Proceedings of the

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON
INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
ICICE-2013

MAY 9th & 10th, 2013

SSET, KOCHI, KERALA, INDIA

CONTRIBUTORY PAPERS

Organised by
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
SCMS SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

In association with
Copyright, Civil Engineering Department, SSET, Karukutty, 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission.

First published 2013

Publishers: Civil Engineering Department, SSET, Karukutty, Kochi,

Kerala, India.

Printed at Kochi
Maptho Printers Kochi.

The proceedings in this volume are meant for research and academic purposes. The authors of the papers in this volume have
declared the originality of their contributions and affirmed that their works do not contain materials whose publication would
violate any copyright, trademark, intellectual property rights or other personal or proprietary rights of any private person or
entity or governmental or quasi- governmental entity. In addition, the authors have declared that the papers have been submitted
only to ICICE-2013 and that those have neither been published nor have they been under consideration for publication or in
press anywhere else. Having thus exercised all reasonable care against infringement/violation of copyright or intellectual property
right, the organizers do not accept any responsibility or liability of claim for damages in these regards. The statements and
opinions expressed in the papers in this volume are purely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
editors and the organizers of the International Conference on Innovations in Civil Engineering 2013. Any mention of the name
of any company or the trade name of any product or process does not imply endorsement by the Conference organizers. Errors/
omissions, if any, are unintentional and regretted.

ii
 PATRON

Dr. G.P.C. Nayar

Chairman, SCMS Group

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Dr. Tan Kiang Hwee - NUS, Singapore.

Dr. Fwa Tien Fang - NUS, Singapore.
Dr. Johannes Fritsch - UAS, Germany.
Dr. S. Mohan - IIT, Madras.
Dr. Eldho.T.I - IIT, Bombay.

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

Dr. S. Sreekumar - Professor, CET.

Dr. K. Balan - Professor, CET.
Dr. G. Madhu - Professor, CUSAT.
Dr. K.S Beena - Professor, CUSAT.
Dr. Renu Powels - Professor, CUSAT.
Dr. Mathews M Paul - Professor, MACE, Kothamangalam.
Dr. Soosan George.T - Professor, MACE, Kothamangalam.
Dr. Meera.V - Asst. Professor, GEC, Thrissur.
Shri. S. Suresh - ASC, Cochin.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Prof. P.C.Pillai - Group Director, SCMS.

Prof. M. Madhavan - Director, SSET.
Er. Shelly Fernandes - Chairman, ICI-Cochin.
Er.Mohan Kumar Shamarao - Secretary, ICI-Cochin.
Dr. E.M.S.Nair - Professor, SSET.
Dr. C.K.Rajan - Professor, SCMS.
Smt. Meril George - Associate Professor, SSET.
Smt. Sanju Sreedharan - Associate Professor, SSET.
Shri.Santhosh G - Associate Professor, SSET.

iii
ICICE 2013 is grateful to its Panel of Reviewers

1. Meril George
2. Sanju Sreedharan
3. Santhosh G
4. Shiji P V
5. Rakhi Premachandran
6. Sreedevi V M
7. Jini Jacob
8. Nandita Mohan
9. Sanya Maria Gomez
10. Sweeta Francis
11. Airin M G
12. Ayona S Nair
13. Sandeep T N
14. Indu N

iv
 MESSAGE
We live in a technology driven world. Twentieth century is
considered the century of information technology. This
century is said to be the century of biotechnology. Even
soothsayers cannot predict what is in store for us in the
future.

However, the basic technology has not lost its luster a bit.
Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering technologies
rule the roost even today. Without them other technologies
cannot move forward. Of all technologies Civil Engineering
is the most important as it paves the foundation for development and growth of other
technologies.

I am happy our Civil Engineering Department has decided to organize a Conference

to discuss and analyse issues involved in structural engineering, concrete technology,
environmental and water resources engineering, geotechnical engineering and traffic
and transportation engineering. These are vital engines of growth in a fast developing
economy like that of India. We have some of the top experts from across the world to
speak on the innovation in technology in these areas.

I congratulate Ms.Meril George, Associate Professor for taking the lead in organizing
this International Conference. Her team members Ms.Sanju Sreedharan and
Mr.Santhosh are also reported to be ably assisting her. I have pleasure in congratulating
them on their laudable effort.

Dr.G.P.C.Nayar
Chairman
SCMS Group of Educational Institutions

v
vi
 MESSAGE
I am happy to know that the Department of Civil
Engineering of SCMS School of Engineering &
Technology is organizing an International
Conference on Innovations in Civil
th th
Engineering on the 9 and 10 May, 2013. This
is a laudable initiative taken by the college to focus on
new developments in the field of civil engineering and
how innovations can contribute to expand the frontiers
of civil engineering technology.

This is also an opportunity for the faculty Members

and students to get experience in organizing national and international
conferences.

Civil Engineering is already an advanced field of engineering. To my mind, at

this stage of nation building, it is not innovations which are important, but
more stress on fundamentals ofcivil engineering to ensure our designs are
robust and execution perfect.

We come across a number of cases of civil structures failing due to faulty

designs, specifications notbeing enforced and inordinate delays incompletion
of projects with inevitable cost overruns. Let us get our fundamentals right
and ensure, civil structures are safe and durable. Our designs also have to be
construction friendly.

It is my hope the conference will debate on thesubject in a fruitful and

constructive manner.

I am sorry, I am not able to be present in the conference, but send my best

wishes for its success.

Dr. E. Sreedharan
Principal Advisor

vii
viii
 ICICE -2013

PREFACE
Civil Engineering is co-evolving with the integrated global marketplace. Technology
is spurs innovation and accelerates productivity. Global capital impacts
infrastructure construction and the global supply chain affect project delivery.
Dynamic discussions will unravel the changes that shape the profession today and
in the future. Civil engineers equipped with enhanced skills, advanced knowledge
and imaginative vision can easily interact with multi-national teams spanning
cultural boundaries about global socio-technological problems.
It is with immense pride that we, SCMS School of Engineering and Technology,
place on record the “International Conference on Innovations in Civil Engineering
– 2013”, a venture meant to give impetus to novel innovations and contributions
in the field of civil engineering.
The principal aim of the conference is to provide a platform for academicians,
students, and researchers to interact with international scholars, learn the latest
industry breakthroughs and impart , a new dimension to the profession
The conference covers the following themes;
1. Structural Engineering:
Analytical and design methods, Special Structures, Case studies, Innovations
in design and new technologies, Repairs and rehabilitation, Stability
Engineering, Optimization, Soil-Structure Interaction, Standards and Codes
of Practice, Solid Mechanics, Experimental Studies and Testing Technologies
and Structural Dynamics
2. Concrete Technology:
Properties and performance of concrete and concrete structures, Advanced and
improved experimental techniques, Concrete waste management.
3.Environmental and Water Resources Engineering:
Water Supply and Sanitary Engineering, Soil, Air and Water pollution,
Sustainability in Waste Management, Watershed Management, Water
Resources Planning and Irrigation Engineering.
4. Geotechnical Engineering:
Advances in Geotechnical Characterization, Instrumentation and Monitoring,
Design and Construction of Foundations, Geomechanics, Environmental
Geotechnics, Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Risk Assessment and
Disaster Reduction.
5. Traffic and Transportation Engineering:
Intelligent Transport Systems, Pavement Engineering, Transportation
Planning, Traffic Engineering.

ix
The concerted efforts of the organizers were given an overwhelming response by the civil
engineering community. From the 110 submissions, 70 papers were selected for presentation
and publication in ICICE-2013 and 68 will be published in the International Journal of Scientific
and Engineering Research (IJSER) after a stringent double blind review process.
On behalf of the organizing committee I thank and appreciate the sincere efforts and support of
the technical and review committee for ensuring the quality of the proceedings.
I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to all the authors and delegates and all who have contributed
their time and skill and make ICICE – 2013 a milestone.
The publication of the proceedings has been made possible through the concerted efforts of
several individuals besides the advisory committee and technical committee. With immense
gratitude I acknowledge the selfless service of all those who extended their whole-hearted co-
operation in making this program a grant success.
On behalf of the organising committee, I express our sincere thanks to the SCMS Group of
Educational Institutions, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment,
Indian Concrete Institute and International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research
and all the sponsors and delegates, and all those who have worked behind the scenes and
for their continuous support in the making of ICICE-2013.

M. MADHAVAN,
Director,SSET.

x
 CONTENTS
Page Nos
Preface ix

1 Removal of Cr (VI) in aqueous solution using iron oxide coated sand (IOCS)
Aditya Dhagat, Bhushan Goyal, Lalsangzela Sailo 1

2 Prediction of PM, SO2 & NOX - GLC’S from Point Source Emissions Using Air Modeling
M.S.Priyanka Yadav, Ravi Kumar Gaurav, Jahnavi.B, Dr.G.Dasartha Ram 5

3 Heavy Metal Removal from Water using Moringa oleifera Seed Coagulant and Double Filtration
Ravikumar K, Prof.Sheeja A K 9

4 An Experimental Study on Duckweed For Improving Pond Water

QualityS.Vanitha, NVN.Nampoothiri, C.Sivapragasam, Anitha Menon.M 13

5 Reduction of COD of Pulp and paper mill effluent using Sequencing batch reactor
Afzal Husain Khan, Iqbal Khan, Nadeem Ahmad khan, Misbahul Islam, Arshad Husain 17

6 Suitability of Sludge as a Building MaterialKrishna Priya Nair, Vivek J M, Prof.Shibu K 21

7 Cyclic Response of Stone Columns

K.V.S.B. Raju, L.Govinda raju, Chandrashekhar A.S 27

8 Capacity evaluation of Lead cell foundation

K. Subhashini, C. Harikumar, C. Sivathanu Pillai 31

9 Effect of fly ash on the properties of expansive soil

Mahesh G. Kalyanshetti, Satish Basavaraj Thalange 35

10 Analysis of Geotextile Reinforced Embankment on Difficult Subsoil Condition

Jigisha M. Vashi, Atul K. Desai, Chandresh H. Solanki 39

11 Design of Amended Soil Liner

Emy Poulose, Prof. Ajitha A. R., Dr. Sheela Evangeline Y. 43

12 Role of Moulding Water Content on the Strength Properties of Red Earth treated with Mine tailings
Dr. H.N.Ramesh, Mr. A.J.Krishnaiah, Mrs.M.D. Supriya 45

13 Effect of Fly Ash on CBR and DCPT Results of Granular Sub Base Subjected to Heavy Compaction
Ratna Prasad, R., Darga Kumar, N., and Janardhana, M. 49

14 Strength Behaviour of Randomly Distributed Fibre Reinforced Natural Sand

Dr.T.Sambaiah 55

15 Effect of Fibre Content on Strength Behaviour of Geosynthatic Reinforced Medium Sand

Dr.T.Sambaiah 61

16 Effect of reinforcement Spacing on the Performance of Embedded Circular Footing in Reinforced FlyAsh
S. Gangadara, H.C. Muddaraju 67

17 Effect of Elevated Temperatures on Physical and Residual Strength Properties of HPC

Kishor S. Kulkarni, K S Babu Narayan and Subhash C. Yaragal 71
xi
18 Fracture Properties of Fibre Reinforced Geopolymer Concrete
Deepa Raj S., Ruby Abraham, N. Ganesan, Divya Sasi 75

19 Experimental Study on Combined Effect of Fly Ash and Pond Ash on Strength and Durability of Concrete
S.A. Haldive, Dr. A. R. Kambekar 81

20 Feasibility Study of Fly Ash as a Replacement for Fine Aggregate in Concrete and its Behaviour
under Sustained Elevated Temperature
Parvati V. K, Prakash K.B. 87

21 Effect of Wollastonite micro fiber addition in mortar and concrete mixes

Shashi Kant Sharma, G.D.Ransinchung R.N., Praveen Kumar 91

22 Use of Blast Furnace Slag Aggregate in Concrete

K.G. Hiraskar and Chetan Patil 95

23 Soil-structure interaction analysis of RC frame shear wall buildings over raft foundations
under seismic loading
H.K Chinmayi, B.R Jayalekshmi. 99

