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In this study, the insulation fire ratings of lightweight foamed concrete, autoclaved aerated concrete and lightweight aggregate concrete were investigated using finite element modelling.

Lightweight aggregate concrete containing various aggregate types, i.e. expanded slag, pumice, expanded clay and expanded shale were studied under standard fire and hydro–carbon fire situations using validated finite element models. Results were used to derive empirical equations for determining the insulation fire ratings of lightweight concrete wall panels.

It was observed that autoclaved aerated concrete and foamed lightweight concrete have better insulation fire ratings compared with lightweight aggregate concrete. Depending on the insulation fire rating requirement of 15%–30% of material saving could be achieved when lightweight aggregate concrete wall panels are replaced with the autoclaved aerated or foamed concrete wall panels. Lightweight aggregate concrete fire performance depends on the type of lightweight aggregate. Lightweight concrete with pumice aggregate showed better fire performance among the normal lightweight aggregate concretes. Material saving of 9%–14% could be obtained when pumice aggregate is used as the lightweight aggregate material. Hydrocarbon fire has shown aggressive effect during the first two hours of fire exposure; hence, wall panels with lesser thickness were adversely affected.

Finding of this study could be used to determine the optimum lightweight concrete wall type and the optimum thickness requirement of the wall panels for a required application.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the incorporation of lightweight aggregate concrete modify with fiber (LWACF) in water retaining structure. In developed countries LWACF is being successfully used as structural concrete; however, third-world countries such as Pakistan are still struggling to come up with the practical applications of lightweight concrete in the building and construction industry. One reason is because of the lack of reliable data regarding its performance as a structural member in the building and construction industry.

The present study inspected the flexural and shear tolerance of fiber-reinforced LWACF by testing six beam specimens’ cast, cured and tested after 28 days for the purpose. An overhead tank of 1,000-gallon capacity was also constructed to verify the application of LWACF by observing its water retention behavior. The experimental design included a mix design of concrete at a target strength of 21 MPa for control sample natural aggregate and for synthetic aggregate modified with polypropylene fibers. Compressive strengths of both categories of concrete were also determined by crushing the cylindrical samples at the age of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. The cast beams were later subjected to the application of two-point loading test until failure.

It was found that the beams fabricated with LWACF possessed better resistance to cracks compared with those fabricated with normal weight concrete, both in terms of number and crack width. The study also concluded that the constructed water tank with LWACF was thermally efficient and structurally sound, as it showed no sign of seepage for the observed period.

On the basis of the results, it can be concluded that the LWACF used has revolutionized the concept of using lightweight aggregates in regular structures and that consequently it will help in a constructing a sustainable environment. One of the useful applications of such material is for water-retaining structures.

The purpose of this study is to experimentally determine whether mechanical properties of concrete can be improved by using olive pomace aggregates (OPA) as a substitute for natural sand. Two types of OPA were tested by replacing an equivalent amount of natural sand. The first type was OPA mixed with olive mill wastewater (OMW), and the second type was OPA not mixed with OMW. For each type, two series of concrete were produced using OPA in both dry and saturated states. The percentage of partial substitution of natural sand by OPA varied from 0% to 15%.

The addition of OPA leads to a reduction in the dry density of hardened concrete, causing a 5.69% decrease in density when compared to the reference concrete. After 28 days, ultrasonic pulse velocity tests indicated that the resulting material is of good quality, with a velocity of 4.45 km/s. To understand the mechanism of resistance development, microstructural analysis was conducted to observe the arrangement of OPA and calcium silicate hydrates within the cementitious matrix. The analysis revealed that there is a low level of adhesion between the cement matrix and OPA at interfacial transition zone level, which was subsequently validated by further microstructural analysis.

The laboratory mechanical tests indicated that the OPCD_OPW (5) sample, containing 5% of OPA, in a dry state and mixed with OMW, demonstrated the best mechanical performance compared to the reference concrete. After 28 days of curing, this sample exhibited a compressive strength (R_c) of 25 MPa. Furthermore, it demonstrated a tensile strength of 4.61 MPa and a dynamic modulus of elasticity of 44.39 GPa, with rebound values of 27 MPa. The slump of the specimens ranged from 5 cm to 9 cm, falling within the acceptable range of consistency (Class S2). Based on these findings, the OPCD_OPW (5) formulation is considered optimal for use in concrete production.

This research paper provides a valuable contribution to the management of OPA and OMW (OPA_OMW) generated from the olive processing industry, which is known to have significant negative environmental impacts. The paper presents an intriguing approach to recycling these materials for use in civil engineering applications.

