• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.55-69
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• 2015

Tailing Material (TM) and Fly Ash (FA) are obtained as waste products from the mining and thermal industries. Studies were carried out to explore the possibility of utilizing TM as a part replacement to fine aggregate and FA as a part replacement to cement, in concrete mixes. The effect of replacing fine aggregate by TM and cement by FA on the standard sized specimen for compressive strength, split tensile strength, and flexural strengths are evaluated in this study. The concrete mix of M40 grade was adopted with water cement ratio equal to 0.40. Concrete mix with 35% TM and 65% natural sand (TM35/S65) has shown superior performance in strength as against (TM0/S100, TM30/S70, TM40/S60, TM50/S50, and TM60/S40). For this composition, studies were performed to propose the optimal replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) by FA (Replacement levels studied were 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%). Replacement level of 20% OPC by FA, has shown about 0-5% more compressive strength as against the control mix, for both 28 day and 56 days of water curing. Interestingly results of split tensile and flexural strengths for 20% OPC replaced by FA, have shown strengths equal to that of no replacement (control mix).

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.49-69
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• 2016

This work investigates the mechanical properties of conventional concrete (CC) and self compacting concrete (SCC) using fine rubber and silpozz were accompanied by a comparative study between conventional rubberized concrete (CRC) and self compacting rubberized concrete (SCRC). Fine rubber (FR) from scrap tires has replaced the fine aggregate (FA) and Silpozz has been used as a replacement of cement at the proportions of 5, 10 and 15%. Silpozz as a partial replacement of cement in addition of superplasticiser (SP) increases the strength of concrete. Fresh concrete properties such as slump test, compaction factor test for CRC, whereas for SCRC slump flow, $T_{500}$, V-funnel, L-box, U-box, J-ring tests were conducted along with the hardened properties tests like compressive, split tensile and flexural strength test at 7, 28 and 90 days of curing. The durability and microstructural behavior for both CRC and SCRC were investigated. FR used in the present study is 4.75 mm passing with fineness modulus 4.74.M30 grade concrete is used with a mix proportion of 1:1.44:2.91 and w/c ratio as 0.43. The results indicate that as FR quantity increases, workability of both CRC and SCRC decreases. The results also show that the replacement of natural fine aggregate (NFA) with FR particles decreases the compressive strength with the increase of flexural strength observed upto 5% replacement of FR. Also replacement of cement with silpozz resulted enhancement of strength in SCRC.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제3권3호
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• pp.237-250
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• 2015

Beam-column joints are highly vulnerable locations which are to be designed for high ductility in order to take care of unexpected lateral forces such as wind and earthquake. Previous investigations reveal that the addition of steel fibres to concrete improves its ductility significantly. Also, due to presence of slab the strength and ductility of the beam increases considerably and ignoring the effect of slab can lead to underestimation of beam capacity and defiance of strong column weak beam concept. The influence of addition of steel fibres on the strength and behaviour of steel fibre reinforced high performance concrete (SFRHPC) interior beam-column-slab joints was investigated experimentally. The specimens were subjected to reverse cyclic loading. The variable considered was the volume fraction of crimped steel fibres i.e., 0%, 0.5% and 1.0%. The results show that the addition of steel fibres improves the first crack load, strength, ductility, energy absorption capacity and initial stiffness of the beam.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제3권3호
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• pp.223-236
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• 2015

Concrete is the most widely used material of construction. Concrete gained the popularity as a construction material due to the easy availability of its component materials, the easy formability, strength and rigidity upon setting and curing.In construction industry, strength is the primary criterion in selecting a concrete for a particular application. Now a days, the substantial amount of waste materials, containing the properties of the Pozzolana, is being generated from the major industries; and disposal of such industrial wastes generated in abundance is also a serious problem from the environmental and pollution point of view. On this backdrop, efforts are made by the researchers for exploring the possible utilization of such waste materials in making the sustainable construction material. The present paper reports the experimental investigations to study the strength characterization of concrete made from the pozzolanic waste materials. For this purpose, the Pozzolanic materials such as fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag were used as a cement replacing materials in conjunction with ordinary Portland cement. Equal amount of these materials were used in eight trial mixes with varying amount of cement. The water cement ratio was also varied. The chemical admixture was also added to improve the workability of concrete. The compressive strengths for 7, 28, 40 and 90 days' were evaluated whereas the flexural and tensile strengths corresponding to 7, 28 and 40 days were evaluated. The study corroborates that the pozzolanic materials used in the present investigation along with the cement can render the sustainable concrete.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

In this study, high performance concrete beams and prisms with high content of PFA were heated to various temperatures up to $450^{\circ}C$ at heating rates of $1^{\circ}C/min$, $3^{\circ}C/min$ and $10^{\circ}C/min$. The thermal gradient was found to increase first with the heating time until a peak value was reached and then decrease until the thermal equilibrium was reached, measured as $115^{\circ}C$, $240^{\circ}C$ and $268^{\circ}C$ for the three heating rates. Spalling occurred on some specimens when the heating temperature was over $400^{\circ}C$ for heating rates of $3^{\circ}C/min$ and $10^{\circ}C/min$. The hygric gradient was found to reach its maximum when the thermal gradient reached its peak. This study indicates that spalling of HPC could happen when the heating temperature was high enough, and both thermal and hygric gradients reached their maxima.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.71-90
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• 2015

