• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.37-46
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• 2017

PURPOSES : A composite pavement utilizes both an asphalt surface and a concrete base. Typically, a concrete base layer provides structural capacity, while an asphalt surface layer provides smoothness and riding quality. This pavement type can be used in conjunction with rollercompacted concrete (RCC) pavement as a base layer due to its fast construction, economic efficiency, and structural performance. However, the service life and functionality of composite pavement may be reduced due to interfacial bond failure. Therefore, adequate interfacial bonding between the asphalt surface and the concrete base is essential to achieving monolithic behavior. The purpose of this study is to investigate the bond characteristics at the interface between asphalt (HMA; hot-mixed asphalt) and the RCC base. METHODS : This study was performed to determine the optimal type and application rate of tack coat material for RCC-base composite pavement. In addition, the core size effect, temperature condition, and bonding failure shape were analyzed to investigate the bonding characteristics at the interface between the RCC base and HMA surface. To evaluate the bond strength, a pull-off test was performed using different diameters of specimens such as 50 mm and 100 mm. Tack coat materials such as RSC-4 and BD-Coat were applied in amounts of 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, and $1.1l/m^2$ to determine the optimal application rate. In order to evaluate the bond strength characteristics with temperature changes, a pull-off test was carried out at -15, 0, 20, and $40^{\circ}C$. In addition, the bond failure shapes were analyzed using an image analysis program after the pull-off tests were completed. RESULTS : The test results indicated that the optimal application rate of RSC-4 and BD-Coat were $0.8l/m^2$, $0.9l/m^2$, respectively. The core size effect was determined to be negligible because the bond strengths were similar in specimens with diameters of 50 mm and 100 mm. The bond strengths of RSC-4 and BD-Coat were found to decrease significantly when the temperature increased. As a result of the bonding failure shape in low-temperature conditions such as -15, 0, and $20^{\circ}C$, it was found that most of the debonding occurred at the interface between the tack coat and RCC surface. On the other hand, the interface between the HMA and tack coat was weaker than that between the tack coat and RCC at a high temperature of $40^{\circ}C$. CONCLUSIONS : This study suggested an optimal application rate of tack coat materials to apply to RCC-base composite pavement. The bond strengths at high temperatures were significantly lower than the required bond (tensile) strength of 0.4 MPa. It was known that the temperature was a critical factor affecting the bond strength at the interface of the RCC-base composite pavement.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.05b
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• pp.593-596
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• 2006

The environment-friendly building material, photocatalyst/scoria/loess concrete, was prepared using scoria and loess (which have merits as building materials) and photocatalyst (which has the functions to compose the environmental contaminants and of self cleaning). In order to apply this material as a building material, the compressive and flexible strengths, and water absorptivity (which have been set by Korea Industrial Standard) were measured. In order to know the environment-friendly characteristics of this material, several tests, such as, the tests of emissivity and emission power of far infrared ray and acoustic absorptivity, antibacterial test for Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, antifungal test for mixed fungal strains, and deodorization test of ammonia were carried out. Moreover, the removal characteristics of NOx, and formaldehyde (HCHO) by photocatalyst/scoria/loess concrete were examined as the following different parameters: the removal characteristics of these contaminants with the substitution ratio and the kind of photocatalyst, light source, UV intensity of sunlight, relative humidity, intial NOx concentration.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.311-327
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• 2015

Employing discrete elements for considering bond-slip effects in reinforced concrete structures is very time consuming. In this study, a new modified embedded element method is used to consider the bond-slip phenomenon in structural behavior of reinforced concrete structures. A comprehensive parametric study of RC slabs is performed to determine influence of different variables on structural behavior. The parametric study includes a set of simple models accompanied with complex models such as multi-storey buildings. The procedure includes the decrease in the effective stiffness of steel bar in the layered model. Validation of the proposed model with existing experimental results demonstrates that the model is capable of considering the bond-slip effects in embedded elements. Results demonstrate the significant effect of bond-slip on total behavior of structural members. Concrete characteristic strengths, steel yield stress, bar diameter, concrete coverage and reinforcement ratios are the parameters considered in the parametric study. Results revealed that the overall behavior of slab is significantly affected by bar diameter compared with other parameters. Variation of steel yield stress has insignificant impact in static response of RC slabs; however, its effect in cyclic behavior is important.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.559-569
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• 2019