This study aims to assess the efficacy of thermal analysis of concrete slabs by including different insulation materials using ANSYS. Regression equations were proposed to predict the thermal conductivity using concrete density. As these simulation and regression analyses are essential tools in designing the thermal insulation concretes with various densities, they sequentially reduce the associated time, effort and cost.

Two grades of concretes were taken for thermal analysis. They were designed by replacing the natural fine aggregates with thermal insulation aggregates: expanded polystyrene, exfoliated vermiculite and light expanded clay. Density, temperature difference, specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity and time were measured by conducting experiments. This data was used to simulate concrete slabs in ANSYS. Regression analysis was performed to obtain the relation between density and thermal conductivity. Finally, the quality of the predicted regression equations was assessed using root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), integral absolute error (IAE) and normal efficiency (NE).

ANSYS analysis on concrete slabs accurately estimates the thermal behavior of concrete, with lesser error value ranges between 0.19 and 7.92%. Further, the developed regression equations proved accurate with lower values of RMSE (0.013 to 0.089), MAE (0.009 to 0.088); IAE (0.216 to 5.828%) and higher values of NE (94.16 to 99.97%).

The thermal analysis accurately simulates the experimental transfer of heat across the concrete slab. Obtained regression equations proved helpful while designing the thermal insulation concrete.

This study aims to the framework of the development of a new sand concrete, essentially manufactured with river/dune sand and recycled plastic aggregates (PAs; 0/3.15 mm). This new concrete may have a great interest, as it can enable us to achieve the best economical, technical and ecological solutions for local construction problems. Given the high abundance of dune sand (DS) and the large quantities of plastic waste, plastic–mineral sand concrete can be a good alternative to the ordinary building materials available on the local market.

A replacement of sand by PAs is made by volume substitution. The plastic percentages laid down are 0%, 25%, 50% and 100%. Indeed, after a general experimental characterization of the studied composites, the investigation mainly concentrated on the study of the effect of the addition of plastic particles on the accelerated carbonation of river sand (RS) concrete and DS concrete, separately.

The density of the composites and consequently their compressive strength are slightly reduced; but their thermal insulation is significantly improved. Their structure seems to be homogeneous, the plastic grains are well distributed in the matrix and the adhesion “plastic–matrix” is good. At small plastic contents, the RS concrete is slightly better. As regards the carbonation results, the PAs significantly contribute to the improvement of the resistance of the composite against carbonation effect. It can be observed that increasing the proportion of plastic particles in sand concrete considerably decreases the thickness of the carbonated concrete.

The studies led on the behavior of plastic concrete, particularly in arid zones, are very limited. Moreover, for sand concrete, there are no similar studies. Therefore, the characterization of such materials is necessary. In addition of thermo-mechanical characterization, this work aims at studying the durability of the material, especially its resistance to carbonation. On the other hand, this work has a significant positive impact on both environment and economy, since it focuses on the recycling of industrial waste, and the valorization of DS, which is available in great quantities in south of Algeria.

A mesoscopic phase field (PF) model is proposed to simulate the meso-failure process of lightweight concrete.

The PF damage model is applied to the meso-failure process of lightweight concrete through the ABAQUS subroutine user-defined element (UEL). And the improved staggered iteration scheme with a one-pass procedure is used to alternately solve the coupling equations.

These examples clearly show that the crack initiation of the lightweight concrete specimens mainly occurs in the ceramsite aggregates with weak strength, especially in the larger aggregates. The crack propagation paths of the specimens with the same volume fraction of light aggregates are completely different, but the crack propagation paths all pass through the ceramsite aggregates near the cracks. The results also showed that with the increase in the volume fractions of the aggregates, the slope and the peak loads of the force-deflection (F-d) curves gradually decrease, the load-bearing capacity of the lightweight concrete specimens decreases, and crack branching and coalescence are less likely during crack propagation.

The mesostructures with a mortar matrix, aggregates and an interfacial transition zone (ITZ) are generated by an automatic generation and placement program, thus incorporating the typical three-phase characteristics of lightweight concrete into the PF model.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on optimization of recycling of concrete from lightweight aggregates containing expanded glass and hard polyurethane (PU) and on the issue of importance of environmental management in constructions, to produce the new combination using rest, construction waste of concrete from lightweight aggregates and hard PU new raw components of concrete from lightweight aggregates, as key reactive materials.

The research for this paper is based on the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, non‐linear programming (NLP) model and experimental research.

