A Review of the Properties, Structural Characteristics and Application Potentials of Concrete Containing Wood Waste as Partial Replacement of one of its Constituent Material

Abstract

There is a growing concern that the sustainability of our built environment is being endangered, due to the uncontrolled and massive use of non-renewable natural resources in the production of structural concrete that is used for the construction of her infrastructure. Alternative material resources are being discovered through myriads of research efforts to address this concern. One of such alternative materials is the wood waste material. This paper presents a comprehensive review of properties, structural behaviour and application potentials of concrete containing wood waste, either in form of saw dust ash (SDA) as partial replacement of cement, or saw dust as partial replacement of fine aggregates, or wood aggregates as partial replacement of coarse aggregates. The results of the review showed that, (i) with appropriate mix design, wood waste, either in the form of saw dust ash, or wood aggregate, or saw dust; can be incorporated into the concrete mix to develop structural concrete that satisfies codes requirements, provided the replacement is not above 20%,.and (ii) concrete incorporating SDA has good durability properties against most of the process of deterioration encountered by concrete in service life. Thus, the use of saw dust waste in concrete will enhance sustainable structural and constructional practices.