• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.17-38
• /
• 2010

This research aimed to investigate the influence of high-volume mineral admixtures (MAs), i.e., fly ash and slag, on the hydration characteristics and microstructures of cement pastes. Degree of cement hydration was quantified by the loss-on-ignition technique and degree of pozzolanic reaction was determined by a selective dissolution method. The influence of MAs on the pore structure of paste was measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry. The results showed that the hydration properties of the blended pastes were a function of water to binder ratio, cement replacement level by MAs, and curing age. Pastes containing fly ash exhibited strongly reduced early strength, especially for mix with 45% fly ash. Moreover, at a similar cement replacement level, slag incorporated cement paste showed higher degrees of cement hydration and pozzolanic reaction than that of fly ash incorporated cement paste. Thus, the present study demonstrates that high substitution rates of slag for cement result in better effects on the short- and long-term hydration properties of cement pastes.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.79-93
• /
• 2009

In the present paper, a methodology has been presented for the reliability assessment of concrete barriers that lie at a certain depth in the soil, and a missile (a rigid projectile) impacts the top of the soil cover normally, and subsequently after penetrating the soil cover completely it hits the barrier with certain striking velocity. For this purpose, using expressions available in the literature, striking velocity of missile at any depth of soil has been derived and then expressions for the depths of penetration in crater and tunnel region of concrete barrier have been deduced. These depths of penetration have been employed for the derivation of limit state functions. Using the derived limit state functions reliability assessment of underground concrete barrier has then been carried out through First Order Reliability Method (FORM). To study the influence of various random variables on barrier reliability, sensitivity analysis has also been carried out. In addition, a number of parametric studies is conducted to obtain the results of practical interest.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.59-78
• /
• 2009

Reliability analysis for a proposed limit state bridge design code is performed. In order to introduce reliability concept to design code, the proposed live load model is based on truck weight survey. Test data of domestic material strengths are collected to model statistical properties of member strengths. Sample RC and PSC girder sections are designed following the safety factor format of the proposed code and compared with the current design practice. Reliability indexes are calculated and examined for material and member resistance factor formats and sample calibrations of safety factors are presented. It is concluded that the proposed code provides reasonable level of reliability compared to the international design standards.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.39-51
• /
• 2010

The system of pores of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) is described by the so-called cherry-pit model, a random system of partially interpenetrating spheres. For the simulation of fracture processes, the solid phase is approximated by an irregular spatial network of beams obtained by means of the so-called radical tessellation with respect to the pore spheres. FE calculations using standard software (ANSYS) yield the strain energies of the beams. These energies are used as fracture criterion according to which highly loaded beams are considered as broken and are removed from the network. The paper investigates the relationship between mean fracture strength and microstructure for structures close to real AAC samples and virtual structures with particular geometrical properties.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.19-40
• /
• 2009

This paper describes the development of modified heat of hydration and maturity-strength models for concrete containing fly ash and slag. The modified models are developed based on laboratory and literature test results, which include different types of cement, fly ash, and slag. The new models consider cement type, water-to-cementitious material ratio (w/cm), mineral admixture, air content, and curing conditions. The results show that the modified models well predict heat evolution and compressive strength development of concrete made with different cementitious materials. Using the newly developed models, the sensitivity analysis was also performed to study the effect of each parameter on the hydration and strength development. The results illustrate that comparing with other parameters studied, w/cm, air content, fly ash, and slag replacement level have more significantly influence on concrete strength at both early and later age.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.379-390
• /
• 2012

In this paper, the mechanical strength of different lightweight mortars made with 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 and 100 percentage of scoria instead of sand and 0.55 water-cement ratio and 350 $kg/m^3$ cement content is investigated. The experimental result showed 7.9%, 16.7% and 49% decrease in compressive strength, tensile strength and mortar density, respectively, by using 100% scoria instead of sand in the mortar. The normalized compressive and tensile strength data are applied for artificial neural network (ANN) generation using generalized regression neural network (GRNN). Totally, 90 experimental data were selected randomly and applied to find the best network with minimum mean square error (MSE) and maximum correlation of determination. The created GRNN with 2 input layers, 2 output layers and a network spread of 0.1 had minimum MSE close to 0 and maximum correlation of determination close to 1.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.19-32
• /
• 2007

This paper is concentrated on the behaviors of five different types of fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) in uniaxial tension and flexural impact. The complete stress-strain responses in tension were acquired through a systematic experimental program. It was found that the tensile peak strains of concrete with micro polyethylene (PEF) fiber are about 18-31% higher than that of matrix concrete, those for composite with macro polypropylene fiber is 40-83% higher than that of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC). The fracture energy of composites with micro-fiber is 23-67% higher than that of matrix concrete; this for macro polypropylene fiber and steel fiber FRCs are about 150-210% and 270-320% larger than that of plain concrete respectively. Micro-fiber is more effective than macro-fiber for initial crack impact resistance; however, the failure impact resistance of macro-fiber is significantly larger than that of microfiber, especially macro-polypropylene-fiber.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.33-47
• /
• 2007

Slipforming is a construction method in which the forms move continuously during concrete placement. This paper presents a numerical procedure based on the finite element method to simulate the thermal behavior of concrete during slipforming operations. The validity of the model was successfully tested by simulating a very complex but well documented field case of actual slipforming operations performed during the construction of an offshore concrete oil platform structure. The results obtained have been related to the shape of the concrete "hardened front" in the forms, which allows quick evaluation of the operation. The results of the numerical investigation have shown that the shape of the "hardened front" can be affected by the temperature of the fresh concrete and ambient conditions. For a given initial concrete temperature, there are limitations for the ambient temperature that, when exceeded, can create an unfavorable shape of the concrete "hardened front" in the forms. Similarly, for a given ambient temperature, the initial concrete temperature should not be fall below an established limit in order to avoid unfavorable shape of the "hardened front".

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.67-82
• /
• 2007

The discrete crack-concept is applied to study the 3D propagation of tensile-dominated failure in plain concrete. To this end the Partition of Unity Finite Element Method (PUFEM) is utilized and the strong discontinuity approach is followed. A consistent linearized implementation of the PUFEM is combined with a predictor-corrector algorithm to track the crack path, which leads to a robust numerical description of concrete cracking. The proposed concept is applied to study concrete failure during the PCT3D test and the predicted numerical results are compared to experimental data. The proposed numerical concept provides a clear interface for constitutive models and allows an investigation of their impact on concrete cracking under 3D conditions, which is of significant scientific interests to interpret results from 3D experiments.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.419-427
• /
• 2017

A methodology, based on fragility functions, is proposed to evaluate the seismic performance of seismic isolated $45^{\circ}$ skewed concrete bridge: 1) twelve types of seismic isolation devices are considered based on two different design parameters 2) fragility functions of a three-span bridge with and without seismic isolation devices are analytically evaluated based on 3D nonlinear incremental dynamic analyses which seismic input consists of 20 selected ground motions. The optimum combinations of isolation device design parameters are identified comparing, for different limit states, the performance of 1) the Seismic Isolated Bridges (SIB) and 2) Not Seismic Isolated Bridge (NSIB) designed according to the AASHTO standards.