Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-155).

Thesis (M.S. in in civil engineering)--Washington State University, December 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jan. 26, 2010). "Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering." Includes bibliographical references (p. 42).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 70 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-45).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 65 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-53).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 57 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 40-42).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 146 p. : ill. (some col.), maps. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-109).

Akademisk avhandling - Chalmers tekniska hogskola, Gothenburg, Sweden. / "Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska hogskola." Bibliography: p. [441]-444.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 98 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-63).

It is generally very difficult to produce high-performance concrete having concurrently high strength, high durability, high workability and high dimensional stability. This is because low water content is required to achieve high strength and high durability, high water content and large paste volume are required to achieve high workability, and low cement content and small cement paste volume are required to achieve high dimensional stability. One way of overcoming such conflicts is to add fillers to increase the packing density of concrete so that the amounts of water and paste needed to fill voids could be reduced. In this study, the use of fillers to improve the packing density and performance of concrete is investigated by measuring the packing density and overall performance of cement paste and concrete mix samples with different types and amounts of fillers added. The packing density results revealed that finer fillers are more effective in improving the packing density for releasing more excess water (water in excess of that needed to fill voids) to lubricate the solid particles. Moreover, triple blending of two fillers of different fineness with cement can better increase the packing density than double blending of just one filler with cement. On the other hand, the workability, strength and dimensional stability results showed that the addition of condensed silica fume, fly ash microsphere or superfine cement could improve the overall workability-strength performance of cement paste through increasing the packing density of the cementitious materials, while the addition of condensed silica fume, fly ash or limestone fine coeuld improve the overall dimensional stability-strength performance of concrete through decreasing the cement content or cement paste volume. Hence, the incorporation of fillers to improve the packing density opens up the possibility of using ultra-low W/CM ratio and ultralow paste volume to produce an ultrahigh-performance concrete. However, despite increases in packing density and excess water, the addition of fillers does not always improve the workability. Generally, the addition of fillers would more significantly increase the workability at low W/CM ratio and less significantly increase or even decrease the workability at high W/CM ratio. In-depth analysis indicated that both the excess water and solid surface area have great effects on the rheology. In this regard, a parameter called water film thickness (WFT), which is defined as the average thickness of water films coating the solid particles and may be determined as the excess water to solid surface area ratio, is proven to be the key factor governing the rheology. Therefore, it should be the WFT rather than the packing density that should be maximized in the mix design of high-performance concrete. The addition of fillers would increase both the excess water and solid surface area. If the proportional increase in excess water is larger than the proportional increase in solid surface area, the WFT would increase, but if otherwise, the WFT would decrease. To increase the WFT, a filler that can significantly increase the packing density without excessively increasing the solid surface area is the best choice. / published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Reinforced concrete (RC) columns are the primary load-bearing structural components in buildings. Over time these columns may need to be repaired or strengthened either due to defective construction, having higher loads than those foreseen in the initial design of the structure, or as a result of material deterioration or accidental damage. Three external strengthening methods, namely steel jacketing, concrete jacketing and composite jacketing, are commonly adopted for upgrading the ultimate load capacity of RC columns. Among these strengthening techniques for RC columns, steel jacketing, which is easy to construct, less prone to debonding and has better fire resistance than bonded plates, has been proven to be an effective retrofitting scheme and is the most commonly used. Different methods for strengthening existing RC columns have been proposed in the literature. However, no matter which jacket is used to strengthen RC columns, the adverse effects of pre-existing loads on stress-lagging between the concrete core and the new jacket have yet to be solved. In order to deal with this problem, a new postcompression approach was proposed for strengthening preloaded RC columns. In this approach, the slightly precambered steel plates were used. The advantages of this ‘post-compressed plates’ (PCP) strengthening technique are that both the strength and deformability of existing columns can be enhanced and the design life of old buildings can be prolonged. Due to the aforementioned advantages, the PCP strengthening technique was investigated in this study. To begin with, axial compression tests of the PCP strengthened columns were conducted. The overall response, in particular the internal force distribution between concrete and steel plates was obtained. It was observed that the plate thickness and preloading level had dominant effects on the behaviour of PCP strengthened columns. Subsequently, eccentric compression tests of PCP strengthened columns were undertaken. The behaviour of PCP strengthened columns was mainly affected by the degree of eccentricity and plate thickness. Placing flat and precambered steel plates on the tension and compression sides respectively of the RC columns and using post-compression method on the compression side can significantly improve the ultimate load capacity of RC columns under large eccentricity; while placing precambered steel plates on the side faces of the RC columns can significantly improve the ultimate load capacity of RC columns under small eccentricity. Finally, axial compression tests of PCP repaired fire-exposed columns were carried out. The ultimate load capacity of fire-exposed columns can be restored up to 72% of original level by using this post-compression approach. The corresponding theoretical models were also developed to predict the ultimate load capacity of PCP strengthened columns. Comparison of theoretical and experimental results showed that the theoretical models accurately predicted the load-carrying capacities of PCP strengthened columns. According to the experimental and theoretical results, a unified design procedure for the PCP strengthened columns was proposed to aid engineers in designing this new type of PCP strengthened columns and to ensure proper column detailing for desirable performance. The design procedure was validated by the available experimental and theoretical results. / published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy