Advances in Construction Materials and Management

Gaining a competitive advantage in today's world of global competition is a huge issue for all businesses. This is due to the fact that a company's development and performance are determined by whether or not it has a competitive edge over competitors in the same industry Furthermore, strong competitive advantage has a substantial impact on a country's position. This is owing to the success of competitiveness in defining local competition and generating goods, both of which are fundamental factors of a country's economic growth and wealth. A company's competitive edge may be gained through “human resource management methods” that promote employee skill development and motivation. These practices will also boost staff productivity and innovation, which will have an influence on performance improvement. The process of managing an organization's personnel, or human resources, is known as human resource management. It is in charge of attracting, hiring, training, assessing, and rewarding personnel, as well as managing organizational leadership and culture and ensuring compliance with labour and employment laws. The successful implementation of these practices ensures that all employees are aware of their roles, career paths, and a sense of belonging to the organization, allowing them to manage and reconcile their expectations as well as the organizations and its objectives, such as gaining a competitive advantage. As a result, establishing a knowledge of how views about human resource procedures and their execution impact firm performance in obtaining competitive advantage is critical. A questionnaire has been created based on these characteristics and past research. Data was statistically evaluated, and the article was ended by examining the influence of various human resource management methods on employee well-being and, ultimately, business competitive advantage.

Metro rails are the most desired infrastructure for metropolitan cities. These projects are inter- organizational due to its involvement of numerous stakeholders, complex project objectives, and cultural diversity etc., As a result of these specific features, most metro rail projects are facing complexities, which have increased overall project complexity. The analysis of project complexity is a critical step in the project's execution. In this study, a novel assessment technique was developed with the specific goal of understanding complexity factors and their interdependency in metro rail projects. Semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted to identify the complexity and its factors. Decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) a structured method is used to identify the interdependence among its factors. The analysis revealed that there are dynamic relationships between the complexity factors, with changes in one affecting the other. The complexity map and causal diagram are used in the study to represent the most significant complexity factors in terms of their overall relationship with the other factors. This research has practical implications so that practitioners can focus on complexity factors that have a significant interrelationship for effective management of complexities in metro rail projects. As a result, project owners, contractors, and consultants can use specific findings to create management plans and allocate resources.

A prime contracting firm plays a pivotal role in not only executing the construction project but also in coordination and integration of various stakeholders of the entire civil engineering project for its success. Reliable and competent contractor selection is thus a very important need. The best contractor choice is based on a comprehensive multiple criteria selection process that takes into account a contractor’s technological, administrative, financial and societal capabilities. The literature review on topics connected with the contractor’s selection and pre-qualification from reliable databases and notable publications is structurally examined in this study over a period of three decades. The aim of this review is to shed light on existing contractor pre-qualification and selection procedure along with various statistical approaches. The findings of this study indicate that though lowest bid consideration is weighted heavily in the construction industry, it is certainly a major contributing factor to many problems like quality issues, time and cost overruns, disputes, etc. The review provides the context for future scientific investigations on contractor pre-qualification and appropriate selection. The study also helps to expand the horizon of professionals and investigators’ comprehension of the different attributes used for contractor selection and evaluation.

According to a survey by Global Data, the size of the Indian construction market was $609.6 billion in 2021 and is projected to increase by more than 6% between 2023 and 2026. However, project delays have a particularly negative impact on the residential sector. The construction industry should minimize activity-related delays to meet these objectives. A project will be deemed successful if it is finished within the allotted time. Researcher indicates that, more than 55% of projects ran over budget and delayed because there was poor coordination and communication across various departments and divisions. Because of the poor coordination and communication project got delayed. Coordination is crucial for reducing delays, and managing activities also guarantees that time is managed. The customer, contractor, and consultant must establish good communication and coordination to maximize project productivity. All employees must be familiar with the project and understand what they are responsible to do and also understands the coordination they are supposed to make. There are some methods like impact-as-planned, collapsed-as-built, time impact analysis, where coordination is not important but these are the methods important for understanding and calculating the delay. While the previous researchers have understood the major problem in the delay on construction site, is the coordination. As the researchers’ research that more than 55% projects get delayed. Coordination is really important for the speedy construction among the different departments in the company. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can be helpful for coordination and these are not used techniques in the previous construction work. AR enables the visualization and on-site modification of architectural designs. Compared to traditional drawings, the VR model offers a better overview and details of the design. AR and VR will aid designers in visualizing and developing their creativity. Author first selected a case study of a residential project and then created a model using AR and VR for further evaluation. The author will be employing BIM-based models for deploying AR and VR technology. G + 20 residential buildings are taken into account in this. The author develops an AR and VR framework to improve collaboration, reduce delays, and simulate the construction process.

The architecture, engineering, and construction industry have recently become more aware of building information modeling (BIM). Facilities management (FM) is one particular application of BIM. However, existing literature has shown that the applications of BIM in FM practices are yet to be widely adopted specifically for large-scale projects. This study aimed to identify challenges and barriers influencing the adoption of building information modeling (BIM) and facility management for metro rail Projects in India. Thus, the authors suggested different sequence research methods to gather the data, and both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. Qualitative data were collected and analysed based on a literature review of similar studies, and semi-structured interviews followed by an online survey with a total of 81 participants. As a result of this research, factors that influence the adoption of BIM to enable FM for metro rail projects have been investigated. These findings may assist BIM implementation and FM professionals to establish a baseline and find solutions to enable implement BIM successfully in the area of FM activities for metro rail projects in India.

