Advances in Sustainable Construction Materials

In this quick period of urbanization, urban areas and its residents ought to think about its urban condition as a benefit and contribute toward the supportability of urban communities. Strong waste administration assumes a vital job in urban improvement by reducing the well-being and ecological dangers and advances the reuse of strong waste. Above all, this gets obligatory in creating urban areas as Noida, Gurugram, Greater Noida and so forth as rapid urbanization suggests increasingly strong waste and consequently requires productive and supportable administration. This investigation breaks down the situation of Gurugram city strong waste and learns about the assortment and transportation methodologies embraced by the government association coordinated effort with private firm. The principle aim is to redress the landfill site issues and speeds up functioning of on-door squander assortment. Approximately, eight hundred eighty tonnes of waste is dumped at Bandhwari plant. Their role is to gather loss from every street; afterward, compaction of trash happens as smaller than usual exchange center, while the compressed waste is moved to handling office, and the last dry waste would be changed over into RDF; for example, power and the wet waste are utilized in the form of great fertilizer for agribusiness. This additionally presented different changes such as open trucks and dustbins which are being changed with the shut trucks, and the open local dumping is being changed to smaller than expected exchange stations or stoppages. The urban local body tries to provide better and improved services to the residents similar to private firm for giving the better administration be that as it may, they require tending to issue because of political framework monetary help, open issue and absence of resident interest to give a superior Municipal Solid waste administration for city. This paper discusses about the as-is process of transportation and collection strategies regarding municipal solid waste in Gurugram and helps in comparative study of two cities of Haryana.

In recent years, our state had a tough time dealing with issues related to water scarcity and the disposal of sewage, which is a major problem around the globe. One of the principal causes is an increase in the level of pollutants and heterogeneity of sewage water. Various sources of sewage generation are residential societies, industrial areas, commercial zones, etc. Each zone contains a specific composition of sewage. Instead of source segregation, we still follow the traditional way of mixing everything and sending it to the respective sewage treatment plants, which results in lower efficiency of the treatment process, leading to pollution of water bodies and high waste generation. Disposal itself is a problem due to a shortage of land. To avoid this, the decentralization of sewage treatment must be encouraged. Phytorid technology is such a type of system, which reduces the impact of sewage and converts into useful water for gardening and irrigation purposes. Phytorid works on the natural capacity of plants to utilize nutrients from wastewater from various sources. Considering the rising pollution of water bodies due to the discharge of waste in them, it is necessary to initiate alternative thinking as the conventional method through sewage treatment plant (STP), have had limited success. To study the characteristics of phytorid bed, we constructed a phytorid prototype in our college campus.

Moisture damage is a frequent distress on pavements and is considered as a major contributor to premature deterioration. Rubberized warm-mix asphalt, a sustainable pavement mixture, is a promising alternative to control moisture damage like stripping, which is a phenomenon that arises due to the loss of bond between asphalt binder and aggregate under traffic loading in the presence of moisture. In this research, an organic additive, cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL), at an optimum dosage of 2% by weight of the bitumen was used to modify natural rubber-modified bitumen (NRMB), and it was used to prepare Dense Bituminous Macadam (DBM). A comparison of moisture susceptibility characteristics of both natural rubber-modified hot-mix asphalt (RHMA) and natural rubber-modified warm-mix asphalt with CNSL additive (RWMA) was done. Indirect tensile strength of conditioned samples of RWMA was 23.3% greater than that of RHMA. The tensile strength ratio (TSR) of RWMA was 13.5% more than that of RHMA and also satisfied minimum requirement of 80% for a mix to be moisture resistant according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) 2013 due to the anti-stripping property of the additive, CNSL. The statistical analysis validates the experimental investigations. ANOVA analysis for tensile strength ratio revealed that type of mix had a significant influence on moisture damage resistance of bituminous mix.

Concrete pavers are finding their way more and more into major road projects as a replacement for bituminous pavements. This is due to its ease in construction and excellent durability characteristics. However, recent studies have pointed out to a trend of depleting sand supplies for construction purposes. Because of this, it has become significantly difficult to obtain river sand and the use of concrete pavers is expected to decline. In this paper, strength and durability characteristics of concrete pavers made using partially replaced fine aggregates with waste glass powder (20–35% replacement) were studied. From the study, it was found to be a promising alternative to sand. At 25% replacement, the pavers recorded a 7% increase in compressive strength and a 8% increase in split tensile strength from conventional concrete pavers. Also, the durability characteristics indicate glass powder to be an efficient replacement for sand. A 3% reduction in cost and a 3% decrease in density were also noted.

Achieving sustainability in production of pavement quality concrete (PQC) is a challenging task. Consumption of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) like fly ash, ground-granulated slag, and rice husk ash in pavement concrete aids in minimizing the embodied energy of produced concrete and also improves the characteristics of concrete in its fresh and hardened states. At present, the SCMs are being utilized to replace ordinary Portland cement (OPC) partially up to some extent. Waste materials from industries like fly ash and ground-granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), when unutilized, end up in a landfill site. Improper management of these materials in landfills causes pollution of air and water. This paper presents the evaluation of mechanical properties of sustainable PQC by replacing GGBFS with OPC ranging from 30 up to 70% by weight. The results indicated that GGBFS can be used to replace OPC by up to 50% to enhance the flexural strength of PQC, which is an important criterion for rigid pavements.

Pervious concrete as the name suggests is pervious in nature (due to absence of fine aggregates) was first introduced in the nineteenth century and has just recently come into limelight. Moreover, from the various forms of pervious concrete, pervious concrete paver blocks are the easiest to install, not to mention that the blocks can gain maximum strength from curing by ponding method at the production unit. Pervious concrete paver block systems have various applications in the field of sustainable construction for regulation of the storm water runoff on the pavement and reduction in infiltration of pollutants into the ground. In this study, mix design comprising of 375 kg/m3 cement; 150 kg/m3 water; and 1500 kg/m3 of 4.75–10 mm sized crushed stone aggregates was used for the casting of different shaped blocks—rectangular, hexagonal, and zigzag; to compare their compressive strength, flexural strength, density and void content; and to select the best suited shape that can be used in construction of a pervious concrete paver block system. The results clearly showed that hexagonal paver blocks had the highest compressive strength and rectangular paver blocks are best in flexural loading as they had remarkably high flexural strength as compared between the three alternatives. However, the void content and density of all three shaped paver blocks were relatively same and had a deviation of only 2.43% and 5.16%, respectively. Also, it was observed that rectangular blocks are easy in handling and casting, which could be very crucial parameter in case of such relatively low-strength blocks.

The construction industry in India is the second largest industry after agriculture which plays a vital role in the economic and social growth of the nation. Traditionally, a construction project engages various participants such as clients, consultants, contractors, and stakeholders with distinct outlook and returns, but they all work collectively to achieve project objectives. There are benefits and challenges associated with every construction project which are unique. Several studies have been conducted in the past to identify challenges and measure benefits through the beneficiary’s survey. In this study, an effort is made to identify the key challenges faced by beneficiaries of the railway project (underpass) in Jaipur by employing a questionnaire survey post-construction. The questionnaire survey was conducted to gauge their response and identify the major challenges. The examinee (respondents) are requested to provide their feedback on a 5-point scale (Likert) where 1 record disagree (strongly) response and 5 records agree (strongly) response. A total of 383 respondents recorded their responses in this survey between May and June 2018. Out of which 357 entries were found to be fit, and remaining entries were discarded due to inadequacy. The analysis (statistical) of the data was achieved by SPSS software. The result outlined the challenges such as water logging problem during the rainy season, unsuitable for big size vehicles, loss of agricultural land, and obstruction to the animal movement that are faced by beneficiaries.

The investigation explores the possible utilization of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) as a modifier of bitumen. Different concentrations of LDPE (5%, 6%, 7% and 8% by weight of bitumen) were mixed with 80/100 penetration grade bitumen. Rheological tests include penetration, viscosity, ductility, and other characterization techniques X-ray powder diffractometry XRD, infrared spectrophotometer were also used to study the homogeneity and properties of the system. The XRD patterns of normal bitumen and modified bitumen with LDPE showed that the phase transition to a higher crystallinity shows high strength and viscosity while the ductility and penetration are low. The IR peak at 1015 cm−1 in the modified sample showed the increase in bending vibration of the C–H bond and breaking of polyethylene macromolecules. The outcome shows that the exhibition of LDPE changed bitumen blends is better than the normal bitumen. Introduction of LDPE outperformed the conventional bitumen and fulfilled the required performance of the bituminous mixes. In addition, the study reveals that modification made by using LDPE improved the service life.

