Bendable concrete, also known as Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is a type of ultra-ductile cementitious composites reinforced with fibres to control the width of cracks. It has the ability to enhance concrete flexibility by withstanding strains of 3% and higher. The properties of bendable concrete mixes (compressive strength, flexural strength, and drying shrinkage) are here assessed after the incorporation of supplementary cementitious materials, silica fume, polymer fibres, and the use of ordinary Portland cement (O.P.C) and Portland limestone cement (IL). Mixes with Portland limestone cement show lower drying shrinkage and lower compressive and flexural strength than mixes with ordinary Portland cement, due to the ratio of clinker existence being lower in the Portland limestone cement
Due to the broad range uses of chromium for industrial purposes, besides its carcinogenic effect, an efficient, cost effective removal method should be obtained. In this study, cow bones as a cheap raw material were utilized to produce active carbon (CBAC) by physiochemical activation, which was characterized using: SEM to investigate surface morphology and BET to estimate the specific surface area. The best surface area of CBAC was 595.9 m2/gm which was prepared at 600 ᵒC activation temperature and impregnation ratio of 1:1.5. CBAC was used in aqueous chromium ions adsorption. The investigated factors and their ranges are: initial concentration (10-50 mg/L), adsorption time (30-300 min), temperature (20-50
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The present paper focuses in a particular on the study of the biochar production conditions by the thermal pyrolysis of biomass from local Iraqi palm fronds, in the absence of oxygen. The biochar product can be used as soil improvers. The effect of temperature on the extent of the thermal pyrolysis process was studied in the range from 523 to 773K with a residence time of 15 minutes and nitrogen gas flow rate of 0.1 l/min. The produced biochar was characterized as will as biomass and degradation products. The results showed that the rate of biochar production decreases with the increasing in temperature, also it was noted that the normalized biochar surface area and pore size increases with the increasin
... Show MoreThe hydrolysis of urea by the enzyme urease is significant for increasing the irroles in human pathogenicity, biocementation, soil fertilizer, and subsequently in soil improvement. This study devoted to the isolation of urease from urea-rich soil samples collected from seven different locations. Isolation of the various bacterial species was conducted using nutrient agar. The identity of isolated urease was based on morphological characteristics and standard microbiological and biochemical procedures. The urease producing strains of bacteria were obtained using the urease hydrolysis test. The bacterial isolates produced from soil samples collected from different environments and treat
Previous experimental studies have suggested that hot mixed asphalt (HMA) concrete using hydrated lime (HL) to partially replace the conventional limestone dust filler at 2.5% by the total weight of all aggregates showed an optimum improvement on several key mechanical properties, fatigue life span and moisture susceptibility. However, so far, the knowledge of the thermal response of the modified asphalt concrete and thermal influence on the durability of the pavement constructed are still relatively limited but important to inform pavement design. This paper, at first, reports an experimental study of the tensile fatigue life of HMA concrete mixes designed for wearing layer application. Tests were conducted under three different temperatur
... Show MoreIn this study, stabilization of expansive soils using waste materials namely; Cement Kiln Dust (CKD), and waste plastic bottles (WPB) was experimentally investigated. Using CKD and WPB are exponentially increasing day by day, due to their capability to solve both environmental and geotechnical problems successfully. Expansive soils were collected from locations with a wide range of plasticity index (PI) (15 - 27) and liquid limit (LL) (35% - 64%). Stabilizer percentages were varied from 0% to 20%, and curing durations for CKD cases were 7 and 28 days. Results showed the best percentages of CKD and WPB are 12% of each one respectively. LL, plastic limit (PL), and swelling percent (SP) loss were observed, which are 46%, 55%, and 96% respec
... Show MoreComposite materials are widely used in the engineered assets as aerospace structures, marine and air navigation owing to their high strength/weight ratios. Detection and identification of damage in the composite structures are considered as an important part of monitoring and repairing of structural systems during the service to avoid instantaneous failure. Effective cost and reliability are essential during the process of detecting. The Lamb wave method is an effective and sensitive technique to tiny damage and can be applied for structural health monitoring using low energy sensors; it can provide good information about the condition of the structure during its operation by analyzing the propagation of the wave in the
... Show MoreGypseous soils are common in several regions in the world including Iraq, where more than 28.6% of its surface is covered with this type of soil. This soil, with high gypsum content, causes different problems for construction and strategic projects. As a result of water flow through the soil mass, the permeability and chemical arrangement of these soils varies with time due to the solubility and leaching of gypsum. In this study, the soil of 36% gypsum content, was taken from one location about 100 km southwest of Baghdad, where the samples were taken from depths (0.5 - 1) m below the natural ground and mixed with (3%, 6%, 9%) of Copolymer and Novolac polymer to improve the engineering properties that include: collapsibility, perm
... Show MoreThe study was conducted over the period of Oct 2018 to Apr 2019 and is aimed for the detection and estimation of four hazardous Volatile Organic Compounds VOC (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene) so-called (BTEX) in samples collected from the produced water in the Al-Ahdab oil field in Iraq also to track their availability in the important natural water sources around the field. These compounds pose a risk to human health as well as environment. To avoid the laborious and tiresome conventional extraction methods, water samples were collected and concentrated using solid-phase extraction technique (SPE) which is a robust and cost-effective method of sample extraction with minimal exposure and handling of solvents and then to be analy
... Show MoreThe removal of direct blue 71 dye from a prepared wastewater was studied employing batch electrocoagulation (EC) cell. The electrodes of aluminum were used. The influence of process variables which include initial pH (2.0-12.0), wastewater conductivity (0.8 -12.57) mS/cm , initial dye concentration (30 -210) mg/L, electrolysis time (3-12) min, current density (10-50) mA/cm2 were studied in order to maximize the color removal from wastewater. Experimental results showed that the color removal yield increases with increasing pH until pH 6.0 after that it decreased with increasing pH. The color removal increased with increasing current density, wastewater conductivity, electrolysis time, and decreased with increasing the concen
... Show MoreIn the last decades, using mineral admixture in concrete became very necessary to improve concrete properties and reduce CO2 emissions associated with the cement production process. Subsequently, more sustainable concrete can be obtained. Ternary blended cement containing two different types of mineral admixture can achieve ambitious steps in this trend. In this research, the synergic effects of mineral admixtures in ternary blended cement and its effects on concrete fresh properties, strength, durability, and efficiency factors of mineral admixture in ternary blended cement, were reviewed. The main conclusion reached after reviewing many literature pieces is that the concrete with ternary blended cement
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