Utilization of Stone Dust and Bagasse Ash in Concrete for Community Rice Drying Yards

Abstract

Currently, farmers face a shortage of drying yards during the harvest season, leading them to use roads as temporary drying areas, which can pose safety and traffic issues. Developing a concrete drying yard with an increased surface temperature to accelerate the drying process is a promising solution. This research studies concrete using stone dust instead of sand in the proportion of 100% of fine aggregate, while bagasse ash was used as a partial replacement for hydraulic cement at 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40 wt% of binder. Compressive strength tests were at curing ages of 1, 3, 7, 28 and 90 days, while abrasion resistance at 28 and 90 days and temperature surface of concrete were tests at 28 days. The results showed that concrete with 40% bagasse ash replacement achieved the highest compressive strength of 42.6 MPa at 90 days. Furthermore, field testing revealed that the developed concrete had a surface temperature approximately 10.3°C higher than conventional concrete. These findings indicate that the proposed concrete mix is suitable for use in drying yards, effectively reducing drying time while also promoting environmental sustainability by utilizing industrial waste materials.