Pedestrian movements with inclusive right-of-way along the vehicular traffic on carriageway have negative impacts on traffic flow characteristics. With pedestrians moving alongside the traffic or crossing the road, the drivers often slowdown and shy away from the pedestrians to other lane or sometimes stop the vehicle resulting in decrease in capacity of the road. The present study aims at developing an empirical model of Percent Capacity Reduction (PCR) to predict the impact of pedestrian movements on the capacity of undivided urban road. Traffic data were collected at three base sections (without pedestrian movements) and both traffic and pedestrian data at three non-base sections (with considerable pedestrian movements) having carriageway width of 5.5 m, 6.2 m, and 9.0 m, respectively. Capacities of base and non-base sections were compared at the identical carriageway width, and therefore, a significant reduction in capacity was observed for non-base sections. This reduction in capacity is governed by the pedestrian parameters. To this end, these pedestrian parameters were utilized to develop the capacity reduction model. The outcome of this paper can help transportation planners in feasibility study for pedestrian facilities and its possible influence on the present traffic movements.

Incorporating recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is one way of recycling and using demolished concrete waste. However, it is an established fact that recycled concrete aggregates used without surface treatment/beneficiation exhibit inferior properties in comparison with their natural counterparts. Various techniques for beneficiation of RCA have been proposed by different researchers over the period of time. This study involves incorporations of recycled concrete aggregates upon beneficiations in preparation of pavement quality concrete (PQC) mixes. Four different techniques for beneficiation of recycled concrete aggregates were adopted in the study, i.e. beneficiation by mechanical abrasion, beneficiation by water soaking and abrasion, beneficiation by HCL soaking and abrasion and beneficiation by H2SO4 soaking and abrasion. PQC mixes incorporating beneficiated recycled concrete aggregates were studied for their mechanical properties in fresh and hardened states. Laboratory investigations showed improvement in physical and mechanical properties of recycled concrete aggregates upon beneficiation. Among different beneficiation techniques studied, beneficiation by H2SO4 soaking and abrasion was found to be most efficient in removing the adhered mortar by nearly 22% of the weight of recycled aggregate sample. The improvement in properties of recycled concrete aggregates upon beneficiation helped in improving the properties of the respective concrete mixes as well. These improvements were observed to be highest for mix prepared with recycled concrete aggregates beneficiated by H2SO4 soaking and abrasion to the order of approximately 35% for compressive strength and 18% for flexural strength.

In this work face-centred response, surface methodology is used to make an analysis work trip journey mode choice behaviour by high-income level and low-income level of residential settlement. Statistical models between factors (Bus and Car) and their response variables (travel time and travel cost) were developed. The experimental values were evaluated using the software program Design-Expert 9.0.3. Relationships were created, and final mathematical models were built from projected responses in terms of coded variables. The effects of parameters on property are visually seen from the response surface and contour plot for all variables. The findings obtained from these established models are considered to be closely correlated with data obtained from field survey. These developed models can therefore be used for predicted trips in the behaviour of different commuters in each mode. This paper would also be of great benefit to transportation engineers to examine the construction of the road on the basis of the passengers, which in turn benefits society.

Over the generations, roads have paved a way for the development of the nation, be it, mass movement of people from sub-urban fringes to the developed parts of the country or making the goods and services available in the remotest areas; therefore, there has been a continuous demand for cost-effective sustainable improvement in the quality of roads. This paper addresses the feasibility of recycling and reusing the construction site (C&D) waste materials in granular sub-base layer (GSB layer, i.e., non-bituminous layer) of flexible pavement. It is a known fact that tonnes of the construction waste are generated each day due to the exponential growth in the infrastructural projects, especially in a developing country like India. Lesser availability of spaces and shortage of landfills have led to illegal dumping of such materials, resulting in immense environmental setbacks. Hence, a motivation and an attempt to resolve such problems by investigating the performance of recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs) are obtained from construction and demolition waste in various percentages, replacement of natural aggregates (NAs) for use in base and sub-base course of the flexible pavement using various experiments. Also, an additional comparison of the effect of thermal and acid treated (ATRCA) to the same RCA with sulfuric acid has been presented in this paper.

Transportation of any country majorly depends on roadways. The roadways are the only mode of transport which provides door to door service. Hence, economic development of a country is also highly influenced by road infrastructure. The major types of roads are bituminous roads and concrete roads. In India, major length of different categories of roads is bituminous roads. These bituminous roads are made of bituminous concrete mix which is combination of aggregates and bitumen. It is also known as hot mix asphalt. The aggregates make up nearly 90–95% of total HMA. Hence, the size and shape of aggregates which effect its physical properties should be given at-most importance as the properties of aggregates also determines the Marshall properties of HMA. In this study, aggregates under two different particle sizes (20 mm down and 12.5 mm down) along with different percentages of shape indices (flakiness and elongation indices varying from 30–50%) were considered for bituminous concrete mix (HMA), and the specimens were tested for Marshall properties. Marshall mix design was adopted, and optimum bitumen content (OBC) was determined for aggregates with different particle sizes for 30–35% shape indices. Three specimens for each percentage of shape indices were prepared, and each specimen was tested for Marshall stability and flow. The study reviewed that the HMA with lower aggregate size and lower percentage of shape indices possess good stability and low rate of flow. The air voids increase with increase in size of aggregates and also with increase in shape indices.

In recent years, India has started giving more priority for the construction of concrete pavements over flexible pavements. On the other hand, the majority of flexible pavements have already crossed their design life. While these pavements consist of more than 30–40% good quality of aggregates that can be reused for further road construction. Besides, the scarcity of natural aggregates as well as lack of eco-friendly materials leads to an increase in the utilization of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) as an alternative material in the road construction. RAP is defined as removed pavement materials containing asphalt coating mix with natural aggregates (coarse and fine aggregate) from the flexible pavement after its design service. Nowadays, a significant share of research is focused on finding cementitious materials alternative to the ordinary Portland cement as OPC consumes more energy and releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. In this circumstance, the aim of this study is also to determine the optimum range of this RAP as an alternative of the natural aggregate for sustainable road construction. In this regard, utilization of the RAP material in the rigid pavement helps to contribute toward sustainable road development. In the present research, the different proportions of RAP content (coarse and fine) are about 25–50% of the natural aggregate that has been used in the concrete mix. Also, Alccofine (AF) as an admixture that partially replaced the Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in the concrete mix. In this study, different proportions of alccofine (AF) 0, 5,10 and 20% were constantly added with the concrete mix to improve the mechanical properties of concrete mixes in the rigid pavements. The mechanical and durability parameters in terms of slump, density, compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength, water absorption, permeability, and rapid chloride penetration test (RCPT) of rigid pavement were evaluated for the control mix. The experimental results show that the presence of Alccofine increases the workability of the wet concrete mixes. However, excessive use of RAP reduces the compressive strength and tensile strength of concrete. The result indicated that 10% of alccofine and 50% of RAP aggregates give the satisfactory in concrete pavements as compared to the virgin aggregate in the concrete mixes. The significant outcome obtained from the results will have a potential impact on the manufacture of sustainable road construction and environmental solution.

This study over semi-flexible pavement (SFP) has been characterized in various stages. The first stage is about the gradation of aggregate for which six trials were made with the course and fine aggregate with three replicates to achieve void ratio between 30 and 70%. The required gradation has been considered for making bituminous aggregate skeleton in second stage with varying bitumen content between 3 and 6% to get stability, flow value and required air voids in skeleton of about 20–30% as per previous studies. In third stage, considering various properties such as flow value, drying shrinkage, grout strength and grouting ability cement grout has been prepared. Pouring of cement grout over bituminous aggregate skeleton under gravity action has been done in the final stage to reduce the final air voids in SFP between 6 and 8%, which has impart durability and strength properties.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a heterogeneous mix of discarded materials that differ in their properties. The disposal and management of municipal solid waste in cities have become a serious concern all over the world. Using this refuse in the building of roads and highways will be an innovative technology as it will not only help in eradicating a huge proportion of openly dumped wastes but also reduce the increasing pressure on the natural road building materials. It is a relatively new idea as no road has entirely been constructed from municipal solid waste. For successfully adopting municipal solid waste as a building material in road sector that will route to sustainable growth, the feasibility must be established and this emphasizes on the dire importance of its geotechnical characterization. This paper gives a detailed review about the previous finding of geotechnical properties of municipal solid waste studied worldwide and results of physical, geotechnical and chemical properties of municipal solid waste from Okhla Landfill. The analysis of results showed that municipal solid waste from Okhla Landfill can be utilized as a highway embankment material.

The bearing capacity calculation is an important part in the design of any type of foundation be it shallow or deep; but here the discussion has been made on shallow foundations only. The aim of this paper is to study and compare the formula given by various geotechnical engineers like Prandtl, Terzaghi, Meyerhof, Brinch Hansen and Vesic along with the IS Code. It all started with Prandtl who was the first one to put a formula on how to estimate the bearing capacity which was improved by Terzaghi and later it was his work only which proved to be the ground-breaking for modern theories and works by different scientists. Bearing capacity is affected by many factors like internal angle of friction, depth of footing, water table, soil moisture, type of soil present, type of footing, etc. Internal angle of friction is an important criterion as it determines the extent up to which the foundation can withstand shear stresses before failure occurs and is measured as angle between the normal force and resultant force which is obtained just before failure. The results obtained from this will be important in determining the theory which will give highest value of bearing capacity factors when internal angle of friction is acting which in turn will tell us which theory as well as they are dependent on these very factors.

