Search results

This study aims to investigate the effect of high temperature (600°C) on the compressive strength of concrete covered with a mixture of polypropylene fiber and gypsum plaster (PFGP).

To study the compressive strength of concrete specimens exposed to temperature, 16 cubic specimens (size: 150 mm × 150 mm × 150 mm) were made. After 28 days of processing and gaining the required strength of specimens, first, polypropylene fiber was mixed with gypsum plaster (CaSO4.2H2O) and then the concrete specimens were covered with this mixture. To cover the concrete specimens with the PFGP, the used PFGP thickness was 15 mm or 25 mm. The polypropylene rates mixed with the gypsum plaster were 1, 3 and 5 per cent. A total of 14 specimens, 12 of which were covered with PFGP, were exposed to high temperature in two target times of 90 and 180 min.

The results show that the PFGP as covering materials can improve the compressive strength lost because of the heating of the concrete specimens. The results also show that the presence of polypropylene fiber in gypsum plaster has the effect on the compressive strength lost because of the heating of the PFGP-covered concrete. The cover of PFGP having 3 per cent polypropylene fiber had the best effect on remained strength of the specimens.

The cover of PFGP having 3 per cent polypropylene fiber has the best effect on remained strength of the PFGP covered specimens exposed to temperature.

Reliable estimations of the extent of corrosion and time required to reach specific safety limits are crucial for assessing the reliability of aging reinforced concrete (RC) bridges. Engineers and decision-makers can use these figures to plan suitable inspection and maintenance operations.

Analytical, empirical and numerical approaches for estimating the service life of corroded RC structures were presented and compared. The concrete cover cracking times, which were predicted by the previously proposed analytical models, were compared with the experimentally obtained cracking times to identify the model/s for RC bridges. The shortcomings and limitations of the existing models are discussed.

The empirical models typically depend on the rate of corrosion, diameter of steel reinforcement and concrete cover depth and based on basic mathematical formula. In contrast, the analytical and numerical models contain the strength and stiffness properties of concrete as well as type of corrosion products and incorporate more complex mechanical factors. Four existing analytical models were analyzed and their performance was evaluated against existing experimental data in literature. All the considered analytical models were assumed thick-walled cylinder models. The maximum difference between observed cracking time from different test data and calculated cracking time using the developed models is 36.5%. The cracking times extend with increase in concrete cover and decrease with corrosion current density. The development of service life prediction models that considers factors such as heterogeneity of concrete, non-uniform corrosion along rebar, rust production rate and a more accurate representation of the corrosion accommodating region are some of the areas for further research.

Outcome of this paper partially bridge the gap between theory and practice, as it is the basis to estimate the serviceability of corrosion-affected RC structures and to propose maintenance and repair strategies for the structures. For structural design and evaluation, the crack-width criterion is the greatest practical importance, and structural engineers, operators and asset managers should pay close attention to it. Additionally, repair costs for corrosion-induced serviceability failures, particularly concrete cracking and spalling, are significantly higher than those for strength failures. Therefore, to optimize the maintenance cost of RC structures, it is essential to precisely forecast the serviceability of corrosion-affected concrete structures. The lifespan of RC structures may be extended by timely repairs. This helps stake holders to manage the resources.

In order to improve modeling of corrosion-induced cracking, important areas for future research were identified. Heterogeneity properties of concrete, concept of porous zone (accommodation effect of pores should be quantified), actual corrosion morphology (non-uniform corrosion along the length of rebar), interaction between sustain load and corrosions were not considered in existing models. Therefore, this work suggested for further researches should consider them as input and develop models which have best prediction capacity.

This work has positive impact on society and will not affect the quality of life. Predicting service life of structures is necessary for maintenance and repair strategy plans. Optimizing maintenance strategy is used to extend asset life, reduce asset failures, minimize repair cost, and improve health and safety for society.

The degree of accuracy and applicability of the existing service life prediction models used for RC were assessed by comparing the predicted cracking times with the experimentally obtained times reported in the literature. The shortcomings of the models were identified and areas where further research is required are recommended.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of fire protective materials in protecting steel section. A new indexing system is introduced, named as fire endurance index (FEI), which can be used to evaluate the performance of fire protective materials.

In this study, experiments were carried out using W4 × 13 steel section. Eight samples were prepared; one was a bare steel section without any coating material, and seven were prepared using four types of materials such as vermiculite-gypsum plaster, gypsum plaster, concrete cover and glass wool-concrete cover for fireproofing of the sections. An enclosed electric coiled furnace was used for heating the samples for a certain period. The duration of protection was determined, and the FEI of the materials was calculated. The higher the index value is, the better the performance.

