Enhancing the strength of pre-made foams for foam concrete applications

Chemical and mechanical foaming techniques are commonly used in foam concrete technology for developing lightweight construction materials. The characteristics of the foam before the lightweight structure sets and maintains its shape has a great impact on the properties of foamed concretes. The tendency of the foams to coalesce and collapse during the preparation process brings some challenges in controlling the properties of cellular structures. Consequently, it is critical to improve the stability of fresh foams in order to produce high quality cellular structures using a predictable and reliable approach. Aggregating the liquid film around bubbles is known to be effective in improving the stability of foams, but the impact of this stabilizing method has not been investigated for foam concrete applications. In this paper, Xanthan gum (with a thickening capacity) has been utilized as the foam stabilizer to aggregate the liquid film. This stabilizing method is shown to significantly enhance the pore size distribution of foam concretes. The resulting pre-made foams are remarkably more stable than the control foam, and the mechanical properties of the final cellular structure are considerably improved (about 34% in mechanical foaming and 20% in the chemical foaming technique).     

Efficiency of fly ash in concrete

Earlier efforts towards an understanding of the efficiency of fly ash in concrete has led to the introduction of rational methods. Based on the results available on some of the more recent pulverised fuel ashes, the authors evaluated the efficiency of fly ash in concrete over a wide range of percentage replacements (15–75%). It was clearly shown that the overall efficiency of fly ash cannot be adequately predicted using a single efficiency factor at all percentages of replacements. The overall efficiency factor (k) has been evaluated at all percentages of replacements considering the general efficiency factor (k_e) and the percentage efficiency factor (k_p). This study resulted in a quantitative assessment of the behaviour of fly ash in concrete, especially for the 28 day compressive strength at different percentages of replacement.     

Effect of fire exposure on cracking,spalling and residual strength of fly ash geopolymer concrete

Fly ash based geopolymer is an emerging alternative binder to cement for making concrete. The cracking, spalling and residual strength behaviours of geopolymer concrete were studied in order to understand its fire endurance, which is essential for its use as a building material. Fly ash based geopolymer and ordinary portland cement (OPC) concrete cylinder specimens were exposed to fires at different temperatures up to 1000 °C, with a heating rate of that given in the International Standards Organization (ISO) 834 standard. Compressive strength of the concretes varied in the range of 39–58 MPa. After the fire exposures, the geopolymer concrete specimens were found to suffer less damage in terms of cracking than the OPC concrete specimens. The OPC concrete cylinders suffered severe spalling for 800 and 1000 °C exposures, while there was no spalling in the geopolymer concrete specimens. The geopolymer concrete specimens generally retained higher strength than the OPC concrete specimens. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of geopolymer concrete showed continued densification of the microstructure with the increase of fire temperature. The strength loss in the geopolymer concrete specimens was mainly because of the difference between the thermal expansions of geopolymer matrix and the aggregates.     

Aqueous three-phase foam supported by fly ash for coal spontaneous combustion prevention and control

This work deals with the preparation and characterization of fly ash (FA) supported aqueous three-phase foams containing N₂ for coal spontaneous combustion prevention and control. Uniform and dense three-phase foams featuring FA contents between 20 wt.% and 33 wt.% are prepared in batch mode using a home-made foam generating column with an internal Venturi tube. The effect of FA on the foamability, static and dynamic stability of the three-phase foams is discussed. Compared with two phase foams, the FA supported three-phase foams manifest higher static and dynamic stability, which increases with the FA content. Base on the excellent static and dynamic stability, a structure model to attach FA particles at the N₂–water interfaces of the three-phase foams was proposed to elucidate the observed behaviors. The as prepared FA supported three-phase foams, exhibiting excellent coal fire extinguishing characteristic, can be used as a promising fire extinguishing material, especially for preventing the large coal area spontaneous combustion or extinguishing fire in high and unknown locations in goaf.     

