Journal of Structural Technology

Volume 2 Issue 2

A Review Study on Coconut Shell Aggregate Concrete

R. Ranjith
M.E – Structures.
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering.
Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamilnadu, India.
ranjithstress@gmail.com.

Abstract
This paper focus on the review of agricultural waste material for concrete development. All
over world the production of waste materials from agricultural wastes are increasing
dramatically especially in India. Agricultural wastes are biologically decomposable in the
open exposure without any treatment. Coconut shell is one of the aggregate wastes. Coconut
shell aggregate concrete is chosen in the present review study. The size of coconut shell is
chosen as 10 mm to develop concrete and the concrete termed as coconut shell aggregate
concrete. In material properties side water absorption test, specific gravity test, fineness
modulus test, abrasion value test, attrition value test, charpys impact strength test, crushing
strength test, coconut shell aggregate thickness, maximum aggregate size, bulk density in
compacted stage and in loose stage, presents of moisture content in the coconut shell
aggregate tests were conducted and the results were compared in the research papers. The
specific gravity is 50 percentage less for coconut shell aggregate than the conventional
granite aggregate. In mechanical properties side compressive strength test, split tensile
strength test, flexural strength test, modulus of elasticity test, pull out test, impact strength
test were studied for both conventional granite aggregate concrete and coconut shell
aggregate concrete. Concrete obtained from coconut shells (CS) exhibited normally
comparable strength with Conventional Granite Aggregate Concrete (CGAC) in all the
reviewed literatures in the mechanical property side. In the durability properties side water
absorption test, sulphate attack test, chloride attack test, rapid chloride penetration test and
sorptivity test were conducted in the referred journal papers. A durability property also lies
well within the permissible limits for coconut shell aggregate concrete when comparing
conventional granite aggregate concrete. Considering the strength property it was concluded
that the coconut shells were normally suitable to use as substitute for aggregate in concrete
production.

Keywords: Agricultural waste, Coconut shell, Coconut shell aggregate, Coconut shell
aggregate concrete, Conventional granite aggregate, Conventional granite aggregate
concrete.

INTRODUCTION weight concrete. The density of coconut

Some of the wastes used as ingredients of
concrete like clay bricks, ceramic wastes,
tire rubber wastes, marble quarry wastes,
glass wastes, and recycled aggregates.
Coconut shell is the one of waste material
which is obtained from scraped coconuts.
Coconut shell is one of the agricultural
wastes.Usingthe coconut shellas coarse
aggregate in concrete is the new idea in the
recent concrete technology to develop light
shell aggregate is very less than the
conventional granite aggregate. Hence the
density property will be lesser for coconut
shell aggregate concrete. Specific gravity
is also the indirect measurement of density
all the concrete ingredients. From the
reviewed literatures the points were
arrived. The density is varying in same
ratio for coconut shell aggregate from
conventional granite

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aggregate.Forconcrete the density is
varying in fifty percentage variations from
coconut shell aggregate concrete to
conventional granite aggregate concrete.
That is the density of coconut shell
aggregate is 640 kg/m3 in compacted stage
and 530 kg/m3 in loose stage. The density
of conventional granite aggregate is 1650
kg/m3 in compacted stage and 1450 kg/m3
in loose stage. The density of coconut
shell aggregate concrete is 1670 kg/m3 and
the density of conventional granite
aggregate concrete is 5950 kg/m3. Lesser
density concrete is the requirement in the
construction industry to reduce the dead
weight of the building structural and non
structural components without adversely
affecting the strength of some structures.
The specific gravity of coconut shell
aggregate is 1.7 for conventional granite
aggregate is 2.68.Biological
decomposition is not evidenced even after
the 365 days is presented by some
researchers in the reviewed research
articles and publications. This studied
literatures focus on the determination of
coconut shell aggregate concrete
properties namely general characteristics,
compatibilities, mix design, mechanical
properties and durability properties. These
all the properties were compared with the
conventional granite aggregate concrete.
LITERATURE REVIEW OF
COCONUT SHELL AGGREGATE
CONCRETE
Abineshet al,(2015), found the flexural
behaviour of RCC beam with coconut
shell and Quarry dust for two different mix
ratios and reported that No horizontal
crack were observed at the level of
reinforcement[1-4]. This indicates that
there is good bond between the ingredient
and the test results of coconut shell
aggregate concrete were nearly same to
conventional granite aggregate concrete
beam[5-10].
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Journal of Structural Technology
Volume 2 Issue 2
Akshayet al, (2014), stated the review on
Coconut shell as partial replacement for
coarse aggregate in development of light
weight aggregate concrete. He mentioned
that the coconut shell aggregates were
shown better performance in mechanical
properties.
AmarnathYerramalaaet al, (2012),
compared the Properties of concrete with
coconut shells as aggregate and concrete
with conventional granite as aggregate and
he concluded that the coconut shell
aggregate concrete shows all the results
were below the conventional granite
aggregate concrete even after 90 days
tests.
Amuthaet al, (2015), studied the behaviour
of coconut shell aggregate concrete with
bamboo reinforcement in compression
member and he concluded that the coconut
shell aggregate concrete gives better bond
with the bamboo reinforcement in
compression test results of column
member.
ApekshaKanojiaet al, (2015), explained
the Performance of coconut shell as coarse
aggregate in concrete by the compression,
tension, impact, flexure tests and the test
results are satisfies the M20 grade of
concrete with less density than the
conventional concrete of grade M20.
ChandraulKirtiet al, (2015), define the
physical and mechanical properties of
coconut shell for the utilisation of
aggregate substitute in concrete. His
results are shows that the physical
properties such as specific gravity,
abrasion and attrition are having lesser
values than the normal granite aggregates.
Remaining properties are acceptable for
concrete making with lesser density
without affecting the strength.
Damodhara Reddy et al, (2014), analyzed
the strength characterization of coconut