24 Challenges in design and construction of building housing 100 T shake table

C. Harikumar, R. preetha, Davy Herbert, C. Sivathanu Pillai 103

25 Parametric Investigations on Behaviour of Square CFST Columns

Ziyad A. Khaudhair, P.K. Gupta,A.K. Ahuja 107

26 Effect of Corrosion on Load Deflection Behaviour of OPC concrete in NBS Beam

Akshatha Shetty, Katta Venkataramana, Babu Narayan K. S 111

27 Assessment of First Order Computational Model for Free Vibration Analysis of FGM Plates
K. Swaminathan, D. T. Naveenkumar 115

28 Higher order computational model for the thermo-elastic analysis of

cross-ply laminated composite plates
K. Swaminathan, Reginald Fernandes 119

29 Ductility Behavior of reinforced high volume flyash concrete beams

R.Preetha, Joanna.P.S, Jessy Rooby,C.Sivathanu Pillai 123

30 Investigations on Elastic Behaviour of Corrugated Plates

Lathi Karthi, C.G.Nandakumar 127

31 Strength Parameters Of Self Compacting Concrete With Partial Replacement of

Cement By Rice Husk Ash And Natural Sand By Filtered Sand
Praveen.G.Suryavanshi, Dr. B. P. Annapurna, Dr. K Chethan, Manjunath N.K, Chandrashekar H.S 131

32 Response of a 3-Dimensional 2 X 3 Bays Ten Storey RC Frame with Steel Bracings

as Lateral Load Resisting Systems Subjected To Seismic Load
Venkatesh S.V., Sharada Bai H., Divya S.P. 137

33 Review of Particle Packing Theories Used For Concrete Mix Proportioning

Mangulkar M. N., Dr. Jamkar S.S. 141

34 Influence of Horizontal Reinforcement on Ultra High Performance Concrete Wall Panels

under Two way in plane action
N Ganesan , Ruby Abraham , Beena P.R , Anil R 147

xii
35 Forensic Investigation For Sustainability Issues In Structure
Prof. D.S.Bhosale 151

36 Fibre Reinforced Light Weight Aggregate (Natural Pumice Stone) Concrete

N. Sivalinga Rao, Y.Radha Ratna Kumari, V. Bhaskar Desai, B.L.P. Swami 155

37 Dynamic Buckling of Composite Cylindrical Shells subjected to Axial Impulse

Chitra V., Priyadarsini R.S. 159

38 Spline Finite Strip Bending Analysis of Functionally Graded Plate using Power-law Function
Parvathy U, Beena K.P. 163

39 Numerical Modeling of Rectangular Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular Short Columns

Heaven Singh, P.K. Gupta 167

40 Performance Assessment of Sandwich Structures with Debonds and Dents

Anju Mohanan, K.R. Pradeep , K.P. Narayanan 171

41 Seismic Fracture Analysis In Concrete Gravity Dams

Deeja Alora, Indrani Gogoi 177

42 Seismic Soil-Structure Interaction Studies on Tall Chimneys

Ansu Thomas, B. R. Jayalekshmi, R. Shivashankar 185

43 Coupled Layerwise Theories for Hybrid and Sandwich Piezoelectric Beams

Akil Ahmed 189

44 Prediction of elastic modulus of high strength concrete by Gaussian Process Regression

Ishan Saini, Pranav Chandramouli 193

45 Vibration of laminated composite cylindrical shells with cutouts using higher order theory
Ajay Kumar, Anupam Chakrabarti , Pradeep Bhargava 195

46 Reactive Powder Concrete Properties with Cement Replacement Using Waste Material
Mr.Anjan kumar M U, Dr. Asha Udaya Rao, Dr. Narayana Sabhahit 199

47 Catalytic use of Laterite Iron for Degradation of 2-Aminopyridine Using Advanced Oxidation Processes
Rahul Karale, Basavaraju Manu and S.Shrihari 203

48 Strengthening of Existing Building Column Using FRP Wrap& GI Wire Mesh

Engr. Azam Amir, Dr. AmjadNaseer, Engr. Orooj Azam 207

49 Fatigue life estimation of ship structure

Emil Mathews, C G Nandakumar 213

50 Reliability analysis of response surface based damage identification method

Tanmoy Mukhopadhyay, Rajib Chowdhury, Anupam Chakrabarti 217

51 Seismic Reliability Assessment of Typical Soft-storey RC Building In Manipur Region

Monalisa Priyadarshini, Robin Davis P, Haran Pragalath D C and Pradip Sarkar 221

52 A Numerical Model of Externally Prestressed Concrete Beam

Jafar Sadak Ali, Soumendu Bagchi, Sumit Gupta 225

53 Design and Development of High Strength Heavyweight Concrete Using SBRS.

P. Jadhao, M. G. Shaikh 229

54 Effect of Soil Structure Interaction in Seismic Loads of Framed Structures

Shiji P.V, Suresh S., Glory Joseph 233
xiii
55 Sustainable Concrete using Waste Paper Ash249 as Partial Replacement for Cement
Dr.P.B.Sakthivel, C.B.Yaamini, T.Vidhya 237

56 An Innovative Method of Replacing River Sand by Quarry Dust Waste in Concrete for Sustainability
Dr. P.B.Sakthivel, C.Ramya, M.Raja 241

57 Analysis of Self-supported Steel Chimney with the Effects of Manhole and Geometrical Properties
Kirtikanta Sahoo, Pradip Sarkar, Robin Davis P. 245

58 Fracture Parameters of Steel Fibre Reinforced High Strength Concrete by Size Effect Method
K.S. Prebhakumari , P. Jayakumar 249

59 Mechanical and Durability properties of Self Compacting Concrete with recycled concrete aggregates
C.Sumanth Reddy, K.V.Ratna Sai, Dr.P.Rathish Kumar 255

60 Simplified Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Framed Structures for Progressive Collapse

Ayush Singhania, Vikas Khatuja, Vikram Singh Thakur, Dr. C.B.K. Rao 259

61 Toughness of Ferrocement Confined Reinforced Self Compacting Concrete(FCRSCC)

Under Axial Compression
VikasKhatuja, Vikram Singh Thakur,Ayush Singhania,Dr.C.B.K. Rao 267

62 Different Techniques of Seismic Control of Structures

Ch.Avinash, K.Dharmateja, T.P.Balaji, K. Jagadeesh Reddy, Dr. P Saha 275

63 A study on shear strength of sand reinforced with glass fibres

Shivanand Mali and Baleshwar Singh 279

64 Improvement in Properties of Subgrade Soil by Using Moorum and RBI Grade 81

B.M.Patil, K.A.Patil 283

65 OD Matrix Estimation from Link Counts Using Artificial Neural Network

Remya K P, Samson Mathew 287

66 Application of ASTER DEM in Watershed Management as Flood Zonation Mapping in

Koyana River of the Western Ghats.
V. M.Shinde, P. K. Deshpande, M.B.Kumthekar 291

67 Assessment of Surface Water Chemistry of Jakkur Lake, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

M. Inayathulla and Jai M. Paul 295

68 Desertification, the global environmental problem and it’s impact on food & water resources 299
Er. S. Venkateswara Rao, Dr. P.G. Sastry, Dr. Vaishali Ghorpade

69. Factors influencing the Prediction of Resistance in a Meandering Channel

Saine S. Dash, Kishanjit K. Khatua, Prabir K. Mohanty 303

70 Experimental Analysis of Energy Dissipation in Small Diameter Nitinol wires

Chandra Mouli Vemury, Scott Renfrey 307

xiv
CONTRIBUTORY PAPERS

xv
xvi
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Removal of Cr (VI) in aqueous solution using

iron oxide coated sand (IOCS)
Aditya Dhagat, Bhushan Goyal, Lalsangzela Sailo

Abstract— In the present study, Iron Oxide Coated Sand (IOCS) was applied to treat water contaminated with chromium. The effect
of adsorbent dosage and pH on the removal of chromium (Cr) from aqueous solution using IOCS has been investigated. Batch mode
experiment was carried out to assess the adsorption kinetics and equilibrium studies. The kinetics study was best described by pseudo
second order. Moderate fitting of Elovich model and intra-particle diffusion model suggested complex adsorption i.e. surface sorption
and intra-particle diffusion as rate controlling steps. The adsorption isotherm data fitted well to Freundlich isotherm.

Index Terms— Adsorption isotherm, Chromium,Dosage, Effect of pH , Elovich, Intra-particle diffusion model, Iron oxide coated
sand, Kinetics, Pseudo second order.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION The surface characteristics of IOCS are physically and

chemically heterogeneous and are expected to change with

P
ollution of water by chromium is of considerable
concern; as this metal is widely used in leather tanning
industries and chromate manufacturing located in the
industrial development area of Ranipet, Tamil Nadu, which
is situated only 20 km from Vellore. Extensive efforts and
works have been directed towards the water chemistry,
environmental mobility, and toxicity of chromium. Since,
the Ranipet has numbers of tanneries which discharge high
concentration of chromium, so there is a potential risk for
ecology and environmental pollution. Tamil Nadu Pollution
Control Board (TNPCB, 1996) reported that 150,000 tons
approx. of solid waste (sodium, chromium, chromate salt,
basic chromium sulfate tanning powder) accumulated over
two decades of plant operation has been stacked in the open
yard on 3.5 ha of land within Tamil Nadu Chromate and
Chemical Limited (TCCL) [1]. The leachate from this stack
infiltrates into the soil and pollutes the groundwater due to
rain. Rao et al. (2011) reported groundwater Cr concentration
in Ranipet as high as 220 mg/l suggesting the extensiveness
of the pollution in the area.
For the removal of chromium from water, various water
treatment technologies like adsorption, ion-exchange,
filtration, reverse-osmosis and electro-dialysis have been
used. However, the existing technologies are not tailored fit
for rural community in developing countries because of high
capital cost and maintenance by skilled labors. Consequently,
adsorption processes has been found to be most effective
and economical treatment for the removal of Cr from the
aqueous solution for household as well as small
communities. Therefore, in order to remove chromium
effectively from the water iron oxide coated sand (IOCS)
was used. It is used to remove both soluble and particulate
fraction from water through a column packed with IOCS
filter media [2, 3]. IOCS has be effective use for treatment
of water and wastewater containing variety of heavy metal
over a wide range of concentrations [3].
• Aditya Dhagat, Bhushan Goyal are currently pursuing B-Tech
degree program in civil engineering in VIT University,
India,.MOB-08870511706 E-mail: adhagat003@gmail.com,
goyalbhushan92@gmail.com.
• Lalsangzela Sailo , Assit. Prof ,S.M.B.S. VIT UniversityIndia,
MOB-09597095385 E-mail: zelasailo@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
time viz. porosity, specific surface area etc. Adsorption of
Cr(VI) onto the sand coated with iron oxide from ferric
chloride solution gave better result and the media have longer
life time when less alkaline solution is employed for the
regeneration [3].
The objective of the present study was to find the potential
adsorption of Cr(VI) from the aqueous solution by IOCS
under various kinetics and equilibrium conditions at
optimum dosage and pH conditions.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Preparation of Iron Oxide Coated Sand (IOCS):
Sand passing through 1.2 mm and retaining on 0.6mm sieve
was taken and washed with 0.1N HNO3 and kept for 24 hr.
Then the sand sample was washed with distilled water and
oven dried at 105æ%C for 5-6 hrs. Then a 1M sample of
Fe(III) was prepared by dissolving FeCl3 in distilled water
and the sample of sand was added to it. Then the pH was
reduced to 8-9 by adding 6M NaOH into it and allowed to
remain undisturbed for 24 hrs. On reducing pH, iron
molecules settle on sand thereby enhancing adsorption
phenomena. After keeping it for 24 hrs, the sample was
washed with distilled water and oven dried at 105æ%C for 5-
6 hrs.
2.2 Effect of pH
The effect of pH on the adsorption processes was studied
by taking initial Cr(VI) concentration of 10 mg/l. A soil
solution ratio of 1:50 (1gm: 50ml) was taken and the pH
was regulated by using NaOH solution and H2SO4 solution
to have a pH of 4 different set to 4.5, 5.5, 7, 8.5 respectively.
These samples with different pH were placed in a mechanical
shaker for 90 minutes. After shaking, amount of Cr(VI)
adsorbed was determined using UV spectrophotometer.
2.3 Dosage study
To each 50 ml Cr(VI) solution different amount of IOCS
viz. 0.25 gm, 0.5 gm, 0.75gm, 1gm and 1.25gm were added
respectively. These samples with optimum pH of 7.5 were
placed in a mechanical shaker for 90 minutes. After shaking,
amount of Cr(VI) adsorbed was determined using UV
spectrophotometer.
1
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