Shrinkage behavior of structural foam lightweight concrete containing glycol compounds and fly ash

Shrinkage behavior of the structural foam lightweight concrete with density of 1600 kg/m³ was investigated. Owing to high drying shrinkage of the lightweight concrete, glycol compounds were used in the concrete mixture to study their effect on shrinkage behavior. Propylene glycol (PG), triethylene glycol (TEG) and dipropylene glycol tert-butyl ether (DPTE) were selected for testing of drying shrinkage of the lightweight concrete. Partial replacement of cement and sand with fly ash was also used to reduce the shrinkage. Results indicated that PG, TEG and DPTE were effective in reducing the shrinkage of lightweight concrete through reduction of surface tension of water. However, DPTE significantly reduced the surface tension and caused the foam instability and early stiffening of mixture. The partial replacement of cement and sand with fly ash could also reduce the shrinkage of the lightweight concrete. In this case, the compressive strength was also enhanced owing to the additional pozzolanic reaction.     

Utilization of fly ash concrete in marine environment for long term design life analysis

This paper presents the performance of 7-year fly ash concrete exposed to hot and high humidity climate in marine conditions. Control concrete and fly-ash concrete cube specimens of 200 mm were cast and steel bars of 12 mm in diameter and 50 mm in length were embedded at various cover depths. The concrete specimens were exposed to tidal zone of marine environment in the Gulf of Thailand. The concrete specimens were tested for chloride penetration profile, chloride content at the position of embedded steel bar, and corrosion of embedded steel bar after being exposed to tidal zone of sea water up to 7 years. Consequently, these experimental data were used to generate the empirical equation for predicting long term required cover depth of cement and fly ash concretes to protect against the initial corrosion of reinforcing steel in a marine environment.     

Durability performance potential and strength of blended Portland limestone cement concrete

This paper describes a study on the durability potential and strength of composite Portland-limestone cement (PLC) concrete mixtures blended with ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and/or fly ash (FA). Their performance was compared against ordinary Portland cement, plain PLC and Portland-slag cement concrete mixtures. Using the South African Durability Index approach, results indicate reductions in the penetrability of the composite PLC blends compared to the other mixtures. The durability indicators are chloride conductivity, gas (oxygen) permeability and water sorptivity. Compressive strength of the composite PLC mixtures containing both GGBS and FA showed competitive performance with the comparative mixtures, but FA blended PLC mixtures had diminished compressive strength values. The paper also presents considerations on the practical implications of using blended PLC concrete mixtures.     

3D full field study of drying shrinkage of foam concrete

Drying shrinkage (DS) of concrete is important. The graded and heterogeneous DS inside the concrete may lead to cracking and further deteriorate the mechanical and durability properties. To elaborate the drying gradient and deformation heterogeneity, the full field DS distributions of foam concrete have been studied using an expanded Digital Volume Correlation method, which has a high precision of 0.01 voxel (about 0.6 μm) in displacement. The effectiveness of DS in local sub-volume is verified from bulk shrinkage of the whole specimen. The DS gradient due to drying is clearly revealed, and DS heterogeneity in spatial domain and in frequency domain is identified. A full view of foam concrete's drying processes is built. At the middle drying stage, three different states exist simultaneously, especially a drying front arises with high drying shrinkage.     

复掺偏高岭土对混凝土抗压强度的影响

我国高岭土资源丰富,偏高岭土应用于混凝土有将会很大前景。本文对比研究了复掺偏高岭土对混凝土抗压强度的影响。研究表明在水胶比为0．31下,偏高岭土与粉煤灰总掺量为35％（偏高岭土掺量为8％）时更能充分发挥偏高岭土的活性。合理的偏高岭土掺入对掺粉煤灰混凝土早期抗压强度有提高明显,抗压强度提高可达47％。     

Mechanical properties of lightweight concrete made with coal ashes after exposure to elevated temperatures

This study investigated the thermal resistance of lightweight concrete with recycled coal bottom ash and fly ash. Specimens were exposed to temperatures up to 800 °C then cooled to room temperature before conducting experiments. Compressive strength test, FF-RC test, TG analysis, and XRD analysis were performed to analyze the physicochemical effects of coal ashes on the thermal resistance of concrete. Test results indicated that both bottom ash and fly ash were associated with a substantial increase in the residual strength of thermal exposed concretes. The results were attributed to the surface interlocking effect and the smaller amount of SiO₂ for bottom ash. For fly ash, the formation of pozzolanic C-S-H gel and tobermorite retained water at high temperatures, and the consumption of Ca(OH)₂ lowered stress from rapid recrystallization after exposure to 600 °C. It was concluded that the incorporation of coal ashes allows for lightweight concrete with good thermal resistance.     

石墨泡沫混凝土的吸波性能研究

多功能化和低成本有利于建筑吸波材料的应用。在频率8～18GHz范围内,采用弓形反射法测试了掺加石墨的水泥基泡沫混凝土的吸波性能,研究了石墨掺量、发泡剂用量和试件厚度对石墨泡沫混凝土吸波性能的影响。结果表明,掺加石墨后,泡沫混凝土吸波性能逐渐增强,石墨泡沫混凝土吸波材料中石墨的逾渗阈值为水泥质量的15%;随着发泡剂用量增加,石墨泡沫混凝土反射率逐渐降低。厚度为30mm时,泡沫混凝土吸波性能最佳,当石墨掺量和发泡剂用量分别为水泥质量的15%和2.5%时,反射率降低至-15.64dB,<-10.0dB的带宽可达3.0GHz,导热系数低至0.083W/(m.K)。石墨泡沫混凝土具有良好的保温和吸波性能,可以浇注施工建筑物的屋面和墙体,同时实现建筑电磁辐射防护和建筑节能的目标。     

Determination of gas permeability of high performance concrete containing fly ash

In this paper, gas permeability of high performance concrete (HPC) with water-binder ratio (w/b) varying from 0.25 to 0.35 and level of fly ash (FA) replacement ranging from 0% to 60%, were determined. Pore structure of high performance concrete was also investigated with mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). It showed that w/b ratio was found to have a varying influence on gas permeability. In this research, it achieved higher gas permeability at w/b of 0.30 than that at w/b of 0.25 or 0.35. The incorporation of fly ash increased the gas permeability of HPC. There’s a better interdependence between gas permeability and porosity than that between gas permeability and threshold diameter and mean diameter, respectively.     

Effects of different curing regimes on the compressive strength properties of self compacting concrete incorporating fly ash and silica fume

This paper presents the effect of air curing, water curing and steam curing on the compressive strength of Self Compacting Concrete (SCC). For experimental study, SCC is produced with using silica fume (SF) instead of cement by weight, by the ratios of 5%, 10% and 15%, and fly ash (FA) with the ratios of 25%, 40% and 55%. It is observed that mineral admixtures have positive effects on the self settlement properties. The highest compressive strength was observed in the concrete specimens with using 15% SF and for 28 days water curing. Air curing caused compressive strength losses in all groups. Relative strengths of concretes with mineral admixtures were determined higher than concretes without admixtures at steam curing conditions.     

Analysis of geopolymer concrete columns

Ordinary portland cement (OPC) has been traditionally used as the binding agent in concrete. However, it is also necessary to search for alternative low-emission binding agents for concrete to reduce the environmental impact caused by manufacturing of cement. Geopolymer, also known as inorganic polymer, is one such material that uses by-product material such as fly ash instead of cement. Recent research has shown that fly ash-based geopolymer concrete has suitable properties for its use as a construction material. Since the strength development mechanism of geopolymer is different from that of OPC binder, it is necessary to obtain a suitable constitutive model for geopolymer concrete to predict the load–deflection behaviour and strength of geopolymer concrete structural members. This article has investigated the suitability of using an existing stress–strain model originally proposed by Popovics for OPC concrete. It is found that the equation of Popovics can be used for geopolymer concrete with minor modification to the expression for the curve fitting factor, to better fit with the post-peak parts of the experimental stress–strain curves. The slightly modified set of stress–strain equations was then used in a non-linear analysis for reinforced concrete columns. A good correlation is achieved between the predicted and measured ultimate loads, load–deflection curves and deflected shapes for 12 slender test columns.     

