Effect of pre-treatment and content of wheat straw on energy absorption capability of concrete

Wheat is an agricultural crop of sub-tropical regions. Straw is actually the by-product and waste of wheat crop. Straw are getting attention of many researchers and it's use as reinforcement in composites is increasing now a day. But there is a need to explore the straw for civil engineering applications as well. For this purpose, wheat straw reinforced concrete (WSRC) needs to be explored in depth. In this study, the effect of pre-treatment and content of wheat straw on the energy absorption capability of concrete has been studied by evaluating its static properties after curing period. The properties of plain cement concrete (PC) are taken as reference. Almost 25 mm long straw having content of 1%, 2%, and 3%, by mass of wet concrete, are considered. Soaked, boiled and chemically treated wheat straw are used to make Soaked WSRC (SWSRC), Boiled WSRC (BWSRC) and Chemically treated WSRC (CWSRC), respectively. Micro-structural analysis of straw and it's bond with concrete is also done to reveal the in-depth mechanism. Discussions on results are made. The study is concluded with an increase of 91%, 92%, and 105% in compressive, flexural and splitting-tensile toughness indices, respectively, of SWSRC with 1% content as compared to that of PC. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.