Mechanical and Creep Properties of Concrete containing Apricot Shell Lightweight Aggregate

In this study, the mechanical and creep properties of the apricot shell (AS) as a replacement for the coarse aggregate were investigated. The alternative volume ratio of the coarse aggregate was set as 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, respectively. The results showed that the coarse aggregate was completely replaced by the AS, the compressive strength, splitting tensile and flexural strength, and modulus of elasticity of apricot shell concrete (ASC) were 26.1 MPa, 1.85 MPa, 3.18 MPa, and 9.3 GPa, respectively, and decreased by 32.6%, 30.7%, 24.8%, and 34.5% compared to the concrete without AS, respectively. However, the oven dry density of AS 100 mixture was 1,762 kg/m 3 , which fulfilled the density requirement of structural lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC). The creep strain of concrete increased by increasing AS content. When the coarse aggregate was replaced by 100% AS, the strain of AS100 mixture at 380 hours was 16.84 × 10 −4 . The results indicate that LWAC with an acceptable performance can be produced by using AS as coarse aggregates in concrete.