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2019 | Vol 2 | Issue 4 

 

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS 

OF CONCRETE USING MANUFACTURED SAND 

 
1
Y. Sobunath, 

2
D. Sravanthi, 

3
B. Madan, 

4
T. Srinivas, 

5
 R. Vijaya  kumer & 

6
 B. Sudhakar  

1
 Assistant Professor, 

2,3,4
 
&

 
5
,  Sree Vahini Institute of Science and Technology, Tirupathi 

 

 

ABSTRACT 

The most widely used material in this world is concrete. After water, concrete is 

placed in second position. The use of natural sand in conventional concrete has become of 

vital importance which is scarce to obtain. Sand is basic concrete making construction 

material required in large quantities. Manufactured sand is one among such materials to 

replace river sand which can be used as an alternative fine aggregate in mortars and concrete. 

In general concrete is a combination of cement, fine and coarse aggregate. These days, 

natural river sand is difficult to acquire and extraction of sand from river has represented an 

awesome threat to environment. An attempt had been made in the present investigation to 

discuss the properties of concrete such as workability and strength of concrete which is 

prepared by replacing natural sand with M-sand at different replacement levels (0%, 10%, 

20%, 30%, 40% and 50%) for M30 Grade of concrete. 

KEY WORDS: M-sand, Strength, workability, workability, River sand 

 

 

 

 

1.1 INTRODUCTION: 

For a long time concrete was 

considered to be very durable material 

requiring. We build concrete structures in 

highly polluted urban and industrial 

areas, aggressive marine environments, 

harmful sub-soil water in area and many 

other hostile conditions where other 

materials of construction are found be 

non –durable. Since the use of concrete in 

recent years have spread to highly harsh 

and hostile conditions, the earlier 

impression that concrete is a very durable 

material is being threatened, particularly 

on account of premature failures of 

number of structures. 

MANUFACTURED SANDS 

Due to the increased levels of 

construction expected in India in the 

forthcoming years it is expected that fine 

aggregate suitable for use in concrete will 

become scarce or uneconomical to 

produce. With the expected shortfall in 

natural sands manufactured sands offer a 

viable alternative to natural sand, if the 

problems associated with the use of 

manufactured sands can be resolved and 

its poor reputation in the industry 

overcome. 

Manufactured sands are made by 

crushing aggregate to a size appropriate 

for use as a fine aggregate (<2.36mm). 

The crushing process however generates 

large amounts of materials 

<75microns as well as causing the 

manufactured sand to have an irregular 

particle shape. These fine particles and 

irregular shape of the aggregate have 

detrimental effects on the workability and 

finish of the concrete. These negative 

effects have given manufactured sands a 

poor reputation in the construction 

industry. However recent studies show 

that these fine particles may be able to be 

utilized to increase the compressive and 

flexural strengths of concrete. 



 

 

1. It does not have the presence of 

impurities such as clay, dust and 

silt coatings, increase water 

requirement as in the case of river 

sand which impair bond between 

cement paste and aggregate. Thus, 

increased quality and durability of 

concrete. 

2. M-Sand is obtained from specific 

hard rock (granite) using the state-

of-the-art international 

technology; thus, the required 

property of sand is obtained. 

3. M-Sand is cubical in shape and is 

manufactured using technology 

like High Carbon steel hit rock 

and then ROCK ON ROCK 

process which is synonymous to 

that of natural process undergoing 

in river sand information. 

4. Modern and imported machines 

are used to produce M-Sand to 

ensure required grading zone for 

the sand. 

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: 

1. Determine the workability, the 

overall strength, as well as the 

rate of strength gain for varying 

water cement ratios of concrete 

containing manufactured sand. 

2. Compare the results of the 

manufactured sand concrete to a 

conventional mix containing 

natural sand. 

3. From the data collected in the 

previous objective choose a water 

cement ratio with poor 

workability and determine the 

required amount of 

superplasticizer to achieve a good 

workability. 

4. Also determine the overall 

strength, as well as the rate of 

strength gain of the concrete after 

the addition of a super-plasticizer 

5. Determine compressive strength, 

split tensile strength and flexural 

strength and Durability of 

concrete containing manufactured 

sand. 