The results demonstrate that the glass-wool-concrete cover offered the best performance at high temperature among the four types of materials. In the experiment with glass-wool-concrete cover, the furnace temperature reached 750°C, whereas the steel temperature reached only 100°C. The FEI of the coatings were calculated. Among the eight samples, glass wool-concrete cover also achieved the highest index value.

The experimental work was performed using a limited number of specimens. Furthermore, the robustness of the indexing system needs to be evaluated with other materials and a wide range of heating rate and temperature. This study sets the foundation for future work.

The findings of this research may contribute to a better understanding of the performance of the materials used as fire protective coatings. This might be helpful for the researchers and practitioners in their design and implementation of legislation of fire safety codes.

Understanding the performance of the fire protective coatings will help in evaluating the fire resistance capabilities of the materials to use for the structural steel members, which may protect collapses and disasters of buildings.

This paper deals with the performance of four types of materials, that can be used as fire protective coatings for structural steel members. Furthermore, the FEI explicitly indicated their performance with numerical values. In this study, the heating of the specimens was performed using a non-standard fire curve based on the concept that naturally occurring incidents of fire do not follow the standard fire curves.

This study delineates the effect of cover thickness on reinforced concrete (RC) columns and beams under an elevated fire scenario. Columns and beams are important load-carrying structural members of buildings. Under all circumstances, the columns and beams were set to be free from damage to avoid structural failure. Under the high-temperature scenario, the RC element may fail because of the material deterioration that occurs owing to the thermal effect. This study attempts to determine the optimum cover thickness for beams and columns under extreme loads and fire conditions.

Cover thicknesses of 30, 40, 45, 50, 60 and 70 mm for the columns and 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60 and 70 mm for the beams were adopted in this study. Both steady-state and transient-state conditions under thermomechanical analysis were performed using the finite element method to determine the heat transfer through the RC section and to determine the effect of thermal stresses.

The results show that the RC elements have a greater influence on the additional cover thickness at extreme temperatures and higher load ratios than at the service stages. The safe limits of the structural members were obtained under the combined effects of elevated temperatures and structural loads. The results also indicate that the compression members have a better thermal performance than the flexural members.

Numerical investigations concerning the high-temperature behavior of structural elements are useful. The lack of an experimental setup encourages researchers to perform numerical investigations. In this study, the finite element models were validated with existing finite element models and experimental results.

The obtained safe limit for the structural members could help to understand their resistance to fire in a real-time scenario. From the safe limit, a suitable design can be preferred while designing the structural members. This could probably save the structure from collapse.

There is a lack of both numerical and experimental research works. In numerical modeling, the research works found in the literature had difficulties in developing a numerical model that satisfactorily represents the structural members under fire, not being able to adequately understand their behavior at high temperatures. None of them considered the influence of the cover thickness under extreme fire and loading conditions. In this paper, this influence was evaluated and discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mechanical properties, material composition of spent garnet as a sand replacement in high-strength concrete at room and elevated temperatures. Bonding of the concrete containing spent garnet and reinforcing rebar is investigated. Moreover, the optimum thickness of concrete cover subjected to elevated temperatures is investigated.

First, the plain spent garnet was physically, chemically and thermally studied. Then, a series of concrete specimens with 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 per cent of spent garnet were prepared to determine the optimum percentage of spent garnet. Finally, the physical and mechanical behaviours of concrete specimens and effects of cover thickness on steel rebar when subjected to elevated temperature of 200°C, 400°C, 600°C and 800°C for 1 h were studied. It was observed that spent garnet was thermally stable compared to river sand.

Mechanical properties were found to be optimal for concrete with 40% spent garnet replacement. Physically, spent garnet concrete changed colour to brown at 400°C, and to whitish grey at 600°C. The residual compressive strength of spent garnet concrete was also found slightly higher than that for control specimens. At various high temperatures, the reduction in ultimate tensile stress for steel bar inside concrete cover of 30 mm was the lowest compared to that of 20 mm.

Spalling effect it not considered in this study.

The optimum concrete cover is important issues in reinforced concrete design. This can be used as a guideline by structural designers when using a different type of concrete material in the construction.

Utilization of the waste spent garnet reduces usage of natural aggregates in concrete production and enhances its performance at elevated temperatures. Natural aggregates are normally taken from sand and rock. The new innovation in concrete perhaps can produce light concrete, reduce the cost of concrete production and at the same time also mitigates environmental problems affect from waste material such as minimizing disposal area.

Utilization of spent garnet in ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete at high temperature is a new innovation. It shows that the concrete cover of the concrete element reduced as compared to the OPC concrete. Reduce in weight concrete however the strength of concrete is similar to conventional concrete. This study at elevated temperature has never been performed by any previous researcher.