The repetitive wetting and drying cycles in black cotton soil (BCS) impedes the life of engineering structures built in its vicinity. Due to high specific surface area and high cation exchange potential of montmorillonite minerals in clay-rich BCS, the ions encompassing the clay surface tend to chemically bond with water molecules through adsorption, forming a thick firm film of held water. The electro-chemically developed film between ions of clay and water persistently expands with the rising moisture and then shrinks upon its dissipation leading to the emergence of cracks. For this study, lime, an extensively used chemical stabilizer, and MSW incinerator ash (IA) were used to encounter the problems exhibited by BCS. The tremendously produced IA possesses adequate engineering properties and has been found to be appropriate for utilization in the large industry of construction. The application of IA will not only help in the treatment of soil but will additionally aid in the minimization of loads on the existing landfills and conservation of the natural aggregates. The present research attempts to obtain compaction and stress–strain attributes of the BCS with the inclusion of lime, IA, and different combination mixes of both these materials cured at 3,7 and 28 days. The study was executed by adding a determined volume of water and weights of lime and IA in proportion to the dry weight of the BCS. The lime and IA were incorporated in amounts of 3%, 6%, 9% and 12%, and 8%, 16%, 24% and 32%, respectively.

The swelling and shrinkage behaviour of black cotton soil (BCS) due to moisture fluctuation reduces the potentiality of the soil to sustain the structures built on or within the vicinity of such soil. Therefore, BCS requires modification so that they do not remain affected by the moisture variation to the extent that it impedes the design life of the engineering structures. The strength enhancement of such soils by using additives and full or partial replacement of BCS from the proposed site is also widely practised. The natural material such as sand is the most adopted replacement material for the problematic soils. However, the sand utilized in massive activities like construction is leading to its depletion, and for minimizing the use of natural sand, quarry dust substitution has been proven to be one of the most reliable materials. Moreover, the quarry dust is also a source of major air pollution and possesses harm to the fertility of soil upon which it rests. Therefore, utilization of waste quarry dust in stabilization projects which will lead to its extensive consumption, thereby reducing the impact on the environment. For the present research, the compaction and strength characteristics of black cotton soil using lime, quarry dust and the combination of both were studied for samples cured at 3, 7 and 28 days, and the changed stabilized values with lime were recorded at 3, 6, 9 and 12%, whereas for quarry dust, the values were found at 8, 16, 24 and 32% partial replacement of the soil particles.

Most of the soils and waste materials are proven to be problematic in geotechnical engineering due to shrinkage, collapse, swelling, dispersion, excessive settlement, and low strength; such characteristic behavior of materials hinders their utilization in engineering applications. Stabilization of materials using cement and lime is a widespread practice for the improvement of engineering properties. Due to the negative impacts of these additives on the environment, there is an increasing focus on the use of sustainable and eco-friendly additives for improving the strength or engineering properties. In this study, an attempt is made to review the application of biopolymers on enhancing the engineering properties of problematic soil and waste materials. The study highlights the applicability of biopolymers, future challenges, and research needs. This review shows that biopolymers are promising in strength improvement, reduces permeability, and alleviation of problematic soil and waste material challenges in an environmental and sustainable manner.

Stabilization of black cotton soil becomes mandatory to reduce the degree of swelling and shrinkage and makes the soil productive for the construction of structures and pavement subgrades. To make use of the surplus solid waste materials and to mitigate its harmful environmental effects, the solid waste acts as a better alternative for stabilizing agents. The present research focuses on the incorporation of solid waste material such as copper slag (CS) and sawdust ash (SA) for the stabilization of black cotton soil. The experimental investigations are carried out with a partial replacement of copper slag (CS) at 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and sawdust ash (SA) at 2%, 4% and 6%, respectively. The properties such as specific gravity, wet sieve analysis, liquid limit, plastic limit, moisture content and free swell index are determined. Unconfined compression (UCC) and California bearing ratio (CBR) tests are performed to determine soil strength with different percentages of copper slag and sawdust ash, and the results are compared to unexplored soil. From the observations, replacement of 30% copper slag and 4% sawdust ash is exposed as an optimum percentage of replacement. The unconfined compressive strength is found to be 92 kN/m2, and CBR values are 4.71 and 4.581 at 2.5 mm and 5 mm penetration, respectively. From the experimental investigation, it is apparent that the optimum replacement of solid waste materials like copper slag and sawdust ash in the black cotton soil productively enhances the soil stabilization and upgrades its application in structure and pavement constructions.

New types of retaining walls are very common in recent construction scenario due to research and advancement in construction techniques and geotechnical fields. A Gabion wall is one of a modern kind of retaining wall, which consists of stone-filled mesh boxes that are tied together to form a shape of retaining wall. A Gabion wall is preferred nowadays due to its simplicity, speedy construction, flexibility, eco-friendly and a wide range of applications. This paper describes details of Gabion wall, materials of mesh box, its specifications, testing methods, construction procedures, merits–demerits, application areas and cost comparison. A total of five types of retaining walls, namely Stone Masonry, RCC Cantilever, Counterfort, Buttresses and Gabion, have been designed for the height of five meters with the same input design parameters. Cost comparison of optimized sections of all walls is also presented. This study provides a base for further research on possible modification in Gabion wall system particularly.

Bagasse ash, an agriculture waste product, is used to improve the strength of the soil. Bagasse ash was added in quantities of 2, 4, 6 and 8% of dry weight of soil. The study shows that on blending with soil, it improves the stiffness of the soil matrix, its strength and deformation modulus. The pozzolanic material present in the bagasse ash leads to the formation of cementitious gels that result in enhanced strength of the blended soil. It also improves the durability of the blended soil. Cement is added as a secondary stabilizer to improve the strength and particularly the durability in minimum quantities of 0.1, 0.5 and 1%. The study shows that the optimum bagasse ash content to be used to stabilize the soil is 4% and cement is 0.1%.

Prior to the commencement of any kind of construction projects, it is important to have an idea about the geotechnical properties of the soil at site. More often than not, ideal soil condition is impossible to find. The performance of the soil at site is dependent on the basic index properties of the soil. Soil stabilisation is one of the methods of ground improvement done in order to improvise the engineering performance of the soil at site. In this paper, we shall discuss about the usability of ordinary Portland cement as soil-stabilising agent for well-graded sand. The sample considered for experimentation was from a site located at a place called Sirwani in the east district of Sikkim which was likely to be used for the construction of a large-scale private dairy plant. The sample collected was a disturbed one because it was dug out leaving the topmost layer of the soil up to a depth of 30 cm. The testing was done for samples with four different cement percentages by weight of the soil. Except for the natural moisture content determination test, all tests were performed on oven dried samples. The results show the effect of OPC on various strength and compaction parameters of the soil considered.

With increase in the demand of improving infrastructure in the era of scarcity of land availability and increasing land costs, alternatives for construction on soft ground have gained importance. Since the soft ground are characterized with extremely low shear strength, less than 40 kPa and extremely weak geotechnical properties, adoption of sustainable ground improvement techniques is a necessity. In this paper, a 4 m high road embankment was made to rest on layered soft soil. In order to stabilize the structure and reduce the settlement in the soft ground, the embankment was simulated to be reinforced with geogrids and resting on pile-supported layered soft soil. The tensile stiffness of the geogrid was increased along with depth, and the last layer of geogrid with stiffness of 800 kN/m inhibited the settlement with the maximum displacement of 0.3730 m. The employment of pile supports and geogrids as ground improvement technique for the soft ground in this case reduced the total displacement in the soft soil layers to the minimum value of 0.1738 m. A consolidation period of 2440 days occurred for the soft soil to gain enough strength enhancements.

Energy absorption of soil–fly ash and soil–cement mixes have been widely studied. However, the study on the effect of waste materials such as sugarcane bagasse fibre and glass fibre on the energy absorption of soil–fly ash–cement–bagasse fibre (SACB) and soil–fly ash–cement–glass fibre (SACG) mixes is limited. A series of unconsolidated undrained triaxial tests were conducted for different combinations of materials. The fly ash content was kept as 30% by weight of dry soil while the cement content was varied from 0.5 to 2%. The percentages of both bagasse and glass fibres were varied from 0.25 to 1%. The increase in fibre content had an increasing effect on the energy absorption ability of SACB and SACG specimens. Glass fibre inclusions gave higher energy absorption than that of the bagasse fibre. Effect of curing on deviatoric stress and energy absorption over a period of 28 days was studied. Curing had a significant influence on the energy absorption of different specimens. This paper presents the comparative results of the effect of bagasse and glass fibres on the energy absorption properties of different specimens. It was observed that in addition to soil stabilization using fly ash and cement, the fibre reinforcement resulted in higher energy absorption by the specimens.