The urbanization is unavoidable and the construction industry infrastructure development is facing major concern of energy utilization. Due to heat island and climate change phenomena, ambient temperatures have increased drastically and energy resources have been strained. This discomfort has resulted in quadruple peak power usage and increased the building cooling load. Therefore, a diverse and scalable approach is required to mitigate the environmental consequences of energy utilization during the life cycle of the building projects. The developing countries like India’s reliance on energy imports is predicted to surpass 53% of total energy consumption by 2030. Keeping this in view, the present study is carried to find the effect of different parameters on energy efficiency of an existing building (an institutional G + 2 building) considering thermal coefficients of materials and calculated the peak cooling demand on the hottest summer day using design builder tool. The study varied the materials usage in terms of lighting, glazing and roofing and observe the energy performance at various spaces in the considered building. From the findings, it is observed that with the change in thermal properties for different materials, the energy required during operation of building has decreased. The study also considered various cases of combinations of material usage and recommended suitable materials for improving efficient design capacity to make the building more operation energy efficient.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) and lean construction were being extensively used in construction projects to improve project performance and eliminate lean waste associated in the process. Though being different in concepts and applications, their integrated application was found to provide better advantages than implementing individually. With the advancement of technologies, the current BIM applications are evolving to consider technologies such as Augmented Reality. Several studies have addressed the interactions or synergies that exist between BIM functionalities and lean principles. However, such interactions were limited to standalone BIM approaches. Other approaches of BIM, such as BIM with AR and lean were seldom targeted. Hence, this paper aims to establish interactions between AR integrated BIM and lean, and identify how AR integration can improve BIM-lean interactions. To establish such interaction, a case study of an underground utility relocation project is considered, and BIM models are developed and applied in practice. The identified BIM and AR functionalities are used then to establish interaction with the lean principles. 46 AR-BIM-lean interactions and 36 BIM-lean interactions have been identified. From analysis, it is evident that AR integration with BIM not only reinforces BIM-lean interactions but also enables newer interactions with lean and enables achieving lean in construction.

An effective inventory management is the prime parameter for success of any construction projects. The issues related to inventory management in construction particularly medium budget projects are not monitored properly and lead to increase in construction cost. However every project have a detailed project schedule and reviewed periodically with technical persons. The insufficient review process affecting the inventory management and also cost effectiveness of construction projects. The improper material management extends the project completion duration which directly affects the finance management. A volume of such kind of issues are prevailing in the developing areas particularly the proximity of Metros. In order to evaluate the problem, the proposed analysis was identified private construction projects and examined the status at completion stage. The questionnaire based survey was identified five completed projects with the project cost of more than 100 Lakhs. The net profit after completion of the project was considered as the benchmark factor and identified a project which was produced 5.14% loss when compared to the estimated cost. The impact of inventory management for the poor performance in the selected project was predicted through ABC analysis and the suggestions were given for the sustainability of construction.

The crisis developed due to the Covid-19 was ever seen un-expected situation in construction industry. The construction industry is the leading un-organised sector next to agriculture in India and leader in working with migratory labours. The sudden lockdown and various restrictions implemented day by day by the government took the construction industry in to pitiable situation. In this contextual, this paper was intended to understand the crisis in construction industry and its impact due to Covid-19 pandemic condition. The threat situation in construction sector like loss of life, economy setback etc., was highlighted along with possible remedial measures to be carried out during the future scenario of construction industry after resuming the execution in a phased manner.

One of the most accident-prone industries in the Polish economy is construction. Accidents have numerous root causes, many of which are events that take place at work. In favorable conditions, these elements can considerably raise the likelihood that a danger will become operational and result in an occupational accident. The article lists the key elements that the surveys revealed were responsible for developing most accidents in the construction sector. Due to their placement within the construction work environment and its surroundings, these elements are split into seven groups. Epidemiology and retrospective methods were used to identify essential factors of occupational accidents and their correlation between occupational accidents and the socio-demographic profile of a laborer.Findings - The study identifies the essential influencing factors of occupational accidents. The factor loading of these factor is as follows FRFP (80.6%), followed by SAOC (77.4%), CMM (77.2%), CFO (71.7%), FFS (70.8%), HOL (70.2%), and BC (67.0%). Here study also identifies the socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, and work experience affecting the occupational accidents at the thermal power construction site in Telangana. As per Telanga workers, the most common age group of injured workers is 15–25 years. Occupational accidents are most likely to occur in male workers with less experience. The likelihood of an accident occurring is highest in the first year of employment, which is considered an active workplace compared to subsequent years of employment. However, male workers with less experience are the ones who get affected easily.Practical Implications – This paper gives insight to construction managers in two ways. Firstly, how to reduce the number of occupational accidents at the thermal power site, and secondly, it will help the managers segregate the accidental issues under one cluster to work out a more detailed training and safety program for workers.Originality – This research enhances the discussions on workers’ safety and training needs in the thermal power construction site and will also support the type of workers who need the training most. The paper will also help increase labor efficiency and boost the plant's economy, adding value to the facility and helping the utility establish a solid reputation in the industry.

The service of women workers in the construction industry is inevitable. The contribution of unorganized crew in the development of the construction sector is highly appreciable and to be encouraged. The total number of workers involved in construction industry in India is more than a population of seven crores in 2019. Among the total construction workers, more than 30% of the population is women workers, and they are all manual laborers and also unskilled workers. The role of construction women workers is including the family and personal commitment in addition bridging the family economic with overall expectations of family members. The occupational hazards and their nature of habitation affect their regular life naturally. The present Covid-19 pandemic situation creates a pathetic situation in their employability and also in living style. This investigation comprises the detailed survey about the before and present Covid-19 condition for their socioeconomic situation and health condition. The survey was carried out in Warangal Rural and Urban district, Telangana State, India and the samples are collected from 200 women workers. This investigation is concluded with the recommendations for improving the socioeconomic and the health conditions of women construction workers.

