• Advances in nano research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.363-373
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• 2023

A novel type of steel fiber with a rounded-end shape is presented to improve the bonding behavior of fibers with Carbon Nanotubes (CNT)-reinforced Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) matrix. For this purpose, by performing a parametric study and using the nonlinear finite element method, the impact of geometric characteristics of the fiber end on its bonding behavior with UHPC has been studied. The cohesive zone model investigates the interface between the fibers and the cement matrix. The mechanical properties of the cohesive zone model are determined by calibrating the finite element results and the experimental fiber pull-out test. Also, the results are evaluated with the straight steel fibers outcomes. Using the novel presented fibers, the bond strength has significantly improved compared to the straight steel fibers. The new proposed fibers increase bond strength by 1.1 times for the same diameter of fibers. By creating fillet at the contact area between the rounded end and the fiber, bond strength is significantly improved, the maximum fiber capacity is reachable, and the pull-out occurs in the form of fracture and tearing of the fibers, which is the most desirable bonding mode for fibers. This also improves the energy absorbed by the fibers and is 4.4 times more than the corresponding straight fibers.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2022

Due to the extensive use of concrete structures in various applications, the improvement of their strength and quality has become of great importance. A new way of achieving this purpose is to add different types of nanoparticles to concrete admixtures. In this work, a mathematical model has been employed to analyze the vibration of concrete beams reinforced by graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles. To verify the accuracy of the presented model, an experimental study has been conducted to compare the compressive strengths of these beams. Since GO nanoparticles are not readily dissolved in water, before producing the concrete samples, the GO nanoparticles are dispersed in the mixture by using a shaker, magnetic striker, ultrasonic devices, and finally, by means of a mechanical mixer. The sinusoidal shear deformation beam theory (SSDBT) is employed to model the concrete beams. The Mori-Tanaka model is used to determine the effective properties of the structure, including the agglomeration influences. The motion equations are calculated by applying the energy method and Hamilton's principle. The vibration frequencies of the concrete beam samples are obtained by an analytical method. Three samples containing 0.02% GO nanoparticles are made and their compressive strengths are measured and compared. There is a good agreement between our results and those of the mathematical model and other papers, with a maximum difference of 1.29% between them. The aim of this work is to investigate the effects of nanoparticle volume fraction and agglomeration and the influences of beam length and thickness on the vibration frequency of concrete structures. The results show that by adding the GO nanoparticles, the vibration frequency of the beams is increased.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.717-726
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• 2018

Concrete pipelines are the most efficient and safe means for gas and oil transportation over a long distance. The use of nano materials and nono-engineering can be considered for enhancing concrete pipelines properties. the tests show that $SiO_2$ nanoparticles can improve the mechanical behavior of concrete. Moreover, severe hazard for pipelines is seismic ground motion. Over the years, scientists have attempted to understand pipe behavior against earthquake most frequently via numerical modeling and simulation. Therefore, in this paper, the dynamic response of underwater nanocomposite submerged pipeline conveying fluid is studied. The structure is subjected to the dynamic loads caused by earthquake and the governing equations of the system are derived using mathematical model via Classic shell theory and Hamilton's principle. Navier-Stokes equation is employed to calculate the force due to the fluid in the pipe. As well, the effect of external fluid is modeled with an external force. Mori-Tanaka approach is used to estimate the equivalent material properties of the nanocomposite. 1978 Tabas earthquake in Iran is considered for modelling seismic load. The dynamic displacement of the structure is extracted using differential quadrature method (DQM) and Newmark method. The effects of different parameters such as $SiO_2$ nanoparticles volume percent, boundary conditions, thickness to radius ratios, length to radius ratios, internal and external fluid pressure and earthquake intensity are discussed on the seismic response of the structure. From results obtained in this paper, it can be found that the dynamic response of the pipe is increased in the presence of internal and external fluid. Furthermore, the use of $SiO_2$ nanoparticles in concrete pipeline reduces the displacement of the structure during an earthquake.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.185-192
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• 2019

