Predicting Concrete Slump using Fly Ash and Stone Powder in Central Vietnam

Abstract

Fly ash and stone powder, which are abundant wastes in Central Vietnam, are viable alternatives to cement and sand in concrete production. However, this replacement may worsen the compressive strength and slump of concrete. This study deals with the prediction of the slump and compressive strength of concrete using fly ash and stone powder in Central Vietnam as cement and sand substitute materials, respectively. First, the Ishikawa diagram was used to analyze the factors affecting the concrete workability and compressive strength, in combination with the method of design of experiment to determine the required number of testing specimens. A total of 72 concrete mixtures with slump of 3 -12 cm and compressive strengths 10 MPa -60 MPa were designed. Subsequently, regression and artificial neural network methods were used to predict the concrete slump and compressive strength. The results demonstrated the high accuracy of the artificial neural network model. In addition, the above models allowed us to determine the proportion of concrete ingredients that met the slump and compressive strength requirements.