2.4 Kinetics study

A sample of Cr(VI) contaminated water was prepared from
K2Cr2O7 (Merck) and initial solution for the kinetic study
was taken as 10 mg/l Cr(VI). Samples were prepared by
adding 1 gm of iron oxide coated sand (IOCS) to 50 ml of
10 mg/l Cr(VI) sample and each sample was rotated in a
mechanical shaker for 5mins, 10mins, 15mins, 20mins,
30mins, 45min, 60mins, 90mins, 120mins and 180 minutes.
After shaking for predefined interval, the samples were
filtered to remove sand particles and tested for concentration
of Cr(VI) removed using UV spectrophotometer.
For the study of adsorption isotherm, various concentrations
of Cr(VI) was shaken in horizontal shaker (Neolab Orbit
Shaker Incubator) at 120 rpm till the equilibrium. And the
isotherm data was fitted into the model. The concentration
of Cr(VI) present in different solutions was determined by
UV spectrophotometer (CyberLab) using Diphenyl
Carbazide method-3500 CR (APHA, 1998).
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:
3.1 Effect of pH on adsorption of Cr(VI)
According to the experiment conducted, amount of Cr(VI)
adsorbed is found to be higher at a lower pH than higher
pH; similar trend has been reported in various studies. The
adsorption takes place till 5.5 and then desroption takes place
as we increase pH which indicates that acidic medium is
optimum for reduction of maximum amount of Cr(VI) from
the solution ranging from pH 5-6. Since, Cr(VI) solution is
in oxy-anionic form, therefore, the increase in pH of the
solution will induce repulsion due to higher electro negativity
at greater pH [2] as shown in Fig 1.
Fig 2: Effect of dosage of IOCS on adsorption of Cr (VI)
3.3 Kinetics of Cr(VI) adsorption
In order to determine the rate of different processes and
factors which influence them, kinetics studies have been
conducted. Through these studies possible mechanism of
adsorption and the different transition states on the way to
the formation of the final adsorbate–adsorbent complex have
been evaluated. These reaction rates are dependent on the
respective concentrations of adsorbate and adsorbent which
is given by the equation:
R=[A]a[B]b……….. (1)
where k is the rate coefficient and a, b represent the order
with respect to the species A and B [4].
The type of soil component can drastically affect the rate of
metal sorption. Sorption reaction can involve physical
sorption, outer-sphere complexation (electrostatic attraction),
inner-sphere complexation (ligand exchange), and surface
precipitation. Various kinetic models namely pseudo-second-
order, Elovich model and intra-particle diffusion models have
been used to test their validity with the experimental
adsorption data. From the kinetic study experiment the
adsorption of Cr(VI) on the IOCS was found to be rapid as
90% adsorption took place within the initial 30 minutes as
shown in Fig 3. A maximum of 47% of Cr(VI) was found to
be removed after shaking for 60 minutes after which
equilibrium was attained.

Fig 1: Effect of pH on adsorption of Cr (VI)

3.2 Impact of dosage on adsorption of Cr(VI)
Dosage studies determined the optimum quantity of IOCS
to be used as an adsorbent. Large number of particles might
hinder the adsorption process. According to the experiment,
1 g IOCS comes out to be optimum dosage for maximum
removal of Cr(VI) which has been used in subsequent batch
analysis. Initially, Cr(VI) concentration reduces till 1gm and
becomes which then increases till 1.25g as shown in Fig 2.
Cr(VI) reduces by 40% after adding 1 g of IOCS. Increase
in IOCS might reduce the available active sites of adsorption
or increase desorption rate because of which there is a sudden
reduction in Cr(VI) removal. Fig 3: Kinetic Study

2 ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
3.3.1 Pseudo-Second-Order kinetic model
Pseudo second-order kinetic model determines the values
of kad and qe which pseudo first order kinetic model doesn’t.
The pseudo-second-order model is based on the assumption
of chemosorption of the adsorbate on the adsorbents. This
model can be represented in the following form:
dqt/dt = k2(qe-qt)2 (2)
Where, K2 is the second order rate coefficient (g/mg min)
and depends on the applied operating conditions namely,
initial metal concentration, pH of solution, temperature and
agitation rate, etc. The validity of pseudo second order
kinetics depends on the linearity of the curve plotted between
time/adsorbed amount versus time which is shown in eq(3).
t/qt = 1/(k2qe2) + (1/qe).t (3)
The initial adsorption rate, h, adsorption capacity qe, and
rate constant k2, can be determined experimentally from the
slope and intercept of a plot of t/qt against t. The various
linearized forms of pseudo second order are given in
Table 1.
TABLE 1
Parameters of pseudo-second order kinetics
The experiment conducted determines the amount of
chemosorbtion on the sorbate. The graph shows to be best
fitting with pseudo second order kinetics. The initial sorption
rate (h) obtained from the experiment performed was found
to be 0.19 whereas, the adsorption capacity qe and rate
constant k 2 were 0.23 (g/mg) and 3.68 (g/mg min)
respectively from the Fig 4. The linearity of curve has a good
agreement between the amounts of Cr(VI) adsorbed per unit
mass (qe) obtained from second order model.
Fig 4: Plot for Pseudo second order adsorption kinetic
ICICE-2013
9th and 10th of May 2013
3.3.2 Elovich kinetic model
The Elovich equation has been widely used in adsorption
kinetics, which described chemical adsorption in nature. This
model assumes that neither the inter-particle interaction nor
desorption affects adsorption of Cr(VI) on IOCS at lower
surface coverage [4]. The rate decreases with time due to an
increase in surface coverage. This equation has also been
commonly used to describe the sorption of pollutants from
aqueous[5]. The Elovich equation can be written in the form:
dqt/dt = a exp(-b qt) (4)
where a represents the rate of chemisorptions at zero
coverage (mg/(g min)) and b is the extent of surface coverage
and activation energy for chemisorptions (g/mg), the above
Eq. 2.24 can be simplified as
qt = (1/b)*ln(ab) – (1/b)*ln(t) (5)
where, constant a and b were calculated from the slope and
intercept of plot qt versus ln(t) as in Fig 5.
Fig 5: Elovich plot
Elovich equation helps determine the values of a and b which
from the performed experiment come out to be 103227.4
(mg/(g min)) and 90.90 (g/mg) respectively. From the graph,
the value r2 which is 0.784 which is lower than pseudo second
order kinetics. All the above data hereby, support the
chemosorption property of the IOCS and Cr(VI) particles.
3.3.3 Intra-particle diffusion model
The IOCS being a heterogeneous in terms of its composition
as well as sizes therefore surface sorption and diffusion,
transport mechanism was suspected. This theory suggests
the diffusion on ions into pore spaces of adsorbent using
suitable kinetic model[7]. The most-widely applied intra-
particle diffusion equation is given:
qt = Kidt0.5+ C (6)
Where Kid is the intra-particle diffusion rate constant (mg/
(mg min0.5)) and the intercept C, obtained by extrapolation
of the linear portion of the plot of qt versus t0.5, back to the
axis is taken to be proportional to the extent of the boundary
layer thickness as shown in Fig 6.
3
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
Fig 6: Intraparticle diffusion
2
The value of r from the curve is 0.65 (Fig 6) which suggested
the likelihood of intra-particle diffusion being a minor
mechanism of adsorption. Therefore, the rate limiting steps
for kinetic study can be attributed to intra-particle diffusion.
3.4 Adsorption Isotherm
The Freundlich adsorption model which is based on
multilayer adsorption was found to fit better than the
Langmuir isotherm which is based on monolayer
adsorption[6]. The Freundlich adsorption isotherm model
(adsorbed mass per mass of adsorbent (mg/g)) is expressed
by a power law function of the solute concentration:
log qe = log Kf +1/n* logCe (7)
where, qe is the adsorption of Cr(VI) in mg/g and Ce is the
equilibrium concentration (mg/l).
The plot of log qe versus log Ce (Fig 7) has a slope with the
value of 1/n and an intercept magnitude of log Kf. Freundlich
parameters log Kf and 1/n were found to be 1.92 and 0.89
respectively. The r2 obtained from freundlich adsorption
isotherm modal was found to be 0.803.
Fig 7: Plot of Ce (mg/l) Vs qe (mg/g) at eqilibrium
4 ICICE-2013
4 CONCLUSION
Utilization of iron oxide coated sand (IOCS) was investigated
for the removal of chromium in batch experiment from water
as a low cost adsorbent for use in small community and
household unit. The maximum percentage removal of Cr(VI)
was found to be 47% with an initial concentration of 10 mg/
l. The optimum pH for the removal of Cr(VI) was found to
be in the range of 5-6 and the dosage test at this pH suggested
1g in 50 ml of solution (1:50, IOCS: Solution). The
adsorption kinetics study revealed that rapid sorption takes
place at the initial 30 minutes where 90% of the adsorption
occurs. Pseudo-second order kinetics was the best fit model
for the study confirming chemosorption as the main
adsorption mechanism. The intra-particle diffusion model
exhibits moderate relationship in the sorption kinetics model,
thus suggesting the rate limiting factor to be transport
mechanism. Freundlich adsorption isotherm model was
found to be the best fit model for the Adsorption isotherm.
REFERENCES
[1] Rao, T.G., Rao, V.V.S.G., Ranganathan, K., Surinaidu,
L., Mahesh, J., Ramesh, G. 2011. Assessment of
groundwater contamination from a hazardous dump site
in Ranipet. Tamil Nadu, India. Hydrogeology Journal
19: 1587-1598.
[2] Chang, Y.Y., Lim, J.W., Yang, J.K. 2012. Removal of
As(V) and Cr(VI)in aqueous solution by sand media
simultaneously coated with Fe and Mn oxides. Journal
of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (18): 188-192.
[3] Kumar, T. 2009. Effect of water quality matrix on
chromium removal. M.Sc Thesis. UNESCO-IHE
Institute for Water Education. Delf. Neitherland.
[4] Gupta, S.S., Bhattacharyya, K.G. 2011. Kinetics of
adsorption of metal ions on inorganic materials: A
review. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science 162:
39–58.
[5] Wu, F.C.,Tseng, R.L.,Juang, R.S. 2009. Characteristics
of Elovich equation used for the analysis of adsorption
kinetics in dye-chitosan systems. Chemical Engineering
Journal 150: 366–373.
[6] Hsu, J.C., Lin, C.J., Liao, C.H., Chen, S.T. 2008.
Removal of As(V) and As(III) by reclaimed iron-oxide
coated sands. Journal of Hazardous Materials 153:
817–826
[7] Du, G., Li, Z., Liao, L., Hanson, R., Leick, S., ,
Hoeppner, N., Jiang, W.T. 2012. Cr(VI) retention and
transport through Fe(III)-coated natural zeolite. Journal
of Hazardous Materials 221– 222: 118– 123
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Prediction of PM, SO2 & NOX - GLC’S from

Point Source Emissions Using Air Modeling
M.S.Priyanka Yadav, Ravi Kumar Gaurav, Jahnavi.B, Dr.G.Dasartha Ram

Abstract— Air quality assessment by integrating measurement techniques and modeling tools is a crucial element in pollution
mitigation. The air modeling tools are routinely used in the environmental impact assessments, risk analysis, emergency planning,
and source apportionment studies. Recent strategies for air pollution control in industries have largely neglected the emission reduction
measures which are the prime polluting sources. To accomplish this, various air dispersion models have been developed and used
worldwide so far for different applications under different scenarios. The Gaussian plume model is a standard approach for studying
the transport of pollutants due to turbulent diffusion and advection by the wind. Applications of such models have been made
mandatory. It has therefore assumed greater importance for the academicians, consultants and regulatory authorities.

