Investigation of oil drill cuttings as partial replacement of cements in concrete for low strength structures

Abstract

This study investigates the use of oil drill cuttings (ODC) as partial replacement of Portland cement (PC) and cementitious materials in binary and ternary cement compositions. Concrete specimens were prepared incorporating 0, 5, 10 and 20% by mass of ODC replacements in Portland cement (PC) and 10% of the ODC replacement in specimens having ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and pulverised fly ash (PFA) respectively. The fresh and hardened state properties of the concretes were studied. Results showed that use of ODC contributed improvements to the fresh concrete properties, while it also exhibited good comparisons of hardened concrete properties with the non-ODC containing concretes. Findings in the study support the use of ODC-containing concrete mixes for low strength structures such as foundation blinding and infilling materials, in structural fills applications requiring no future excavations. These combined the advantages of cost reduction in concrete production with utilization of the waste ODC materials, which is a considerable solution approach to the environmental problems being encountered in ODC wastes disposal.