Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Sustainable Waste Management through Design

Bayer liquor is a major liquid effluent of the aluminium manufacturing process. It needs to be stored and managed properly for contamination control. Hence, it is stored in containment structures which are equipped with highly engineered lining systems. These lining systems are designed such that their performance can be ascertained over their intended period of operation. However, the liners are found to fail due to various factors. Therefore, there is a need for the use of real-time monitoring method for the lining systems. The current study uses an electrical resistivity-based leak detection technique to determine leakage issues in the lining systems of containment facilities in aluminium industry. Bayer liquor procured from an aluminium manufacturing company in Perth, Australia was used for the tests. Based on the results, the leak detection technique was found to be effective in detecting leakage issues through liners in aluminium industry, irrespective of the leakage duration. Furthermore, the system can help the practicing engineers in the design and placement of sensor systems, numerical modelling, and so on.

Experimental studies on small-scale bioreactor landfills treating mechanically and biologically treated waste under aerobic and anaerobic conditions are presented in this study. The waste was collected from one of the Municipal Solid waste processing units of Bangalore City. The performance of the bioreactors in terms of organic content, gas emissions and settlement are presented here. The monitoring was carried out for a period of 300 and 380 days for aerobic and anaerobic bioreactors respectively. The aerobic reactor produced about 21.5 L of carbondioxide within 150 days and the anaerobic bioreactor produced 20.9 L of biogas in 380 days of operation. Results indicate that the waste can be degraded in a short time period in aerobic bioreactors and achieve almost the same degree of settlement in comparison to the anaerobic bioreactors.

Today environmental pollution is a matter of great concern. Amongst the different causes, pollution caused by heavy metals is a major issue. Due to increased industrialization and urbanization, use of different heavy metals like Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd has increased manifold. These are toxic metals that have hazardous effects on all living forms. Lead (Pb) is one such pollutant that may disrupt the food chain and has major health effects. With the objective to find an eco-friendly cost-effective treatment process for Pb, phytoremediation of Pb contaminated water has been studied in the present investigation. Phytoremediation is a green technology that utilises a plant’s ability to remove and accumulate different toxic pollutants in their biomass. Duckweed Spirodela polyrhiza were exposed to different Pb concentrations of 0.91, 1.97, and 2.88 mg/L for a period of 22 days. Spirodela polyrhiza was found to remove 93.19% at 0.91 mg/L that decreased to 82.23% at 1.97 mg/L Pb contaminated solution. Thus removal percentage and rate of removal was found to decrease with increase in initial Pb contamination. Relative growth factor in Spirodela polyrhiza exposed to different initial Pb concentrations reduced significantly with increase in concentrations. Pb accumulation capacity of Spirodela polyrhiza was found to increase with increase in initial Pb concentration. An accumulation of 7051 ± 631.54 mg/kg was obtained by Spirodela polyrhiza at initial Pb concentration of 2.88 mg/L. The study thus concludes that Spirodela polyrhiza is a suitable candidate for the phytoremediation of low concentration of Pb from contaminated water.

Optimization of wastewater treatment facilities can result in achievement of desired efficiency at least cost along with the saving of the energy. In this study, three case studies of five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Ontario province of Canada have been presented. These WWTPs were monitored and their current operating conditions were analyzed using BioWin model. Optimization process revealed that reduced aeration tankage can be adopted for plants operating at capacities lesser than 70% and uncontrolled nitrification in the plants can cause complications resulting in high chlorine dosage.

Organic mulching plays a vital role in increasing the soil moisture, nutrients, maintains the soil temperature, reduces evaporation, limits the growth of weed and precludes soil erosion. Large volume of crop residues produced along with agricultural crops can effectively be utilized for mulching. Keeping in view these facts, an experimental study was conducted in a randomized block design with three mulch treatments, namely Rice Straw Mulch (RM), Wheat Straw Mulch (WM) and no mulch (NM) at National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur during the year 2017–18. The plot size was 3 m × 1 m. The rate of application of mulches was kept as 10 tonnes ha−1. Soil moisture and soil temperature were determined in soil depths of 10 to 30 cm. The soil moisture increase in WM and RM was 42% and 32% at 10 cm and 3.4% and 19% at 20 cm depths, respectively. Mulching exerted a moderation effect on soil temperature. A favorable reduction in soil temperature upto 2 °C in daily temperature was observed in mulched plots during day time (14 h).

Soil is a scarce geological material as it takes 200 to 400 years in the formation of 1.0 cm soil. Further, it takes time and ingenuity of mankind to make it fertile. Viewing these facts and considering that 70% of the developing countries depend on agriculture to feed their teeming millions, it becomes clear that losing the top cover of soil is not permissible for sustainable development. To check this depletion of the top fertile soil, the process of erosion must be looked into. There are two main agents of soil erosion- air and water. Air makes it loose to detach it from the body of the Earth and water carries it ultimately to oceans where it loses its importance. Soil is also carrying the load of pollution because it remains in contact of water. Industries are the other anthropogenic sources of adding pollution and growing population demands land and clean surroundings for proper habitation. Some sort of balance should be struck between these conflicting situations for growth and sustenance. The solution lies in the improvement of the natural resources available to us and their intelligent use with the intervention of modern technology.

Micromachining is one of the latest technology in the coming prospect in which removal of metal is done with least energy consumption. To overcome the environmental related issues the method of machining is replaced by a new term i.e. biomachining. In biomachining process the metal removal is done with the help of metabolic activity of microorganisms consuming very less amount of energy, no addition of any coolant and no generation of heat during the process of machining. Current study indicates the removal of Aluminium alloy 4004 with the help of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. The experiment has been run at room temperature for regular interval of 24 h till first 7 days. Specific Metal Removal Rate (SMRR) is analyzed as a performance indicator to conform its future scope.

The dairy industry is a major concern of present era, because it generates a large amount of wastewater. Treatment of the dairy wastewater has a great significance because treated water may be used for irrigation and industrial processes. The present research focused on the evaluation of Vermifiltration process using padding media (garden waste) and filter bed material to treat dairy wastewater at different hydraulic loading rates. Vermifilter constituted the Eisenia fetida species of earthworm for the treatment of dairy effluent to achieve the critical quality of the treated wastewater. In this Vermifiltration, three hydraulic loading rates of 1.5, 2 and 2.5 m3/m2/d were applied to get optimize results from treatment of dairy wastewater through Vermifiltration process. Performance of the vermifilter was determined by analyzing the parameters such as pH, BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand), COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), TSS (Total Suspended Solids), TP (Total phosphorus) and the optimum efficiency was observed in the case of hydraulic loading rate 1.5 m3/m2/d. For this hydraulic loading rate, the removal efficiency of BOD, COD, TSS and TP were observed to be 95.76%, 90.56%, 80.24% and 88.76% respectively. Furthermore, the vermicompost resulting from the vermifiltration was found to be very rich in nitrates and phosphates and treated effluent can be used for irrigation purpose.

Landslide is the one of the most devastating geohazard in mountainous terrain that accounts for injury to human life and destruction in the property. It is a major concern due to an increasing trend of frequency of events especially in Himalayas. The present study presents a methodology for mapping of landslides in geographical information system (GIS) environment using remote sensing techniques. The methodology integrates the ground-based observations with geospatial technology. SRTM satellite dataset, slope aspect, slope degree, curvature, lithology, landuse/landcover and drainage density has been incorporated into GIS to demarcate the landslide hazard zones using weighted overlay method (WOM). The results of the study divide the area into very low hazard, low hazard, medium hazard and high hazard and very high hazard zones conferring to the severity of the landslides. The output map produced from the current study helps to plan and execute appropriate landslide mitigation strategies concerned in landslide risk reduction. Moreover, the study may also be beneficial for planning land-use activities in the study area.

