The potentials of lateritic soil—Clay and clay-sand mixes in the manufacturing of bricks for masonry units

Bricks were manufactured from lateritic soil-clay and clay-sand mixes with various mix proportions; 30, 40, 50, and 60% sand (by weight) were mixed with clay soil, 20 and 40% clay (by weight) were mixed with lateritic soil. The bricks were burnt at 1000°C for periods of 2, 4 and 6 h. Various properties of the bricks such as linear shrinkage, density, compressive strength and water absorption were measured. Test results showed that the addition of 40% clay in lateritic soil was the optimum for the production of bricks from lateritic soil. The addition of 30% sand in clay was optimum for the production of bricks from clay. The compressive strength of the investigated bricks was also compared with British starutory requirements for the minimum compressive strengths in bricks for various walls. The comparison showed that both lateritic soil-clay and clay-sand mixed bricks could be used in load bearing walls.     

Effect of mix proportion and reinforcement size on the anchorage bond stress of laterized concrete

Lateritic soils, being locally available, have been one of the major building materials in Nigeria, and in most tropical countries in general. This paper reports the results of investigations carried out on the effect of mix proportion and size of plain round steel reinforcement on the anchorage bond stress characteristics of laterized concrete specimens. Laterized concrete is concrete in which some, or all, of the fine aggregate is from lateritic soils.

Sieve analysis of both the lateritic soils and the coarse aggregates used was carried out. Seven different bar sizes (6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20 and 25 mm) which were cut into pieces 170 mm long to fit into the 150 cube mould were used. Also, three different mix proportions ( and 1:2:4) were used for the study. The results have shown that both the mix proportion and the size of reinforcement have a significant effect on the anchorage bond stress of laterized concrete specimens. The richer, in terms of cement content, the mix proportion, the higher the anchorage bond stress of laterized concrete. Also, the anchorage bond stress between plain round steel reinforcement and laterized concrete increases with increase in the size of reinforcement used.     

Influence of method and duration of curing and of mix proportions on strength of concrete containing laterite fine aggregate

In this paper, the influence of six curing methods (water, air, moist soil, jute bag, air/water and water/air) on the compressive strength of concrete cube specimens that contain laterite fine aggregate is investigated. Three different mixes of cement, laterite and gravel were used: ; 1:2:4 and 1:3:6 with water/cement ratios of 0.62, 0.75 and 1.02 by weight respectively. Four curing ages of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days were adopted. The results showed that the strength that a particular mix can attain is affected by the curing method used. The water/air curing technique gave the highest strength values of 28.2 Nmm⁻² for Nmm⁻² and 17.4 Nmm⁻² for 1:2:4 and 1:3:6 mixes respectively, while the air-cured specimens gave the lowest strength values of 17.2 Nmm⁻² for Nmm⁻² and 8.0 Nmm⁻² for 1:2:4 and 1:3:6 mixes. The higher the cement/aggregate ratio the higher the strength. Generally, there was increase in strength with age irrespective of the mix and the curing technique.     

An investigation of periwinkle shells as coarse aggregate in concrete

An Investigation into using periwinkle shells (PWS) partially or wholly in concrete is reported. Three standard mixes of cement: sand: granite + PWS (1: :3, 1:2:4 and 1:3:6) and two design mixes of cement: sand: PWS (1: :1 and 1: : ) were used. The proportion of shells was varied at intervals of 10% in the standard mixes. Two strength properties (compressive and flexural) were considered. The variations of workability and density of the specimens with different proportions of PWS were also studied.

Results showed that the compressive and flexural strengths decreased with increase in proportion of PWS to granite in the standard mixes. The 28th day strengths for the design mixes were 15.65 N/mm² for 1: :1 and 11.77 N/mm² for 1: :1 with corresponding densities of 2100 and 1850 kg/m³. The unit weight of PWS was found to be 694.44 kg/m³. This indicates that PWS is a lightweight aggregate. The workability of concrete batches decreased with increase in the proportion of PWS in the mixes. The same trend was observed with the densities of the concrete cubes. The density of concrete containing 100% PWS showed that the concrete produced is lightweight, giving strengths ranging from 11.77 to 15.65 N/mm².     

