Huayi Zhang¹, Maobin Song², Lei Shen^1,*, Nizar Faisal Alkayem¹, Maosen Cao³

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.19, No.1, pp. 55-75, 2025, DOI:10.32604/sdhm.2024.052869 - 15 November 2024

Abstract The concrete panel of earth-rock dams in cold regions tends to crack due to the combination effect of non-uniform foundation settlement, ice expansion loads, and freeze-thaw damage. In this work, simulations are designed to investigate the effects of freeze-thaw damage degrees on the fracture behavior caused by the partial detachment and ice expansion loads on concrete panels. Results show that the range of detached panels and freeze-thaw damage degree are the dominant factors that affect the overall load-bearing capacity of the panel and the failure cracking modes, whereas the panel slope is a secondary factor. More >

Ray Rui Zhong Chong¹, Yangbo Guo^1,*, Andy Yew², Kenon Chua², Victor P.W. Shim¹

The International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences, Vol.31, No.3, pp. 1-1, 2024, DOI:10.32604/icces.2024.011768

Abstract Arthritis, caused by degeneration and wear of articular cartilage, affects millions of patients worldwide. It can result in chronic pain, swelling, stiffness, and significantly affect the mobility of patients. Hence, identifying a material as an artificial alternative to replace damaged cartilage is of great benefit. Hydrogel, because of its high water content and similarity with the extracellular matrix of cartilage, has been explored for potential use as artificial cartilage. In this investigation, Polyvinyl Alcohol-Polyethylene Oxide (PVA/PEG) hydrogel with similar mechanical properties to human articular cartilage (e.g. compressive modulus, stress-strain response) was fabricated using a freeze-thaw… More >

Yang Li, Sibo Jiang^*, Ruixin Lan

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.18, No.3, pp. 255-276, 2024, DOI:10.32604/sdhm.2024.047776 - 15 May 2024

Abstract Chloride (Cl) ion erosion effects can seriously impact the safety and service life of marine liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tanks and other polar offshore structures. This study investigates the impact of different low-temperature cycles (20°C, –80°C, and −160°C) and concrete specimen crack widths (0, 0.3, and 0.6 mm) on the Cl ion diffusion performance through rapid erosion tests conducted on pre-cracked concrete. The results show that the minimum temperature and crack width of freeze-thaw cycles enhance the erosive effect of chloride ions. The Cl ion concentration and growth rate increased with the increasing crack More > Graphic Abstract

Jie Huang^*, Rongbin Jiang, Xiaobo Sun, Yingyong Shuai

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.12, No.1, pp. 187-201, 2024, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2023.044232 - 23 January 2024

Abstract The reuse of waste recycled concrete from harsh environments has become a research hotspot in the field of construction. This study investigated the repair effect of carbonation treatment on second-generation recycled fine aggregate (SRFA) obtained from recycled fine aggregate concrete (RFAC) subjected to freeze-thaw (FT) cycles. Before and after carbonation, the properties of SRFA were evaluated. Carbonated second-generation recycled fine aggregate (CSRFA) at five substitution rates (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) to replace SRFA was used to prepare carbonated second-generation recycled fine aggregate concrete (CSRFAC). The water absorption, porosity and mechanical properties of CSRFAC were More >

Yongdong Yan^*, Youdong Si, Chunhua Lu, Keke Wu

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.17, No.3, pp. 225-238, 2023, DOI:10.32604/sdhm.2022.022629 - 25 June 2023

Abstract This research aims to investigate the effect of frost damage on chloride transportation mechanism in ordinary and fiber concrete with both theoretical and experimental methods. The proposed theoretical model takes into account the varying damage levels caused by concrete cover depth and freeze-thaw cycles, which are the two primary parameters affecting the expression of the chloride diffusion coefficient. In the experiment, three types of concrete were prepared: ordinary Portland concrete (OPC), polypropylene fiber concrete (PFC), and steel fiber concrete (SFC). These were then immersed in NaCl solution for 120 days after undergoing 10, 25, and… More >

