The main objective of this work was to adopt an environmentally friendly technology with enhanced results. The technology of magnetic water (MW) treatment system can be used in concrete mixture production instead of potable water (PW) to improve both workability and strength. Two types of concrete were adopted: normal concreter production with two grades 25 and 35 MPa and the self-compacted concrete (SCC) with 35 MPa grade. The concrete mixes containing MW instead of PW results showed that, for 25 MPa grade, an improvement in a compressive strength of 15.1, 14.8, and 10.2% was achieved for 7, 28, and 90 days, respectively. For 35 MPa grade, an improvement of 13.6, 11.5, and 9.1% was achieved for 7, 28, and 90 days, respectively. The mixture of SCC showed the highest improvement up to 16.2, 15.8, and 12.4% for 7, 28, and 90 days, respectively. The effect of MW is significant for 7 days compared to 28 and 90 days. An increase in the water content to cementitious material presents the more efficiency of MW, while the combined effect of MW and superplasticizer in SCC showed the best improvement with less water content for 35 MPa grade.
Rapid worldwide urbanization and drastic population growth have increased the demand for new road construction, which will cause a substantial amount of natural resources such as aggregates to be consumed. The use of recycled concrete aggregate could be one of the possible ways to offset the aggregate shortage problem and reduce environmental pollution. This paper reports an experimental study of unbound granular material using recycled concrete aggregate for pavement subbase construction. Five percentages of recycled concrete aggregate obtained from two different sources with an originally designed compressive strength of 20–30 MPa as well as 31–40 MPa at three particle size levels, i.e., coarse, fine, and extra fine, were test
... Show MoreSlurry-infiltrated fibrous concrete (SIFCON) is a special type of concrete that has great strength, as well as high ductility. However, the unit weight is high, which exceeds the unit weight of fiber-reinforced concrete, because of the high fiber content. This research aims to verify the compressive and flexural strength, as well as the density of SIFCON when using two different fibers (steel and polyolefin). Sometimes mono type of fiber steel or polyolefin, sometimes by hybridizing two types of fiber steel + polyplefin. Volume fraction (6% for all species) was used. Hook-end steel fiber and polyolefin fiber are used. With hybridization, a total volume fraction of 6% was used, which
This study conducted an analytical investigation on the behavior of concrete beams with openings reinforced by glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars. In this study, five proposed beams reinforced by GFRP bars as flexural and shear reinforcement with openings were numerically examined. The variables were the opening orientation (vertical and horizontal) and the number of openings. These openings were located within the flexural zone of the proposed beams. The result shows that the vertical openings had a significant effect over the horizontal openings on reducing the ultimate load and increasing the mid-span deflection compared with the control beam. Moreover, the results showed t
This study conducted an analytical investigation on the behavior of concrete beams with openings reinforced by glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars. In this study, five proposed beams reinforced by GFRP bars as flexural and shear reinforcement with openings were numerically examined. The variables were the opening orientation (vertical and horizontal) and the number of openings. These openings were located within the flexural zone of the proposed beams. The result shows that the vertical openings had a significant effect over the horizontal openings on reducing the ultimate load and increasing the mid-span deflection compared with the control beam. Moreover, the results showed t
Many researchers have tackled the shear behavior of Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams by using different kinds of strengthening in the shear regions and steel fibers. In the current paper, the effect of multiple parameters, such as using one percentage of Steel Fibers (SF) with and without stirrups, without stirrups and steel fibers, on the shear behavior of RC beams, has been studied and compared by using Finite Element analysis (FE). Three-dimensional (3D) models of (RC) beams are developed and analyzed using ABAQUS commercial software. The models were validated by comparing their results with the experimental test. The total number of beams that were modeled for validation purposes was four. Extensive pa
... Show MoreThe aims of this study are to measure the defect rate and analyze the problems of production of ready concrete mixture plant by using Six Sigma methodology which is a business strategy for operations improvement depending basically on the application of its sub-methodology DMAIC improvement cycle and the basic statistical tools where the process sigma level of concrete production in the case study was 2.41 σ.
Sustainable crop production in a coarse soil texture is challenging due to high water permeability and low soil water holding capacity. In this paper, subsurface water retention technology (SWRT) through impermeable polyethylene membranes was placed at depth 35 cm below ground surface and within the root zone to evaluate and compare the impact of these membranes and control treatment (without using the membranes) on yield and water use efficiency of eggplant inside the greenhouse. The study was conducted in Al-Fahamah Township, Baghdad, Iraq during spring growing season 2017. Results demonstrated the yield and water use efficiencies were 3.483 kg/m2 and 5.653 kg/m3, respectively for SWRT treatment p
... Show MoreReinforced concrete (RC) slabs strengthened with carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) and subjected to flexural actions may experience many types of failure, including FRP debonding, FRP rupture and concrete crushing. Of these different types of failure modes, FRP debonding stands out as the most predominant type of failure because of its dependence on the relatively weak bond interface between the soffit of the RC member and the FRP sheet attached to it. Many anchorage systems have been developed to enhance the performance of strengthened systems, one of which is the hybrid anchor, which combines the effects of patch anchors and spike anchors. Hybrid anchors have shown significant enhancement when used with RC members subjected to shear
... Show More