Radiation shielding potential of ultra-high strength concrete from agro-industrial waste

Abstract

Ultra-high strength concrete produced with agro-residual wastes and industrial by-products were tested for radiation shielding capacity by measuring the linear attenuation coefficient, half value layer and tenth value layer. The linear attenuation test results, show that the ul- tra-high strength concrete with agro-residual and industrial wastes can be effectively employed in shielding the radiation. The half value layer results reveal that radiation shielding concretes can be produced using industrial and agro-residual wastes, by concentrating equally on the enhancement of both the homogeneity and density of the concrete matrix. The ultra-high strength concrete developed in this investigation registered a better radiation shielding properties than that of the conventional anti-radiation shielding concretes with high dense aggregates which are costlier and found to have environmental degradation along with the health hazards.

Keywords

• ultra-high strength concrete
• radiation
• linear attenuation coefficient
• half value layer
• tenth value layer