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Recently, incorporation of cement replacement material (CRM) in concrete has gained considerable attention throughout the world. It is known that the commonly used CRM in current concrete industry is silica fume (SF), pulverized fuel ash (PFA) and rice husk ash (RHA). RHA is an agricultural waste from rice milling process. Rice farming activities is one of the main crops planted in Malaysia and therefore, the rice husk abundantly generated every year. RHA exhibits positive pozzolanic reaction during concrete strength development. The material contains amorphous silica and hence it contributed towards enhancement of various concrete properties. This paper presents a short review of RHA properties as CRM and pozzolanic reaction determination.

To date, various predictive models for high strength concrete (HSC) have been proposed that are capable of generating complete stress-strain curves. These models were validated for HSC prepared with and without silica fume. In this paper, an investigation on these predictive models has been presented by applying them on two different series of HSC. The first series of HSC was prepared by utilizing 100% cement content, while second series was prepared by utilizing 90% cement and 10% Metakaolin. The compressive strength of the concrete was ranged from 71-87 MPa. For each series of HSC, total four cylinders of the size 100×200mm were cast to obtain the stress-strain curves at 28 days.It has been found that the pattern of the stress-strain curve of each cylinder among four cylinders of each series was different from other, in spite of preparing from the similar batch. When predictive models were applied to these cylinders using their test data then it was found that all models more or less deficient to accurately predict the stress-strain behavior.

Study has been conducted to investigate the effect of aspect ratio and volume fraction of PVA fibres on the mechanical properties of concrete. Total eighteen (18) mixes of concrete have been examined using metakaolin up to 5% and PVA fibres of aspect ratio 45, 60, 90 and 120 with volume fraction 1 to 2%. Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength at 7 days and 28 days have been determined to check the effect of volume fraction and the aspect ratio of PVA fibres. It has been found that 2% volume fraction is better than 1% and there is increasing trend up to a certain value of aspect ratio in the strengths of concrete.

In this study, the effect of sugar cane bagasse ash (SCBA) on chloride penetration resistance of concrete was investigated. 100-mm side cubes were cast and cured in water for 28 days followed by six months curing in 4% NaCl solution. The resistance to chloride penetration was assessed by measuring the chloride penetration depth, weight loss, compressive strength loss and bond strength loss. Chloride penetration depth was measured using AgNO3–based method. It was obtained that inclusion of SCBA in concrete significantly reduced the chloride penetration depth, weight loss, compressive strength loss and bond loss that was attributed to the fine particles of SCBA that filled up the pores and prevented the chloride ingress in the concrete.

RC beams as a structural member contain a variety of non-uniform loads. These non-uniform loads caused combined effects of flexure and torsion. There are numerous studies available, that suggests different strengthening schemes using FRP laminates, as a solution for flexure and torsion deficient beams. Most of the experimental studies suggested individual strengthening schemes for flexure or torsional deficiency RC beams. However, the combined effects were not studied due to difference in experimental setup, testing procedure and specimen detailing. Therefore, the outcome of previous studies was needed to combine together to facilitate the strengthening process as a guideline case of such deficiency. Therefore, a combined review is presented by suggesting different configuration for flexure and torsion deficient RC beams. Most of the studies suggested that the application of FRP laminates at the soffit of beam is suitable for flexural strengthening. The application of U-shape or full wrap are suitable for strengthen torsion deficient beams. Similarly, 45° wraps are more effective than 90°wraps for improving ductility of torsion deficient beams.

In the world today, producers of high performance concrete usually look for locally available material to provide low cost concrete. To reduce the total cost of concrete, it is recommended to use a mineral admixture by replacing the cement content while the improvement in the strength of concrete can be achieved by implementing the fibers as a discrete material in the concrete mix. Within this study, a attempt has been given to analyze the properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) with microwave incinerated rice husk ash (MIRHA) and fly ash as a two types of filler. This was to enhance the properties of SCC with the Stand Chopped Basalt (SCB) fiber having been added to the concrete mix. The experimental work was a fresh and a hardened test with the trend of the result showing the possibility to increase the properties of SCC by using MIRHA and SCB fiber.

Embodied carbon can be defined as the “CO2emissions produced during the extraction of resources, transportation, manufacture, assembly, disassembly and end-of-life disposal of a product”. Calculation of the carbon footprint of buildings is important to promote the construction of low-carbon buildings that release significantly less CO2compared to conventional buildings. However, researchers and practitioners in this area tend to disregard the embodied carbon and pay more attention to the operational carbon when calculating the carbon footprint of buildings. This paper reviews the current state and trend of research on the embodied carbon of buildings with focus on the tools, methods and strategies employed and makes recommendations for future research direction.

In order to improve the mechanical properties of high strength concrete, HSC, several studies have been conducted using fly ash, FA. Researchers have made it possible to achieve 100-150MPa high strength concrete. Despite the popularity of this FAHSC, there is a major shortcoming in that it becomes more brittle, resulting in less than 0.1% tensile strain. The main objective of this work was to evaluate the fresh and hardened properties of FAHSC utilizing chopped basalt fiber stands, CBFS, as an internal strengthening addition material. This was achieved through a series of experimental works using a 20% replacement of cement by FA together with various contents of CBFS. Test results of concrete mixes in the fresh state showed no segregation, homogeneousness during the mixing period and workability ranging from 60 to 110 mm. Early and long terms of compressive strength did not show any improvement by using CBFS; in fact, it decreased. This was partially substituted by the effect of FA. Whereas, the split and flexural strengths of FASHC were significantly improved with increasing the content of CBFS as well as the percentage of the split and flexural tensile strength to the compressive strength. Also, test results showed a progressive increase in the areas under the stress-strain curves of the FAHSC strains after the CBFS addition. Therefore, the brittleness and toughness of the FAHSC were enhanced and the pattern of failure moved from brittle failure to ductile collapse using CBFS. It can be considered that the CBFS is a suitable strengthening material to produce ductile FAHSC.