Strength performance of laterized concrete

The results of an experimental program to investigate some characteristics of concrete containing laterite as a partial or full replacement of sand is presented in this paper. Sand in a concrete of mix ratio 1:2:4:0.56 (cement:sand:coarse aggregate:water-cement ratio) was replaced with 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% laterite. The results show that concrete with up to 40% replacement level of sand by laterite attained the designed strength of 20 N/mm², thus indicating the possibility of using laterite as a partial replacement for sand up to this level. It was also observed from the results that the workability of laterite concrete (LATCON) increases with increase in the replacement level of sand by laterite, while the compressive, split tensile, and flexural strengths and the percentage water absorption of the concrete decrease with increase in the replacement level of sand. Regression models relating the strengths of LATCON are also presented in this paper.     

Factors affecting the strength and creep properties of laterized concrete

Many factors are known to affect the strength and creep properties of laterized concrete prisms. Those considered in this report include: mix proportion, water/cement ratio, curing ages, grain size ranges, stress level, lateritic soils-river sand variation. Moulds of 50 × 50 × 250 mm high were used for making prism specimens. Four different mix proportions were selected while prism specimens were cast using four different water/cement ratios which were kept constant for each mix proportion. Prism specimen were also made using a constant water/cement ratio with different river sand lateritic soils proportions forming the fine aggregate component of the selected 1:2:4 mix proportion. The results have shown that increase in cement content and decrease in water/cement ratio of laterized concrete prisms bring about increase in the compressive strength obtained. The mix ratio of 1 part lateritic soils plus $\text{1}\text{1}\text{2}$ parts river sand produced a slightly higher strength than the conventional concrete grade 20. There is also a corresponding increase in the creep of laterized concrete prisms due to different curing ages and different imposed loads. Both the mix proportion and the grain size ranges affect the creep of laterized concrete prisms differently. Unlike the creep of concrete which shows some definite recovery after unloading, laterized concrete prisms did not show any form of recovery, and there was drastic reduction in the compressive strength of the specimens after unloading.     

Residential cooling loads and the urban heat island—the effects of albedo

The urban heat island has become the target of recent research aiming at improving urban climates and energy efficiency of cities. In the warm, mid- and low-latitude cities, the typical heat island intensity averages up to 3–5°C on a summer day, adding to discomfort and increasing the air-conditioning loads, whereas in some temperate and cold, high-latitude cities a 2°C heat island is considered as a mild asset in winter. Some of these cities have been built to retain the urban heat. The objective of our ongoing research is to identify ways to mitigate summer heat islands in hot climates, for example by increasing the urban albedo, expanding evaporative surfaces and vegetation covers, and increasing urban thermal mass. From the energy consumption point of view, simple techniques such as these can be effective in reducing air-conditioning costs by modifying and improving the urban micro- and meso-climates.

In this work, we have correlated the residential cooling energy and power consumption in Sacramento, California, with the urban heat island intensity. The effects of selected strategies, such as the ones mentioned above, upon changing the urban micro-climate and reducing the heat island induced cooling loads were simulated. The main focus in this paper is placed on albedo. The simulations were performed using the DOE-2.1C building energy analysis program in conjunction with micro-climate and planetary boundary layer models that predict the effects of albedo modifications on ambient conditions and micro-climates. The simulations indicate that there exists significant potential energy and peak power savings by using such simple conservation strategies. Simulations for Sacramento indicate that whitewashing the buildings can result in direct savings of up to 14% and 19% on cooling peak power and electrical cooling energy, respectively. Modifying the overall urban albedo, in addition to whitewashing, can result in total savings of up to 35% and 62% respectively.     

Rice husk ash-lime-cement mixes for use in masonry units

This paper describes an investigation of the use of rice husk ash, in combination with lime and cement, for the production of low cost masonry units. Due to the slow reaction between the rice husk ash and lime, reactive alumina in the form of sodium aluminate was added to the mixes. The effect of the sodium aluminate was to reduce the time for initial and final set and to increase compressive strength. Evaluation of the masonry units indicated that rice husk ash could constitute up to 60% of the total cementitious component in the mix, to produce units that would satisfy the requirements for non load-bearing masonry. The results also indicated that moist curing beyond the 3 days used in the investigation would be required to produce compressive strength comparable with the requirements of load-bearing masonry.     

Destructive and non-destructive evaluation of concrete for optimum sand to aggregate volume ratio

Aggregates are the biggest contributor to concrete volume and are a crucial parameter in dictating its mechanical properties. As such, a detailed experimental investigation was carried out to evaluate the effect of sand-to-aggregate volume ratio (s/a) on the mechanical properties of concrete utilizing both destructive and non-destructive testing (employing UPV (ultrasonic pulse velocity) measurements). For investigation, standard cylindrical concrete samples were made with different s/a (0.36, 0.40, 0.44, 0.48, 0.52, and 0.56), cement content (340 and 450 kg/m³), water-to-cement ratio (0.45 and 0.50), and maximum aggregate size (12 and 19 mm). The effect of these design parameters on the 7, 14, and 28 d compressive strength, tensile strength, elastic modulus, and UPV of concrete were assessed. The careful analysis demonstrates that aggregate proportions and size need to be optimized for formulating mix designs; optimum ratios of s/a were found to be 0.40 and 0.44 for the maximum aggregate size of 12 and 19 mm, respectively, irrespective of the W/C (water-to-cement) and cement content.     

The maturity method: Modifications to improve estimation of concrete strength at later ages

Two modifications have been proposed for the Nurse–Saul maturity function to get better estimates of compressive strength of concrete cured at different temperatures. The modifications account for the effect of w/c ratio on the temperature dependence of strength development and the effect of curing temperature on the long-term strength. The effect of the proposed modifications on the estimation of concrete strength using the Nurse–Saul maturity function have been compared with the estimation using unmodified Nurse–Saul equation with two different datum temperatures (i.e., T₀ = −10 °C and T₀ = 0 °C). The results show that applying the proposed modifications improves the accuracy of estimated concrete strength at different curing temperatures, especially at later ages.     

Structural performance of the finger-jointed strength of some wood species with different joint configurations

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of adhesive type, wood species, and finger joint configurations on structural performance of the finger joint. The wood species studied were oriental beech (Fagus orientalis lipsky.), oak (Quercus robur), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris lipsky.), poplar (Populus tremula lipsk.) and Uludağ fir (Abies bormülleriana Matff.) and adhesives were poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc), Desmodur-VTKA (D-VTKA). However, there is little information available concerning the bending strength and modulus of elasticity for finger joints in these field. In this study, it was aimed to determine the bending strength and modulus of elasticity for finger joints. For this purpose, samples were tested according to the TS EN 310 standard. It was observed that the highest bending strength and modulus of elasticity were obtained in beech control (solid wood) samples. As for the finger joints, after the control samples, the highest bending strength value (57.4 N/mm²) was obtained from Oriental beech wood samples having a 21 mm finger length and bonded with PVAc adhesive, the highest modulus of elasticity (8885.3 N/mm²) was obtained from beech wood samples having a 21 mm finger length and bonded with PVAc adhesive. As a result of the effects of finger joints on bending strength and modulus elasticity test, if the length of finger joints increases up to 21 mm, the properties of bending strength increase.     

A study of the thermal comfort of primary school children in summer

A study of the thermal comfort and clothing of primary school children aged 7–9 took place during the summers of 1971 and 1972. Of the 641 children who took part, 262 produced records suitable for analysis. The weight of clothing followed the trend of room temperature over several days, but did not respond to diurnal changes of temperature. The subjective warmth followed the variations of room temperature, but was not related to the mean temperatures of the classrooms, which were between 17° and 23°. The children differed significantly among themselves in their subjective response to temperature, but there was no appreciable difference between the responses of the boys and the girls. Thermal comfort distributions are presented and their implications for classroom temperatures are discussed.     

