Increasing use of rock materials like shale in building, roofing, embankment filling, brick manufacturing, and in other civil structure application makes it an important rock to consider in construction engineering. Knowledge of thermal and physical properties of shale as building material is required to predict the rock's strength and permanence against weathering. Inconsistent heat capacity of anisotropic rock can result in differential heat flow. This tendency can expand the building materials leading to reduction in strength and initiate disintegration. Authors have studied various thermo-physical properties of anisotropic shale from Tennessee, which is commonly used as building stones and bricks. Experiment was designed to measure the basic thermal property, 'heat capacity' of shale. Series of laboratory tests including durability, strength, specific gravity, moisture content, and porosity were conducted to determine the physical and mechanical behavior of the samples. Results indicated that properties like porosity, strength and heat capacity varied significantly within samples, where as specific gravity and moisture content yielded steady values. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to evaluate possible correlations among the tested properties. Strong positive relationship was evident between heat capacity, and porosity. Heat capacity and Unconfined Compressive Strength of shale were inversely related. This study emphasized that physical and thermal properties of shale are directly linked with strength and durability of the rock mass.

Adobe is a building material that has been used since ancient times, but is not as widely used as clay bricks or concrete for housing construction. In addition, it uses a construction technique that has been passed down and improved from generation to generation. In view of this, the present work aims to improve the properties of adobe by using PET bottle fibers in its composition. A mechanical test and two physical tests were carried out for adobe with 0% (standard adobe), 2%, 4% and 6% PET fibers, where it was observed that the adobe with 6% PET fibers obtained the best results, since it increased the compressive strength of the adobe by 19%, reduced the absorption percentage by 12% and finally reduced the density by 16.4%. Therefore, the addition of PET fibers in adobe is recommended, as it contributes to improve its mechanical and physical properties. Additionally, it reduces pollution in streets, rivers, parks, etc. because it promotes the recycling of PET bottles.

Soil cement has been used as a means of stabilizing highway pavement layers, airport pavement layers, embankments, and foundations for decades. The technology uses a compacted mixture of soil, cement, and water to form a hardened material layer that has specific strength and durability properties. Even after decades of utilization, however, design of soil cement pavement layers has room for enhancement. This thesis investigates factors that influence the design and performance of cement stabilized pavement layers in Mississippi. A survey was conducted to collect information about soil cement design procedures from across the U.S. The factors examined in the laboratory investigation are strength gain with time, unconfined compressive strength variability, elastic modulus, and wheel tracking. More than 1,100 specimens were tested to determine the influence of these factors on the design and performance of soil cement pavement layers.

No / Degrading infrastructure and applications of structural demolition create tremendous amounts of construction and demolition waste (CDW) all around the world. To address this issue in an effective way, recycling CDW in a most appropriate way has become a global concern in recent years. To this end, this study focused on the utilization of CDW-based materials such as hollow brick (HB), red clay brick (RCB), roof tile (RT), glass (G) and concrete (C) in the production of geopolymer mortars. These materials were first collected from an urban transformation area and then subjected to an identical two-step crushing-milling procedure to provide sufficient fineness for geopolymerization. To investigate the influence of blast furnace slag (S) addition to the CDW-based mixtures, 20% S substituted mixture designs were also made. Fine recycled concrete aggregates (FRCA) obtained from crushing and sieving of the waste concrete were used as the aggregate. A series of mixtures were designed using different proportions of three distinct alkali activators such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) and calcium hydroxide (Ca[OH]2). To improve their applicability, the mixtures were left to cure at room temperature rather than the heat curing which is frequently applied in the literature. After 28 days of ambient curing, the 100% CDW-based geopolymer mortar activated with three different activators reached a compressive strength of 31.6 MPa, whereas the 20% S substituted geopolymer mortar achieved a compressive strength of 51.9 MPa. While the geopolymer mortars activated with only NaOH exhibited poor performance, it was found that the use of Na2SiO3 and Ca(OH)2 improved the compressive strength. Main geopolymerization products were related to NASH, CASH, and C(N)ASH gel formations. Our results demonstrated that mixed CDW-based materials can be employed in the manufacturing geopolymers, making them potential alternatives to Portland cement-based systems by being eco-friendly, energy-efficient, and comparable in compressive strength. / This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 894100.

