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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 15965

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jiaqing Wang

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Guest Editor

College of Civil Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
Interests: sustainable infrastructure materials; rubberized concrete; fiber-reinforced concrete; utilization of MSW; asphalt concrete materials; material macro and micro characterizations; FEM fracture analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Shuaicheng Guo

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Guest Editor

College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410012, China
Interests: concrete; durability; fracture mechanics; non-destructive evaluation; freeze–thaw
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Ruizhe Si

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Guest Editor

Institute of Civil Engineering Materials, School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
Interests: geopolymer; microstructure; drying shrinkage; mechanical properties; durability of cement-based composites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Chaochao Liu

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Guest Editor

National Engineering Research Centre of Road Maintenance Technologies, Changsha University of Science ＆ Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Interests: materials and structure design of durable asphalt pavement; modified asphalt and mixtures; reclaimd asphalt pavement; cement-treated aggregates
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Fangyuan Gong

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Guest Editor

School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, China
Interests: material and structure of road engineering; intelligent detection and repair of pavement disease; micro-structure evaluation and analysis of road materials; development and preparation of sustainable road materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue, in the form of an original research article or review paper.

With the rapid development of infrastructure constructions, greener and more sustainable materials have been investigated and applied. Recently, infrastructure construction materials were discovered which are suitable for utilization in low-emission applications and environment protection. In addition, innovative sustainable techniques in the production and use of these materials have also attracted more attention.

This Special Issue will focus on the green and sustainable utilization of infrastructure materials. The main sub-topics include innovative techniques in the application of these materials in infrastructures (pavement, bridges, composite structures, etc.), effective methods for the recycling of these materials in constructions, and the multi-scale material characterization and modeling of composite materials containing these components.

Therefore, this Special Issue will provide an opportunity for peers in the related fields to publish recent findings with the advances in green and sustainable construction materials.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Innovative techniques in green and sustainable construction materials.
Using recycled materials to facilitate sustainability.
Multi-scale evaluation of green and sustainable materials for infrastructure constructions.
Investigations of composite materials and structures made of green and sustainable materials.
Treatment methods of green and sustainable construction materials for better durability.

Dr. Jiaqing Wang
Dr. Shuaicheng Guo
Dr. Ruizhe Si
Dr. Chaochao Liu
Dr. Fangyuan Gong
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sustainable infrastructure materials
rubberized concrete
fiber-reinforced concrete
asphalt and mixtures
material and structure of road engineering

Related Special Issue

Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials (2nd Edition) in Materials (1 article)

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3805 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation of Self-Healing Performance of Asphalt Mastic—From the Perspective of Secondary Aging

by Bo Li, Yu Wang, Peng Xiao, Aihong Kang, Yao Zhang and Zhengguang Wu

Materials 2023, 16(24), 7567; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16247567 - 08 Dec 2023

Viewed by 631

Abstract

Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) has been widely utilized because it is an environmentally friendly and economical material. The performance of recycled asphalt mixtures will deteriorate gradually with the secondary aging process of asphalt, including the self-healing property. To further understand the self-healing characteristics of asphalt after secondary aging, taking 70# petroleum asphalt, SBS-modified asphalt, and extracted old asphalt mastics as objects, the fatigue self-healing test and fracture self-healing test were conducted to simulate the intermediate-and low-temperature healing behaviors of different asphalt mastics. The impact of healing time, healing temperature, and aging degree of mastics on the healing performance was systematically investigated. The results show that the original unaged asphalt mastics present excellent fatigue healing properties with an index of 0.796 and 0.888 for 70# petroleum and SBS-modified asphalt mastics, respectively. The secondary aging process causes significant impact on the healing properties, leading to a great drop in the corresponding index, which decreased to 47.5% and 72.5% of that of the unaged ones. The fracture healing ability of all mastics was much inferior to the fatigue healing. After secondary aging, the fracture healing index values of 70# petroleum asphalt, SBS-modified asphalt, and extracted old asphalt mastics were all as low as around 0.3, indicating similar performance can be found in the secondary aged SBS-modified asphalt mastics and 70# asphalt mastics. Overall, after secondary aging, the fatigue damage of SBS-modified asphalt mastics can be cured effectively by self-healing, but the fatigue and fracture self-healing properties of 70# asphalt mastics are difficult to recover. These results could provide an innovative view to understand the fatigue and fracture healing characteristics of recycled asphalt pavement after secondary aging. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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15 pages, 7037 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Study on the Impact of Using FRP Sheets on the Axial Compressive Performance of Short-Circular Composite Columns

by Jie Liu, Deliang Ma, Feifei Dong and Zhongxiang Liu

Materials 2023, 16(19), 6373; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16196373 - 24 Sep 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 711

