June  2007  

Combined effect of fly ash and GGBS on durability of concrete under freeze-thaw conditions

Muhammad Ashraf, Hattori Kunio, Ogata Hidehiko and Ajay Goyal

Freeze-thaw tests were carried out on air-entrained concrete specimens as per Japan Industrial Standards (JIS) A 1148-2001. Concrete samples were prepared with four different admixture ratios (i.e. control mix, 25 percent fly ash, 25 percent fly ash plus 25 percent blast furnace slag and 50 percent blast furnace slag). The durability of concrete specimens exposed to 300 cycles of freezing and thawing was monitored by measuring density, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and dynamic modulus frequency after every 30 cycles. The experiment demonstrated that the durability factors of concrete were substantially influenced by the mineral admixtures. More than 100 percent durability factor was observed in concrete made of fly ash and slag. The fly ash samples exhibited either similar or slightly enhanced values as compared to control. The UPV of specimen incorporated with slag and also the mixture of slag plus fly ash was remarkable during freeze-thaw cycling.



















Proportions of concrete ingredients and their significance in compressive strength development

A.M. Pande and L.M. Gupta

Advances in concrete technology have scaled new heights in the recent past. High Volume fly ash Concrete (HVFAC) has now become a common terminology and fly ash is gaining recognition as an important ingredient in concrete. These developments have resulted in a significant shift from w/c ratio to w/c+p ratio. The benefits of fly ash in improving workability and thus reducing water content are well documented. Five different samples of concrete containing fly ash partially replacing cement with proportions 0-50% have been tested and results are presented in this paper. The data generated was first clubbed with data published in standard reports and research papers, and then analysed using graphs and SPSS software. For the analysis, only proportions of the ingredients are considered overlooking basic properties of the ingredients. The results reveal that two ratios play significant role in compressive strength development and they are: water to cementitious component ratio (W/(C+kF) ratio), and cementitious component to inert component ratio, (C+kF/((1-k)F+S+CA) ratio). Values of k were found to be different for various ages of testing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An investigation on the effect of sustained temperatures on the strength properties of fibrous ferrocement using steel fibres

K.B. Prakash and N.K. Patil

The applications of ferrocement and fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) are increasing because of their many advantages. Ferrocement does not require any special construction technique and skilled labour. Its cracking resistance, ductility and fatigue resistance are higher than those of concrete. In addition impermeability of ferrocement elements is far superior to that of ordinary concrete. FRC has gained widespread acceptance as a suitable construction material for a wide variety of non-structural applications. FRC possesses higher compressive strength, toughness, resistance to wear and tear, and higher post cracking strength. But, these two materials have limitations also. They cannot be employed where high vibrations, high tensile forces and high impact are to be resisted. Fibrous ferrocement, which is a combination of ferrocement and fibre reinforced concrete, shows better improvement in some of the mechanical properties such as toughness and impact resistance. This new composite also shows higher compressive, tensile and impact strength. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the effect of different sustained temperatures on the strength characteristic of fibrous ferrocement especially compressive strength, flexural strength and impact strength. The percentages of flat fibres used were 0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%and 2.0% by volume fraction. Also, the specific surface area of welded mesh and chicken mesh was varied. The temperatures adopted in the experimentation are 200oC, 400oC and 600oC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Influence of box shape on structural behaviour of RC box-girder bridges

Manoj Kumar and Sagar Samaria

The present study is concerned with the analytical investigations on influence of box cross-sectional shape on the structural behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) box girder bridges. In this paper the structural behaviour of box girder bridges has been studied in terms of deflection, longitudinal and transverse bending stresses, and the shear lag coefficient. To this end two box shapes namely, rectangular and trapezoidal have been considered for the aforementioned study. ANSYS, a general purpose finite element analysis software, has been used as the basic platform for modelling and carrying out the three dimensional linear elastic finite element analysis of box girder bridges considered in this study. The outcome of this study has shown that as a whole the structural response of bridge with rectangular box section is better than trapezoidal box section.