Analysis of Measured Parameters in Relation to the Amount of Fibre in Lightweight Red Ceramic Waste Aggregate Concrete

The present study provides a correlation and regression analysis of lightweight waste aggregate concretes with varying degrees of fibre reinforcement. The concrete mix contains pre-soaked red ceramic waste aggregate, expanded clay coarse aggregate and Portland cement. Copper-coated crimped steel fibre was used as the reinforcement. The experimental results included properties measured by destructive test methods—compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, static modulus of elasticity, the limit of proportionality, shear strength; and by non-destructive test methods—dynamic modulus of elasticity and surface electrical resistivity. These properties were analysed to study the relevancy and significance between non-destructive and destructive methods of measurement in the case of different amounts of fibre. The results show differences in the degree of fit to the linear and quadratic regression curves for pairs of destructive and non-destructive test results. As expected, the linear relationship can be applied in a few cases, but the quadratic curve must be used for a few pairs. Another observation is that it is not possible to neglect the amount of fibre in the correlation analyses of the measured properties.

Experimental Study of the Fatigue Performance of the Bonding Surfaces and Load-Bearing Capacity of a Large-Scale Severely Damaged Hollow Slab Strengthened by CFRP

In recent years, carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) has been widely used in bridge repair, retrofitting, rehabilitation and strengthening to improve the bearing capacity. Although many studies have been conducted to explore the strengthening efficiencies of CFRP, the test specimens were small and the results were difficult to apply to full-scale bridges. Investigations into the strengthening effects of CFRP on real life structures rely on field load tests (without damaging the structures), making it difficult to understand actual improvements in load carrying capacity and strengthening effect. Moreover, there have been few experimental studies on the fatigue performances of CFRP-strengthened structures, especially on the large-scale structures with real wheel moving loads. In this study, the feasibility and efficiency of CFRP strengthening and repair was investigated on a large-scale, prestressed concrete hollow slab decommissioned from a real-life concrete bridge. The hollow slab was first put through a destructive test to test the ultimate load-bearing capacity. Then, CFRP strips were installed on the surface of the severely damaged slab to repair and strengthen it. Fatigue load test—including the moving load test and single point sinusoidal load—and load-bearing capacity tests were conducted on the CFRP-strengthened hollow slab after the destructive test to evaluate the strengthening performance. This study could help us to understand the actual load-bearing capacities of severe damaged concrete structures strengthened by CFRP, reduce waste, save resources and improve the utilization of our infrastructures.

PENGUKURAN KETULENAN EMAS MENGGUNAKAN KAEDAH UJIAN TANPA MUSNAH: SUATU ULASAN PERBANDINGAN

AbstrakPenentuan ketulenan jongkong emas dengan kaedah ujian tanpa musnah adalah perkara yang paling mencabar dalam industri emas terutama jika jongkong emas dipalsukan dengan cara meletakkan tungsten di dalamnya. Instrumen yang sedia ada mempunyai keterbatasan untuk menentukan ketulenan jongkong emas dan sukar untuk mengesan tungsten di dalamnya kerana tungsten mempunyai ketumpatan yang hampir sama dengan emas. Kajian ini mengemukakan keterbatasan instrumen kaedah ujian tanpa musnah seperti densimeter, alat timbangan, sinar-x pendarfluor dan ultrasonik. Dalam kajian ini menemui kesukaran untuk mengenal pasti emas palsu menggunakan instrumen kaedah ujian tanpa musnah seperti ultrasonik dan x-ray fluorescence (XRF) kerana instrumen ini mempunyai batasan. Setakat ini tiada lagi kajian yang berkaitan pemalsuan jongkong emas kerana harganya yang mahal untuk dijadikan sebagai sampel kajian. Masalah jongkong emas palsu dapat diselesaikan jika ketepatan instrumen yang digunakan untuk mengukur ketumpatan dapat ditingkatkan lagi sehingga 0.01 g/ml. Ini kerana perbezaan antara ketumpatan emas dan tungsten adalah 0.05 g/ml. Pemalsuan emas dengan mencampurkan tungsten akan dapat dikesan jika ada instrumen yang mempunyai ketepatan sekurang-kurangnya 0.01 g/ml. Manakala instrumen lain seperti XRF digunakan untuk mengesahkan ketulenan emas di bahagian permukaan sahaja. Oleh itu, bagi pengujian yang lebih menyeluruh masalah jongkong emas palsu ini perlu diselesaikan dengan menggabungkan kedua-dua kaedah ini. Abstract Determination of the gold bar purity by non-destructive method remains one of the most challenging in gold industry especially when the tungsten is inside the gold bar. The existing instruments have limitations in their accuracy to determine the purity of gold when tungsten also inside the gold bar since both tungsten and gold have almost similar densities. This study presents the limitations of the non-destructive test method instruments such as densimeter, weighing balance, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and ultrasonic in determining the purity of gold. In this study found the difficulty in identifying counterfeit gold using non-destructive test method instruments such as ultrasonic and XRF due to some limitations. So far, there are no studies related to the counterfeiting of gold bars due to its expensive price to be used as a study sample. The problem of counterfeit gold bars can be solved if the accuracy of the instrument used to measure the density can be further increased up to 0.01 g/ml. This is because the difference between the density of gold and tungsten is 0.05 g/ml. Gold counterfeiting by mixing tungsten will be detectable if there is an instrument that has an accuracy of at least 0.01 g/ml. While other instruments such as XRF will be used to verify the purity of gold on the surface only. Therefore, for more thorough testing the problem of fake gold ingots needs to be solved by combining these two methods.