Usually, carbon emission during execution of construction activities and processes are not considered, such as the embodied energy (energy required in manufacture and transportation of building materials). Hence, this study focuses on conceptualizing carbon neutrality by comparative cost analysis of traditional construction material with upcoming green material in terms of their embodied energy. Here, the construction activity chosen to estimate the costs of the embodied energy is walling. Conventional burnt bricks walling systems are compared with Cellular Lightweight Concrete (CLC) walling in building projects. In addition to embodied energy value, the economical aspect of the two walling systems is also highlighted. To achieve this objective, literature pertaining to carbon emissions during construction activities is studied and advantages of using CLC as a construction material are discussed. For cost comparison of the two walling systems, data collection is done from an ongoing residential project being constructed with 1200 apartments. The results obtained reveal that energy consumption for construction activity i.e. walling with CLC as a building material reduces by almost 50% by obtaining cost savings on embodied energy required in material manufacturing and transportation thereby ensuring more sustainable construction.

Utilization of data recording sensors for analyzing the distress patterns of structural members is gaining significance in the global construction industry. Decision-making on structural integrity requires real-time huge data visualization of the structural members. A framework to integrate the Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Internet of Things (IoT) to improve the process of real-time data monitoring and virtual visualization of the structure is developed. The present study makes special emphasis on a digital BIM model of a structure to visualize the structural integrity and develop a workflow modelling which is least focused in the structural engineering domain literature. Digital BIM model connected the virtual sensors created in BIM to visualize the real-time data monitoring from the data received through IoT sensors. A laboratory scale model is tested using IoT-based sensors. The outcome of the study showed that the virtual model created in digital BIM can respond to the physical model performance in real time. The study concludes that the decision-making using the integrated framework of BIM and IoT could introduce a digital BIM model that helps in leading professional SHM practices.

The current studies of BIM implementation have extensively proclaimed the benefits of BIM. However, they lack the explicit justification of direct cost savings due to BIM implementation. Hence, this paper aims to identify the economic benefits of BIM in the post-construction stage of hospital buildings. This paper presents a comparison of two case studies, with one utilizing BIM approach for hospital management and the other using non-BIM approach for hospital management. Cost-benefit analysis for both the projects was performed using a time-effort distribution curve and the results were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results indicate that the aggregated value for BIM-based projects is lower than that of non-BIM-based projects. It was found that the BIM-based operation and maintenance saves 343 INR per square meter when compared with non-BIM-based operation and maintenance practice. Studies that have used time-effort distribution methodology to identify BIM benefits, are mostly focused on the construction stage. The findings provided in this publication are unique because it focuses on quantifying BIM benefits in the post construction stage of hospitals.

Expansive soils are problematic soils which need to be stabilized for improving their performance and mitigating their damaging effects on structures constructed on top of them. Stone columns technique for stabilization of soft and expansive soils has been proven effective over time. However, the utilization of huge amounts of stone in the formation of columns put undue pressure on natural resources. Hence, in this investigation, an attempt was made to partially replace the stones with concrete debris, which is abundantly generated due to urbanization and modernisation. A model column of diameter 30 mm and height 155 mm was simulated in the laboratory in a CBR mould filled with an expansive soil of consistency 0.4. Load-penetration behaviour of plain soil, soil stabilized with stone column and the modified stone column were studied. 5 mm stone chips were used as the column material. This material was blended in a ratio of 1:1 with concrete debris and the modified column was formed. This was also simulated in a finite element tool. The results of the finite element analysis gave confidence in understanding the penetration behaviour. The model developed was applied to an existing field study using conventional stone columns to increase the bearing of a foundation. The outcome showed that the modified column applied to the conditions of the study showed better settlement behaviour than the conventional column. The column with demolished waste is able to take more load compared to conventional stone which is indicated by settlement along the length of the column. Considering this fact, demolished waste plays its role well in improving the bearing of the soil and is found as the most effective reuse method. With India generating more than 150 million tons of demolished waste, this can be an effective way of reusing/recycling the demolished waste. This also reduces the carbon footprints leading to a better environment.

In this paper, the suitability of three different alternatives viz., sisal fiber, brick powder mix, phosphogypsum in stabilizing lime blended BC soil is investigated. BC soil used for the experiments had a maximum dry density of 1.6 g/cc at an optimum moisture content of 22%. For preparing lime blended soil, different proportions of lime have been added viz., 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%, 12%, 14% and 16%. Since the present study focus on highway application, optimum proportion of lime has been decided based on California Bearing Ratio (CBR value). From the experimental studies, optimum lime content was identified as 10% and to the lime blended BC soil, sisal fiber, brick powder mix, phosphogypsum has been added at different proportions to study their effectiveness. From the experimental results its observed that addition of 10% lime doubles the CBR value of the plain BC soil. Among the different stabilizers, addition of 0.8% of sisal fiber to the lime blended BC soil, increases the CBR value by four times that of the plain BC soil. Based on the CBR value and recommendations given in IRC 37: 2001, pavement cross sections are arrived at for different dosages/proportions of stabilizer.

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of concrete compressive strength (concrete grade), bar diameter, and reinforcing ratio on the tensile (tensile stress and tension stiffening) and cracking (crack spacing) properties of reinforced concrete (R.C.) prisms under uniaxial tension. In this study, two different concrete grades (20 MPa and 40 MPa) and three different High Yield Strength Deformed (HYSD) steel bars (with a yield stress of 500 MPa) of 8-, 10-, and 12-mm diameter were used as tension chords in prismatic concrete members. From the experimental results, tensile stress and tension stiffening of the members increased as the compressive strength (grade of concrete) of the concrete increased. From this, tensile stresses of the concrete member are affected by the concrete’s compressive strength (grade of concrete), but not significantly by using different reinforcing bar diameters. According to cracking properties, crack spacings were influenced by the compressive strength of concrete and the reinforcing ratio (bar diameter). Since concrete’s compressive strength increased, crack spacing decreased. Also, as reinforcement ratio (bar diameter) increases, crack spacing decreases. Furthermore, the obtained crack spacings are consistent with Eurocode 2.