In this paper, the buckling of micro sandwich hollow circular plate is investigated with the consideration of the porous core and piezoelectric layer reinforced by functionally graded (FG)carbon nano-tube. For modeling the displacement field of sandwich hollow circular plate, the high-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) of plate and modified couple stress theory (MCST) are used. The governing differential equations of the system can be derived using the principle of minimum potential energy and Maxwell's equation that for solving these equations, the Ritz method is employed. The results of this research indicate the influence of various parameters such as porous coefficients, small length scale parameter, distribution of carbon nano-tube in piezoelectric layers and temperature on critical buckling load. The purpose of this research is to show the effect of physical parameters on the critical buckling load of micro sandwich plate and then optimize these parameters to design structures with the best efficiency. The results of this research can be used for optimization of micro-structures and manufacturing different structure in aircraft and aerospace.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.231-249
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• 2024

When the amplitude of the vibrations is equivalent to that clearance, the vibrations for small amplitudes will really be significantly nonlinear. Nonlinearities will not be significant for amplitudes that are rather modest. Finally, nonlinearities will become crucial once again for big amplitudes. Therefore, the concrete panel system may experience a big amplitude in this work as a result of the high temperature. Based on the 3D modeling of the shell theory, the current work shows the influences of the von Kármán strain-displacement kinematic nonlinearity on the constitutive laws of the structure. The system's governing Equations in the nonlinear form are solved using Kronecker and Hadamard products, the discretization of Equations on the space domain, and Duffing-type Equations. Thermo-elasticity Equations. are used to represent the system's temperature. The harmonic solution technique for the displacement domain and the multiple-scale approach for the time domain are both covered in the section on solution procedures for solving nonlinear Equations. An effective data-driven solution is often utilized to predict how different systems would behave. The number of hidden layers and the learning rate are two hyperparameters for the network that are often chosen manually when required. Additionally, the data-driven method is offered for addressing the nonlinear vibration issue in order to reduce the computing cost of the current study. The conclusions of the present study may be validated by contrasting them with those of data-driven solutions and other published articles. The findings show that certain physical and geometrical characteristics have a significant effect on the existing concrete panel structure's susceptibility to temperature change and GPL weight fraction. For building construction industries, several useful recommendations for improving the thermo-mechanics' behavior of structural concrete panels are presented.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.207-215
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• 2019

Application of nanotechnology can be used to tailor made cementitious composites owing to small dimension and physical behaviour of resulting hydration products. Because of high aspect ratio and extremely high strength, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are perfect reinforcing materials. Hence, there is a great prospect to use CNTs in developing new generation cementitious materials. In the present paper, a parametric study has been conducted on cementitious composites reinforced by two types of multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) designated as Type I CNT (10-20 nm outer dia.) and Type II CNT (30-50 nm outer dia.) with various concentrations ranging from 0.1% to 0.5% by weight of cement. To evaluate important properties such as flexural strength, strain to failure, elastic modulus and modulus of toughness of the CNT admixed specimens at different curing periods, flexural bending tests were performed. Results show that composites with Type II CNTs gave more strength as compared to Type I CNTs. The highest increase in strength (flexural and compressive) is of the order of 22% and 33%, respectively, compared to control samples. Modulus of toughness at 28 days showed highest improvement of 265% for Type II 0.3% CNT composites. It is obvious that an optimum percentage of CNT could exists for composites to achieve suitable reinforcement behaviour and desired strength properties. Based on the parametric study, a tentative optimum CNT concentration (0.3% by weight of cement) has been proposed. Scanning electron microscope image shows perfect crack bridging mechanism; several of the CNTs were shown to act as crack arrestors across fine cracks along with some CNTs breakage.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.215-224
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• 2020

In the present study, according to the important of porosity in low specific weight in comparison of high stiffness of carbon nanotubes reinforced composite, buckling and free vibration analysis of sandwich composite beam in two configurations, of laminates using differential quadrature method (DQM) is studied. Also, the effects of porosity coefficient and three types of porosity distribution on critical buckling load and natural frequency are discussed. It is shown the buckling loads and natural frequencies of laminate 1 are significantly larger than the results of laminate 2. When configuration 2 (the core is made of FRC) and laminate 1 ([0/90/0/45/90]_s) are used, the first natural frequency rises noticeably. It is also demonstrated that the influence of the core height in the case of lower carbon volume fractions is negligible. Even though, when volume fraction of fiber increases, the critical buckling load enhances smoothly. It should be noticed the amount of decline has inverse relationship with the beam aspect ratio. Investigating three porosity patterns, beam with the distribution of porosity Type 2 has the maximum critical buckling load and first natural frequency. Among three elastic foundations (constant, linear and parabolic), buckling load and natural frequency in linear variation has the least amount. For all kind of elastic foundations, when the porosity coefficient increases, critical buckling load and natural frequency decline significantly.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2014

