As concrete is most usable material in construction industry it's been required to improve its quality. Nowadays, nanotechnology offers the possibility of great advances in construction. For the first time, the nonlinear buckling of straight concrete columns armed with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) resting on foundation is investigated in the present study. The column is modelled with Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories. The characteristics of the equivalent composite being determined using mixture rule. The foundation around the column is simulated with spring and shear layer. Employing nonlinear strains-displacements, energy methods and Hamilton's principal, the governing equations are derived. Differential quadrature method (DQM) is used in order to obtain the buckling load of structure. The influences of volume percent of SWCNTs, geometrical parameters, elastic foundation and boundary conditions on the buckling of column are investigated. Numerical results indicate that reinforcing the concrete column with SWCNTs, the structure becomes stiffer and the buckling load increases with respect to concrete column armed with steel.

This paper describes a method of the refined plastic hinge approach in the framework of the higher-order element formulation that can efficaciously evaluate the limit state capacity of a whole reinforced concrete structural system using least number of element(s), whereas the traditional design of a reinforced concrete structure (i.e. AS3600; Eurocode 2) is member-based approach. Hence, in regard to the material nonlinearities, the efficient and economical cross-section analysis is provided to evaluate the element section capacity of non-uniform and arbitrary concrete section subjected to the interaction effects, which is helpful to formulate the refined plastic hinge method. In regard to the geometric nonlinearities, this paper relies on the higher-order element formulation with element load effect. Eventually, the load redistribution can be considered and make full use of the strength reserved owing to the redundancy of an indeterminate structure. And it is particularly true for the performance-based design of a structure under the extreme loads, while the uncertainty of the extreme load is great that the true behaviour of a whole structural system is important for the economical design approach, which is great superiority over the conservative optimal strength of an individual and isolated member based on traditional design (i.e. AS3600; Eurocode 2).

The present work focuses on the use of coconut fiber in self compacting concrete. Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) is a highly flowable, stable concrete which flows readily into place, filling formwork without any consolidation and without undergoing any significant segregation. Use of fibers in SCC bridge the cracks and enhance the performance of concrete by not allowing cracks to propagate. They contribute to an increased energy absorption compared to plain concrete. Coconut fiber has the highest toughness among all natural fibers. It is known that structures in the seismic prone areas are always under the influence of cyclic loading. To justify the importance of strengthening SCC beams with coir fiber, the present work has been undertaken. A comparison is made between cyclic and static loading of coconut fiber reinforced self compacting concrete (FRSCC) members. Using the test data obtained from the experiment, hysteresis loops were drawn and comparison of envelope curve, energy dissipation, stiffness degradation were made and important conclusions were draw to justify the use of coconut fiber in SCC.

In this study, the influence of coarse aggregate size and type on chloride penetration of concrete was investigated, and the grey correlation analysis was applied to find the key influencing factor. Furthermore, the proposed 6-10-1 artificial neural network (ANN) model was constructed, and performed under the MATLAB program. Training, testing and validation of the model stages were performed using 81 experiment data sets. The results show that the aggregate type has less effect on the concrete permeability, compared with the size effect. For concrete with a lower w/b, the coarse aggregate with a larger particle size should be chose, however, for concrete with a higher w/c, the aggregate with a grading of 5-20 mm is preferred, too large or too small aggregates are adverse to concrete chloride diffusivity. A new idea for the optimum selection of aggregate to prepare concrete with a low penetration is provided. Moreover, the ANN model predicted values are compared with actual test results, and the average relative error of prediction is found to be 5.62%. ANN procedure provides guidelines to select appropriate coarse aggregate for required chloride penetration of concrete and will reduce number of trial and error, save cost and time.

