High concentrations of heavy metals in the soils have potential long-term environmental and health concerns because of their persistence and accumulation tendency in the environment and along the food chain. This study was aimed at studying the feasibility of heavy metals removal from the soil using plants naturally growing in the surroundings of selected polluted sites in Tanzania and soil application of the sorbent materials zeolite and autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC). The results showed that Sporobolus sp. is a hyperaccumulator of Cu. Four other species, Launea cornuta (Oliv &amp; Hiern) O. Jeffrey, Tagetes minuta (L.), Sporobolus sp. and Blotiella glabra (Bory) Tryon showed high potential for phytoextraction of Cu. No hyperaccumulators of Pb and Zn were identified in the area, but Tephrosia candida and Tagetes minuta (L.) were identified as potential plants for phytoextraction of Pb, while Conyza bonariensis (L.) Cronquist, Launea cornuta (Oliv &amp; Hiern) O. Jeffrey, Tagetes minuta (L.), Blotiella glabra (Bory) Tryon, Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kulm and Polygonum setogulum A. Rich were identified as potential plants for phytoextraction of Zn. The result from sorbent experiments showed that both materials had a potential for remediating metal polluted soils. The AAC had a higher removal capacity for both Zn and Pb than zeolite. The removal capacity of zeolite and AAC in a mixed metal experiment (Pb and Zn) showed a little difference in the sorption capacity of AAC and Zeolite for Pb and Zn respectively. Speciation of the metal in soil shows that the major part of the metal was associated with firmly attached component of the metal in the soil. Compared with the total metal concentration analysed, the available component accounted for 13-39% for Zn and 31-39% for Pb. It can be suggested to co-remediate polluted soils using reactive sorbent nodules and hyper-accumulating plant species. Identification of the best combinations and designs remains the subject of future research. / <p>QC 20121130</p>

In this dissertation, the seismic behavior and design of AAC-infilled steel moment frames are investigated systematically. The fundamental vehicle for this investigation is the ATC-63 methodology, which is intended for the establishment of seismic design factors for structural systems. The ATC-63 methodology is briefly reviewed, including the concepts of archetypical structures, design rules and mathematical models simulating the behavior of those archetypes. A limited experimental investigation on the hysteretic behavior of an AAC-infilled steel moment frame is developed, conducted, and discussed. Using the experimental results of that investigation, the draft infill design provisions of the Masonry Standards Joint Committee (MSJC) are extended to AAC infills, and a mathematical model is developed and calibrated to simulate the behavior of AAC infills under reversed cyclic loads. Prior to application of ATC-63 methodology to AAC-infilled steel moment frames, the methodology is applied to an example steel moment frame to demonstrate the methodology and verify understanding of it. Then, archetypical infilled frames to be evaluated by the ATC-63 methodology are developed using a series of pushover analyses. Infill configurations whose total lateral strength in a particular story exceeds about 35% of the lateral strength of the bare frame in that story are observed to provoke story mechanisms in the frame. Based on this observation, archetypical infilled frames are selected conforming to two infill configurations: uniformly infilled frames, and open ground story frames. Each infill configuration includes archetypes whose ratio of infill strength to bare-frame strength at each story is less than 35%, and archetypes whose ratio is greater than 35%. The former archetype is typical of steel moment frames infilled with AAC; the latter archetype is typical of steel moment frames infilled with conventional (clay or concrete) masonry. The ATC-63 methodology, specialized for application to infilled frames, is applied to the archetypical infilled frames developed above. The performance of those archetypical infilled frames is evaluated, and seismic design factors are proposed for AAC-infilled steel moment frames. The extension of this work to other types of infilled frames is discussed. / text

