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Concrete is widely used construction material for the development of built environment which consumes huge amount of cement, around 4.3 billion metric ton all over the world. Reinforced concrete construction exposed to harsh environment such as chloride bound air causes deterioration in concrete through its pore structure by corroding the steel bar. The use of pozzolanic material i.e. metakaolin (MK), fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), nano silica (NS) can be used as partially cement replacing material which not only reduces the pores in concrete but improves the mechanical, durability properties and microstructure of concrete. This paper reviews various transport mechanisms involved in ingress of deleterious material and incorporation of MK, FA and NS in concrete and their effects on concrete mechanical and durability properties. However, the research work provides an extended approach to evaluate combine effect using MK, FA, and NS and to produce a concrete with more refined pore structure for aggressive environment.

This study focuses on the study of the mechanical behavior of non-metallic hybrid Basalt-PVA fiber reinforced concrete. Total five mixes were investigated with one control plain concrete and four with fiber volume fraction of 0.3%, 0.6%, 0.9% and 1.2%. Basalt and PVA were used in same quantity. Fiber decreased workability, therefore superplasticizer was used to maintain workability constant. The increase in superplasticizer and fiber content decreased compression, split tensile and flexure strengths because of formation of big size pores. Whereas fiber enhanced the post peak load zone in the load-deflection curve. Fiber improved the bridging action by increasing energy absorption. Fiber vanished the brittle behavior of high strength concrete and increased first crack toughness, flexure toughness and also maximum deflection. 0.3% volume fraction of fiber was found to be optimum with the negligible decrease in compression, split tensile and flexure strength while caused the considerable increase in first crack toughness, flexure toughness, and maximum deflection.

This article aims to investigate the compressive strength variation by the addition of metakaolin as a substitute of fly ash in the fly ash based geopolymer mortar. Five, ten and fifteen percent by weight of fly ash was replaced by highly reactive metakaolin. Two type of fly ashes namely, ASTM class F and ASTM class C were used as a base material for the synthesis of geopolymer mortar. Eight molar sodium hydroxide solution mixed with sodium silicate solution was used as alkaline activator. For optimum geopolymerization, mortar was cured at sixty degree Celsius for twenty four hours duration. Results show different behavior of metakaolin replacement on compressive strength for two different types of fly ash based geopolymer mortar. Improvement in compressive strength was seen by addition of metakaolin in ASTM class F fly ash based geopolymer. On the other hand compressive strength was decreased abruptly in fly ash class C based geopolymer up to certain replacement level.

Industrial waste products can be considered as renewable resources. Steel industry wastes have a severe impact on the environment whereas this industry involves a myriad of operations which create vast volumes of air emissions, liquid effluents, and solid wastes. This study presents the feasibility of using Electric Arc Furnace Dust (EAFD) as a cement replacement material (CRM) in comparison with silica fume (SF) and fly ash (FA). The EAFD is a complex byproduct material of steel produced by electrical - arc furnace and consisting mostly of metal oxides. The results showed that the workability of the EAFD mixes is comparable to the control mix even when the percentage of the EAFD was increased. On the other hand, as the replacement percentage was increased, the use of FA, SF resulted in higher, lower workability, respectively. Furthermore, the EAFD significantly affected the setting time, where 3% of the EAFD replacement resulted in prolonging setting time reached more than 24 hours, while the use of SF and FA has insignificantly affected the setting time. The 3% of EAFD is found to be the optimum replacement in terms of compressive strength and it has a similar effect to a replacement level of 5% of SF and 15% of FA.

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.

The housing sector of Malaysia plays a very prominent role in meeting the major requirements of accommodation throughout the country. However, this sector consumes a handsome amount of resources among which the construction materials are a prime resource. Besides the valuable contribution of housing sector, the building materials used make a significant contribution in embodied CO2 emissions. In order to access the magnitude of CO2 from housing sector, it is necessary that effect of embodied CO2 emissions from the materials used in conventional housing construction in Malaysia shall also be studied. This study focuses on the embodied CO2 emission from the materials used in construction of a typical low cost house which are commonly adopted in Malaysia. The virtual model of selected single storey low cost house was developed using Building Information Modeling (BIM) concept. The results highlighted that bricks (37%), concrete (22%), mild steel (19%), steel rebar (7%) and roof tiles (6%) are the top five materials responsible for CO2 emissions. The overall contribution of single storey house in terms of embodied CO2 emissions is observed to be 34 kg-CO2 / sq. ft. This study has helped to highlight the potential contribution of conventional materials used in typical housing sector of Malaysia.