Problems influencing craftsmen''s productivity in Nigeria

The activity sampling technique was used on seven construction sites in Nigeria to determine how the working day was being utilised by craftsmen in bricklaying, joinery and steel fixing trades. Actual working time was observed to be 51% of the working day for bricklayers, 44% for joiners and 56% for steel fixers. The rest of the working day was spent on nonproductive activities. The problems causing nonproductive periods were identified via an operative questionnaire survey. The three highest ranking problems impairing craftsmen's productivity were lack of materials, inadequate tools and work repetition.     

PBL加劲型矩形钢管混凝土支管受拉节点有效分布宽度

为研究PBL加劲型矩形钢管混凝土支管受拉节点应力分布规律及其有效分布宽度,采用ABAQUS软件建立42个矩形空钢管、钢管混凝土及PBL加劲型矩形钢管混凝土节点有限元模型并进行位移加载;根据有限元计算结果拟合得到矩形空钢管、钢管混凝土及PBL加劲型矩形钢管混凝土节点的有效分布宽度表达式,将拟合公式计算值与CIDECT规范计算值和有限元计算值进行对比。结果表明:在节点受力全过程中,PBL加劲型矩形钢管混凝土节点相对于矩形空钢管节点和钢管混凝土节点的应力分布不均匀性减小;当加载位移达到3%b₀（b₀为主管宽度）时,PBL加劲型节点的有效分布宽度更大,具有更好的受力性能,支板应力分布效率ξ随主管宽厚比2γ与支主管厚度比τ的增大而减小,其中τ对ξ的影响更大;支板应力分布效率ξ随支主管宽度比β变化较小,且呈抛物线变化;拟合公式计算值与CIDECT规范计算值及有限元计算值吻合良好,验证了公式的正确性     

定轴剪切条件下砂土强度与非共轴性试验研究

针对现有定轴剪切试验大多忽略中主应力系数b值变化这一问题,基于不同力系之间的映射关系,严格推导了空心圆柱扭剪仪4个外荷载的加载参数。采用重塑福建标准砂试样,分别在2组围压下开展主应力方向固定的剪切试验,研究主应力方向角α不同时,砂土变形、强度、非共轴性等力学特性的差异。结果表明:砂土的强度、应力-应变关系等力学特性均具有显著的应力方向依赖性;随着应力方向从0°到90°变化,应力路径表现为2个变化阶段,峰值强度先减小后增大,在α为67.5°附近取极小值;对比大主应变增量方向与大主应力方向之间的关系,发现当偏应力比较小时,试样存在明显的非共轴现象,随着偏应力比的增大,应变增量方向逐渐趋近于应力方向。     

初始干密度及掺砂比对膨胀土抗剪强度指标影响

研究了风化砂改良膨胀土对抗剪强度及其指标的影响。通过改变风化砂的掺量,研究了风化砂对膨胀土物理性质的影响。试验表明,随着掺砂比例的增加,最佳含水率逐渐下降,渗透系数逐渐增大,说明风化砂能有效降低膨胀土的塑性指数,增大膨胀土的透水性能,使之更适合用作公路路基填料。通过研究风化砂掺入比例及初始干密度对膨胀土抗剪强度指标c、φ值及抗剪强度的影响,可以得出:在掺砂比例一定时,改良膨胀土的粘聚力随着初始干密度的增大而增大,内摩擦角随着初始干密度的增大先增大后减小再增大,抗剪强度值总体逐渐增大;在初始干密度一定时,改良膨胀土的粘聚力随着掺砂比例的增大而减小,内摩擦角随着掺砂比例的增大先增大后减小,抗剪强度总体变化趋势减小。当初始干密度为2.0 g/cm³,掺砂比例为30%时,抗剪强度达到最大值。     

Influence of dry and wet curing conditions on compressive strength of silica fume concrete