Construction on weak soils is difficult as it has poor bearing capacity and especially black cotton soil has high swelling or shrinking characteristics. Hence there is a need for the improvement in the soil properties, which can be addressed using stabilization of the soil. In this study, two soil types i.e., red soil and black cotton soil were replaced by different percentages of GGBS with small amount of cement. The improvement in shear properties, both in cohesion and friction of the soil was observed with all the combinations from laboratory testing. The settlements were analysed in PLAXIS 2D and was observed that within 7 days the settlement reduces by more than 60% in both the soil types with additives when compared to natural soils.

Slope stability issues have existed throughout history, due to human interference with the natural slope balance of soil. As manmade slopes are increasing, the estimation of factor of safety is the important factor to stabilize the soil slopes. This research work consists of laboratory and software evaluation of a stabilized red soil. The soil was treated with Alccofine with varying stabilizer dosages. Unconfined compression tests were performed to establish the stabilizer’s optimum dosage. The soil slopes were prepared with the ideal dosage of (4%) for 90, 80, 70 and 60 Degree slopes using cube mould of size 150 mm. The samples were then tested using compression machine corresponding to 7 and 3 days of curing periods. From laboratory studies, it was noticed that stabilization of red soil using Alccofine escalates its strength with increasing curing period. The factor of safety was estimated using Plaxis software and also verified with Taylor’s method. The highest values of factor of safety of 2.77 and 2.59 were obtained respectively with Taylor’s method and Plaxis 2D software corresponding to a slope angle of 70 Degree.

CFST columns typically have thinner or smaller cross sections of steel and concrete than steel-only columns in terms of structural advantages and synergistic effects on composite construction. This paper focuses on an experimental and FEM analysis of the load carrying capacity of CFST columns under pure axial load. Variables considered for the study are length/diameter (L/D), diameter/thickness ratio (D/t) and shape of the cross-section (rectangle, square, and circular). The experimental values of the circular CFST column’s ultimate load (Pu) are compared using the formulas given in two codal provisions: Euro Code-4 (EC4:2004); and AISC (2005). The CFST column elements are also modelled and their strength is evaluated using SAP-2000. It is found that the load carrying capacity of the in filled columns increased with increasing D/t ratio and decreased with increase in L/D ratio. The circular sections outperformed the other two geometrical sections in terms of load carrying capacity for various D/t and L/D ratios. In terms of predicting column capacity, the codal provisions were often very accurate. The experimental and numerical analysis for predicting Pu values are closely related.

The current study investigates the potential upgradation of recycled coarse aggregates using plastics to be used in concrete. The study investigates the properties of plastic-coated recycled aggregates (PRA) in comparison to the properties of recycled aggregates (RA) and conventional coarse aggregates (CA) using different tests including specific gravity, impact strength, hardness, shape, elongation, and water absorption. The plastic-coated recycled aggregates (PRA) were produced from adding melted PP waste (~180 ℃) to demolished aggregates at 5% (w/w) followed by mixing for homogenous coating on the surface. The PRA exhibited 10–24% higher specific gravity, impact strength and hardness with reduced water absorption (by 50%) as compared to RA. The study further investigated the strength and durability properties of concrete cubes produced using PRA as compared to RA and CA. Although the RA exhibited failures for M15, M20 and M25 at compressive strengths of 13.8, 18.6, 20.4 N/mm2 respectively after 28 days curing, cubes made of PRA exhibited around 21–40% higher values relative to RA and insignificant difference as compared to that of CA. Moreover, the cubes made of PRA also exhibited relatively better results in slump test, Vee Bee test, and Water absorption test. However, chemical leachability and toxicity studies are necessary before commercial application.

This paper describes the experimental investigation on the production of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) based geopolymer concrete and partially replacing steel slag as fine aggregate. The research examines the properties of the geopolymer concrete (GPC) that has been activated with an alkaline solution, both when it is fresh and hardened. Different RHA content (R10, R15, R20, R25, R30, and R35) were used, and here R represent Rice Husk Ash, and numerical represent the % of RHA used, as well as the molarity of the NaOH was 10. In addition, other industrial by-products were also used as cementitious materials, such as Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS), Fly ash with RHA. The GGBS content is fixed at 10%, and different Fly ash content (F80, F75, F70, F65, F60, and F55) were used. These proportions were arrived at to determine the optimum mix proportion. Mechanical properties such as flexural strength, compressive strength, split tensile strength, and bond strength were tested at three, seven, and 28 days. Additionally, the sorptivity, water absorption, and acid attack characteristics of durability were also examined. The test result reveals that on the 28th day, there is an increase in mechanical characteristics by adding 15% of RHA. After getting the optimum mix proportion, it has been used as a controlled mix proportion to replace steel slag as fine aggregate partially. The steel slag was replaced in different percentages (5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%) with fine aggregate. In geopolymer concrete, RHA can be used as source material. The partial replacement of steel slag by up to 30% resulted in enhanced mechanical and durability properties. It is suggested that 15% of RHA with 30% of steel slag as a fine aggregate replacement can be used to produce geopolymer concrete with a strength of 25 MPa.

This research is to study the influence of secondary water-treated wastewater on mechanical parcels of concrete and compare it with mechanical parcels of freshwater concrete. Concrete is the most commonly used construction material in the world and is one of the largest water users. Approximately 150 L of water are consumed per cubic meter of concrete mix, not including other water consumption in concrete production. But water is a critical environmental issue, with a water supply and quality increasingly constrained around the world. The wastewater samples for our study (secondary treatment wastewater) were collected from the wastewater treatment plant at SSIT Tumakuru. The characteristics of secondary treated wastewater (STWW) were determined. In the M20 concrete mix, potable water (PW) was replaced by secondary treated wastewater (STWW), and the performance of fresh and hardened concrete was compared. The workability (slump value) of the concrete was reduced by 5 mm when STWW was used instead of PW. By replacing PW with STWW, the compressive strength and splitting strength of concrete increased by 1.13% and 1.06%, respectively.

