Advancement In Construction Industry Research Articles

Experimental investigation on flexural performance of functionally graded concrete beams using flyash and red mud

ABSTRACT The continuous change in the strength and other properties, environmental problems, hike in cement price, advancement of construction industry makes the usage of alternative materials as Functionally graded materials (FGM) which leads to a new materials on concrete as Functionally graded concrete (FGC), In this present paper, investigation has carried out on the functionally graded concrete by using red mud and also fly ash. In this M20 grade of concrete is used as the conventional concrete in compression zone and M25 with the replacement of cement by red mud and flyash with varying percentage (5%, 10% 15%) respectively in the tension zone. The results indicated that the 10% of the red mud and 10% of the fly ash as the optimum value for the concrete beam and by load deflection curve, it is evident that functionally graded concrete beam has more advantages than ordinary concrete since it has more durability and strength characteristics. Scanning electron microscope analysis was also carried out on the red mud functionally graded concrete and fly ash functionally graded concrete. It clearly indicated the pores present in the materials which tends to increase in strength of the concrete.

An Emphasis of Geopolymer Concrete with Single Activator and Conventional Concrete with Recycled Aggregate and Data Analyzing using Artificial Neural Network

The emphasis of concrete in the advancement of construction industry is essential. Due to the rapid increase in the development of infrastructure, there is a considerable demand for the construction materials. The construction materials drained gradually due to continue use in construction and there is a degree for the advancement of these development materials. Therefore, in this context, a rapid increase in the price of conventional construction materials and various governments have put restrictions on fine aggregates. In this circumstance, the investigation attempted to determine the appropriateness of the substitute materials in concrete development because these materials are eas ily available at very low cost as compared to conventional fine and coarse aggregates. The effect of recycled aggregates on the strength of conventional concrete and Geo-polymer concrete was studied. The natural aggregates are replaced by the crushed aggregates of intervals of 10%,20%, 30%, 40 %, and 50% in both geo-polymer and conventional concrete. The different strengths of 20MPa, 40MPa, and 60MPa werestudied in this research work. The conventional concrete cubes were cured in normal water and geopolymer concrete cubes cured in ambient room temperature. The coarse aggregates used were of size 20mm and 10mm sieved and the recycled aggregates contains a cement mortar attached to it. The outcomes show that a slight decline in the strength of conventional concrete and high strength found with 30% substitution of coarse aggregate and eventually the prediction of data was analyzed using Artificial Neural Network

Mechanical and Durability Characteristics of Marble Powder Based High Strength Concrete

Concrete is a construction material consisting of cementitious material, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and water. Now-a-days, the cost of these materials is increasing. We need to look at a way to reduce the cost of building materials especially cement. One of the recent advancement in construction industry is the replacement of cement with waste materials in concrete. This replacement offers cost reduction, energy savings and protection of environment. To achieve the above objective, an attempt has been made to replace cement with waste marble powder (WMP) produced from marble industries. The present investigation aims to study the mechanical and durability properties of high strength concrete (HSC) with cement partially replaced by waste marble powder. Cement has been replaced with marble powder at 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% in this study. The properties of concrete such as compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and flexural strength were determined. The durability characteristics such as water absorption, acid resistance and rapid chloride permeability were also determined.

