Construction and Building Materials最新文献

The depth of crack self-healing is crucial in advancing self-healing technology in cement-based materials. An additional challenge arises in marine environments with the infiltration of corrosion ions into the cracks. A self-healing approach revolving around microbial mineralization and layered double metal hydroxides (LDHs) is proposed to address these dual challenges. The findings demonstrate a significant enhancement in the healing properties of the mortar when mixed with the healing agent, particularly in terms of ultrasonic speed and resistance to cross-cracking, which are indicative of internal self-healing effects. The depth of crack self-healing was greatly improved, with a wide distribution of healing products observed on the crack surface. This healing effect is attributed to the in-situ formation of LDHs within the cracks. LDHs immobilizes a substantial amount of hydroxide ions, chloride ions, sulfate ions, and water molecules, resulting in improved volume expansion performance and effective sealing of the cracks. Moreover, the physical and chemical conditions within the crack solution were optimized, enhancing the activity of microorganisms and thereby improving the healing rate of the crack opening area. This multi-modal synergy-based self-healing strategy holds promise as a potential solution for achieving efficient crack self-healing.

Epoxy asphalt is widely utilized for steel bridge deck pavement due to its excellent performance. However, its inherent brittleness makes the pavement layer prone to cracking under low-temperature loading conditions. Numerous studies have been conducted to explore singular modification methods, yet the issue remains unresolved. This review summarizes the research progress on multiple mechanisms and strategies for toughening epoxy asphalt materials. It discusses representative studies involving modifiers such as rubber elastomers, thermoplastic polymers, hyperbranched polyesters, and fibers introduced at various levels including epoxy resin, epoxy asphalt, and epoxy asphalt concrete. The review elaborates on multiscale mechanisms including enhanced damping, cooperative deformation, increased flexibility of the framework, and cooperative stress relaxation. The results indicate that while single modification methods contribute to enhancing the toughness of epoxy asphalt materials, multi-level, multi-mechanism modifications are superior to singular modifications. Looking ahead, the design of functionalized nano-reinforcement materials and multi-component interface-compatible adjustive materials holds promise for enhancing the performance of epoxy asphalt composites to meet increasingly stringent infrastructure demands. This research provides a new perspective for the comprehensive optimization of multifunctional composite materials.

This study explores the potential application of waste rubber (WR) as sustainable recycled rubber aggregates (RRA) in the construction sector. A layer of graphene oxide (GO) was coated on RRA through multiple surface modification techniques, aiming to enhance the interfacial properties in RRA mortars. The C-S-H phases were first tailored through chemical synthesis to better understand the nucleation and growth of hydration products with the presence of GO. Subsequently, a 180 ± 10 nm-thick GO coating was attached to the RRA surface through surface treatment with sodium hydroxide solution, silane coupling agent, and GO suspension. In addition, the mechanical strength, damping performance, water absorption, chloride resistance, and microstructural properties of cement mortars prepared with RRA were further assessed. It was found that the GO coating significantly improves the bonding between RRA and the cementitious matrix due to its hydrophilicity and nucleation effects, which locally facilitate the cement hydration at interfaces. The cement mortars produced with surface-modified RRA exhibit promising high-damping characteristics, accompanied by improved durability and mechanical performance over those prepared with untreated RRA.

Mechanical strength of brick is significantly influenced by soil properties, deeming some soils unusable. This paper investigates the effect of mixing soils from different sources, Hyogo (a chlorite soil) and Tokyo (an albite soil) from Japan, on the flexural and compressive strength of unfired earth brick. Before conducting strength tests on moulded bricks made from original soil mixes and intermixed soils, both soil samples were individually separated into two portions, sand and fines. To better understand the strength behaviour of the resulting brick specimen, the physical and chemical properties of used raw materials were characterised using various techniques including X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) X-ray diffraction (XRD), water and nitrogen sorption, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and ionic conductivity. The results revealed that the replacement of the fines portions in unadulterated soil mixes induced an increase in flexural and compressive strength for brick specimen made with albite soil, while significant reduction in strength was recorded with brick specimen made with fines portion replaced in chlorite soil. Furthermore, the former intermixed soil exhibited higher strengths than specimen made from unadulterated soils. Chlorite clay minerals comprised of desired properties to enhance performance of albite soil sand particles in a brick composite. This justified the dependence of selected soil parameters that play critical roles in the performance behaviour of the produced bricks. The obtained findings could serve as guidelines to production and performance enhancement of unburnt brick by amalgamating various soils.

