• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.96-100
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• 2009

The properties of recycled fine aggregates which had different source concrete were examined by mortar test. With higher strength of source concrete, specific gravity of recycled fine aggregate was higher and absorption of recycled fine aggregate was lower due to reduction of the volume of adhered cement paste. The compressive strength and flexible strength of mortar with recycled fine aggregate were affected by the interface boundary of new mortar and the strength of adhered mortar. Strength development of mortar with recycled fine aggregate reduced because recycled fine aggregate become a porous material with the smaller strength of source concrete. The drying shrinkage of mortar was about$800{\sim}2000{\mu}m/m$. It was about 1.5 times than that of mortar with natural fine aggregate. Relative dynamic modulus of elasticity was a similar level with that of mortar with natural fine aggregate.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.249-258
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• 2019

In order to investigate the strength recovery of fire-damaged concrete after post-fire curing, concrete specimens were heating at $2^{\circ}C/min$ or $5^{\circ}C/min$ to 400, 600 and $800^{\circ}C$, and these exposed specimens were soaked in the water for 24 hours and following by 29-day post-fire curing. The compressive strength and split tensile strength of the high-temperature-exposed specimens before and after post-fire curing were tested. The proportion of split aggregate in the split surfaces was analyzed to evaluate the mortar-aggregate interfacial strength. After the post-fire curing process, the split tensile strength of specimens exposed to all temperatures was recovered significantly, while the recovery of compressive strength was only obvious within the specimens exposed to $600^{\circ}C$. The tensile strength is more sensitive to the mortar-aggregate interfacial cracks, which caused that the split tensile strength decreased more after high-temperature exposure and recovery more after post-fire curing than the compressive strength. The mortar-aggregate interfacial strength also showed remarkable recovery after post-fire curing, and it contributed to the recovery of split tensile strength.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.239-248
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• 2005

The article presents the results of examination of the fractal dimension D of concrete specimen fracture surfaces obtained in fracture toughness tests. The concretes were made from three different types of coarse aggregate: gravel, dolomite and basalt aggregate. Ordinary concretes (C40) and high-performance concretes (HPC) were subjected to testing after 7, 14, 28 and 90 days of curing, respectively. In fracture toughness and compressive tests, different behaviours of concretes were found, depending on the type of aggregate and class of concrete (C40, HPC). A significant increase in the strength parameters tested occurred also after a period of 28 days (up to the $90^{th}$ day of curing) and was particularly large for concretes C40. Fractal examinations performed on fracture replicas showed that the fractal dimension D was diverse, depending on the coarse aggregate type and concrete class being, however, statistically constant after 7 and 14 days for respective concretes during curing. The fractal dimension D was the greater, the worse strength properties were possessed by the concrete. A cross-grain crack propagation occurred in that case, due to weak cohesion forces at the coarse aggregate/mortar interface. A similar effect was observed for C40 and HPC made from the same aggregate. A greater dimension D was exhibited by concretes C40, in which case the fracture was easier to form compared with high-performance concretes, where, as a result of high aggregate/mortar cohesion forces, the crack propagation was of inter-granular type, and the resulted fracture was flatter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.73.2-79
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to provide the basic data on the optimum method for interfacial separation for an effective recycle of concrete waste by using the thermal properties of concrete. Therefore, this study is proceeded by dividing the interface of concrete into cement paste and fine aggregates or mortar and coarse aggregate, considering the aspect of recycled cement and aggregate as the recycling use of concrete waste. As results of the experiment, in case of recycle cement, the interfacial separation is easily appeared, but it is shown that the mixed amount of powder included in fine aggregate doesn't greatly decrease. But, in case of recycle coarse aggregate, the effect of interfacial separation by preliminary heating is predominant. Especially, the bonding rate of mortar is the lowest when it is heated 5 times for 120 minutes at $300^{\circ}C$. Hence, it is considered that it will be an excellent effect of quality control when the results of this study is applied to a manufacturing system of recycle coarse aggregate which is about to put into practical use.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.359-364
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• 1998

The interfacial zone in concrete materials is extensive, geometrically complex, and constitutes inherently weak zones that limit the concrete performance. Motar-aggregate interfaces play a major role in the fracture processing in concrete composites. Also, the interfacial bond considerably influence mechanical properties of concrete such as modulus of elasticity, strength, and fracture energy, Characterization of the interfacial properties is, therefore, essential to overcome the limitations associated with the interfaces. an objective of this paper is to investigate the corelationship between the fracture toughness of mortar-aggregate interface and the concrete properties such as strengths and elastic moduli. It is observed from the test results that interface fracture toughness is closely related with the compressive strength rather than other properties. At early ages, the development of both tensile strength and elastic modulus are much greater thatn that of both interface fracture toughness and compressive strength.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.283-295
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• 2021

