Effect of W/C ratio on covering depth of fly ash concrete in marine environment

This investigation studied the effect of W/C ratio on covering depth required against the corrosion of embedded steel of fly ash concrete in marine environment up to 4-year exposure. Fly ash was used to partially replace Portland cement type I at 0%, 15%, 25%, 35%, and 50% by weight of cementitious material. Water to cementitious material ratios (W/C) of fly ash concretes were varied at 0.45, 0.55, and 0.65. The 200-mm concrete cube specimens were cast and steel bars with 12-mm diameter and 50 mm in length were inserted in the concrete with the covering depth of 10, 20, 50, and 75 mm. The specimens were cured in water for 28 days, and then placed to the tidal zone of marine environment in the Gulf of Thailand. Subsequently, the concrete specimens were tested for the compressive strength, chloride penetration profile and corrosion of embedded steel bar after being exposed to tidal zone for 2, 3, and 4 years. The results showed that the concrete mixed with Portland cement type I exhibited higher rate of the chloride penetration than the fly ash concrete. The chloride penetration of fly ash concrete was comparatively low and decreased with the increasing of fly ash content. The increase of fly ash replacement and the decrease of W/C ratio could reduce the covering depth required for the initial corrosion of the steel bar. Interestingly, fly ash concretes with 35% and 50% cement replacement and having W/C ratio of 0.65 provided better corrosion resistance at 4-year exposure than the control concrete with W/C ratio of 0.45. In addition, the covering depth of concrete with compressive strength of 30 MPa (W/C ratio of 0.65) could be reduced from 50 to 30 mm by the addition of fly ash up to 50%.     

Influence of fly ash on strength and sorption characteristics of cold-bonded fly ash aggregate concrete

Cold-bonded fly ash aggregate concrete with fly ash as part of binder or fine aggregate facilitates high volume utilization of fly ash in concrete with minimum energy consumption. This paper investigates the influence of fly ash on strength and sorption behaviour of cold-bonded fly ash aggregate concrete due to partial replacement of cement and also as replacement material for sand. While cement replacement must be restricted based on the compressive strength requirement at desired age, replacement of sand with fly ash appears to be advantageous from early days onwards with higher enhancement in strength and higher utilization of fly ash in mixes of lower cement content. Microstructure of concrete was examined under BSEI mode. Replacement of sand with fly ash is effective in reducing water absorption and sorptivity attributable to the densification of both matrix and matrix–aggregate interfacial bond. Cold-bonded fly ash aggregate concrete with a cement content of 250 kg/m³, results in compressive strength of about 45 MPa, with a total inclusion of around 0.6 m³ of fly ash in unit volume of concrete.     

The characteristics of air void and frost resistance of RCC with fly ash and expansive agent

In order to assure the outer concrete of Longtan dam in China possesses excellent of frost resistance, the losses of strength, mass and air void characteristics of roller compacted concrete (RCC) containing fly ash, superplasticizer and a novel MgO-bearing expansive agent (HNM) were studied using the freezing–thawing method ASTM C666. The results show that there is a linear correlation between strength and mass losses in RCC subjected to cycles of freezing and thawing.There is a relationship between the air void spacing factor and the frost resistance of RCC. However, for RCC containing fly ash and superplasticizer a spacing factor of 0.25 mm is not necessary. Using a water:binder ratio of 0.48 in RCC containing 50% fly ash and 8% HNM a durability factor of over D₃₀₀ can be achieved provided the spacing factor is less than 0.4 mm.     

Lime based steam autoclaved fly ash bricks

About 10 million tonnes of fly ash are produced yearly as waste from coal fired thermal power plants in Turkey. Only a small portion of this waste is utilized as a raw material in the production of cement and concrete. In this study, Seyitömer power plant fly ash was investigated in the production of light weight bricks. Fly ash, sand and hydrated lime mixtures were steam autoclaved under different test conditions to produce brick samples. An optimum raw material composition was found to be a mixture of 68% fly ash, 20% sand and 12% hydrated lime. The optimum brick forming pressure was 20 MPa. The optimum autoclaving time and autoclaving pressure were found 6 h and 1.5 MPa, respectively. The compressive strength, unit volume weight, water absorption and thermal conductivity of the fly ash–sand–lime bricks obtained under optimum test conditions are 10.25 MPa, 1.14 g/cm³, 40.5% and 0.34 W  m⁻¹ K⁻¹ respectively. The results of this study suggested that it was possible to produce good quality light weight bricks from the fly ash of Seyitömer power plant.     