This paper aims to study the residual test results under uni-axial compression of tie confined pre-damaged normal strength concrete short columns subjected to elevated temperatures.

The test variables included temperature of exposure, spacing of transverse confining reinforcement and pre-damage level. An experimental program was designed and carried out involving testing of hoop confined concrete cylindrical specimens exposed to elevated temperatures ranging from room temperature to 900 °C.

The test results indicate that the residual strength, strain corresponding to the peak stress and the post-peak strains of confined concrete are not affected significantly up to an exposure temperature of 300 °C. However, the peak confined stress falls and the corresponding strain increase considerably in the temperature range of 600 to 900 °C. It is shown that an increase in the degree of confinement reinforcement results in an increased residual strength and deformability of pre-damaged confined concrete.

It is applicable in finding the residual strength and strain of the pre-damaged confined concrete in uni-axial compression after exposure to elevated temperature.

The practical implications is that the test result is applicable in finding the residual strengths of pre-damaged confined concrete under uni-axial compression after exposure to elevated temperature.

The main aim of the present investigation is to provide experimental data on the residual behaviour of pre-damaged confined concrete subjected to high temperatures.

The results of this study may be useful for developing the guidelines for designing the confinement reinforcement of reinforced concrete columns against the combined actions of earthquake and fire, as well as for designing the retrofitting schemes after these sequential disasters.

This research paper aims to investigate reinforced concrete (RC) walls' behaviour under fire and identify the thermal and mechanical factors that affect their performance.

A three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model is developed to predict the response of RC walls under fire and is validated through experimental tests on RC wall specimens subjected to fire conditions. The numerical model incorporates temperature-dependent properties of the constituent materials. Moreover, the validated model was used in a parametric study to inspect the effect of the fire scenario, reinforcement concrete cover, reinforcement ratio and configuration, and wall thickness on the thermal and structural behaviour of the walls subjected to fire.

The developed 3D FE model successfully predicted the response of experimentally tested RC walls under fire conditions. Results showed that the fire resistance of the walls was highly compromised under hydrocarbon fire. In addition, the minimum wall thickness specified by EC2 may not be sufficient to achieve the desired fire resistance under considered fire scenarios.

There is limited research on the performance of RC walls exposed to fire scenarios. The study contributed to the current state-of-the-art research on the behaviour of RC walls of different concrete types exposed to fire loading, and it also identified the factors affecting the fire resistance of RC walls. This guides the consideration and optimisation of design parameters to improve RC walls performance in the event of a fire.

Discusses the properties of concrete and the process of carbonation which can lead to corrosion and its ultimate destruction. Outlines the conditions which lead to carbonation, detailing design faults which facilitate the process, and suggests preventatives which can protect the surface. Examines the results of carbonation, the forming of distressed concrete and mentions tests which can be performed to check the health of the structure. Assesses the impact of additional factors leading to corrosion and offers advice on remedial actions.

The purpose of this paper was to assess the economic impact of investment in different animal welfare–enhancing flooring solutions in Swedish dairy farming.

The authors developed a bio-economic model and used stochastic partial budgeting approach to simulate the economic consequences of enhancing solid and slatted concrete floors with soft rubber covering.

The findings highlight that keeping herds on solid and slatted concrete floor surfaces with soft rubber coverings is a profitable solution, compared with keeping herds on solid and slatted concrete floors without a soft covering. The profit per cow when kept on a solid concrete floor with soft rubber covering increased by 13%–16% depending on the breed.

Promoting farm investments such as improvement in flooring solution, which have both economic and animal welfare incentives, is a potential way of promoting sustainable dairy production. Farmers may make investments in improved floors, resulting in enhanced animal welfare and economic outcomes necessary for sustaining dairy production.

This literature review indicated that the economic impact of investment in specific types of floor improvement solutions, investment costs and financial outcomes have received little attention. This study provides insights needed for a more informed decision-making process when selecting optimal flooring solutions for new and renovated barns that improve both animal welfare and ease the burden on farmers and public financial support.

About 26,000 Airey Houses were erected during the post war years (1946–55) as part of the house building programme of that period. The Airey House is essentially a prefabricated concrete structure which was erected on site to form a box. This box was erected upon a concrete raft which acted as the foundation and floor of the dwelling. The basic box was formed from several framed ‘goal posts’ to which thin concrete cladding panels were fastened to the upright columns by copper wire. The vertical loading from the first floor and roof is taken on the vertical columns but may also be shared with the concrete cladding panels (see Figure 1).