This paper reports an experimental study into the rheological behaviour of Smart Dynamic Concrete (SDC). The investigation is aimed at quantifying the effect of the varying amount of mineral admixtures on the rheology, setting time and compressive strength of SDC containing natural sand and crushed sand. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in conjunction with the mineral admixtures was used in different replacement ratio keeping the mix paste volume (35%) and water binder ratio (0.4) constant at controlled laboratory atmospheric temperature ($33^{\circ}C$ to $35^{\circ}C$). The results show that the properties and amount of fine aggregate have a strong influence on the admixture demand for similar initial workability, i.e., flow. The large amounts of fines and lower value of fineness modulus (FM) of natural sand primarily increases the yield stress of the SDC. The mineral admixtures at various replacement ratios strongly contribute to the yield stress and plastic viscosity of SDC due to inter particle friction and cohesion.

With the rapid growth in construction sector, it becomes all the more important to assess the amount of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste being generated and analyze the practices needed to handle and use this waste before final disposal. This serves waste management and disposal issues, paving way to waste utilization in construction industry from the sustainability point of view. C&D waste constitutes a major bulk of total solid waste produced in the world. In this work, an attempt is made to study the performance of concrete using water soaked Recycled Coarse Aggregates (RCA) in replacement levels of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% to Natural Coarse Aggregates (NCA). Experiments were designed and conducted to study the performance of RCA based concrete. Further suitable performance enhancement techniques to RCA based concrete were attempted, to achieve compressive strength at least equal to or more than that for no RCA based concrete (control concrete). Performance enhancement study is reported here for 50% and 100% RCA based concretes. All four techniques attempted have given favorable results encouraging use of RCA based concretes with full replacement levels, to adopt RCA based concrete in structural applications, without any kind of concern to the stake holder. Further attempts have also been made to use Recycled Fine Aggregates (RFA) with appropriate modifications to serve as fine aggregates in mortar and concrete. Using RFA blended with river sand fractions as well as RFA with Iron Ore Tailings (IOT) fractions, have given good results to serve as fine aggregates to the extent of 100% replacement levels in mortars and concretes.

The modeling of the mechanical behavior of quasi-brittle materials is still a challenge task, mainly in failure processes when fracture and plasticity phenomena become important actors in dissipative processes which occur in materials like concrete, as instance. Many homogenization-based approaches have been proposed to deal with heterogeneous materials in the last years. In this context, a computational homogenization modeling for concrete is presented in this work using the concept of Representative Volume Element (RVE). The material is considered as a three-phase material consisting of interface zone (ITZ), matrix and inclusions-each constituent modeled by an independent constitutive model. The Representative Volume Element (RVE) consists of inclusions idealized as circular shapes symmetrically and nonsymmetrically placed into the specimen. The interface zone is modeled by means of cohesive contact finite elements. The inclusion is modeled as linear elastic and matrix region is considered as elastoplastic material. A set of examples is presented in order to show the potentialities and limitations of the proposed modeling. The consideration of the fracture processes in the ITZ is fundamental to capture complex macroscopic characteristics of the material using simple constitutive models at mesoscopic level.

Concrete is known to be the most used construction material worldwide. The environmental and economic aspects of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) containing concrete have led research studies to investigate the possibility of incorporating supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in concrete. Metakaolin (MK) is one SCM with high pozzolanic reactivity generated throughout the thermal activation of high purity kaolinite clay at a temperature ranging from $500^{\circ}C$ to $800^{\circ}C$. Although many studies have evaluated the effect of MK on mechanical properties of concrete and have reported positive effects, limited articles are considering the effect of MK on durability properties of concrete. Considering the lifetime assessment of concrete structures, the durability of concrete has become of particular interest recently. In the present work, the influences of MK on mechanical and durability properties of concrete mixtures are evaluated. Various experiments such as slump flow test, compressive strength, water permeability, freeze and thaw cycles, rapid chloride penetration and surface resistivity tests were carried out to determine mechanical and durability properties of concretes. Concretes made with the incorporation of MK revealed better mechanical and durability properties compared to control concretes due to combined pozzolanic reactivity and the filler effect of MK.

An experimental investigation was carried out to study the strength and behavior of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) frames with ferrocement and fiber reinforced concrete infill panel. Seven numbers of $1/4^{th}$ scaled down model of one bay-three storey frames were tested under reverse cyclic loading. Ferrocement infilled frames and fiber reinforced concrete infilled frames with varying volume fraction of reinforcement in infill panels viz; 0.20%, 0.30%, and 0.40% were tested and compared with the bare frame. The experimental results indicate that the strength, stiffness and energy dissipation capacity of infilled frames were considerably improved when compared with the bare frame. In the case of infilled frames with equal volume fraction of reinforcement in infill panels, the strength and stiffness of frames with fiber reinforced concrete infill panels were slightly higher than those with ferrocement infill panels. Increase in volume fraction of reinforcement in the infill panels exhibited only marginal improvement in the strength and behavior of the infilled frames.

This paper aims to investigate the effects of replacing cement with ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) in self compacting concrete in the fresh and hardened state. The performance of SCC in moderate climate is well investigated but few studies are available on the effect of hot environment. In this paper, the effect of initial water-curing period and curing conditions on the performance of SCC is reported. Cement was substituted by GGBFS by weight at two different levels of substitution (15% and 25%). Concrete specimens were stored either in a standard environment (T=$20^{\circ}C$, RH=100%) or in the open air in North Africa during the summer period (T=35 to $40^{\circ}C$; R.H=50 to 60%) after an initial humid curing period of 0, 3, 7 or 28 days. Compressive strength at 28 and 90 days, capillary absorption, sorptivity, water permeability, porosity and chloride ion penetration were investigated. The results show that the viscosity and yield stress are decreased with increasing dosage of GGBFS. The importance of humid curing in hot climates in particular when GGBFS is used is also proved. The substitution of cement by GGBFS improves SCC durability at long term. The best performances were observed in concrete specimens with 25% GGBFS and for 28 days water curing.

The synergistic interactions of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) with ordinary portland cement (OPC) in multi-blended systems could enhance the mechanical and durability properties of concrete and increase the amount of cement that can be replaced. In this study, the characteristics of the hydration products as well as paste microstructure of blended cement containing 20% coal fly ash, 10% rice hull ash and 10% sugar mill lime sludge in quaternary blended system was investigated. Portlandite content, hydration products, compressive strength, pore size distribution and microstructural architecture of hydrated blended cement pastes were examined. The quaternary blended cement paste showed lower compressive strength, reduced amount of Portlandite phases, and higher porosity compared to plain hardened cement paste. The interaction of SCMs with OPC influenced the hydration products, resulting to the formation of ettringite and monocarboaluminate phases. The blended cement paste also showed extensive calcium silicate hydrates and calcium aluminate silicate hydrates but unrefined compared to plain cement paste. In overall, the expected synergistic reaction was significantly hindered due to the low quality of supplementary cementitious materials used. Hence, pre-treatments of SCMs must be considered to enhance their reactivity as good quality SCMs can become limited in the future.