Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-135). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 56 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-52).

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Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-88). Also available in electronic version.

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This thesis presents two separate applications of ionising radiation in Civil Engineering. The first is an investigation to determine the cement content of concrete using gamma-rays from the naturally occurring isotopes 238U, 232Th and their decay chains as well as 40K. Two sets of equations are derived and discussed. Spectra from cement, aggregate and concrete samples were made and the useful full energy peaks from the above sources identified. Two concrete samples were prepared using the same cement, but, containing two different aggregates: a granite based aggregate and a flint based aggregate. A third concrete sample was then prepared where the cement content was not initially known. Data from the first two tests was then used to determine the mass of cement used in the blind test. A great deal of valuable information has also been accrued concerning the interaction of statistical errors in the equations for the prediction of cement content. Spectra from four different cements were collected at regular intervals over a 24 month period and the variation in the activity of each cement over this period is discussed. The second section of this work presents an imaging technique that uses pair production annihilation photons to examine the state of steel reinforcement in concrete structures. Computer simulations along with experimental work have been used. The experimental work used a 226Ra needle as a photon source as it provided a range of gamma-rays with energies over the pair production threshold of 1022keV. A 31mm rebar with 30mm of concrete cover was successfully located during the experimental work. The data collected from the computer simulations has shown that the geometry and the material between the photon source, rebar and detector is of great importance.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:03:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao ricardo.pdf: 2894239 bytes, checksum: c7ade6470d36ad62bc264e4ee243965b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-10-17 / The increasing demand for aggregate for uses in engineering stimulated the search for alternative materials. In this way, the civil construction potentially started to be a great consumer of residues from other industries, becoming a great recycle plant. The use of by-product, brings great environmental benefits in relation to the degradation of the environment, as for example, less settlement of residues in earth fill, the reduction of extraction of natural resources, and the exploration of aggregate ores. Steel plants from around the world have a commom problem, that is what to do with all the steel slags generated as a by-product from the steel refining in electric steel plants or oxygen steel plants. There are two points of these process where slags can be generated: the first comes from the electric or oxygen furnace itself (called oxidizing refining) and the second is the laddle metallurgy slag (reduction refining slag), which is the last stage of the steel production. This aims to demonstrate related studies to the use of steel slags (EAF slags) in electric steel plants as coarse aggregate. Expansibility of the steel slag tests had been carried through, compressive strength, tensile strength for diametrical compression, related modulus of deformation and durability tests, such as: intensity of corrosion, potential of corrosion, ohmic resistivity and depth of carbonation. After this, it was observed the similarity of the results between the concrete made with steel slag and the concrete made with conventional aggregates, natural aggregate known as mica schist. It was observed improvements in the properties of the concrete with steel slag, such as: increase in its strength (compressive / tensile) and increase of the modulus of deformation. Concerning the durability, it was noted, in a general way, that the substitution of the aggregates, conventional for siderurgical, has not influenced in the performance of the concrete. / A crescente demanda por agregados para usos em engenharia estimulou a procura por materiais alternativos. Desta forma, a construção civil passou a ser potencialmente uma grande consumidora de resíduos provenientes de outras indústrias, tornando-se uma grande usina recicladora. A utilização de subprodutos traz benefícios ambientais bastante expressivos em relação à degradação do meio ambiente, como por exemplo, a menor deposição de resíduos em aterros, a diminuição da extração predatória de recursos naturais e a exploração de jazidas de agregados. As siderúrgicas, em nível mundial, vêm enfrentando um problema comum, que consiste no que fazer para que a totalidade da escória gerada no refino do aço em aciarias elétricas ou a oxigênio tenha uma solução de aproveitamento melhor do que vem sendo feito atualmente. Na fabricação do aço as escórias são geradas em duas etapas: a primeira provém do chamado refino oxidante (forno elétrico a arco ou convertedor à oxigênio) e a segunda do refino redutor em processos de metalurgia na panela (forno-panela). Este trabalho tem como objetivo específico demonstrar, por meio de estudos, a potencialidade do uso das escórias de aciaria elétrica (escórias FEA) como agregado graúdo. Foram realizados ensaios de expansibilidade, resistência à compressão, à tração por compressão diametral, módulo de deformação e ensaios relacionados à durabilidade, tais como: intensidade de corrente de corrosão, potencial de corrosão, resistência ôhmica e profundidade de carbonatação. Após o estudo realizado observou-se a semelhança dos resultados dos concretos confeccionados com escória de aciaria elétrica com os concretos confeccionados com agregados convencionais, no caso o micaxisto. Podem-se constatar melhorias nas propriedades dos concretos produzidos com escória, tais como: aumento em suas resistências (compressão / tração) e aumento do módulo de deformação. No que diz respeito à durabilidade verificou-se, de uma maneira geral, que a substituição dos agregados, convencional por siderúrgico, não influenciaram no desempenho dos concretos.

