Experimental study on the size effect on the equation of state of concretes under shock loading

Adopting the classical theory of hydrocodes,the constitutive relations of concretes are separated into an equation of state(EoS)which describes the volumetric behavior of concrete material and a strength model which depicts the shear properties of concrete.The experiments on the EoS of concrete is always challenging due to the technical difficulties and equipment limitations,especially for the specimen size effect on the EoS.Although some researchers investigate the shock properties of concretes by fly-plate impact tests,the specimens used in their tests are usually in one size.In this paper,the fly-plate impact tests on concrete specimens with different sizes are performed to investigate the size effect on the shock properties of concrete materials.The mechanical background of the size effect on the shock properties are revealed,which is related to the lateral rarefaction effect and the deviatoric stress produced in the specimen.According to the tests results,the modified EoS considering the size effect on the shock properties of concrete are proposed,which the bulk modulus of concrete is unpredicted by up to 20% if size effects are not accounted for.

Experimental Evaluating of the Physical, Mechanical and Durability Properties of Natural, Recycled and Both Combined Aggregates Based Concretes

This experimental study aims at the reuse of recycled aggregates (RA), resulting from the demolition of concrete, cement block and cement mortar, in the manufacture of common construction in Burkina Faso. The RA can readily replace natural aggregates in concrete. Then five formulations of natural and recycled aggregates based concrete for characteristic strength of 25 Mpa were prepared in addition to the natural aggregates base concrete named reference concrete (BN): two types of recycled aggregates concrete (BR), three types of recycles and natural combined aggregates base concrete (BC). The properties of natural and recycled aggregates were characterized and the physical, mechanical strength and durability properties were also evaluated for all concrete specimens. All the studied concrete formulation present a density between 2000 kg/m3 ≤ ρ ≥ 2600 kg/m3 and an average slump of 4.9 ± 0.1 cm. The obtained results indicate that the recycled aggregates are suitable for current concrete. Two out of the five combinations studied, such as the natural (BN) and combined aggregate (BC2) based concretes satisfy the mechanical characteristics (Rc28 > 25 MPa) at 28 days of age and an average absorption coefficient of 2.93% and 3.98%. The recycled aggregate based concrete (BR1, BR2) and combined aggregate based concrete (BC1), gave respective average compressive strength of 21.55 MPa, 20.50 MPa and 20.30 MPa, i.e. a difference of 13.80% to 18.80% under the characteristic strength (25 MPa) aimed at 28 days of age. Thus, the recycled aggregates are in conformity with the normative prescriptions and their use for standard concrete gives adequate physical, mechanical and durability properties for the production of the C20/25 concrete series in the common civil engineering applications.

Dynamic Mechanical Behaviour of Ultra-high Performance Fiber Reinforced Concretes

Ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concretes （UHPFRC） were prepared by replacing 60% of cement with ultra-fine industrial waste powder. The dynamic mechanical behaviour of UHPFRC with different fiber volume fraction was researched on repeated compressive impact in four kinds of impact modes through split Hopkinson pressure bar （SHPB）. The experimental results show that the peak stress and elastic modulus decrease and the strain rate and peak strain increase gradually with the increasing of impact times. The initial material damage increases and the peak stress of the specimen decreases from the second impact with the increasing of the initial incident wave. Standard strength on repeated impact is defined to compare the ability of resistance against repeated impact among different materials. The rate of reduction of standard strength is decreased by fiber reinforcement under repeated impact. The material damage is reduced and the ability of repeated impact resistance of UHPFRC is improved with the increasing of fiber volume fraction.

