• Computers and Concrete
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.223-243
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• 2015

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) can be placed and compacted under its own weight with little or no compaction. It is cohesive enough to be handled without segregation or bleeding. Modifications in the mix design of SCC may significantly influence the material's mechanical properties. Therefore, it is vital to investigate whether all the assumed hypotheses about conventional concrete (CC) are also valid for SCC structures. The aim in this paper is to develop analytical models for flexural cracking that describe in appropriate detail the observed cracking behaviour of the reinforced concrete flexural one way slabs tested. The crack width and crack spacing calculation procedures outlined in five international codes, namely Eurocode 2 (1991), CEB-FIP (1990), ACI318-99 (1999), Eurocode 2 (2004), and fib-Model Code (2010), are presented and crack widths and crack spacing are accordingly calculated. Then, the results are compared with the proposed analytical models and the measured experimental values, and discussed in detail.

• 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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• 제5권1호
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• pp.31-48
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• 2017

Supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) have turned out to be a vital portion of extraordinary strength and performance concrete. Metakaolin (MK) is one of SCM material is acquired by calcinations of kaolinite. Universally utilised as pozzolanic material in concrete to enhance mechanical and durability properties. This study investigates the fresh and hardened properties of conventional concrete (CC) and self compacting concrete (SCC) by partially replacing cement with MK in diverse percentages. In CC and SCC, partial replacement of cement with MK varies from 5-20%. Fresh concrete properties of CC are conducted by slump test and compaction factor tests and for SCC, slump flow, T500, J-Ring, L-Box, V-Funnel and U-Box tests. Hardened concrete characteristics are investigated by compressive, split tensile and flexural strengths at age of 7, 28 and 90 days of curing under water. Carbonation depth, water absorption and density of MK based CC and SCC was also computed. Fresh concrete test results indicated that increase in MK replacement increases workability of concrete in a constant w/b ratio. Also, outcomes reveal that concrete integrating MK had greater compressive, flexural and split tensile strengths. Optimum replacement level of MK for cement was 10%, which increased mechanical properties and robustness properties of concrete.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제6권6호
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• pp.631-643
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• 2018

The focus of this paper is given to the investigation of mechanical properties of steel fibre reinforced self-compacting concrete after being exposed to fire. The research programme covered tests of two sets of beams: specimens subjected to fire and specimens not subjected to fire. The fire test was conducted in an environment mirroring one of possible real fire situations where concrete surface for an extended period of time is directly exposed to flames. Micro-cracking of concrete surface after tests was digitally catalogued. Compressive strength was tested on cube specimens. Flexural strength and equivalent flexural strength were tested according to RILEM specifications. Damages of specimens caused by spalling were assessed on a volumetric basis. A comparison of results of both sets of specimens was performed. Significant differences of all tested properties between two sets of specimens were noted and analysed. It was proved that the limit of proportionality method should not be used for testing fire damaged beams. Flexural characteristics of steel fibre reinforced self-compacting concrete were significantly influenced by fire. The influence of fire on properties of steel fibre reinforced self-compacting concrete was discussed.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.31-37
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• 2019

This paper evaluates the workability and hardened properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) containing silica fume as the partial replacement of cement. SCC mixtures with 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% silica fume were tested for fresh and hardened properties. Slump flow with $T_{500}$ time, L-box and V-funnel tests were performed for evaluating the workability properties of SCC mixtures. Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and modulus of rupture were performed on hardened SCC mixtures. Experiments revealed that replacement of cement by silica fume equal to and more than 4% reduced the slump flow diameter and increased the $T_{500}$ and V-funnel time linearly. Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and modulus of rupture increased with increasing the replacement level of cement by silica fume and were found to be maximum for SCC mixture with 10% silica fume. Further, residual hardened properties of SCC mixture yielding maximum strengths (i.e., SCC with 10% silica fume) were determined experimentally after heating the concrete samples up to 200, 400, 600 and $800^{\circ}C$. Reductions in hardened properties up to $200^{\circ}C$ were found to be very close to normal vibrated concrete (NVC). For 400 and $600^{\circ}C$ reductions in hardened properties of SCC were found to be more than NVC of the same strength. Explosive spalling occurred in concrete specimens before reaching $800^{\circ}C$.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.47-66
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• 2019

