• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2009

A non-destructive testing (NDT) method for evaluating physical properties of concrete including the compressive strength is highly desirable. This paper presents such an NDT method based on measurement of electromagnetic (EM) properties of the material. Experiments are carried out on cement mortar with different water/cement (W/C) ratios. Their EM properties including the conductivity and the dielectric constant are measured at different exposure conditions and curing periods over a wide frequency range of the EM wave. The compressive strength of these specimens is also tested. It is found that both the conductivity and the dielectric constant increase as the W/C ratio decreases and the curing period increases, which lead strength development in the specimens. A linear correlation is observed between the averaged EM properties over the 5 to 20 GHz frequency range and the measured compressive strength, demonstrating the effectiveness of the EM property-based NDT method in evaluating strength of OPC mortar.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.195-212
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• 2024

The use of basalt fibers in various types of fiber-reinforced mortars has been increasing. One of the factors that expands the use of basalt fibers is that it is a natural fiber and therefore the production costs are lower than fibers such as PVA fiber. Basalt fibers have some drawbacks such as reducing the workability of mortars in which basalt fibers are added due to their structure, and negatively affecting the mechanical properties when used above a certain proportional amount depending on the type of mixture. For this purpose, in this study, as a different application, the surface of basalt fibers with different lengths (6 and 12 mm) was treated with Triton X-100 surfactant, and these disadvantages were tried to be reduced. In the study, a two-step method was followed. In the first one, the effectiveness of adding untreated and treated basalt fiber at 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 and 2% by weight to the mortar mixtures was determined by conducting flow spread and flow rate as fresh mortar characteristics. In the second one, microstructural characterization and mechanical tests were performed as hardened mortar properties. The results showed that the flow characteristics of basalt fiber reinforced mortars treated with surfactant improved compared to untreated basalt fiber reinforced mortars. In terms of mechanical properties, the addition of 2% treated basalt fiber by weight to the mixtures allowed to obtain %18, %12, and%48 higher values of compressive, flexural, and tensile strength values, respectively, compared to the same amount of untreated basalt fiber mixtures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.65-68
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• 2005

This paper investigated the engineering properties of cement mortar mixed with more than 2 kinds of sand. For fresh mortar properties, unit volume weight is constant regardless of mixing content and type of sand. An increase in contents of river and crushed sand resulted in an increase in flow, whereas an increase in recycled sand contents reduced flow. Gap between maximum flow in N3C0R0 and minimum flow in N0C0R3 exhibited about $12\%$. Compressive strength at 28 days ranged from 32 to 36 MPa in order for crushed sand, river sand and recycled sand. Mortar with mixed sand along with river sand and crushed sand showed compressive strength comparable to crushed sand. An increase of fraction of recycled sand in mixed sand resulted in a decrease in compressive strength. For drying shrinkage, N0C0R3 had the largest drying shrinkage among various mixture type. The combination of large contents of recycled sand and small contents of river and crushed sand had a large amount of drying shrinkage.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.180-181
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• 2017

This study aims to analyze the high strength mortar's fundamental properties and autogenous shrinkage properties by taking into consideration the result of the previous study in which it was found that ERBO(Biodiesel) exercises greatest effect on the expansion effect of mortar, and changing the time and rate of mixing the ERBO. A total of five levels were set as experimental variables: the three levels of the rate of ERBO, 0, 0.5, 1.0%, and the two levels of the time of mixing the ERBO: first, adding the ERBO with the mixing water and mixing it before, and second, mixing it after the mortar is completely mixed. It was found that the rate of length change decreased as the rate of ERBO increased, and the rate of length change was lower when the ERBO was mixed sooner.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.145-152
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• 2002