No description available.

In many surveillance scenarios, one concern that arises is how to construct an imager that is capable of capturing the scene with high fidelity. This could be problematic for two reasons: first, the optics and electronics in the camera may have difficulty in dealing with so much information; secondly, bandwidth constraints, may pose difficulty in transmitting information from the imager to the user efficiently for reconstruction or realization. In this thesis, we will discuss a mathematical framework that is capable of skirting the two aforementioned issues. This framework is rooted in a technique commonly referred to as compressive sensing. We will explore two of the seminal works in compressive sensing and will present the key theorems and definitions from these two papers. We will then survey three different surveillance scenarios and their respective compressive sensing solutions. The original contribution of this thesis is the development of a distributed compressive sensing model.

This paper presents results on experimental research for concrete produced using recycled coarse aggregates (RCA). Five types of coarse aggregates were used in this study, four of which were RCA. The main purpose of this research was to examine how different types and properties of coarse aggregate affected compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, and shrinkage in concrete when natural coarse aggregates were replaced with RCA. Concrete batches were made with water-cement (w/c) ratios of 0.30, 0.45, and 0.60, and substitution percentages ranged from 0% to 100% of natural aggregate with RCA. Test results clearly show that compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, and shrinkage greatly depend on the quality and type of coarse aggregate used. In addition to testing of hardened concrete, predictive models for elasticity and ultimate shrinkage were developed to formulate and reinforce proposed conclusions about the properties and performance for the different RCA.

Yes / Demolition and reconstruction of degrading structures alongside with the repetitive repair, maintenance, and renovation applications create significant amounts of construction and demolition waste (CDW), which needs proper tackling. The main emphasis of this study has therefore been placed on the development of concrete mixtures with components (i.e., aggregates and binder) coming entirely from CDW. As the binding phase, powdered CDW-based masonry units, concrete and glass were used collectively as precursors to obtain geopolymer binders, which were then incorporated with CDW-based fine and coarse concrete aggregates. Together with the entirely CDW-based concretes, designs were also proposed for companion mixtures with mainstream precursors (e.g., fly ash and slag) occupying some part of the CDW-based precursor combination. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) and calcium hydroxide (Ca[OH]2) were used at various concentrations and combinations as the alkaline activators. Several factors that have impact on the compressive strength results of concrete mixtures, such as mainstream precursor replacement rate, al-kaline molar concentrations, aggregate-to-binder ratios and curing conditions, were considered and these were also backed by the micro-structural analyses. Our results showed that through proper optimiza-tion of the design factors, it is possible to manufacture concrete mix-tures entirely out of CDW with compressive strength results able to reach up to 40 MPa under ambient curing. Current research is believed to be very likely to promote more innovative and up-to-date techniques to upcycle CDW, which are mostly downcycled through basic practices of road base/sub-base filling, encouraging further research and increas-ing the awareness in CDW issue. / The full-text of this paper will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 1 Jul 2024.