The bond strength between composite laminates and concrete is a key factor that controls the behavior of concrete members strengthened with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets, which can be affected by several parameters such as thermal stresses and surface preparation. This article presents the result of an experimental study on the bond strength between FRP sheets and concrete at ambient temperature after specimens had been exposed to elevated temperatures of up to $200^{\circ}C$. For this purpose, 30 specimens of plain concrete with dimensions of $150{\times}150{\times}350mm$ were prepared. Three different conventional surface preparation methods (sandblasting, wire brushing and hole drilling) were considered and compared with a new efficient method (fiber implantation). Deformation field during each experiment was monitored using particle image velocimetry. The results showed that, the specimens which were prepared by conventional surface preparation methods, preserved their bond integrity when exposed to temperature below glass transition temperature of epoxy resin (about $60^{\circ}C$). Beyond this temperature, the bond strength and stiffness decreased significantly (about 50%) in comparison with control specimens. However, the specimens prepared by the proposed method displayed higher bond strengths of up to 32% and 90% at $25^{\circ}C$ and $200^{\circ}C$, respectively.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 2019

In view of the increasing utility of concrete as a construction material, the major challenge is to improve the quality of construction. Nowadays the common problem faced by many of the concrete plants is the shortage of river sand as fine aggregate material. This led to the utilization of locally available materials from quarries as fine aggregate. With the percentage of fines present in Crushed Rock Fines (CRF)or crushed sand is more compared to river sand, it shows a better performance in terms of fresh properties. The present study deals with the formulation of SCC mix design based on the chosen plastic viscosity of the mix and the measured plastic viscosity of cement pastes incorporating supplementary cementitious materials with CRF and river sand as a fine aggregate. Four different combinations including two binary and one ternary mix are adopted for the current study. Influence of plastic viscosity of the mix on the fresh and hardened properties are investigated for SCC mixes with varying water to cement ratios. It is observed that for an increasing plastic viscosity of the mix, slump flow, T500 and J-ring spread increased but V-funnel and L-box decreased. Compressive, split tensile and flexural strengths decreased with the increase in plastic viscosity.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.225-239
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• 2021

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) has extensive use in strengthening reinforced concrete structures due to its high strength and elastic modulus, low weight, fast and easy application, and excellent durability performance. Many studies have been carried out to determine the performance of the CFRP confined concrete cylinder. Although studies about the prediction of confined compressive strength using ANN are in the literature, the insufficiency of the studies to predict the strain of confined concrete cylinder using ANN, which is the most appropriate analysis method for nonlinear and complex problems, draws attention. Therefore, to predict both strengths and also strain values, two different ANNs were created using an extensive experimental database. The strength and strain networks were evaluated with the statistical parameters of correlation coefficients (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). The estimated values were found to be close to the experimental results. Mathematical equations to predict the strength and strain values were derived using networks prepared for convenience in engineering applications. The sensitivity analysis of mathematical models was performed by considering the inputs with the highest importance factors. Considering the limit values obtained from the sensitivity analysis of the parameters, the performances of the proposed models were evaluated by using the test data determined from the experimental database. Model performances were evaluated comparatively with other analytical models most commonly used in the literature, and it was found that the closest results to experimental data were obtained from the proposed strength and strain models.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.217-223
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• 2019