In this study, the AERMOD (the American Meteorological Society/Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model Improvement
Committee’s Dispersion Model, version 7.0.3 Gaussian dispersion models selected to predict the ground level concentrations (GLC’s)
of Particulate Matter (PM) μg/m3, sulphur dioxide (SO2) μg/m3, and oxides of nitrogen (NOx)- μg/m3 from point source emissions
will be investigated in the study area (10 Km buffer) from the periphery of the industrial area chosen for case study.

In point source emissions, the stacks are subjected to plume rise which again is dependent on force of buoyancy and momentum. The
higher is the plume rise or stack, the lesser will be ground level concentrations (GLC’s).The emissions when released into the atmosphere
are subjected to transportation, dispersion, transformation, and fall out and wash out and finally reach the ground level at a particular
distance and concentrations.

The relationship between the source of emissions and its magnitude with the ground level concentrations (GLC’s) at receptor points
is governed by air dispersion models which take into the account by the source strength, plume rise, atmospheric stability, mixing
height, wind velocity, terrain and other meteorological conditions.

The comparison between the predicted and field sampled downwind concentrations for PM, SO2 & NOX (μg/m3) will be carried out in
this study to predict the average downwind ground level concentrations (GLC’s).

Index Terms— AERMOD, downwind, Gaussian plume model, ground level concentrations (GLC’s),PM, point source emissions,
receptor points, NOX, SO2.
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION 2005 estimate from WHO indicates that air pollution in

major Southeast Asian and Chinese cities ranks among the

A
ir pollution has long been recognized as a brain
storming issue worldwide. The onset of
technological and scientific innovations in various
fields and diverse activities of human race for its
elegance have put extra load on the atmosphere by way of
releasing air pollutants like particulate matter (PM10,
PM2.5), sulphur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx),
carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbon (HC),
hydrogen fluoride (HF) and other organic as well as
inorganic pollutants including trace metals responsible for
causing health consequences[1]. Entry of pollutants into the
atmosphere occurs in the form of gases or particles.
Continuous mixing, transformation and trans-boundary
transportation of air pollutants make air quality of a locality
unpredictable. The growth of population, industry and
number of vehicles and improper implementation of stringent
emission standards make the problem of air pollution still
worse. According to WHO esti-mates, 4-8 per cent of deaths
occurring in the world are related to air pollution, whereas a
• M.S.Priyanka Yadav is currently pursuing MTech in
environmental engineering in Manipal University, India, PH-
09052882298. E-mail: mspriya.ee@gmail.com
• Ravi Kumar Gaurav is currently working as Sr.Energy Engineer
in EFS Facilities Services(INDIA)Pvt.Ltd.India, PH-
09884010435. E-mail: rkgaurav.energy@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
worst in the world and contributes to the deaths of about
500,000 people annually[2]. Rapid industrialization and
vehicular traffic especially in the urban areas of India is a
great threat to air quality. Emissions from industrial stacks
are one of the major sources of air pollution in recent epoch
[3]. Dispersion estimates are determined by using
distribution equations and/or air quality models. Gaussian
plume equation is simple and widely used to identify the
variation of pollutant concentrations away from the centre
of the plume. This distribution equation determines ground
level pollutant concentrations based on time-averaged
atmospheric variables (e.g. temperature, wind speed).One
of the Dispersion Model developed base on Gaussian plume
equation was AERMOD (The American Meteorology Soci-
ety-Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model)
which is recommended for air quality simulations by the
US EPA (2005).These models stand for the state-of-the-
science in air quality modeling and provide powerful features
to simulate various modeling situations and considerations.
2 METHODOLOGY
2.1 Study Area
Proposed site is a rural region which falls under tumkur
district of Karnataka state. It is chiefly elevated land. This
region has emerged as a hub to industrial advancement. This
5
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
industrial area is located at about 20 Km from Tumkur and
70-75 km from Bangalore. Project Site is situated adjacent
to NH 4.
2.2 Meteorological Data
AERMOD model requires hourly surface data values for
wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity
and cloud cover. Both data files for the surface and profile
files were then used to generate the meteorological file
required by the AERMOD dispersion model using the
AERMET meteorological pre-processor programme. This
AERMET programme has three stages to process the data.
The first stage extracts meteorological data and assesses data
quality through a series of quality assessment checks. The
second stage merges all data available for 24-hour periods
and writes these data together in a single intermediate file.
The third and final stage reads the merged meteorological
data and estimates the necessary boundary layer parameters
for dispersion calculations by AERMOD.
Table 1 : Freqency Distribution for post-monsoon season (0-24 hours)
The meteorological pre-processed data was used to determine
its corresponding Wind Rose plot. The Wind rose shows the
most predominant wind direction blows from which the wind
blows. This means that the emissions plume will be dispersed
mainly in that direction. The wind speed and direction for
post-monsoon season year 2012 were recorded on continuous
basis during study period at proposed site location. The
percentage frequencies of occurrence of various wind speed
classes in different directions were computed from recorded
data on 24 hourly bases and presented in the form of Wind
Rose plot (see Figure 1). The wind rose diagram shows the
predominant winds are mainly flowing from East, with the
secondary wind direction being from the West. Calm
conditions are observed for 10.78% of the total time. The
wind data were further analyzed to obtain predominant wind
direction and average wind speed for 0 to 24 hrs and the
same data were used in prediction of impacts on air
environment.
6 ICICE-2013
The estimation and evaluation of atmospheric emissions from
proposed activity involves a number of scientific inputs.
Emissions from each activity vary from one another greatly
with respect to characteristics and quantity of emissions;
controlling factors. The screening models were used for
designing the Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Network and
the monitoring stations were selected based on the
occurrence of maximum pollutant concentrations under
expected micro meteorological conditions during study
period of post-monsoon season and other criteria as
described earlier.
2.3 Emission Sources
The emission sources are mainly the diesel generator set (DG
SET). Their details are as given below.
2.4 AERMOD Dispersion Modeling
Hill height scales as well as terrain elevations for all receptor
loca-tions AERMOD View dispersion model was developed
by Lakes Environmental software. It is used extensively to
assess pollution concentration and deposition from a wide
variety of sources. It is a regulatory steady-state plume
modeling system with three separate components: AERMOD
View (AERMOD Dispersion Model), AERMAP (AERMOD
Terrain Pre-processor), and AERMET (AERMOD
Meteorological Pre-processor). The AERMOD model
includes a wide range of options for modeling air quality
impacts of pollution sources. Some of the modeling
capabilities of AERMOD include the following:
• The model is used to analyze primary pollutants.
• Source emission rates can be treated as constant or may
be varied by month, season, hour-of-day, or other
optional periods of variation. These variable emission
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

rate factors may be specified for a single source or for a

group of sources. For this project all emission rates were
treated as constant.
• The model can account for the effects of aerodynamic
downwash due to buildings that are nearby point source
emissions.
• Receptor locations are specified as gridded and/or
discrete receptors in a Cartesian or polar coordinate
system.
• Site location involving elevated terrain,the AERMAP The graph is plotted against the Concentration Vs Distance,
terrain pre-processing program is incorporated into the where the minimum pollutant concentration was less than
model to gene ate. 14 μg/m3 and while for a period of time the concentration
• The model contains algorithms for modeling the effects has increased from 14μg/m3 to 24μg/m3 at 1770m and hence
of settling and removal (through dry and wet deposition) the highest concentration is predicted as 24 μg/m3 at 1770m
of large particulates and for modeling the effects of distance.
precipitation scavenging for gases or particulates.
3.2 Predicted GLC for SO2
• AERMOD requires two types of meteorological data
files, a file containing surface scalar parameters and a
file containing vertical profiles. These two files are
provided by AERMET meteorological pre-processor
programme.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Predicted GLC for NOX

The minimum pollutant concentration was less than 0.70

μg/m3 and while for a period of time the concentration has
increased from 0.70μg/m3 to 1.2μg/m3 at 1770m and hence
the highest concentration is predicted as 1.2 μg/m3 at 1770m
distance.

ICICE-2013 7
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
3.3 Predicted GLC for PM
The minimum pollutant concentration was less than 1.6 μg/
m3 and while for a period of time the concentration has
increased from 0.6 μg/m3 to 0.0028 μg/m3 at 1770m and
hence the highest concentration is predicted as 0.0028 μg/
m3 at 1770m distance.
Table 3 summarizes the maximum predicted concentrations
for the proposed study area and their comparison with the
National Ambient Air Quality Standards-Central Pollution
Control Board (NAAQS – CPCB (2009)). The results
revealed that the maximum predicted ground level
concentrations from the proposed sources of the industrial
area did not exceed the Significant Impact Concentrations.
Additionally, the maximum predicted ground level
concentrations from the proposed industrial area sources and
the baseline concentrations (as re-commended in the Air
Quality Guideline Document) were all less than the NAAQS.
8 ICICE-2013
4 CONCLUSION
This paper presents predictions of air pollutants (SO2, NOx
and PM) emitted from a proposed industrial area to be
constructed 20 km North-North-West of Tumkur District,
Karnataka .AERMOD and local meteorological data were
used to predicted concentrations of major air pollutants in
the vicinity of the project in order to ensure compliance with
the Indian standards (CPCB, 2009) for ambient air quality.
Our findings indicate that after the implementation of the
proposed project, concentrations of air pollutant are found
to be well below the permissible CPCB (Central Pollution
Control Board) Standards for ambient air quality. Therefore,
the proposed activity is not likely to have any significant
adverse impact on the air environment in the vicinity of the
proposed project. However, the SO2 concentration is
expected to be high due to the NH-4.which is adjacent to
the project area. Implementing proper Environmental
Management Plan along with mitigation measures like Water
sprinklers, and trees planting, around the industrial area can
minimize the pollution and protect the environment from
the adverse effects.
REFERENCES
[1] Avnish Chauhan and Maynak Pawar, “Assessment of ambient air
quality status in Urbanization,Industrilization and Commercial
centers of Uttarakhand(India)”, vol 3, no. 7, pp. 85-94, 2010.(
Newyork Science Journal)
[2] Abhimanyu Singh, Jamshed Zaidi , Shree Ganesh, Swati Gupta,
Nitin P.Varma and Pradip K.Maurya, “Monitoring of Air Pollution
and their AQI status vis-à-vis Health hazards with the New
Approaches for the Granite Mining Terrains of the Jhansi Region
in Bundelkhand Massif,India,” vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 41-68, Jun. 2012.
(International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research and
Technology)
[3] Ankita Shukla, Rajeev Kumar Mishra and Dr.M.Parida
“Estimation of Composite Air Quality Index for Lucknow,” vol.
4, no. 7, pp. 45-56, Dec. 2010. (Institute of Town Planners, India
Journal)
[4] Joshi.P.C and Semwal Mahadev, “Distribution of Air pollutants
in Ambient Air of district Haridwar(Uttarakhand),India:A Case
study after establishment of State Industrial Developmental
Corpporation,” vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 237-258, Sep. 2011. (International
Journal of Environmental Sciences)
[5] Panda.B.K and Panda.C.K, “Estimation of Ambient Air Qualityy
Sta-tus in Kalinganagar Industriual Complex in the district of
Jajpur of Odisha,” vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 767-775, Sep. 2012.
(International Journal of Environmental Sciences)
[6] CPCB (2003), “Guidelines for Ambient Air Quality Monitoring”
Report Under Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of
Environment & Forests.
[7] Gufran B., Ghude D. S. and Deshpande A. (2010), Scientific
Evaluation of Air Quality Standards and Defining Air Quality
Index for India, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology Research
Report No. Rr-127
[8] Dayal H. V. and Nandini S. N. (2000), Vehicular Emissions and
Ambient Air Quality in Bangalore City. Poll. Res., 19: 205-209.
[9] Lakes Environmental Software. 1996-2005 User’s Guide for ISC-
AERMOD View.
[10] Isikwue B. C., Tsutsu O. O. and Utah E. U. (2010), Estimation of
Horizontal Pollution Potential and Mean Ground Level
Concentrations of Air Pollutants from an Elevated Source over
Makurdi, Nigeria Using Wind Data. International Journal of the
Physical Sciences, 5: 2402-2410.
[11] CPCB, “National Ambient Air Quality Standards,” 2009. http:/
/www.cpcb.nic.in/National_Ambient_Air_Quality_Standards.php
[12] WHO. WHO guidelines for indoor air quality: selected pollutants.
WHO Regional Publications 2010; Europe
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Heavy Metal Removal from Water using

Moringa oleifera Seed Coagulant and Double
Filtration
Ravikumar K, Prof.Sheeja A K
Abstract— The quality and accessibility of drinking water are of paramount importance to human health. Drinking water may contain
disease-causing agents and toxic chemicals and to control the risks to public health, systematic water quality monitoring and surveillance
are required. Thousands of chemicals have been identified in drinking water supplies around the world and are considered potentially
hazardous to human health at relatively high concentrations. Heavy metals are the most harmful of the chemical pollutants and are of
particular concern due to their toxicities to humans. Moringa oleifera seed acts as a natural coagulant, adsorbent and antimicrobial agent.
It is believed that the seed is an organic natural polymer. The coagulation mechanism of the Moringa oleifera coagulant protein has been
described as adsorption, charge neutralization and interparticle bridging. It is mainly characteristic of high molecular weight polyelectrolyte.
Analysis of the heavy metals cadmium, copper, chromium, and lead were performed before and after treatment of water with Moringa
oleifera seed coagulant. The results showed that Moringa seeds were capable of adsorbing the heavy metals tested in some water samples.
The percentage removal by Moringa seeds were 95 % for copper, 93 % for lead, 76 % for cadmium and 70 % for chromium. In this study
the advantage of proposing a sequential process using coagulation with Moringa oleifera seed and double filtration (Up-flow roughing
filtration followed by rapid filtration) for the removal of heavy metals from water is analysed.