不同强度等级混凝土遭受超低温冻融循环作用的受压强度试验研究

引气混凝土在自然环境下中的冻融损伤源于外部环境水分的侵入、混凝土的毛细孔-气孔系统的不断饱和。通过对气体分子扩散过程的讨论,修正了基于Fagerlund经典长期吸水理论的气孔饱水度变化预测模型,并采用引气砂浆的吸水实验结果证明了修正模型优于传统模型。结合自然条件下的干湿交替过程,提出了引气混凝土在自然条件下的吸水模型,包括两个阶段：自然环境中孔隙饱水度随环境干燥和降水作用而变化,以及外部侵入水分对毛细孔-气孔系统的饱和过程。前者利用干湿交替作用下混凝土表面湿润深度与平衡时间比的概念建立了自然条件吸水过程与连续吸水过程的联系,后者使用修正的气孔饱水度模型计算气泡持续饱水过程。将两阶段使用寿命模型应用于某大型铁路基建工程,结合当地气象数据与预设混凝土特性,得到了满足工程使用寿命的冻融耐久性关键设计参数。     

Quantitative measurement of the external and internal bleeding of conventional concrete and SCC

This study focuses on features and conditions of external and internal bleeding of fresh concrete and SCC for use in quality evaluation. To measure the amount of water expelled as a result of external bleeding and the settling of solid particles in a prepared concrete mixture which has not set, a self-weight consolidation approach was performed. Internal bleeding was then evaluated based on the proposed methodology, in which the quantitative measurement of internal bleed water is the first and most significant task for evaluating the effect on bonding failure. This study also illustrated that tendency by presenting bleeding measurements for a variety of ordinary concretes as well as SCC. The effects of chemical and mineral admixtures were observed. Furthermore, potential bleeding was discussed based on the permeability tests of paste samples.     

Transport properties of high volume fly ash roller compacted concrete

This paper describes research on the transport properties of high-volume fly ash roller compacted concrete (RCC). The mixes were developed through incorporating 50–260 kg/m³ cement and high volumes of fly ash ranging from 40% to 85% by mass of the total cementitious material. The concretes were investigated for permeability, absorption, sorption and chloride diffusion. The study showed that RCCs of moderate cement and moderate fly ash contents had lower values of permeability, absorption, sorption and chloride diffusivity.     

Effect of specimen size and shape on compressive strength of concrete containing fly ash: Application of genetic programming for design

The use of fly ash as a mineral admixture in the manufacture of concrete has received considerable attention in recent years. For this reason, several experimental studies are carried out by using fly ash at different proportions replacement of cement in concrete. In the present study, the models are developed in genetic programming for predicting the compressive strength values of cube (100 and 150 mm) and cylinder (100 × 200 and 150 × 300 mm) concrete containing fly ash at different proportions. The experimental data of different mixtures are obtained by searching 36 different literatures to predict these models. In the set of the models, the age of specimen, cement, water, sand, aggregate, superplasticizers, fly ash and CaO are entered as input parameters, while the compressive strength values of concrete containing fly ash are used as output parameter. The training, testing and validation set results of the explicit formulations obtained by the genetic programming models show that artificial intelligent methods have strong potential and can be applied for the prediction of the compressive strength of concrete containing fly ash with different specimen size and shape.     

炭纤维增强轻质矿粉混凝土的热电行为

炭纤维增强混凝土能用来感知温度,其因在于短炭纤维的P-型传导性引起的塞贝克(Seebeck)效应所致.通过测量添加炭纤维或矿质掺和物(飞灰、硅土粉)前后六种波特兰水泥基混凝土的热电功率,研究了炭纤维增强轻质混凝土热敏的能力及其矿质掺合物对Seebeck效应的影响.结果表明: 炭纤维增强轻质混凝土具有类似于炭纤维增强标准混凝土的Seebeck效应,只是Seebeck系数因掺合了矿粉而减低.掺有矿粉的炭纤维增强轻质混凝土可用作建筑物的热传感器.