–The drying shrinkage behaviour of fly-ash-based self-compacting geopolymer concrete (SCGC) was studied for a period of one year. Two SCGC and One OPC-based conventional mixture were used in the present investigation. Drying shrinkage test commenced on the 7th day after casting the test specimens. Once the appropriate curing regime was completed, the specimens from each mix were placed in the laboratory room where the temperature was maintained at 23°C, however, the relative humidity of the room varied between 56 and 64 percent. Strain readings taken at specific intervals were analyzed to determine the time-dependent deformations of each mixture. Test results indicated that the heat-cured fly ash-based SCGC experienced very low drying shrinkage than that of water-cured OPC based concrete. After one year of exposure, in comparison to 466 με, the value experienced by OPC concrete, the drying shrinkage strains of SCGC mix specimens ranged between 141 and 159 με. These values were about 65-70% lower than that of OPC concrete. It is anticipated that the findings of this investigation would help in predicting the behaviour of SCGC. Keywords-Fly ash, Geopolymer concrete, Self-compacting Geopolymer concrete, Drying shrinkage

In this paper, mechanical properties of three series of high performance fiber reinforced concrete (HPFRC) containing 1, 2 and 3% of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) fiber volume are presented. The first series of HPFRC was prepared by using 100% cement, whereas remaining two series were prepared by replacing 10% cement content with silica fume and locally produced metakaolin. All series were designed with water to binder ratio (w/b) of 0.4. The mechanical properties determined in this study include compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength. Testing of the specimens was conducted at the 28 days of curing. Experimental results showed that the 3% PVA fiber is the optimum fiber volume to improve the mechanical properties of HPFRC. The variation in the mechanical properties due to the addition of PVA fibers was investigated and presented in the form of mathematical relationship. Further, interrelationship among the mechanical properties was also determined.

Rice is a primary source of food for billions of people and covers 1% of the earth’s surface. On average 20% of the rice paddy is husk, giving an annual total production of 120 million tones. Nowadays, there are two common methods used to dispose the rice husk which is either it is being dump or burnt. Rice husk ash (RHA) which is produced by burning paddy husk led to the issue of ozone layer depletion. It also causes damage to the land and the surrounding area where it is being dumped. Previous studies have pointed out that RHA produced contains more than 80% pure silica and if properly prepared, it is in an active form which behaves very much like cement. Same goes with used engine oil (UEO). Many people are aware that UEO shouldn’t be dumped, but recycled. It is incredibly toxic stuff and a gallon can contaminate one million gallons of water. Pouring it on land doesn’t reduce the risk either as it can seep down into the water table.The objective of this research is to obtain an optimum percentage of inclusion of microwave incinerated rice husk ash (MIRHA) as a cement replacement and UEO in order to produce a better concrete in terms of compressive strength compared to normal OPC concrete. The test results showed MIRHA concrete performed better than normal OPC concrete and the incorporation of UEO and MIRHA in concrete showed the compressive strength give better performance.

Eccentric loads are very common in structures due to building configuration. Unequal slab length, circular ramp, large cantilevers are very common in modern architecture. The RC beams in previous studies were tested under the three and four point uniform loads. Therefore, a simple testing setup was arranged to understand the behaviour of RC beam under eccentric load applied at mid span. In this study the single point load applied eccentrically on RC beam. The beams were tested at different eccentricity and compared with control beam tested under the uniform load or zero eccentricity. Results have shown a drastically reduced crack load up to 54% compared to control beam as the eccentricity increased. However, small changed in ultimate load carrying capacity was observed up to 60mm eccentricity. Eccentric load caused biaxial bending due to high concentration of load on one side of beam, which change failure mode of RC beam from ductile to brittle.

Locally available kaolin has been calcined and used as cement replacing material (CRM) in High-strength concrete (HSC). Total five (05) mixes of concrete have been examined using calcined kaolin (CK) of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% by weight of cement. For each mix, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength have been determined by preparing three specimens. The effect of CK on the mechanical properties of HSC has been investigated at age of 7, 28, 56 and 90 days. Multiple linear regressions through least square error have been used to develop the expression and to predict the compressive, splitting tensile strengths and flexural strength of HSC. It has been found that CK as CRM increases the strength significantly. The models may predict the strengths closely match the measurements and optimum replacement of cement by CK.

The construction industry of Malaysia is very dynamic in nature and the adoption of new technological advancements and construction methods has been a prime concerns for its key players and stakeholders. However, the adoption of BIM in such a dynamic industry is observed to be limited and its implementation has not been as successful as it should have been. The study focuses on the identification and prioritization the factors challenging the implementation of BIM in Malaysian construction industry. The data has been administrated through designed questionnaire by identifying the factors / barriers, by literature review, for implementation of BIM in construction industry. The prioritization of such factors is expected to help the major stake holders to address the issues according to their priority which will save lot of previous time and financial with smooth implementation of BIM in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry in future project.