• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.343-356
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• 2015

1078 sets of mixtures in total that include fly ash, slag, and/or silica fume have been collected for prediction on concrete properties. A new database platform (Compos) has been developed, by which the stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR) and BP artificial neural networks (BP ANNs) programs have been applied respectively to identify correlations between the concrete properties (strength, workability, and durability) and the dosage and/or quality of raw materials'. The results showed obvious nonlinear relations so that forecasting by using nonlinear method has clearly higher accuracy than using linear method. The forecasting accuracy rises along with the increasing of age and the prediction on cubic compressive strength have the best results, because the minimum average relative error (MARE) for 60-day cubic compressive strength was less than 8%. The precision for forecasting of concrete workability takes the second place in which the MARE is less than 15%. Forecasting on concrete durability has the lowest accuracy as its MARE has even reached 30%. These conclusions have been certified in a ready-mixed concrete plant that the synthesized MARE of 7-day/28-day strength and initial slump is less than 8%. The parameters of BP ANNs and its conformation have been discussed as well in this study.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.103-115
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• 2019

Polypropylene (PP) fibers for making fabric which is used for packing cement have a high strength and high tear resistance. Due to these excellent properties the present study investigates the effect of PP fibers on the mechanical strength of concrete. Mechanical strength parameters such as compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength are evaluated. Structural integrity of concrete using Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) was also studied. Concrete containing PP fibers in percentage of 0%, 0.15%, 0.25%, 0.5% and 0.75% was developed with a characteristic compressive strength of 25 MPa. Concrete cubes, cylinder and prismatic specimens were cast and tested. It was found that the UPV values recorded for all specimens were of the similar order. Test results indicated the used of PP fibers can significantly improve the flexural and splitting tensile strengths of concrete materials whereas it resulted a decreased in compressive strength. The relative increase in split tensile and flexural strength was optimum at a fiber dosage of 0.5% and a mild decreased were observed in 28 days compressive strength. The findings in this paper suggested that PP fibers deriving from these waste cement bags are a feasible fiber option for fiber-reinforced concrete productions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.1
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• pp.109-118
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• 2023

Any place where exercise is common, such as a club, sports hall, or school, is considered a place for teaching sports. When doing sports, a very safe environment for sports should be chosen. The athlete should consider the safety of sports facilities and equipment, and if there is a defect, he should refrain from exercising in these places. The safety of sports facilities is very effective in creating people's sports activities, with the benefits of staying away from physical harm, enjoying sports, and having mental peace. Everyone has the right to participate in sports and recreation and to ensure that they enjoy a safe environment. The ability to manage and solve issues that may arise plays the most critical role in creating a safe environment. The quality of construction materials used for the construction of sports facilities is of great importance. In this work, the resistance and water repellency of concrete constituents for the construction of sports buildings have been investigated by nanoscience. Nano-concrete material solves the main problem of concrete surfaces, i.e., the entry of water and humidity into the structure. It also gives it a self-cleaning ability with its water repellency. Nanoparticles are placed between pores and cover the cracks, which causes roughness in the surface structure of concrete. The high roughness of the surface of the coated concrete caused its super-hydrophobicity. In hydrophobic surfaces, the higher the contact angle, the more hydrophobic the surface will be. In order to investigate the hydrophobic properties, silica nanoparticles, silica nanoparticles, and fly ash were prepared on concrete, and their properties were analyzed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.23-24
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• 2021

The use of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) as a substitute for natural aggregates in new concrete produces both economic and environmental advantages. Most of the RCA applications for pavements have been primarily applied to support layers for roads and airfields. This paper summarizes a work completed at the University of Illinois in partnership with the O'Hare Modernization Program to examine the effect of coarse and fine RCA on the concrete's fresh and hardened properties for airfield rigid pavement applications. Ten different RCA concrete mixtures were prepared with the incorporation of different percentages of RCA fines as well as replacement of cement with high volume percentages of supplementary cementitious materials such as Class C fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag to improve the workability and long-term properties of RCA concrete. All the mixes on this stage included 100% recycled coarse aggregates and the Two-Stage Mixing Approach was used as a mixing procedure. Based on the results obtained in the research, mixes with high percentages of recycled fine and coarse aggregates could be used for construction of airfield concrete pavements in conjunction with supplementary cementitious materials

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.331-349
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• 2023

Foam concrete can be considered as environmental friendly material due to its low weight, its minimal cost and a possibility to add waste materials in its production. This paper investigates the possibility of producing foam concrete with waste glass as powder and aggregate. Then, the effect of using waste glass on strength and drying shrinkage of foam concrete was examined. Also, the effect of incorporating polypropylene fibers (12 mm length and proportion of 0.5% of a mix volume) on distribution of waste glass as coarse particles within 1200 kg/m³ foam concrete mixes was evaluated. Waste glass was used as powder (20% of cement weight), as coarse particles (25%, 50% and 100% instead of sand volume) and as fine particles (25% instead of sand volume). From the results, the problem of non-uniform distribution of coarse glass particles was successfully solved by adding polypropylene fibers. It was found that using of waste glass as coarse aggregate led to reduce the strength of foam concrete mixes. However, using it with polypropylene fibers in combination helped in increasing the strength by about 29- 50% for compressive and 55- 71% for splitting tensile and reducing the drying shrinkage by about (31- 40%). In general, not only the fibers role but also the uniformly distributed coarse glass particles helped in improving and enhancing the strength and shrinkage of the investigated foam concrete mixes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.3
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• pp.289-297
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• 2018

