• Computers and Concrete
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• 제24권5호
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• pp.453-458
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• 2019

Today, concrete remains the most important, durable, and reliable material that has been used in the construction sector, making it the most commonly used material after water. However, cement continues to exert many negative effects on the environment, including the production of carbon dioxide (CO2), which pollutes the atmosphere. Cement production is costly, and it also consumes energy and natural non- renewable resources, which are critical for sustainability. These factors represent the motivation for researchers to examine the various alternatives that can reduce the effects on the environment, natural resources, and energy consumption and enhance the mechanical properties of concrete. Geopolymer is one alternative that has been investigated; this can be produced using aluminosilicate materials such as low calcium (class F) FA, Ultra-Fine GGBS, and high calcium FA (class C, which are available worldwide as industrial, agricultural byproducts.). It has a high percentage of silica and alumina, which react with alkaline solution (activators). Aluminosilicate gel, which forms as a result of this reaction, is an effective binding material for the concrete. This paper presents an up-to-date review regarding the important engineering properties of geopolymer formed by FA and slag binders; the findings demonstrate that this type of geopolymer could be an adequate alternative to ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Due to the significant positive mechanical properties of slag-FA geopolymer cements and their positive effects on the environment, it represents a material that could potentially be used in the construction industry.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.21-28
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• 2019

Use of cement in stabilizing the sulfate-bearing clay soils forms ettringite/ thaumasite in the presence of moisture leads to excessive swelling and causes damages to structures built on them. The development and use of non-traditional stabilisers such as alkali activated ground granulated blast-furnace slag (AGGBS) and enzyme for soil stabilisation is recommended because of its lower cost and the non detrimental effects on the environment. The objective of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of AGGBS and enzyme on improving the volume change properties of sulfate bearing soil as compared to ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The soil for present study has been collected from Tilda, Chhattisgarh, India and 5000 ppm of sodium sulfate has been added. Various dosages of the selected stabilizers have been used and the effect on plasticity index, differential swell index and swelling pressure has been evaluated. XRD, SEM and EDX were also done on the untreated and treated soil for identifying the mineralogical and microstructural changes. The tests results show that the AGGBS and enzyme treated soil reduces swelling and plasticity characteristics whereas OPC treated soil shows an increase in swelling behaviour. It is observed that the swell pressure of the OPC-treated sulfate bearing soil became 1.5 times higher than that of the OPC treated non-sulfate soil.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.37-47
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• 2019

In view of the increasing utility of concrete as a construction material, the major challenge is to improve the quality of construction. Nowadays the common problem faced by many of the concrete plants is the shortage of river sand as fine aggregate material. This led to the utilization of locally available materials from quarries as fine aggregate. With the percentage of fines present in Crushed Rock Fines (CRF)or crushed sand is more compared to river sand, it shows a better performance in terms of fresh properties. The present study deals with the formulation of SCC mix design based on the chosen plastic viscosity of the mix and the measured plastic viscosity of cement pastes incorporating supplementary cementitious materials with CRF and river sand as a fine aggregate. Four different combinations including two binary and one ternary mix are adopted for the current study. Influence of plastic viscosity of the mix on the fresh and hardened properties are investigated for SCC mixes with varying water to cement ratios. It is observed that for an increasing plastic viscosity of the mix, slump flow, T500 and J-ring spread increased but V-funnel and L-box decreased. Compressive, split tensile and flexural strengths decreased with the increase in plastic viscosity.