Abstract

This paper conducts an experimental study on the axial compressive performance of FRP-steel-concrete composite columns. Nine short columns were produced and evaluated in the study, comprising of three concrete-filled steel tube reference columns and six FRP-steel-concrete composite columns, respectively denoted as “reference columns” and “composite columns”. Two categories of failure modes, including shear failure and waist drum, were observed from the experiments. The failure mode may trend toward waist drum from shear failure as more FRP layers were used. The number of FRP layers had a direct effect on the level of compressive strength attained, with a greater number of layers resulting in a greater increase in compressive strength. Moreover, a greater tensile strength and higher elastic modulus of CFRP sheets are more effective at improving the compressive stiffness of the columns. Finally, a four-stage confinement mechanism for FRP-wrapped steel tube concrete composite columns is proposed and discussed, through which the damage mechanisms of the composite structures are more rationally characterized. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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14 pages, 27954 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Anti-Condensation Performance of a New Superhydrophobic Coating for Pavements

by Kaijian Huang, Ruiyu Sun, Jiaqing Wang, Xijun Shi and Hechang Lei

Materials 2023, 16(17), 5793; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16175793 - 24 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 830

Abstract

Superhydrophobic coating ice suppression is an advanced and durable technology that shows great potential for application on pavements. Although many researchers have conducted experimental and theoretical validations to confirm the effectiveness of superhydrophobic surfaces in actively suppressing ice formation, there are still some who remain skeptical. They argue that the roughness of the surface may increase ice adhesion due to the mechanical interlocking effect of condensation droplets in low-temperature and high-humidity environments. In this study, we present a comprehensive investigation of a novel superhydrophobic coating specifically designed for pavement surfaces, aiming to address the question of its active anti-icing/ice-sparing capabilities in a condensing environment. The changes in contact angle before and after condensation for four material surfaces with varying wettability were investigated, as well as the morphology and ice adhesion of liquid water after it freezes on the material surface. The findings reveal that the proposed superhydrophobic coating for pavements effectively prevents condensate droplets from infiltrating the surface structure, resulting in delaying the surface icing time and reducing the attachment strength of the ice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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21 pages, 12694 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation on Buckling Performance of Prefabricated Light Steel Frame Materials under the Action of Random Defects during Construction

by Gang Yao, Yuxiao Chen, Yang Yang, Xinlong Ma and Wulei Men

Materials 2023, 16(16), 5666; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16165666 - 17 Aug 2023

Viewed by 645

Abstract

This investigation proposes an analytical approach for analyzing the impact of random defects on light steel frame materials. The addition of random defects for the overall and the component units was achieved by integrating Matlab R2022a and Ansys R19.0 finite element software. Nonlinear analysis was conducted to calculate ultimate load factors and nodal ultimate displacements of the materials under various random defects at each stage of construction. A two-factor analysis was employed to investigate the effects of random defects on the calculation results during different construction stages. The investigation reveals that the response of the light steel frame materials to initial defects is more pronounced during the construction stage. Moreover, the construction stage is the main factor that affects the ultimate load factor and nodal ultimate displacement, compared with random defects. The influence of different random defects on structural displacements varies significantly. The displacement development of the light steel frame materials under the influence of component unit defects tends to be more rapid than that of the overall defects. However, their buckling critical loads are essentially similar. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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16 pages, 6032 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simplified Evaluation of Shear Stiffness Degradation of Diagonally Cracked Reinforced Concrete Beams

by Kaiqi Zheng, Siyuan Zhou, Yaohui Zhang, Yang Wei, Jiaqing Wang, Yuxi Wang and Xiaochuan Qin

Materials 2023, 16(13), 4752; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16134752 - 30 Jun 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 748