Existing meso-scale models of concrete need to refine the mesh grids of aggregate and cement mortar, which may greatly reduce the computational efficiency. To overcome this problem, a novel meso-scale modeling strategy, which is based on rigid body spring method and Voronoi diagram, is proposed in this study to establish the meso-scale model of concrete. Firstly, establish numerical aggregate models according to user-defined programs. Circle aggregates are adopted due to their high efficiency in generation and packing process, and the grading of aggregate are determined according to the distribution curve proposed by Full and Thompson; Secondly, extract the centroids of aggregates, and then develop the Voronoi diagram in which aggregate centroids are defined as initial scatters; Finally, establish the rigid body spring model for concrete based on the Voronoi diagram. Aggregates are represented by rigid blocks, and assumed to be unbreakable. Cement mortar is concentrated into the interface between adjacent blocks and represented by two uniform springs. The number of grids is consistent with that of aggregates in specimens, and no mesh-refinement of aggregates and cement mortar is required. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed modeling strategy are firstly identified by comparing the numerical results with the experimental ones, and then the applicability of the proposed strategy with different volume percentage occupied by aggregates is investigated.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.347-362
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• 2007

Due to heterogeneities at all scales, concrete exhibits significant variability in mechanical behavior from sample to sample. An understanding of the fundamental mechanical performance of concrete must therefore be embedded in a stochastic framework. The current work attempts to address the connection between a two-dimensional concrete mesostructure and the random local material properties associated within that mesostructure. This work builds on previous work that has focused on the random configuration of concrete mesostructures. This was accomplished by developing an understanding of the effects of variations in the mortar strength and the mortar-aggregate interfacial strength in given deterministic mesostructural configurations. The results are assessed through direct tension tests that are validated by comparing experimental results of two different, pre-arranged mesostructures, with the intent of isolating the effect of local variations in strength. Agreement is shown both in mechanical property values as well as the qualitative nature of crack initiation and propagation.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.2 no.6
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• pp.499-516
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• 2005

A composite model is used to represent the heterogeneity of plain concrete consisting of coarse aggregates, mortar matrix and the mortar-aggregate interface. The composite elements of plain concrete are modeled using triangular finite element units which have six interface nodes along the sides. Fracture is captured through a constitutive single branch softening-fracture law at the interface nodes, which bounds the elastic domain inside each triangular unit. The inelastic displacement at an interface node represents the crack opening or sliding displacement and is conjugate to the internodal force. The path-dependent softening behaviour is developed within a quasi-prescribed displacement control formulation. The crack profile is restricted to the interface boundaries of the defined mesh. No re-meshing is carried out. Solutions to the rate formulation are obtained using a mathematical programming procedure in the form of a linear complementary problem. An event by event solution strategy is adopted to eliminate solutions with simultaneous formation of softening zones in symmetric problems. The composite plain concrete model is compared to experimental results for the tensile crack growth in a Brazilian test and three-point bending tests on different sized specimens. The model is also used to simulate wedge-type shear-compression failure directly under the loading platen of a Brazilian test.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.81-90
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• 2009

This paper proposes a semi analytical model to describe the pore structure of concrete by a set of simple equations. The relationship between the porosity and the microstructure of concrete has been considered when constructing the analytical model. The microstructure includes the interface transition zone (ITZ) between aggregates and cement paste. The predicting model of porosity was developed with considering the ITZ for various mixing of mortar and concrete. The proposed model is validated by the rapid experimental programs. Although the proposed model is semi-analytical and relatively simple, this model could be reasonably utilized for the durability design and adapted for predicting the service life of concrete structures.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1992.10a
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• pp.44-49
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• 1992

Selected strength characteristics of recycled concrete using crushed waste concrete were compared with those of conventional concrete using natural aggregate. Compressive strength, bonding at the interface between recycled aggregate and fresh mortar, strain and deflection under three-point bending were evaluated. Recycled concrete, in general, showed lower compressive strength, lower edlastic modulus, higher stain and higher deflection under the same loading level, compared with those of conventional concretes. However, the strength retaining ratios of recycled concretes were higher than those of conventional concretes. The compressive strength which is one of the most important load carrying capacities of concrete should be improved for successful re-use of waste concrete in structural concrete.