Paper Title
Structural Strength Potentials of Nigerian Groundnut Husk Ash as Partial Cement Replacement in Mortar

Abstract
This study investigates the strength potentials of groundnut husk ash as partial cement replacement in mortar and also develops a predictive model using Artificial Neural Network. Groundnut husks sourced from Ogbomoso, Nigeria was sun dried, calcined to ash in a furnace at a controlled temperature of 600⁰ C for a period of 6 hours and sieved through the 75 microns. The ash was subjected to chemical analysis and setting time test. Fine aggregate (sand) for the mortar was sourced from Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. The cement: GHA constituents were blended in ratios 100:0, 95:5, 90:10, 85:15 and 80:20 %. The sum of SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2O3 content in GHA is 26.98%. The compressive strength for mortars PC, GHA5, GHA10, GHA15 and GHA20 ranged from 6.3-10.2 N/mm2 at 7days, 7.5- 12.3 N/mm2 at 14 days, 9.31-13.7 N/mm2 at 28 days, 10.4 -16.7 N/mm2 at 56days and 13.35- 22.3 N/mm2 at 90 days respectively, PC, GHA5 and GHA10 had competitive values up to 28 days but GHA10 gave the highest values at 56 and 90 days while GHA20 had the lowest values at all ages due to dilution effect. Flexural strengths values at 28 days ranged from 1.08 to 1.87 N/mm2 and increased to a range of 1.53- 4.10 N/mm2 at 90 days. The ANN model gave good prediction for compressive strength of the mortars. This study has shown that groundnut husk ash as partial cement replacement improves the strength properties of mortar. Keywords - Potentials, Groundnut Husk Ash, Partial Replacement, Mortar, Compressive Strength, Flexural Strength, Pozzolanic Index.