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-05-29T18:30:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ângelo Cezar Fumagalli Rostirola.pdf: 4315210 bytes, checksum: ff48e5f928774ac2545c3ae6774d5dcf (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-29T18:30:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ângelo Cezar Fumagalli Rostirola.pdf: 4315210 bytes, checksum: ff48e5f928774ac2545c3ae6774d5dcf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-24 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / SINDUSCON-NH - Sindicato das Indústrias da Construção Civil Novo Hamburgo / A construção civil atualmente é a indústria com maior crescimento no Brasil, fomentada por financiamentos e programas do governo federal. É também uma das indústrias que mais consome recursos naturais e energia, além de ser a principal geradora de resíduos sólidos urbanos. Grande parcela destes recursos naturais consumidos pela construção é formada pelos agregados. Uma alternativa econômica e ambientalmente correta, para diminuir a extração deste material, é a sua substituição por algum outro material, se possível por um resíduo, como apontam várias pesquisas. A busca por materiais e produtos ecologicamente corretos está em uma crescente, assim como os estudos para a reciclagem de diversos resíduos. A união entre produtos que consomem um volume menor de matéria-prima com o emprego de resíduos na sua produção parece uma saída viável para um desenvolvimento mais sustentável. Artefatos para a construção civil produzidos com concreto celular autoclavado (CCA) utilizam até quatro vezes menos materiais quando comparados a produtos com características semelhantes, produzidos com concreto convencional, cerâmico, entre outros. Além do menor consumo dos materiais constituintes, o concreto celular possui outras propriedades interessantes, como: suficiente resistência à compressão; isolamento térmico e acústico; baixa densidade; resistência ao fogo. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal avaliar a influência da substituição parcial do agregado natural por agregado reciclado de concreto (ARC) na produção de concreto celular autoclavado. Após realização de estudos-piloto, optou-se pelo emprego da proporção de Cimento e Agregado Natural (AN) de 67% e 33% e sobre estes 0,45% de Cal e 0,3% de Alumínio com relação água/sólidos igual a 0,32. Foram empregados Cimento Portland CP-V ARI, Cal calcítica, areia natural e agregado fino reciclado de concreto, em teores de 0%, 25% e 50%. A dimensão máxima do agregado empregado na produção de CCA é de 150 µm. A cura foi realizada em autoclave após um tempo de espera de 24 horas a partir do início da mistura, por um período de 6 horas. Foram avaliadas a resistência à compressão, a absorção de água capilar, a massa específica e a porosidade. Os ensaios de resistência à compressão foram realizados em 48 e 72 horas, e a absorção de água, em corpos de prova preparados e acompanhados pelo período de 96 horas. A microestrutura dos CCA produzidos foi caracterizada por microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV). Verificou-se que existem expressivas alterações nas propriedades do CCA produzidos com ARC em substituição do AN, com a tendência de aumentar a densidade de massa aparente, bem com a resistência à compressão, a medida que aumenta-se o teor de ARC. Na análise dos resultados, percebeu-se que o uso de ARC alterou as propriedades dos concretos produzidos neste estudo exploratório, sem, entretanto, inviabilizar o seu emprego. Com um ajuste da dosagem, pode ser obtido um CCA produzido com ARC, cujo comportamento seja compatível com o comportamento de CCA produzido somente com o AN. / In the last years, the Brazilian construction industry is among those of national production sectors that have been having a great growing, mostly due to the incentive from the government and due to financed resources by private and public agents. This industry is also one of the major consumers of natural resources and energy, besides being the main generator of solid waste. One of these natural resources used in the constructions is sand. An environmentally friendly and economical alternative to reduce the extraction of natural resources is the use of recycled waste. The associated use of low volume of raw materials with alternative materials, like waste, is one of the ways to get more sustainability in the construction sector. Construction and building components made with autoclaved cellular concrete (ACC) employ four times less material than others with the same function. Other advantage of ACC is the performance of its properties like compressive strength, thermal and acoustic behavior, lower density, fire resistance. The aim of this research was to investigate the use of fine grains from recycled concrete aggregate (ARC) as partial sand replacement in the production of autoclaved aerated concrete. With the goal to find the mix proportion some pilot studies were made. After this, it was chosen a relation of 67% of cement and 33% of natural fine aggregate (sand). The lime was used in the amount of 0.45% of total cement and sand, and 0.3% of aluminium. The water to total solids ratio was 0.32. It was employed Portland cement type V according to Brazilian standards, calcitic lime, natural sand and ARC passing in sieve with 150 micron opening. The replacement rate of sand by ARC was 0%, 25% and 50%. From 24 hours after the mixing of materials, the samples were submitted to steam curing in an autoclave chamber for 6 hours. It was evaluated the compressive strength, the density, the capillary water absorption and porosity. The compression strength tests were performed at 48 and 72 hours. Water absorption tests were conducted for 96 hours after samples preparing. The capillary porosity was calculated with the capillary water absorption data. ACC's microstructure analysis was done by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed in general that the behavior of ACC produced with ARC differs significantly from the ACC produced with natural aggregate. When the ARC rate increases the apparent specific gravity also increases as well as the compressive strength. The observed increase in the apparent specific gravity is not desired. However this behavior of ACC done with RCA does not prevent the use of this recycled aggregate. An optimized study of pre-wetting of RCA could improve its performance as aggregate for use in ACC, once its grain size showed to be appropriated for this kind of use.