Effect of mineral admixtures and curing periods on shrinkage and cracking age under restrained condition

This paper presents the test results on cracking behavior at medium age of uniaxially restrained specimens containing different types of mineral admixture, namely fly ash and limestone powder. In this study, the uniaxially restrained shrinkage, free shrinkage and strength tests were conducted to study the potential of cracking of concrete under restrained shrinkage condition. The influences of water to binder ratio, mineral admixtures and curing period of concrete on cracking behavior were investigated in this study. The investigation showed that cracking age and cracking strain of restrained specimens vary with mix proportion, mineral admixture and curing period. The potential of shrinkage cracking is not influenced only by cracking strain and amount of shrinkage but also on shrinkage rate and tensile creep. Mixture with lower water to binder ratio (w/b = 0.35) shows shorter cracking age than the mixture with higher water to binder ratio (w/b = 0.55). Fly ash and limestone powder significantly increase cracking age of concrete. The cracking age increases with the increase of the replacement ratio of fly ash. The higher shrinkage rate, when exposed to drying, of mixture with longer curing period leads to shorter cracking age.     

Utilization of bagasse ash as a pozzolanic material in concrete

The physical properties of concrete containing ground bagasse ash (BA) including compressive strength, water permeability, and heat evolution, were investigated. Bagasse ash from a sugar factory was ground using a ball mill until the particles retained on a No. 325 sieve were less than 5wt%. They were then used as a replacement for Type I Portland cement at 10, 20, and 30wt% of binder. The water to binder (W/B) ratio and binder content of the concrete were held constant at 0.50 and 350 kg/m³, respectively.The results showed that, at the age of 28 days, the concrete samples containing 10–30% ground bagasse ash by weight of binder had greater compressive strengths than the control concrete (concrete without ground bagasse ash), while the water permeability was lower than the control concrete. Concrete containing 20% ground bagasse ash had the highest compressive strength at 113% of the control concrete. The water permeability of concrete decreased as the fractional replacement of ground bagasse ash was increased. For the heat evolution, the maximum temperature rise of concrete containing ground bagasse ash was lower than the control concrete. It was also found that the maximum temperature rise of the concrete was reduced 13, 23, and 33% as compared with the control concrete when the cement was replaced by ground bagasse ash at 10, 20, and 30wt% of binder, respectively. The results indicate that ground bagasse ash can be used as a pozzolanic material in concrete with an acceptable strength, lower heat evolution, and reduced water permeability with respect to the control concrete.     

Analysis of durability of high performance concrete using artificial neural networks

This study aims to determine the influence of the content of water and cement, water–binder ratio, and the replacement of fly ash and silica fume on the durability of high performance concrete (HPC) by using artificial neural networks (ANNs). To achieve this, an ANNs model is developed to predict the durability of high performance concrete which is expressed in terms of chloride ions permeability in accordance with ASTM C1202-97 or AASHTO T277. The model is developed, trained and tested by using 86 data sets from experiments as well as previous researches. To verify the model, regression equations are carried out and compared with the trained neural network. The results indicate that the developed model is reliable and accurate. Based on the simulating durability model built using trained neural networks, the optimum cement content for designing HPC in terms of durability is in the range of 450–500 kg/m³. The results also revealed that the durability of concrete expressed in terms of total charge passed over a 6-h period can be significantly improved by using at least 20% fly ash to replace cement. Furthermore, it can be concluded that increasing silica fume results in reducing the chloride ions penetrability to a higher degree than fly ash. This study also illustrates how ANNs can be used to beneficially predict durability in terms of chloride ions permeability across a wide range of mix proportion parameters of HPC.     