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 

Evertsson (2000) reported that 

knowledge gained from research should 

be used by quarry operators to optimize 

the performance of their equipment and 

to achieve lower quantities of quarry 

fines. 

Jeffrey et al (2003) found that the 

generation of quarry fines is due to the 

extraction and processing operations in a 

quarry. There are several parameters that 

influence the production of fines, which 

are relevant to the rock characteristics 

and the involved processes. However, 

careful design and optimization of 

extraction and processing could minimize 

the fines production. 

Petavratzi (2006) investigated that the 

large amount of dust fraction below 75 m 

generated from various ores and found 

that the different types of rock produced 

different amounts of fines with different 

physical properties. 

Mitchell and Benn (2007) replaced a 

HSI with a cone crusher. For 20mm 

aggregate size, the production increased 

from 250 to 300 tonnes per hour for the 

same feed rate i.e. 20% increase in 

production and the proportion of fines 

have been decreased from 38 to 30% i.e. 

21% decrease in fines. 

The University of Leeds (2007c) 

explored that the quarry fines are 

produced from various activities, but the 

stages of blasting are considered as the 

most liable in generating such fines. The 

amount of dust produced during blasting 

is estimated to be as high as 20%. 

3.0 METHODOLOGY 

Table 1: Physical properties of cement 

S. No Property Test results 

1 Normal consistency 32% 

2 Specific gravity 3.15 

3 Initial setting time 60 minutes 

4 Final setting time 460 minutes 

Table 2: Physical properties of fine aggregat 



 

 

 

S. No Property Value 

1 Specific gravity 2.7 

2 Fineness modulus 3.09 

Table 3: Physical properties of coarse aggregate 

S. No Property Value 

1 Specific gravity 2.8 

2 Fineness modulus 4.9 

Table 4: Physical properties of water 

S. No Property Value 

1 PH 7.1 

4.0. MIX DESIGN OF M30 GRADE CONCRETE 

Final trial mix for M30 grade concrete is 1:1.86:2.89 at w/c of 0.50 

Cement = 394 kg/m3 

Water = 197 kg/m3 

Fine aggregates = 732 kg/m
3
 

Coarse aggregate = 1139 kg/m
3
 

Water-cement ratio = 0.50 

5.0 TESTS ON CONCRETE 

5.1. Slump cone test Results 

Table 1: Slump cone test Results 

S.no % M Sand Slump in mm 

1 0% 80 

2 10% 70 

3 20% 60 

4 30% 50 

5 40% 40 

6 50% 40 

5.2. Compaction factor test 

S.no % M Sand Compaction 
factor 

1 0% 0.94 

2 10% 0.90 

3 20% 0.84 

4 30% 0.82 

5 40% 0.84 



 

 

Compressive strength Results (in MPa) 

35 

30 

25 

20 
7 Days 

15 
14 Days 

10 
28 Days 

5 

0 

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 

% M Sand used 

 

6 50% 0.80 

Table 2: Compaction Factor Test results 

5.3. COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE 

 

S.no 
 

% M Sand used 
Compressive strength of in 

MPa 

7 Days 14 Days 28 Days 

1 0% 19.5 26.80 29.40 

2 10% 20.06 27.18 30.14 

3 20% 20.44 27.86 30.56 

4 30% 21.04 28.32 31.10 

5 40% 20.98 28.24 31.02 

6 50% 20.86 28.10 30.92 

Table 3: Compressive Test results 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Graph 

1: 

 

 

 

 

Compressive Test results 

5.4. SPLIT TENSILE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE 

 

 

S.no 
 

% M Sand used 

Split tensile strength in MPa 

7 Days 28 Days 

1 0% 2.84 3.54 

2 10% 3.38 3.86 

3 20% 3.78 3.96 

4 30% 3.96 4.16 

5 40% 3.12 3.96 

6 50% 3.04 3.86 

Table 4: Split Tensile Test results 

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Graph 2: Split Tensile Test results 

 

 

6.0 CONCLUSIONS 

From the above study the following 
conclusions were made 
1. The value of slump for the concrete 

decreases with increasing the 

percentage of M Sand for concrete. 

