• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.865-880
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• 2015

Standard test method for bulk electrical conductivity (ASTM C1760) provides a rapid indication of the concrete's resistance to the penetration of chloride ions by diffusion. In this paper a new approach for assessing the bulk electrical conductivity of saturated specimens of hardened concrete is presented. The test involves saturating concrete specimens with a 5 M NaCl solution before measuring the conductivity of the samples. By saturating specimens with a highly conductive solution, they showed virtually the same pore solution conductivity. Different concrete samples yield different conductivity primarily due to differences in their pore structure. The feasibility of the method has been demonstrated by testing different concrete mixtures consisting ordinary and blended cement of silica fume (SF) and calcined perlite powder (CPP). Two standard test methods of RCPT (ASTM C1202) and Bulk Conductivity (ASTM C1760) were also applied to all of the samples. The results show that for concretes containing SF and CPP, the proposed method is less sensitive towards the variations in the pore solution conductivity in comparison with RCPT and Bulk Conductivity tests. It seems that this method is suitable for the assessment of the performance and durability of different concretes containing supplementary cementitious materials.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.111-120
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• 2017

This study aimed to design the accelerated life testing (ALT) of concrete, which stimulating the special natural environment maximumly. Its evaluation indexes, such as dynamic elastic modulus, mass and ultrasonic velocity were measured, and the variation of relative mass and relative dynamic elastic modulus of concrete were studied. Meanwhile, the microanalysis method was used. Moreover, an exploratory application of the stochastic approach, the Weibull distribution and the lognormal distribution, were made to assess the durability of concrete structures. The results show that the ALT for simulating natural environment is more close to the service process of concrete structure under actual conditions; The relative dynamic elastic modulus can be used as the dominant durability evaluation parameters, because it is more sensitive to the environmental factors compared with the relative quality evaluation parameters; In the course of the concrete deterioration, the destruction of the salt freezing cycle is the dominant factor, supplemented by other factors; Both of those two stochastic approaches can be used to evaluate the reliability of concrete specimens under the condition of ALT; By comparison, The lognormal distribution method is better to describe the reliability process.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.313-323
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• 2018

The presence of water inside concrete structures is an essential condition for the deterioration of the structures. The free water in the concrete pores and micro-cracks is the culprit for the durability related problems, such as alkali-aggregate reaction, carbonation, freeze-thaw damage, and corrosion of steel reinforcement. To ensure the integrity and safe operation of the concrete structures, it is very important to monitor water seepage inside the concrete. This paper presents the experimental investigation of water seepage monitoring in a concrete slab using piezoelectric-based smart aggregates. In the experimental setup, an $800mm{\times}800mm{\times}100mm$ concrete slab was fabricated with 15 SAs distributed inside the slab. The water seepage process was monitored through interrogating the SA pairs. In each SA pair, one SA was used as actuator to emit harmonic sine wave, and the other was used as sensor to receive the transmitted stress wave. The amplitudes of the received signals were able to indicate the water seepage process inside the concrete slab.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.283-294
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• 2015

In the present study, a porous concrete with alkali activated slag (AAS) and coal bottom ash was developed and the effect of carbonation on the physical property, microstructural characteristic, and heavy metal leaching behavior of the porous concrete were investigated. Independent variables, such as the type of the alkali activator and binder, the amount of paste, and $CO_2$ concentration, were considered. The experimental test results showed that the measured void ratio and compressive strength of the carbonated porous concrete exceeded minimum level stated in ACI 522 for general porous concrete. A new quantitative TG analysis for evaluating $CO_2$ uptake in AAS was proposed, and the result showed that the $CO_2$ uptake in AAS paste was approximately twice as high as that in OPC paste. The leached concentrations of heavy metals from carbonated porous concrete were below the relevant environmental criteria.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.207-220
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of recycled materials, namely, shredded scrap tire (SST), reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and class C fly ash (CFA) on compressive and tensile strength of concrete. Either SST or RAP was used as an aggregate replacement and class C fly ash (CFA) as Portland cement replacement for making concrete. A total of two types of SST and RAP, namely, chips and screenings were used for replacing coarse and fine aggregates, respectively. A total of 26 concrete mixes containing different replacement level of SST or RAP and CFA were designed. Using the mix designs, cylindrical specimens of concrete were prepared, cured in water tank, and tested for unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and indirect tensile strength (IDT) after 28 days. Experimental results showed aggregate substitution with SST decreased both UCS and IDT of concrete. On the contrary, replacement of aggregate with RAP improved UCS values. Specimens containing RAP chips resulted in concrete with higher IDT values as compared to corresponding specimens containing RAP screenings. Addition of 40% CFA was found to improve UCS values and degrade IDT values of SST containing specimens. Statistical analysis showed that IDT of SST and RAP can be estimated as approximately 13% and 12% of UCS, respectively.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2017