In order to investigate the feasibility and advantage of tuff used as pozzolan in cement-based composite, the representative specimens of tuff were collected, and their chemical compositions, proportion of vitreous phase, mineral species, and rock structure were measured by chemical composition analysis, petrographic analysis, and XRD. Pozzolanic activity strength index of tuff was tested by the ratio of the compression strength of the tuff/cement mortar to that of a control cement mortar. Pozzolanic reaction degree, and the contents of CH and bond water in the tuff/cement paste were determined by selective hydrochloric acid dissolution, and DSC-TG, respectively. The tuffs were demonstrated to be qualified supplementary binding material in cement-based composite according to relevant standards. The tuffs possessed abundant $SiO_2+Al_2O_3$ on chemical composition and plentiful content of amorphous phase on rock texture. The pozzolanic reaction degrees of the tuffs in the tuff/cement pastes were gradually increased with prolongation of curing time. The consistency of CH consumption and pozzolanic reaction degree was revealed. Variation of the pozzolanic reaction degree was enhanced with the bond water content and relationship between them appeared to satisfy an approximating linear law. The fitting linear regression equation can be applied to mutual conversion between pozzolanic reaction degree and bond water content.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.1-14
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• 2015

China accounts for nearly half of the global steel production. As a waste material or a by-product in the manufacture process, a large amount of blast furnace slag is generated every year. The majority of recycled blast furnace slag is used as an additive in low-grade blended cement in China (equivalent to the UK CEM II or CEM III depending on the slag content). The cost of using ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) in such low-grade applications may not be entirely reimbursed based on market research. This paper reports an on-going project at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) which investigates the feasibility of using GGBS in long-span concrete structures by avoiding/reducing the use of crack control reinforcement. Based on a case study investigation, with up to 50% of CEM I cement replaced with GGBS, a beneficiary effect of reduced thermal contraction is achieved in long-span concrete slabs with no significant detrimental effect on early-age strengths. It is believed that this finding may be transferable from China to other Asian countries with similar climates and economic/environmental concerns.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.103-119
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• 2013

The applicability of limit analysis methods in design and assessment of concrete structures generally requires a certain plastic deformation capacity. The latter is primarily provided by the ductility of the reinforcement, being additionally affected by the bond properties between reinforcing steel and concrete since they provoke strain localization in the reinforcement at cracks. The bond strength of reinforcing bars is not only governed by concrete quality, but also by construction details such as bar ribbing, bar spacing or concrete cover thickness. For new concrete structures, a potentially unfavorable impact on bond strength can easily be anticipated through appropriate code rules on construction details. In existing structures, these requirements may not be necessarily satisfied, consequently requiring additional considerations. This two-part paper investigates in a theoretical study the impacts of the most frequently encountered construction details which may not satisfy design code requirements on bond strength, steel strain localization and plastic deformation capacity of cracked structural concrete. The first part introduces basic considerations on bond, strain localization and plastic deformation capacity as well as the fundamentals of the Tension Chord Model underlying the further investigations. It also analyzes the impacts of the hardening behavior of reinforcing steel and concrete quality. The second part discusses the impacts of construction details (bar ribbing, bar spacing, and concrete cover thickness) and of additional structure-specific features such as bar diameter and crack spacing.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.85-102
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• 2013

Prior concrete strength distributions can be updated by using direct information from test results as well as by taking into account indirect information due to conformity control. Due to the filtering effect of conformity control, the distribution of the material property in the accepted inspected lots will have lower fraction defectives in comparison to the distribution of the entire production (before or without inspection). A methodology is presented to quantify this influence in a Bayesian framework based on prior knowledge with respect to the hyperparameters of concrete strength distributions. An algorithm is presented in order to update prior distributions through numerical integration, taking into account the operating characteristic of the applied conformity criteria, calculated based on Monte Carlo simulations. Different examples are given to derive suitable hyperparameters for incoming strength distributions of concrete offered for conformity assessment, using updated available prior information, maximum-likelihood estimators or a bootstrap procedure. Furthermore, the updating procedure based on direct as well as indirect information obtained by conformity assessment is illustrated and used to quantify the filtering effect of conformity criteria on concrete strength distributions in case of a specific set of conformity criteria.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제1권3호
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• pp.201-213
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• 2013

While recognizing the problem of reinforcement corrosion and premature structural deterioration of reinforced concrete (RC) structures as a combined effect of mechanical and environmental actions (carbonation, ingress of chlorides), emphasis is given on the effect of the latter, as most severe and unpredictable action. In this study, a simulation tool, based on proven predictive models utilizing principles of chemical and material engineering, for the estimation of concrete service life is applied on an existing reinforced concrete bridge (${\O}$resund Link) located in a chloride environment. After a brief introduction to the structure of the models used, emphasis is given on the physicochemical processes in concrete leading to chloride induced corrosion of the embedded reinforcement. By taking under consideration the concrete, structural and environmental properties of the bridge investigated, an accurate prediction of its service life is taking place. It was observed that the proposed, and already used, relationship of service lifetime- cover is almost identical with a mean line between the lines derived from the minimum and maximum critical values considered for corrosion initiation. Thus, an excellent agreement with the project specifications is observed despite the different ways used to approach the problem. Furthermore, different scenarios of concrete cover failure, in the case when a coating is utilized, and extreme deicing salts attack are also investigated.