Experimental Investigation For the Effect of Agave Fiber on the Properties of Concrete: Enhancing Concrete Properties with Agave Fiber

Abstract

Concrete is the mostwidely used construction material in the world, with about two Billion tons ofutilization worldwide during each year. Concrete is widely used in all types ofinfrastructural applications because it offers considerable strength. Concreteis strong in compression and weak in tension in order to overcome the weakness steel reinforcement is being provided.Researches attempted to inherit the tensile property by introducing syntheticfibres such as poly propylene, asbestos and steel fibres, but they areexpensive. Hence they are attempting to use the natural fibres such as agave,straw, elephant grass, palm leaf, coconut coir etc., to incorporate tensilestrength in conventional concrete. So that the traditional steel reinforcementon concrete can be reduced. In this research, agave fiber is being used in concrete. Thereby, themechanical properties such as compressive strength, split-tensile strength weredetermined for M25 grade concrete and by varying the dosage of fibre contentfrom 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%, by volume of cement with optimum length of 40mm.. Themechanical properties such as compressive strength and split tensile with %agave fibre were compared with conventional concrete properties of M25 grade.It is observed that increasing % of fiber in concrete increases the compressiveand split tensile strength of concrete compared to Normal concrete