The utilization of cement has been found to have negative environmental impacts. In order to reduce the quantity of cement used and improve the mechanical properties of solid waste-cement-stabilized cohesive soil, the incorporation of solid waste as additives has been investigated. Unconfined compressive strength is a crucial parameter in geotechnical engineering. However, existing empirical formulas have limited accuracy and applicability when it comes to the unconfined compressive strength of solid waste-cement-stabilized cohesive soil. The machine learning model can be used to provide accurate and comprehensive predictions by considering the nonlinear relationships between independent and dependent variables. This study aims to propose a machine learning model tuned by optimization algorithms with high generalization performance in accurately predicting the unconfined compressive strength. Firstly, a database containing 474 specimens was developed. Secondly, eight machine learning models were established, composed five single models and three hybrid models, to train and test the database. Six performance indicators were employed to evaluate the generalization ability of these models. Finally, the optimal model was selected for analysis of the importance of the feature variables using shapley additive explanations, which were compared with those of the existing empirical model. The research findings indicated that, the extreme gradient boosting model tuned with tree-structured parzen estimators exhibited the highest predictive accuracy and generalization ability. The curing age, cement content, plastic limit, and water content were identified as the most critical factors influencing the unconfined compressive strength. Among the chemical components in solid waste, the aluminum oxide content and silicon dioxide content were found to significantly influence the unconfined compressive strength, while the impact of calcium oxide content was relatively minor. Furthermore, the optimal solid waste content was found to be around 10 %. This study made a significant contribution to the effective utilization of waste resources in the context of sustainable construction practices.

An innovative anchorage technology named load distributive compression anchor (LDCA) has recently been employed in a multitude of geotechnical engineering. The anchoring structure comprises multiple anchor bodies, thereby overcoming the bearing defects associated with conventional load-concentrated anchors and providing superior bearing performance. The complex structural configuration of LDCA considerably complicates the process of load-transfer theoretical modeling. A lack of relevant studies from theoretical solution perspective is yet evident in previous works. In this paper, a theoretical model was proposed for the load-transfer analyses of LDCA, of which the soil-anchor interface mechanical behavior was specially characterized by a disturbed state concept (DSC)-based nonlinear model. The mechanical simulation for the connections in different anchor bodies was incorporated into the theoretical analysis framework through the utilization of finite difference method. Three groups of 3D finite element (FE) models were established to simulate the load-transfer behaviors of LDCAs with different numbers of anchor bodies. The theoretical calculations agree well with the FE numerical results and the in-situ pullout test data, thereby confirming the applicability of the load-transfer theoretical model. The axial force and interface shear stress distributions, as well as the bearing capacity for LDCAs, were discussed based on theoretical calculations and FE simulations. Sensitivity analysis of several key design parameters was conducted to investigate their effects on the bearing capacity of LDCAs. The findings achieved in this study can provide insights into the understanding of the load-transfer behaviors of LDCA, and contribute to the bearing performance evaluation.

Cement-based structures are prone to hydraulic fracturing in acidic sulfate and seepage environments, posing a significant safety threat to engineering projects. To investigate the impact of pH levels on hydraulic fracturing in cement-based materials under seepage-sulfate coupled attack, hydraulic fracturing test and splitting tensile strength test have been conducted on cement mortar specimens permeated with Na₂SO₄ solution. A mathematical model is developed to establish the relationship between the critical water pressure of hydraulic fracturing and the splitting tensile strength at varying pH levels. The results show that the critical water pressure and splitting tensile strength initially increase and then decrease with the increase in erosion duration under pH levels of 7 and 3, while they continuously decrease with the increase in erosion duration under pH level of 1. Furthermore, the peak values of the critical water pressure and splitting tensile strength gradually diminish, which indicates an increased deterioration in hydraulic fracturing resistance with the decrease in pH value. The relationship between critical water pressure damage coefficient and erosion duration can be accurately described by a quadratic polynomial. Overall, the findings of this study can serve as a useful reference for enhancing the structural performance of cement mortar subjected to seepage-sulfate coupled attack at varying pH levels.