shell aggregate and coconut shell
aggregate concrete. He defined the
properties are substitutable for light weight
aggregate concrete making with minimum
strength of 20 N/mm2.
DamreShradhaet al, (2014), studied the
concrete with partially replacing coarse
aggregate using coconut shell and he
concluded that the coconut shell concrete
give the strength in 20% difference to the
conventional concrete [11-15].
GopalCharanBeheraet al, (2013),
compared the coconut shell aggregate
concrete strength with normal strength
concrete of conventional aggregate. The
strength of concrete at 28 days is having
20% differences.
Gunasekaranet al ,(2011), investigated the
mechanical properties are satisfactory for
100 % replacement of conventional granite
aggregate by Coconut shell aggregate in
the development of light weight concrete.
Gunasekaranet al, (2012), studied the
presence of capillary pores of coconut
shell aggregate concrete in the interfacial
transition zone by SEM analysis. Finally
result shows that the particle packing
character of coconut shell aggregates
concrete is same as that of conventional
granite aggregate concrete even after the
365 days.
Gunasekaranet al, (2013), identified the
deformation pattern and ultimate load of
coconut shell aggregate concrete (CSAC)
is similar to conventional granite aggregate
concrete (CGAC) from the test results.
Gunasekaranet al, (2015), compared the
durability test results of coconut shell
aggregate concrete with the conventional
granite aggregate concrete of grade M20
and he concluded that the tested results are
within the range of acceptable limits as per
ASTM standards.
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Journal of Structural Technology
Volume 2 Issue 2
Gunasekaranet al, (2016), studied the
flexural behaviour of reinforced CSC Non-
Pressure Pipe. He found that Non pressure
pipe behave similar to the Conventional
concrete pipes when subjected to Three
edge bearing load test and Hydro static
test.
Jayaprithikaet al,(2016 a), studied three
different material combinations in the light
weight concrete making such as coconut
shell, GGBFS, M-sand. Her result shows
better performance in the plastic and
hardened stages of coconut shell concrete.
Jayaprithikaet al, (2016 b), estimated the
flexural behaviour of RC Beam with
coconut shell as coarse aggregate for the
three different concrete mixes and the
result given that the Maximum strain of
CSAC was arrived as 0.006 and hence it
achieves its full capacity. Then the stress-
strain variation of CSAC is also parabolic
like standard result of conventional RCC.
Jimi Paul et al, (2016), focused on the
development of Self compacting concrete
with CSA. He found that the Self
compacting concrete with CS as coarse
aggregate shows better finishing without
external compaction and Superplasticisers
are the essential components of SCC to
provide good workability.
Kakadeet al, (2015), identified the strength
of Light weight aggregate concrete by
using coconut shell as coarse aggregate
and compared with normal aggregate
concrete and he concluded that the
strength of coconut shell aggregate
concrete is improved like normal
aggregate concrete.
ManinderKauret al, (2012), focused on the
utilization of coconut shell as coarse
aggregates in mass concrete development.
He resulted that the coconut shell
aggregate concrete strength also increases