Graphene Oxide Admixed Aerated Concrete Composite with Carbon Fibres

Concrete is the widely used construction material and research focus is towards customizing the mixture proportion to suit the application for various construction facilities. Advancement in construction industry has resulted in fast track construction facilities with the use of precast structural elements. Lightweight concrete is gaining importance due to the popularity of prefabricated construction. This paper highlights the optimized mixture proportion of aerated concrete composite with certain chemical and mineral admixtures so that it can be suitably used for precast structural elements. Aluminium powder was used as the aerating agent. Lime powder of about 30% by weight of cement was used to facilitate the aeration process. Lime reacts with aluminium powder liberating hydrogen gas which is responsible for the air voids in concrete. Fly ash class F was used as replacement for sand by 20%. The sand used for this concrete was pulverized and the fraction passing 1.18 mm sieve was used for the concrete. Since the mixture proportion is a multivariable process, statistically designed experiments using central composite design of response surface methodology was used to design the trial mixes. The significance of the interacting factors and the validity of experimentation were analyzed using ANOVA analysis. The strength properties and durability tests were performed to access the characteristics of the material. The density of the concrete was 1285 kg/m3 .The compressive strength obtained was 27.5 MPa, the tensile strength was 2.89 MPa and flexural strength was 3.4 MPa. Chopped carbon fibres and graphene oxide were admixed to the concrete and it was observed that there was 13% increase in the compressive strength when 0.05% of graphene oxide was added. Also carbon fibres increased the flexural strength of the concrete bridging the cracks that were formed when load was applied. Response surface graphs were drawn for all the characteristics that were studied. The significant interaction effects were assessed for all the observed characteristics. There is a general view that aerated concrete being a porous material will not be durable in terms of performance. Hence durability tests like carbonation test, concrete impermeability test and rapid chloride penetration tests were performed to access the durability of the material. It was observed that there were isolated pores and hence the durability of the concrete was the same as conventional concrete. Hence optimized mixture ratio was obtained for low density, high strength and low water permeability. This material can be potentially used for the fabrication of precast structural components so that the process of handling these members will be easy due to the reduced weight of the concrete. Also it has been reported that aerated concrete has good acoustical and thermal insulation properties.

Factors of changes in farming in Piła subregion in the view of Agricultural Censuses in 1996, 2002 and 2010

The conducted factor analysis, basing on the outcomes of three successive Agricultural Censuses, selected four factors of changes in agriculture and rural areas of Pila subregion and determined the variation range they accounted for. They were induced by natural environment conditions, production limits of agricultural holdings, the level of entrepreneurship, labour market situation. Those variables, in turn, contributed to the suburbanisation processes and road network and social infrastructure development, as well as their derivatives, such as, the level of incomes, advances in construction industry and the level of pre-schooling. Agriculture contributed negatively (destimuli) to region’s development in analysed years.

Multipurpose experimental characterization of smart nanocomposite cement-based materials for thermal-energy efficiency and strain-sensing capability

Novel nanocomposite smart multifunctional materials are emerging as promising technological advances in construction industry, where thermal-energy efficiency needs should meet environmental sustainability and mechanical performance requirements. In this view, new cement-based materials showed encouraging results in terms of added functional properties combining all the above mentioned capabilities with electrical conductivity and self-sensing potential for a variety of field scopes, e.g. vibration measurements, damage detection, structural health monitoring, electromagnetic shielding, self-heating pavements for deicing and more. The present paper deals with the development and multipurpose experimental characterization of cement-based materials doped with different carbon nanoinclusions consisting of: multi-walled carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, carbon black, and graphene nanoplatelets. The study investigates morphology, optical features, thermal characteristics, electrical properties and strain-sensing capability of the different composites, through a campaign of in-lab experimental measurements. The results highlight the peculiar behavior of each composite material, which is strictly related to the adopted nanoinclusions, that reveal to be suitable for specific purposes. In particular, all carbon nanoinclusions are seen to reduce solar reflectance capability, while they produce negligible variations in thermal emittance. Graphene nanoplatelets represent the most effective nanoinclusion to increase thermal conductivity and diffusivity, which is related to their structural and geometrical characteristics and better capability to distribute the thermal wave. Consistently, the same graphene samples produce the largest electrical conductivity and capacitance. However, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, even though providing comparatively smaller contributions to electrical conductivity, are seen to be the best nanoinclusions for providing strain-sensing capabilities to the cement-based composites.

