Construction and Building Materials articles from December 2006

Construction and Building Materials archives from December 2006

Effect of pozzolanic admixtures on mechanical, thermal and hygric properties of lime plasters.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Compressive and bending strength, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, water sorptivity, moisture diffusivity, water vapor diffusion coefficient, sorption isotherms, and linear thermal and hygric expansion coefficients of...

Compressive strength, chloride diffusivity and pore structure of high performance metakaolin and silica fume concrete.
December 1, 2006... Abstract This study is to relate the mechanical and durability properties of high performance metakaolin (MK) and silica fume concretes to their microstructure characteristics. The compressive strength and chloride penetrability of the...

Decay properties of the foamed bitumens.
December 1, 2006... Abstract This paper presents study on decay properties of two foamed bitumens. Foaming tests under various conditions were carried out to investigate decay properties of two types of bitumen: Penetration-grade 60 (PG 60) and...

Durability evaluation of building sealants by accelerated weathering and thermal analysis.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Accelerated weathering tests, exposure to heat (80[degrees]C) and UVA ultraviolet radiation (300 W), were carried out respectively on two selected building sealants, silicone and polyurethane, in this paper. A quantificational...

Mineralogical study of polymer modified mortar with silica fume.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Experimental investigation on the effects of styrene acrylic polymer and silica fume on the mineralogical composition of pastes of high-early-strength portland cement after 28 days of casting are presented in this paper....

Freeze-thaw and thermal degradation influence on the fracture properties of carbon and glass fiber reinforced polymer concrete.
December 1, 2006... Abstract In recent years, it has been found that some concrete structures, even for some high performance concrete and ready mixed concrete under good quality control, start to deteriorate long before reaching their designed service life....

The maturity method: modifications to improve estimation of concrete strength at later ages.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Two modifications have been proposed for the Nurse-Saul maturity function to get better estimates of compressive strength of concrete cured at different temperatures. The modifications account for the effect of w/c ratio on the...

An experimental and numerical study of the effect of thickness and length of CFRP on performance of repaired reinforced concrete beams.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Experimental and numerical analyses are performed to predict the loading carrying capacity of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) composites. The effect of CFRP thickness and length...

Experimental investigation of bearing capacity of sand reinforced with randomly distributed tire shreds.
December 1, 2006... Abstract A series of laboratory model tests has been carried out to investigate the using of shredded waste tires as reinforcement to increase the bearing capacity of soil. Shred content and shreds aspect ratio are the main parameters that...

Light and insulant plates for housing external closure *.
December 1, 2006... Abstract This is a description of a new application of recycled expanded polystyrene incorporated to concrete bricks later used for the manufacturing of closure plates. These plates are very light (specific weight 600 kg/m3) and provide an...

Thermophysical characterisation of tropical wood used as building materials: with respect to the basal density.
December 1, 2006... Abstract An experimental study has been carried out to determine thermophysical properties of tropical wood. Five species, covering a wide range of densities of most of the wood used in Central Africa, has been chosen. These properties...

Microscopic and macroscopic characterization of the porosity of marble as a function of temperature and impregnation.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Various methods were used in order to study how temperature cycling initiates changes in the porosity of fresh and impregnated marbles. The results indicated that intergranular decohesion was more pronounced in calcitic marble...

Repair of damaged aluminum truss joints of highway overhead sign structures using FRP.
December 1, 2006... Abstract An innovative repair technique is introduced for aluminum truss-type highway overhead sign structures, using fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets. The welded k-joints are typically subjected to excessive fatigue-induced cracking...

Water effects on the bond strength of concrete/concrete adhesive joints.
December 1, 2006... Abstract The paper discusses the experimental work by the authors investigating bond strength of epoxy adhesives and their efficiency when joining to concrete elements; the epoxies studied were those currently used in the construction...

Structural analysis of FRP reinforced polymer concrete material.
December 1, 2006... Abstract The paper deals with a study of precast elements made of polyester polymer concrete (PPC) reinforced with glass fibre rebars (GFRP). The paper describes the properties of the materials, which were tested on a microscopic scale...

Laboratory comparison study for the use of stone matrix asphalt in hot weather climates.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Stone matrix asphalt (SMA) is a hot mixture asphalt consisting of a coarse aggregate skeleton and a high binder content mortar. It was developed in Germany during the mid-1960s and it has been used in Europe for more than 20 years...

Freeze--thaw resistance of concretes treated with pore liners.
December 1, 2006... Abstract A laboratory investigation was carried out with surface treated and untreated concretes, using ASTM C666 Procedure A test and RILEM fresh water and salt water tests which give different exposure conditions during freezing and...

Utilization of industrial wastes and unprocessed micro-fillers for making cost effective mortars.
December 1, 2006... Abstract The use of fly ash, slag, silica fume and marble dust as replacement of cement on the compressive strength and cost effectiveness of low w/c ratio superplasticized portland cement mortars was investigated. The blending of...

Flexural and shear capacities of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars.
December 1, 2006... Abstract This paper reports test results of 12 concrete beams reinforced with glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars subjected to a four point loading system. All test specimens had no transverse shear nor compression reinforcement and...

RBS polymer encased concrete wall. Part II: experimental study and theoretical provisions for combined axial compression and flexure.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Royal building systems (RBS) consist of rigid polymer extruded components that slide and interlock together to create continuous formwork for monolithic concrete walls. The resulting system is highly durable, very efficient in...

Robustness of hollow clay masonry units and seismic behaviour of masonry walls.
December 1, 2006... Abstract As the recent experimental investigations indicated, the robustness of masonry units is one among the most decisive parameters which define the behaviour of masonry walls when subjected to seismic loads. If local brittle failure...

Damage mitigation by innovative materials for Temple C at Selinunte.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Greek temples are made of overlapped heavy stone blocks shaped to form columns and entablatures. Preservation of these constructions requires specific structural engineering effort. Present conditions of remains basically reflect...

Experimental study of early-age behavior of high performance concrete deck slabs under different curing methods.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Curing techniques and curing duration have crucial effects to the strength and durability of concrete. Proper curing can protect against moisture loss from fresh concrete. The objective of this experimental study is to examine the...

Strength performance of laterized concrete.
December 1, 2006... Abstract The results of an experimental program to investigate some characteristics of concrete containing laterite as a partial or full replacement of sand is presented in this paper. Sand in a concrete of mix ratio 1:2:4:0.56...

Compressive strength of fiber reinforced highly compressible clay.
December 1, 2006... Abstract Admixtures and geogrids are frequently used in practice to stabilize soils and to improve their load carrying capacity. In this study, polyester fibers were mixed with soft clay soil to investigate the relative strength gain in...

Optmization of calculation method for determination of composition of hardened mortars of Portland cement and hydrated lime made in laboratory.
December 1, 2006... Abstract This work presents a reviewed method for determining the composition of cement- and lime-based mortars and discusses the results obtained from the chemical characterization of Portland cement and hydrated lime mortars, which are...

Influence of physical and geometrical properties of granite and limestone aggregates on the durability of a C20/25 strength class concrete.
December 1, 2006... Abstract This paper presents an experimental study to evaluate the influence of physical and geometrical properties of granite and limestone aggregates on the durability of a C20/25 strength class concrete. Different granite and limestone...