Results from the new recycled material have been compared with the normal existing concrete from lightweight aggregates. Characteristics of recycled lightweight concrete (LWC) such as density, compressive strength and thermal conductivity have been investigated and have been compared with normal existing concrete from lightweight aggregates. Results indicate that it is possible to recycle LWC aggregates and hard PU waste.

Research was limited to management of construction.

The use of waste LWC with aggregates containing expanded glass and hard PU seems to be necessary for the production of cheaper and environment‐friendly LWC.

The method shows great possibilities for increasing use of construction waste materials from LWC containing expanded glass and hard PU in order to benefit from the better use of existing construction waste. Characteristics such as density, compressive strength and thermal conductivity from the new recycled material have been compared with normal existing concrete from lightweight aggregates. They change depending on the type and part of waste as well as the type and part of fresh binding components. Thus, a new recycled material is created with new values of density, compressive strength and thermal conductivity, which conform to the compressive strength class and rules on heat protection and efficient use of energy in buildings (SI OJ RS No. 42/2002). Laboratory density, compressive strength and thermal conductivity tests results showed that LWC can be produced by the use of waste LWC with aggregates containing expanded glass and hard PU. The author proposes a model of recycling isolating materials, made of hard PU and LWC with aggregates containing expanded glass, based on recycling and NLP.

Discusses the results of a study of the moduli of elasticity of concretes made with artificially manufactured lightweight aggregates subjected to uniaxial compression and uniaxial tension. Two artificially manufactured lightweight aggregates and one normal weight aggregate (for comparison) were used in the investigation. Concrete mixes designed to have compressive strengths varying from 20 MPa to 60 MPa were used in this study. Presents the results of static and dynamic moduli of elasticity, Poisson′s ratio, ultrasonic pulse velocity, compressive strength and tensile strength tests. Observes that the static modulus of elasticity in tension is nearly equal to the static modulus of elasticity in compression at a stress level of one‐third the ultimate stress. Compressive modulus values are shown to be dependent on the stress level and type of modulus, i.e. either secant or tangent. On the other hand, the tensile modulus is not affected by the stress level. The modulus of elasticity of lightweight aggregate concrete is about 60‐70 per cent of that of normal weight concrete. Compares the test results obtained in this study with research work carried out on other lightweight aggregate concretes by other investigators. Also presents the relationships between static modulus of elasticity, dynamic modulus of elasticity, compressive strength, and Poisson′s ratio, and equations for estimating elastic modulus and Poisson′s ratio.

A methodology for producing an elevated-temperature tension stiffening model is presented.

The energy-based stress–strain model of plain concrete developed by Bažant and Oh (1983) was extended to the elevated-temperature domain by developing an analytical formulation for the temperature-dependence of the fracture energy G_f. Then, an elevated-temperature tension stiffening model was developed based on the modification of the proposed elevated-temperature tension softening model.

The proposed tension stiffening model can be used to predict the response of composite floor slabs exposed to fire with great accuracy, provided that the global parameters TS and K_res are adequately calibrated against global structural response data.

In a finite element analysis of reinforced concrete, a tension stiffening model is required as input for concrete to account for actions such as bond slip and tension stiffening. However, an elevated-temperature tension stiffening model does not exist in the research literature. An approach for developing an elevated-temperature tension stiffening model is presented.

Today, using lightweight structural concrete plays a major role in reducing the damage to concrete structures. On the other hand, lightweight concretes have lower compressive and flexural strengths with lower impact resistance compared to ordinary concretes. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of simultaneous use of waste glass powder, microsilica and polypropylene fibers to make sustainable lightweight concrete that has high compressive and flexural strengths, ductility and impact resistance.

In this article, the lightweight structural concrete is studied to compensate for the lower strength of lightweight concrete. Also, considering the environmental aspects, microsilica as a partial replacement for cement, waste glass powder instead of some aggregates and polypropylene fibers are used. Microsilica was used at 8, 10 and 12 wt% of cement. Waste glass powder was added to 20, 25 and 30 wt% of aggregates, while fibers were used at 0.5, 1 and 1.5 wt% of cement.

After making the experimental specimens, compressive strength, flexural strength and impact resistance tests were performed. Ultimately, it was concluded that the best percentage of used microsilica and glass powder was equal to 10 and 25%, respectively. Furthermore, using 1.5 wt% of fibers could significantly improve the compressive and flexural strengths of lightweight concrete and increase its impact resistance at the same time. For constructing a five-story building, by replacing cement with microsilica by 10 wt%, the amount of used cement is reduced by 5 tons, consequently producing 4,752 kg less CO₂ that is a significant value for the environment.

The study provides a basis for making sustainable lightweight concrete with high strength against compressive, flexural and impact loads.