Engineered cementitious composite (ECC) was discovered as a new substitute of conventional concrete as it provides better results in terms of tensile strain, reaching beyond 3%. From then, more studies were done to partially replace crumb rubber with sand to achieve a more sustainable and eco-friendlier composite from the original ECC. However, the elastic modulus of ECC was noticeably degraded. This could bring potential unseen dangerous consequences as the fatigue might happen at any time without any sign. The replacement of crumb rubber was then found to not only bring a more sustainable and eco-friendlier result but also increase the ductility and the durability of the composite, with lighter specific gravity compared to conventional concrete. This study investigated the effects of crumb rubber (CR) and graphene oxide (GO) toward the deformable properties of rubberized ECC, including the compressive strength, elastic modulus, Poisson's ratio, and drying shrinkage. Central composite design (CCD) was utilized to provide 13 reasonable trial mixtures with the ranging level of CR replacement from 0-30% and that of GO from 0.01-0.08%. The results show that GO increased the strength of the developed GO-RECC. It was also found that the addition of CR and GO to ECC brought a notable improvement in mechanical and deformable properties. The predicted model that was developed using response surface methodology (RSM) shows that the variables (compression strength, elastic modulus, Poisson's ratio, and drying shrinkage) rely on the independent (CR and GO) variables and are highly correlated.
The objective of this research was to determine the durability of an engineered cementitious composite (ECC) incorporating crumb rubber (CR) and graphene oxide (GO) with respect to resistance to acid and sulphate attacks. To obtain the mix designs used for this study, response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized, which yielded the composition of 13 mixes containing two variables (crumb rubber and graphene oxide). The crumb rubber had a percentage range of 0-10%, whereas the graphene oxide was tested in the range of 0.01-0.05% by volume. Three types of laboratory tests were used in this study, namely a compressive test, an acid attack test to study its durability against an acidic environment, and a sulphate attack test to examine the length change while exposed to a sulphate solution. Response surface methodology helped develop predictive responsive models and multiple objectives that aided in the optimization of results obtained from the experiments. Furthermore, a rubberized engineered cementitious composite incorporating graphene oxide yielded better chemical attack results compared to those of a normal rubberized engineered cementitious composite. In conclusion, nano-graphene in the form of graphene oxide has the ability to enhance the properties and overcome the limitations of crumb rubber incorporated into an engineered cementitious composite. The optimal mix was attained with 10% crumb rubber and 0.01 graphene oxide that achieved 43.6 MPa compressive strength, 29.4% weight loss, and 2.19% expansion. The addition of GO enhances the performance of rubberized ECC, contributing to less weight loss due to the deterioration of acidic media on the ECC. It also contributes to better resistance to changes in the length of the rubberized ECC samples.
Deep beams are more susceptible to shear failure, and therefore reparation is a crucial for structural reinforcements. Shear failure is structural concrete failure in nature. It generally occurs without warning; however, it is acceptable for the beam to fail in bending but not in shear. The experimental study presented the structural behavior of the deep beams of reinforced concrete (RC) that reinforces the web openings with externally connected carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite in the shear zone. The structural behavior includes a failure mode, and cracking pattern, load deflection responses, stress concentration and the reinforcement factor were investigated. A total of nine reinforced concrete deep beams with openings strengthened with CFRP and one control beam without an opening have been cast and tested under static four-point bending load till failure. The experimental results showed that the increase the size of the opening causes an increase in the shear strength reduction by up to 30%. Therefore, the larger the openings, the lower the capability of load carriage, in addition to an increase in the number of CFRP layers that could enhance the load carrying capacity. Consequently, utilization of the CFRP layer wrapping technique strengthened the shear behavior of the reinforced concrete deep beams from about 10% to 40%. It was concluded that the most effective number of CFRP layers for the deep beam with opening sizes of 150 mm and 200 mm were two layers and three layers, respectively.
The concrete-filled double skin steel tube (CFDST) is a more viable option compared to a concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) due to consisting a hollow section, while degradation is enhanced simply by using carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP). Hence, the stabilization of a concrete's ductile strength needs high- performance fiber-reinforced cementitious conmposite. This study investigates the behavior of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composite-filled double-skin steel tube (HPCFDST) beams strengthened longitudinally with various layers, lengths, and configurtion of CFRP sheets. The findings showed that, with increased CFRP layers, the moment capacity and flexural stiffness values of the retrofitted HPCFDST beams have significantly improved. For an instant, the moment capacity of HPCFDST beams improved by approximately 28.5% and 32.6% when they were wrapped partially along 100% with two and three layers, respectively, compared to the control beam. Moreover, the moment capacity of the HPCFDST beam using two partial layers of CFRP along 75% of its sufficient length was closed to the findings of the beam with two full CFRP layers. For energy absorption, the results showed a vast disparity. Only the two layers with a 100% full length and partial wrapping showed increasing performance over the control. Furthermore, the typical failure mode of HPCFDST beams was observed to be local buckling at the top surface near the point of loading and CFRP rapture at the bottom of effect length.