• 한국건축시공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국건축시공학회 2019년도 추계 학술논문 발표대회
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• pp.27-28
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• 2019

In this study, the characteristics of compressive strength of ultra high strength concrete supplied with moisture from outside by vacuum water absorbing curing method were investigated. Specimens were prepared by replacing the binder(Silifa fume and GGBS) by 25 wt% with respect to the weight of cement at W/B 0.16. Each specimen was subjected to water Vacuum absorbing curing time 0 min, 30 min, 60 min, 90 min and 120 minutes immediately after the demolding. Curing was performed at $20^{\circ}C$ Air-dry curing, $90^{\circ}C$ steam curing, $90^{\circ}C$ steam curing and $180^{\circ}C$ autoclave curing. Experimental results showed that water absorbing degree increased with increasing water absorbing curing time, and BS25 sample had higher water absorbing degree than SF25 sample at same time. Compressive strength tended to increase up to about 40% in water absorbing degree, but compressive strength decreased again in water absorbing more than 40%.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제77권1호
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• pp.103-114
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• 2021

Ultra high strength concrete (UHSC) originally proposed by Richards and Cheyrezy (1995) composed of cement, silica fume, quartz sand, quartz powder, steel fibers, superplasticizer etc. Later, other ingredients such as fly ash, GGBS, metakaoline, copper slag, fine aggregate of different sizes have been added to original UHSC. In the present investigation, the combined effect of coarse aggregate (6mm - 10mm) and steel fibers (0.50%, 1.0% and 1.5%) has been studied on UHSC mixes to evaluate mechanical and fracture properties. Compressive strength, split tensile strength and modulus of elasticity were determined for the three UHSC mixes. Size dependent fracture energy was evaluated by using RILEM work of fracture and size independent fracture energy was evaluated by using (i) RILEM work of fracture with tail correction to load - deflection plot (ii) boundary effect method. The constitutive relationship between the residual stress carrying capacity (σ) and the corresponding crack opening (w) has been constructed in an inverse manner based on the concept of a non-linear hinge from the load-crack mouth opening plots of notched three-point bend beams. It was found that (i) the size independent fracture energy obtained by using above two approaches yielded similar value and (ii) tensile stress increases with the increase of % of fibers. These two fracture properties will be very much useful for the analysis of cracked concrete structural components.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.499-505
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• 2021

Geopolymer binders fascinate the attention of researchers as a replacement to cement binder in conventional concrete. One-ton production of cement releases one ton of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere. In the replacement of cement by geopolymer material, there are two advantages: one is the reduction of CO₂ in the atmosphere, second is the utilization of Fly ash and Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) are by-products from coal and steel industries. This paper focuses on the mechanical properties of steel fiber reinforced geopolymer concrete. The framework considered in this research work is geopolymer source (Fly ash, GGBFS and crimped steel fibre) and alkaline activator which consists of NaOH and Na₂SiO₃ of molarity 8M. Here the Na₂SiO₃ / NaOH ratio was taken as 2.5. The variables considered in this experimental work include Binder content (360,420 and 450 kg/m³), the proportion of Fly ash and GGBS (70-30, 60-40 and 50-50) for three different grades of Geopolymer concrete (GPC) GPC 20, GPC 40 and GPC 60. The percentage of crimped steel fibres was varied as 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4% and 0.5%. Generally, the inclusion of steel fibres increases the flexural and split tensile strength of Geopolymer concrete. The optimum dosage of steel fibres was found to be 0.4% (by volume fraction).

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제43권3호
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• pp.389-401
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• 2022

This study investigated the flowability and mechanical properties of cost-effective steel fiber reinforced ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) by using locally available materials for field-cast application. To examine the effect of mixture constituents, five mixtures with different fractions of silica fume, silica powder, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), silica sand, and crushed natural sand were proportionally prepared. Comprehensive experiments for different mixture designs were conducted to evaluate the fresh- and hardened-state properties of self-consolidating UHPC. The results showed that the proposed UHPC had similar mechanical properties compared with conventional UHPC while the flow retention over time was enhanced so that the field-cast application seemed appropriately cost-effective. The self-consolidating UHPC with high flowability and low viscosity takes less total mixing time than conventional UHPC up to 6.7 times. The X-ray computed tomographic imaging was performed to investigate the steel fiber distribution inside the UHPC by visualizing the spatial distribution of steel fibers well. Finally, the tensile stress-strain curve for the proposed UHPC was proposed for the implementation to the structural analysis and design.