Index Terms—Adsorption, Coagulaion, Double filtration, Heavy metals, Moringa oleifera, Rapid filters, Roughing filters, Turbidity.
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION Literature survey reveals that Moriga oleifera plant is the
most inexpensive credible alternative for providing good

T
he need for simple, reliable and effective method of water
treatment led to the application of plant materials,
including seed coagulants of Moringa oleifera. The
Moringa oleifera (MO) tree grows in tropical and subtropical
regions around the world and its seeds have been used in
drinking water treatment in small scale in Sudan and India for
generations. The coagulant in the seed is a protein that acts as a
cationic polyelectrolyte. The soluble particles in the water
attaches to the active agent that binds them together creating
large flocs in the water. Previous studies indicate that Moringa
oleifera is an efficient coagulant for the removal of turbidity in
both water and waste water treatment.
The Moringa oleifera is one of the natural coagulants that
have been tested over the years as an alternative to the use
of inorganic and synthetic coagulants. Disadvantages of
inorganic and synthetic coagulants are it causes Alzheimer’s
disease and similar health related problems, reduction of
pH, high costs, production of large sludge volume and low
efficiency in coagulation of cold water. Moringa oleifera
has potential in water treatment- as a coagulant, a soften
agent and bactericidal agent. Advantages of Moringa oleifera
as a natural coagulant are its low cost, produces lesser volume
of biodegradable sludge, and it does not affect the pH of the
water. Moringa oleifera is a sustainable, low cost, locally
available, simple, reliable, acceptable, eco-friendly and
household level point of use water treatment coagulant/
technology most suitable for developing countries where
major population use contaminated water for drinking
purposes.
• Ravikumar K is currently pursuing M.Tech degree program in
Civil Engineering in College of Engineering Trivandrum, India,
PH- 919349495386. E-mail:ravikumarkwa@mail.com.
• Prof.Sheeja A K is currently working as Professor in Civil
Engineering in College of Engineering Trivandrum, India, PH-
919497453986. Email:sheejaakcet@gmail.com.
ICICE-2013
nutrition and to cure and prevent a lot of diseases [1].
Aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera showed strong and
superior antibacterial activity against bacterial strains such
as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Eschreiashia coli
and Pseudomonas aeruginosa [2]. Moringa oleifera is the
best natural coagulant that can replace aluminium sulphate
(Alum) which is widely used all around the world [3]. Acid
extract of natural polyelectrolyte Moringa oleifera seed is
very effective as a coagulant for removal of fluoride from
water [4]. Removal of turbidity and hardness can
simultaneously be done by using Moringa oliefera seed
extract with 1.0M sodium chloride solution (MO-Nacl) [5].
Moringa oliefera seed extract against E. coli by TVC method
reduced >99.9% E.coli count [6]. Efficient reduction (80.0%
to 99.5%) of high turbidity produces an aesthetically clear
supernatant, concurrently accompanied by 90.00% to
99.99% bacterial reduction [7].
Distilled water extract of Moringa oleifera seed powder
achieved 90 to 95% sedimentation of the suspended particles
in underground and surface water samples [8]. Increased
dose of Moringa oleifera seed powder showed reduction in
turbidity, TDS, TS, hardness, chlorides, alkalinity, acidity,
MPN and SPC in ground water samples [9]. Moringa oleifera
as a coagulant agent provided significant results, which
justify its use as an alternative coagulant in the process of
coagulation/flocculation of produced water (which is the
waste that has the highest volume during the production and
exploration of oil) [10]. Shelled blended Moringa oleifera
seed as a biosorbent removes C.I. Acid Orange 7 from the
aqueous systems [11].The percentage removal by Moringa
oleifera seeds were 90% for copper, 80 % for lead, 60 % for
cadmium and 50% for zinc and chromium [12].Coagulation
- flocculation process using Moringa oleifera seeds after
oil extraction (MOAE) as a natural coagulant presents a
9
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
viable alternative for the treatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent
(POME) [13].The efficiency of coagulation-photooxidation
processes for removing color from a landfill leachate by
using Moringa oleifera coagulation as a pre-treatment was
effective[14].
The operation of the Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Private
Limited (HCBP) Plant has polluted drinking water by its
careless and irresponsible disposal of sludge and treated
effluents. Particularly hard hits are the dalits, tribals, women
and chidren of the sorrounding area. As the water supply
deteriorated, the women have to travel about 5 kms to fetch
drinking water. Serious damage caused by the contamination
of aquifers and springs had adversely affected agriculture
yield and productivity.
The water in Plachimada and sorrounding area is
contaminated with copper, cadmium, lead and chromium,
more than the admissible level by the World Health
Organisation. The Kerala Agricultural University has found
that the fodder, milk and egg samples collected from
Plachimada area contain the above elements at toxic levels.
In 2003, the district medical officer advised the people of
Plachimada that their water was polluted and unfit for
consumption.
Cadmium is more toxic than lead and chromium. Cadmium
and certain cadmium compounds are listed by International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as carcinogenic.
Cadmium at extreme levels causes itai-itai disease and at
low levels over prolonged periods causes high blood
pressure, sterility among males, kidney damage and flu
disorders. Exposure to chromium (VI) by the inhalation route
may cause lung cancer (World Health Organisation 2004).
Copper is both an essential nutrient and a drinking water
contaminant. Recent studies have shown effects of copper
in drinking water on the gastrointestinal tract, carriers of
the gene for Wilson disease and other metabolic disorders.
The toxic effects of lead include nervous system disorders,
anemia, decreased hemoglobin synthesis, cardio vascular
diseases and disorders in bone metabolism, renal function
and reproduction.
Concentrations of heavy metals are high in the Periyar river
near the industrial estate and the concentration is high in
pre monsoon period. The chemical factories discharges their
effluents to Periyar river and it eventually reach in to the
Cochin estuary. The flow of water discharged through the
river is very low in pre monsoon period, which cause the
high concentration of metals in lake and river. In
Muvattupuzha river the heavy metal concentration is high
near the news print factory. At present, water in the open
wells in the area is unfit for drinking.
Different technologies may be applied to diminish these
levels in water for consumption. This study was an effort to
investigate the water treatment potential of indigenous plant
coagulant Moringa oleifera seeds with double filtration for
removal of heavy metals.
The objectives of the study were
1. To identify a sustainable, low cost, locally available,
simple, reliable, acceptable, eco-friendly, household level
point of use water treatment technology most suitable
for rural population of developing countries
10
2. To find a process that allowed efficient removal of heavy
metals from aqueous systems.
3. To evaluate the up-flow roughing filtration process
followed by rapid filtration as a suitable method for the
separation of the flocs formed using the Moringa oleifera
seed coagulant.
4. To determine the removal efficiency of various heavy
metal concentrations in water using Moringa oleifera
coagulation and double filtration.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Preparation of MO Seed Powder
Dry MO pods were collected from Varkala, Trivandrum. Pod
shells were removed manually; kernels were grounded in a
domestic blender and sieved through 600micro meter
stainless steel sieve..
2.2 Aqueous Extract
Aqueous extract was prepared by using 200ml of distilled
water and 25 g of MO seed powder, mixed by a magnetic
stirrer for 60 minutes and settled for 20 minutes. Moringa
oleifera aqueous extract is finally filtered through 20μm
paper filter
2.3 Coagulant Activity Test
Jar test was conducted to determine the effective dosage of
coagulant to reduce the heavy metals of the samples. The
standard procedure was 1 min of rapid mixing (120 rpm)
followed by 15 minutes of slow mixing (30rpm) for
flocculation and 60 minutes of settling.
2.4 Multistage drinking water filtration
By providing roughing filter pretreatment, suspended solids
are decreased. Rapid sand filtration is still a viable method
of water treatment most suitable for raw water sources with
turbidity and suspended solids. Multistage filtration has been
shown to be an efficient and effective drinking water
treatment technique for source water with high turbidity,
organic matter, and suspended solids.
2.4.1Filtration test with roughing filter
In vertical-flow roughing filters the water to be treated flows
in sequence through the three filter compartments filled with
coarse, medium and fine filter material. The size of the three
distinct filter material fractions is generally between 25 and
3 mm, and graded, for example, into fractions of 25-16mm,
16-8mm and 8-3mm.
Roughing filtration was conducted directly after the
coagulation and flocculation processes with Moringa
oleifera and separates the suspended solids. Vertical-flow
roughing filter was operated at 0.3 to 1.0 m/h filtration rates.
The separated solids, which accumulate mainly in the coarse
filter fraction next to the filter bottom, can be easily flushed
out with the water stored in the filter. Therefore, the use of
upflow roughing filter in layers was used.
2.4.2 Filtration test with rapid sand filter
In rapid sand filters the water to be treated flows in
sequence through the three filter compartments filled with
coarse, medium and fine filter material. The size of the
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

three distinct filter material fractions is generally between C. Test results of synthetic heavy metal water samples
50 and 0.5 mm, and graded, for example, into fractions of after upflow roughing filtration and rapid filtration
25-50mm, 13-25mm and 0.5-1mm. Rapid sand filtration (double filtration)
was conducted directly after the roughing filtration and Samples of water collected from the outlet of rapid filter
separates the last remaining flocs that failed to disappear were used for analyzing the turbidity and heavy metals
during roughing filtration. The filtration rate for a rapid concentrations. Table 2 represents the results of turbidity
filter is 5-10 m/h. removal, after upflow roughing filtration and rapid sand
2.4.3Double Filtration Experiments filtration (double filtration).
Table 2. Turbidity (NTU) after upflow roughing filtration
Jar tests were carried out in the following conditions: 1
and double fitration
minute rapid mixing and 10 minutes slow mixing. An up-
flow roughing filtration stage was chosen because it is a
Heavy metals Turbidity after Turbidity after
process with a high efficiency in the removal of light flocs.
with initial double
As a second stage a conventional rapid filter was adopted. upflow roughing
concentration of FitrationNTU
5 mg/l FiltrationNTU
The washing of the roughing filter was carried out through
lower drainage, and the washing of the rapid filter was Copper 11 2
counter current. The bed of the upflow gravel roughing filter
was made up of three layers of gravel of different granule Lead 15 2
measures. Cadmium 16 3
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Chromium 19 3