Alteration in Land use land cover (LULC) and its causes have been measured using remote sensing while mapping of a range of LULC and their variations in spatial and temporal scales were studied using Geographical Information System (GIS). A maximum likelihood classification (MLC) algorithm has been used to classify five land cover classes. The study shows that from 2001 to 2011 water body, forest cover and barren land were decreased whereas, agriculture land and built up area was increased by 21.38% and 53.6% respectively. In between 2011 to 2015, there has been a significant increase in water body which led to an increase in agricultural land. The rate of decrease in forest cover observed in all these years was almost the same. The built-up area doubled in the year 2015 as compared to 2011. It was found that during 2015 to 2018 water body was increased by 5%. But built up area got increased almost twice and the barren land was decreased by 7.25% whereas, the forest cover reduced to 84.25 km2 from 92.05 km2. Desirable policies for the sustainable development are necessary by adequately using the available resources to achieve proper Rurban planning. Restricting unnecessary construction, protecting the proper balance between natural and semi-natural land, harvesting rainwater, maintaining vertical expansion of built up, can be utilized to achieve sustainability.

The generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been increasing with the increase in population. Kolkata city generates a substantial amount of MSW (about 2920 tons per day). For the last 40 years, Dhapa landfill located in Kolkata has been used to dispose of this MSW. The landfill did not have the bottom and side liner system, resulting in adverse impacts to the surrounding environment. The landfill is being closed with surface regrading and construction of an engineered composite cover system. This paper describes the closure of the landfill and evaluates the slope stability. Limit equilibrium and finite element slope stability analysis methods are used, and the results are compared. Overall, the landfill final slopes were found to be stable. However, the shear strength of materials and interface shear properties of composite liner interfaces should be determined and assessed.

Poor clayey soils mainly exhibit the property of swelling/shrinkage when they react to moisture variations. This property causes development of cracks in the structures resting on these soils which poses instability to the structures. Soil stabilization is a technique to enhance the geotechnical characteristics of poor clayey soils by changing their properties. Due to rapid growth in construction industry, a lot of waste material is being generated every day which poses problem of its disposal. If the waste material can be utilized for soil stabilization, it will mitigate the problems of its disposal. This study is an attempt to assess the efficacy of various waste materials such as construction waste and glass waste on numerous properties of soil. The tests results evaluate that the strength of the poor soils increased by use of these two waste materials.

For the development of developed country like India, roads play a very important role and have to be constructed in a minimum amount of time with sufficient economy. The increase in traffic is such that an adequate pavement is required which not only takes up the loads but can safely dispatch them to the soil underneath. Some situations may be encountered where the pavement may not possess the required strength to take up these loads and in such undesirable conditions we broadly have two solutions namely replacement and stabilization techniques. This paper describes the influence of RBI Grade 81 and fly ash on stabilization of poor clays by conducting compaction and CBR tests. RBI was used in varying percentages of 1, 3 and 5 whereas the percentages used for fly ash were 10, 20 and 30%. An increase in the value of OMC and decrease in the value of MDD was noticed on addition of fly ash and RBI to the poor soils. CBR value was experimented to be augmented with accelerating percentages of both the materials. An optimum combination of 75: 20: 5 (Soil: Fly ash: RBI) was found which was suitable for construction of sub base course for roads.

An experimental study was carried out to demonstrate the potential of using natural clay soil reinforced with reclaimed low density polyethylene (LDPE) strips. Three different sizes of waste LDPE strips were used in this study . The effect of strip content (varied from 0.5% to 2%) and strip length (aspect ratio i.e. ratio of length of strip to width of the strip varied from 1.0 to 4.0) on the CBR characteristics and subgrade modulus of strip reinforced clay was investigated. The study reveals that addition of waste LDPE strips to clayey soil results in appreciable increase in CBR and subgrade modulus. The benefit from the reinforcement increases with an increase in strip content and is also dependent on aspect ratio and there exists an optimum value for both the strip content and the aspect ratio at which the reinforcement benefits are optimum.

This paper presents the observations drawn from an experimental model testing program conducted on laterally loaded free head flexible piles embedded in two layered sandy strata consisting of medium and dense sand in top and bottom layers respectively. The parameters involved in the study were surface roughness, sand layer thickness and type of load acting on the pile. The effect of variation of these parameters on the lateral capacity of piles is discussed in this paper. The lateral load capacity was observed to be adversely affected with increase in the thickness of top layer containing sand of medium density. The relationship between the two parameters was found to be non linear and exponential. Piles with rough surface showed improved lateral stiffness as compared to piles with smooth surface with maximum improvement observed for single piles. Combined vertical and lateral load on pile resulted in increased lateral displacement and slightly increased bending moment as compared to the lateral load acting alone.

It is general practice to utilize locally available soil for construction of geotechnical construction. This is economical way of construction. But availability of locally available waste material like fly ash, pond ash etc. gives engineers a choice to do construction in sustainable way. But for this purpose comparative study is required. In this paper comparison of geotechnical behavior of Muzaffarpur soil and locally available fly ash is done. For this purpose series of tests were conducted on the fly ash and local soil. In this study, test to find out index properties and engineering properties like; strength, compaction etc. were conducted. The potential of utilization of the fly ash as partial replacement of soil is also investigated. From the test results it is found that fly ash has better strength behavior and can be utilized as light weight construction material. It is also found that as replacement fly ash can significantly improve the strength behavior of the soil.

The Chamba – Bharmour National Highway – 154A often gets affected because of landslide disaster. This study dealt with a slope failure geohazard assessment along the highway for the factor of safety (FOS) evaluation. A huge soil slope of circular failure type was recognized along the national highway (NH) at village Lothal near Trilochan Mahadev Temple. The adjoining features like hoses and penstocks for hydroelectric turbine are present at a few meter distances from the current slide. A geotechnical and morphological based slope stability analysis was performed after extensive field visits and laboratory testing. A finite element method using PLAXIS 2D simulator was applied to calculate FOS of the slope. The FOS based on finite element method was found to be equal to 0.975 in case of undrained slope and 1.093 in case of drained conditions. The slope stability determination should be practiced to ensure safe environment and for better disaster mitigated design.

Several structures resting on expansive soils suffer from severe distress due to their alternative swelling and shrinkage phenomenon. The above problem has really become a challenge to the geotechnical engineers in construction of foundations for different types of civil engineering structures resting on these soils. Numerous inventive foundation practices have been proposed for resisting the effect of uplift forces caused on the structure in poor clays. This paper highlights a pioneering practice to predict the behavior of granular pile anchor system against pullout forces in expansive soils. The water content is varied to 10%, 20% and 30% for different pile parameters. The various tests performed in laboratory showed that with the increase in length and diameter of the granular pile anchor system, the resistance against pullout forces increased. The highest pullout capacity is noticed at 20% water content.

