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Wellbore cement has been used to provide well integrity through zonal isolation in oil and gas wells as well as geothermal wells. Failures of wellbore cement result from either or both: inadequate cleaning of the wellbore and inappropriate cement slurry design for a given field/operational application. Inadequate cementing can result in creation of fractures and microannuli, through which produced fluids can migrate to the surface, leading to environmental and economic issues such as sustained casing pressure, contamination of fresh water aquifers and, in some cases, well blowout. To achieve proper cementing, the drilling fluid should be completely displaced by the cement slurry, providing clean interfaces for effective bond. This is, however, hard to achieve in practice, which results in contaminated cement mixture and poor bonds at interfaces. This paper reports findings from the experimental investigation of the impact of drilling fluid contamination on the shear bond strength at the cement-formation and the cement-casing interfaces by testing different levels of contamination as well as contaminations of different nature (physical vs. chemical). Shear bond test and material characterization techniques were used to quantify the effect of drilling fluid contamination on the shear bond strength. The results show that drilling fluid contamination is detrimental to both cement-formation and cement-casing shear bond strength.

The term ‘latex‐cement’ is used to describe the combination of hydraulic cements with aqueous dispersions or emulsions of various elastomers, but as far as present‐day usage is concerned it is almost invariably associated with mixtures of Portland or high‐alumina cement and concentrated natural rubber latex. In Part 1 the author describes the development of latex‐cements and their use as a jointless render.

Last month the development of latex cements and their use as jointless renders was discussed. In Part 2 Mr. Cormac describes systems of unit construction and then the use of latex cemen. compositions for protecting floor structures in industrial plant.

Although constant research is being carried out for improvements in the manner of new techniques, materials and every sphere possible to afford the best protection that can be provided for every type and size of pipe against the problem of corrosion, whether such corrosion exists or forms internally or externally, or whether it takes the form of erosion of the pipe or as a build‐up of internal encrustation, it may be worth briefly summarising the details of at least one process of internal protection which has stood the test of time in a very definitive manner.

The purpose of this paper is to assess sand-bentonite liners (SBL) which could be used as hydraulic barriers with a controllable quality, relatively low cost and easy operation in solid waste landfills.

These barriers have been used successfully in various applications and have attracted much attention in a short period of time. The only precautionary use of SBLs is related to the change of their hydraulic properties in high alkaline chemical environments. The main reason for this phenomenon is the presence of high ion exchange minerals in bentonite. By exposure to these environments, it is also laid open to degradation of the montmorillonite microstructure leads to change in hydraulic behavior. Three different compounds were used for laboratory-scale SBL, and diffusion was considered as the dominant mechanism of contamination transmission in these liners. Chlorine ion has been used as pollutant, and its diffusion coefficient was determined in the tested SBLs.

The sample’s diffusion coefficient for the first experiment containing 3% bentonite and 97% Semnan sand were 2.5 × 10^(−9) (m^2/s) and 2.44 × 10 ^(−9) (m^2/s), respectively. Similarly, for two samples with 6% bentonite and 94% Semnan sand, this parameter was equal to 2.17 × 10 ^(−9) (m^2/s) and 2.22 × 10 ^(−9) (m^2/s) and for two samples with 3% agglacial clay, 12% bentonite and 85% Semnan sand was 5.55 × 10 ^(−10) (m^2/s) and 6.11 × 10 ^(−10) (m^2/s). These values correspond to the range reported in previous studies. Also, it was observed that with comparing the diffusion coefficients of test, it was concluded that with increasing bentonite, the molecular diffusion decreases significantly.

In this study, three laboratory samples with different percentages of bentonite, clay and sand were considered and the results obtained from the laboratory were compared with the results obtained from numerical modeling.

The purpose of this study is to explore the feasibility of utilizing agricultural (almond shell, rice husk and wood) waste biochars for partial cement replacement by evaluating the relationships between the physiochemical properties of biochars and the early-age characteristics of cement pastes.

Biochars are prepared through the thermal decomposition of biomass in an inert atmosphere. Using varying percentages, biochars are used to replace ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in cement pastes at a water/binder ratio of 0.35. Characterization methods include XPS, FTIR, SEM, TGA, BET, Raman, loss-on-ignition, setting, compression and water absorption tests.

Accelerated setting in biochar-modified cement pastes is attributed to chemical interactions between surface functional groups of biochars and calcium cations from OPC, leading to the early development of metal carboxylate and alkyne salts, alongside the typical calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H). Also, metal chlorides such as calcium chlorides in biochars contribute to the accelerate setting in pastes. Lower compression strength and higher water absorption result from weakened microstructure due to poor C-S-H development as the high carbon content in biochars reduces water available for optimum C-S-H hydration. Amorphous silica contributes to strength development in pastes through pozzolanic interactions. With its optimal physiochemical properties, rice-husk biochars are best suited for cement replacement.

While biochar parent material properties have an impact on biochar properties, these are not investigated in this study. Additional investigations will be conducted in the future.

Carbon/silicon ratio, oxygen/carbon ratio, alkali and alkaline metal content, chlorine content, carboxylic and alkyne surface functional groups and surface areas of biochars may be used to estimate biochar suitability for cement replacement. Biochars with chlorides and reactive functional groups such as C=C and COOH demonstrate potential for concrete accelerator applications. Such applications will speed up the construction of concrete structures and reduce overall construction time and related costs.

