April  2005  

Delhi Metro : Quality control of concrete for under ground section

M.S. Shetty, Klaus Muenz and Norbert Gall

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) entrusted the underground tunnel work of about 6.8 km length in Phase I to a joint venture consortium consisting of specialists in various aspects of underground metro construction. The project involved pouring of about 0.5 million m3 of quality concrete for various works. The quality of concrete was required to be maintained at the highest level not only from the point of view of strength, but more so with respect to durability under trying underground conditions. The joint venture consortium, in addition to having their own experts in underground concrete construction, appointed a specialist concrete technologist for quality control of concrete. General consultants were appointed by DMRC for overseeing the day-to-day work of the contractors. This paper narrates some of the quality control measures taken by consortium with regard to some of the important works in the underground construction from Central Secretariat to Delhi Main.



















Seismic design of RC column and wall sections : Part II - Proposal for limiting strain in steel

Kaustubh Dasgupta and C.V.R. Murty

In a companion paper1, the philosophy of flexural limit state design of reinforced concrete sections as per the current Indian Standard was examined. This paper proposes a limiting strain state for steel in the limit state method of design keeping in mind results of a numerical investigation that considers variations in the properties of column sections, namely geometry, location of longitudinal steel, and percentage of longitudinal steel. Two performance pointers, namely, section ductility and strain energy stored in cross-section, are the focus of investigation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evaluation and enhancing the punching shear resistance of flat slabs using HSC

N. Subramanian

The use of high-strength concrete, with strength exceeding 40 MPa, in reinforced concrete slabs, is becoming popular in India and other countries. Current design provisions of major codes throughout the world are based on empirical relationships developed from tests on low-strength concrete. In this paper, the existing recommendations in design codes for punching shear failure of slabs are reviewed. Though the Indian code formulae predict the punching shear resistance of high strength concrete slabs as compared to the experimental results, they do not consider the reinforcement ratio and size effects. Hence, a formula similar to that of CEB-FIP code formula is suggested. Out of the several methods to enhance the punching shear capacity, the stud shear reinforcement is found to increase the load carrying capacity, punching shear strength and ductility of flat slabs. Recent provisions in the American code allow 100 percent enhancement of shear capacity if shear stud reinforcements are used.

 

 

 

 










Utilisation of phosphogypsum - A broad review

Manjit Singh

Phosphogypsum, a by-product of phosphoric acid production, poses a serious problem of disposal and health hazards in the country. Due to the presence of impurities of phosphates, fluorides and organic matter, phosphogypsum finds limited scope for use in the production of cement, fertiliser, building materials, etc. The paper deals with the characterisation, beneficiation, and utilisation of phosphogypsum. The scope of utilisation of phosphogypsum has been dealt with in detail. Judicious planning of the research and developmental work for the utilisation of phosphogypsum is essential so that the issues of pollution and disposal emanated from this valuable waste may be resolved to generate industrial growth and employment in India.

 

 

 

 

 




Strength development in compressed cement blocks - Analysis and assessment

K. Nagendra Prasad, M.L. Narasimhalu, T.S. Nagaraj, J.M. Naidu and Syed Ifthakaruddin

Extensive use of compressed cement blocks for various engineering applications has become a reality. In this investigation, an attempt has been made to advance a simple phenomenological model for use to arrive at different combinations of ingredients to satisfy the requirements of optimal yield and strength development with age with minimum laboratory trials. It was found that to get maximum yield of blocks per unit weight of cementing materials, it was essential to determine the optimal density of inert constituents such as sand and rock dust. In this investigation, an optimum combination was found to be 75 percent sand and 25 percent rock dust. Since the cement content was low, the workable water-cement ratio (w/c) ranges between 0.7 to 0.9. While the bulk density is reduced with reduction in w/c the strength mobilised with age got reduced as w/c reduced. To maintain constant bulk density, additional constituents were added and compaction effort increased to conform to the size of the block. In such a case, the strength development followed Abram's law. This generalised approach to predict strength has been examined by an independent set of experimental data.