The black cotton soil is one of the problematic soils which may cause heaving of roads, cracking of basement floors, or severe structural damage if not treated properly. In the present investigation, the strength and consolidation characteristics of the black cotton soil amended with 1, 3, and 5% of crumb rubber powder are evaluated. The experimental results showed that there was a reduction in plasticity index and density of the amended soil, whereas its California Bearing Ratio (CBR) and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) are increased. It was also observed that both the total and effective shear strength parameters have increased with the % rubber content. The consolidation tests on modified soil showed that there is a slight decrease in the compression index (Cc) and increase in the coefficient of consolidation (Cv). The consolidation tests were also conducted with 0.5% sodium chloride (NaCl) solution which has significantly decreased the value of Cc. Hence, it was concluded that the addition of 5% rubber waste with 0.5% NaCl is effective in reducing the compressibility and swelling characteristics of black cotton soil. Further, the bearing capacity and settlement analyses were carried out using GEO5 software tool and found that the addition of rubber powder has caused a remarkable decrease in the footing dimensions.

Soil expansive in nature causes serious problems on civil engineering structures. Expansive soils expand in volume during rainy season and shrink in hot season causing damage to buildings, pipelines, highways and other civil engineering structures. The existence of montmorillonite clay in such soils imparts them high swell–shrink potentials. Expansive soil in India exists at western parts of Madhya Pradesh, various parts of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharastra, Gujarat, Karanataka and the total Deccan plateau. In several parts of India, expansive soils are also well-known as black cotton Soil. In the present study, behaviour of both natural and artificially prepared expansive soils has been investigated. Both natural and bentonite-mixed ordinary clayey soil were taken in this experimental investigation to study the variation of different engineering properties like grain size distribution, plastic properties, compaction properties, California bearing ratio (CBR) and swelling properties.

The disposal of waste plastic bags and plastic bottles has become one of the utmost serious problems in India. Stack of waste plastic bags and plastic bottles are growing day by day due to poor recycling ratio. Therefore, it is very essential to utilize these waste materials in various fields in a convenient way. For large-scale construction of roads, huge quantity of fill material is needed; however, soils available near construction sites may be poor and soft. Hence, to increase the strength of such soils, some additive materials are needed. Waste plastic chips may be here used as strengthening element for the stabilization of clayey soils. In this present study, waste Metro milk packets and Kinley water bottles were collected and cut into different sizes of 0.5 × 0.5 cm, 1 × 1 cm, and 2 × 2 cm and mixed with clayey soil in the proportion of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5% by dry weight of soils. Light compaction tests and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests have been done for various combinations of plastic chips. From this study, it is observed that both maximum dry density (MDD) and optimum moisture content (OMC) decreases with the increase of waste plastic chips in clayey soil. However, CBR value of waste plastic-mixed soil increases with the increase of waste plastic chips content up to a certain limit; after that, CBR value decreases.

Bhuj earthquake in 2001 produced an insight into researchers in India to study the liquefaction phenomenon, especially in loose saturated sand deposits. India is a country with plenty of saturated loose deposits of cohesionless soil; thus, there is a need to study the liquefaction characteristics of soils in India. This paper presents a brief review of the liquefaction studies conducted in India, mainly using SPT N values, soil profile data, or medium-sized shake table tests, and noticed that limited studies were done in Kerala. The paper also discusses the various ground improvement techniques available for liquefaction mitigation. Though several traditional methods like densification, drainage mitigation, stabilization, or reinforcement exist to mitigate liquefaction vulnerabilities, recent studies focus on achieving low cost, environmentally friendly, and non-disturbing methods. Since Kerala lies in seismic zone III, more research and development are essential in studying the liquefaction phenomena, highlighting the importance of a ground improvement technology program to select the site-specific techniques.

Atterberg limits comprise of liquid and plastic limits which are widely used for the identification and classification of fine-grained soil. For the last five-six decades, researchers attempted to correlate these limits with various engineering properties like permeability, compaction parameters and shear strength. Naturally, available soil comprises of clay, silt and sand fractions which make it complex to distinguish their effect on both liquid and plastic limits. This study is to investigate the factors affecting the liquid limit, through fall-cone penetrometer method, and plastic limits, using the thread-rolling method, of clay admixed artificially with limestone dust (LSD) and fine sand (FS) severally as well as collectively. Based on the statistical analysis of 44 laboratory test results, it has been found that these limits are primarily controlled by the clay content, marginally by the particle size and least by the fractions of silt- and sand-sized particles. Moreover, Pearson’s correlation analysis reveals that liquid and plastic limits of fine-grained soil mixtures are in perfect positively associated with % bentonite, moderate negatively with % LSD and weak negatively with % FS.

The assessment of slope stability analysis is necessary in predicting the failure of any earthen slope. Factor of safety is a primary index in accessing the slope stability analysis. Limit equilibrium technique is a traditional method which is commonly used. However, various computational methods are tremendously used in practice nowadays, with increase in computation and memory resources. Among various numerical methods, finite element method is a reliable alternative to the traditional method available to the engineers. This study brings out the comparison of limit equilibrium method (LEM) and finite element method (FEM)-based 2-D solution for slope stability analysis using Midas-Soilworks software for a particular earthen slope.

The black cotton soil is known for its expansive behavior which makes it unfit for taking up any type of construction activity without proper treatment. In this research investigation, initially bagasse ash was blended with black cotton soil in a mix percentage varying between 0 and 20% to analyze its engineering properties. After obtaining optimum strength of the mix, it was further reinforced with coconut fibre in a ratio between 0.5 and 1.0% to explore the possibility of reduction in bagasse ash content for the same strength. Different laboratory tests, viz. liquid limit test, plastic limit test, free swell index and unconfined compressive strength test, were done on various mix samples to determine its strength characteristics. It is observed that with the addition of bagasse ash, the liquid limit, plastic limit, and free swell index of the mix specimens had decreased. The maximum strength of this soil–bagasse ash mix is observed at 15% of bagasse ash which was then further reinforced with coconut fiber resulting in a decrease in the quantity of bagasse ash to 10% with 0.5% of coconut fibre. Bagasse ash and coconut fiber are abundantly available waste materials, and as such use of these materials may be an economical solution in improving strength properties of black cotton soil.

The molding sand used in metal casting industries produces huge amount of waste products in form of Waste foundry sand (WFS). It contains added chemicals, expansive clays, and residual metal from the casting process. Due to the constituents and the processes, the sand has gone in the past; they are not suitable to be used in concrete. Therefore, this product is usually disposed at landfills. This paper investigates the potential use of waste foundry sand in stabilizing weak marine clay subgrades for construction of road embankments. The experimental program includes characterization of WFS and marine clay deposits, determination of index properties, compaction characteristics and effect of WFS on California bearing ratio (CBR) of the marine clay subgrades. WFS added to marine clay was varied from 10 to 40% of dry weight of marine clay. It was observed that addition of up to 40% added WFS doubles the CBR value and decreases the gap between soaked and unsoaked CBR from over 60 to below 20%. Hence, it is an economic method to improve the performance of subgrade in places where water logging is common.

As the population becomes increasing, land reclamation is the only option to satisfy the needs of construction industries. Sand column is one of the ground enhancement techniques and is suitable for upgrading the soft soils and loose sand and increases the load carrying capacity and reduces the large surface settlements. Sand columns accelerate the process of consolidation, decrease the compressibility and increase the strength of soft soils. The load carrying capacity of sand column depends upon the undrained shear strength of the in situ soil. The present study investigates the effect of sand column on the behavior of soft soil and the diameter of the column on the load response of marine clay bed. The load versus settlement response of ordinary clay bed, clay bed with single sand column of diameter 4.1 cm and group sand columns of diameter 1.9 cm has been observed by keeping the same area replacement ratio (17%). Inclusion of single and group sand column increased the load carrying capacity of clay bed by 12 and 18%, respectively. This shows that for the same area replacement ratio, group sand columns are more effective than single sand column.

In seismic response analysis, the response of soil is generally presented in the form of response spectra for a site. Important parameters that are needed for the analysis of ground motion response are geological information like soil profile, thickness, depth of bedrock, shear wave velocity, etc. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the soil amplification factor of sites in Kalyani region, Kolkata. In this study, one-dimensional ground response analyses were performed for selected Kalyani region sites using the 2001 Bhuj Earthquake (PGA= 0.1 g) and 1999 Chamoli Earthquake (PGA= 0.2 g) strong ground motion records with DEEPSOIL computer programme. For site response analysis, shear wave velocity is a key parameter. Based on geotechnical examination of this area, a qualitative approach will be used to define the locations which are susceptible to ground motion amplification caused due to their soil formations. It can be observed from the results that the maximum soil amplification factor is BH-4 (1.798) and BH-02 (1.488) for Bhuj and Chamoli Earthquakes, respectively. Further, there is a definite effect of thickness of layers on the response.