Compressive Strength and Abrasion Resistance of Concretes under Varying Exposure Conditions

The purpose of this study is to comparatively evaluate the wear resistance of concretes under abrasion rates. Five concrete mix proportions of a fixed water-cement ratio of 0.45 were considered in the study, but the constituent materials, age of concrete and exposure contact conditions were varied. The coarse aggregate type employed in the study was crushed granite. The compressive strength and abrasion resistance of concretes were tested between at ages 7 to 70 days and 100 - 500 revolutions of abrasion wheels respectively. The study revealed that the compressive strength and abrasion resistance had the optimal performance when the coarse aggregate content was 45% and the worst performance when the fine aggregate content was 28.7% of the total weight of concrete constituents. There was a remarkable loss of concrete particles to wear between 200 revs and 300 revs of abrasion wheel contact. Concrete grade in excess of 60 N/mm2 is required to resist abrasion beyond 200 revolutions of abrasion wheel contact on concrete specimens. Concretes investigated also showed weak resistance to deep abrasion at and above 300 revolutions of abrasion wheel contact.

Effect of Substitution of Cement by Mineral Powders on the Physico-mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Sand Concretes

The approach that contributes to the development of eco-materials in construction is the use of mineral powders,which can improve mechani­cal properties and reduce cement consumption.This article aims to study the effect of substitution by mass of cement with mineral powders on the physicomechanical properties and microstructure of sand concretes.The used mineral powders are A:the limestone,B:the natural pozzolan,C:the hydraulic lime,D:(1/3 limestone+1/3 natural pozzolan+1/3 hydraulic lime),and E:(1/2 natural pozzolan+1/2 hydraulic lime).The studied percentages are 5%,10%and 15%,in both separated and combined states.The studied properties are workability,compressive strength,the elastic­ity modulus in compression,shrinkage and microstructure analysis.The objective is to target the optimal percentage of the substitution of cement with mineral powders,which ensures the best compromise between the main properties of the studied sand concretes.The obtained results show that the optimal percentage is in favor of the substitution of cement by 10%D(1/3 limestone,1/3 natural pozzolan and 1/3 hydraulic lime).Even the 15%of mineral powder D,presented similar performances compared to the sand concrete(without mineral powders).Finally,in the context of the development of eco-materials,it should be noted that the 10%D and 15%D(1/3 limestone,1/3 natural pozzolan and 1/3 hydraulic lime)contribute to decrease the use of cement and consequently to reduce of CO2 emissions.

Damage constitutive model of different age concretes under impact load

In order to investigate the mechanical properties and stress-strain curves of concrete at different ages under impact load,the impact compression tests of concrete at age of 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28 d were conducted with a large diameter split Hopkinson pressure bar, respectively. Based on statistical damage theory and Weibull distribution, combining the analysis of the change laws of stressstrain curves and viscosity coefficient of concrete with age, a damage constitutive model that can reflect the variation in dynamic mechanical properties with age was proposed. The stress-strain curves calculated from the proposed model are in good agreement with those from experimental data directly.

EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL STUDIES ON DYNAMIC COMPRESSIVE BEHAVIOR OF REACTIVE POWDER CONCRETES

Split Hopkinson pressure bar （SHPB） technique is used to determine the dynamic strength of reactive powder concretes （RPCs） with different steel-fiber contents. Two types of pulse shapers with different thicknesses are considered to reduce the high-frequency-oscillation effect and achieve a nearly constant strain rate over a certain deformation range. It is known that the compressive strength of concrete-like materials is hydrostatic-stress-dependent, and the apparent dynamic strength enhancement comes from both the effects of the hydrostatic stress and strain rate. In order to differentiate them, numerical method is used to calculate the contribution of the hydrostatic stress, and then the genuine strain-rate effect on dynamic compressive strength of RPCs is determined. In addition, the effect of steel-fibers on dynamic strength and failure mode of RPCs is discussed.

Gamma-ray shielding study of light to heavyweight concretes using MCNP-4C code

In this work, linear and mass attenuation coefficients, half and tenth-value layers, effective atomic number and electron density of different types of concretes were determined at 316.51, 468.07, 511, 662, 1173 and 1332 keV using MCNP-4C code and Win XCom programs. The MCNP-4C and Win XCom results agreed well with each other, with differences of \±1.9%. The results agreed with available experimental data, too, with differences of \±6%.The MCNP-4C results showed better agreement with the experimental data than the Win XCom results. Also, it was found that the effective electron density of studied concretes varies in the range of(2.83–3.2) 9 10^(23)electron/g.