Jing Yu¹, Jie Ren², Guangming Shen³, Weixiang Sun², Hui Wang^4,*

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.19, No.9, pp. 2385-2398, 2023, DOI:10.32604/fdmp.2023.027877 - 16 May 2023

Abstract In this paper, the influence of NaCl freeze-thaw (F-T) cycles and dry-wet (D-W) alternations on the flexural, compressive and bonding strengths of alkali-activated fly ash (FA) and a blast furnace slag powder (BFS) is investigated. The considered NaCl concentration is 3%. The effect of polypropylene fibers on the mechanical strengths is also examined. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry (TG) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) are selected to discern the mechanisms underpinning the NaCl-induced erosion. The obtained results indicate that the best results in terms of material resistance are obtained with admixtures containing 60% BFS and 40%… More >

Xintong Chen, Pinghua Zhu^*, Xiancui Yan, Lei Yang, Huayu Wang

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.11, No.6, pp. 2953-2967, 2023, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2023.027140 - 27 April 2023

Abstract With the emphasis on environmental issues, the recycling of waste concrete, even recycled concrete, has become a hot spot in the field of architecture. But the repeated recycling of waste concrete used in harsh environments is still a complex problem. This paper discusses the durability and recyclability of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) as a prefabricated material in the harsh environment, the effect of high-temperature curing (60°C, 80°C, and 100°C) on the frost resistance of RAC and physical properties of the second generation recycled coarse aggregate (RCA₂) of RAC after 300 freeze-thaw cycles were studied. The frost… More >

Wei Chen^1,*, Ao Xu¹, Hejun Zhang¹, Mingquan Sheng¹, Yue Liang¹, Frederic Skoczylas²

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.19, No.6, pp. 1623-1636, 2023, DOI:10.32604/fdmp.2023.025083 - 30 January 2023

Abstract Two different freeze-thaw cycles (FTC) are considered in this study to assess the related impact on gas permeability and micro-pore structure of a mortar. These are the water-freezing/water-thawing (WF-WT) and the air-freezing/air-thawing (AF-AT) cycles. The problem is addressed experimentally through an advanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique able to provide meaningful information on the relationships among gas permeability, pore structure, mechanical properties, and the number of cycles. It is shown that the mortar gas permeability increases with the number of FTCs, the increase factor being 20 and 12.83 after 40 cycles for the WF-WT and More >

Peng Zhang¹, Dongsheng Shi^1,*, Ping Han^1,2, Wenchao Jiang^1,3

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.11, No.2, pp. 669-688, 2023, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2022.022192 - 22 September 2022

Abstract The destruction of concrete building materials in severely cold regions of the north is more severely affected by freeze-thaw cycles, and the relationship between the mechanical properties and pore structure of concrete with fine aggregate from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration bottom ash after freeze-thaw cycles is analyzed under the degree of freeze-thaw hazard variation. In this paper, the gray correlation method is used to calculate the correlation between the relative dynamic elastic modulus, compressive strength, and microscopic porosity parameters to speculate on the most important factors affecting their changes. The GM (1,1) model was… More >

Jianan Wu¹, Ke Xue², Zhaowei Ding³, Lei Lang³, Kang Gu³, Xiaolin Li⁴, Mingli Zhang⁵, Desheng Li^3,6,*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.10, No.12, pp. 3167-3183, 2022, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2022.020265 - 14 July 2022

Abstract Thermal insulation is an important indicator to evaluate the construction material in cold region engineering. As we know, adding the industrial waste as lightweight aggregate or creating the pore inside the cement-based composite could make the texture loose, and the thermal insulating capacity of the material would be improved with this texture. Using these methods, the industrial by-product and engineering waste could be cycled in an efficient way. Moreover, after service the fragmented cement composites paste could be used as aggregate in the thermal insulating concrete again. While the porous texture is not favorable for… More > Graphic Abstract