This paper reports a part of an ongoing laboratory investigation in which the compressive strength of silica fume concrete is studied under dry and wet curing conditions. In the study, a total of 48 concretes, including control Portland cement concrete and silica fume concrete, were produced with four different water–cement ratios (0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6), three different cement dosages (350, 400, 450 kg/m³) and three partial silica fume replacement ratios (10%, 15%, 20%). A hyperplastisizer was used in concrete at various quantities to provide and keep a constant workability. Three cubic samples produced from fresh concrete were demoulded after a day; then, they were cured at 20±2 °C with 65% relative humidity (RH), and three other cubic samples were cured at 20±2 °C with 100% RH until the samples were used for compressive strength measurement at 28 days. The comparison was made on the basis of compressive strength between silica fume concrete and control Portland cement concrete. Silica fume concretes were also compared among themselves. The comparisons showed that compressive strength of silica fume concrete cured at 65% RH was influenced more than that of Portland cement concrete. It was found that the compressive strength of silica fume concrete cured at 65% RH was, at average, 13% lower than that of silica fume concrete cured at 100% RH. The increase in the water–cementitious material ratios makes the concrete more sensitive to dry curing conditions. The influence of dry curing conditions on silica fume concrete was marked as the replacement ratio of silica fume increased.     

Toxicity of chlorine to juvenile spot, Leiostomus Xanthurus

The sensitivity of juvenile spot, Leiostomus xanthurus, to total residual chlorine (TRC) in flowing sea-water was investigated. Incipient LC₅₀ bioassays, histopathology, avoidance tests and the combined effect of thermal stress and TRC were used to assess sensitivity.

Estimated incipient LC₅₀ values were 0.12 mg 1⁻¹ TRC at 10°C and 0.06 mg 1⁻¹ TRC at 15°C. Histological examination of spot used in the incipient LC₅₀ bioassay at 15°C and sacrificed while alive indicated pseudobranch and gill damage occurred in individuals exposed to a measured TRC concentration of 1.57 mg 1⁻¹. Spot exposed to lower concentrations of TRC, 0.02 0.06 mg 1⁻¹ at 15°C and sacrificed alive showed no consistent tissue damage.

Spot demonstrated temperature dependent avoidance responses to TRC. At 10°C, a concentration of 0.18 mg 1⁻¹ was required for significant (X²; P < 0.05) avoidance; at 15 and 20°C, spot showed significant avoidance of TRC concentrations as low as 0.05 mg 1⁻¹.

Simultaneous exposure of spot to thermal stress (5, 10 or 13°C above the acclimation temperature of 15°C) at measured TRC concentrations of 0.05 0.07 and 0.34–0.52 mg 1⁻¹ demonstrated a significant, (Z²) with Yates correction, P < 0.05) increase in sensitivity to TRC with increased temperature and exposure times for some of the groups tested.     

Strength and drying shrinkage properties of concrete containing furnace bottom ash as fine aggregate

The strength and drying shrinkage of concretes with the natural sand replaced with furnace bottom ash (FBA) at 0%, 30%, 50%, 70% and 100% by mass, were studied at fixed water–cement ratios (W/C) and fixed slump ranges.The results showed that, at fixed water–cement ratios, the compressive strength and the drying shrinkage decreased with the increase of the FBA sand content. However, at fixed workability, the compressive strength was comparable with that of the control concrete, while the drying shrinkage increased with the increase of the FBA sand content beyond 30% replacement level. Nevertheless, 30% of the natural sand can be beneficially replaced with the FBA sand to produce concrete in the compressive strength range from 40 to 60 N/mm² without detrimentally affecting drying shrinkage properties of the concrete.     

考虑SD效应的地基承载力广义强度安全系数

现有的地基承载力安全系数其缺点在于不能体现土体的三维受力状态,广义强度安全系数采用π平面上广义剪应力与强度包络线的比值可以更好的考虑土体的三维受力情形,因而能更好的体现地基承载力的安全特性。为了研究SD效应即土在三轴压缩与三轴拉伸强度不等对地基承载力安全系数的影响,本文首先基于广义非线性强度准则研究了表征SD效应大小R及准则参数α的关系,将R划分成三种情况。然后运用变换应力空间方法描述了基于广义非线性强度准则下的广义强度安全系数的表达式。算例结果表明,SD效应参数R对于地基承载力安全系数影响较大。