizontal members. Here it is seen that bond strength of LWC is lower that OC. Decreasing of bond strength may occur as a result of possibly taking place of cells in LWC more than those of OC [6,7,9]. 2.1 Advantages of Lightweight Concrete a) LWC is economical for flexural members since it results using less rebar. In addition, it decreases formwork and foundation costs [1,2]. b) It provides facility producing and carrying of prefabricated structural members. c) It is expected structures constructed using LWC to be affected by earthquake. d) Its thermal conductivity coefficient is lower. For instance, heat insulation of 2 cm thickness perlite plaster is equal to that of 15 cm thickness brick wall [10]. This shows that heating expenses of such structures are less. e) Fire and freezing resistance of LWC is higher. f) Critical span should be longer for prestressed concrete structural members under bending [11]. 2.2 Disadvantages of Lightweight Concrete a) Usually compressive strength of LWC is lower than OC. b) Initial and time depended deformations of LWC are more than that of OC. c) Since producing and placing of LWC are required more attention, its price is higher than OC. For these reasons, advantages and disadvantages of LWC should be evaluated together by taking into account economical aspect [1,2,3]. 2.3 Producing of Lightweight Concrete LWC can be produced either expanding cement mortar or using lightweight aggregate in place of normal weight aggregate. Expansion of cement mortar consists of constituting air bubble in the mortar [6,9]. On the other hand, lightweight aggregates are preferred to use for producing structural LWC. Aggregates used for producing LWC are natural aggregates such as pumice, volcanic tufa, scoria or artificial aggregates such as expanded clay, perlite, fly ash and blast furnace scoria. In addition, some organic materials like grains, fruit seeds are used for this purpose. Unit weights of these aggregates are between 4.0 kN/m3 and 15.0 kN/m3. One of the lightweight aggregates commonly used is pumice. Pumice is accepted expanded perlite during volcanic eruption. Amount of pumice used in construction is about 15 million tones around the world [11,12]. Pumice bed and enterprises are located around Nide, Nevehir, Van and Bitlis cities in Turkey. Natural lightweight aggregates generally exist in volcanic regions. Even if their reserves are sufficient, transportation costs restrain becoming widespread usage of these materials. This situation leads to some industrialized countries use of artificial aggregates. Some of the artificial lightweight aggregates are given below [1,13]: Expanded clay and schist Expanded perlite Vermiculite

 Expanded blast furnace scoria Fly ash Plastic materials like polystyrene Today the most commonly used lightweight aggregate is expanded clay. It is produced by moisturizing grinded dry clay or by spraying water to agglomerate clay. After classification of granular clay, it is heated at 1100 C-1200 C in rotary furnace like at cement factory. Expanded clay usually has 0-3 mm, 3-10 mm and 10-20 mm dimension interval [9,14]. Unit weight of lightweight aggregate produced in this way is approximately 5.0-6.0 kN/m3 [6]. New factories arent required to be established, because expanded clay can be produced at rotary furnace in cement factory. Expanded clay has high water absorption capacity. Thus storage conditions and amounts in concrete of lightweight aggregate should be determined appropriately. Water absorptions of his aggregates increase time dependent. For instance, water absorption values of expanded clay at first 5 minutes, 1 hour, 7 hours, 24 hours, 7 days and 28 day are 14%, 18%, 21%, 24%, 33% and 44% respectively. 2.4 Placing of Lightweight Concrete The most important problem of producing LWC is water content of aggregate. However dry aggregate usage in concrete is seen proper to have suitable composition and let concrete quickly get dried, it isnt easy to mix and place concrete produced with dry aggregate. In order to prevent these difficulties aggregate should be moisturised by adding water about 20% of its weight, but this time drying of concrete will take much more time than expected. In any case, it is really important to determine water content thoroughly and keep it stable. LWC has drier appearance that of ordinary concrete, thus it requires more vibration energy. On the other hand, excessive vibration should be avoided, since it can cause segregation [1]. 2.5 Applications, Importance and Future of Lightweight Concrete LWC isnt a new material for construction area and there are many existing applications of it. In addition usage of LWC has rapidly increased for last 30 years in industrialized countries especially Belgium, Holland, Germany, England, America and Japan [6,7,9]. In French, high quality lightweight aggregates have been produced. LWC was used during the World War I for constructing ship and barge. Ship named The Selma was one of them and the largest one (Figure 1). The first building constructed with LWC is Wesport High Scholl in Kansas City [1].

Figure 1: Launching of The Selma, June, 1919, Alabama

As it was stated before, today LWC is commonly used in construction of high buildings and other structures. Marina City with 180 m height and Lake Point Tower with 197 m height in Chicago are the most magnificent examples of them (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Lake Point Tower (a), Marina City (Chicago) (b) and Park Regis (Sydney) (c)
South Western Bell Telephone Company building is the largest scale project that LWC was used between 19281929 years (Figure 3).

Figure 3: South-western Bell Telephone Company Building, Kansas City

Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis with 28 stories is the first skyscraper (1929) that LWC was used (Figure 4). This hotel at the same time is a great example to show safety, economics and usability of LWC.

Figure 4: Park Plaza Hotel, St. Louis Turkey has most precious lightweight aggregate reserves and 1/5 of its surface area consists of volcanic rocks. In addition Turkey is on one of the most active seismic zone on the world. It is known that earthquakes cause loss of many lives and properties. For instance, Kocaeli earthquake occurred in 1999 caused death of 17480 people and collapse or serious damage of about 40000 structures in Turkey. In accordance with searches and investigation of earthquake engineering, earthquakes will take place on worlds active seismic zones. For this reason, required measurements should be taken for not facing such tragic events in future. However existing structures dont have desired safety. In that case, to repair and strengthen structures can be thought as a solution but their applications require much time, money and importance. As a second solution weight of these structures can be decreased by using lightweight panel walls instead of non-structural heavy dividing walls. Unfortunately, even if Turkey has precious lightweight aggregate reserves, LWC isnt commonly used for structural members. It is usually utilized for insulation and filling concrete. Thus investigations should be carried out on LWC whether it is economical and safety. 3 CONCLUSION Principal conclusions based on this study are followings; LWC is commonly used in industrialized countries because of their properties. The most important feature of structures constructed with LWC is their lower thermal conductivity. Thus heating expenses of these structures considerably lower than those of OC. In addition thermal expansion ratio of OC is higher than LWC. Thus LWC is affected less from temperature changes. This property of LWC shows that it is useful to utilize it in statically indeterminate structures under effect of temperature changes. Usage of LWC in construction in countries on active seismic zone like Turkey, Iran and Japan etc. is thought to decrease hazards of earthquakes by authors. Turkey has precious lightweight aggregate reserves and because of economical purposes pumice is commonly used for insulation. It is thought that researches on LWC should be emphasized, since this concrete will increase sort of construction materials. Consequently, mechanical properties of LWC can be improved by using admixtures and decreasing W/C ratio like in OC to have desired concrete. However, that elastic modulus of LWC is lower decreases the flexural rigidity, thus displacements of reinforced concrete members constructed with LWC are more than OC at the same loading conditions. This situation refers that dimensions of structural members with LWC must be increased. Therefore, mass of structures constructed with LWC must be investigated in detail whether it is more or less than OC structures.

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