2. The value of compaction factor for 

the concrete decreases with increasing 

the percentage of M Sand for 

concrete. 

3. Compressive strength for 7days, 

14days, 28days for the concrete 

increases initially up to 30% M Sand 

than decreases with increasing the 

percentage of M Sand. The optimum 

value for the compressive strength 

was obtained at 30% M Sand. 

4.  Split tensile strength and flexural 

strength for 7days, and 28days for the 

concrete increases initially up to 30% 

M Sand than decreases with 

increasing the percentage of M Sand. 

The optimum value for the 

compressive strength was obtained at 

30% M Sand. 

5. The addition of M-sand significantly 

increased the compressive, tensile and 

flexural strengths of concrete with 

maximum strengths in each case 

being achieved at 30% M- sand. 

So, the replacement of 30% of M Sand is 

generally useful for better strength values 

in M30 grade of concrete. 

 

REFERENCES 

[1].Bhupendra Kumar, Kuswah S S and 

Vishwakarma Amit 2015 Effect of 

Coconut Fiber in Workability and 

Compressive Strength of Concrete 

IJSRD- International Journal for 

Scientific Research & Development 3 

[2].Abbas   Mahapara   2015   Coconut   

Fiber   as   Fiber   Reinforcement:   A   

Review SSRG International Journal of 

Civil Engineering (SSRG-IJCE) 

[3].Shreeshail B H, Chougale Jaydeep, 

Pimple Dhanraj and Kulkarni Amar 

2014 Effects of coconut fibers on the 

properties of concrete IJRET 

International Journal of Research in 

Engineering and Technology 

[4].Shanmugavadivu P M and Malathy R 

2011 Durability Properties of 

Concrete with Natural sand and 

Manufactured sand Proc. of the 

International Conference on Science 

and Engineering (ICSE 2011) 

[5].Vijayaraghavan Nimitha and Wayal A 

S 2014 Effects of manufactured sand 

on compressive strength and 

workability of concrete IJRET 

International Journal of Research in 

Engineering and Technology. 

Split tensile strength Results (in MPa) 

4.5 

4 

3.5 

3 

2.5 

2 

1.5 

1 

0.5 

0 

7 Days 

28 Days 

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 

M Sand used 

Sp
lit

 t
e

n
si

le
 s

tr
en

gt
h

 



 

 

[6].Department of Mines And Geology, 

Govt. of Karnataka 2011 Effects of 

manufactured sand on compressive 

strength and workability of concrete 

CSIC Project:CP 6597/0505/11-330 

[7].Umamaheswaran, Sudha C, 

Ravichandran P T and Kannan 

Rajkumar P R 2015 Use of Msand in 

High Strength and High Performance 

Concrete Indian Journal of Science 

and Technology 

[8].Ali Majid, Liu Anthony, Sou Hou, 

Chouw Nawawi and Department of 

Civil and Environmental Engineering, 

The University of Auckland 

Mechanical and dynamic properties 

of coconut fiber reinforced concrete 

(Elsiever) 

[9].Gadge Nikhil A. and Vidhale S S 

2013 Mix design of fiber reinforced 

concrete(FRC) using slag and steel 

fiber (IJMER) 

[10]. Singh Satwinder and Sood Hemant 

2015 Analysis of M35 and M40 grades 

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[11]. Olonade, Adisa Kolawole, Alake, 

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Gabriel Abiola 2013 International 

Congress on Materials & Structural 

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Lagos) Strength development and 

crack pattern of coconut fiber 

reinforced concrete (CFRC) Morocoo 

Reference of Code Practice: 

[12]. IS: 456-

2000 Plain and 

Reinforced Concrete 

code of practice. 

[13]. IS: 

10262-2009 

recommended 

guidelines for 

concrete. 

[14]. IS: 383-

1970 recommended 

guidelines for test 

on aggregates. [15].

 IS: 8112-

1989 recommended 

guidelines for test 

on cement. 