Many failures of external walls made of porous buildingmaterials are caused by excessive moisture content,particularly after driving rain and under long duration ofmoist conditions. Lack of sufficient protection againstexposure conditions is one of the reasons for external wallsprematurely demonstrating failures, i.e. properties andperformance above/below critical levels. Silicon-based waterrepellants are increasingly used in order to improve theperformance of both old and new buildings. Water repellants areexpected to prolong the service life and improve the durabilityof wall components by preventing or minimising water ingressinto the structure and thus delaying the deteriorating effectsof the atmosphere. To date, various kinds of water repellantshave been developed. However, only limited research has beencarried out, particularly on the long-term field exposuretesting. Existing research is mainly focused on the performanceof surface treatments of concrete structures and the protectionof historical buildings built of stone, brick and wood, and isprimarily based on short-term laboratory testing. The aim ofthis research work is to study the long-term performance,degradation processes and ageing characteristics of renderedautoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) with and without waterrepellants. Investigations are carried out by physical andchemical analysis of fresh samples, samples naturally weatheredby long-term field exposure and samples artificially aged byshort-term accelerated laboratory tests. Two differentapplication of water repellants are employed: impregnation ofrendering surface with an aqueous product and as additive inpowder form mixed into the fresh rendering mortar. Continuousmoisture and temperature monitoring of naturally exposed testsamples are also included in the study. Wetcorr sensors andresistance-type nail electrodes are used to measure the surfacemoisture and the moisture content in the material,respectively. This thesis describes the experimental set-upand presents the results from site monitoring and laboratorytests of unexposed, naturally and artificially exposed samples(freeze-thaw and UV+water). The results from the continuousmoisture measurements are compared with the results obtainedfrom the full-scale test cabin built within the EUREKA-projectE 2116 DurAAC. The test cabin has the same basic measurementinstruments for continuous monitoring of moisture andtemperature. An attempt has been made to develop methods forlong-term performance assessment of water repellants to be usedin service life prediction. The combination of data obtainedfrom the field measurements with data obtained from thelaboratory tests and analysis may also meet practical needs ofthe end-users.

Examined in this study were some physical, mechanical, compositional and durability properties of AAC, its neighboring plasters and jointing adhesive, all of which were produced in Turkey. The compatibility of these materials inside the contemporary wall section and within historic fabric was discussed in terms of their material properties. In addition to the literature survey, laboratory studies were conducted on two types of AAC as G2 and G4, its jointing adhesive and exterior finishing layers as base coat, under coat, finish coat, water repellent finish coat / and some historical traditional construction materials of Anatolia as timber, masonry and infill brick, lime based exterior and interior plasters. The results were evaluated in terms of material properties of AAC, the compatibility of AAC and its complementary elements with each other and with the historic timber framed structures in Anatolia. It was concluded that the use of AAC in repairs of historical structures could be discussed only if the original infill is lost. In addition, its cement-plasters should be avoided from the historic fabric since they introduce salt problems to the structure. In terms of vapor permeability and modulus of elasticity, water repellent finish coat was proper finishing for AAC, and AAC, especially G4, exhibited similarities with historic infill mud brick. Further studies on other compatibility parameters were, however, necessary to decide on the compatibility of AAC with its neighboring materials. Moreover, the integrity of AAC with the historic fabric needed improvement by increasing its pozzolanicity and/or producing a new intermediary repair mortar/plaster.