High fluid concrete unlike OPC concrete is made with various material, and the phase of fresh concrete is considerably different. In order to understand fluidity phase and mix properties of high fluid concrete, concrete is required to access as suspension structure which consists of aggregate and paste. The focus of this paper is to analyze the test results and quantify the effect of mix proportions of mortar and fineness modulus of sand on the properties of fresh mortar. The effect of water-binder ratio. sand-binder ration. contents of ggbs (by mass of total cementitious materials). and various contents of water reducing agent on the yield stress and plastic viscosity of the mix is studied. Based on the experimental results, the fellowing conclusions can be drawn: (1) The mixing time needed for high fluid mortar was approximately two times more than that of ordinary portland mortar. (2) The fluidity phase of mortar could be explained by yield stress of mix and the fluidity of mortar. (3) As the content of ggbs increased, yield stress of mortar was decreased and plastic viscosity of it was increased. (4) For the high fluid mortar, it was appeared that sand-binder ratio should be below 1.5.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.245-250
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• 2001

Ultrasonic pulse velocity(UPV) is a useful tool for examining the property of early-age mortar or concrete. Thus, UPV has been used for a long time to characterize setting and hardening of cementitious materials. In this study, in order to investigate the characteristics of setting for mortar, UPV was measured using automatic monitoring system up to 3 days after casting. Test results show that UPV of high water to binder ratio(w/b) mortar remained constant at the beginning of hydration and then abruptly began to increase. However, UPV of low w/b mortar gradually increase due to setting retard caused by use of superplasticizer. Furthermore, the development of UPV for mortar with fly ash is slower than that of mortar without fly ash. It was concluded that the property change of mortar or concrete, such as setting and hardening can be assessed by monitoring of UPV.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.407-410
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• 1999

The 5 types of cement mortar was immersed in the various chemical solutions for 400 days and then the compressive strength and the length change were measured to consider the chemical resistance at required ages. Due to the effect of flyashe and GGBF slag, the compressive strength of blended cement mortar was higher than that of portland cement mortar at long ages. According to the result of length change, the mineral admixture in blended cement had an indluence on reducing the amount of C3A, the cause of making concrete expand, and it made the formation of cements mortar denser so that the length change was much smaller than that of the portland cement mortar. However, the OPC mortar immersed in Na2SO4 solution for 180 days shows 4 times bigger length change chante than the blended cement mortar.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.237-244
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• 2016

The workability of mortar determines its construction performance in a structure showing its designed resistance to external loads. Measuring the rheological properties of mortar is one way of quantifying its workability, but its field-applications are limited due to economical and spatial issues. The robustness of the slump flow test allows its use for evaluating the workability of mortar, even though it is a rather qualitative test method. This paper proposes a channel flow test and develops a correlation between its result and the rheological properties of mortar. The volume-of-fluid simulation for the channel flow test was accomplished, and a numerical database for the correlation was composed. A correlation model to estimate the rheological properties of mortar using the results of the channel flow test as inputs is proposed.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.235-241
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• 2013

In this study, a mortar was produced using re-dispersible polymer powders that addresses the defects of aqueous polymer and improves the durability of cement mortar. Also, an attempt was made to examine the properties of polymer modified mortars using re-dispersible polymer powders by strength and durability tests between ordinary Portland cement mortars and polymer modified mortars mixed with aqueous dispersion. The test showed that strength and durability are improved considerably compared with ordinary Portland cement mortar, and the performance of aqueous polymer cement mortar was considerably improved. Accordingly, it is expected that high-quality prepackaged polymer modified mortars can be produced using re-dispersible polymer powders.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.261-267
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• 2018

This paper discusses a study of cement mortar reinforced with Graphene Oxide (GO) flakes carried out at the University of Plymouth. Over 60 specimens were prepared and tested to obtain the tensile, compressive and flexural strengths of cement mortar with/without 0.5% GO flakes by weight of cement. The dispersion of the GO flakes and the effect of the use of polycarboxylate ether superplasticizer (0.2% by weight of cement) on the material strength are discussed. Images of the particle sizes of GO are presented from the transmission electron microscopy analysis. In addition, the images from the field emission scanning electron microscope analysis are also presented to show the difference of the microscopic structure of cement mortar with/without GO. The results of the strength tests are presented. It is shown that the inclusion of the GO flakes in general led to positive results, which suggest that GO improved the tensile, compressive and flexural strengths of cement mortar.