Experimental study of light transmitting concrete and bricks
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Date
2018-07
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
Recently, high rise buildings and skyscrapers have replaced small buildings thus causing the problem of deriving natural lights in the buildings. As an alternate, artificial light sources are used which not only increase the heat level in the buildings but also increases the electricity budget as lighting covers major part therefore light transmitting concrete is need of the hour. Light transmitting concrete allows the natural sunlight to pass through it during the broad day light hours to enlighten every corner of the building thus reducing power consumption. It is a smart concrete which transmits light through it and makes easier for any building to achieve high LEED rating devised by United States Green Building Council (USGBC). In this research, two grades of concrete i.e. M20 and M25 and two diameter of holes i.e. 5mm and 10mm to insert fibers successfully are adopted. Plastic optical fibers are included in concrete cubes in eight different percentage i.e. 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5%, 3%, 3.5% and 4%. A total of 96 concrete cubes of size 100mm×100mm×100mm, 8 set of cubes (each set contain 3 cubes) for each grade and for each diameter of holes were casted respectively. The specimens were tested after 28 days of curing for Compressive Strength test and Light transmittance test. Plastic optical fibers were also inserted in the fly ash bricks in four different percentage i.e. 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2% having 10mm diameter holes drilled with the help of masonry drill bit and Compression strength test and light transmittance were conducted over the brick samples. From this study, it was found that the compressive strength of light transmitting concrete with 10mm diameter holes for both the grades of concrete has the continuous decrease in strength pattern. The compressive strength of concrete samples having 5mm diameter holes shows no loss or very less variation in strength as compared to conventional concrete. The result shows that light transmittance ratio up to 5.30% can be achieved by using 4% plastic optical fiber. Fly ash bricks having fibers inserted in them shows continuous decrease in strength when compared with normal fly ash bricks and has light transmission ratio up to 5.60% by using 2% plastic optical fiber.
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