In the modern building construction, different size of openings are provided in the web of reinforced concrete (RC) deep beams to accommodate utility pipes and ducts of essential services such as electricity cable, telephone network and air-conditioning network. However, accommodation of such openings caused reduction in beam strength, stiffness and caused excessive cracking and deflection. Many investigations were conducted to study the behaviour of openings in beams and relevant strengthening options to reinstate the lost capacity. One of the strengthening options considered lamination of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets due to its superior properties such as high tensile strength and stiffness, high resistance to corrosion, excellent fatigue performance and good resistance to chemical attack. FRP lamination has been widely accepted by the research community and practicing engineers in the construction industry as the material for strengthening and rehabilitation of common problems. However, quite limited literatures contained the use of FRP to strengthen RC deep beams with openings. This paper discussed the review of eleven different articles contained study of RC deep beams with openings together with effects of strengthening using FRP sheets. The outcome of this review paper outlined the way forward and future research focus in this area.

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.

Locally produced metakaolin (MK) as the cement replacing material and PVA fibres has been used. The effect on workability and on the mechanical properties of concrete has been investigated. Total fifteen (15) mixes of concrete have been examined using MK 5 to 10% and PVA fibres of aspect ratio 45, 60, 90 and 120 with 1% volume fraction. Three (03) mixes without PVA fibre have been used as control mixes. For each mix, test for slump, cube compressive strength and splitting tensile strength has been performed. It has been found that MK and PVA fibres causes decrease in slump but use of MK and PVA fibres together improves the workability. The use of MK and PVA fibres has advantageous in increasing compressive strength and splitting tensile strength.

Agricultural and industrial by-products are commonly used in concrete production as cement replacement materials (CRMs) or as admixtures to enhance both fresh and hardened properties of concrete as well as to save the environment from the negative effects caused by their disposal. This paper presents some findings on the effect of Microwave Incinerated Rice Husk Ash (MIRHA) on workability and compressive strength of concrete. It was obtained that the inclusion of MIRHA as partial replacement of cement could significantly improve the compressive strength of hardened concrete while reducing the workability of fresh concrete.

CFRP strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) beams are usually tested under either three points or four point concentric loads; the effect of eccentricity is neglected in many studies. In this experimental program eight RC beams tested in two groups, GROUP ‘A’ & ‘B’. In group ‘A’ four RC beam tested, one control beam tested under concentric load and three under the eccentricity of 40, 60 and 80 mm respectively. The remaining four RC beams in group ’B’ strengthened using carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) strip and tested under the 60mm eccentricity. The experiment has confirmed the behaviour transformation from flexure failure to local failure due to variation in eccentricity. Therefore, the effects of eccentricity cannot be neglected and required special consideration before applying strengthening scheme on RC beam. The RC beams strengthen using CFRP have the ability to enhanced the load carrying capacity of beams tremendously, but the eccentric load effect on ductility, and failure mode of RC beams.

Ductile self-compacting concrete (DSCC) also known as ultra-high-performance fiber reinforced concrete with a steel like compressive strength of up to 250 MPa and remarkable increase in durability compared to high-strength concrete can be considered as the most successful recent innovation in concrete construction. The achievement of DSCC has been made possible by the introduction of materials such as superplasticizers, microsilica and steel fibers. Incorporation of steel fibers in the mix made it feasible to design sustainable filigree, lightweight concrete constructions without any additional steel reinforcement. The purpose of this paper is to review the needs of DSCC and the factors influencing the workability of DSCC as well as the effect of the inclusion of steel fibers. Various studies concluded that the inclusion of steel fibers will increase the mechanical and durability properties but reduce the workability.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the serviceability performance of RC beams strengthened through two Ferrocement strengthening techniques as Cast in situ Wire-mesh layers and precast Ferrocement Laminates. To assess the effectiveness of these strengthening techniques, eight (08) RC beams have been intentionally designed and detailed as a tension-controlled section and tested under two-point loading up to service load of 40 kN. Then, beams were strengthened by Cast in situ Wire-mesh layers and by precast Ferrocement Laminates. Experimental results in terms of stiffness have been compared within and across the groups to assess the effect of variation of development length and no. of wire-mesh layers.