| Summary: | In Malaysia the abundant availability of waste oil palm shell (OPS) had given rise to a number of researches on
the use of OPS as lightweight aggregates (LWA) to produce lightweight concrete (LWC). This paper presents
the experimental results on mechanical properties and structural behaviour of OPS concrete (OPSC). The
behaviour of grade 30 OPSC was compared with that of similar grade normal weight concrete (NWC). Ten
percent of silica fume and five percent of fly ash were added as mineral admixtures in the OPSC. An in-depth
mix design programme was conducted to obtain the appropriate mix design for the OPSC. Mechanical
properties investigated include compressive strength, modulus of rupture, splitting tensile strength and Young’s Modulus. To study the flexural behaviour of OPSC, four reinforced OPSC and NWC beams of size 150 mm x
250 mm x 2600 mm were prepared. Each beam was tested under four point loading until failure. The
experimental results were also compared with theoretical values and numerical analysis. The results show that
the OPSC produced a density reduction of about 22% compared to NWC. However, the modulus of elasticity of
OPSC was found to be about 46% of NWC. Similarly, OPSC produced 15% lower modulus of rupture compared
to NWC. The flexural behaviour of OPSC beams shows superior performance compared to that of NWC. The
experimental moment capacities of OPSC beams were found higher than the theoretical ultimate moment
capacities obtained from the theoretical values and numerical analysis. The experimental ultimate moment
capacity of OPSC beam was also found close to that of NWC beams. Though the lower modulus of rupture of OPSC resulted in early cracks, the OPSC beams exhibited a lot of cracking that resulted in smaller crackspacing and crack widths compared to NWC beams. The crack widths of OPSC beams were also found within the serviceable limit state. The ductility ratio of OPSC beams was found to be twice that of the NWC beams.
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