Mixture design of high performance recycled liquid crystal glasses concrete (HPGC)

This study investigated the best mixture design of high performance recycled liquid crystal glasses concrete (HPGC) using waste liquid crystal glass sand to replace part of the fine aggregate. The design of experiment (DOE) method was adopted to design the specimen variables. Fresh properties were examined, including slump, flowing slump and unit weight and hardened properties were examined, including compressive strength, elastic modulus, impact-echo, ultrasonic pulse velocity and surface resistance. Range analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to determine the relationships between these properties and W/B, replacement ratios and n values. The results demonstrated that the ultrasonic pulse velocity and surface resistance of HPGC was higher than those of the control group. For the three n values, higher than ultrasonic pulse velocity was found at a replacement ratio of 30%. The replacement ratios, W/B, and relationships between n values were analyzed. F statistics indicated significant impact on the replacement ratio of 4.97 and W/B of 3.87, indicating that the main properties of the HPGC are determined by the replacement ratio and W/B. The range analysis results showed that the interaction between various factors with W/B = 0.28:1 and n = 1.4 has the most significant impact on compressive strength.     

Effect of fly ash addition on the mechanical properties of tile adhesive

Statistical relationship between various strengths of tile adhesives in which cement or sand was partially replaced with fly ash was studied. A low-lime fly ash was used in five different replacement levels from 5% to 30% by weight of either cement or sand. The tensile adhesion, flexural and compressive strengths of adhesives were determined at 2, 7 and 28 days. In small substitution levels, sand replacement increased the tensile adhesion strength. No strong relationship was found between tensile adhesion strength and flexural or compressive strength of the specimens in which the fly ash was used as sand replacement (r < 0.659). Strong relationship was observed between the same properties when fly ash was used as cement replacement (r > 0.896). Flexural and compressive strength values showed quite strong relationship (r > 0.949). This may be due to the fact that both of these strength values were obtained on the same specimens.     

Lightweight concretes of activated metakaolin-fly ash binders,with blast furnace slag aggregates

This work investigated geopolymeric lightweight concretes based on binders composed of metakaolin with 0% and 25% fly ash, activated with 15.2% of Na₂O using sodium silicate of modulus SiO₂/Na₂O = 1.2. Concretes of densities of 1200, 900 and 600 kg/m³ were obtained by aeration by adding aluminium powder, in some formulations lightweight aggregate of blast furnace slag was added at a ratio binder:aggregate 1:1; curing was carried out at 20 and 75 °C. The compressive and flexural strength development was monitored for up to 180 days. The strength diminished with the reduction of the density and high temperature curing accelerated strength development. The use of the slag had a positive effect on strength for 1200 kg/m³ concretes; reducing the amount of binder used. The thermal conductivity diminished from 1.65 to 0.47 W/mK for densities from 1800 to 600 kg/m³. The microstructures revealed dense cementitious matrices conformed of reaction products and unreacted metakaolin and fly ash. Energy dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction showed the formation of amorphous silicoaluminate reaction products.     

Permeability properties of self-compacting rubberized concretes

The paper presented herein was carried out to investigate the permeability characteristics of self-compacting rubberized concretes with and without fly ash. At a water–cementitious material (w/cm) ratio of 0.35, the self-compacting concretes (SCCs) were produced by replacing the fine aggregate with four designated crump rubber contents of 0%, 5%, 15%, and 25% by fine aggregate volume. Moreover, the SCCs with fly ash were produced by partial substitution of cement with fly ash at varying amounts of 20% to 60%. Totally, 16 concrete mixtures were cast and tested for permeability related properties such as chloride ion permeability, water sorptivity, and water absorption. The tests were conducted at 28 and 90 days after casting. Tests results revealed that using the crumb rubber aggravated all of the measured properties of self-compacting rubberized concretes (SCRCs) without fly ash. However, with the combined use of the crump rubber and fly ash, the concretes had better resistance to the chloride ion permeability, water sorptivity, and water absorption.     

Effect of shale addition on properties of sintered coal fly ash

Shale can be used as a substitute for clay in sintered fly ash, due to the similar physical and chemical property to clay. In this paper, these characteristics of sintered fly ash with or without shale (binder) were investigated by physical property, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that shale addition ranging from 30% to 50% (in weight) can be beneficial for properties of sintered products at temperature ranging from 950 to 1050 °C. However, a higher amount of shale easily caused significant bloating at 1100 °C. Considering energy saving and best performance, the sintering mix for shale and fly ash (50% in weight respectively, the same as below) fired at 1000 °C for 2 h was an optimal option. XRD results of the sintering mix show that intensity of hercynite increases with the increasing temperature, but intensity of quartz decreases on sintering. SEM confirms that addition of shale can improve microstructure and sintering of fly ash.     