Abstract

Shear cracking in concrete box-girder bridges, which could cause excessive deflection during the serviceability limit state, cannot be effectively avoided by code-guided design. While elastic shear deformation only accounts for a small proportion of total deformation for un-cracked reinforced concrete (RC) beams, the magnitude of after-cracking shear deformation becomes comparable to flexural deformation for RC beams. However, there is still a lack of practical models to predict the after-cracking shear deformation of RC beams. First, six thin-webbed I beams were tested to investigate the shear stiffness degradation mechanism and the decrease ratio. Then, a very simple truss strut angle formula, which is the crucial parameter for shear stiffness, was established. Furthermore, a stiffness degradation rule for partially cracked beams was proposed considering the influence of concrete tension stiffening, which is essential for predicting the development process of after-cracking shear deformation. Finally, directly measured shear strains were used to validate the proposed shear stiffness model. The results showed that the shear stiffness drops to about 30~40% of the original stiffness after the first diagonal crack, and the remaining shear stiffness is only about 10% of the original one when the stirrup yields. Increasing the stirrup ratio is a more effective method to control shear stiffness degradation for diagonally cracked RC beams. Also, the proposed shear stiffness model well captures the main features of the shear stiffness degradation, and it provides a relatively accurate prediction of the equivalent shear stiffness at the post-cracking stage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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15 pages, 3843 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Investigation on the Compressive Behavior of Desert Sand-Based Backfill Material: Parametric Study

by Haitian Yan, Honglin Liu, Guodong Li, Xiangyu Wang and Yinjian Hang

Materials 2023, 16(10), 3878; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16103878 - 22 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1036

Abstract

As a key node in the promotion of the “Western Development” strategy in Xinjiang, China, the large-scale mining of coal resources is bound to cause a series of ecological and environmental problems, such as surface subsidence. Desert areas are widely distributed in Xinjiang, and from the perspective of reserves and sustainable development, it is crucial to fully utilize desert sand to make filling materials and predict its mechanical strength. In order to promote the application of High Water Backfill Material (HWBM) in mining engineering, a modified HWBM doped with Xinjiang Kumutage desert sand was used to prepare a desert sand-based backfill material, and its mechanical properties were tested. The discrete element particle flow software PFC3D is used to construct a three-dimensional numerical model of desert sand-based backfill material. The parameters such as sample sand content, porosity, desert sand particle size distribution, and model size are changed to study their impact on the bearing performance and scale effect of desert sand-based backfill materials. The results indicate that a higher content of desert sand can effectively improve the mechanical properties of HWBM specimens. The stress–strain relationship inverted by the numerical model is highly consistent with the measured results of desert sand-based backfill materials. Improving the particle size distribution of desert sand and reducing the porosity of filling materials within a certain range can significantly improve the bearing capacity of desert sand-based backfill materials. The influence of changing the range of microscopic parameters on the compressive strength of desert sand-based backfill materials was analyzed. This study provides a desert sand-based backfill material that meets the requirements of mine filling, and predicts its strength through numerical simulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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19 pages, 5907 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Investigation on the Influence of Crack Width of Asphalt Concrete on the Repair Effect of Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation

by Ling Fan, Jinghong Zheng, Shuquan Peng, Zhize Xun and Guoliang Chen

Materials 2023, 16(9), 3576; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16093576 - 07 May 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1276

Abstract

The appearance of cracks is one of the reasons that affect the performance of asphalt pavement, and traditional repair methods have the potential problem of causing adverse effects on the environment. In this paper, an environmentally friendly method for asphalt concrete crack repair was investigated using microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) for asphalt concrete cracks of different widths (0.5 mm, 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm, and 3 mm), and the effectiveness of repair was evaluated using nondestructive and destructive experiments. A varied ultrasonic pulse velocity was used to evaluate the healing process, and it was found that the samples with an initial crack width of 0.5 mm showed the most significant increase in wave velocity of 18.06% after repair. The results also showed that the uniaxial compressive strength and indirect tensile strength of the MICP-repaired samples recovered up to 47.02% and 34.68%. Static creep test results showed that MICP-repaired samples with smaller width cracks had greater resistance to permanent deformation. The results of uniaxial compressive strength tests on larger width (3 mm) cracks repaired by MICP combined with fibers showed that the strength of the samples was significantly increased by the addition of fibers. In addition, the SEM/EDS results showed that the MICP products were spherical calcite particles with a particle size distribution from 0 to 10 μm. This study shows that MICP has some potential for repairing cracks in asphalt concrete of different widths within the range investigated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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19 pages, 5301 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Compressive Strength Prediction of Rice Husk Ash Concrete Using a Hybrid Artificial Neural Network Model

by Chuanqi Li, Xiancheng Mei, Daniel Dias, Zhen Cui and Jian Zhou

Materials 2023, 16(8), 3135; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16083135 - 16 Apr 2023