This experimental study was intended to improve the compressive strength of multi-walled CNT reinforced cementitious composites with efficiency. The variables considered are the degree of sonication, the amount of surfactant, the replacement ratio of silica fume, etc. Optical microscope informed that fiber dispersion of CNT was improved with the increase of sonication time, and the compressive strength was proved to be enhanced as the degree of sonication increased. When superplasticizer as a surfactant had SP/CNT ratio of 4~6, the best improvement in strength was obtained. Silica fume was shown to produce the highest compressive strength at 10% replacement. Microstructure of CNT composites was also analyzed; XRD and SEM results indicated that CNT addition hardly changed hydration products and microstructure, and MIP analysis found the reduction of total porosity as well as the increase of nano-pores with the size of tens of nm instead of the decrease of pore distribution in the region of around 10 ${\mu}m$ and 100 nm. The results of microstructure analysis explains that the strength improvement is closely related to physical contribution rather than chemical influence by adding CNT.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.25-40
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• 2008

The research and development in soundproof materials for preventing noise have attracted great attention due to their social impact. Noise insulation materials are especially important in the field of soundproofing. Since the insulation ability of most materials follows a mass rule, the heavy weight materials like concrete, lead and steel board are mainly used in the current noise insulation materials. To overcome some weak points in these materials, fiber reinforced composite materials with lightweight and other high performance characteristics are now being used. In this paper, innovative insulation sheet materials with carbon and/or glass fabrics and nano-silica hybrid PU resin are developed. The parameters related to sound performance, such as materials and fabric texture in base fabric, hybrid method of resin, size of silica particle and so on, are investigated. At the same time, the wave analysis code (PZFlex) is used to simulate some of experimental results. As a result, it is found that both bundle density and fabric texture in the base fabrics play an important role on the soundproof performance. Compared with the effect of base fabrics, the transmission loss in sheet materials increased more than 10 dB even though the thickness of the sample was only about 0.7 mm. The results show different values of transmission loss factor when the diameters of silica particles in coating materials changed. It is understood that the effect of the soundproof performance is different due to the change of hybrid method and the size of silica particles. Fillers occupying appropriate positions and with optimum size may achieve a better effect in soundproof performance. The effect of the particle content on the soundproof performance is confirmed, but there is a limit for the addition of the fillers. The optimization of silica content for the improvement of the sound insulation effect is important. It is observed that nano-particles will have better effect on the high soundproof performance. The sound insulation effect has been understood through a comparison between the experimental and analytical results. It is confirmed that the time-domain finite wave analysis (PZFlex) is effective for the prediction and design of soundproof performance materials. Both experimental and analytical results indicate that the developed materials have advantages in lightweight, flexibility, other mechanical properties and excellent soundproof performance.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.219-227
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• 2016

Chloride ions ingress continuously in reinforced concrete through pores of it by $Cl^-$. Finally, it causes a localized corrosion of the rebar and then it generates cracks on concrete structures. Recently, new materials removing harmful anions have been developed. Layered double hydroxides(LDHs) has an excellent ability to remove harmful anions because various anions can be adsorbed in the interlayer space between divalent and trivalent cations. Thus, LDHs has been applied in various fields. Especially, LDHs is expected to be effective adsorbent binding chloride ions. In this study, $Ca/Al-NO_3$ and $Mg/Al-NO_3$ LDHs were prepared by using a co-precipitation method. $Ca/Al-NO_3$ and $Mg/Al-NO_3$ LDHs were compared and analyzed by using XRD, SEM analysis. Many nano size hexagonal crystals were observed by SEM. Experiments for binding chloride ions of LDHs were conducted by using potentiometric method. The experimental data were measured every 15 minutes. It was observed that the chloride ion content is reduced by increasing of LDHs mass fraction and the reaction rate of $Mg/Al-NO_3$ is faster than $Ca/Al-NO_3$. In future studies, binding chloride capacity in cement materials will be evaluated based on results of this study.