Lignin has emerged as a promising asphalt binder modifier due to its sustainable and renewable nature, with the potential to improve flexible pavement performance. This study investigates the use of Soda Lignin Powder (SLP), derived from Pinus wood sawdust via alkaline treatment, as an asphalt modifier to enhance mixture durability. SLP was characterized using Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (SEM/EDX), revealing significant changes in its chemical structure post-extraction. These analyses showed the presence of phenolic units, including hydroxyphenyl propane, syringyl, and guaiacyl units. The morphology of SLP was identified as irregular and spherical particles consisting of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. Experimental evaluations involved three SLP dosages (2%, 4%, and 6% by weight of asphalt binder), with tests for penetration, softening point, ductility and rotational viscosity. Additionally, the asphalt mixtures were tested for their performance in terms of moisture susceptibility, resilient modulus, permanent deformation, and fatigue resistance. Results indicated that SLP effectively reduces the temperature susceptibility of asphalt by increasing its stiffness and rotational viscosity. Furthermore, mixtures with 6% SLP showed enhanced moisture resistance, with a Tensile Strength Ratio (TSR) of 86.98%, a 74.1% reduction in accumulated permanent deformation at 10,000 cycles, and a 38.1% increase in the Cracking Tolerance Index (CT index) compared to the control mix (0% SLP content). These findings confirm that SLP has the potential to be an effective additive in the design of asphalt mixture. Moreover, it allows producing endurable mixtures with higher resistance to distress.
This paper deals with load-deflection behavior the jointed plain concrete pavement system using steel dowel bars as a mechanism to transmit load across the expansion joints. Experimentally, four models of the jointed plain concrete pavement system were made, each model consists of two slabs of plain concrete that connected together across expansion by two dowel bars and the concrete slab were supported by the subgrade soil. Two variables were dealt with, the first is diameter of dowel bar (12, 16 and 20 mm) and the second is type of the subgrade soil, two types of soil were used which classified according to the (AASHTO): Type I (A-6) and type II (A-7-6). Experimental results showed that increasing dowel bar diameter from 12 mm to 20 mm
... Show MoreIncorporating waste byproducts into concrete is an innovative and promising way to minimize the environmental impact of waste material while maintaining and/or improving concrete’s mechanical characteristics and strength. The proper application of sawdust as a pozzolan in the building industry remains a significant challenge. Consequently, this study conducted an experimental evaluation of sawdust as a fill material. In particular, sawdust as a fine aggregate in concrete offers a realistic structural and economical possibility for the construction of lightweight structural systems. Failure under four-point loads was investigated for six concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) specimens. The results indicated that recycled lightweight co
... Show MoreIn this study, the response of ten composite post-tensioned concrete beams topped by a reinforced concrete deck with adequate reinforcing shear connectors is investigated. Depending on the concrete compressive strength of the deck slab (20, 30, and 40 MPa), beams are grouped into three categories. Seven of these beams are exposed to a fire attack of 700 and 800 °C temperature simultaneously with or without the presence of a uniformly distributed sustained static loading. After cooling back to ambient temperature, these composite beams are loaded up to failure, using a force control module, by monotonic static loading in a four-point-bending setup with two symmetrical concentrated loads applied in
In this study, three strengthening techniques, near-surface mounted NSM-CRFP, NSM-CFRP with externally bonding EB-CFRP, and hybrid CFRP with circularization were studied to increase the seismic performance of existing RC slender columns under lateral loads. Experimentally, 1:3 scale RC models were studied and subjected to both lateral static load and seismic excitation. In the dynamic test, a model was subjected to El Centro 1940 NS earthquake excitation by using a shaking table. According to the test results, the strengthening techniques showed a significant increase in load carrying capacity, of about 86.6%, and 46.6%, for circularization and NSM-CFRP respectively, of the reference unstrengthened columns. On the other hand, column
... Show MoreFor structural concrete members that may expose to serious earthquake, overload or accident impact, the design of ductility must be given the same importance as the flexural strength. The aim of this investigation is to study the change in ductility of structural concrete flexural members during their exposure to limited cycles of repeated loading. Twenty full-scale beam specimens have been fabricated in to two identical groups; each group consisted of ten specimens. The first group was tested under monotonic static loading to failure and regarded as control beams, while the specimens of the second group were subjected to ten cycles of repeated loading with constant load interval, which ranged between 40% and 60% of ultimate load. S
... Show MoreThis paper presents a study to investigate the behavior of post-tensioned segmental concrete beams that exposed to high-temperature. The experimental program included fabricating and testing twelve simply supported beams that divided into three groups depending on the number of precasting concrete segments. All specimens were prepared with an identical length of 3150 mm and differed in the number of the incorporated segments of the beam (9, 7, or 5 segments). To simulate the genuine fire disasters, nine out of twelve beams were exposed to a high-temperature flame for one hour. Based on the standard fire curve (ASTM – E119), the temperatures of 300◦C (572◦F), 500◦C (932◦F), and 700◦C (1292◦F) were adopted. Consequently,
... Show MoreThe effect of considering the third dimension in mass concrete members on its cracking behavior is investigated in this study. The investigation includes thermal and structural analyses of mass concrete structures. From thermal analysis, the actual temperature distribution throughout the mass concrete body was obtained due to the generation of heat as a result of cement hydration in
addition to the ambient circumstances. This was performed via solving the differential equations of heat conduction and convection using the finite element method. The finite element method was also implemented in the structural analysis adopting the concept of initial strain problem. Drying shrinkage volume changes were calculated using the procedure sug
Roller-Compacted Concrete (RCC) is a zero-slump concrete, with no forms, no reinforcing steel, no finishing and is wet enough to support compaction by vibratory rollers. Because the effectiveness of curing on properties and durability, the primary scope of this research is to study the effect of various curing methods (air curing, emulsified asphalt(flan coat) curing, 7 days water curing and permanent water curing) and different porcelanite (local material used as an Internal Curing agent) replacement percentages (volumetric replacement) of fine aggregate on some properties of RCC and to explore the possibility of introducing more practical RCC for road pavement with minimum requirement of curing. Cubes specimens were sawed from the slab
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