Freeze-thaw cycles create major issues in cold regions, where unstabilized soil directly exposed to the harsh environment. Freeze-thaw effects are more vulnerable when soil has to be used for embankments, open cuts, pavements etc. Many index properties such as plasticity index, density, unit weight etc. were found highly affected during freeze and thaw cycles. Hydraulic properties were also found affected due to change in void ratio. Many researchers around the globe are focusing to overcome this certain problem and found some applicable solutions for this. Lime was found a better solution for reclamation of soil. Reinforcement of the subjected soil by using artificial and natural fibers was also found another effective solution for the crack propagation in the soil during experience of freeze and thaw cycles. This review paper emphasis on methods of investigation, material, testing procedures and the impact of freeze-thaw cycles on essential geotechnical properties.

The numerous approaches are adopted to enhance the engineering properties of soil, by using various type of reinforcement. From the last 30 years, the main motive of using the reinforcements is to improve the load bearing capacity of sand and other weak soils. It is clearly described by various researchers. In this study numerical analysis was done using Plaxis 3D to validate and compare the results of an experimental work. Also studied the effect of two parameters such as u/B i.e. equal to 0.50, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25 and h/B ratio equal to 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 on bearing capacity of reinforced sand, these parameters are also observed with respect to the experiment research. It has been observed that the rise in load bearing capacity of reinforced sand starts decreasing after u/B = 0.50 and improvement of 447% is calculated at optimum depth 0.5B with 30 mm geocell cushion height under the strip footing. When geocell height was increased from 10 mm to 20 mm and 30 mm, the increase in bearing capacity was observed 16.2% and 25.2% (with relative increase) respectively. Study also highlights that the results of numerical and experimental studies are almost parallel with little variation, so the comparison is successfully done by Plaxis 3D software and results are in good agreement.

This paper introduces the study on self-compacting concrete (SCC) using waste marble powder (WMP) as a partial substitution of sand along with waste limestone dust (WLSD) as a partial substitution for cement in addition to sugarcane molasses as an admixture. The study focuses on the assessment of plastic and hardened properties of this SCC. Firstly, a conventional self-compacting concrete was prepared by using sugarcane molasses as an admixture, then five more self-compacting concrete (SCC) mixes were prepared by the fine aggregate and binder replacement of (10%, 5%), (20%, 5%), (30%, 5%), (40%, 5%) and (50%, 5%) respectively. The test results indicated that the use of industrial wastes can produce high quality SCC when the alternative replacements are within the specified range.

Concrete is no longer a material consisting of cement, aggregates, water and admixtures but now it is an engineered material with several new constituents. However, the rapid deterioration due to many factors has made an earnest requirement for an improvement in the present day technology so as to create a durable and cost efficient strategy for new development, repair, retrofitting and as well as for restoration works. The high strength concrete was the solution and in order to meet the need, experimentalists have created High Performance Concrete or High Strength concrete and Slurry Infiltrated Fibrous Concrete (SIFCON). It has a wide range of applications, from carriageways to buildings, dams to bridges and even in anti-ballast walls. This paper shows the Development of Ultra High Strength SIFCON mix by using Alccofine, a type of micro-filler and optimizing its quantity by partial replacement of Cement. The results depicted that the crack pattern as shown by the achieved mix was not only good with the strength but also showed promise towards the flexibility of concrete. SIFCON possesses the characteristics of both high strength as well as ductility which are an important parameter for sustainable structures.

The paper is concerned with selecting materials for concrete that is both reducing the carbon emission and sustainable and the issues associated with achieving this. As the cement industry is the second-largest industrial emitter of carbon after the steel industry. The utilization of by-products, such as metakaolin and rice husk ash, as a partial replacement for cement can contribute to a series of beneficial performances by demonstrating economic, environmental, and technical advantages because it provides a new use for waste materials, produces cheaper mortar and concrete materials for low cost construction, and reduces carbon emissions. This paper reports a study carried out to investigate the effects of using metakaolin and rice husk ash. For this purpose, metakaolin was used to replace cement by weight in different proportions and fine aggregates were replaced by rice husk ash in proportion. Different properties such as compressive strength, durability properties and other properties at fresh state and hardened state are compared. Result showed significance improvement with the use of metakaolin and rice husk ash. Micro-structural analysis further confirmed the positive trend of results.

In the current research, optimisation of the RC frames is carried out using a meta-heuristic technique called Improved Ray Optimisation. The optimisation program developed is automated using various computer applications. It is a recently developed optimisation technique and therefore, not much work is available on its application on RC framed structures. The objective function is to minimise the overall cost of the RC frames. Various computer applications have been used for preparing and automating the optimisation program for RC structures. Optimisation is done on two structural components of RC frame, i.e. beams and columns and the cost of both are calculated. The calculation of the cost of RC structure includes cost of steel, cost of concrete and cost of formwork. The optimisation program so developed is written in MATLAB application. The results of a model from a literature are compared with the results of the optimisation program. The results are quiet encouraging and show the effectiveness of the current optimisation program. The optimisation program is checked for dependencies like the effect of number of iterations and number of agents on finding the optimal cost of RC frame and influence of the search space on the strength of the RC structure.

Accelerating admixtures have an important role in the construction industries to speed up the work by reducing setting time. Portland cement is an important ingredient in the mortar and concrete production. Large amount of CO2 is emitted during the manufacturing of cement. To minimize the CO2 emission up to some extent; industrial by-products can be utilised in concrete as replacement of cement. The stone slurry powder from stone industries has been used as replacement of cement in the present study. Calcium nitrate (1%), triethanolamine (0.025% and 0.1%) as additive and stone slurry powder (5%, 7.5% and 10%) as a replacement of cement was used. Consistency, setting time of cement paste; and compressive strength of the mortar using these materials was studied experimentally. Results showed that consistency increased; but, setting time of the cement paste decreased in comparison to the control mix. Calcium nitrate and stone slurry powder increased the compressive strength while TEA reduced the compressive strength of the cement mortar in comparison to control mix.

This report presents the design of geopolymer concrete by using sugarcane molasses and naphthalene sulphonate formaldehyde (Structuro 220). The effect of these admixtures on the behavior is investigated. Firstly, an ordinary fly ash based geopolymer concrete was prepared. Later, three more geopolymer concrete mixes were prepared with varying percentages (0%, 5% and 10%) of cement and a constant percentage of (1.2%) of admixtures namely Structuro 220 and sugarcane molasses. Fresh and hardened properties of geopolymer concrete like workability, compressive, flexural and split tensile strengths were determined using international standards. The results indicated that sugarcane molasses increased the workability, enhanced the setting times and improved strength of geopolymer concrete.

This paper illustrates the effects of waste foundry sand (WFS) on compressive strength of normal concrete and concrete containing construction and demolition (C & D) aggregate. The test samples are conducted for 3, 7 and 28 days of curing time. Experimental study indicates an overall growth in 3, 7, and 28 days strength of cube specimens on addition of WFS. The test results show that upon addition of WFS with 20% replacement with fine aggregate (FA), the compressive strength increases. On adding construction waste aggregates, the compressive strength is slightly reduced when compared to normal fresh aggregates. But, when both WFS partially replacing fine sand by 20% and C & D aggregates are used the compressive strength tends to increase. Thus, it can be concluded that incorporating WFS to concrete mix not only increases its compressive strength but also solves the problem of disposing WFS which otherwise pose problem of its disposal. Further, the use of construction waste aggregates helps in reducing the waste management problem which is becoming a serious threat to the ecosystem.

