This paper investigates the influence of various mix design parameters on the characteristics of concrete containing recycled coarse aggregates and Nano-Silica using Taguchi method. The present study adopts Water-cement ratio, Recycled Coarse Aggregate (%), Maximum cement content and Nano-Silica (%) as factors with each one having three different levels. Using the above mentioned control parameters with levels an Orthogonal Array (OA) matrix experiments of L9 (34) has selected and nine number of concrete mixes has been prepared. Compressive Strength, Split Tensile Strength, Flexural Tensile Strength, Modulus of Elasticity and Non-Destructive parameters are selected as responses. Experimental results are analyzed and the optimum level for each response is predicted. Analysis of 28 days CS depicts that NS (%) is the most significant factor among all factors. Analysis of the tensile strength results indicates that the effect of control factor W/C ratio is ranked one and then NS (%) is ranked two which suggests that W/C ratio and NS (%) have more influence as compared to other two factors. However, the factor that affects the modulus of elasticity most is found to be RCA (%). Finally, validation experiments have been carried out with the optimal mixture of concrete with Nano-Silica for the desired engineering properties of recycled aggregate concrete. Moreover, the comparative study of the predicted and experimental results concludes that errors between both experimental and predicted values are within the permissible limits. This present study highlights the application of Taguchi method as an efficient tool in determining the effects of constituent materials in mix proportioning of concrete.

In this paper, a compression to tensile load converter device was developed to determine the anisotropic tensile strength of concrete. The samples were made from a mixture of water, fine sand and cement, respectively. Concrete samples with a hole at its center was prepared and subjected to tensile loading using the compression to tensile load converter device. A hydraulic load cell applied compressive loading to converter device with a constant pressure of 0.02 MPa per second. Compressive loading was converted to tensile stress on the sample because of the overall test design. The samples have three different configurations related to loading axis; 0, $45^{\circ}$, $-45^{\circ}$. A series of finite element analysis were done to analyze the effect of hole diameter on stress concentration of the hole side along its horizontal axis to provide a suitable criterion for determining the real tensile strength of concrete. Concurrent with indirect tensile test, Brazilian test and three point loading test were also performed to compare the results from the three methods. Results obtained by this device were quite encouraging and show that the tensile strengths of concrete were similar in different directions because of the homogeneity of bonding between the concrete materials. Also, the indirect tensile strength was clearly lower than the Brazilian test strength and three point loading test.

This paper presents the effects of elevated temperatures of $400^{\circ}C$ and $800^{\circ}C$ on the residual compressive strength and failure behaviour of fibre reinforced concretes and comparison is made with that of unreinforced control concrete. Two types of short fibres are used in this study e.g., steel and basalt fibres. The results show that the residual compressive strength capacity of steel fibre reinforced concrete is higher than unreinforced concrete at both elevated temperatures. The basalt fibre reinforced concrete, on the other hand, showed lower strength retention capacity than the control unreinforced concrete. However, the use of hybrid steel-basalt fibre reinforcement recovered the deficiency of basalt fibre reinforced concrete, but still slightly lower than the control and steel fibres reinforced concretes. The use of fibres reduces the spalling and explosive failure of steel, basalt and hybrid steel-basalt fibres reinforced concretes oppose to spalling in deeper regions of ordinary control concrete after exposure to above elevated temperatures. Microscopic observation of steel and basalt fibres surfaces after exposure to above elevated temperatures shows peeling of thin layer from steel surface at $800^{\circ}C$, whereas in the case of basalt fibre formation of Plagioclase mineral crystals on the surface are observed at elevated temperatures.

A bridge widening technology using steel-concrete composite system was developed and is presented in this paper. The widened superstructure system consists of a newly built composite steel-concrete girder with concrete deck and steel diaphragms attached to the existing concrete girders. This method has been applied in several bridge widening projects in China, and one of those projects is presented in detail. Due to the higher stiffness-to-weight ratio and the rapid erection of composite girders, this widening method reveals benefits in both mechanical performance and construction. As only a few methods for the design of bridges with different types of girders are recommended in current design codes, a more accurate analytical method of estimating live load distribution on girder bridges was developed. In the analytical model, the effects of span length, girder pacing, diaphragms, concrete decks were considered, as well as the torsional and flexural stiffness of both composite box girders and concrete T girders. The study shows that the AASHTO LRFD specification procedures and the analytical models proposed in this paper closely approximate the live load distribution factors determined by finite element analysis. A parametric study was also conducted using the finite element method to evaluate the potential load carrying capacities of the existing concrete girders after widening.

This paper presents the effect of different micro-silica (MS) contents of 5, 10 and 15 wt.% as partial replacement of cement on mechanical and durability properties of high volume fly ash - recycled aggregate concretes (HVFA-RAC) containing 50% class F fly ash (FA) and 35% recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) as partial replacement of cement and natural coarse aggregate (NCA), respectively. The measured mechanical and durability properties are compressive strength, indirect tensile strength, elastic modulus, drying shrinkage, water sorptivity and chloride permeability. The effects of different curing ages of 7, 28, 56 and 91 days on above properties are also considered in this study. The results show that the addition of MS up to 10% improved the early age (7 days) strength properties of HVFA-RAC, however, at later ages (e.g. 28-91 days) the above mechanical properties are improved for all MS contents. The 5% MS exhibited the best performance among all MS contents for all mechanical properties of HVFA-RAC. In the case of measured durability properties, mix results are obtained, where 10% and 5% MS exhibited the lowest sorptivity and drying shrinkage, respectively at all ages. However, in the case of chloride ion permeability a decreasing trend is observed with increase in MS contents and curing ages. Strong correlations of indirect tensile strength and modulus of elasticity with square root of compressive strength are also observed in HVFA-RAC. Nevertheless, it is established in this study that MS contributes to the sustainability of HVFA-RAC significantly by improving the mechanical and durability properties of concrete containing 50%less cement and 35% less natural coarse aggregates.