The economic and environmental difficulties related with the utilization of traditional construction material for construction projects, such as use of cement and river sand have risen in parallel with the human population growth. As a result, researchers are focussing alternate construction materials that are cost effective and sustainable. The aim of current investigation is to develop a cost effective and sustainable concrete composite using rice husk ash and quarry dust. The conventional concrete with a characteristic strength of 30 MPa, was developed with cement and river sand. Initially, rice husk ash was proposed as a substitute for cement in varying percentages of 10 to 30%. Quarry dust was then utilized as a substitute for sand in mixes comprising rice husk ash with percentages ranging from 10 to 30% to develop non-conventional concrete. The slump of concrete and the strength characteristics such as compressive, split tensile and flexural strength were measured at 7 and 28 days, respectively. The strength characteristics of the specimens decreased with increasing percentage replacements of quarry dust in comparison with conventional concrete. Based on the experimental findings, the concrete having 10% rice husk ash and 20% quarry dust having superior strength properties. Hence rice husk ash and quarry dust could be employed as partial substitutes for cement and river sand, respectively, in the development of sustainable construction materials.

The current research work is to find the possibility of replacing the conventional binder by Red mud completely in the production of geopolymer technology based mortar mix. Commercial garbage products have a negative environmental impact as a result of storage problems, waste disposal problem and causing hazardous impact on the environment. By assessing the effectiveness of utilisation of red mud in order to resolve these issues in addition of GGBS, M sand and Metakolin as partial quantities in the geopolymer mortar production. The mix is chemically activated with alkaline activator to influence geopolymerisation with NaOH of considerably lesser concentration of 2Molarity. The produced mortar was checked against compressive strength and water absorption as per IS 3495:1992. Red mud, GGBS and Metakaolin are used as a binder material. The compatibility of raw materials are checked in order to get flowable mix as it is need not be compacted. The Process employed an alkaline activator. Red mud used in varied percentage from 30 to 60%. Metakaolin is used upto maximum value of 10% in the composition to make the mix economically viable. GGBS was used for strength enhancement of produced mix. Research proved that geopolymer mortar mix can be produced with CS from 14.1 Mpa to 38.1 Mpa by using redmud content from 40 to 60% with maximum water absorption of 18.9%. Optimum percentage of raw materials combination is obtained and to study the strength of mortar mix, masonry prism test was conducted. The results proved that Red mud, GGBS, M sand, and Metakaolin can be geopolymerized and used as a sustainable alternative to traditional mortar. This would be the solution for waste disposal issues of many industrial by-products across the world, simultaneously fulfil the current increased demand of construction materials due to rapid urbanisation in the world.

The objective of the present study is to estimate of service life of reinforced concrete structural members subjected to chloride-induced corrosion of steel reinforcement. Based on the review of literature, a procedure for service life estimation of reinforced concrete structural elements has been identified. Though the procedure used in this thesis is applicable for different types of structural components, a T-beam girder of 18 m span bridge was selected to illustrate the procedure. The bridge is modelled using a commercial finite element analysis package (SAP 2000) and analysed for IRC load cases. The service lives of the bridge girder with respect to minimum required load carrying capacity are determined for different exposure conditions as defined in IS456-2000. Two approaches are considered in the present study for meeting the service life requirement in the very severe and extreme conditions: i) Use of different maintenance methods, and ii) Use of High-Performance Concrete. Four different maintenance options (silane surface coating, cathodic protection, rebuilding and cover replacement) are considered, and their relative performance is studied using life-cycle costing. It is noted that the procedure for estimation of service life will be useful for scheduling the maintenance activities. It is also found that for very severe and extreme exposure conditions, use of High-Performance Concrete is a feasible alternative for satisfying the service life requirement.

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is a concrete which is having high filling ability, passing ability, high segregation resistance without applying any external force. Because of its flow properties, concrete will pass through congested reinforcement with full compaction. At present time domestic plastic waste causing high damage to the environment which damages the eco system and reduces the yield of the soil. Hence an attempt has been made to determine whether they can be used successfully in self-compacting concrete (SCC) to increase the properties. Waste plastic fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete is a composite material made up of cement, fine aggregates, and coarse aggregates and plastic fibers (PET-Polyethylene Terephthalate). The waste plastic fibers are replaced with fine aggregate to reduce the utilization of natural sand. The current study focuses on the fresh properties of SCC with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers. Various percentages of waste plastic fibers like 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% are added by weight of fine aggregate. The fresh properties of self-compacting concrete, such as flow ability, passing ability, segregation resistance, and filling ability, were studied at each percentage of plastic fibres. The findings of this study show that the fresh properties of self-compacting concrete with waste plastic fibre reinforcement meet the workability requirements as per the EFNARC guidelines.

The effects on engineering properties such as fresh and hardened characteristics of various fibres dispersed into the normal concrete have been investigated. In this research, the design mix M30 grade concrete is blended with 0.5% of various natural and synthetic fibres. The fibres used are Jute, Steel, Sisal, and Glass. Adding various fibres into the control mix concrete can dramatically increase the engineering strengths like flexural, split tensile and compressive strength. Super-plasticizer is added to fibre-blended concrete in the proportion of 2% of the cement mass to increase workability. Comparing the results of fibre blended concrete with M30 grade plain concrete, the positive influence of adding 0.5% of various fibres increases the engineering properties during a 7-day and a 28-day cure period has been studied. According to the testing results, concrete with glass fibres added increases compressive strength by 35.82% when compared to control mix concrete after 28 days of curing. The split tensile strength of glass fibre blended concrete is 20.26% more than the nominal mix concrete. From this investigation, it is noticeable that glass fibre mixed concrete has shown optimum values in all strength aspects in comparison with natural fibres.