Concrete is one of the most widely used construction materials in the world. The consistent increasing demand of raw materials used for concrete production paves the way for suitable recycled or waste materials instead of conventional materials which are likely to deplete in years ahead. In this present research, an attempt is made on the use of Crumb rubber from recycled rubber tyres through the cracker mill, granulator mill and micro mill and Silica fume from the byproduct of silicon metal or ferrosilicon alloys as a partial replacement of fine aggregates and cement respectively in concrete. The properties and suitability of the raw materials for the experiment were determined. A preliminary part of the programme constitutes the preparation of M30 grade of concrete mix design using IS method. The specimens (150 mm × 150 mm) were cast with optimum percentage (6%) replacements of the fine aggregate by crumb rubber. Then the Silica fume is partially replaced with cement as strength enhancer at various percentages (i.e. 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) at the optimum percent of crumb rubber. The Silica fume is used to improve the strength properties of rubberized concrete up to some extent. The maximum compressive strength achieved at the age of 28 curing day is 35.5 N/mm2 at 15% replacement of silica fume. The strength is increased to 5.07%, 23.94% compared to control concrete and rubberized concrete respectively.

Current research is aggravated as a result of environmental problems in association with the clearance of waste and crisis in the availability of sand. Also, green house emissions from manufacturing of concrete are reduced by partially replacing cement with industrial by-product. Current research evaluates the combined outcome of Alccofine and bottom ash with the part substitution of cement and fine aggregates, respectively, in concrete. An experimental program is formulated in which four different mixtures are prepared containing 0% (MB1 mix), 20% (MB2 mix), 30% (MB3 mix) and 40% (MB4 mix) bottom ash as part substitution of fine aggregates. It was found that both workability and compressive strength dwindled with the raise in substitution level, which reduced much for MB4 mix. Therefore, to evaluate the outcome of Alccofine as a part substitution of cement, MB4 mix was selected. The cement was partially replaced with Alccofine by 5% (MB4A5 mix), 10% (MB4A10 mix), 15% (MB4A15 mix) and 20% (MB4A20 mix) in the mix containing 40% bottom ash as a part substitution of fine aggregates. After analyzing the results, it was concluded that workability and strength, both improved on partially replacing cement with Alccofine up to 15%, after which it decreased. A high strength concrete was developed using Alccofine as a mineral admixture.

This paper presents the studies conducted to know the strength characteristics of cement concrete made with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and two agro wastes i.e. Rice Husk Ash (RHA) with Groundnut Husk Ash (GHA). GRA Cubes were casted with different percentage level of replacement with both ashes such as 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10% and 12.5%. The Chemical analysis was done to know pozzolana properties of GHA and RHA. It was found that slump and density decreases were decreases as the amount of ashes increases in control mix concrete. Slump for control mix and 10% replacement was found to be 70 mm and 50 mm respectively. Density for control mix and 10% replacement was found to be 2440 kg/m3 to 2280 kg/m3 respectively. Compressive strength also decreases with respect to control mix except for 10% replacement with 27.51 N/mm2 and 27.01 N/mm2 respectively. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Chemical analysis in micro areas and Energy Dispersive X–ray Spectrometry (EDS) analysis was also done to analyse the phase changes and microstructure of mature concrete. It was found from the observations that 10% replacement of cement with GHA – RHA is suitable in concrete for construction of lightweight & non – load bearing structures.

In present study, compressive strength, abrasion test, chloride penetration test of M30 self-compacting concrete (SCC) with recycled aggregate at different percentages (0%, 50%, 75%, 100%) and varying percentage of silica fume (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%) has been carried out. The results were compared with normal SCC. It is observed that the maximum increase in compressive strength and durability was with 50% replacement for recycled aggregates and 10% replacement by silica fume.

This paper presents the significance of pH of a fine grained soil with respect to strength parameter. The subjected soil was treated with calcium and chloride compound in the form of egg shell powder (ESP) and sodium chloride (NaCl). Soil was reinforced with polypropylene fibre (PPF). 21 days cured untreated and treated soil samples were subjected to pH and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests. The optimisation of UCS was done by Taguchi technique and pH of 21 days aged optimised mix was determined. The results showed significant trend for correlation between pH and UCS of soil. A better understanding of physico-chemical changes may summarized through the present study.

Karewa soils are of lacustrine origin, present in the form of low flat mounds or elevated plateaus spread over a vast area. Low shear strength and high compressibility is the characteristic feature of such soils. They swell when wet, and shrink on drying, thus showing undesirable engineering behavior. The present study deals with stabilization on remolded samples of Karewa soils using Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). Various soil samples were collected from different locations of Pampore area of Kashmir valley. Consistency limits, Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests were performed on the soil samples. The index and engineering properties of Karewa soil were improved using OPC in varying percentages of 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5% and 15% by dry weight of soil. The test results revealed that the increase in OPC content decreased the Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) and increased the maximum dry unit weight of the soil. It was also seen that increase in OPC content reduced the plasticity, increased the volume stability, and increased the UCS and CBR of the soil. The optimum value of OPC was observed at 10%, beyond which the strength decreased.

This paper deals with slope stability analysis by Bishop analysis using MATLAB program based upon particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique. The technique utilizes method of slices using limit equilibrium analysis based upon static equilibrium of model in order to calculate critical slip surface and minimum factor of safety for calculating the stability of a slope. The study utilizes Slope/W software. In Slope/W software, four limit equilibrium methods are used for analysis of slopes, which are, Bishop, Morgenstern-Price, Janbu and Spencer method. Among these methods, Bishop’s method of slices was applied by utilizing particle swarm optimization technique in MATLAB program. The soil properties used in this analysis were determined by laboratory investigations of soil samples collected from the field. Subsequently, results are compared with the existing software, Geo Studio which uses Monte-Carlo simulations for optimizing the solution. This comparison demonstrates the efficiency and capability of PSO method for slope stability analysis problems.

Cement manufacturing industry is a critically important industry in India and throughout the world. After the industrial revolution, different types of by-products are produced which pose serious threat to the environment. Cement kiln dust (CKD) is one such material generated by the cement industry. Over the past few years pronounced advances have been made in the management of CKD. Using such material in civil engineering works is a smart way to dispose it off in an ecofriendly manner. In this paper, silty soil (ML) was treated with different amounts of CKD. Compacted specimens were tested for unconfined compressive strength for different curing time of 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 days and the results indicated a substantial gain in strength. Specimens with the addition beyond 10% yielded high strength but exhibited brittle character. Although many researchers have been reported pertaining to the use of CKD after mixing in the soil but in this study, the potential benefits of reinforcing weak ground by the inclusion of soil-CKD layer have been investigated experimentally. Tests were conducted by considering various parameters such as CKD content, curing period, depth and thickness of soil – CKD layer. The results validated that the inclusion of soil-CKD layer increased ultimate bearing capacity of footing. At 10% of CKD and 7-day curing age of stabilized soil-CKD layer, the bearing capacity increased is about 118.75% at a depth of 0.4B, where B is width of footing.

With rapid urban and industrial developments, large quantities of wastes are being generated worldwide. Waste materials like stone dust is abundantly available to the extent of million tons per annum causing landfill disposal problem and health and environmental hazards. Further, most of the developed/developing countries all over the world have huge resources of domestic wastes such as waste plastics which are causing disposal problems that are both financially and environmentally expansive. Geotechnical characterization of these wastes is likely to provide economically viable and environment friendly solutions for their gainful utilization and thereby solving the problem of their disposal to a great extent. Waste management and waste reduction can be achieved through recycling or re-use. Utilization of these wastes in geotechnical applications is likely to provide viable, environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions. An experimental study was carried out to demonstrate the potential of using stone dust reinforced with reclaimed PET (polyethylene terephthalate) strips. PET strips cut into three different lengths (10 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm) were used in this study. The effect of strip content (0.25%–4%) and strip length on the compaction characteristics, CBR and subgrade modulus of reinforced stone dust were investigated. The study reveals that addition of waste PET strips to stone dust results in appreciable increase in CBR and subgrade modulus. The reinforcement benefit increases with increase in strip content and strip length and there exists an optimum value for both the strip content and the strip length at which the reinforcement benefits are optimum. The proposed materials can be used to advantage in embankment/road construction leading to safe and economical disposal of these waste materials in an environment friendly manner. Further research is recommended to study the cost economics of the use of these waste materials for low cost embankment/road construction.

