Cement is generally considered the most expensive ingredient of the concrete and its demand is also increasing day by day. This demand for cement and concrete can be met by the partial cement replacement. Energy and cost savings can result when industrial and agricultural by-products such as fly ash, silica fumes, pond ash, and marble dust powder are used as a partial replacement. Amongst these various products, use of rice husk ash in the production of concrete is very important for India.

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... a is one of the largest rice producers in the world. India produces about 122 million ton of paddy every year. It has been estimated that each ton can lead to 40 kg of rice husk ash. Rice husk, when burnt in a controlled manner does not cause pollution. When properly burnt it produces high SiO2 content and thus it has excellent pozzolonic properties. Various researchers have shown that rice husk ash can increase the strength and impermeability of the concrete. The research work presented in this paper mainly deals with evaluating one type of commercially available rice husk ash (RHA) and to determine the properties such as workability, mechanical properties (compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength) and durability properties. The details of improvement in compressive strength have been illustrated and evaluated in this paper.