Zinc coating on carbon steels give the higher corrosion resistance in chloride containing environments and in carbonated concrete. However, hydrogen evolution accompanies the corrosion of zinc in the initial activity in fresh concrete, which can lead to the formation of a porous structure at the reinforcement -concrete interface, which can potentially reduce the bond-strength of the reinforcement with concrete. The present study examines the mechanism of the corrosion of hot-dip galvanized steel in detail, as in the model pore solutions and real concrete. Calcium ion plays an important role in the corrosion mechanism, as it prevents the formation of passive layers on zinc at an elevated alkalinity. The corrosion rate of galvanized steel decreases in accordance with the exposure time; however, the reason for this is not the zinc transition into passivity, but the consumption of the less corrosion-resistant phases of hot-dip galvanizing in the concrete environment. The results on the electrochemical tests have been confirmed by the bond-strength test for the reinforcement of concrete and by evaluating the porosity of the cement adjacent to the reinforcement.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.3
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• pp.387-400
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• 2022

The practice of using encased steel-concrete columns in medium to high-rise structures has expanded dramatically in recent years. The study evaluates existing methodologies and codal guidelines for estimating the ultimate load-carrying characteristics of concrete-encased short columns experimentally. The present condition of composite column design methods was analyzed using the Egyptian code ECP203-2007, the American Institute of Steel Construction's AISC-LRFD-2010, Eurocode EC-4, the American Concrete Institute's ACI-318-2014, and the British Standard BS-5400-5. According to the codes, the axial load carrying characteristics of both the encased steel and concrete sections was examined. The effect of load-carrying capacities in different forms of encased steel sections on encased steel-concrete columns was studied experimentally. The axial load carrying capacity of twelve concrete-encased columns and four conventional reinforced columns were examined. The conclusion is that the confinement was not taken into account when forecasting the strength and ductility of the encased concrete, resulting in considerable disparities between codal provisions and experimental results. The configuration of the steel section influenced the confining effect. Better confinement is achieved with the laced and battened section than with the infilled steel tube reinforced and conventionally reinforced section. The ECP203-2007 code reported the most conservative results of all the codes used.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.303-311
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• 2017

The concrete industry of developing countries like India consumes majority of natural resources. The increase in population has necessitated the construction of more and more structures. Further many structures have completed their life span or have undergone damages thus warranting the demolition of these structures. India produces approximately 23.75 million tons of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) annually. The natural resources are depleting at a higher rate with the increasing demand of concrete industry. This difficulty can be reduced with the use of RCA in land fill and concrete manufacturing. Use of RCA can provide cost savings and better energy utilization. This paper presents mechanical behavior of concrete comprising successively recycled concrete aggregate. Mechanical properties of recycled concrete get affected with number of recycling. In mix design successive recycled concrete aggregate (SRCA) was used in place of natural aggregates (NA) with 100% replacement. The test results of the compressive, flexural strength and pulse velocity were obtained for 14 and 28 days of curing age which showed significant improvement in results.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 2016

The objective of the present work is to evaluate the influence of two different methods of improving the ductility of Reinforced Concrete Frames and their influence on the full range behavior of the frames with M40 grade of concrete. For this purpose one fourth scale reinforced concrete square frames are experimentally tested subjected to static cyclic loading for three cases and monotonic loading for one case. The parameters are varied as method introducing ductility to the frame viz. (i) by using conventional concrete (ii) adding 1% of steel fibres by volume of concrete at hinging zones (iii) using self-compacting concrete with fibres at hinging zones. The energy absorption by ductile and non-ductile frames has been compared. The behavior of frames tested under cyclic loading have revealed that there is a positive trend in improvement of ductility of frames when fibrous concrete is used along with self-compacting concrete.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.145-157
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• 2018

This paper presents a review on the use of Silica Fume (SF) as a mineral admixture in the concrete. Distinctive outcome from several researches have been demonstrated here, particularly emphasizing on the fresh and hardened properties of concrete when blended with Silica Fume (Micro-silica or Nano-silica). The results showed a substantial enhancement in the mechanical properties of concrete when replaced with SF. The review also presented a brief idea of percentage replacement of SF in case of normal and high-strength concrete. A decreasing trend in workability (slump value) has been identified when there is a increase in percentage replacement of SF. It can be concluded that the optimize percentage of replacement with SF lies in the range of 8-10% particularly for compressive strength. However the variation of blending goes up to 12-15% in case of split tensile and flexure strength of concrete. The study also demonstrates the effect of silica fume on durability parameters like water absorption, permeability, sulphate attack and chloride attack.