This paper reports the effects of coarse and fine recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) on fresh and hardened properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) containing ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) as cement replacement. For this purpose, three SCC mixes groups, were produced at a constant water to binder ratio of 0.38. Both fine and coarse recycled aggregates were used as natural aggregates (NA) replacement at different substitution levels of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% by volume for each mix group. Each group, included 0, 15% or 30% GGBFS as Portland cement replacement by weight. The SCC properties investigated were self-compactability parameters (i.e., slump flow, T500 time, V-funnel flow time, L-box passing ability and sieve stability), compressive strength, capillary water absorption and water penetration depth. The results show that the combined use of RCA with GGBFS had a significant effect on fresh and hardened SCC mixes. The addition of both fine and coarse recycled aggregates as a substitution up to 50% of natural aggregates enhance the workability of SCC mixes, whereas the addition from 50 to 100% decreases the workability, whatever the slag content used as cement replacement. An enhancement of workability of SCC mixes with recycled aggregates was noticed as increasing GGBFS from 0 to 30%. RCA content of 25% to 50% as NA replacement and cement replacement of 15% GGBFS seems to be the optimum level to produce satisfactory SCC without any bleeding or segregation. Furthermore, the addition of slag to recycled concrete aggregates of SCC mixes reduces strength losses at the long term (56 and 90 days). However, a decrease in the capillary water absorption and water permeability depth was noticed, when using RCA mixes with slag.

Self compacting concrete (SCC) has good flowability, passability and segregation resistance because of voluminous cementitious material & high coarse aggregate to fine aggregate ratio, and high free water availability. But these factors make it highly susceptible to shrinkage. Fibers are known to reduce shrinkage in concrete mixes. Until now for conserving cement, only pozzolanic materials are admixed in concrete to yield a SCC. Hence, this study compares the use of wollastonite micro fiber (WMF), a cheap pozzolanic easily processed raw mineral fiber, and flyash in yielding economical SCC for rigid pavement. Microsilica was used as a complimentary material with both admixtures. Since WMF has large surface area ($827m^2/kg$), is acicular in nature; therefore its use in yielding SCC was dubious. Binary and ternary mixes were constituted for WMF and flyash, respectively. Paste mixes were tested for compatibility with superplasticizer and trials were performed on a normal concrete mix of flexural strength 4.5 MPa to yield SCC. Flexural strength test and restrained shrinkage test were performed on those mixes, which qualified self compacting criteria. Results revealed that WMF admixed pastes have high water demand, and comparable setting times to flyash mixes. Workability tests showed that 20% WMF with microsilica (5-7.5%) is efficient enough in achieving SCC and higher flexural strength than normal concrete at 90 days. Also, stress rate due to shrinkage was lesser and time duration for final strain was higher in WMF admixed SCC which encourages its use in yielding a SCC than pozzolanic materials.

This paper presents a review on the use of Silica Fume (SF) as a mineral admixture in the concrete. Distinctive outcome from several researches have been demonstrated here, particularly emphasizing on the fresh and hardened properties of concrete when blended with Silica Fume (Micro-silica or Nano-silica). The results showed a substantial enhancement in the mechanical properties of concrete when replaced with SF. The review also presented a brief idea of percentage replacement of SF in case of normal and high-strength concrete. A decreasing trend in workability (slump value) has been identified when there is a increase in percentage replacement of SF. It can be concluded that the optimize percentage of replacement with SF lies in the range of 8-10% particularly for compressive strength. However the variation of blending goes up to 12-15% in case of split tensile and flexure strength of concrete. The study also demonstrates the effect of silica fume on durability parameters like water absorption, permeability, sulphate attack and chloride attack.

The main aim of this study is to investigate the possible effects of metakaolin on strength and durability properties of concrete. For this purpose, concrete mixtures are produced by substituting cement with metakaolin 0, 5, 10 and 20% by weight. The amount of binder for the concrete mixtures are 300 and $400kg/m^3$ with a constant water to cement ratio of 0.6. Compressive and bending strengths, freeze-thaw and high-temperature resistances, capillary coefficients and rapid chloride permeability properties were determined and compared each other. Because of all the experiments conducted, it has been found that the use of metakaolin as a pozzolanic additive in concrete have positive effects especially on compressive and bending strengths, capillary, rapid chloride permeability, freeze-thaw resistance, and high temperatures, up to $800^{\circ}C$. The results indicated that the performance of concrete can be enhanced by metakaolin. Particularly, compressive strength and durability properties have found to be improved with increasing metakaolin content which is attributed to pozzolanic activity and filler effect. Furthermore, metakaolin has relatively positive impacts under elevated temperatures and freeze-thaw effects. However, almost all the strengths of entire concrete specimens are lost at $800^{\circ}C$. Consequently, the optimum metakaolin substitution ratio can be suggested to be 20% as per this study.

This paper presents a case study about the damages on the structural elements of a cast in place reinforced concrete (RC) building after a big fire which was able to be controlled after six hours. The fire broke off at the $2^{nd}$ basement floor of the building, which has five basements, one ground, and two normal floors. As a result of intensely stocked ignitable materials, it spread out to the all of the upstairs. In visual inspection, most of the typical fire damages were observed (such as spalling, net-like cracks, crumbled plasters, bared or visible reinforcement). Also, failures of the $2^{nd}$ basement columns were encountered. It has been concluded that the severity failures of the columns at the $2^{nd}$ basement caused utterly deformation of the building, which is responsible for the massive damages on the beam-column connections. All of the observed damages were categorized related to the types and presented separated regarding the floors. Besides to the visual inspection, the numerical analysis was run to verify the observed damaged on the building for columns, beams, and the connection regions. It is concluded from the study that several parameters such as duration of the fire, level of the temperature influence on the damages to the RC building. Also, it is highlighted by the study that if the damaged building is considered on the overall structural system, it is not able to satisfy the minimum service requirements neither gravity loads nor earthquake conditions.

In this study, the effects of sulphuric acid on the mechanical performance and the durability of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) specimens were investigated. The carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) fabrics were used to evaluate the performances of the confined and unconfined ECC specimens under static and cyclic loading in the acidic environment. In addition, the use of CFRP and BFRP fabrics as a rehabilitation technique was also studied for the specimens exposed to the sulphuric acid environment. The polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber with a fraction of 2% was used in the research. Two different PVA-ECC concretes were produced using low lime fly ash (LCFA) and high lime fly ash (HCFA) with the fly ash-to-OPC ratio of 1.2. Unwrapped PVA-ECC specimens were also produced as a reference concrete and all concrete specimens were continuously immersed in 5% sulphuric acid solution ($H_2SO_4$). The mechanical performance and the durability of specimens were evaluated by means of the visual inspection, weight change, static and cyclic loading, and failure mode. In addition, microscopic changes of the PVA-ECC specimens due to sulphuric acid attack were also assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the macroscale behavior of the specimens. Results indicated that PVA-ECC specimens produced with low lime fly ash (LCFA) showed superior performance than the specimens produced with high lime fly ash (HCFA) in the acidic environment. In addition, confinement of ECC specimens with BFRP and CFRP fabrics significantly improved compressive strength, ductility, and durability of the specimens. PVA-ECC specimens wrapped with carbon FRP fabric showed better mechanical performance and durability properties than the specimens wrapped with basalt FRP fabric. Both FRP materials can be used as a rehabilitation material in the acidic environment.