Investigation of suitability of limestones as concrete aggregate in dogu district (Korgun, Çankırı)

Nowadays, the construction sector is growing faslty, specially in housing construction. In fact, aggregates are the raw material used extensively in the production of concrete, which is an important building material in the construction of houses. In the production of concrete consisting mainly of aggregate, cement and water, if the aggregate strength is high, it will positively affect the load-bearing mechanism of the concrete and thus the strength of the reinforced concrete structure. The main raw material input of concrete is aggregate with rates up to 80%. Aggregate production in our country is provided from quarries, streams, and seas. Interest in quarries is increasing day by day in order to provide easier access and easy workability. It is extracted by crushing and blasting methods according to the quarry locations. The sieved material is collected in the field according to the grain diameter of 0-4 mm, 4-11.2 mm, and 11.2-22.4 mm. According to the geometrical properties of the TS EN 12620+A1 standard for aggregates used in concrete production; Sieve analysis, flatness index, very fine material content, and methylene blue experiments were carried out. To determine its physical properties, fragmentation resistance (Los Angeles test), abrasion resistance (Micro – Deval abrasion test), bulk density, grain density, and water absorption rate tests were carried out. In order to determine the durability properties, resistance to freezing/thawing effect, volume stability - drying shrinkage, and alkali-silica reactivity tests were carried out in aggregates. To determine its chemical properties, chloride content, acid-soluble sulfate determination, total sulfur determination, determination of light pollutants, determination of potential humus presence, determination of fulvic acid content were made and its suitability was checked. This thesis is about investigating the suitability of limestones, which are commonly seen around Doğu district (Korgun, Çankırı), as a concrete aggregate.