This paper is based on the study to mitigate liquefaction of sand by blending it with different proportions of fine-grained soil. In this investigation, fly ash was used as fine-grained material which contains almost 85% silt-sized (i.e., fine-grained) particle, and liquefaction potential of fly ash blended sand is not yet extensively explored, especially under strain-controlled conditions. In this study, cyclic strain-controlled triaxial tests were performed by mixing fly ash in different proportions by weight of sand (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50%) with sand and the liquefaction potential of the sand-fly ash blends was observed. A relative density of 20% was used in the test. Experiments were performed under the shear strain of 0.75% and a frequency of 1 Hz. It was observed that with an increase in fly ash content, the number of cycles to liquefaction initially decreased then increased to a limiting value; after that, it became almost constant. The above behavior may be explained with the concept of the sand-skeleton void ratio.

Sustainability of building material generally concerned on construction, conservation and refurbishing of the used material. Based on the availability, cost and refurbishing of material, stainless steel has been considered as one of the best contenders among the materials used for structures. Out of all the sections, viz., square, circle, ellipse, oval, etc., available, oval section is one new section with aesthetical looks and unequal strength along the curve and flat elements of the section. Alike other cross-section, oval section may be introduced as stub column whose length is small enough lying within the range of three times the widest element of cross-section. Even though the length of stub column is short, its failure varied with the changes in thickness of the section and a detailed study needs to be done separately for different thickness of section, viz., thin slender or a stocky thick section. Usually, the slender cross-section is ineffective in taking the load, while the stocky thick cross-section takes full load. As perforation becomes an inevitable formed of members for inspection and piping, this paper presents the buckling strength of single square shape perforated stocky oval Lean Duplex Stainless Steel (LDSS) stub column using finite element analysis software (Abaqus). The presence of perforation reduces the stress concentration in the area of perforation. The curve element is more effective in taking the load as compared to the flat element of oval cross-section. The strength of the column reduces along with the increase in sizes of perforation. The strength of the column reduces more by the presence of perforation along the curve element as compared along the flat element of the section.

The demand for environmental benign technology is rising every day. Green technology conserves environment and its natural resources. Being a non-biodegradable substance, the use of waste glass for land filling is discouraged. Glass shows pozzolanic behavior, prevent alkali–silica reaction (ASR) or most known as “concrete cancer” in the concrete structures and can rebound with calcium hydroxide to produce solid material having cement-like properties. In the present work, the waste glass in coarse, fine and powder forms are used as the partial replacement of high performance cement (HPC). In conventional mixing (M30), glass is not used. Different glass and HPC mixtures are made by using 10, 20 and 30% glass in HPC. Compressive strengths of the prepared concretes were experimentally determined after 7 and 28 days of curing period. Split tensile strengths and flexural strengths were also noted at the end of 28 days of curing. The above performance determining parameters were analyzed. The strength of concrete using powder glass was found better than coarse and fine glasses. The achieved maximum strength has recommended the use of 20 (%) powder glasses in HPC cement.

Rice husk, an abundantly available agricultural waste from paddy industry, is popularly used in rice mills as fuel for parboiling operations. Potential of rice husk ash produced under controlled incinerations of rice husk as a supplementary cementing material is well proven by many researches. The residual ash from rice husk after utilizing its fuel value is considered as a waste material and it generally faces environmental issues on disposal. This paper investigates the potential of residual rice husk ash collected from a rice mill where rice husk is using as fuel. Chemical composition and specific surface area of the samples were evaluated to assess pozzolanicity. XRD and SEM analyses were conducted to check the transition of amorphous form to crystalline form and surface topography. The tests results on lime reactivity and electrical conductivity confirm the pozzolanicity of residual rice husk ash without significant reduction compared to the ash prepared under controlled burnt conditions.

Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as fly ash, GGBS, silica fume, limestone, and metakaolin are widely adopted to replace cement to a certain extent. However, to meet the growing infrastructural need and limited availability of these SCMs, there is wide research on alternative binders to reduce the impact of cement on natural resources. Thus, the extended use of SCMs such as ternary and quaternary blended cement gained importance. The synergistic effect between low calcium fly ash and limestone is proven to be beneficial [Bonavetti et al. in Cem Concr Res 31:853–859, 2001]. This paper presents the study of ternary blended concrete with the cement replaced by a combination of fly ash and dolomitic limestone powder using manufactured sand from crushed granite deposits as fine aggregate. The mechanical properties such as compressive strength and split tensile strength at 7, 28, 56 and 90 days are discussed. The water absorption test of concrete as per ASTM C642 [ASTM C642 (2009) Standard test method for density, absorption and voids in hardened concrete. West Conshohocken, USA] is also discussed.

In this study, steel fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) samples were examined by considering the effects of different proportions of steel fibers on the material presentation and to assistance the use of fiber materials in building construction industry. Nowadays, the application of steel fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) in the construction of structural components is gotten as an alternate solution to the obstacle in placing the reinforcement and compaction of generally vibrated concrete. The important benefit of SFRSCC is the capability to be correctly poured in place, filling the formwork junctions and small voids between reinforcement bars by means of its own weight. Various researches had been implemented on structural performance of SFRSCC due to the boosted engineering and mechanical properties. The use of steel fibers in the mix improves the hardened properties of self-compacting concrete in terms of its compressive strength, tensile strength, ductility, toughness, energy absorption capacity, and shear resistance as well. The objective of this paper is to observe the performance of SFRSCC in building structures. And these paper emphases on the design mix for SFRSCC, mix design principle and experimental analysis are carried out on self-compacting steel fiber-reinforced concrete.

To counteract the problem due to global warming, many researchers were conducting and trying to use the waste byproducts of industrial to diminish the CO2 emission and utilize it as a partial replacement for ordinary portland cement (OPC). This paper summarizes the research work conducted to evaluate the properties of concrete by utilizing the supplementary cementitious material (SCM) such as silpozz and steel slag and as partial replacement of the OPC. Six concrete mixes including control mix were designed by using various proportions of silpozz and steel slag to analyze its effect on concrete for a curing period of 7, 28, and 56 days. Slump test is conducted for the evaluation of fresh concrete properties. The behavior of concrete has been evaluated by conducting different laboratory tests such as destructive (i.e., compressive strength) and non-destructive test (i.e, ultrasonic pulse velocity, rebound hammer test). The incorporation of more RHA particles tends to reduce the workability due to its high specific surface area absorbs more water. Inclusion of 20% of silpozz shows better enhancement of strength as compared to other concrete mixes.

The study showed the evaluation of strength and chloride content of marine self-compacting concrete using silica fume (SF) and silpozz as a partial replacement of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The grade of concrete M30 is prepared with w/b ratio of 0.43. Based on several trial mixes, the amount of water reduced by 25% as SP is used in blended SCC, but there is no change for the quantity of materials in OPC concrete. The mechanical properties are compressive strength, flexural strength, and split tensile strength which was studied, and it involves the acid soluble chloride (ASC) and water soluble chloride (WSC). It was studied from the test results that SCC containing 5% SF and 10–20% silpozz with doses of SP showed less than 5% deterioration factor (DF) of compressive strength at 365 days. The DF of split tensile strength and flexural strength is 0.96% and 0.6% at 90 days, respectively. The pre-cast blended SCC samples exhibited best performance.

Waste marble powder is a non-reactive material which is generated from sawing, shaping, and polishing convoy operation of marble stone. Nowadays, the waste marble powder is used as a building substance. These materials can be economically utilized to develop some fresh concrete and hardened properties of conventional concrete (CC). Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) is a pozzolanic material. GGBS contributes to the production of superior cement concrete. In this subject, both marble powder (MP) and GGBS were replaced binder material of CC that is replacement of cement. The replacement of cement is 0, 5%, 10%, 15% for marble powder, and for GGBS 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% respectively. Mix design is targeted for M40 grade concrete. The mix proportion of the concrete is 1:1.36:2.87. The fresh concrete properties of CC are determined by slump test, and for hardened concrete properties, the tests are carried out such as compressive strength, split tensile strength, and flexural strength at 7 days, 28 days, and 90 days of curing under water. The result indicates that conventional concrete replaced by combination of 10% marble powder and 20% GGBS with cement gives the highest compressive strength, and combination of 15% marble powder and 10% GGBS gives the highest split tensile strength and flexural strength.

This study includes the results of an experimental investigation regarding the safely disposal of waste flex in cement concrete without compromising its normal strength. Solid waste management is a very important issue in the present context and will become much higher issue in future. Flex is used for variety of hoarding boards for advertisement and many other purposes. As its uses are growing rapidly day by day, its disposal is also becoming more difficult as it is a kind of plastic and disposing of plastic is critical issue. As we know, concrete is widely used in the construction activities throughout the world. In this research work, waste flex is mixed into very small pieces in concrete for reducing the problem of disposal of waste flex. The proportion of flex used in this study are 0.50, 0.75, 1, 1.25 and 1.50% by weight of the cement. The concrete mix of M-25 grade is prepared using different proportions of flex waste. The flexural strength, split tensile strength, and compression strength of the concrete cube samples are tested. It is found that the mechanical properties of flex waste mixed samples have been improved significantly. The results of this study can be used by the structural engineers and environment professionals.

