• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.429-438
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• 2020

To shorten the construction times of nuclear facility structures, three high-strength concrete mixtures were developed with specific consideration given to their curing temperatures, their economic efficiency, and the practicality of their quality control. This study was conducted to examine the temperature rise profiles of these three concrete mixtures and the potential for early-age thermal cracking in the primary containment vessel of a nuclear reactor with a wall thickness of 1200 mm. The one-layer placement height of the concrete for the primary containment vessel was increased from the conventional 3 m to 3.5 m. A nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted using the thermal properties of concrete determined from the isothermal hydration and adiabatic hydration tests, and tuned through comparisons made with temperature rise profiles obtained for 1200-mm-thick mock-up wall specimens cured at temperatures of 5, 20, and 35℃. The hydration heat performance of the three concrete mixtures and their potential to produce thermal cracking in nuclear facilities indicate that the mixtures have considerable potential for practical application to the primary containment vessel of a nuclear reactor at various curing temperatures, fulfilling the minimum requirements of the ACI 301 and minimizing the likelihood of the occurrence of thermal cracks.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.311-322
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• 2018

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the performance of concrete with and without glass powder (GP) subjected to elevated temperatures. Mechanical and physicochemical properties of concretes were studied at both ambient and high temperatures. One of the major environmental concerns is disposal or recycling of the waste materials. However, a high volume of the industrial production has generated a considerable amount of waste materials which have a number of adverse impacts on the environment. Further, use of glass or by-products in concrete production has advantages for improving some or all of the concrete properties. The economic incentives and environmental benefits in terms of reduced carbon footprint are also the reason for using wastes in concrete. The occurrence of spalling, compressive strength, mass loss, chemical composition, crystalline phase, and thermal analysis of CPG before and after exposure to various temperatures (20, 200, 400, and $600^{\circ}C$) were comprehensively investigated. The results indicated that, the critical temperature range of CPG was between $400^{\circ}C$ and $600^{\circ}C$.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.449-459
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• 2018

Concrete is one of the most widely used construction materials in the world. Producing economical and durable concrete is possible by employing pozzolanic materials. The aim of this study is to underline the possibility of the utilization of natural zeolite in producing concrete and investigate its effects basically on the strength and durability of concrete. In the production of concrete mixes, Portland cement was replaced by the natural zeolite at ratios of 0%, 10%, 15%, and 20% by weight. Concretes were produced with total binder contents of $300kg/m^3$ and $400kg/m^3$, but with a constant water to cement ratio of 0.60. In addition to compressive and flexural strength measurements, freeze-thaw and high temperature resistance measurements, rapid chloride permeability, and capillary water absorption tests were performed on the concrete mixes. Compared to the rest mixes, concrete mixes containing 10% zeolite yielded in with the highest compressive and flexural strengths. The rapid chloride permeability and the capillary measurements were decreased as the natural zeolite replacement was increased. Freeze-thaw resistance also improved significantly as the replacement ratio of zeolite was increased. Under the effect of elevated temperature, natural zeolite incorporated concretes with lower binder content yielded higher compressive strength. However, the compressive strengths of concretes with higher binder content after elevated temperature effect were found to be lower than the reference concrete.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.201-219
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• 2022

This paper firstly proposed high performance composite columns for cold-region infrastructures using ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) and ultra-high strength steel (UHSS) Q960E. Then, 24 square UHPC-filled UHSS tubes (UHSTCs) at low temperatures of -80, -60, -30, and 30℃ were performed under axial loads. The key influencing parameters on axial compression performance of UHSS were studied, i.e., temperature level and UHSS-tube wall thickness (t). In addition, mechanical properties of Q960E at low temperatures were also studied. Test results revealed low temperatures improved the yield/ultimate strength of Q960E. Axial compression tests on UHSTCs revealed that the dropping environmental temperature increased the compression strength and stiffness, but compromised the ductility of UHSTCs; increasing t significantly increased the strength, stiffness, and ductility of UHSTCs. This study developed numerical and theoretical models to reproduce axial compression performances of UHSTCs at low temperatures. Validations against 24 tests proved that both two methods provided reasonable simulations on axial compression performance of UHSTCs. Finally, simplified theoretical models (STMs) and modified prediction equations in AISC 360, ACI 318, and Eurocode 4 were developed to estimate the axial load capacity of UHSTCs at low temperatures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1-5
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• 2008

In this study, batcher plant composition test and mock-up test were carried out to conduct comparison and analysis on flow behavior and strength properties of concrete at early age. As a result, it was found that slump and amount of air in batcher plant composition test reached the target range. As for compressive strength, composition using HESPC showed the most excellent strength development. In mock-up test which was carried out to find out the strength properties, two methods with specimen and core test body both revealed HESPC as the most excellent composition. However, strength estimation with ultrasonic survey presented less reliable data. As a result of the previously conducted indoor composition test and the mock-up test in this study, target performance of concrete at early age was 4day/cycle. It was found that the optimum conditions that meet the required strength, 5MPa/18hr and 14MPa/36hr in mullion and transom are; curing temperature above 15℃, W/B 45%, unit-water 165kg/㎥ and CHC cement.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2015