Influence of class F fly ash on the abrasion–erosion resistance of high-strength concrete

This study investigates the abrasion–erosion resistance of high-strength concrete (HSC) mixtures in which cement was partially replaced by four kinds of replacements (15%, 20%, 25% and 30%) of class F fly ash. The mixtures containing ordinary Portland cement were designed to have 28 days compressive strength of approximately 40–80 MPa. Specimens were subjected to abrasion–erosion testing in accordance with ASTM C1138. Experimental results show that the abrasion–erosion resistances of fly ash concrete mixtures were improved by increasing compressive strength and decreasing the ratio of water-to-cementitious materials. The abrasion–erosion resistance of concrete with cement replacement up to 15% was comparable to that of control concrete without fly ash. Beyond 15% cement replacement, fly ash concrete showed lower resistance to abrasion–erosion compared to non-fly ash concrete. Equations were established based on effective compressive strengths and effective water-to-cementitious materials ratios, which were modified by cement replacement and developed to predict the 28- and 91-day abrasion–erosion resistance of concretes with compressive strengths ranging from approximately 30–100 MPa. The calculation results are compared favorably with the experimental results.     

Effects of post-mercury-control fly ash on fresh and hardened concrete properties

Activated carbon injection is the most mature technology for mercury capture from coal burning power plants; however, this technology increases the carbon content and mercury concentration in the fly ash. This, in turn, may reduce the suitability of fly ash for use in concrete and call into question the safety of using fly ash derived from this process. The focus of this paper is to investigate the reuse potential of post-mercury-control fly ash in concrete by examining the influence of three fly ashes derived from the activated carbon injection on the air content, compressive strength, permeability, and resistance to freezing and thawing of concrete mixtures. Laboratory testing confirmed the influence of the carbon on the air content of the concrete. However there was no difficulty in entraining air in activated carbon injection fly ash concretes within the recommended dosage range of the air-entraining admixture. All air-entrained fly ash concretes exhibited excellent characteristics in compressive strength (?32.0 MPa, 4641 psi at 28 days), resistance to chloride-ion penetration (moderate to low at 28 days of age) and freeze–thaw (?90 average durability factor after 300 cycles). The possible leaching of toxic elements including mercury from one fly ash sample used in this study was also evaluated using the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure. The test results indicated that the leaching of toxic elements was much lower than the contamination level.     

Comparison on efficiency factors of F and C types of fly ashes

Fly ashes are obtained from thermal power plants and they are pozzolanic materials, which can act as partial replacement material for both portland cement and fine aggregate. With their economical advantages and potential for improving fresh and hardened concrete performance, they have some benefits for using in concrete industry. In this study, the objective was to find the efficiency factors of Turkish C and F-type fly ashes and to compare their properties. Three different cement dosages were used (260, 320, 400 kg/m³), two different ratios (10% and 17%) of cement reduced from the control concretes and three different ratios (depending on cement reduction ratio) of fly ash were added into the mixtures. At the ages of 28 and 90 days, compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and ultrasound velocity tests were carried out. From the compressive strength results, the k efficiency factors of C and F-type fly ashes were obtained. As a result, it is seen that efficiency factors of the concrete produced by the replacement of F and C type fly ashes with cement increase with the increase in cement dosage and concrete age.     

Hybrid fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete with a high-volume coarse fly ash

This paper presents a study on the fresh and mechanical properties of a fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete incorporating high-volume fly ash that does not meet the fineness requirements of ASTM C 618. A polycarboxylic-based superplasticizer was used in combination with a viscosity modifying admixture. In mixtures containing fly ash, 50% of cement by weight was replaced with fly ash. Two different types of steel fibers were used in combination, keeping the total fiber content constant at 60 kg/m³. Slump flow time and diameter, V-funnel, and air content were performed to assess the fresh properties of the concrete. Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and ultrasonic pulse velocity of the concrete were determined for the hardened properties. The results indicated that high-volume coarse fly ash can be used to produce fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete, even though there is some reduction in the concrete strength because of the use of high-volume coarse fly ash.     