In this paper, effect of cavity on geogrid reinforced soil having cavity at certain depths are examined and analysis has been carried out for load bearing capacity and settlement of footing resting on geogrid reinforced surface. PLAXIS-2D (v8) finite element package has been used for which 15-noded a triangular element has been used. Outcomes obtained from the analytical study quite resemble with available literature results. A total of 52 cases has been analyzed to examine the impact of number of geogrid layers, spacing of subsequently layer, cavity location, size of the cavity 0.1B, 0.25B, and 0.5B and depth of footing for which M-C model is used to analyze the elastic failure. It can be observed that optimum depth of the first reinforcement bed was around 0.5 times footing breadth. Thus the optimum depth 0.5B was considered for different no of geogrid layers. The maximum improvement of load bearing capacity for reinforced without cavity of cohesive soil for N = 4 is 25.27% the percentage decrement of load bearing capacity for reinforcement with cavity size having diameter 0.1B, 0.25B, and 0.5B were 23.14%, 17.07% and 15.83% respectively. Due to this increasing diameter of cavity leads to observable decrease in the load carrying capacity of the foundation at constant depth of cavity to the footing breadth ratio.

Paris climate deal has strengthened the claims of adopting sustainable manufacturing and development practises. The manufacturing sector of any country often gets the important consideration in their country’s macroeconomic and social policies especially in the context of developing countries. Though it provides economic growth and development but environmental hazards and damages, caused due to manufacturing operations or associated operations cannot be overturned and moreover, in the past, they were ignored at large. The need of an hour is to explore and develop sustainable as well as green manufacturing operation that doesn’t have or very little negative impact on the environment and on the same time it doesn’t push the cost factor which might impact the profitability of the organization. Biomachining makes the use of metabolism activities of microorganisms for removing superfluous metal from the workpiece and could be considered as a potential player to replace traditional manufacturing operation especially turning operation which is not at all environmentally friendly operation. In this paper, efforts have been made to explore the usefulness of Aspergillus niger and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans for biomachining of En-19 alloy steel in the reflection of SMRR, recorded for 8 consecutive days to confirm the scope of its application. Both the trials have been carried out at room temperature.

With the rapid increase in the population and urbanization, the generation of waste increased. As the cities are growing with rapid rate, the dumpsites which was initially outside the city come within the domain of city. This paper focuses on hazards from the open dumping of municipal solid waste. Various hazards are associated with the waste dump sites, e.g. surface water contamination, ground water contamination, bad smell or odour, release of greenhouse gases, accidental hazard caused by fire, slope instability, loss of vegetation, Soil contamination and bird-hit etc. These problems are due to lack of leachate collection and treatment, liners are not provided, shortage of cover and poor site design or no design. Need for the engineered barriers, rehabilitation and closure of waste dump sites is discussed.

The study compiles the overview of existing municipal solid waste management processes in Himachal Pradesh. The physical characterization of municipal solid waste has also been assessed to provide the baseline data for the municipalities of respective regions to achieve the purposive waste management goals. It is mandatory for the municipal authorities to quantify and characterize the municipal solid waste in order to successful management of solid waste. The paper discusses the assessment of existing municipal solid waste processes of two municipal corporation regions of Himachal Pradesh and the comparative analysis of waste assessment with Jalandhar region of Punjab, India using Matrix method. The paper also conducted the ‘wasteaware’ benchmark indicators for the evaluation of solid waste management processes in Himachal Pradesh. The study of physical characterization revealed that the waste of Himachal Pradesh is rich in organic waste 62.01% (Shimla), 55.12% (Dharamshala) being followed by paper waste however the municipal solid waste of Jalandhar are also having maximum amount of organic waste but the second highest fraction is of plastic waste. The ‘waste aware’ benchmark indicators study revealed that Himachal Pradesh has better waste management practices than Jalandhar, Punjab.

Conserving existing sources of water is important, this can be achieved by recycling and reusing the treated waste water for various applications based on its suitability. The available quantity of the water sources depleted in last several years and the depletion is going on at the rapid rate. On the other hand due to rapid industrialization and growth of population globally, the quality of surface and subsurface water is contaminated beyond its acceptable limits. The direct disposal of untreated wastewater into the nearby water bodies and improper wastewater treatment facilities leads in spreading in water borne diseases. The contamination of natural water bodies can be avoided if the efficient and economical facilities are available to treat the community wastewater. Most of the Municipal councils and gram panchayat do not treat the waste water due to cost involved in doing so. Hence economical and eco-friendly method of treating the waste water is the need for sustainable development. This will not only reduce the ultimate burden on the overall nation’s medical expenditures, but also conserve water resource.The Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System (DWATS) is the suitable option towards the treatment of wastewater treatment at the user point or location communally as well as individually. This is non mechanized and natural wastewater treatment system which is not only economical but also runs and treats the wastewater naturally.The motivational objective of this study is to develop the economical and efficient natural wastewater treatment system for rural areas where the improper sanitation practices are in existence. To demonstrate a model of lake rejuvenation with economical waste water treatment system for suitable value added end use and avoid contamination of natural water bodies. Educate the rural community about good sanitation practices to avoid contamination of lake and various wastewater treatment systems. This will be helpful in understanding about reuse of wastewater and safeguarding the natural water resources in rural India. The overall approach should be to avoid contamination of natural resource of fresh water and reuse of treated waste water for value added applications after suitable treatment.Author is involved in installation of DWAT system under DST (Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India) project in the Ausa town of Marathwada region of Maharashtra.

Electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) is a hazardous industrial waste, generated during steel manufacturing process. EAFD generated by Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs) contain high percentages of metals such as zinc, lead, iron, chromium, cadmium, copper, nickel etc. and thus making it is unsuitable for land filling and harmful effects on surroundings. The present work is done to determine the feasibility of using EAFD for making bricks. EAFD was procured from the local EAF and mixed with clay in different percentages (by weight) i.e. 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% to prepare the bricks. The evaluation of prepared bricks was performed using standard brick tests like compressive strength, water absorption test, density etc. An increment in the compressive strength of bricks was observed up to 10% EAFD addition. Beyond this percentage significant decrement in strength was observed. The water absorption of bricks increased with the increasing EAFD concentration whereas plasticity index decreased with increasing dust concentration. Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test was conducted to check the heavy metals leaching from brick specimens and indicated a low level of metal leaching in bricks. The overall observations indicated that the production of clay bricks up to 25% EAFD addition is feasible without significant variation in their properties.