Mechanical Properties of Reactive Powder Concretes Produced Using Pumice Powder

We examined the applicability of the pumice aggregate on the concrete formed by considering the reactive powder concrete mixture ratios, for the rigid superstructure concrete road pavement and building construction. The natural pumice aggregate in fibrous and non-fibrous concrete samples was used in the production of concrete by fracturing in 0.1-0.6 mm dimensions in rotor mill. The concreted formed in this way is named after the pumice powder concrete(PPC). The PPC samples produced were taken 7 days as 20 ℃ standard water cure, 28 days as 20 ℃ standard cure and 9 different types of combined cures. The combined cures were applied different temperatures in different durations. PPC samples were subjected to some pressure and flexural tests at the end of the standard water and combined cures. The highest compressive and flexural strengths of PPC samples were obtained after the combined cures: 3 days in 20 ℃ as standard water curing + 2 days in 180 ℃ in drying-oven. The highest compressive strength of PPC samples without any fiber was found to be 47.27 MPa, as for the highest flexural strength, it is found to be 5.23 MPa, in the end of the study. The highest compressive strength of fibrous PPC samples was 51.12 MPa, while flexural strength was 6.57 MPa.

Influence of the Aggregate Volume on the Electrical Resistivity and Properties of Portland Cement Concretes

The electrical resistivity of concretes with various aggregate volume fractions （Va） of 0%-70% at water/cement （W/C） ratios of 0.4 and 0.5 during 1 day was monitored.It is found that the addition of normal aggregate to cement paste leads to a regular increase in concrete resistivity at each hydration stage and the electrical resistivity has a deeper increase for the lower W/C at a fixed aggregate volume fraction.The number of normalized resistivity （NR） of concrete to its paste matrix was introduced,which is only a function of aggregate volume fraction （Va）.The quantitative relationships give an alternative method for the prediction of aggregate volume in the concrete.A logarithmic relation is established between the elastic modulus of concrete at 7 days or 28 days and the electrical resistivity of concrete at 1 day.The equations are obtained,the compressive strength of concrete at 7 days or 28 days can be determined by the electrical resistivity of concrete at 1 day and the used aggregate content in the concrete.The quantitative relationships give a non-destructive test （NDT） method for prediction of concrete elastic modulus and compressive strength.

Mathematical models for properties of mortars with admixtures and recycled fine aggregates from demolished concretes

In order to expand the engineering application of recycle aggregate mortars （RAM） with aggregates from demolished concretes, the models for the properties of RAM and the replacement rate of these recycled fine aggregates were proposed. First, different kinds of mathematical models for the basic properties （compressive strength, water retention rate, and consistency loss） of RAM with two kinds of admixtures, thickening powders （TP） and self-made powdery admixtures （SSCT） designed for RAM, and the replacement rates were established, while the average relative errors and relative standard errors of these models were calculated. Additionally, the models and their error analyses for the curves of drying shrinkage and curing time of RAM ＋ SSCT at different replacement rates were put forward. The results show that polynomial functions should be used to calculate the basic properties of RAM ＋ TP and RAM ＋ SSCT at different replacement rates. In addition, polynonfial functions are the most optimal models for the sharp shrinkage sections in the curves of drying shrinkage-curing time of RAM ＋ SSCT, while exponential functions should be used as the models for the slow shrinkage sections and steady shrinkage sections.

A Numerical Stress-strain Response Model of All Grades of Concretes under Uniaxial Compression

An important problem facing stress-strain response modeling of concrete is the complexity of the compressive strength grades. 21 groups of speeimens with different cubic compressive strength （56.3- 164.9 MPa ） hate beets numerically analyzed. Using only the compressive strength, a stress-strain response model of different concrete grade was established. The numerical simulation model not only qualitatively reproduces the relationship of uniaxial compressive strength, peak value stress and cubic compressive strength, but realizes the consistence of the ascending branch of stress-strain cunts with different strength grades by introducing the correction coefficient k. The results indicate k increases gradually from 0 to approximate 1 with the increase of the compressive strength, corresponding to the transition from the paracurve to straight line branch in stress-strain curves. When k is 0, the madel is identical to the Hognestad equation. A good agreement with the experiment data was obtained.