Recently, lots of researches on concrete with high volume mineral admixture such as ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) have been carried out to reduce $CO_2$. It is known that the precast concrete has an advantage of high strength at early age due to steam curing, even if concrete has high replacement level of mineral admixture. However it demands the investigation of compressive strength properties according to steam curing regimens. In this study, concretes with water-binder ratio of 32, 35% and water content of 135, 150, $165kg/m^3$ were produced to investigate compressive strength properties of high volume (60% by mass) GGBFS cement concrete according to steam curing regimens. Then steam curing was implemented with the maximum temperature of 50, $60^{\circ}C$ and steaming time of 5, 6, 7 hours. From the test results, it was found that steam curing was effective to raise early strength of high volume GGBFS cement concrete, but 28 day compressive strengths of steam cured specimens were lower than those of water cured specimens. Thus, a further study would be needed for the optimum steam curing regimens to satisfy target demolded strength and specified strength for the application of high volume GGBFS cement concrete to precast concrete members.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.441-444
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• 2006

Extrusion molding concrete panel is cured two times, that is the steam curing at atmospheric pressure and a high-pressure steam curing(autoclaving). Steam curing at atmospheric pressure is done before autoclaving and to acquire the proper strength for treat in process. Though this curing is the important factor on the quality of product and the speed in manufacturing process, it was not evaluated properly so far. Because of ignorance about curing, some engineers even think that the dry curing is better than the steam curing. This study is to investigate the properties of specimen according to variation of curing conditions in the coring chamber such as laboratory scale, pilot plant, and commercial plant. As estimating, in case of steam curing at atmospheric pressure to make extrusion molding concrete panel, moisture curing is better than dry curing and the desirable maximum temperature in curing chamber is about $50^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.527-532
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• 2018

The objective of the present study is to evaluate a practical approach for enhancing the compressive strength and minimizing deforming of aerated concrete. Test results measured in the aerated concrete mixes that were produced using 40% ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) as a replacement of cement and cured under different conditions (i.e., high temperatures of $40^{\circ}C$ and $60^{\circ}C$ for 10 hrs or 15 hrs) were compared with those obtained from the specimens cured under room temperature. No deforming was observed in the mixes with 40% GGBS. The compressive strength of the prepared aerated concrete cured under high temperature was higher than that of the concrete cured at room temperature, even at the lower ranges of the apparent dry density. However, the curing time is needed to be controlled as not exceeding 10 hrs at the temperature of $60^{\circ}C$ to prevent the decrease in the compressive strength due to foam mergences.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.665-668
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• 2008

Portland cement production-1.5billion tonnes yearly worldwide-contributes substantially to global atmospheric pollution($\sim$7% of total of CO$_2$ emissions). Attempts to increase the utilization of fly ash, a by-products from thermal power plant to partially replace the cement in concrete are gathering momentum. But most of fly ash is currently dumped in landfills, thus creating a threat to the environment. Therefore, In this study, influence of curing temperature(30, 60, 90$^{\circ}$C) on the strength of properties fly ash based cement ZERO mortar was investigate, measured a weight change and pH change according to each care of curing temperature. The test results that a curing at 90$^{\circ}$C is appropriate in case of the high strength concrete is required in the early-age of the curing and 60$^{\circ}$C is efficient for the case of requiring high strength at age 28 days. Furthermore pH variation and value of compressive strength are judged to correlate but change of weight is not the case.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.465-471
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• 2009

To prevent the explosive spalling of the high strength concrete and control the rise of temperature in the steel rebar during fire, a fiber cocktail method has been proposed simultaneously with the use of polypropylene and steel fiber. After applying the fiber cocktail (polypropylene and steel fibers) into the mixture of high strength concrete with a compressive strength of between 40 and 100 MPa and evaluating the thermal properties at elevated temperatures, the fire test was carried out on structural members in order to evaluate the fire resistance performance. Two column specimens were exposed to the fire without loading for 180 minutes based on the standard curve of ISO-834. No explosive spalling has been observed and the original color of specimen surface was changed to light pinkish grey. The inner temperature of concrete dropped rapidly starting from 60mm deep. After 60 minutes of exposure to the fire, the temperature gradient of fiber cocktail reinforced high strength concrete was measured as 2.2oC/mm, which is approximately 5 times less than that of normal concrete. The final temperatures of steel rebar after 180 minutes of fire test resulted in 488.0oC for corner rebar, 350.9oC for center rebar, and 419.5oC for total mean of steel rebar. The difference of mean temperature between corner and center rebar was 137.1oC The tendency of temperature rise in concrete and steel rebar changed between 100oC and 150oC The cause of decrease in temperature rise was due to the water vaporization in concrete, the lower temperature gradient of the concrete with steel and polypropylene fiber cocktails, the moisture movement toward steel rebars and the moisture clogging.