Optimization of the concrete mixture design is a process of search for a mixture for which the sum of the cost of the ingredients is the lowest, yet satisfying the required performance of concrete. In this study, a statistical model was carried out to model a cost effective optimal mix proportioning of high strength self-compacting concrete (HSSCC) using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The effect of five key mixture parameters such as water-binder ratio, cement content, fine aggregate percentage, fly ash content and superplasticizer content on the properties and performance of HSSCC like compressive strength, passing ability, segregation resistance and manufacturing cost were investigated. To demonstrate the responses of model in quadratic manner Central Composite Design (CCD) was chosen. The statistical model showed the adjusted correlation coefficient R2adj values were 92.55%, 93.49%, 92.33%, and 100% for each performance which establish the adequacy of the model. The optimum combination was determined to be $439.4kg/m^3$ cement content, 35.5% W/B ratio, 50.0% fine aggregate, $49.85kg/m^3$ fly ash, and $7.76kg/m^3$ superplasticizer within the interest region using desirability function. Finally, it is concluded that multiobjective optimization method based on desirability function of the proposed response model offers an efficient approach regarding the HSSCC mixture optimization.

The present article discusses the effect of the ratio of bridge surface to total shear surface, number of bridge areas and normal stress on the failure behavior of the planar non-persistent open joints. Totally, 38 models were prepared using plaster and dimensions of $15cm{\times}15cm{\times}15cm$. The bridge area occupied $45cm^2$, $90cm^2$ and $135cm^2$ out of the shear surface. The number of rock bridges increase in fixed area. Two similar samples were prepared on every variation in the rock bridges and tested for direct shear strength under two high and low normal loads. The results indicated that the failure pattern and the failure mechanism is mostly influenced by the ratio of bridge surface to total shear surface and normal stress so that the tensile failure mode change to shear failure mode by increasing in the value of introduced parameters. Furthermore, the shear strength and shear stiffness are closely related to the ratio of bridge surface to total shear surface, number of bridge areas and normal stress.

A predictive model for chloride binding isotherms of blended cements with various supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) was established in this work. Totally 560 data points regarding the chloride binding isotherms of 106 various cements were collected from literature. The total amount of bound chloride for each mixture was expressed a combinational function of the predicted phase assemblage and binding isotherms of various hydrated phases. New quantitative expressions regarding the chloride binding isotherms of calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H), AFm, and hydrotalcite phases were provided. New insights about the roles of SCMs on binding capabilities of ordinary portland cements (OPC) were discussed. The proposed model was verified using separate data from different sources and was shown to be reasonably accurate.

In the standards, minimum reinforcement ratios are presented as the least reinforcement ratios that bearing elements should have in a way to include all systems and in general. However, naturally these general minimum ratios might be presented as being lower than the normally required reinforcement ratios by criteria such as system size, bearing system arrangement, section situation and distributions of the elements and earthquake effect. In this case, minimum reinforcement ratios may remain as meaningless restrictions. Then grouping the criterion that might affect reinforcement ratios according to certain parameters and creating minimum reinforcement ratios regarding preliminary design will provide ease and safety during the project designing. Moreover, it will enable fast and simple examinations in the beginning of project control and evaluation process. By means of the data which could be defined as "preliminary design & minimum reinforcement ratios", a more realistic and safe restriction compared to general minimum reinforcement ratios could be presented. As a result of numerous comprehensive studies, reinforcement ratios to include all certain systems might be obtained. Today, thanks to the development level of finite elements programs which can make reinforced concrete modelling, with the studies that are impossible to carry out beforehand, this deficiency in the minimum reinforcement ratios in the standarts may at least be partially made up with the advisory regulation of preliminary design & minimum reinforcement ratios. As the structure of the system to be examined and the diversity of the parameters range from the specific to the general, preliminary design & minimum reinforcement ratios will approximate to general minimum reinforcement ratios in real terms. By focusing on a more specific system structure and diversity of the parameters, preliminary design and even design reinforcement ratios will be approximated. In this preliminary study, a route between these two extremes was attempted to be followed. Today, it is possible to determine suggested practical ratios for project designs through carrying out numerous studies.