PROPERTIES OF SELF COMPACTING CONCRETE WITH METAKAOLIN REPLACING SAND WITH GBFS

After Agriculture Industry in India. Construction sector contribute 11% to the GDP. Hence construction Industry plays a crucial role in economic development for any construction. Sand is the major material for preparation of mortar and self compacting concrete. But the problem here is sand is largest basic consumer non-renewable resource. Hence it is our responsibility to safeguard the sand for future generation. Today this is an almost scarcity of national sand and due to continuous excavation of river beds there is some serious effect on ecology ever. It’s the time to think for alternate material to replace the river sand and for any mix design of self compacting concrete higher %age of powder content & sand is required. In the present paper we have put an effort to replace the sand with GBFS by–product of steel and iron manufacturing plant. Test result of GBFS meets the national standard of fine aggregates (IS 38 3 1970) GBFS does not contain material that may affect the strength and durability of concrete such as chlorides, organics impurities. It is free from emission of Co2. In the present paper M40 grade of SCC was considered with different replacement of sand with G.B.F.S. Further it is studied that the effect of MetaKaolin on the properties of GBFS self compacting concrete, the studies include the effect of GBFS and MetaKaolin on the fresh and hardened mechanical properties of SCC made with GBFS and MetaKaolin. The observation made that river sand can be replaced up to 60% with constant W/C ratio 0.38% the only problem with GBFS, it takes long time to gain strength. If we add the admixtures METAKAOLIN by 10%, then quick setting & early strength is possible. The GBFS is free from Co2, Alkalis and silt, Co2.The fresh properties & compressive strength of SCC increases with the increase in the percentage of GBFS. But limited to 60% replacement provided by adding 10% MetaKaolin. It is found that 70% replacement not reached satisfactory results. It is economical when compared with natural sand and also reliable alternative material in terms of workability, strength and durability. As there is broader slope for advancement in construction Industry. Therefore there is an immense necessity to know for alternative to natural river sand, this paper further detail about the fresh and hardened properties chemical properties briefly in full length submission. The fresh properties and compressive strength of self compacting concrete is improved as percentage of GBFS increases with constant MetaKaolin (%). The study has revealed that using MetaKaolin in the replacement f river sand with GBFS gives better flow properties and compressive strength in comparison to only GBFS

GLASS CEILING AND WOMEN CAREER ADVANCEMENT: EVIDENCE FROM NIGERIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Despite the fact that women possess the required knowledge, skills, competencies, training and experiences to perform effectively and efficiently in construction industry, they experience entry and career advancement barriers. This research examines the effects of glass ceiling syndrome on women career advancement in construction industry. Data were obtained through structured questionnaire distributed to workers of selected construction companies. The findings reveal that some of the barriers mentioned in the literature against women career advancement in construction are prevalent in Nigeria, except the existence of equality in respect of male and female in terms of employment and career development opportunity. Also, low women participation in Nigerian construction industry begins in choosing course, education and continues throughout recruitment process. The aim is to encourage women's participation in construction industry and employers to tackle the industry’s environmental issues by introducing flexible work hour, reducing workload and making the works less tedious and stressful. Also, use of foul languages, harassment of women should be eradicated and continuous supports to balance and family responsibilities should be given.

Improving the Predictability of Hiley Pile Driving Formula in the Quality Control of the Pile Foundation

Pile Dynamic Formulas are the oldest and frequently used method to determine bearing capacity of piles. The more recent method is based on the Wave Equation analysis and different formulations such as Case Mathod, TNO, CAPWAP and TEPWAP which were developed for pre-driving analysis and post-driving measurements applications. The major factors for the common use of the dynamic formulas have been due to their simplicity, cost effectiveness and applicability in various piling situations. However, in some literature the energy approach have been given an unfair reputation as being unreliable and less accurate than the more analytical or dynamic testing methods. One of the issues due to the poor performance of the dynamic formulas is that, historically, the hammer energy and the energy trasferred to pile had to be assumed. Nevertheless, with the advent of computers, new technologies are emerging with the advancement in construction industry. This has produced gradual improvements that have resulted in the dynamic method to be used on many projects with greater reliability. In this paper, a review of the different testing methods as well as pros and cons of the pile driving formulas are discussed. Also, an approach to improving the widely used Hiley dynamic equation is presented. This approach enables evaluation of the pile capacity to be made more accurately.