<p>Many failures of external walls made of porous buildingmaterials are caused by excessive moisture content,particularly after driving rain and under long duration ofmoist conditions. Lack of sufficient protection againstexposure conditions is one of the reasons for external wallsprematurely demonstrating failures, i.e. properties andperformance above/below critical levels. Silicon-based waterrepellants are increasingly used in order to improve theperformance of both old and new buildings. Water repellants areexpected to prolong the service life and improve the durabilityof wall components by preventing or minimising water ingressinto the structure and thus delaying the deteriorating effectsof the atmosphere. To date, various kinds of water repellantshave been developed. However, only limited research has beencarried out, particularly on the long-term field exposuretesting. Existing research is mainly focused on the performanceof surface treatments of concrete structures and the protectionof historical buildings built of stone, brick and wood, and isprimarily based on short-term laboratory testing. The aim ofthis research work is to study the long-term performance,degradation processes and ageing characteristics of renderedautoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) with and without waterrepellants. Investigations are carried out by physical andchemical analysis of fresh samples, samples naturally weatheredby long-term field exposure and samples artificially aged byshort-term accelerated laboratory tests. Two differentapplication of water repellants are employed: impregnation ofrendering surface with an aqueous product and as additive inpowder form mixed into the fresh rendering mortar. Continuousmoisture and temperature monitoring of naturally exposed testsamples are also included in the study. Wetcorr sensors andresistance-type nail electrodes are used to measure the surfacemoisture and the moisture content in the material,respectively. This thesis describes the experimental set-upand presents the results from site monitoring and laboratorytests of unexposed, naturally and artificially exposed samples(freeze-thaw and UV+water). The results from the continuousmoisture measurements are compared with the results obtainedfrom the full-scale test cabin built within the EUREKA-projectE 2116 DurAAC. The test cabin has the same basic measurementinstruments for continuous monitoring of moisture andtemperature. An attempt has been made to develop methods forlong-term performance assessment of water repellants to be usedin service life prediction. The combination of data obtainedfrom the field measurements with data obtained from thelaboratory tests and analysis may also meet practical needs ofthe end-users.</p>

The goal of this thesis is to create a design documentation for a kindergarten. This building is situated in the city called Brtnice – more specifically in its newly established location Nová Čtvrť. The kindergarten has two floors. Walls of the first one are partly sunken under the surface level. Each floor is divided into an operating section and part for a preschool education. The building has a foundation made of plain concrete bands, built from an aerated concrete and has a flat roof. Following building project puts an emphasis on a spatial and architectonical layout, energy savings and overall safety.

In these days of economic crisis subsiding, in the civil engineering the attention is pointed especially to the systems, which effectively reduce energy and decrease costs associated with using of residential or industrial premises. Especially the heat-insulating systems are mentioned, because of their characteristics and construction which will be applied economical solutions. It is possible to use the materials based on aerated concrete which excel within construction materials due to its heat-insulating properties. The use of this material for clearly heat-insulations seems to be fully-fledged alternative to standard heat-insulating systems also due to combination of nature character and sufficient strength. This work deals with possibility of preparation non-bearing, heat-insulating material based on autoclaved aerated concrete with volume weight under 200 kg/m3.

This thesis is oriented on development of new porous materials for industrial floors based foam concrete and not autoclaved aerated concrete with the possible use of secondary raw materials and natural lightweight aggregates instead of classic aggregates. The dry mixture should be stored in bags as ready to use with the addition only of water.

This thesis is focused on development of a new type of lightweight self-levelling floor screed. The aim of this thesis is to develop lightweight screed with self-levelling function, which could be stored in a dry mixture in bags or silos, designed for use with only addition of water.