One method of retrofitting concrete structures is to use fiber reinforced polymers (FRP). In this research, the shear, torsional and flexural strengthening of self-compacting reinforced concrete (RC) girders are fulfilled with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) materials. At first, for verification, the experimental results were compared with numerical modeling results obtained from ABAQUS software version 6.10. Then the reinforcing sheets were attached to concrete girders in one and two layers. Studying numerical results obtained from ABAQUS software showed that the girders stiffness decreased with the propagations of cracks in them, and then the extra stresses were tolerated by adhesive layers and GFRP and CFRP sheets, which resulted in increasing the bearing capacity of the studied girders. In fact, shear, torsion and bending strengths of the girders increased by reinforcing girders with adding GFRP and CFRP sheets. The samples including two layers of CFRP had the maximum efficiencies that were 90, 76 and 60 percent of improvement in shear, torsion and bending strengths, respectively. It is worth noting that the bearing capacity of concrete girders with adding one layer of CFRP was slightly higher than the ones having two layers of GFRP in all circumstances; therefore, despite the lower initial cost of GFRP, using CFRP can be more economical in some conditions.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.137-150
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• 2019

In this paper, surrogate models such as multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) and M5P model tree (M5P MT) methods have been investigated in order to propose a new formulation for the 28-days compressive strength of self-compacting concrete (SCC) incorporating metakaolin as a supplementary cementitious materials. A database comprising experimental data has been assembled from several published papers in the literature and the data have been used for training and testing. In particular, the data are arranged in a format of seven input parameters covering contents of cement, coarse aggregate to fine aggregate ratio, water, metakaolin, super plasticizer, largest maximum size and binder as well as one output parameter, which is the 28-days compressive strength. The efficiency of the proposed techniques has been demonstrated by means of certain statistical criteria. The findings have been compared to experimental results and their comparisons shows that the MARS and M5P MT approaches predict the compressive strength of SCC incorporating metakaolin with great precision. The performed sensitivity analysis to assign effective parameters on 28-days compressive strength indicates that cementitious binder content is the most effective variable in the mixture.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.409-419
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• 2019

In the present study, effect of size and placement of cubic specimens on compressive strength of self-compacting lightweight concrete (SCLC) were considered. To do so, 81 specimens of different sizes (50 mm, 75 mm, 100 mm, and 150 mm) were prepared by using three different mixes of SCLC. Results of the cured specimens were then used in regression analyses to find predictive equations with regard to both the placement direction and the size. Test results showed that the strength ratio in cases in which the direction of loading and placement were parallel, were higher than those specimens, whose configurations were normal between loading and placement. In addition, strength ratios in SCLC mixes were slightly higher than those are for self-compacting normal weight concrete. In order to analyze the effect of size on compressive strength the conventional size effect law as well as the modified size effect law (MSEL) were used. Besides, the convergence criterion of nonlinear regression process of size effect study has been discussed. Analyses of the results showed that the unconstraint nonlinear regression in size effect study of SCLC mixes could lead to erroneous results.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.85-97
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• 2021

In this study, the effect of steel fiber utilization, boundary conditions, different beam cross-section, and length parameter are investigated on the free vibration behavior of fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete beam on elastic foundation. In the analysis of the beam model recommended by Euler-Bernoulli, a method utilizing Stokes transformations and Fourier Sine series were used. For this purpose, in addition to the control beam containing no fiber, three SCC beam elements were prepared by utilization of steel fiber as 0.6% by volume. The time-dependent fresh properties and some mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete mixtures were investigated. In the modelled beam, four different beam specimens produced with 0.6% by volume of steel fiber reinforced and pure (containing no fiber) SCC were analyzed depending on different boundary conditions, different beam cross-sections, and lengths. For this aim, the effect of elasticity of the foundation, cross-sectional dimensions, beam length, boundary conditions, and steel fiber on natural frequency and frequency parameters were investigated. As a result, it was observed that there is a noticeable effect of fiber reinforcement on the dynamic behavior of the modelled beam.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.257-267
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• 2022

Two different types of rubber aggregates (40 mesh rubber powder and 1-4 mm rubber particles respectively) were devised to substitute fine aggregates at 10%, 15%, 20% and 30% by volume in self-compacting concrete to investigate their basic mechanical properties. The results show that with the increase of rubber content, the reduction of compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and static modulus of elasticity gradually increase, and energy dissipation performance gradually increase. The rubber addition significantly reduces brittleness and decelerates damaged process. Whilst, the effect of rubber particles is greater when they are finer. Considering the mechanical properties, the optimal rubber content is 10%. It is recommended that the rubber volume content in rubberized concrete (RC) should not be higher than 20%. In addition, a constitutive model under uniaxial compression was proposed basing on the strain equivalent principle of Lemaitre and the damage theory, which was in good agreement with the test curves.