Main trends on the simulation of the drying of refractory castables - Review

Refractory castables develop microstructures after curing that behave as partially saturated porous media. Upon heating (during its drying stage), the steam generated by the physical and chemically bond water can result in pore pressurization and explosive spalling. Numerical modeling can provide guidelines for designing safer heat-up profiles and also a better understanding of the mechanisms that lead to catastrophic damage. This work aims to review the fundamentals and models available, providing insightful thoughts on the current trends of the drying phenomena of ceramic compositions. The review also highlights that there are models better oriented to result in reasonable predictions of pore pressure values and others focused on a more accurate representation of the main physical phenomena that take place during heating. According to the findings, there are still various challenges to attain accurate models with high applicability capable of yielding safer and more efficient drying of refractory castables.     

我国鲜食玉米标准体系及营养标准研究

近年来我国鲜食玉米产业发展迅猛, 但同时也暴露出诸多产业乱象。梳理现有鲜食玉米标准体系是促进产业标准化、规范化的重要举措。本文通过对我国现行鲜食玉米标准进行梳理, 总结出目前我国鲜食玉米标准体系中抽样及一般性检测标准较完善、技术规程体系成熟、标准体系框架已建立的特点; 同时提出我国鲜食玉米标准体系存在技术规程标准内容重复、品质分级标准混乱、缺乏营养评价指标相关标准、感官评价标准混乱、缺乏甜糯玉米和笋玉米的相关标准、标准体系结构不合理等的问题; 并针对上述问题提出对应应统一技术规程标准, 建立营养评价体系, 统一品质分级标准, 统一感官评价指标, 完善甜糯玉米和笋玉米相关标准的解决办法。为鲜食玉米标准体系的建设及规范化提供参考和建议。     

Towards standardisation of proof load testing: pilot test on viaduct Zijlweg

Proof load tests of bridges can be very useful for structures with a lack of information, or for structures of which the effect of material degradation is difficult to assess. Contrary to diagnostic load testing, proof load testing is not well-defined in current standards in terms of required load and analysis of measurements. The risk related to the high loads used in proof load testing requires standardisation for these tests. The paper highlights important considerations for proof load testing that may lead to the development of guidelines in the Netherlands, by illustrating a pilot study on the viaduct Zijlweg in the Netherlands. This reinforced concrete bridge rates too low in shear. Topics of interest are the required load that the bridge has to withstand to be approved by the load test and the interpretation of the measurements during the test to avoid permanent damage to the structure. These measurements were compared to the stop criteria from existing codes for buildings, to examine if recommendations for the use with bridges can be formulated. The final result of the test on this case study is that the capacity of the viaduct is proven to be sufficient for shear and bending moment.     

Experimental study on mix proportion and fresh properties of fly ash based geopolymer for 3D concrete printing

This paper presents the material design and fresh properties of geopolymer mortar developed for 3D concrete printing application. Unlike traditional casting, in 3D printing, extruded materials are deposited layer-by-layer to build complex architectural and structural components without the need of any formwork and human intervention. Extrudability, shape retention, buildability and thixotropic open time (TOT) are identified as critical early-age properties to characterize the 3D printable geopolymer material. Five different mix designs of geopolymer are tested in a systematic experimental approach to obtain a best printable mix and later it is used to print a 60-centimeter-tall freeform structure using a concrete gantry printer to validate the formulation.     

基于多参数特征保留的载荷谱加速耐久性编辑

为了得到时间更短加载效果相同的加速耐久性试验载荷谱,提出了基于多参数特征保留的载荷谱编辑方法。该方法同时考虑载荷谱的损伤、功率谱密度以及统计参数等信息,对零部件载荷谱的时间进行压缩。以汽车悬架螺旋弹簧的载荷谱为例,采用该方法进行缩减,同时从多个参数特征方面与传统的基于损伤保留的编辑方法所得到的载荷谱进行对比。为了进一步验证编辑效果,采用编辑谱和原始谱对弹簧进行疲劳仿真。结果表明,该方法能够有效缩短汽车零部件的载荷谱,可得到与原始载荷谱具有相同加载效果的编辑载荷谱。     

Chloride migration in concrete with superabsorbent polymers

Superabsorbent polymers (SAP) can be used as a means for internal curing of concrete. In the present study, the development of transport properties of concrete with SAP is investigated. The chloride migration coefficient according to NT BUILD 492 is used as a measure of this. Twenty concrete mixtures are tested 7, 14, and 28 days after casting. The development of degree of hydration is followed for 20 corresponding paste mixtures.Both when SAP is added with extra water to compensate the SAP water absorption in fresh concrete and without extra water, the internal curing water held by SAP may contribute to increase the degree of hydration. No matter if SAP is added with or without extra water, it appears that the so-called gel space ratio can be used as a key parameter to link age and mixture proportions (water-to-cement ratio and SAP dosage) to the resulting chloride migration coefficient; the higher the volume of gel solid relative to the space available for it, the lower the chloride migration coefficient, because the pore system becomes more tortuous and the porosity becomes less.     

Stochastic service-life modeling of chloride-induced corrosion in recycled-aggregate concrete

The development and implementation of a stochastic service-life model for chloride-induced corrosion in reinforced recycled-aggregate concrete is presented in this work. The 1D model accounts for recycled aggregates that have been initially contaminated with chlorides from previous in-service exposure. Using a probabilistic approach, the model is employed to predict the service life of normal- and recycled-aggregate reinforced concrete with and without aggregate pre-contamination. Specifically, the effect of (a) type and replacement ratio of reclaimed aggregate, (b) chloride boundary conditions, (c) initial aggregate chloride concentration, and (d) thickness of contaminated aggregate shells on time to corrosion cracking was investigated herein. Results suggest that certain levels of contamination may be permissible in the design of reclaimed-aggregate reinforced concrete structures. Furthermore, quality control standards that limit thresholds of recycled aggregate replacement ratios and aggregate purity should be based on anticipated exposure conditions and old mortar thicknesses rather than initial degrees of aggregate contamination.     

Using microwave near-field reflection measurements as a non-destructive test to determine water penetration depth of concrete

A non-destructive version of a standard test for concrete permeability has been demonstrated. The method is based on water penetration depth estimation from near-field microwave measurements using an open-ended rectangular waveguide. In particular, water penetration is determined from the differential measurement of reflection coefficient in the S-band before and after injection of water under pressure. Experimental results show a good correlation between the standard destructive test and the new method. Microwave measurements simplify the standard test avoiding the need of drilling out a sample from the structure and thus reducing both the cost and time needed in the analysis.