Construction industry is one of the topmost sector contributing in the development of a country. However the generation of construction and demolition has an impacts on the environment. This paper highlights the comparative studies of properties of Recycled Concrete Aggregates (RCA) and Natural Aggregates (NA) as per Indian standards. The sources of natural aggregates have been dwindling, wherein the disposal of construction and demolition (C&D) waste has been problem in most of the urban areas, due to space constraints. Hence, this lead to the practice of using RCA as a secondary raw material in construction. The maximum utilization of RCA proportioning with natural aggregate in the preparation of concrete, thereby reduces the environmental impact and conservers natural resources. In this paper an attempt has been made to draw the conclusions based on the studies carried out at the concrete technology laboratory of Presidency University, Bengaluru, regarding the efficient utilization of RCA in preparing RAC. The tests revealed that the performance of RCA is affected by the adhered cement mortar on the aggregates. The adhered mortar on aggregate enhances water absorption and density both of these have a considerable impact on desired properties of concrete. To reduce this impact, the adhered mortar on the aggregate has been removed by the abrasion process. This study has been carried out to ascertain both the physical and mechanical properties of the RCA and its performance were studied and compared with those of natural aggregates (NA). This provides an insight to adopt the methodology to improve the performance of RCA in RAC. The study summarizes sustainability gains of RCA utilization. In addition to this, the optimal proportioning of RCA to prepare RAC has improved its stake as a feasible sustainable alternative to NA in construction. In this study an improved methodology has been proposed to remove the mortar on RCA and to enhance the effectiveness of recycled aggregates with reference to desired properties.

The construction industry's continued expansion encourages larger carbon emissions during the production of building materials, which in turn encourages the concrete industry to pursue sustainability. Two distinct grades of concrete, M30 and M20 were employed in this study. M30 grade concrete is used in the compression zone, and engineered concrete is strategically used to replace the tensile portion of the concrete that surrounds the primary longitudinal reinforcement in an RC member. The investigation consists of determining the bending behavior of functionally graded engineered concrete beams. The RCA content (30% RCA) and 0.75% polypropylene fibers was used as one of the criteria for analyzing how the RCA concrete beams behaved structurally under flexure.

Ever-increasing construction projects in India and all over the world had a tremendous impact on the natural habitat by exploring the natural resource. For such activities meanwhile, construction practices generate huge proportion of construction and demolition waste. As a result, there is a need to compute the environmental impacts of construction materials (CDW) and to develop minimization strategies. This study has been carried out to ascertain sustainability and to reuse, recycle the CDW constituents like recycled concrete aggregates and coal ash replacing natural coarse aggregates (NCA) and cement respectively. In terms of stability, the compressive strength of circular and rectangular recycled concrete hollow blocks is measured by varying different percentage compositions of recycled coarse aggregates (RCA) and coal ash. The strength, grade properties of the recycled concrete hollow block is evaluated per code 1S2185:2005. To relate with the environmental impacts embodied energy and embodied carbon emission of each hollow block is calculated based on Inventory of Carbon and Energy database.

In the present work efforts are made to perform seismic analysis of adjacent building frames having relatively closed spacing. These building frames undergo pounding due to seismic forces and ground motion. Effect on behavior of these frames is observed for combination of Storey height and spacing. To mitigate the effect of large deformation in closely spaced frames due to earthquake, dampers are employed further. Hence, the effects of dampers are also considered with the pounding phenomenon. Four different models are prepared considering height of buildings and difference in slab level. Comparison is made between results obtained for these frames with and without dampers. We observed that by the use of dampers to reduce pounding effect, seismic displacement is reduced up to 32%. Similarity axial load, shear forces and bending moments are mitigated to about 51%, 31% and 27% respectively.

Partial replacements are being investigated to minimize the negative effect on the environment by utilizing cement in concrete. The aim of this study is to evaluate the fresh and hardened characteristics of M30 grade concrete subjected to higher temperatures with sawdust ash (SDA) as partial substitute to cement. In this regard, different concrete mixtures were designed maintaining the same w/c (water-cement) ratio of 0.45. The saw dust ash content is varied with cement at different proportions of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. The workability, compressive, tensile and flexural strength of SDA concrete were decreasing with the increment in the proportions of replacement of SDA in cement. The consistency, initial and final setting time of concrete varied with an increased SDA substitution is within the permissible limits of Indian standards. After 28 days of curing, the SDA concrete with 5% replacement achieved higher compressive, tensile, and flexural strengths of 37.44 N/mm2, 2.83 N/mm2 and 5.6 N/mm2 respectively. The mechanical behavior of conventional and optimal concrete subjecting to higher temperatures varying from 100 °C to 600 °C at 100 °C interval for 2 h duration of exposure were studied. The compressive, split tensile and flexural strengths for optimal replacement concrete were increased as 3.9%, 11.4% and 15.3% respectively after subjecting to higher temperatures. It supported the environmental advantages of partial SDA substitution by 2.2% less of original material usage.