During the production of cement, CO2 will be emitted in to atmosphere which leads to global warming. This demands the researchers to concentrate on sustainability of the natural resources. This can be achieved by using the green concrete which has numerous advantages over the conventional concrete. In my research work, sustainable ternary blended concrete was prepared by using the industrial wastes like ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), Alccofine 1203 replacing cement partially. GGBS was used at 25% by weight of cement at constant rate and Alccofine 1203 contribution is at 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20%. In addition, 0.5% basalt fibers by volume of concrete was used. After curing for 7, 28, and 90 days, compressive strength, split tensile, and flexural strength tests are performed, and optimum percentage of Alccofine 1203 was found to be at 15%.

This research work deals with the incorporation of construction and demolition waste, produced by demolition of buildings, to manufacture bricks which can be used for construction. Such bricks can provide solution to two of the major threats of our environment: (1) excess demolition waste leading to pollution, (2) possible demand for clay in future. The building debris, thermal waste, and a pozzolanic material were commonly used in the manufacturing of bricks. This paper includes the compressive strength test and water absorption test carried out on bricks. These bricks are ethereal and economic when compared with conventional bricks and also decreases the manufacturing time. In this study, the bricks were produced by varying the mix ratios of cement, fly ash, and demolition waste. The results of the compressive strength test indicated that the bricks can withstand a maximum compressive strength up to 15.03 MPa in 28 days. Further, it has been found that compressive strength increases by 20% when the percentage of demolition waste added is decreased from 57 to 33%. This study concludes that the excess demolition waste or debris produced in the construction industry can be used as a raw material for brick manufacturing.

This article discusses the pros and cons of the utilization of recycled concrete aggregate with rice husk ash based on the previous research studies. This study is undertaken to encourage the usage of waste material for making fresh concrete. An enormous amount of construction and demolition waste is generated regularly, which is being dumped in landfills. This study emphasizes the importance of recycled concrete aggregate utilization produced from scrap concrete by partial or full replacement of natural aggregates. Partial replacement of cement by rice husk ash leads to improved strength in concrete, as can be seen from several research studies. Hence, rice husk ash can partly make up for the strength reduction caused by the use of recycled aggregates in concrete. An attempt is made for the utilization of waste materials, so as to minimize natural material exploitation. Further, concrete made with rice husk ash display higher resistance to sulfate and acid attacks. Hence, concrete with rice husk ash can be used for structures exposed to marine and humid environments.

This work is aimed to improve the mechanical properties of concrete with nanosilica (NS) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The specimens such as cubes and cylinders were prepared for 1–2% nanosilica by weight of cement, and three different percentage of MWCNTs 0.005, 0.0025, 0.05% were used to study the effect of concrete with nanosilica and combination of nanosilica and MWCNTs on different properties such as compressive strength, split tensile strength, bond strength, and impact strength. Results indicated that the combination of nanosilica and MWCNTs provides better results than control specimens at all curing periods. In addition, NS 20.05% mix presents the highest improvement in compression, split tension, bond slip behavior, number of blows, and impact energy at first and final failure crack, among all of other tested mixes.

In this paper, an experimental investigation was carried out on mortar cubes to study the influence of Bacillus subtilis bacteria, nanosilica used as a carrier material and GGBFS (0 and 10%) as cement replacement on compressive strength by direct application and bacteria immobilization at 3, 7, and 28 days of moisture curing. The compressive strength results showed significant improvement in bacteria specimens than the control mortar specimens. Visual observations were made to witness the white powdery precipitate on the cracked areas; optical microscopic images were taken to analyze the rate of crack healing efficiency of cracked specimens and also studied the microstructural characterization of cracked compounds using scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Concrete is generally the most utilized construction material on the planet. Cement is a key ingredient of concrete. It is manufactured in a process which radiates large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) in terms of 80% of cement produced, which implies adverse effects on our environment. In the research, M70 grade concrete is proportioned in which cement is partially replaced with dolomite powder, silica fume and sisal fibres. Dolomite powder is obtained from crushing mineral dolomite. It has a few similar properties like that of cement. To compensate for the strength inducing property of cement, the by-product in the production of metal and alloys called silica fume is proposed to be used. Sisal fibres help in crack-resisting property and are said to be the secondary reinforcement. The replacement percentages of dolomite powder are 0, 10, 20 and 30%, silica fume 10% both by weight of cementitious material and 0.25% sisal fibres by volume of concrete. Specimens of cubes, prisms and cylinders are cast. After 7, 28 and 90 days of curing, the specimens undergo various strength tests like compressive strength, flexural strength and split tensile strength, and the ideal replacement percentage of dolomite for cement is found to be 10%.

Sustainable development is the key aspect to reduce the cause of global warming all over the world. Due to the rapid growth of industry, by-product wastes such as fly ash (FA), red mud (RM), and ground-granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) also generate in large amount. Dumping of these by-product wastes requires a large land area and they are reason for environmental issues like groundwater contamination, soil contamination, and air pollution; hence, finding a suitable place for disposing these wastes is the foremost goal. RM, a residue of bauxite, obtained at the time of aluminum production can be used for various civil engineering purposes without compromising the engineering characteristics. The production of conventional civil materials like cement and bricks causes more CO2 emission to the environment whereas the reuse of RM for geopolymerization decreases the CO2 emission as well as cost effective by declining the land used for its dumping. In this review paper, a brief analysis of different geopolymers made by RM and their use as a geotechnical material is discussed with the shortcomings and the omissions for future trends. The tests results like strength, durability, SEM, XRD, leaching, water absorption of common variety of geopolymers, namely binder, brick, road base material, paver block, are discussed for better understanding the improvement in engineering characteristics along with variation in different proportion of RM with other waste materials and alkalis.

Use of demolition waste in construction opens a complete new range of options in the reuse of materials in the building industry. This could be a vital development for our society in our endeavors toward sustainable development. The present study aims in developing the brick using demolished waste, blended with lime (L), fly ash (FA), blast furnace slag (BS) in varied proportions which were casted and cured at normal atmospheric conditions. In order to analyze the performance of the produced brick, compression test, water absorption test, and flexural test were conducted and compared with the conventional burnt clay brick as per Indian standard codal provisions. Test results showed that the brick produced from the demolished waste blended with pozzolanic materials showed better performance than compared to conventional bricks (CB).

Alkali-activated materials (AAMs) are considered to be a new class of binders after lime and the conventionally used portland cement. The advantage of alkali-activated materials is that they can be made from a variety of industrial by-products or waste materials. Many of these industrial waste materials or by-products have not been fully explored. One among them is glass waste. On the other hand, glass is one such non-bio-degradable material which is being used in many forms in our day-to-day life. It has a very less life span and its waste is either being piled up or being dumped as landfills. Hence, waste glass can be considered to manufacture alkali-activated materials since waste glass is supposed to have the potential to be used as a precursor material due to the presence of amorphous silica. However, limited research data is available on the use of waste glass as precursor material to manufacture alkali-activated materials. On the other hand, the main drawback of AAMs is the use of high alkaline liquid to manufacture AAMs. Hence, this paper aims in providing a better understanding on the feasibility of using waste glass to manufacture alkali-activated materials.

Mortar is an important material used in building construction. Because of some stresses, the material tends to crack. The cracks are mainly caused by the penetration of some liquids, gases, and dust. If the cracks are not treated instantly, then the cracks will expand further and finally it requires a high repairing cost. For reducing the repairing cost and to increase the strength of structure, a bacterial solution is required. A soil bacterium was used to precipitate calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and the process of metabolism of urease enzymes which will heal the cracks is formed in the mortar specimen. Here, the bacterial strain, Bacillus licheniformis MTCC3606, was used for calcite precipitation to seal the cracks. Urease analysis has shown the secretion of urea which is responsible for calcite precipitation. SEM analysis has shown the calcite precipitation inside the foam strip of bacterial cement mortar. Therefore, the nature of the study was to investigate the possible application of Bacillus licheniformis as a self-healing agent in mortar mixtures to seal the cracks.

In the planet, concrete is a most adaptable, enduring and reliable material. Concrete is most widely used material after water on the earth. But concrete is not eco-friendly due to large carbon footprint of cement. In this paper, a new material which is eco-friendly and usable in place of concrete is produced which is called as geopolymer. The use of pozzolanic material like rice husk ash (RHA), ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), etc., and polymeric binder with no use of OPC is called geopolymer. In the present work, experimental investigation was performed like compressive strength (7 and 28 days) at ambient curing condition. Effect of SiO2 on compressive strength is evaluated in the present paper. The variation of SiO2 (6, 7, 8%) and fixed value of Na2O and different combinations of RHA and GGBS (variation from 10% to 50% increases 10% in each step) were used in this paper. Maximum compressive strength was found at 50% GGBS with mix id GP.6.8.50 as 25.60 MPa at the curing of 28 days with ambient environment at Na2O = 6% and SiO2 = 8%.

