Compressive Strength of Basic Magnesium Sulfate Cement Coral Aggregate Concrete(MCAC)on Non-Destructive Testing

Basic magnesium sulfate cement coral aggregate concrete(MCAC)is a new type of concrete consisting of basic magnesium sulfate cement,coarse coral aggregate,coral reef sand and seawater.The rebound hammer(RH),the ultrasonic pulse velocity(UPV)and the compressive strength(fcu)tests of 14 sets of cube specimens of the MCAC after 28 d of aging were conducted.The impact of the content and length of sisal fiber on the relationship between the fcu-RH and the fcu-UPV was determined.A mathematical model was established to predict the strength of the MCAC using the UPV,RH,and comprehensive UPV/RH methods and to obtain the curves of test strength.The applicability of the test strength curves of ordinary portland concrete(OPC),light-weight aggregate concrete(LAC),and coral aggregate concrete(CAC)to MCAC was assessed.The results showed that the test strength curves of OPC,LAC and CAC were inappropriate to determine the strength of MCAC using non-destructive method.The relative standard error of the curves of test strength of the RH method and the comprehensive method met the specifications,whereas that of the UPV method did not.

Characterization of Surface Hardness and Microstructure of High Performance Concrete

The relationship between compressive strength obtained by universal testing machine and rebound value obtained by the hammer of high performance concrete was systematically investigated at the macro level. And a model of high performance concrete strength curve was established from them. At the micro level, the microstructure, hydration products and pore structure of concrete surface were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, comprehensive thermal analysis（TG-DSC） and mercury intrusion porosimetry（MIP）, respectively. The effect of carbonation on surface strength was also investigated. The results showed that the concrete surface hardness layer grew rapidly at early stage and then stabilized at last with ongoing curing age; the rebound value and compressive strength of concrete with slag were higher than those of concrete with the same content of fly ash. In addition, the strength curve obtained by the least square method can satisfy the local standard requirements with an average relative error of 8.9% and a relative standard deviation of 11.3%. When the carbonation depth was 6 mm, the compressive strength calculated by national uniform strength curve was 25 PMa higher than that by high performance concrete.

Effect of confining pressure on deformation and failure of rock at higher strain rate

Influence of confining pressure from 0 to 28 MPa, which acts on the two lateral edges of rock specimen in plane strain compression, on the shear failure processes and patterns as well as on the macroscopically mechanical responses were numerically modeled by use of FLAC. A material imperfection with lower strength in comparison with the intact rock, which is close to the lower-left corner of the specimen, was prescribed. In elastic stage, the adopted constitutive relation of rock was linear elastic; in strain-softening stage, a composite Mohr-Coulomb criterion with tension cut-off and a post-peak linear constitutive relation were adopted. The numerical results show that with an increase of confining pressure the peak strength of axial stress-axial strain curve and the corresponding axial strain linearly increase; the residual strength and the stress drop from the peak strength to the residual strength increase; the failure modes of rock transform form the multiple shear bands close to the loading end of the specimen （confining pressure=0-0.1 MPa）, to the conjugate shear bands （0.5-2.0 MPa）, and then to the single shear band （4-28 MPa）. Once the tip of the band reaches the loading end of the specimen, the direction of the band changes so that the reflection of the band occurs. At higher confining pressure, the new-formed shear band does not intersect the imperfection, bringing extreme difficulties in prediction of the failure of rock structure, such as rock burst. The present results enhance the understanding of the shear failure processes and patterns of rock specimen in higher confining pressure and higher loading strain rate.

Experimental study on the influence of hydrostatic stress on the Lode angle effect of porous rock

To investigate the deformation mechanisms of rock under hydrostatic stress, destructive experiments were conducted on sandstone under different levels of hydrostatic stress and stress Lode angles. The results reveal that the shape of the strength envelope on the π plane gradually changes from the shape of the Lade criterion to the shape of the Drucker-Prage criterion with an increase in hydrostatic stress.Normally, there exists a deviation between the strain and stress paths for porous rocks on the π plane,and the deviation decreases with an increase in stress Lode angle and hydrostatic stress. A rock failure hypothesis based on the rock porous structure was proposed to investigate the reasons for the abovementioned phenomena. It was found that the shear expansion in the minimum principal stress direction is the dominant factor affecting the Lode angle effect(LAE);the magnitude of the hydrostatic stress induces the variation of the porous structure and influences the shear expansion. Therefore, the hydrostatic stress state affects the LAE. The failure hypothesis proposed in this paper can clarify the hydrostatic stress effect, LAE, and the variation of the rock strength envelope shape.

Compression curve analysis and compressive strength measurement of brittle granule beds in lieu of individual granule measurements

Powders in granulated form are used in various processes to facilitate convenient usage. The durability of the formed granules is a crucial parameter, typically evaluated by the compressive strength of the gran- ules. However, especially for granules with a diameter in the order of tens of microns, statistically relevant testing of individual granules is not a feasible alternative, and in such cases uniaxial bed compression is required. There has not been consensus on whether uniaxial compression of a granule bed can be used to study the fracture of micron size or brittle granules. In our case study of a bed of sintered kaolinite granules with diameters under 100 μm, we show how the compressive strength of individual granules can be obtained from the compressive measurement of the entire bed by plotting the relative density versus the logarithmic pressure scale. We compressed the kaolinite powder with different loads; microscopy confirmed that below the ana- lyzed strength the granules are intact, though the granules start to fracture in the curved region on the compression curve. We found that angle-fitting can be used to locate the average compressive strength on the compression curve and to follow the evolution of strength with sintering temperature. The experi- ments in unison demonstrate that compression curve analysis is applicable for strength analysis of brittle granules.