Now-a-days, lessening the clinker content in blending cement binders or the cement content in concrete, augmented calcined clays binders are the only choice of material that can satisfy the needs of eco-efficient cement-based products in sufficient quantity. Current developments in the potential use of Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3) as a common cement is gaining popularity around the world. Over the years, several studies indicated that various parameters of the LC3 binder and concrete were evaluated and examined across the universe. But this study examines the development of indigenous material to make sure the replacement level of clays and limestone. In the neighbourhood, obtained clays were heated up to 700 °C, and then they were grinded to achieve a specific surface area to improve the pozzolanic activity. The DoE-Taguchi method was used to optimize the material. The results of this study demonstrated that even the combination of calcined clay with a low kaolinite concentration showed considerable pozzolanic properties and synergy with the limestone filler in a ternary binder. This study compares the strength behaviour of Limestone - Calcined Clay Cement binder with regular Portland cement. The characterization and microstructural studies were also conducted to analyse both the raw samples and their calcined derivatives to identify the significant changes that occurred in the samples that have been observed and discussed. The optimised sample has resulted in promising outcomes as the early strength is more than the control binder and 30% clay,15% limestone powder and 2% gypsum substitution have achieved similar strength with OPC for 28 days.

Lightweight concrete materials have rapidly evolved in recent years as they can act as disaster-resistant materials. However, very few studies have been undertaken on micro-strength properties and enhancement. This study has conducted experimental investigations on the micro–macro-strength properties of biomass aggregate concrete developed by replacing mineral aggregates with coconut shells (5, 10, 20%). In addition, strength and mechanical properties enhancement is tried by using fiber reinforcement. Results show that as the replacement percentage of coconut shells increases in conventional concrete, the unit weight, compressive strength, and tensile strength decrease. In addition, in higher coconut shells replaced concrete, as the curing time increases, unit weight increases. It is mainly because of the water absorption properties of coconut shells. The addition of PP fibers, steel fibers, and the combination has reduced compressive strength by 10, 10, and 22%, respectively.In contrast, tensile strength was increased by PP fibers by 14 and increased by 43 and 22% by steel and combination fibers. The concrete mix's microstructure shows that the coconut shell found a better bonding because of high moisture observation. The mineral composition of biomass aggregate concrete showed the percentage of coconut shells directly proportional to the percentage increase in micro-element increase compared to conventional concrete.

The construction sector now has a new way to utilise industrial wastes and byproducts thanks to geopolymerization technology. In addition to using leftover mineral ingredients, the method emits less greenhouse gas than OPC by a smaller percentage. Thus, “green cement” is another name for the cementitious byproduct of geopolymerization. An estimated 290 million tonnes of this inorganic industrial waste are produced in India each year. A significant global concern is how these non-hazardous industrial wastes are treated, handled, transported, and disposed of. A severe environmental concern is posed by their rising.In current study the properties of water absorption and compressive strength of Geo-polymer bricks with Red mud and fly ash as ingredients in different proportions is studied. These raw materials were activated with chemical activators with NaOH of 8Molarity and NaOH to Na2Sio3 ratio of 2.5. The results suggest that maximum CS of 12 N/mm2 is achieved with 70% fly ash and 30% Red mud and found to decrease with in percentage of Red mud. Water absorption showed decreasing trend with decrease in percentage of Red mud. Water absorption of 9.78% is recorded for 80% fly ash and 20% Red mud and the result satisfies the requirement of less than 20% of water absorption as given in IS 3495–1992.Red mud, Fly ash, GGBS and Silica fume is used as a binder material. Chemical activator was tried for lower molarity of 2. With red mud content is from 25 to 90% and alkaline activator content, compressive strength obtains in range of 0 to 8.6 N/mm2, water absorption in the range 5.3% to 18%. It can be concluded that geo polymerization of red mud, fly ash, GGBS and silica fume can be used as sustainable alternative material for conventional bricks. Selected combinations of mixes were later used to prepare bricks of size 225 × 100 x 70mmThe studies have shown that 9.8Mpa compressive strength bricks and cubes made of geopolymer are feasible. Geo polymerization of red mud, GGBS, fly ash and Silica fume can be used as sustainable substitute material for conventional bricks. Although, the strength gained is significant and with acceptable water absorption percentage, in rural locations, bricks made from red mud and fly ash may be utilised as sustainable building materials. Hence the problem of redmud waste disposal for aluminium industries also can be resolved without the soil and water contamination which is responsible for environmental pollution. As these raw material are industrial by-products and the waste materials, the cost of production of bricks worked out to be lesser compared to conventional materials.

Nowadays major tunneling projects focuses on low-carbon concrete as a waste by-product and co-product materials from Industry. Also, mineral resources called cementitious materials like Fly Ash, slag, micro silica etc. are useful in partial replacement of cement. Alkali activator can be used to fully replace the cement. For the tunneling projects, the biggest leap forward would be to use high-performance FRC tunnel lining with alkali activator and cementitious materials. As concrete dominates the carbon footprint of segmentally lined/sprayed concrete tunnels replacing standard concrete with an alkali activator would be of great use. Such FRC concrete is capable of having better strength properties. The variety of cementitious waste products available is Fly ash (FA), Micro silica/Silica Fume (SF), Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and Rice Husk Ash (RHA). These are high in alumino-silicates and therefore must be activated by the addition of an alkali activator. In this work efforts are made to consider cementitious materials to be mixed to achieve high-performance FRC for tunnel lining projects.

Though the term “sustainability” was heard frequently, few people understand its significance, which is to ensure human safety on the planet. Sustainability has many short- and long-term benefits and ignoring it will result in depletion of natural resources in the long run. In this context utilisation of by-products as well as waste materials into the concrete and thereby decreasing carbon dioxide emissions and virgin aggregate extraction will be a sustainable way of developing a green concrete. In this manuscript, an attempt has been made to develop green and sustainable concrete by including Recycled aggregate (RA), Fly Ash (FA) & Sugar Cane Bagasse Ash (SCBA) as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). Also, an attempt is made to access the effect of steel fibers (SF) on the concrete thus made. The variables of the study include RA content (0, 100%), FA content (0 to 40%) and SCBA content (0 to 15%) and SF dosage (0, 1%). The properties examined in the study include compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, water absorption (WA), and acid attack. The results of the experimental programme show that the use of SCMs and SF can significantly improve the mechanical strength and durability of Recycled Aggregate Concrete (RAC). The use of SCMs improved the durability of the mix by densification of the matrix whereas incorporating steel fibers improved the tensile characteristics of the mix significantly, which means that use of RA in conjunction with SCMs and SF improves the overall performance of the concrete and might be a green and sustainable alternative to plain concrete.