A. Coagulation activity test results of synthetic water The combined coagulation and double filtration process is
samples containing heavy metals an alternative for heavy removal, since the coagulation
Coagulation- flocculation was done using shelled blended, process is effective in removing metal ions and double
oil extracted and crude extract of Moringa oleifera seed filtration complements the process by reducing the turbidity
powder. These coagulants were extracted by using a standard to the limits. In this study, the double filtration step was
preparation method.. Optimum doses of 2 g/L coagulants performed just after coagulation in order to remove colour
were used for different water samples containing heavy and turbidity caused by the addition of Moringa oleifera
metals concentrations of 5 mg/l. The optimum dosage is the coagulant, so as to meet the standards for water potability.
minimum dosage of coagulant corresponding to the removal Therefore, the utilization of the combined treatment allows
of heavy metals present in the water samples. At optimum for the production of fully treated water. It is known that the
dosage of 2 g/L of coagulant, the final heavy metal filtration process is not efficient for the removal of metal
concentrations reduced considerably, but the turbidity ions, which indicates that heavy metals retention was mainly
increases in all four synthetic heavy metal water samples as due to the process of coagulation with the coagulants
shown in Table 1. obtained from Moringa oleifera. Thus, it is more likely that
the mechanism of interaction between the Moringa oleifera
Table 1. Final Heavy metal concentrations and the proteins and heavy metals was ion adsorption and charge
respective increase in turbidity levels after coagulation neutralisation.The MO seed powder has been termed as
treatment with filtrated Moringa oleifera coagulant potential heavy metal removing agent due to its oxygen and
Heavy metals Final Heavy nitrogen donating carboxylate and amino groups.MO seed
with initial metals Removal Final powder extraction with salt increased the removal efficiency.
concentration concentration efficiency turbidity The adsorption of metals using MO is limited to the
of 5 mg/l in mg/L in % adsorption surface. This is because MO is a cationic
polyelectrolyte of short chain and low molecular weight.
Copper 0.25 95 73
The mechanism that brings about adsorption of heavy metals
Lead 0.35 93 78 is through the positive metal ions that forms a bridge among
the anionic polyelectrolyte and negatively charged protein
Cadmium 1.2 76 86
functional groups on the colloidal particle surface. There is
Chromium 1.5 70 92 formation of complexes with the heavy metals and the
organic matter of MO seeds such as proteins. Due to
B. Test results of synthetic heavy metal water samples hydrophilic character, several hydrogen bonds are formed
after upflow roughing filtration. among polyelectrolyte and water molecules. Polyelectrolyte
Samples of water collected from the outlet of roughing filter coagulant aid have structures consisting of repeating units
were used for analyzing the turbidity and heavy metals. Table of small molecular weight forming molecules of colloidal
2 represents the results of turbidity removal from treated size that carry electrical charges or ionisable groups that
water with various heavy metals of concentration 5mg/l, after provide bonding surface for the flocs. Adsorption describes
upflow roughing filtration. An up-flow roughing filtration attachment of ions and molecules from seed protein by means
stage was chosen because it is a process with a high efficiency of specific mechanism. Metal ions in coagulation react with
in the removal of light flocs. The bed of the upflow gravel proteins and destroy them in water. Metal adsorption occurs
roughing filter was made up of three layers of gravel of due to the high protein content of the seeds. The flocculation
different granule measures. activities of MO seeds are based on the electrostatic patch
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charge mechanism. Studies have shown that seeds have the
capability to adsorb metal cations and attract highly toxic
compounds.
4 CONCLUSION
Moringa oleifera is an environmentally-friendly natural
coagulant most suitable for the treatment of water containing
undesirable heavy metal concentrations. Based on the
experimental test results; the following conclusion can be
drawn.
1. The optimum dosage of Moringa oleifera aqueous extract
for synthetic water samples containing heavy metal
concentrations of 5mg/L was 2g/L and the removal
efficiencies were 95%, 93%, 76% and 70% of copper, lead,
cadmium and chromium respectively.
2. The process of up flow roughing filtration followed by
rapid filtration is suitable for the separation of the flocs
formed using Moringa oliefera seed coagulant.
3. It is an eco-friendly technology that is economically more
advantageous than other treatment alternatives.
4. In accordance with the above conclusions, it is suggested
that aqeous extract of Moringa oleifera seed powder
treatment with coagulation and flocculation followed by
double filtration (roughing filters followed by rapid filtration)
is considered in the event of expansion or construction of
small scale waterworks, presuming that an adequate amount
of plantations are established.
REFERENCES
[1] Ritu Paliwal, Veena Sharma and Pracheta. 2011.A Review
on Horse Radish Tree (Moringa oleifera): A Multipurpose
Tree with High Economic and Commercial Importance,
Asian Journal of Biotechnology,Vol.3(4), pp.317-328.
[2] Abdulmoneim M. Saadabi and I.E.Abu Zaid. 2011. An In
vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Moringa oleifera L. Seed
Extracts against Different Groups of Microorganisms,
Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, Vol.
5(5).pp.129-134.
[3] Eman N. Ali, Suleyman A. Muyibi, Hamzah M. Salleh,
Mohd Ramlan M. Salleh and Md Zahangir Alam. 2009.
Moringa oliefera Seeds as a Natural Coagulant for Water
Treatment, Thirteenth International Water Technology
Conference, IWTC 13 2009, Hurghada, Egypt,pp.163-168.
[4] Vivek Vardhan.C.M and Karthikeyan.J. 2011. Removal
of Fluoride from Water using Low Cost Materials, Fifteenth
International Water Technology Conference 2011 IWTC-
15, Alexandria, Egypt.
[5] Muhammad Ridwan Fahmi, Nor Wahidatul Azura Zainon
Najib, Pang Chan Ping and Nasrul Hamidin. 2011.
Mechanism of Turbidity and Hardness Removal in Hard
Water Sources by using Moringa oleifera, Journal of
Applied Sciences, Vol.11 (16), pp.2947-2953.
[6] Jadhav Swapnali Mohan, Bipinraj N K and Milind R
Gidde. 2008. Moringa oleifera - Household Alternative
Coagulant for Water Treatment, Paper for National
Conference on Household Water Treatment Technology
(July 2008) at Hindustan College of Sc. And Tech. Farah,
Mathura.
12
[7] Michael Lea. 2010. Bioremediation of Turbid Surface
Water Using Seed Extract from Moringa oleifera Lam.
(Drumstick) Tree, Wiley Interscience
(www.interscience.wiley.com), Current Protocols in
Microbiology (February 2010), 1G.2.1-1G.2.14.
[8] A.O Oluduro and B.I Aderiye. 2007. Impact of Moringa
oleifera Seed Extract on the Physicochemical Properties
of Surface and Underground Water, International Journal
of Biological Chemistry 2007, 1(4): 244-249.
[9] Mangale Sapana M., Chonde Sonal G. and Raut P. D. 2012.
Use of Moringa oleifera (Drumstick) seed as Natural
Absorbent and an Antimicrobial agent for Ground water
Treatment, Research Journal of Recent Sciences Vol. 1(3)
(March 2012), 31-40.
[10] Santana C. R., a Pereira D. F., Sousa S. C. S. N., Cavalcanti
E. B and Silva G. F. 2010. Evaluation of the Process of
Coagulation / Flocculation of Produced Water using
Moringa oleifera Lam. as Natural Coagulant, Brazilian
Journal of Petroleum and Gas | v. 4 n. 3 | p. 111-117 | 2010
| ISSN 1982-0593.
[11] Reza Marandi and Seyedeh Marjan Bakhtiar Sepehr. 2011.
Removal of Orange 7 Dye from Wastewater Used by
Natural Adsorbent of Moringa oleifera Seeds, American
Journal of Environmental Engineering 2011, 1(1): 1-9.
[12] Vikashni Nand, Matakite Maata, Kanayathu Koshy and
Subramanium Sotheeswaran. 2012. Water Purification
using Moringa oleifera and Other Locally Available Seeds
in Fiji for Heavy Metal Removal, International Journal of
Applied Science and Technology Vol. 2 (May 2012), No.
5.
[13] Zalina Othman, Subhash Bhatia and Abdul Latif Ahmad.
2008. Influence of the Settleability Parameters for Palm
Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Pretreatment by Using Moringa
oleifera Seeds as an Environmental Friendly Coagulant,
International Conference on Environment (ICENV 2008).
[14] Salwa Mohd Zaini Makhtar, Mahyun Ab Wahab,
Mohammad Tamizi Selimin and Norsyazwani Che
Mohamed. 2011. Landfill Leachate Treatment by a
Coagulation–Photocatalytic Process, International
Conference on Environment and Industrial Innovation
(IPCBEE) vol.12 2011 © (2011) IACSIT Press, Singapore.
[15] R. Sowmeyan, J. Santhosh and R. Latha. 2011.
Effectiveness of Herbs in Community Water Treatment,
International Research Journal of Biochemistry and
Bioinformatics (ISSN-2250-9941) (December 2011), Vol.
1(11) pp. 297-303.
[16] Puthenveedu Sadasivan Pillai Harikumar, Chonattu Jaseela
and Tharayil Megha. 2012. Defluoridation of water using
biosorbents, Water Quality Division, Centre for Water
Resources Development and Management, Kozhikode,
India, Natural Science 2012, Vol.4, No.4, 245-251.
[17] V. Krishna Veni and K. Ravindhranath. 2012. Removal of
chromium (VI) from polluted waters using powders of
leaves or their ashes of some herbal plants, Journal of
Experimental Sciences 2012, 3(4): 01-09.
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

An Experimental Study on Duckweed For

Improving Pond Water Quality
S.Vanitha, NVN.Nampoothiri, C.Sivapragasam, Anitha Menon.M
Abstract— This paper deals with the laboratory experiments on the case studies prepared using pond water, ‘Duckweed’ and a toxic
herbicide ‘Glyphosate’. The water used in this study was collected from ‘Mariyan Oorini’ pond, ‘Sattur’, ‘Virudhunagar’ district of Tamilnadu.
The experiments were performed on five cases for 10 days and the various physiochemical parameters such as DO (dissolved oxygen),
temperature, Nitrate, Ammonia, Phosphate, Turbidity, pH were analysed. These results were very much useful in understanding the removal
efficiency of pollutants from the water sample by Duckweed. This study is also helpful to understand the effect of Glyphosate dosage on
Duckweed growth.

Index Terms — Ammonia, Duckweed, Glyphosate, Nitrate, Phosphate, Pond water, Removal efficiency.