This thesis reports on the research outcome of corrosion mechanism and corrosion rate of mild steel in different environments (saline, alkaline solutions and concrete media) using potentiodynamic polarization technique. The study also included the effect of corrosion on bond strength between reinforcing steel and concrete using pull-out test. Corrosion of mild steel and 316L stainless steel with different surface conditions in 1, 3 and 5% saline (NaCl + Distilled water) was investigated. Specimens ground with 200 and 600 grit silicon carbide grinding paper as well as 1μm surface finish (polished with 1μm diamond paste) were tested. In case of mild steel specimens, reduction in surface roughness caused increase in corrosion rate, while in 316L stainless steel corrosion rate decreased as the surface roughness improved. Metallographic examination of corroded specimens confirmed breakdown of passive region due to pitting corrosion. Corrosion of mild steel was also investigated in alkaline solution (saturated calcium hydroxide, pH =12.5) contaminated with 1, 3 and 5% saline. A series of corrosion experiments were also conducted to examine the efficiency of various concentrations of calcium nitrite (CN) on corrosion behaviour of both as-received and polished mild steel in alkaline solution containing 3% saline after 1 hour and 28 days of exposure. Corrosion rate was higher for the as-received than polished mild steel surface under the same testing conditions in NaCl alkaline solution with and without nitrites due to the effect of surface roughness. Morphology investigation of mild steel specimens in alkaline solution ii containing chlorides and nitrites showed localized pits even at nitrite concentration equal to chloride concentration. Corrosion of steel bars embedded in concrete having compressive strengths of 20, 30 and 46MPa was also investigated. The effect of 2 and 4% CN by weight of cement on corrosion behaviour of steel bar in low and high concrete strengths specimens were also studied. All reinforced concrete specimens were immersed in 3% saline solution for three different periods of 1, 7 and 15 days. In order to accelerate the chemical reactions, an external current of 0.4A was applied. Corrosion rate was measured by retrieving electrochemical information from polarization tests. Pull-out tests of reinforced concrete specimens were then conducted to assess the corroded steel/concrete bond characteristics. Experimental results showed that corrosion rate of steel bars and bond strength were dependent on concrete strength, amount of CN and acceleration corrosion period. As concrete strength increased from 20 to 46MPa, corrosion rate of embedded steel decreased. First day of corrosion acceleration showed a slight increase in steel/concrete bond strength, whereas severe corrosion due to 7 and 15 days corrosion acceleration significantly reduced steel/concrete bond strength. Addition of only 2% CN did not give corrosion protection for steel reinforcement in concrete with 20MPa strength at long time of exposure. However, the combination of good quality concrete and addition of CN appear to be a desirable approach to reduce the effect of chloride induced corrosion of steel reinforcement. At less time of exposure, specimens without CN showed higher bond strength in both concrete mixes than those with CN. After 7 days of corrosion acceleration, the higher concentration of CN gave higher bond strength in both concrete mixes. The same trend was observed at 15 days of corrosion acceleration except for the specimen with 20MPa compressive strength and 2% CN which recorded the highest deterioration in bond strength.

Steel fibers or fibers in general are utilized in concrete to control the tensile cracking and to increase its toughness. In literature, the effects of fiber geometry, mechanical properties, and volume on the properties of fiber reinforced concrete have often been experimentally investigated by numerous studies. Those experiments have shown that useful improvements in the mechanical behavior of brittle concrete are achieved by incorporating steel fibers. This study proposes a simulation platform to determine the influence of fibers on crack propagation and fracture behavior of fiber reinforced concrete. For this purpose, a finite element (FE) simulation tool is developed for the fracture process of fiber reinforced concrete beam specimens subjected to flexural bending test. Within this context, the objective of this study is twofold. The first one is to investigate the effects of finite element mesh size and element type on stress intensity factor (SIF) calculation through finite element analysis. The second objective is to develop a simulation of the fracture process of fiber reinforced concrete beam specimens. The properties of the materials, obtained from literature, and the numerical simulation procedure, will be explained. The effect of fibers on SIF is included by unidirectional elements with nonlinear generalized force-deflection capability. Distributions and orientation of fibers and possibility of anchorage failure are also added to simulation. As a result of this study it was observed that with the adopted simulation tool, the load-deflection relation obtained by experimental studies is predicted reasonably.