Influence of nano silica on mechanical strength of ground nut shell ash concrete

This research paper focuses on the influence of nano silica on the mechanical strength behaviour of M40 grade concrete with groundnut shell ash. Initially the pozzolanic activity index test was done to know the reactivity of groundnut shell ash and the percentage of groundnut shell ash used as a partial replacement of cement was fixed as 5%. Later experimental study was carried out by varying the percentage of nano silica in concrete to investigate the combined effect of groundnut shell ash and nano silica on compressive strength, flexure strength and split tensile strength of concrete at 7, 14, 28 and 56 days. The addition of groundnut shell ash showed 9% improvement in the compressive strength and further addition of nano silica showed substantial improvement in the compressive strength by 12.78%.