——————————  ——————————

1. INTRODUCTION Olah.V et al. [12], conducted studies on two species of

Duckweed and observed that the physiological responses of

P
onds and lakes are meant for storing rain water in order
to fulfill the basic human demands such as domestic and
irrigation needs. In olden days ponds were maintained
by the respective village people but nowadays, ponds are
considered as a dumping site for solid wastes & drainage water.
Most of the ponds are polluted due to human intervention and
lack of public awareness. Unfortunately, ponds have got
transformed as a sink for spreading harmful diseases and to
create a polluted unhealthy living environment. Due to this,
incident of water borne diseases such as Chikungunya, Dengue,
Malaria, etc. has increased considerably over the recent years.
Since these types of ponds contain less amount of water as
compared to a river or stream, affording a treatment unit in
every nook and corner of the town is not practically possible
due to economic constraints. Sangeeta Dhote [15], stated
that several water treatment technologies are available
currently which consume large economic resources and are
also highly power consuming as well as non eco friendly.
Here, the phytoremediation has a major role in tackling the
problem. Phytoremediation is one of the serious efforts
towards sustainability. According to Anima Priya [1], the
macrophyte based water treatment systems have several
potential advantages compared with conventional treatment
systems. Nayyef M. Azeez [10] conducted studies using
Duckweed on waste water from ‘Basrah Oil Refinary’ and
proved that Duckweed plant can be successfully used for
waste water pollutant removal. J.M Dalu [8] concluded that
significant reduction of parameters to within permissible
limit was obtained except for COD, BOD and turbidity 60%
of reduction were observed with the addition of Duckweed
in stabilization ponds.
————————————————
• Mrs.S.Vanitha is currently working as Assistant Professor-II in
Department of Civil Engineering, Kalasalingam University, India,
PH-09442947299. E-mail: svanithacivil@gmail.com.
• Dr.NVN.Nampoothiri is currently working as Associate Professor
in Department of Civil Engineering, Kalasalingam University,
India, PH- 09842335165. E-mail: nvnnn@rediffmail.com
• Dr. C.Sivapragasam is currently working as Senior Professorand
Head, Department of Civil Engineering, Kalasalingam University,
India, PH-09003613130. E-mail: sivapragasam25@gmail.com.
• Ms.Anitha Menon. M is currently pursuing masters degree program
in environmental engineering in Kalasalingam University, India,
PH-9496456322. E-mail: trueanitha@gmail.com.
the different species to same ambient concentration of a toxic
chemical (hexavalent Cr VI) is in different manner. Anong
Phewnil et al. [3], concluded that the growth rate of Lemna
Perpusilla Torr. reduced when atrazine concentration were
present in the range of 250 -32000 μg/l within 24 hours. In-
Hwa Chang et al. [6], studies concluded that Duckweed uses
different adaptive mechanism in order to counter balance
high doses of a particular toxicant like NaCl. John. R et al.
[7], conducted experiments on Duckweed and found that
Duckweed growth rate increased at a concentration of 1, 10
and 20 mg/l of Cd and Pb while a reduced growth rate was
observed in 30 and 40 mg/l concentration. Harini Santhanam
[5] concluded that the Fuzzy quality index is better than
Carlson’s trophic state index for trophic status analysis. R.
Sooknah [13] concluded that pollutant removal in water
hyacinth system depends on the nutrient assimilative capacity
of plant and the biochemical / physiochemical process taking
place within the system. Thongchai Kanabkaew [16]
concluded that as the HRT increases, the removal of BOD is
increased. According to Nihan Ozengin [11], the maximum
removal of the Total Phosphate, nitrate and COD by
Duckweed (Lemna minor.L) occurs at 360minutes and the
maximum removal of Total nitrate was observed at 1440
minutes for industrial and municipal waste water. M.D.Ansal
[9] found that a dividing system of fish and Duckweed is
more efficient than combined systems. Reeta D. Sooknah
[14] in this paper, the potential of 3 floating aquatic
macrophyte on anaerobically flushed dairy manure waste
water was studied. The growth of water hyacinth was robust
followed by polyculture and further followed by the other
two monocultures. Bhupinder [4] in this paper, Salvinia
exhibit for removing contaminants such as heavy metals,
inorganic nutrients from waste water. In salvinia, physical
process is fast (adsorption, ionic exchange and chelation)
while biological process such as intercellular uptake is
comparatively slow for removing heavy metals.
In this paper, the phytoremediation of the pond water from
‘Mariyan Oorini’, located near NH-7, ‘Sattur’ (taluk) of
‘Virudhunagar’ District of Tamilnadu was performed. This

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9th and 10th of May 2013
water sample was taken to form different experimental case
studies using Duckweed and a toxic herbicide ‘Glyphosate’.
In this study, the work has been divided into 2 phases
Phase1: Efficiency of Duckweed on pond water quality.
Phase2: Effect of toxicant Glyphosate on the Duckweed plant
growth.
The physiological parameters like DO, pH, CO2, Ammonia,
Nitrate, Phosphate, Temperature and Turbidity in all samples
were analysed for 10 days using the standard procedures
and % reduction in the parameters was found out to
understand the maximum removal of pollutants by
Duckweed.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY
In this study, five artificial ecosystems has been studied using
pond water taken from “MARIYAN OORINI”, Sattur,
Virudhunagar district, Tamilnadu. An aquatic plant
macrophyte (Duckweed) belonging to lemnacea family is
used for this experimental study. A toxic herbicide
(Glyphosate) is also used to test the toxicity effects on the
artificial ecosystem. Mariyan Oorini is a part of Sattur town
and is situated at 9º27´ North latitude and 77º46´ East
latitude. Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, show the image of Mariyan Oorini
taken using digital camera as well as downloaded from
Google Earth.
Fig. 1. Photo View of Mariyan Oorini
Fig. 2.Digital image of Mariyan Oorini
The pond water is formed by the collection of the wastewater
from the surrounding areas of Sattur town thus making it
unfit for domestic purpose. Further, there is a high risk of
this waste water to affect the quality of the underground
water through seepage as well as subsurface water flow. The
depth of the pond water is very shallow and visibly green
colour is due to the presence of algae.
14
Following different experimental ponds are prepared in this
study.
Case 1 - Study of original pond water sample (control).
Case 2 - Study of pond water sample with introduction of a
macrophyte Duckweed (15 gm wet weight).
Case 3 - Study of pond water sample after introduction of
Duckweed (15 gm wet weight) along with a toxic herbicide
Glyphosate with concentration of 0.125mg/l.
Case 4 - Study of pond water sample after introduction of
Duckweed (15 gm wet weight) along with a toxic herbicide
Glyphosate with concentration of 0.250mg/l.
Case 5 - Study of pond water sample after introduction of
Duckweed (15 gm wet weight) along with a toxic herbicide
Glyphosate with concentration of 0.500mg/l.
The functioning of these five artificial ponds was surveyed
for a period of 10 days. Each artificial pond was initially
filled with 14.8 litres of pond water.
2.1 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
For all the above case studies, daily analysis of pH,
temperature, Nitrate, Ammonia, Phosphate, Dissolved
oxygen and Turbidity were performed using standard
procedures. The Dissolved oxygen is measured using
‘Winkler’s method’. Electrode method was used to analyse
pH, temperature using thermometer, Nitrate using Brucine
sulphate method, Ammonia by titrimetric method, Phosphate
using ammonium molybdate method and turbidity by
Nephlometric turbidity metric methods respectively for 10
days i.e. from 11/10/2012 to 22/10/2012. Fig. 3 shows the
laboratory setup of Duckweed ecosystem. The initial
condition of the pond water analysed is shown in Table.1
Fig. 3.laboratory set up of Duckweed ecosystems
Table. 1. Initial Condition of Pond water.
Initial condition of pond water
Parameter unit value
Temperature ºC 22
Nitrate mg/l 45
Phosphate mg/l 1.6
Ammonia mg/l 1.703
Turbidity NTU 167
pH nil 8.74
DO mg/l 6.72
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9th and 10th of May 2013

3. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS Table. 6. Percentage Reduction in Case 5

The physiochemical parameters obtained and percentage CASE:5

reduction for different case studies are shown in Table 2 No Initial Final conce- Percentage
Parameters Unit
to6. concentration ntration reduction
Table. 2. Percentage Reduction in Case 1. 1 Temperature ºC 22 22 -
CASE:1 2 Nitrate mg/l 45 15.505 65.54
3 Phosphate mg/l 1.6 1 37.5
No Initial Final conce- Percentage
Parameters Unit concentration ntration 4 Ammonia mg/l 1.703 0.425 75.04
reduction
5 Turbidity NTU 167 190.5 -14.07
1 Temperature ºC 22 20 -
6 pH nil 8.74 8.38 -
2 Nitrate mg/l 45 15.505 65.5
7 DO mg/l 6.72 2.43 -
3 Phosphate mg/l 1.6 0.8 50
I- Efficiency of Duckweed on pond water quality.
4 Ammonia mg/l 1.703 0.425 75.04
The phosphate removal in original pond water and in the
5 Turbidity NTU 167 105.5 36.8
presence of Duckweed after 10 days was measured as 50 %
6 pH nil 8.74 8 - and 75% respectively. The phosphate removal is more with
7 DO mg/l 6.72 2.08 - the presence of Duckweed than original pond water due to
the following reason (1) this may be due to phosphate uptake
Table. 3. Percentage Reduction in Case 2. by Duckweed plant and assimilation into plant protein. (2)
CASE:2 Adsorption on plant leaves, (3) Chemical precipitation and
Initial Final conce- Percentage
(4) Microbial uptake. The phosphate removal in control may
No Parameters Unit
concentration ntration reduction be due to the uptake by micro organism and other biological
activities taking place according to Anima Priya [1]. The
1 Temperature ºC 22 20 -
turbidity removal in original pond water and in presence of
2 Nitrate mg/l 45 17.72 60.62 Duckweed after 10 days was measured as 36.8 % and 18.86
3 Phosphate mg/l 1.6 0.4 75 % respectively. The turbidity removal is less with the
presence of Duckweed than original pond water. The reason
4 Ammonia mg/l 1.703 0.425 75.04
for this may be due to presence of some dead leaves of
5 Turbidity NTU 167 135.5 18.86 Duckweed. The pH value is decreased from 8.74 to 7.8 in
6 pH nil 8.74 7.8 - the presence of Duckweed. This may be due to respiration
by Duckweed plants. The ammonia removal in original pond
7 DO mg/l 6.72 3.04 -
water and with the presence of Duckweed was both 75.04
Table. 4. Percentage Reduction in Case 3. %. i.e., for ammonia removal, there is no difference between
CASE:3 original pond water and pond water with Duckweed. Hence,
Duckweed plant does not efficiently remove ammonia
No Initial Final conce- Percentage
Parameters Unit
concentration ntration reduction nitrogen. The nitrate nitrogen removal in the pond water
and with the presence of Duckweed is namely 65.5 % and
1 Temperature ºC 22 21 -
60.62 % respectively. For nitrate removal, there is no
2 Nitrate mg/l 45 19.335 57.03 considerable difference between original pond water and
3 Phosphate mg/l 1.6 1 37.5 pond water with Duckweed. Hence, Duckweed plant is not
effective in nitrate nitrogen removal as compared to
4 Ammonia mg/l 1.703 0.425 75.04 phosphate removal. In the original pond water the dissolved
5 Turbidity NTU 167 195.5 -17.06 oxygen (DO) level initially decreased from 6.72 mg/l to 1.6
6 pH nil 8.74 8.23 - mg/l and then increased to 2.08 mg/l. But in the presence of
Duckweed, the DO initially decreased from 6.72 mg/l to
7 DO mg/l 6.72 2.9 - 1.92 mg/l and then increased to 3.04 mg/l respectively. The
Table. 5. Percentage Reduction in Case 4.
reduction of DO may be due to the decomposition of organic
matter by aerobic bacteria. Later, the DO starts to increase.
CASE:4 When compared to the original pond water, the DO level is
Initial more in the presence of Duckweed at the end of the
No Parameters Unit Final conce- Percentage
concentration ntration reduction experiment. This may be due to (1) Supply of oxygen by
Duckweed plants. (2) Atmospheric diffusion. When
1 Temperature ºC 22 20 -
compared to original pond water sample, the DO level is
2 Nitrate mg/l 45 17.72 60.62 more in the 3rd, 4th and 5th case at the end of the experiment.
3 Phosphate mg/l 1.6 1 37.5 This may be caused by the presence of Duckweed in the
latter case.
4 Ammonia mg/l 1.703 0.425 75.04
5 Turbidity NTU 167 198.5 -18.86
II - Effect of toxicant Glyphosate on the Duckweed plant
growth.
6 pH nil 8.74 7.56 -
In the presence of Duckweed, without adding toxicant, the
7 DO mg/l 6.72 2.8 phosphate removal is 75 %. The phosphate removal is
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9th and 10th of May 2013
decreased from 75% to 37.5 % (almost half) when
Glyphosate is added in the dosages namely 0.125 mg/l, 0.250
mg/l and 0.500 mg/l. From this observation, phosphate
removal is reduced after adding Glyphosate toxicant. This
may be due to the reason that plant growth is affected by
Glyphosate toxicant.
Fig. 4 Dry weight of Duckweed determined
The dry weight of Duckweed biomass in Case2 (without
toxicant) is 4.243 g/m2 (dry). The dryweight of Duckweed
biomass after adding 0.125, 0.250 and 0.500 dosages of
toxicant are 2.066 g/m2 (dry), 1.983 g/m2 (dry) and 1.841 g/
m2 (dry) respectively. With the increase of toxicant dosages,
the dry biomass weight of the Duckweed plant decreases.
From this observation, we can conclude that there is a
negative effect of toxicant Glyphosate on plant growth. But
several toxicant dosages are needed for complete analyses
of growth of Duckweed plant. Interestingly, in 3rd, 4th and
5th cases, the turbidity increased at the end of the experiments
when compared to the initial values. This is due to suspended
impurities caused by dead plants.
4. CONCLUSION
From the experimental studies conducted, it was understood
that the Duckweed plant efficiently removes 75% phosphate
from pond water. Comparatively, the Duckweed growth rate
enhancement is seen more in the pond water without toxicant
Glyphosate. According to Anong Phewnil et al. [3], there is
no current set of standard in toxicity of Atrazine in surface
water. In particular, the toxicity to the aquatic plants which
are primary producers will cause an imbalance of the aquatic
ecosystem. Similarly Glyphosate is being used in large
quantities in India causing contamination of surface water.
The result obtained in this study may be used to develop
Glyphosate application standards for the surface waters of
India.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study was supported by Dr. Thillai Arasu, HOD,
Department of Chemistry, Kalasalingam University, Dr.
Sundar, HOD, Department of Biotechnology, Kalasalingam
University and Dr. Palanivelu, Principal, Arulmigu
Kalasalingam College of Pharmacy. Special thanks tribute
to B.Tech students G. Magara Jothi, K. Lakshmi Devi and
R. Gajalakshmi, for their assistance in collecting Duckweed
and conducting chemical analyses.
6. REFERENCES
[1] Anima Priya, Kirti Avishek and Gopal Pathak, “Assessing the
potentials of lemna minor in the treatment of domestic
wastewater at pilot scale”, Environmental monitoring
assessment, Springer Journal, Vol.184, pp. 4301-4307, 2012.
16
[2] Anitha Menon.M, NVN.Nampoothiri, C. Sivapragasam and
S.Vanitha, “Study on effectiveness of Duckweed plant for the
improvement of pond water quality”, International Conference
on Futuristic innovations & Developments in Civil engineering
(ICFiDCe ‘13), Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, Sivakasi,
Tamilnadu, 2013. (Selected for publication in International
Conference Proceedings)
[3] Anong Phewnil, Nipon Tungkananurak, Supamard
Panichsakpatana, and Bongotrat Pitiyont, “Phytotoxicity of
atrazine herbicide to fresh water macrophyte Duckweed (lemna
perpusilla torr.) in Thailand”, Environment and Natural
Resources Journal, Vol.10, no.1, pp. 16-27, 2012.
[4] Bhupinder and Dhir, ‘Salvinia, “An aquatic term with potential
use in phytoremediation”, Environment and we, An international
Journal of Science and Technology, Vol. 4, pp. 23-27, 2009.
[5] Harini Santhanam, Raj.S and Thanashekaran.K, “Comparision
of the performance of two indices of trophic status for depicting
the status of pulicat lagoon ecosystem,” Journal of Environmental
Science & Engineering, National Environmental Engineering
Research Institute, Nagpur, India, Vol. 53 no. 4, pp 413-422,
2011.
[6] In-Hwa Chang, Kai-Teng Cheng, Po-Chuan Huang, Yen-Yu Lin,
Lee-Ju Cheng and Tai-Sheng Cheng, “Oxidative stress in greater
Duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) caused by long-term NaCl
exposure”, Acta Physiol Plant, Vol.34, pp.1165-1176, 2012.
[7] John.R, Ahamed.P, Gadgil.K and Sharma.S, “Effect of cadmium
and lead on growth, biochemical parameters and uptake in lemna
polyrrhiza l.,” Plant soil environ., Council for Scietific and
Industrial Research, New Delhi, India, Vol.54 no. 6, pp– 262-
270, 2008.
[8] J.M Dalu and J.Ndamba, “Duckweed based waste water
stabilization ponds for waste water treatment [a low cost
technique for small urban areas in Zimbabwe],” Vol. 28, issue
20-27, pp.1147-1160, 2003.
[9] M.D Ansal, A. Dhawan and V.I Kaur, “Duckweed based bio-
remediation of village ponds: An ecologically and economically
viable integrated approach for rural development through
aquaculture”, Journal of Livestock research for rural
development, Vol. 22 no.7, 2010.
[10] Nayyef M. Azeez and Amal A. Sabbar, “Efficiency of Duckweed
(Lemna Minor L.) in Phytotreatment of wastewater pollutants
from Basrah oil refinery”, Journal of Applied Phytotechnology
in Environmental Sanitation, ISSN 2088-6586, Vol.1, no. 4,
pp.163-172, 2012.
[11] Nihan ozengin and Ayse Elmaci, “Performance of Duckweed
(Lemna minor.L) on different types of waste water treatment”,
Journal of environmental Biology, Vol. 28 no. 2, pp.307-314,
2007.
[12] Olah.V, Lakatos.G, Bertok.C, Kanalas.P, Szollosi.E, Kis.J and
I.Meszaros, “Short-term chromium (VI) stress induces different
photosynthetic responses in two Duckweed species, lemna gibba
l. and lemna minor l.”, Photosynthetica, Vol.48 no. 4, pp. 513-
520, 2010.
[13] R.Sooknah, “A review of the mechanisms of pollutant removal
in water hyacinth system”, Journal of Science and Technology,
Vol.6, 2000.
[14] Reeta D.Sooknah and Ann.C.Wilkie, “Nutrient removal by
floating aqua tic macrophytes cultured in an aerobically digested
flushed dairy manure wastewater”, Journal of Ecological
Engineering, Vol. 22, pp.27-42, 2004.
[15] Sangeetha Dhote and Savita Dixit, “Water quality improvement
through macrophytes – a review,” Environmental Monitoring
Assessment, Springer journal, Vol.152, pp. 149-153, 2009.
[16] Thongchai Kanabkaew and Udomphon Puetpaiboon, “Aquatic
plants for domestic waste water treatment Lotus and Hydrilla,”
Journal of Science and Technology, Vol.26 no. 5, pp. 749-756,
2004.
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Reduction of COD of Pulp and paper mill