Cement is generally one of the most important construction material but causes 5–7% of globally anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Various studies have been done on the integration of waste materials to cement to reduce the amount of cement used for construction purposes. Agricultural and Industrial fields produce numerous types of Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCM’s) as wastes which otherwise can be used as replacement in cement for concrete production. In the present study, Rice Straw and Electric Arc Furnace Dust which are two such agricultural and industrial wastes respectively, which cause numerous health and environmental problems, were used for concrete manufacturing. The objective of current study was to compare the properties of concrete manufactured by replacement of cement with the mixture of rice straw ash (5%) and electric arc furnace dust (5%) with and without the addition of Bacterium named Bacillus megaterium at a cell concentration of 105 ml/water. A comparison of the performance of concrete was done based on water absorption capacity and compressive strength of specimens. It was observed that concrete manufactured with Bacillus megaterium shows 10% more compressive strength and 45% less water absorption capacity than concrete made without bacteria.

Utilization of industrial by-products such as ground granulated blast furnace slag and metakaolin in the ground enhancement and soil stabilization causes the economic and environmental benefits. Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) is a by-product of metal industry. Metakaolin (MK) is produced during the de-hydroxylation kaolinitic clay and pozzolanic in nature. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effectiveness of GGBFS and Metakaolin on engineering properties of the soil. Keeping in view, the experiments are performed at various dosages of GGBFS (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) and MK (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10%) to stabilize the soil and evaluate index properties, compaction characteristics and strength of these soils as per Indian standards. The investigation reveals that collective use of both ground granulated blast furnace slag and metakaolin form a binder which offers new prospects to boost pozzolanic actions that will enhance the geotechnical properties of the soil.

Soil nailing is distinct technique and economical compare to other conventional technique. Parametric study for soil nail wall having Mohr-Coulomb model to define failure criteria with various parameters has been analysed. Soil media is modelled using PLAXIS 2D v8 finite element package. A total of 72 soil nailed models are simulated to examine the effect of excavation depth, nail element length, edge distance of footing from vertical cut, vertical spacing of the nail element. It has been observed that the load carrying capacity of footing is higher at increasing value of nail length to excavation depth ratio (L/H) for particular vertical nail spacing to excavation depth ratio (Sv/H), footing edge distance from face of vertical cut to footing width ratio (X/B) having constant horizontal nail spacing (Sh) and inclination angle (i) of nailing element. The average load carrying capacity at 40 mm settlement is increased by 5.71%, 5.56%; when nail length increased from 0.6H to 0.7H for particular excavation depth (H) of 6 m and 8 m respectively and it is 6.59%, 5.26%; when nail length increased from 0.7H to 0.8H for particular excavation depth (H) of 6 m and 8 m respectively with effect of combined action of Sv and (X).

Escalating demand for land and high rise construction leads to augmentation of lighter construction. Abating total dead load of the structure is a primal need in earthquake prone areas. In the past few decades composite panels consisting of hollow honeycombed structure have been used as a filling material in many structures. Due to ease in construction and availability, it can be used in disaster struck areas for fast track construction. It light weight makes it a viable choice for construction in seismic zones, which leads to lesser damage and loss of life compared to convectional construction materials. The sandwich panel is a composition of weak core material bonded with stiffer panel on both ends. It has low density and high energy absorption hence used as energy absorbers of high efficiency. In the present study, strength assessment of composite panels is carried numerically and validated experimentally. Numerical simulation using finite element (FE) model is carried out to understand deformation patterns under impact loading. Two tests for assessment of composite panels under impact and bending loads are carried out. Peak load and energy absorption characteristics are established. Through critical observation it was found that type of loading and aspect ratio plays an important role in determining usage of composite panels as structural components in disaster mitigation scenarios.

This study deals with the reuse of Textile Mill Sludge (TMS), a waste material generated from textile industry and it is hazardous in nature. An experimental programme was conducted for mechanical properties of concrete and the chemical resistance of concrete containing TMS and plasticizer. The fine aggregates were replaced with TMS from 0% to 55% with 0.5% of plasticizer (@wt. of cement). The TMS mainly contains 40% to 45% of moisture content and was fully sun dried before use. All the physical tests were conducted on all materials met the recommendations of Indian standard. The strength of concrete goes on decreasing with the higher dosages of TMS. From the experimental study it was envisaged that the utilization of TMS in concrete upto 25% after 28 days of curing have an equal strength to that of a standard concrete of M20 grade. So, the use of TMS in concrete is an alternative way of management instead of disposing it into landfills.

The increase in population and its industrial activities have pushed the quantities of waste generation to an all-time high. There is an urgent need for sustainable waste management by developing design methodologies for their utilization in the construction industry. This study focuses on the geotechnical and environmental aspects of utilizing brick kiln dust (a waste product from brick kilns) in stabilizing the subgrade layer of flexible pavements accompanied with a simultaneous reduction in the associated greenhouse gas emissions. In order to achieve wide applicability of this waste, the proposed stabilization was performed on six subgrade soils of varying plasticity, ranging from the clay of intermediate plasticity to sand with an appreciable amount of silt. Soil-brick kiln dust mixes prepared with 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% contents of brick kiln dust were subjected to experimental investigations. Their compaction and strength characteristics were determined by performing Proctor (modified) tests and California bearing ratio (CBR) value respectively. The greenhouse gas emissions were calculated on the basis of standard inventories of carbon coefficients for road construction materials. The results indicated that the CBR, a key strength parameter of soil was significantly improved with the use of brick kiln dust. The improvement in the CBR was directly proportional to the plasticity of soil. The brick kiln dust stabilization significantly reduced the pavement layer thicknesses as also the associated greenhouse gas emissions for all the soils. The results obtained are indicative of the potential use of brick kiln dust in building sustainable and durable pavements with reduced global warming potential.

Concrete bears low tolerance for strain due to which cracks occur in it with time due to its brittle property, which is utilized in most of the buildings. It bears low tolerance for strain due to which cracks occur in it with time. These cracks allow penetration of water or different harmful agents that lead to loss of durability prior to expect. In order to reduce these cracks regular maintenance and inspection is required. Moreover, repair works have a major adverse environmental impact especially in cases wherever replacement of structures is required either partially or completely. Self-healing concrete is an environmental friendly solution to overcome these challenges, which consists bacteria incorporated into the concrete and calcium lactate food to support those bacteria when they become active. The bacteria, feeding on the provided food supply, heal the harm done and may additionally scale back the quantity of harm sustained by the concrete structure in situ. This review focuses on analysis of crack healing by bacteria, types of bacteria used, survival of capsules throughout mix, and result of addition of bacteria on concrete properties.

Concrete plays a major role in the field of construction as the use of concrete is high in the construction industry. Slab is an essential part of structure and it has to be designed properly. Concrete slab use more concrete than required and hence it needs to be optimized. One of the methods to reduce quantity of concrete in slabs is by providing voids in the tension zone. In the present paper, experimental and analytical study has been performed to compare the flexural strength of the normal slab and voided slab. For analytical study, ANSYS 18.1 software has been used. The slab specimens were of dimension 500 × 500 × 90/100/110 mm with similar boundary condition. The diameter of voids has been taken as 55 mm and 40 mm with a spacing of 25 mm between each void. The aim of this paper is to discuss and compare flexure behavior of normal slab and voided slab and reduction in weight of the slab by void formation.

The study focuses on the soil bearing capacities of several locations in Srinagar city. The allowable bearing capacities calculated by using different parameters such as angle of internal friction, relative density, cohesion, which are determine through SPT-N values. The study represents the examination of bearing capacities by using SPT-N values (39 boreholes) for areas of Srinagar city (J&K). The data brings from Road Research and Material testing Laboratory Division and KGP-Campus Gogji Bagh Srinagar. The soil BC conducted at depths 1.5 m, 2 m for square footing and at 2 m, 3 m for rectangular footing that is framed into geotechnical maps with the help of Arc GIS 10. The significance shows the easy identification of soil BC of Srinagar areas and helps to estimate appropriate designs for foundations.