In general, the conventional way of resisting shear in RC beams using stirrups leaves the core zone of RC beam section unreinforced. This makes the shear cracks to propagate rapidly through the core zone of the section once initiated. To address this problem a novel method of reinforcing the core zone of RC beam section using welded wire mesh (WWM) has been developed. The efficiency of the proposed method was investigated numerically by using the ABAQUS software. For comparison of the numerically obtained shear strength values, the RC beams provided with WWM as shear reinforcement were cast and tested. The parameter of the study included two different orientations of the WWM (Longitudinal and Transverse). The use of stirrups was completely eliminated in the RC beams provided with WWM as transverse shear reinforcement. In RC beams with longitudinal WWM in the core zone, the stirrups were used at larger spacing. The shear span to effective depth ratio equal to 3 was used in the study. The results of the investigation indicated the effectiveness of WWM over the conventional stirrups in providing the shear resistance. The percent difference between the numerically obtained shear strengths and that observed in experiments ranged from 0.1 to 16.

Concrete is the most widely used construction material in all categories of building construction projects. In Buildings, concrete is used for constructing foundations, columns, beams, and slabs. Slabs consume more concrete for construction. And Concrete consumes more energy for manufacturing its constituents and emits more CO2. In this paper, the Bubble deck slab is introduced in a different dimension to reduce the consumption of concrete in slabs. The Physical properties of the slab are analyzed, and the sustainable concrete slab is implemented with good compressive strength. Finally, this leads to reducing CO2 and acts as an environmentally friendly product.

The most versatile civil engineering construction material, concrete, because of its good compressive strength and flexibility, in handling as well as ability to shape it to required form, suffers from a few disadvantages because of its low tensile strength and durability. Another issue is that the production of important component of concrete, cement, is very energy consuming and impacts environment in all stages of production. To reduce these issues and also reduce the cost involved in cement, many supplementary cementitious materials are considered to substitute cement to the extent possible without impairing its mechanical properties. The tensile strength of concrete depends only with reinforcement, which is mainly steel bars. In this study industrial fiber i.e. Recron 3S is proposed to use as reinforcement and abundantly available Bagasse ash a pozzolanic materials as a replacing cement to the extent possible. Another problem in using concrete is that it requires compaction after placing, which is not always possible. This issue is circumvented by using self-compacting concrete. A study has been undertaken to produce SCC with different amounts of bagasse ash replacing the cement and with industrial fiber as reinforcement. To reduce high requirement of water for SCC required amount of superplasticizers used. The water content is determined based on slump tests, L box tests and V funnel test to obtain satisfactory passing ability and flowability for M50 concrete, respectively. Mechanical properties (compressive strength, tensile strength, and flexural strength) of this concrete with different amounts of bagasse ash are determined after curing for periods up to 90 days. Results showed that 10% replacement of cement with bagasse ash can maintain good mechanical properties.

Soft clay deposits suffer from inadequate strength with high compressibility due to its high natural water content close to liquid limit. Soft clays are conventionally stabilised with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) or lime additions in many ground improvement works. The manufacturing processes of these traditional stabilisers are highly energy intensive and emit significant amounts of CO2. Geopolymer is a promising alternative to these stabilisers, as it gives high strength, consumes low energy, and emits low CO2 during synthesis and application. In this study, geopolymer synthetized from mixture of fly ash, Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS), and alkaline sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution was used to stabilize soft clay. The performance of geopolymer is compared with cement mixed with clay, by evaluating their unconfined compressive strength (UCS) properties. The study is carried out with different contents of binder (prepared by varying percentage of fly ash and GGBS) and 8 M NaOH alkaline activator solution, with activator to binder ratio of 1. From this study, it is found that up to 20% binder content, UCS values of stabilised soil mixes have increased significantly, and then the rate of strength gain is slightly reduced. Furthermore, for a given binder content, UCS values increased as the proportion of GGBS to fly ash increased. This study further depicted that geopolymer synthesised from optimum mixture of fly ash and GGBS are superior to cement stabilised soils and hence can be a promising alternative to traditional stabilisers.

Concrete being the second most consumed material by mankind’, the material selection for its manufacturing process certainly influences the quality and performance. Aggregate form the skeleton of concrete and the proportioning of different sizes of aggregate used in the volume of concrete, affects the packing density of aggregate. This in turn, affects volume of voids in the aggregate fraction, and so, on the amount of paste content to fill these voids in concrete. The standard codes of practice determine the guidelines for the gradation of both coarse and fine aggregate according to the requirement of a certain concrete. In this context, Particle packing methods proved to be effective for gradation of aggregate, where the optimum proportions of aggregate can be tailor made to increase the packing density of aggregate in concrete, thereby, reducing the void ratio. In the present paper, the aggregate gradations of coarse and fine aggregate as stipulated in Indian Standard code (IS 383:2016), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM C33/C33M-18) and European Norms (EN 12620:2016) are compared with the gradations determined using particle packing methods like MTM (Modified Toufar Method), J D Dewar method (JDD) and Compressible Packing Model (CPM). The particle packing methods were found to effectively improve the aggregate gradation, minimize the void content and improve the aggregate skeleton, thus contributing to the strength and sustainability of concrete by reducing the paste content required to fill the voids in the volume of concrete.