Effect of Granulated Blast Furnace Slag and fly ash addition on the strength properties of lightweight mortars containing waste PET aggregates

In this work, the effect of Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GBFS) and fly ash (FA) addition on the strength properties of lightweight mortars containing waste Poly-ethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottle aggregates was investigated. Investigation was carried out on three groups of mortar specimens. One made with only Normal Portland cement (NPC) as binder, second made with NPC and GBFS together and, third made with NPC and FA together. The industrial wastes mentioned above were used as the replacement of cement on mass basis at the replacement ratio of 50%. The size of shredded PET granules used as aggregate for the preparation of mortar mixtures were between 0 and 4 mm. The waste lightweight PET aggregate (WPLA)–binder ratio (WPLA/b) was 0.60; the water–binder (w/b) ratios were determined as 0.45 and 0.50. The dry unit weight, compressive and flexural–tensile strengths, carbonation depths and drying shrinkage values were measured and presented. The results have shown that modifying GBFS had positive effects on the compressive strength and drying shrinkage values (after 90 days) of the WPLA mortars. However, FA substitution decreased compressive and flexural–tensile strengths and increased carbonation depths. Nevertheless a visible reduction occurred on the drying shrinkage values of FA modifying specimens more than cement specimens and GBFS modified specimens. The test results indicated that, GBFS has a potential of using as the replacement of cement on the WPLA mortars by taking into consideration the characteristics. But using FA as a binder at the replacement ratio of 50% did not improve the overall strength properties. Although it was thought that, using FA as binder at the replacement ratio of 50% for the aim of production WPLA concrete which has a specific strength, would provide advantages of economical and ecological aspects.     

The importance of chloride content at the concrete surface in assessing the time to corrosion of steel in concrete structures

A literature review in the present study has shown that the chloride ions on the concrete surface exposed to a marine environment including tidal, splash and aerated zones can be accumulated then to increase with time. In order to take this effect into account in a model prediction of the rate of chloride ingresses in concrete, the surface chloride was expressed as a function of time such that (1) constant, (2) linear build-up, (3) square root build-up and (4) square root build-up with an initial set of the surface chloride (a refined model), at a given diffusion coefficient (2 × 10^?12 m²/s). As a result, the constant surface chloride model produced the greatest level of chloride penetration, as an initial set of the surface chloride content was overestimated. The rate of chloride ingresses derived from the highest surface chloride led to the greatest risk of chloride-induced corrosion of steel in concrete, whereas the linear and square root build-up models indicated 2–3 times longer duration of corrosion-free service life. The refinement of a surface chloride build-up suggested a more realistic prediction of chloride profile and corrosion risk, thereby imposing the rate of chloride ingresses between the constant surface chloride, and linear or square root build-up.     

Preparation and characterisation of fly ash based geopolymer mortars

Geopolymer mortars with varying levels of sand aggregate were prepared and their physical and mechanical properties studied. The geopolymer binder to sand aggregate weight ratio was varied from 9 to 1. Compressive strength and Young’s modulus of the fly ash based geopolymer paste were 60 MPa and 2.27 GPa and these values did not change significantly with addition of up to 50 wt.% sand aggregate. Geopolymer binder exhibited strong bonding to the sand aggregate. Increasing sand content without increasing the amount of alkaline activator resulted in a decreasing level of geopolymerisation within the binder system.     

The effect of high temperature on compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of structural lightweight concrete containing fly ash

In this study, the effect of high temperature on compressive and splitting tensile strength of lightweight concrete containing fly ash was investigated experimentally and statistically. The mixes incorporating 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% fly ash were prepared. After being heated to temperatures of 200, 400 and 800 °C, respectively, the compressive and splitting tensile strength of lightweight concrete was tested. This article adopts Taguchi approach with an L₁₆ (4⁵) to reduce the numbers of experiment. Two control factors (percentage of fly ash and heating degree) for this study were used. The level of importance of these parameters on compressive and splitting tensile strength was determined by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) method.