Precast concrete through type U-girders is now being widely adopted in metro railway bridges. It is an alternate to box girders when the structure is constructed in earthquake sensitive areas. The main advantage of through type girders is that, it requires less overall height. Since the horizontal force is acting at lower level, the moment induced due to lateral forces will be lower in magnitudes. The use of U-girders also leads to material savings about 20–30% compared to box girders. The analysis of through type rectangular shaped bridge structure was already carried out by a few researchers and the available literature on comparative studies in the analysis of through type trapezoidal shaped U-girder railway bridges is limited. The present study addresses this lacuna. The linear elastic analysis and material nonlinear analysis of trapezoidal shaped, U-girders have been conducted using finite element software ANSYS. A comparative study has been done between linear and nonlinear analysis and also the effect of inclination of the web in the behaviour of U-girders has been studied by adopting different cross sections of girders with different angle of inclinations and with the same cross-sectional area. The study proves that the inclination has an effect on the flexural stiffness of U-girder.

Usage of nanomaterials is the current trend in all the industries including construction materials. Nanomaterials are known for its low particle size (<100 nm) and high surface area. Materials can be modified at nanoscale that is, we can improve the microstructure of cement. Graphene oxide (GO) is one such nanomaterials known for its complex carbon structure and strength properties. GO is used to improve the properties of high-strength self-compacting concrete (HSSCC). As the world is growing vertically, it is necessary to study on modern materials and its strength characteristics. This research evaluates performance characteristics of GO-incorporated high-strength self-compacting concrete. Graphene oxide is fabricated in the laboratory which is economical and efficient. Silica fume (10 wt% of cement) is replaced for better dispersion of GO in the concrete and Fly ash (30 wt% of cement) is replaced is incorporated to enhance the pore structure and rheological properties of HSSCC. GO is added to cement at contents 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08 and 0.1% by weight of powder to achieve high-strength self-compacting concrete. Performance characteristics HSSCC are determined at 7, 28, 56 and 90 days of curing.

Concrete is the inevitable product of the construction industry without that, construction may not be possible in the current scenario. However, concrete is having several issues such as cracks, lack of workability and effect of chemical attack. Out of these issues, formation of micro-cracks is a bigger problem in terms of durability because micro-cracks will lead to macro-cracks and contribute to the increase in permeability of concrete. In this regard, a self-healing bio-mineralization of bacterial species is used as the aid for the decrease in the permeability and increases of the durability of the structure. In the present study, M20 grade concrete was used to understand the durability of concrete with three different bacterial species for different bacterial cell concentrations. From the results, it can be seen that the permeability of concrete decreases with increase in cell concentrations from 104 to 107 with a maximum of 64% reduction in Water absorption of concrete along with reduction in weight loss was also observed for 2 and 4 weeks of acid attack test with a maximum of 39%. This is mainly due to calcium carbonate deposition in micro-cracks which has inhibited the propagation of cracks from micro to macro and indirectly contributes to the betterment of durability of the concrete and reduction in corrosion.

Concrete is the world’s second most consumed material after water. The prime ingredient of conventional concrete is the cement which acts as a binder. It is a well-known fact that cement manufacturing industries are responsible for carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere, thereby polluting the environment. With the expansion in infrastructural projects, the demand for concrete is bound to rise. This will result in more concrete production and a rise in environmental pollution. Emphasis on environmental protection has led to an effort for finding an appropriate sustainable construction material alternative to traditional cement concrete. Geopolymer concrete also known as alkali-activated concrete can be an appropriate alternative to traditional cement concrete because of its lesser carbon footprint than the traditional one. Geopolymer concrete is still in the research and developing phase with no proper guidelines and code of practice. Geopolymer concrete behaves differently in different curing conditions. This study emphasizes the effect of different curing regimes on the strength parameters of geopolymer concrete.

Concrete is the most commonly utilized material all over the globe. Nowaday’s construction sector has faced a problem in procuring economical natural river sand due to an increase in urbanization and industrialization. Despite that, many industries are facing problems in effective disposal of their waste products. To overcome these two problems, many researchers have done investigations on the utilization of various industrial byproducts like waste foundry sand, rice husk ash, etc., in concrete. These studies defend the utilization of different industrial byproducts in the manufacturing process of concrete. So, in this way, cost as well as the environment can be saved. This article attempts to review the present literature on in-depth studies that have been undertaken in an attempt to investigate reasonable applications and capability of used foundry sand (UFS) for building construction materials. In the paper, various properties of concrete in which UFS is used as fine aggregate are presented which are broadly named as fresh, mechanical, and durability properties.

Disposal of solid waste in megacities like Delhi is a big challenge for municipal authority as its mounts are increasing in their size and are hazardous to the environment of the city. Industrial wastes disposal is another issue due to lack of landfill sites. The problem of disposal of industrial waste can be controlled by using them suitably in construction materials. Pellet aggregate is an end product of combustion of wood pellet; an industrial waste absorbs less water and lighter than virgin natural coarse aggregate. In the present experimental work, the efforts have been made to utilize this waste collected from industry in standard concrete of grade M50. Natural coarse aggregate of the control concrete was replaced by pellet coarse aggregate with varying percentage of 0, 15, 30, 45, and 60% by weight without altering w/c ratio and dose of PCE-based superplasticizer. Workability in each replacement was scaled. Acid attack, ultrasonic pulse velocity, splitting tensile strength, and crushing strength tests were conducted on the hardened concrete specimens obtained from each replacement. Surprisingly, crushing strengths ratio after 28, and 90 days curing found increasing with increase in replacement level of pellet coarse aggregate with the natural coarse aggregate. The ultrasonic pulse velocity test results on concrete of different replacement level of wood pellet combustion aggregate support variation in the crushing strength of the concrete.

Periodic maintenance of structures is of prime importance to increase its durability and reduce its maintenance and repair cost. Health monitoring systems can be employed to record and monitor the accumulation of stresses. For this, a composite with good sensing ability is essential. The sensing ability of a composite can be evaluated by measuring its response to the external load. The response can be electrical. In this study, the self-sensing ability of carbon fiber incorporated geopolymer composite is discussed. The service life of conventional sensors such as strain gauge and fiber optic sensors is less due to their incompatibility ( Ackermann KC (2018), Self-Sensing concrete for structural health monitoring of smart infrastructures. Open Access Master’s Thesis. Paper 1285.). This demands a composite which is compatible with the concrete structures. The electrical response of geopolymer composite with carbon fibers in the percentages of 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 is evaluated and the electrical resistivity of the composites is evaluated at the age of 7 and 28 days. For the developed composites, the gauge factors are determined based on which the optimum percentage of carbon fiber for maximum sensitivity is evaluated.

Mineral admixtures are generally utilized for the development of cement alongside synthetic admixtures for improving the ideal properties. The generally utilized mineral admixtures are, for example, fly debris, rice husk debris, metakaolin and silica rage. The waste materials utilized in substitute of restricting material as mineral admixture are prepared to get the objective determinations which could have established properties. Specific type of mechanical waste is processed, pulverized and used as a substitute for concrete in construction to shape the unique waste fabricator material. Different experiments were performed to find mechanical and durability properties of Treated Pulverized Used Foundry Sand (TPUFS) as the incomplete trade in concrete. The M40 grade of concrete is anticipated, and the TPUFS will be applied at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% of concrete content in the mixture. Various experiments are carried out with and without the inclusion of the TPUFS to determine the desired strength of concrete for development of sustainable concrete. The findings of the experiments indicate improved construction implementation with TPUFS, than the control example, and found that 15% of TPUFS is more durable than other concrete mixes with stronger mechanical property.

This paper investigates the mechanical performance of ternary blended ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) developed by using alccofine powder (AF) and ground-granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). Crimped steel fibers of dimensions 35 mm length and 0.5 mm diameter are used as fiber reinforcement, ranging from 0 to 2% with an increment of 0.5%. A total of six UHPFRC mixtures were prepared and tested for their mechanical performance. The test results indicated that UHPFRC mixture with 2% steel fibers by volume displayed maximum performance values of 153.57, 35.83, and 17.07 Mpa for compressive, flexural, and split-tensile strengths at 28 days.

The implementation of sustainable development in structural building society has encouraged the consumption of waste materials with low ecological effect. In recent few years, employment of fly ash geopolymer as a binder gained its popularity as it is eco-friendly and can serve in the severe environment due to its durable nature and excellent mechanical properties. This paper shows the impacts of sodium-based activators in light of compressive strengths and physical changes of low calcium fly ash geopolymer paste under different molarity and diverse curing temperature. The formation of geopolymeric structure successfully has been confirmed through FTIR spectrum and XRD diffractogram analysis. The successful results are due to the noticeable presence of significant band seen during FTIR analysis and XRD diffractogram showed crystalline and amorphous phase existed in the main geopolymeric structure. There is a significant impact of NaOH concentration in enhancing the mechanical properties tested under compressive and flexural strength which gives better strength properties on the optimum concentration of NaOH of 14 M. Further, the rate of the geopolymerization improves with the rise in curing temperature. This further leads to accelerated hardening of geopolymer paste. However, there was no significant improvement observed in the compressive strength of geopolymer paste when the temperature exceeds 80 °C.