• 국제학술발표논문집
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• The 3th International Conference on Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• pp.1630-1636
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• 2009

Nine alkali-activated (AA) mortars were mixed and cured at water or air-dried conditions to explore the significance and limitation for the application of the combination of Ba and Ca ions as an alkali-activator. Ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) was used for source materials, and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)₂) and barium hydroxide (Ba(OH)₂) were employed as alkali activators. Test results clearly showed that the water curing condition was more effective than the air-dried curing condition for the formation of the denser calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) gels that had a higher molar Si/Ca ratio, resulting in a higher strength development. At the same time, the introduction of Ba(OH)₂ led to the formation of 2CaO·Al₂O₃·SiO₂·8H₂O (C₂ASH₈) hydrates with higher molar Si/Al and Ca/Al ratios. Based on the test results, it can be concluded that the developed cementless mortars have highly effective performance and high potential as an eco-friendly sustainable building material.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.110-115
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• 2009

At the onset of corrosion of steel in concrete, hydrogen ions usually evolve in the process of electrochemical reaction, thereby decreasing the pH of the pore solution, which can be buffered by cement hydration products, as being representatively illustrated by calcium hydroxide. Hence, a fall in the pH is dependent on properties of cement hydration (i.e. hydration products and degree of hydration). The present study tested acid neutralization capacity (ANC) of cementitious binders of OPC(Ordinary Portland Cement), 30% PFA(Pulverized Fuel Ash), 60% GGBS(Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag), 10% SF(Silica Fume) to quantify the resistance of cement matrix to a pH fall. Cement pastes were cast at 0.4 of a free W/C ratio with 1.5% chlorides by weight of binder in cast. Powder samples obtained crushed and ground specimen after 200 days of curing were diluted in still water combined with different levels of 1M nitric acid solution, ranging from 0.5 to 20 mol/kg. Then, the pH of diluted solution was monitored until any further change in the pH did not take place. It was seen that the pH of the diluted solution gradually decreased as the molar amount of nitric acid increased. At some particular values of the pH, however, a decrease in the pH was marginal, which can be expressed in the peak resistances to a pH fall in the ANC curve. The peaks occurred at the variations in the pH, depending on binder type, but commonly at about 12.5 in the pH, indicate a resistance of precipitated calcium hydroxide. The measurement of water soluble chloride at the end of test showed that the amount of free chloride was significantly increased at the pH corresponding to the peaks in the ANC curve, which may reflect the adsorption of hydration products to chlorides.

• Advances in materials Research
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.219-231
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• 2020

The aim of this study is to investigate the durability of fly ash based geopolymer mortar with and without protective coatings in aggressive chemical environments. The source materials for geopolymer are Fly ash and Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) and they are considered in the combination of 80% & 20% respectively. Two Molarities of NaOH solution were considered such as 8M and 10M. The ratio of binder to sand and Sodium silicate to Sodium hydroxide solution (Na₂SiO₃/NaOH) are taken as 1:2 and 2 respectively. The alkaline liquid to binder ratio is 0.4. Compressive strength tests were conducted at various ages of the mortar specimens. In order to evaluate the performance of coatings on geopolymer mortar under aggressive chemical environment, the mortar specimens were coated with two different types of coatings such as epoxy and Acrylic. They were then subjected to different chemical environments by immersing them in 10% standard solutions of each ammonium nitrate, sodium chloride and sulphuric acid. Drop in compressive strength as a result of chemical exposure was considered as a measure of chemical attack and the drop in compressive strength was measured after 30 and 60 days of chemical exposure. The compressive strength results following chemical exposure indicated that the specimens containing the acrylic coating proved to be more resistant to chemical attacks. The control specimen without coating showed a much greater degree of deterioration. Therefore, the application of acrylic coating was invariably much more effective in improving the compressive strength as well as the resistance of mortar against chemical attacks. The results also indicated that among all the aggressive attacks, the sulphate environment has the most adverse effect in terms of lowering the strength.