The primary objective of this study was to quantitatively analyze compressive static stress distributions across pallet deck surfaces supporting flexible and rigid packaging in simulated warehouse storage systems. Three different densities of polyolefin foams (2, 4, and 6 lb/ft3, pcf) simulated a variety of flexible and rigid packaging with a range of stiffness properties. A layer of single wall C-flute corrugated fiberboard acted as a sensing medium and also simulated the bottom of a corrugated box. Pressure sensitive films were used to detect compressive static stresses at the interface between the polyolefin foams and the pallet deckboard. Image analysis computer software program was developed to quantitatively characterize stress distributions left on pressure sensitive film. 280 lbs of compression load were applied to a Plexiglas® pallet section (40 x 3.5 inches, L x W) with ¾ inch deck thickness, as well as to a steel pallet section (40 x 3.5 inches, L x W) with ½ inch deck thickness. In both cases, the pallet sections were used in a simulated pallet storage rack. 700 lbs of compression load were applied to the same steel pallet section that was used in the racking simulation and the Plexiglas® pallet sections (40 x 3.5 inches, L x W) with ½ and ¾ inch deck thicknesses were used in simulated block (floor) stack storage to measure the stress distributions and deflections of deckboards. Applying the final models of resultant non-uniform stress distributions enabled the development of finite element analysis (FEA) models of pallet deckboard deflections. The predicted FEA models of the deckboard deflections were validated through comparison with experimentally measured deflections in the simulated warehouse storage systems. In the final models, the resultant three foams' stress distributions across pallet deck surfaces in both rack and floor stack storage simulations were non-uniform. The changes in the degree of stress concentrations and maximum stress levels along the deckboards varied, depending on the stiffness of the foams and deckboards and the support conditions in the simulated warehouse storage models. Qualified test indicates that the 2pcf and 4pcf foams represent non-rigid sack products and the 6pcf foam represents rigid packaging and contents. All tests were conducted within a few minutes; hence, all test data were assumed to be initially resulted compressive stresses. The compressive stresses may change over time. The measure of stress concentrations is the stress intensity factor, which is the ratio of initial maximum resultant compressive stress to the applied stress. The initial maximum resultant compressive stresses were adjusted for rate of loading which varied due to the difference in the stiffness of the foams. The table below shows the adjusted initial maximum resultant compressive stress intensity factors. The product of the calculation uniformly distributed compressive stress and the stress intensity factor is the appropriate criteria for designing packaging of product with adequate compressive strength. These factors will be useful when designing pallets, packaging, and unit loads.In simulated block stack storage, the foam stiffness (package and product stiffness) had a more significant effect on the stress distributions and concentrations along the deckboards than did the pallet deck stiffness. As a result, the stiffer foam presented a greater change in stress levels along the deckboard under the compression load. The quantified and evaluated stress concentrations and stress distributions will be useful in understanding the interactions between pallets and packaging, reducing product damage and improving the safety of the work place during the long-term storage of the unit loads. The predicted FEA models will allow the industry to better optimize pallets, packaging, and unit load designs. / Master of Science

No / The main aim of this study is to investigate the effects of nano-SiO2 (NS), nano-Al2O3 (NA), nano-TiO2 (NT) and nano-Fe2O3 (NF) particles in single, binary, ternary, and quaternary combinations on compressive, splitting tensile, and flexural strengths of concrete. The residual compressive strength of control and nano-added concretes are also determined at 300, 500, and 800 °C elevated temperatures. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses have been conducted to examine the chemical composition and microstructure of concrete samples. The main parameters investigated were the amount and various combinations of NS, NA, NT and NF, producing thirty-one concrete batches, one control and thirty NS, NA, NT and NF added concrete mixes. The total nanoparticle amounts in the concrete mixes of 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5% by weight of cement were studied. A total of 558 concrete specimens with nanoparticles were tested at 28 days to determine compressive, splitting tensile, flexural, and residual compressive strength of concretes at ambient and elevated temperatures. It can be clearly concluded that NS and NA particles are more effective than NT and NF particles in improving the mechanical properties of concrete. The largest increase in compressive, splitting tensile, and flexural strength was obtained for 1.5% of NS and NA hybrid combination as 13.95%, 18.55%, and 21.88%, respectively. Furthermore, the residual compressive strength of single and hybrid nano-added concrete specimens significantly reduced, especially at 800 °C. Although the largest decrease in residual compressive strength of 57.65% was recorded for control concrete, the lowest reduction of 41.59% was observed for concrete with 1.5% of NS and NA hybrid combination at 800 °C.