The real behavior of the RC structures constructed based on the assumed specifications of the used materials is matched with the designed ones when the assumed and the applied specifications in construction are the same. Despite in the construction phase of the reinforced concrete (RC) structures always it is tried to implement the same specifications of materials as given in the executive drawings, but considering the unpredicted/uncontrolled parameters that affect the specification of materials, always there is a deviation between the constructed and the designed materials' specifications. The objective of this paper is to submit a guideline for the evaluation of the strength and damage to the existing RC structures encountered deviation in materials' strengths. To achieve this goal, the lateral strength (plastic behaviors) and damage to twenty-five RC moment-resisting frames (MRFs) are studied by applying the inelastic analysis. In this study, a couple of concrete and reinforcement strengths' deviations are investigated. The obtained results indicate that in general, there is a semi-linear relationship between the deviation in the strength of reinforcement and the changes in the lateral strength values of the MRFs. The relative effect of the deviation in the strength of reinforcements is more than the relative effect of the deviation in the concrete strength on the damage rate. The obtained results could be a guideline for the engineers in the survey of the existing buildings encountered deviation in materials' strengths during their construction phase.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2010

Geopolymer materials are attractive as inorganic binders due to their superior mechanical and eco-friendly properties. In the current study, geopolymer-based cement was prepared using aluminosilicate minerals from fly-ash with KOH as an alkaline-activator and $Na_2SiO_3$ as liquid glass. Then, calcium carbonate powder from a clam shell was mixed with the geopolymer and the mixture was coated on a concrete surface to provide points of attachment for environmental organisms to grow on the geopolymers. We investigated the effect of the shell powder grain size on the microstructure and bonding property of the geopolymers. A homogeneous geopolymer layer coated well on the concrete surface via aluminosilicate bonding, but the adhesiveness of the shell powder on the geopolymer cement was dependent on the grain size of the shell powder. Superior adhesive characteristics were shown in the shell powder of large grain size due to the deep penetration into the geopolymer by their large weight. This kind of coating can be applied to the adhesiveness of eco-materials on the surface of seaside or riverside blocks.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 2009

The peculiarity pointed out for high strength concrete is the occurrence of spalling during a fire. Recently, there are many efforts such as development of all types of spalling reducing materials and other innovative materials in various fields. Need is now to examine the adequate mixing proportions of these materials. This study intended to derive experimentally and statistically mix proportions that can represent the basic quality requirements as well as the optimal effects on the fire-resistance for 4 types of functional materials that are metakaolin, waste tire chip, polypropylene fiber and steel fiber. Here, the tests were planned through an optimal test method using an orthogonal array table with 4 parameters and 3 levels. The statistical analysis adopted the response surface analysis method. Results verified mutual complementary contribution between the materials when using a combination of the functional materials selected as parameters for the strengthening of the fire-resistance of 80 MPa-class high strength concrete. Besides, the optimal conditions of the fire-resistance strengthening materials derived through response surface analysis were a volumetric replacement of silica fume by 80% of metakaolin, a volumetric replacement of fine aggregates by 3% of tire waste chip, and an addition of 0.2% of the whole volume by polypropylene fiber without mixing of steel fiber. In such cases, the basic characteristics as well as the fire-resistant characteristics of high strength concrete were also satisfied.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.62-69
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• 2023

Re-damage is frequently occurring for various reasons, including material factors, external factors, and factors caused by poor construction in concrete cross-section restoration work, so it is necessary to identify the cause and improve it. Cement-based materials are the most commonly used maintenance materials for concrete structures, and in particular, additional cross-sectional restoration work may be carried out due to re-damage such as cracks and excitement due to dry contraction of the repair material. In this study, a basic study was conducted to identify the characteristics of concrete while diversifying the maximum dimensions and assembly rate of thick aggregates to examine the effects of using thick aggregates in repair materials. As a result, the slump of concrete increased as the maximum size of thick aggregates increased, and the amount of air content was measured 1.88 to 2.35 times higher in the mixing using aggregates with a maximum aggregate size of 5 mm or more compared to the mixing group with a maximum aggregate size of 10 mm or more. It was found that compressive strength was greatly affected by the performance rate of thick aggregates. The compressive strength was measured the highest in the mixture using thick aggregates with the highest performance rate of 20 mm, and the compressive strength of the mixture with the lowest performance rate was more than 45%. As a result of the dry shrinkage measurement, the dry shrinkage was the lowest as the performance rate of the thick aggregate increased according to the change in the maximum dimensions and assembly rate of the thick aggregate, and the lowest performance rate was the largest in the mix. Through this study, it was confirmed that adjusting the particle size by diversifying the maximum dimensions and assembly rate of thick aggregates used in concrete structure repair materials can improve strength and workability and reduce dry shrinkage.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.101-110
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• 2012

This paper focuses on the finite element (FE) response sensitivity and reliability analyses considering smooth constitutive material models. A reinforced concrete frame is modeled for FE sensitivity analysis followed by direct differentiation method under both static and dynamic load cases. Later, the reliability analysis is performed to predict the seismic behavior of the frame. Displacement sensitivity discontinuities are observed along the pseudo-time axis using non-smooth concrete and reinforcing steel model under quasi-static loading. However, the smooth materials show continuity in response sensitivity at elastic to plastic transition points. The normalized sensitivity results are also used to measure the relative importance of the material parameters on the structural responses. In FE reliability analysis, the influence of smoothness behavior of reinforcing steel is carefully noticed. More efficient and reasonable reliability estimation can be achieved by using smooth material model compare with bilinear material constitutive model.