Reductions in OPC production and agricultural waste deterioration will slow down the progression of negative environmental and human health impacts. Also, agricultural, manufacturing and construction employment opportunities will improve the quality of life in agricultural communities.

Empirical findings advance research and practice toward optimum utilization of biomass in cement-based materials.

This study aims to provide a review for scour in complex rivers and streams with coarser bed material, steep longitudinal bed slopes and dynamic environments, in the interest of the safety and the economy of hydraulic structures. The knowledge of scour in such geographical complexities is very crucial for a comprehensive understanding of scour failures and for establishing definitive criteria to bridge this major research gap.

The existing available literature shows significant work done in case of silt, sand and small sized coarser bed material but any substantial work for bed material of gravel size or above is lacking, resulting in a wide gap. Though some researchers have attempted to explore possibilities of refining the existing models by adding pier size, shape, sediment non-uniformity and armouring effects, which otherwise have been given a miss by the various researchers, including the pioneer in the field Lacey–Inglis (1930). But still, a rational model for scour estimation in such complex conditions for global use is yet to come. This is because all the parameters governing the scour have not been studied properly till date as is evident from the globally available literature and is witnessed in the field too, in recurrent failure of hydraulic structures especially bridges.

The researchers presume that the finer materials move only as a result of erosion. However, in actual field conditions, it has been observed that the large-sized stones also roll down and cause huge erosion along the river bed and damage the hydraulic structures, especially in the steep river/stream beds along hilly slopes. This fact has been overlooked in the models available globally and has been highlighted only in the current work in an attempt to recognize this major research gap. A study carried out on a number of streams globally and in Jammu and Kashmir, India also, has shown that in steep river and stream beds with bed material consisting of gravel size or greater than gravel, large scour holes ranging from 1 m to 5 m were created by furious floods, and due to other unknown forces along the channel path and near foundations of hydraulic structures.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is purely original.

This paper aims to present an experimental investigation on the performances of alkali-activated slag (AAS) concrete and Portland slag cement (PSC) concrete under the influence of elevated temperature. In the present study, the alkali-activated binder contains 85% of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and 15% of powder blended as chemical activators.

For the purpose, standard size of cube, cylinder and prism have been cast for a designed mix of concrete. The AAS concrete specimens were kept for water as well as air curing. After attaining the maturity of 28 days, the samples were first exposed to different elevated temperatures, i.e. 100°C, 200°C, 300°C, 400°C, 500°C, 600°C, 700°C and 800°C. Later on, the tests were conducted on these samples to find the change in weight and the residual strength of the concrete.

After 500°C exposure, a considerable amount of the strength loss has been observed for AAS concrete. It has been evaluated that the performance of AAS concrete is better than that of the PSC concrete at elevated temperature.

The present research work is being applied on the material for which the experimental result has been obtained.

The author has tried to develop a new type of binder by using steel industry waste material and then tested at elevated temperature to sustain at high temperatures.

This research may give a social impact for developing mass housing project with a lower cost than that of using a conventional binder, i.e. cement.

A new type of binder material is being developed.

The purpose of this paper was mainly to select one of the three types of coatings for protection of steel used as reinforcement in composite pipes (thin steel shell covered by cement-mortar) subjected to chloride exposure. To achieve this target, an attempt was made to develop a simple methodology for evaluating the performance of corrosion protection measures in terms of chloride threshold level (CTL) and corrosion initiation time (TI).

Bare, epoxy, red oxide and zinc primer-coated steel strips were embedded in cement mortar with sand/cement and water/cement ratios of 2 and 0.5 (by mass), respectively, to prepare the specimens which were exposed to chloride solution having a high concentration of 10 per cent NaCl. For determining the amounts of the water-soluble chloride diffused inside the specimens, powdered samples of mortar were collected from two different depths from the exposed surface of specimens on completion of each of the four different exposure times. The corrosion current densities were determined at two different stages. A step-by-step procedure for calculating CTL and TI using the measured chloride contents and corrosion current densities was established with the help of relevant information available in the literature.

Based on the comparison of the values of CTL and TI calculated for bare steel and steel with all three types of coatings, utilizing the experimental data and the proposed calculation procedure, the epoxy-coated steel was found to have the best performance.

This research has resulted into development of a simple methodology for evaluation of the performance of protective measures against corrosion of steel embedded in mortar or concrete exposed to chloride-bearing environment.

This paper aims to assess the effects of chemically accelerated leaching on the physical and mechanical properties of aerial lime–cement mortars (LCMs).

Two aerial LCMs, differencing mainly in their calcium hydroxide content, were degraded by the use of an ammonium nitrate solution as a leaching agent. The leaching effects were studied by evaluating the rate of change in physical (sorptivity and mass loss) and mechanical (flexural and compressive strength) characteristics of aerial LCMs. To quantify the evolution and kinetics of degradation, the leached depth was then characterized at different levels of degradation by means of a phenolphthalein solution.

The experimental results showed that the dissolution of binder decreases the mass, alkalinity and strength of aerial LCMs but increases their sorptivity. A linear relationship was derived by plotting the values of leached depth against the square root of immersion time in an aggressive solution. It was found that the leached depth followed diffusion-controlled kinetics.

It was found that the global loss of compressive strength of aerial LCMs because of complete dissolution of calcium hydroxide can reach up to 80 per cent.