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1641

Abstract

The combination of rice husk ash and common concrete both reduces carbon dioxide emission and solves the problem of agricultural waste disposal. However, the measurement of the compressive strength of rice husk ash concrete has become a new challenge. This paper proposes a novel hybrid artificial neural network model, optimized using a reptile search algorithm with circle mapping, to predict the compressive strength of RHA concrete. A total of 192 concrete data with 6 input parameters (age, cement, rice husk ash, super plasticizer, aggregate, and water) were utilized to train proposed model and compare its predictive performance with that of five other models. Four statistical indices were adopted to evaluate the predictive performance of all the developed models. The performance evaluation indicates that the proposed hybrid artificial neural network model achieved the most satisfactory prediction accuracy regarding R² (0.9709), VAF (97.0911%), RMSE (3.4489), and MAE (2.6451). The proposed model also had better predictive accuracy than that of previously developed models on the same data. The sensitivity results show that age is the most important parameter for predicting the compressive strength of RHA concrete. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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14 pages, 4331 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Thermal Treatment on the Mechanical Properties of Bamboo Fiber Bundles

by Jie Cui, Daixin Fu, Lin Mi, Lang Li, Yongjie Liu, Chong Wang, Chao He, Hong Zhang, Yao Chen and Qingyuan Wang

Materials 2023, 16(3), 1239; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16031239 - 31 Jan 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1882

Abstract

Bamboo is known as a typical kind of functional gradient natural composite. In this paper, fiber bundles were extracted manually from various parts of the stem in the radial direction, namely the outer, middle, and inner parts. After heat treatment, the mechanical properties of the fiber bundles were studied, including the tensile strength, elastic modulus, and fracture modes. The micromechanical properties of the fiber cell walls were also analyzed. The results showed that the mean tensile strength of the bamboo fiber bundles decreased from 423.29 to 191.61 MPa and the modulus of elasticity increased from 21.29 GPa to 27.43 GPa with the increase in temperature. The elastic modulus and hardness of the fiber cell walls showed a positive correlation with temperature, with the modulus of elasticity and the hardness increasing from 15.96 to 18.70 GPa and 0.36 to 0.47 GPa, respectively. From the outside to the inside of the bamboo stems, the tensile strength and elastic modulus showed a slight decrease. The fracture behavior of the fiber bundles near the outside approximates ductile fracture, while that of the bundles near to the inside tend to be a brittle fracture. The fracture surfaces of the bamboo bundles and the single fibers became smoother after heat treatment. The results show that bamboo fiber bundles distributed near the outside are most suitable for industrial development under heat treatment at 180 °C. Therefore, this study can provide a reasonable scientific basis for the selective utilization, functional optimization, and bionic utilization of bamboo materials, which has very important theoretical and practical significance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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15 pages, 3824 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of CBR of Graded Crushed Stone of Flexible Base Structural Layer Based on Discrete Element Model

by Zhaoguang Hu, Heng Liu, Weiguang Zhang, Tianqing Hei, Xunhao Ding and Zezhen Dong

Materials 2023, 16(1), 363; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16010363 - 30 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1856

Abstract

In order to study the mechanical properties of graded crushed stone, the discrete element method is used to simulate the CBR test of graded crushed stone. Aiming at the composition structure of graded crushed stone material, the PFC3D simulation software is used to construct the test model, and the process of constructing the virtual specimen model of the graded crushed stone discrete element model is discussed in detail. A servo mechanism is used to control the speed of the wall in the software, so as to control the virtual confining pressure imposed on graded crushed stone by the wall and simulate the real CBR test environment. The micro-parameter calibration of the virtual test is carried out by comparing the indoor and virtual CBR specimens of a single particle size specimen and three groups of graded crushed stone specimens. The comparison result shows that the stress–strain characteristics of the graded crushed rock obtained by the discrete element simulation during the uniaxial penetration process have a high degree of similarity, which can verify the accuracy of the model establishment. With the increase in the penetration depth, the penetration force of the aggregates of various particle sizes gradually increases, and the penetration force and the penetration depth are basically linear, and when the particle size is greater than 9.5 mm, the increase in particle size has little effect on the CBR test results. Under the certain conditions, the contact stiffness of graded crushed stone particles with particle sizes of 4.75 mm, 9.5 mm, 13.2 mm, 16 mm, and 19 mm should be 0.88 × 10⁷ (N/m), 0.98 × 10⁷ (N/m), 1.10 × 10⁷ (N/m), 1.25 × 10⁷ (N/m), and 2.05 × 10⁷ (N/m), respectively. The recommended value of the contact stiffness of the small spherical particles increases with the increase in the particle size. This model can provide a basis for studying the micromechanical state of graded crushed stone and physical mechanics tests. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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19 pages, 3215 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mixture Design and Mechanical Properties of Recycled Mortar and Fully Recycled Aggregate Concrete Incorporated with Fly Ash

by Lijuan Zhang, Dong Ding, Jun Zhao, Guosen Zhou and Zhi Wang

Materials 2022, 15(22), 8143; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15228143 - 17 Nov 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1113