gradually like conventional granite
aggregate concrete.
Olanipekunet al,(2006), stated that while
comparing the Compressive strength at
28th days there is no considerable change
for the selected mix of coconut shell
aggregate concrete and conventional
Granite aggregate concrete and also
coconut shell aggregate concrete is very
economical than conventional concrete .
Paraget al, (2014 a), compared the coconut
shell aggregate with conventional granite
aggregate concrete for normal strength as
20 N/mm2. Finally he evaluated that the
strength of coconut shell aggregate
concrete strength is 40 percentages less
than conventional granite aggregate
concrete.
Paraget al, (2014 b), discovered the
Compressive strength of concrete by using
coconut shell as coarse aggregate for 100
percentage replacements and he concluded
that concrete strength is lesser than normal
aggregate concrete due to lesser density
and light weight of coconut shell particles.
Rajeevanet al, (2015), studied the
utilization of coconut shell as coarse
aggregate in concrete and he concluded
that the coconut shell aggregate concrete
compressive strength is affecting by the
presents of flakiness effect of coconut
shell aggregate, by minimizing the
flakiness effect of coconut shell aggregates
and using the coconut shell aggregates in
concrete from the saturated surface dry
condition the strength of coconut shell
concrete may increase[16-25].
Ranjith .R, (2017), studied that the coconut
shell aggregate concrete has satisfied the
designed strength of concrete after 28 days
of curing with the maximum size of
coconut shell as 10 mm in the mechanical
properties. The amount of cement content
used is same when coconut shells are used
as an aggregate in the production of
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Journal of Structural Technology
Volume 2 Issue 2
concrete compared to conventional
aggregate concrete to produce
approximately equal strength. To satisfy
the criteria of structural concrete by trial
mix 1 and 2, coconut shell requires the
cement content of (450 and 400) kg/m3 in
the production of concrete using coconut
shell as aggregate.The 28-day average
densities of coconut shell aggregate
concrete (CSAC) were (1678 and 1758)
kg/m3 in the two trial mix and these are
less than the conventional granite
aggregate concrete (CGAC) density of
(2325 and 2544) kg/m3. From these results
the coconut shell aggregate concrete is
defined as structural lightweight
concrete.The 28-day compressive strength
of coconut shell aggregate concrete
(CSAC) were (21 .33 and 17.73) N/mm2
for trial mix 1 and 2 and these are merely
less than conventional granite aggregate
concrete (CGAC) strength of (31.87 and
26.40) N/mm2.The flexural strengths of
coconut shell aggregate concrete (CSAC)
were (1.41 and 1.20)N/mm2 for two trial
mixes and corresponding conventional
granite aggregate concrete strength were
(1.19and 1.83) N/mm2. The flexural
strengths of coconut shell aggregate
concrete (CSAC) are approximately (6.61
and 6.77) % of its respective compressive
strengths of (21.33and 17.73) N/mm2.The
impact resistance of coconut shell
aggregate concrete is having (8 blows)
when compared with conventional granite
aggregate concrete (13 blows) for
formation of initial cracks in trial mix - I.
and CSAC (6 blows), CGAC (13) for
initial cracks in trial mix - II. The impact
resistance of coconut shell aggregate
concrete is having (13 blows) when
compared with conventional granite
aggregate concrete (18 blows) for
fractured pieces in trial mix- I.and CSAC
(10 blows), CGAC (17) for fractured
pieces in trial mix – II. Modulus of
elasticity of coconut shell aggregate
concrete (CSAC) is approximately (15.12)
% is less than conventional granite

aggregate concrete (CGAC) from the
initial tangent modulus results of graphs
for trial mix - I. Modulus of elasticity of
coconut shell aggregate concrete (CSAC)
is approximately (13.40) % is less than
conventional granite aggregate concrete
(CGAC) from the initial tangent modulus
results of graphs for trial mix - II. In
general, the basic engineering properties
namely compressive strength, flexural
strength, impact resistance, and modulus
of elasticity of coconut shell aggregate
concrete were compared reasonably and all
results lies well within that of conventional
granite aggregate concrete from the tested
two trial mix ratios.
Ranjith .R, (2017), stated that the coconut
shell aggregate concretehas considerably
sufficient strength. But the splitting tensile
strength of coconut shell aggregate
concrete is 50 % less than that of
conventional granite aggregate concrete.
The coconut shell aggregate concrete
results are lies within the limits of
structural lightweight concrete[26-30].
Hence it is considered as structural light
weight aggregate concrete. The impact
strength result of coconut shell aggregate
concrete CSAC is less than the
conventional granite aggregate concrete
CGAC.
Ranjith .R, (2017), mentioned that the
amount of cement content used is same
when coconut shells are used as an
aggregate in the production of concrete
compared to conventional aggregate
concrete to produce approximately equal
strength. To satisfy the criteria of
structural concrete coconut shell requires
the cement content of (450 and 400) kg/m3
in the production of concrete using
coconut shell as aggregate. Coconut shell
aggregate concrete has better workability
because of the smooth surface on one side
of the shells and the size of coconut shell
used in this study.
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Journal of Structural Technology
Volume 2 Issue 2
SaniHarunaet al, (2014), compared the
Ductility ratio behaviour of bamboo
reinforced coconut shell aggregate
concrete beams with steel reinforced
granite aggregate concrete beams. He
resulted that the ultimate load carrying
capacity of coconut shell aggregate
concrete beam is 60 percentages less than
the steel reinforced granite aggregate
concrete beams by the more ductility.
Shaiket al, (2015), discussed the effects of
silica fume on mechanical properties of
light weight coconut shell concrete and
concluded that the optimum value of silica
fume in light weight concrete is 36
percentages.
Vishwaset al, (2013), studied the coconut
shell aggregate with conventional granite
aggregate by mechanical and durability
property testing. He found that the coconut
shell aggregate is having high resistance in
abrasion, attrition, impact and crushing
testing. But poor performance in durability
test results.
Yogesh Narayan et al, (2016), compared
conventional granite aggregate concrete
with coconut shell aggregate concrete for
three different ratios and concluded that
the Compressive strength of concrete has
increased while increasing the coconut
shell by the Size effects.
CONCLUSSION
The test results in referred journals provide
significant understanding on basic
Material properties, Mechanical properties,
and Durability properties, of coconut shell
aggregate concrete while comparing
conventional granite aggregate concrete.
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