Occurrence of fire accidents has become a frequent event in recent days, and the major problem with fire is it provides very less time to handle the situation. Most of the fire affected buildings are put in re-use by only providing cosmetic repairs without actually evaluating actual strength loss to the building. In this paper, reduction of strength of beams and slabs has been evaluated by FEM software (ANSYS) and compare the results with an empirical method (500 °C isotherm method) as per Eurocode guideline. For this, a realistic building has been taken for analysis and its fire load density and fire exposure time has been evaluated. Thermo-structural analysis has been done in ANSYS to evaluate flexural capacity of structural elements. To calculate flexural capacity by empirical method, strength reduction factors given in Eurocode have been used.

Geopolymer concrete is sustainable concrete as they do not use cement as binding material. Rice husk ash which is a residue of rice is currently used as landfill and its effective disposal is a huge issue. Mixture design of fly ash and rice husk-based geopolymer concrete for M 25 grade of concrete was carried out. Effect of various parameters like amount of rice husk ash, molarity of sodium hydroxide, amount of alkaline solution, and amount of alkaline solution to cementitious material was studied in detail and its effect on compressive strength was evaluated. It was observed that increase in molarity beyond 12 M led to decrease in compressive strength while increase in alkaline solution increased compressive strength. Rice husk ash being coarse and porous in nature, beyond 5% inclusion without grinding led to decrease in compressive strength. It was observed that fly ash and rice husk ash-based geopolymer concrete has compressive strength of 30.5 MPa, flexural strength of 4.07 MPa, and split tensile strength of 3. 97 MPa. Detail microstructure analysis was also carried out.

Latex-modified concrete has great potential in construction industry. Various synthetic latexes such as styrene butadiene rubber, polyvinyl acetate, and acrylic emulsions are widely used in repair works, grouting, surface overlay works, etc., to impart ductility, increased strain at peak load, and enhanced energy absorption capability. Natural rubber latex can be an improved option in terms of performance and cost for producing the same efficiency of mortar/concrete in a sustainable manner. This paper aims to investigate the effect of natural rubber latex on flexural strength, water absorption, and sorptivity capacities of mortar modified with natural rubber latex. Dosage of latex used for the study varies from 0.5 to 2% by weight of cement for constant water to cement ratio. Influence of natural rubber latex on setting of cement paste is also investigated. Intertwining latex films resembling bridging effect and filling pore spaces are observed. Flexural strength can be improved more than 60% with the addition of natural rubber latex of 2%, due to the co-matrix formation by cement hydration and polymer film formation. Natural rubber latex increases the resistance to water capillary adsorption of mortar indicative of the enhanced durability of the modified concrete.

In India, there is an exponential increase in the demand and supply of cement due to rapid increase in construction business, as of result of which there is an increase in the rate of environmental pollution. Therefore, the main significance is to promote worldwide awareness for replacement of pozzolonas with the materials having pozzolanic activities so as to encourage environmental friendly construction. It has been found out that 6% overall global environmental pollution has been contributed by cement industries. Among various other materials, rice husk, which is an agricultural by-product, is a well-known replacement for cement. It is abrasive in nature and cannot decompose naturally. Therefore, in rice mills it is utilized as fuel by combining it with other waste materials like saw dust, peanut fibre, bamboo, etc., or using the husk itself. The ash obtained has high silica content which can be used as a cementitious material. The rice husk ash is replaced at different percentage such as 1%, 2% up to 5%. Different experiments are conducted on the material used during study. Partially replaced cement with rice husk ash using superplasticizers results in high-strength concrete. The paper explains about the various properties of rice husk ash. It also highlights the scope for replacement of traditional usage of cement for sustainable concrete.

Nowadays, high strength and high-performance concrete are being widely used all over the world. Most applications of high strength concrete have been in tall rise buildings, long-span bridges, and some unique applications in structures. In the present experimental investigation, an attempt has been made to examine the effect of nano-silica by partially replacing it with cement (0.5–4%) for M45 grade of concrete. For evaluating concrete performance, different mechanical tests were performed like compressive and flexural strength. Load–deflection and microstructural characteristics of nanomodified concrete were also studied to examine the influence of nano-silica on concrete properties. It was concluded that concrete made with upto 3% nano-silica replacement by cement showed an increase in strengths after 28 days of curing. The optimum content of nano-silica for various mechanical properties was found at 3%. The pores and voids in concrete can be minimized by incorporating nano-silica, which was observed through microstructural characterization by SEM images.

An earthquake may cause great destruction to the structures if they are not properly designed and constructed. This has been observed in the past earthquakes. Consequently, we should affirm well-being of the structure against the seismic tremor by carrying out dynamic analysis to determine seismic response of the structure. Dynamic analysis of a structure can be done by two methods—one is response spectrum method, and second is time history method. When the evaluated structural response is nonlinear, the time history method becomes an important technique for seismic analysis of the structure. In this paper, we used time history method for dynamic analysis of the structure. A G+5 multistoried building is modelled in STAAD PRO software, and the dynamic response of multistoried building such as displacement and storey drift is evaluated using two ground motion data, namely 2001 Bhuj and 1999 Chamoli earthquakes of India. In the results, displacement and storey drift are compared for two ground motion. It can be observed from the analysis that the displacement and storey drift of multistoried building for Chamoli earthquake ground motion are greater than around 19% than that for Bhuj earthquake ground motion.

Plastic has made permanent place in our daily life and becomes an essential element due to their extensive use and with various benefits such as easy accessibility, lightweight, durable and cost-effective. Besides this plastic is one of threat to environment due to their non-biodegradable properties. To overcome the negative consequences of plastic waste, and for the sustainable development, in this paper, plastic waste has been incorporated in concrete as a fine aggregates (FA). The plastic aggregates (PA) were prepared by crushing polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into the fine particles and partially substituted with FA at replacement level of 0, 5, 10 and 15%. The mechanical strength properties such as compressive, split tensile and flexure strength were examined at varying replacement of PA in concrete. The results indicate that inclusion of PA in concrete tends to decrease the mechanical properties because PA acts as barrier in the bond formation of cementitious paste and natural aggregates (NA). Further, the presence of PA in concrete does not affect dry density of concrete effectively. Therefore, low content of PA can be used in concrete to get the desirable results and it helps in lower the impression of plastic on the environment.

Geopolymer concrete is a low carbon emission and is a sustainable material that does not make use of cement that is used to cast sustainable reinforced concrete jackets around distressed RC beams as a retrofit measure, to enhance the load carrying capacity. Since geopolymer concrete does not make use of cement, this study is carried out to substantially bring in its application in retrofitting-based construction. In this work, experiments were carried out to evaluate the mechanical properties of geopolymer concerte having a compressive strength of 33 N/mm2 cured at ambient temperature. A finite element analysis was priorly carried out to initially validate the FE model towards the experiment al results of RC jacketed retrofitted beams performed by Constantine and his group. The finite element study was extended by considering the material properties of M33 grade geopolymer concrete into the reinforced jacket, to understand the behaviour of retrofitted beams adopting geopolymer concrete. The results of the geopolymer reinforced concrete jacket in the finite element model were compared with the results of the Sika-grout 212 reinforced jacket that was applied around distressed RC beams having shear deficiencies in the experimental program. It is learnt from the analysis results, the mid-span deflect ion of RC beams adopt ing geopolymer concrete in the reinforced jacket had a larger value of deflect ion when compared to the experimental results of RC beams that were retrofitted using Sika-grout 212. The analysis results indicated that, the use of geopolymer concrete in reinforced jackets not only helped to rest ore the distressed RC beams, but also transformed the behaviour of retrofitted beams to deflect in a ductile manner, having larger deflect ions which is a desirable mode of failure.

Conventionally natural sand is used as fine aggregate in manufacturing of concrete, whose availability is decreasing day by day. This study investigates the properties of concrete with alternative fine aggregate-processed slag sand. M55 grade concrete was designed with natural sand as fine aggregates. Natural sand was replaced by slag sand from 0 to 100% with an interval of 20. Constant workability of 90–110 mm slump was maintained at each replacement level by varying dosage of superplasticizer. Specimens were cast and cured for 7, 28, and 56 days. Compressive, split tensile, flexural, and shear strength were found apart from density, water absorption, sorptivity, and permeability of concrete. Microstructure of concrete was studied using SEM. Reduction in workability of concrete in terms of slump was observed with an increase in slag sand replacement percentage. Partial replacement of processed slag sand results in concrete with comparable mechanical properties and comparable durability. Optimum replacement was observed at 40–60%. Strength characteristics of concrete with complete replacement of natural sand by slag sand is comparable to natural sand concrete whereas it shows slightly lesser durability and porous structure. Hence, use of processed slag sand for partial replacement of natural sand in concrete can be recommended as a sustainable initiative.