Abstract

Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is a sort of green, low carbon, environmental protection building material, its application is of great significance to the low carbonization of the construction industry. The performance and strength of RAC are much lower than natural aggregate concrete (NAC), which are the key factors restricting its application. Class F fly ash is a cementitious material that is considered environmentally hazardous. In this paper, appropriate water-binder (w/b) ratios were found through a mortar expansion test at first. The compressive strength of recycled mortar incorporated with class F fly ash was further studied. On this basis, the mechanical properties of nine groups of fully recycled aggregate concrete (FRAC) with a w/b ratio of 0.3, 0.35, and 0.4, and fly ash replacement ratios of 0, 20%, and 40%, were studied. The influence of the w/b ratio and fly ash replacement ratio on mechanical properties was analyzed and compared with previous research results. In addition, the conversion formulas between the splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, and compressive strength of FRAC were fitted and established. The research results have a certain guiding significance for the mixture design of FRAC and further application of class F fly ash. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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12 pages, 3079 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis on Effects of Joint Spacing on the Performance of Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements Based on Long-Term Pavement Performance Database

by Jiaqing Wang, Xiaojuan Luo, Xin Huang, Yao Ye and Sihan Ruan

Materials 2022, 15(22), 8132; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15228132 - 16 Nov 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1468

Abstract

With the day–night temperature and moisture levels changing every day, expansion and shrinkage of concrete slabs is always occurring; therefore, joints provide extra room for concrete slab deformation. The joint spacing in jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) is continuously affecting long-term pavement behaviors. In this study, data from the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program were analyzed, and the behaviors of JPCP with different joint spacings were compared to discover the joint spacing effects. Since LTPP has an enormous database, three representative sections located in different states were selected for analysis, where the variable factors such as temperature, moisture, and average annual daily truck traffic (AADTT) were almost the same between the three sections. Three different joint spacings, including 15 ft (4.5 m), 20 ft (6 m), and 25 ft (7.5 m), were compared based on the collected LTPP data. The involved long-term pavement performances, such as average transverse cracking (count), average JPCP faulting, international roughness index (IRI), and falling weight deflectometer (FWD) deflections were compared between JPCP with different joint spacings. Based on the comparative analysis, the JPCP constructed with a 15 ft joint spacing demonstrated the best long-term performance. It showed no transverse cracking, the lowest average JPCP faulting, the best IRI value, and the smallest FWD deflection during the entire in-service period. With proper joint spacing, the cost of road maintenance throughout the life cycle could be significantly reduced due to there being less distress. Therefore, it is recommended to optimize the joint spacing to about 15 ft in JPCP in future applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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17 pages, 7103 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Parameter Study of Interfacial Capacities for FRP–Steel Bonded Joints Based on 3D FE Modeling

by Jie Liu, Yu Yuan, Libin Wang, Zhongxiang Liu and Jun Yang

Materials 2022, 15(21), 7787; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15217787 - 04 Nov 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1087

Abstract

This paper investigated the stress distribution of an adhesive layer for GFRP–steel bonded joints under 22.48 kN tensile loading using a three-dimensional numerical simulation. Firstly, a stress analysis of three paths was conducted, and after comparison, path II (through the middle layer of the bonding layer) was adopted as the analyzing path. Furthermore, a systemically parametric study of the effects of the FRP stiffness (i.e., elastic modulus and thickness), bonding length, adhesive thickness, and adhesive modulus was conducted. For the joints with different FRP elastic moduli, the minimum value of normal peeling stress was calculated as −3.80 MPa by the FRP for 10 GPa, showing a significantly severe stress concentration of FRP for 10 GPa. An analysis of the von Mises stresses proved that the increase in FRP stiffness could reduce the stress concentration of the adhesive layer effectively. The study of the effect of bonding lengths indicated that a more uniform peeling stress distribution could result from the longest bonding size; the largest peeling stress of 6.54 MPa was calculated for a bonding length of 30 mm. Further parameter analysis showed that the stress concentration of the adhesive layer could be influenced by the FRP thickness, bonding thickness, and elastic modulus of the adhesive layer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green and Sustainable Infrastructure Construction Materials)

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