The structure of the lipophilic groups within the emulsifiers plays a pivotal role in uniformly dispersing the asphalt particles in the water regarding the storage and thermal stability of emulsified asphalt. This study combines laboratory experiments with molecular dynamics simulations, investigating the influence of alkyl chain length on emulsified asphalt dispersion and behavior at the oil/water interface. The results reveal that long-chain alkyl emulsifiers (C₁₆TAC and C₁₈TAC) present a lipophilicity-enhancement effect. This phenomenon increases the free volume fraction of emulsified asphalt, reducing viscosity and improving the compatibility of emulsion. This results in smaller asphalt particle sizes (D50 = 1.982μm) and more uniform dispersion. Vigorously lipophilic long-chain alkyl promotes emulsifier molecular migration towards the asphalt phase, thickening the oil/water interfacial layer and reducing interfacial tension and energy by more than 90 %. Notely, long-chain alkyl emulsifiers establish strong hydrogen bonds with water molecules, leading to water molecule aggregation into a hydration layer. Laboratory experimental results demonstrate that this lipophilicity-enhancement effect significantly improves the storage and thermal stability of emulsified asphalt. This research recommends long-chain alkyl emulsifiers in developing and designing energy-efficient pavement engineering regarding high-performance emulsified asphalt.

Nowadays, waste and renewable materials are used to modify bitumen and asphalt, reduce costs, decrease the use of natural resources, and maintain ecological balance, and have thus received much attention. This study aimed to improve the rheological properties of bitumen and reduce spent coffee grounds' (SCG) waste by partially replacing it with SCG powder and ash. SCG powder and ash were added in percentages of 0, 1, 3, 5, and 8 wt percent of bitumen to check the properties of control and modified bitumens. Microstructural properties were evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Penetration, softening point, and ductility tests were performed to check the physical properties of bitumens, along with the storage stability test. Rheological tests (viscosity, bending beam rheometer (BBR), dynamic shear rheometer (DSR), multiple stress creep and recovery (MSCR), and linear amplitude sweep (LAS) were also carried out. According to the BBR results, adding SCG powder up to −12 °C and adding SCG ash up to −6 °C increased the resistance to low temperatures. Based on DSR and MSCR results, SCG, either in the form of ash or powder, increased the resistance to rutting, and adding SCG ash improved the high temperature performance of bitumen by 1 grade. At 64 °C, adding 8 % of SCG powder increased the rutting resistance by 43 %, and adding SCG ash raised the rutting resistance by about 113 %. LAS results also showed that SCG ash outperforms SCG powder in fatigue. Although both SCG powder and ash performed well in high, moderate, and low temperatures, SCG powder performed better in cold regions, and SCG ash performed better in regions with temperate and tropical climates.

To develop ultra-high ductility magnesium phosphate cement-based composites (UHDMC) suitable for cold areas and fully utilize solid waste, the effects of fly ash (FA) substitution and freeze-thaw cycles on the mechanical properties and freeze-thaw resistance of UHDMC specimens were explored. The mechanism of freeze-thaw damage was revealed by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Freeze-thaw damage model for UHDMC was established to predict its service life. The results showed that, after 300 freeze-thaw cycles, the compressive strength retention rate of the UHDMC specimens with FA substitution from 10 % to 30 % was above 88.7 %, and the tensile strain maintained above 3.48 %, still presenting the characteristics of multi-cracking and strain hardening. Meanwhile, after 600 freeze-thaw cycles, the mass loss rate and the dynamic elastic modulus of UHMPC specimens with FA substitution from 10 % to 30 % were below 1.38 % and above 81.1 %, respectively. The mechanical properties were mainly related to the total porosity and macropores. The effect of the water solubility of prismatic struvite-K crystals and the secondary hydration production of filamentous struvite potassium crystals on the matrix presented well explanation for the excellent freeze-thaw resistance of UHDMC specimens with FA substitution from 10 % to 30 %. At last, a freeze-thaw damage model for UHDMC specimens with FA substitution below 30 % based on the Weibull probability distribution function was established, predicting that their service life was up to 232 years in the northeastern of China.