This paper presents the mechanical and microstructural properties of the geopolymer paste which was developed by utilizing the industrial by-products, rice husk ash (RHA) and ultra-fine slag. Ultra-fine slag particles with average particle size in the range of 4 to 5 microns. RHA is partially replaced with ultra-fine slag at different levels of 0 to 50%. Sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide ratio of 1.0 and alkaline liquid to binder (AL/B) ratio of 0.60 is taken. Setting time, compressive, flexural strengths were studied up to the age of 90 days with different concentrations of NaOH. The microstructure of the hybrid geopolymer paste was studied by performing the SEM, EDS, and XRD on the broken samples. RHA based geopolymer paste blended with ultrafine slag resulted in high compressive and flexural strengths and increased setting times of the paste. Strength increased with the increase in NaOH concentration at all ages. The ultra-small particles of the slag acted as a micro-filler into the paste and enhanced the properties by improving the CASH, NASH, and CSH. The maximum compressive strength of 70MPa was achieved at 30% slag content with 16M NaOH. The results of XRD, SEM, and EDS at 30% replacement of RHA with ultra-fine slag densified the paste microstructure.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.589-604
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• 2016

Kenya has recently experienced worrying collapse of buildings during construction largely attributable to the poor quality of in-situ concrete and poor workmanship. The situation in the country is further compounded by rapid deterioration of infrastructure, hence necessitating the development of alternative structural systems such as concrete filled unplasticized poly vinyl chloride (UPVC) tubes as columns. The work herein adds on to the very limited and scanty work on use of UPVC tubes in construction. This study presents the findings of experimental and analytical work which investigated the structural response of composite concrete filled UPVC tubes under compressive load regime. UPVC pipes are cheaper than steel tubes and can be used as formwork during construction and thereafter as an integral part of column. Key variables in this study included the strength of infill concrete, the length to diameter ratio (L/D) of the plastic tube, as well as the diameter to thickness ratio (D/2t) of the plastic tube. Plastic tubes having varying diameters and heights were used to confine concrete of different strengths. Results obtained in the study clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of UPVC tubes as a confining medium for infill concrete, attributable to enhanced composite interaction between the UPVC tube and infill concrete medium. It was determined that compressive strength of the composite column specimens increased with increased concrete strength while the same decreased with increased column height, albeit by a small margin since all the columns considered were short columns. Most importantly, the experimental confined concrete strength increased significantly when compared to unconfined concrete strength; the strength increased between 1.18 to 3.65 times the unconfined strength. It was noted that lower strength infill concrete had the highest confined strength possibly due to enhanced composite interaction with the confining UPVC tube. The study further proposes an analytical model for the determination of confined strength of concrete.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.101-111
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• 2021

Two different types of shear-friction tests were classified by external loadings and referred to as a push-off and a pull-off test. In a pull-off test, a tension force is applied in the transverse direction of the test specimen to produce a shear stress at the shear plane. This paper presents a method to evaluate shear transfer strengths of uncracked pull-off specimens. The method is based on the compression field theory and different constitutive laws are applied in some ways to gain accurate shear strengths considering softening effects of concrete struts based on Modified Compression Field Theory (MCFT) and Softened Truss Model (STM). The validity of the proposed method is examined by applying to some selected test specimens in literatures and results are compared with the predicted values. A general agreement is observed between predicted and measured values at ultimate loading stages in initially uncracked pull-off test specimens. A shear strength evaluation formula considering the effective compressive strength of a concrete strut was proposed, and the applicability of the proposed formula was verified by comparing with the experimental results in the literature.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2012

For a member subjected to direct shear forces, forces are transferred across interface concrete area and resisted by shear transfer capacity. Shear-friction equations in recent concrete structural design provisions are derived from experimental test results where shear-friction capacity is defined as a function of steel reinforcement area contained in the interface. This empirical equation gave too conservative values for concrete members with large amounts of reinforcement. This paper presents a method to evaluate shear transfer strengths and to define ultimate conditions which result in crushing of concrete struts after yielding of longitudinal reinforcement perpendicular to the interface concrete. This method is based on the bi-axial stress field theory where different constitutive laws are applied in various means to gain accurate shear strengths by considering softening effects of concrete struts based on the modified compression-field theory and the softened truss model. The validity of the proposed method is examined by applying to some selected test specimens in literatures and results are compared with recent design code provisions. A general agreement is observed between predicted and measured values at ultimate loading stages in initially uncracked normal-strength concrete test.