Wedge Splitting Test and Inverse Analysis on Fracture Behaviour of Fiber Reinforced and Regular High Performance Concretes

The fracture behaviour of three fiber reinforced and regular HPC （high performance concretes） is presented in this paper. Two mixes are based on optimization of HPC whereas the third mix was a commercial mix developed by CONTEC ApS （Denmark）. The wedge splitting test setup with 48 cubical specimens was used experimentally and the cracked non-linear hinge model based on the fictitious crack model was applied for the interpretation of the results. The stress-crack opening relationships were extracted by using inverse analysis algorithm for various multi-linear softening curves. This showed that the refinement of the softening curves reflects in improved accuracy of the WST （wedge splitting test） simulation in comparison with bi-linear softening curves with acceptable increase of computational time. Furthermore, the fracture mechanics parameters such as COD （crack opening displacement）, fracture energy and characteristic length were experimentally determined. Experiments were performed at 1, 3, 7 and 28 days. Fracture energy, Gf, was found to increase with age, while the characteristic length, Lch, was found to decrease.

Experimental study on creep of high-performance concretes

In order to investigate the compression creep of two kinds of high-performance concrete mixtures used for prestressed members in a bridge,an experimental test under laboratory conditions was carried out.Based on the experimental results,a power exponent function was used to model the creep degree of these high-performance concretes(HPCs) for structural numerical analysis,and two series parameters of this function for the HPCs were given with the optimum method of evolution program.The experimental data were compared with CEB-FIP 90 and ACI 92 models.Results show that the two code models both overestimate the creep degree of two HPCs,so it is recommended that the power exponent function should be used for the creep analysis of bridge structure.

Ceramic Setting Phosphate Binders for Bonding Refractory Concretes

The ceramic setting binders obtained by means of the raw mix mechano-chemical processing(mechanical dispersion and chemical interaction processes combination), used for bonding refractory concretes, become more available with a subsequent increased interest in their properties because they develop initial strength during a heat up of the units within 8-10 h, in contrast to 24 h after placement for high Al_2O_3 cements(HAC). This strength development enables high temperature processing units to be relined with minimum turnaround time, thus providing a favored cost/performance ratio. The present paper identifies the predominant phosphate phases responsible for developing good mechanical-strength properties of zirconia and alumina concretes bonded with mechano-chemical binders. It sets out the colloid and crystalline phases resulted from interphase interaction that provide the basis for high concentrated bonding suspensions(HCBS) technology useful to the refractory industry.

Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Concretes with Styropor

In this paper waste expanded polystyrene (EPS) granulated in various proportions was added to cement and lime paste and samples were produced in order to provide heat and voice insulation and produce low-intensity concrete. Styropor, which is especially obtained as waste material in packaging industry, is used in production of samples;the purpose here was to prevent environmental pollution and produce construction material with variable cost. Hot wire method was used for measuring the thermal conductivity of the sample. A mould with the dimensions of 20 × 60 × 150 mm was prepared for thermal experiments and 100 × 100 × 100 mm was prepared for mechanical experiments and the mortars were cast. The samples were subjected to thermal conductivity, pressure and tensile strength and water absorption tests. The diameter of the EPS ranged from 0 to 6 mm and concrete involvement rate was determined as to be 0 to 70 percentages. As a result, it has been found out that in EPS-containing cement and lime binding-agent materials can be used for the following purposes: (i) production of earthquake-proof low-intensity concrete, (ii) as insulation-purpose construction material, (iii) decoration.