The supervision of water resources has turned into a challenge in developing nations where the infrastructural evaluation has not kept pace with population increment and urbanization. With the concern of water shortage, the wastewater reuse is an appropriate tool in guarding the available water resources and also, it is being adopted globally and considered as a substitute water asset in a modifying agricultural environment. In the present study, therefore, the determination of the appropriateness of Bio-filtration Treatment Plant treated wastewater for irrigation was assessed with respect to the irrigation water quality guidelines. Additionally, to categorize water quality and to assess its suitability for irrigation practices, Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), Electrical Conductivity (EC) and Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) were analyzed and calculated experimentally as (0.006), (897.824 µS/cm) and (−12.673 me/l) respectively. The high salinity and low sodium water results illustrate that the treated effluent is satisfactory for irrigation on almost all type of crops having good salt tolerance capacity and soils having controlled drainage without the risk of exchangeable sodium. RSC value was negative for all collected samples, demonstrating that there was no possibility of precipitation of calcium and magnesium. Furthermore, the data indicates that with decent management and regular quality control check, the treated effluent of STP can be classified with few exceptions as suitable for irrigation use. Principal component Analysis (PCA) was used to determine the correlation between the analyzed parameters and showed a high degree of correlation between these parameters.

Electric Arc Furnace Dust (EAFD) is produced by the process of scrap melting in steel industries. During recycling of the scrap iron about 15–20% of dust is generated. EAFD is considered as hazardous waste material by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) due to presence of heavy metals in high concentration. Major quantity of this waste material is disposed in land and some part of it is used for recycling of steel and zinc recovery. EAFD is highly leachable in nature mainly due to Lead(Pb) and other elements like Selenium(Se) and Antimony(Sb) present in it. With the insufficiency of area for land filling and its increasing prices for disposal, alternative is to utilize this waste. Many literatures are published on the usability of EAFD in concrete, which concludes that use of EAFD improves the mechanical properties of concrete. This paper provides a detailed review about properties of EAFD and its effect on the mechanical properties of concrete.

This paper presents the review on different properties of engineered cementitious composite (ECC) used in various structural applications. Effect of different types of mineral admixtures, size of aggregates, fiber hybridization, specimen size, and temperature is reported in present study. In this paper different properties of engineered cementitious composite like tensile, flexural, compressive, tensile strain capacity, shear strength, fracture energy, toughness, fiber matrix interaction, drying shrinkage, water permeability, sorptivity, cracking, impact and frost resistance and beam-column connection behaviour are studied. The review implies that strain capacity of ECC is much higher than conventional concrete and energy absorption capacity, defection capacity, impact resistance is also more than normal concrete along with crack width less than 100 µm. The results from different studies show that tensile strain capacity with multiple fine cracking improve whereas compressive strength and carbon dioxide emission decrease with the use of mineral admixtures. The strain hardening with multiple fine cracking, deflection capacity, flexural and toughness properties, impact resistance and crack width resistance of ECC can be improved by fiber hybridization.

Large amount of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases emit during the manufacturing of cement. Evolution in cement production leads to increase in depletion of natural resources; and its production increases due to rise in concrete construction. To curtail the consumption of cement and natural resources, it has become necessary to find the alternate materials to cement in concrete production. In the present study, stone slurry powder was used as a fractional replacement of cement by 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10% and 15% in the concrete mixture. The compressive strength, split tensile strength and electrical resistivity of concrete at 7 and 28 days was studied for M25 and M45 concrete experimentally. Results showed that the strength and electrical resistivity of concrete increased with increase of stone slurry powder upto 7.5% and 10% in M25 and M45 concrete respectively. The strength decreased for both M25 and M45 concrete; but, remained higher than control mix; except at 15% stone slurry powder in M25 concrete. For M25 concrete, 15% replacement of stone slurry powder decreased compressive and split tensile strength by 9% and 20% respectively with reference to control mix. Use of stone slurry powder in concrete not only reduced the consumption of cement and natural resources but also resolved the problems associated with stone waste, and produced sustainable and economical concrete.

An optimisation program that minimises the overall weight of RC frames in order to avoid material wastage and thus, supports sustainability is developed in the current research. The optimisation technique used is a meta-heuristic technique called Improved Ray Optimisation. Generally, most of the optimisation work done on concrete frames is aimed at minimising the cost of the structure and very less research is done on minimising weight of the concrete structures. The optimisation program takes into consideration all the provisions mentioned in IS456:2000 [5] Indian Standard Code for safety and serviceability of RC structure. In frame optimisation two structural components are considered, i.e. beams and columns and their weight is calculated. The optimisation program is developed using three computer applications, i.e. SAP2000 software, Excel and MATLAB. The code that runs optimisation program is written in MATLAB application. The optimisation program is applied on a generalized RC frame modelled in SAP2000 [6] software and the results obtained when compared with the SAP2000 software showed nearly 15% reduction in weight of the frame.

Fibers are used to resist the cracks and strengthening of the concrete. In this research work, the steel fiber and fly ash were used. But the concentration of fly ash was same in all the beam specimen and different variation of steel fibers below the neutral axis were utilized. The whole process of using different material above and below the neutral axis is known as double cast concrete beam. The flexural response of double cast concrete beam having four point loading test arrangement was determined in the current study. The volume fraction of steel fiber was 0%, 1%, 1.5%, 2% below the neutral axis with constant aspect ratio of 80 and 15% of the concentration of fly ash was used in whole beam structure (below and above the neutral axis). M25 design mix was used for all beams. The results revealed that load carrying capacity of 1.5% volume fraction of steel fiber improved by 42.36% as compared to control beam.

In developing countries like India, approach to sustainable development has become as important as economic development. Sustainability issues have grown with the increase in industrialization which has led to environmental pollution to the land as well as to water bodies. Industrial wastes such as fly ash (from thermal plant), hypo sludge (from paper mill industry) etc. which are purely inorganic, generated annually leading to the problem of their disposal. Also, cement production accounts in releasing carbon dioxide which is an alarming warning to the environment. To conserve the natural resources attempts have been made though concrete technology. So replacement with the industrial waste as supplementary material in the concrete will help out to solve the problems stated above. This paper deals with the experimental investigation of the concrete strength blended with hypo sludge. Hypo sludge with 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% percentage was used in M-20 concrete mix. The parameters such as workability, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength were tested. The strength was checked after 7, 14 and 28 days.

Failure of structural components, either partially or as a whole leads to overall weakening of the structure, ultimately failing to comply with structural safety and serviceability criterion. In the past few decades, emergence of condition monitoring and resulting retrofitting measures have experienced great importance. In case of loss of structural capacity, amounting and recuperating the loss has been the ultimatum. In this paper, strengthening capacities of externally bonded single layer carbon fibre reinforced polymer (EBCFRP) on reinforced concrete (RC) is assessed. Control specimens were used to understand the carrying capacity, modes of failure and cracking pattern under standard loading protocol. Comparison of performance with EBCFRP is then carried out based on codal provisions (IS 456:2000). Test carried out to understand the performance of single layer and double layer CFRP laminated beams. Experimental tests conducted indicate that EBCFRP method successfully strengthens beams for upto 20% increase in load carrying capacity, flexural cracking was successfully controlled and deflection of EBCFRP beams experienced 35% lesser deflection under the same loading pattern as compared to the control specimen. The results of this research work aims for providing real life application in retrofitting measures for existing beams.

Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) or Bendable Concrete is an ultra-ductile concrete and is also known as Strain-Hardening Cementitious Composite, which here means “strengthening by plastic deformation”. ECC is the invention which helps to remove the major deficiency of concrete i.e. Brittle Nature or brittle failure. It is the type of Fibre Reinforced Concrete with a difference that coarse aggregates are not used for making ECC and it is micromechanically designed. This study has been conducted using three types of fibres in concrete namely, Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) fibres, Polypropylene (PP) fibres and Recron 3s fibres and to compare their results, control specimens of M-45 grade has also used. Then these experiment results have been used for the comparison with the non-linear finite element analysis results. Software programs used are ATENA-GiD for modelling and ATENA-Studio for analysis.

In structures perfect regularity is an idealisation as real structures are almost irregular. Actual forces acting on structures are always greater than design base earthquake forces. Due to earthquake forces, extra shear and torsion is produced on irregular structure that leads to decrease in seismic performance significantly. This paper proposes three states of structures i.e. I-shape, and stepped buildings all are mid-rise (6 storeyed) and high rise (12 storeyed). The structures are modelled and analysed in software ETABS 16.1.0 (2016) and different seismic responses such as shear force, storey drift, storey displacement, etc. were obtained. The seismic analysis was carried out according to IS 1893 part(1):2002 and seismic zone V has been taken for all the cases. From the results of analysis, it was observed that in structure with geometric irregularity the stiffness is far more than that of regular structure. So the displacement of structure with geometric irregularity is less as compared to regular structure and the storey drift criteria as per IS 1893 (PART-1):2002 (i.e. 0.004 times of storey height) was satisfied by all the models of three storey, six storey and twelve storey building.

Precise resolution of engineering properties of soil is requisite for absolute design and accomplishing proper establishment of any structure. Geophysical methods are enormously practiced for soil characterization as they are non-intrusive, non-destructive, quick and cost effective. Electrical resistivity(ER) is an appealing technique for characterizing subsurface properties of soil without any disruption. This research confers the outcomes of correlation of ER with soil properties. Different parameters of soil in particular strength parameters like; S.P.T value, Shear Strength (obtained from cohesion(c) and angle of internal friction(Φ) value) along with water content and grain size factor (obtained from percentage of coarse and fine soil) have been correlated with Apparent Resistivity (pa). Exploration was done upto 9 m at 12 locations around Ludhiana city. Correlations were developed using generalized reduced gradient (GRG) because of non-linear data obtained from sites. The value of electrical resistivity value vary for different locations because of being site specific and also it possesses strong correlations with parameters which were taken into account. The results obtained showed that highest and lowest average value of resistivity were 144.46 Ω-m and 70.15 Ω-m. The formulation of correlation was divided for different ranges of S.P.T value, with variation of observed and calculated S.P.T value not being more or less then 15%. So it can be concluded that Electrical Resistivity technique can provide best suitable and reliable results in soil exploration by involving various geotechnical parameters into account.

Red mud is discarded as a waste material while generation of alumina from bauxite. The aim of the research was to carry out the safety analysis of red mud slope of highway embankment by using FEM based software (PLAXIS 2D), introducing geogrid and nail reinforcement separately to avoid settlements in highway embankment. The acceleration at the crest, bottom and toe of the slope observed different for all cases. Mohr Coulomb model was used for slope modelling. The real accelerogram of the El-centro earthquake of 1979 was used for the FEM analysis. The maximum acceleration caused by the earthquake in red mud fill embankment was found to be less at the crest, bottom and toe of the embankment slope after providing reinforcement. The factor of safety of red mud also improved.

The agricultural and other industrial wastes are increasing steadily and causing deterioration of environment. It is estimated that about 500 million tons of agricultural and agro-industrial residues are being generated annually in India. About 120 to 150 MT crop and forestry residues are available as surplus for energy generation after utilising as cattle feed, industrial raw material etc. The present study is focussed at evaluating the energy potential of various locally generated biomass wastes blended together forsustainable waste management and environmental protection. As an alternate fuel source, pellets made from biomass wastes not only conserve fossil fuels but also address the issue of waste disposal.

More production equals to large quantities of wastes which are being generated worldwide from sources such as household, domestic, industrial, commercial and construction demolition activities, and these wastes often lead to environmental concerns of toxic threat. But, as it is said that the waste of plenty is the resource of scarcity, utilization of these wastes as building construction materials can be an economically viable solution to this problem. When these waste products are used in place of other conventional materials, energy and natural resources are preserved, air and water pollutants are reduced, greenhouse gases are lowered and harmful waste disposal is avoided which in turn minimizes the heavy burden on the nation’s landfills. The construction industry can start being aware of and take advantage of the benefits of using recycled and waste materials. The use of fly ash, bottom ash, quarry dust, wood ash, foundry sand, tyre shreds, silica fume, animal fat, cement kiln dust, roofing shingles, swine manure, steel slag, blast furnace slag, copper slag, crushed glass, plastic waste, electronic waste, paper waste, carpet, textile waste reclaimed asphalt pavement, spent fire bricks, recycled aggregates, rice husk ash, coconut shell, olive husk and bagasse ash amongst the endless list in construction is becoming increasingly popular due to the shortage and increasing cost of raw materials. This paper presents an overview of the possible applications of recycled and waste materials after reviewing the results of laboratory tests and important research findings, and the potential of using these wastes in building construction materials with a focus on sustainable development. Furthermore, it reviews some best waste-based materials that can be used as a small-scale alternative to the conventional materials, and also, the implementation of recycled and waste materials in construction applications and in real life projects.

Pharmaceuticals products are acknowledged as emerging pollutants in water resources. The wastewater from pharmaceutical industries fluctuates immensely in is composition and the rate of flow that are based on the precise method of production and the quantities of wastewater being generated. The existence of pharmaceutical compounds in drinking water mainly comes from manufacturing procedures and general usage of pharmaceutical products that eventually results in its occurrence in rural and urban wastewater. In the sight of shortage of water resources, it is of utmost importance to design procedures for the handling of pharmaceutical waste for effective waste management. In the present review study, different sources of wastewater in pharmaceutical industries are identified and comparisons are made for the best available technologies. Further, strategies are proposed to reclaim the valuable pharmaceutical compounds from the wastewater. When the contaminants are biodegradable and organic in nature the anaerobic processes and moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) may turn out to be very effective choices. For cases when a biological process does not turn out to be feasible, vacuum evaporation is a malleable, cost-effective and proficient alternative. Advanced oxidation techniques have the advantages of being highly efficient and non-selective but this method is very expensive and applicable only low discharge rates.

The study is carried out by composting of vegetable waste, cow dung and dry leaves in rotary drum composter. All the waste materials are mixed in appropriate proportions respectively for each trial. To study the effect of bulking agent two different ratios of waste combinations was employed i.e. (5:4:1) and (5:4:2). Rotary drum composter of capacity 210 l has been used and it is fed with 55 kg total weight keeping into view that human can turn it easily. The study was carried out using different turning frequency namely 12 h, 24 h and 48 h respectively. Parameters like TOC, moisture content/N ratio decreases at end of composting process i.e. 21 days. It is concluded that trial with 5:4:2 ratio followed by turning frequency of 48 h provided best results with C/N ratio 11.47.