• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.203-210
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• 2017

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the settlement of lightweight coarse aggregate of self-compacting lightweight concrete (SCLC) after placement of concrete on its final position. To investigate this issue, sixteen samples of concrete mixes were made. The water to cementitious materials ratios of the mixes were 0.35 and 0.4. In addition to the workability tests of self-compacting concrete (SCC) such as slump flow, V-funnel and L-box tests, a laboratory experiment was made to examine the segregation of lightweight coarse aggregate in concrete. Because of the difficulties of this test, the image processing technique of MATLAB software was used to check the segregation above too. Moreover, the fuzzy logic technique of MATLAB software was utilized to improve the clarity of the borders between the coarse aggregate and the paste of the mixtures. At the end, the results of segregation tests and software analyses are given and the accuracy of the software analyses is evaluated. It is worth noting that the minimum and maximum differences between the results of laboratory tests and software analyses were 1.2% and 9.19% respectively. It means, the results of image processing technique looks exact enough for estimating the segregation of lightweight coarse aggregate in SCLC.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.433-450
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• 2022

The conventional disposal methods of waste tires are harmful to the environment. Moreover, the recycling/reuse of waste tires in domestic and industrial applications is limited due to parent product's quality control and environmental concerns. Additionally, the recycling industry often prefers powdered rubber particles (<0.60 mm). However, the processing of waste tires yields both powdered and coarser (>0.60 mm) size fractions. Reprocessing of coarser rubber requires higher energy increasing the product cost. Therefore, the waste tire rubber (WTR) less favored by the recycling industry is encouraged for use in construction products as one of the environment-friendly disposal methods. In this study, WTR fiber >0.60 mm size fraction is collected from the industry and sorted into 0.60-1.18, 1.18-2.36-, and 2.36-4.75-mm sizes. The effects of different fiber size fractions are studied by incorporating it as fine aggregates at 10%, 20%, and 30% in the self-compacting rubberized concrete (SCRC). The experimental investigations are carried out by performing fresh and hardened state tests. As the fresh state tests, the slump-flow, T500, V-funnel, and L-box are performed. As the hardened state tests, the scanning electron microscope, compressive strength, flexural strength and split tensile strength tests are conducted. Also, the water absorption, porosity, and ultrasonic pulse velocity tests are performed to measure durability. Furthermore, SCRC's energy absorption capacity is evaluated using the falling weight impact test. The statistical significance of content and size fraction of WTR fiber on SCRC is evaluated using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). As the general conclusion, implementation of various size fraction WTR fiber as fine aggregate showed potential for producing concrete for construction applications. Thus, use of WTR fiber in concrete is suggested for safe, and feasible waste tire disposal.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.88 no.2
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• pp.141-157
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• 2023

In the present paper, the effect of recycled aggregates on the rheological and mechanical properties of self-consolidating concrete is investigated experimentally and numerically. Hence, the specimen with two types of recycled aggregates, i.e., known and unknown resistance origins, are utilized for the studied specimens. The experiments in this study are designed using the Box-Behnken method, which is one of the response surface methods. Input variables in mixtures include silica fume in the range of 5-15% as a percentage substitute for cement weight and recycled coarse and fine aggregates in the range of 0-50% for both series of recycled materials as a substitute for natural materials. The studied responses are slump flow, V funnel, compressive strength, tensile strength, and durability. The results indicate that the increase in the amount of recycled aggregates reduces the rheological and mechanical properties of the mixtures, while silica fume effectively improves the mechanical properties. In addition, the results demonstrate that the fine recycled aggregates affect the total response of the concrete significantly. The results of tensile and compressive strengths indicate that the mixtures including 50% recycled materials with known resistance origin demonstrate better responses up to 8 and 10% compared to the materials with unknown resistance origins, respectively. Recycled materials with a specific resistance origin also show better results than recycled materials with an unknown resistance origin. Durability test results represent those concretes containing recycled coarse aggregates have lower strength compared to recycled fine aggregates. Also, a series of mathematical relationships for all the responses are presented using variance analysis to predict mixtures' rheological and mechanical properties.