Simulation of the Cracking and Ablation Behavior of Ferrosiliceous and Siliceous Nuclear Sacrificial Concretes

We investigated the simulation of the cracking and ablation behavior of ferro-siliceous and siliceous nuclear sacrificial concretes. To this end, four type of sacrificial concretes were fabricated, i e, the ferro-siliceous（F） and siliceous（S） plain concretes, and the polypropylene fiber reinforced concretes of the above two（FF, SF）. The cracking and ablation behaviors of the sacrificial concretes were investigated by simulation tests, and the simulated elevated temperature was obtained by means of thermite powder. The number and the width of the cracks were compared and the pore size distribution of sacrificial concretes was measured. In addition, the interface and chemical composition of melt at different positions were analyzed, and the ablation depth of the sacrificial concrete crucibles was also measured. It was found that the siliceous concrete shows to be more prone to cracking than the ferro-siliceous concrete due to the higher content of fly ash and lower water to binder ratio; though the ablation depth of siliceous concrete is found to be slightly larger, no clear difference can be detected for the basemat ablation rate.

A Method of Assessing Parameters of Air-Void Structure in Air-Entrained Concretes

The air-void size distribution and number of air voids are crucial characteristics of air-entrainment. The standard spacing factor L is based on the Powers model, in which considerable simplifications are assumed. A better solution is provided by the Philleo factor, which determines the percentage content of protected paste located at a distance S from the edge of the nearest air void. Developing the concept put forward by Philleo, a method of determining the volume of protected paste on the basis of images generated from the numerical model of concrete grain structure including layout of aggregate-paste-air, is proposed. It is the ratio of the volume of the paste protected by air voids to the total paste volume. The PPV （protected paste volume） index accounts not only for sizes and number of air voids, but also for the role of aggregate particles in the placement of these pores, which is often disregarded in analyses. The PPV results obtained from image analysis were compared with standard spacing factor L and with the parameter developed by Philleo. The analyses conducted by the authors shows that accounting for aggregate grains in calculations substantially affects the assessment of the quality of the air-pore structure.

集中配筋连接预制剪力墙抗震性能试验研究

针对现有预制混凝土剪力墙接缝施工容错率低、混凝土现场浇筑作业量大和钢筋锚固过长等不足,提出一种使用超高性能混凝土(UHPC)的集中配筋连接预制剪力墙。通过对比1片现浇剪力墙试件、3片不同接缝形式的集中配筋连接预制剪力墙试件的拟静力试验结果,揭示该类预制剪力墙的破坏规律和抗震性能、竖缝对墙体抗震性能的影响和连接钢筋的受力特点。采用ABAQUS软件对试件进行有限元模拟,分析轴压比和集中配筋率对试件抗震性能的影响。研究结果表明:预制试件与现浇试件具有相同的破坏规律,均为弯剪破坏;这2类试件的滞回曲线均较饱满,骨架曲线走势基本一致,耗能能力接近,且预制试件的最小承载力仅比现浇试件低5.6%,表明预制试件的抗震性能与现浇试件的抗震性能基本相同;竖缝对剪力墙承载力的影响较小,使剪力墙的延性和耗能能力有一定的削弱;不同竖缝形式预制墙的抗震性能相近但各有特点,竖缝形式预制墙采用UHPC出筋搭接具有更好的整体性,采用U形键槽的预制墙具有更大的刚度和更强的耗能能力;连接钢筋的应力分布具有典型受弯构件的特征;随着轴压比增加,模型的刚度和承载力不断增加,在轴压比从0.05增加到0.30时,最大的峰值荷载增幅发生在轴压比从0.05到0.10时,从承载力的提高、刚度、耗能和墙角抬高等方面考虑,试件的集中配筋率保持在90%~110%为宜。

Intelligent Small Sample Defect Detection of Concrete Surface Using Novel Deep Learning Integrating Improved YOLOv5

Dear Editor,This letter presents an intelligent small sample defect detection of concrete surface using novel deep learning integrating the improved YOLOv5 based on the Wasserstein GAN(WGAN)enhancement algorithm.The proposed method is capable of producing top-notch data sets to address the issues of insufficient samples and substandard quality.