effluent using Sequencing batch reactor
Afzal Husain Khan, Iqbal Khan, Nadeem Ahmad khan, Misbahul Islam, Arshad Husain
Abstract —Paper mills generate varieties of pollutants depending upon the type of the pulping process. The wastewaters discharged from
these mills have high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour, which indicating high concentrations of recalcitrant organics. This study
was conducted using a Sequencing Batch Biofilm Reactor of 3.3 L working volume, operated in an aerobic condition and packed with .For
the two months, they can be set at 24 hours and later it was adjusted to 12 hours in order to evaluate the performance of the system. The
treated wastewater samples for these studies were taken from a recycled pulp and paper mill factory in Moradabad, India with different
batch characteristics. The results also indicated that the Biofilm attached can substantially remove these recalcitrant organics in the wastewater,
within the range of 10 – 100% COD removal. COD reduction can see easily and the use combination with SBR is one of the best methods
for the COD reduction. Thus, COD reduction can observed about 60-80%.

Index Terms— Biofilm, Chemical oxygen demand (COD), COD reduction, Effluent, Paper mill effluent, Recalcitrant organics, Sequencing
batch reactor.
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION mechanical pulps, which are used for making products such
as newsprint, are manufactured from raw materials by the

T
he pulp and paper industry is one of India’s oldest
and core industrial sector. The socioeconomic
importance of paper has its own value to the country’s
development as it is directly related to the industrial and
economic growth of the country. Although paper has many
uses, its most important contribution to modern civilization
is its use as a medium to record knowledge. The main steps
in pulp and paper manufacturing are raw material
preparation, such as wood debarking and chip making; pulp
manufacturing; pulp bleaching; paper manufacturing; and
fibre recycling. Pulp mills and paper mills may exist
separately or as integrated operations. Manufactured pulp is
used as a source of cellulose for fibre manufacture and for
conversion into paper or cardboard. Pulp manufacturing
starts with raw material preparation, which includes
debarking (when wood is used as raw material), chipping,
and other processes such as depithing (for example, when
bagasse is used as the raw material). Cellulosic pulp is
manufactured from the raw materials, using chemical and
mechanical means.
The manufacture of pulp for paper and cardboard employs
mechanical (including thermo mechanical),
chemimechanical, and chemical methods. Mechanical
pulping [1],[2] separates fibres by such methods as disk
abrasion and billeting. Chemimechanical processes involve
mechanical abrasion and the use of chemicals. Thermo
————————————————
• Afzal Husain Khan, Assistant Professor Integral University,
Lucknow (India), Mob-+91-9557142342. E-mail:
amuafzal@gmail.com
• Iqbal Khan, Assistant Professor Integral University, Lucknow
(India), E-mail: khankalpi@gmail.com
• Nadeem Ahmad Khan, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering Mewat Engineering Collage, NUH, Haryana.,
Email: er.nadim@gmail.com,
• Misbahul Islam, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering Mewat Engineering Collage, NUH, Haryana.Email:
civieguy@gmail.com
• Arshad Husain, Associate Professor, Civil Engg. Section, F/O
Engg. & Technology, AMU, Aligarh (U.P.) India). Email:
amuhusain@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
application of heat, in addition to mechanical operations
[3],[4],[5]. Chemimechanical pulping and
chemithermomechanical pulping (CTMP) [6] are similar but
use less mechanical energy, softening the pulp with sodium
sulphite, carbonate, or hydroxide. Chemical pulps are made
by cooking (digesting) the raw materials, using the Kraft
(sulphate) and sulphite processes. Kraft processes produce
a variety of pulps used mainly for packaging and high
strength papers and board. Wood chips are cooked with
caustic soda to produce brownstock, which is then washed
with water to remove cooking (black) liquor for the recovery
of chemicals and energy [7]. Pulp is also manufactured from
recycled paper. Mechanical pulp can be used without
bleaching to make printing papers for applications in which
low brightness is acceptable primarily, newsprint. However,
for most printing, for copying, and for some packaging
grades, the pulp has to be bleached. For mechanical pulps,
most of the original lignin in the raw pulp is retained but is
bleached with peroxides and hydrosulphides [8]. In the case
of chemical pulps (Kraft and sulphite), the objective of
bleaching is to remove the small fraction of the lignin
remaining after cooking. Oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, ozone,
peracetic acid, sodium hypochlorite, chlorine dioxide,
chlorine, and other chemicals are used to transform lignin
into an alkali soluble form.
2 WASTE CHARACTERISTICS
The significant environmental impacts of the manufacture
of pulp and paper result from the Pulping and bleaching
processes. In some processes, sulfur compounds and nitrogen
oxides are emitted to the air, and chlorinated and organic
compounds, nutrients, and metals are discharged to the
wastewaters.
2.1 Air Emissions
In the Kraft pulping process, highly malodorous emissions
of reduced sulfur compounds [9], measured as total reduced
sulfur (TRS) and including hydrogen sulfide, methyl
mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide, and dimethyl disulfide, are
17
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
emitted, typically at a rate of 0.3–3 kilograms per metric ton
(kg/t) of air dried pulp (ADP- Airdried pulp is defined as
90% bone-dry fiber and 10% water) [10]. Other typical
generation rates are: particulate matter, 75–150 kg/t; sulfur
oxides, 0.5–30 kg/t; nitrogen oxides, 1–3 kg/t; and volatile
organic compounds (VOCs), 15 kg/t from black liquor
oxidation. In the sulfite pulping process, sulfur oxides are
emitted at rates ranging from 15 kg/t to over 30 kg/t. Other
pulping processes, such as the mechanical and thermo
mechanical methods, generate significantly lower quantities
of air emissions. Steam and electricity generating units using
coal or fuel oil emit fly ash, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen
oxides. Coal burning can emit fly ash at the rate of 100 kg/
t of ADP.
2.2 Liquid Effluents
Wastewaters are discharged at a rate of 20–250 cubic meters
per metric ton (m3/t) of ADP. They are high in biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD), at 10–40 kg/t of ADP; total
suspended solids, 10– 50 kg/t of ADP; chemical oxygen
demand (COD), 20–200 kg/t of ADP; and chlorinated
organic compounds, which may include dioxins, furans, and
other absorbable organic halides, AOX, at 0–4 kg/t of ADP.
Wastewater from chemical pulping contains 12–20 kg of
BOD/t of ADP, with values of up to 350 kg/t. The
corresponding values for Mechanical pulping wastewaters
are 15–25 kg BOD/t of ADP. For chemimechanical pulping,
BOD discharges are 3 to 10 times higher than those for
mechanical pulping. Pollution loads for some processes, such
as those using nonwood raw materials, could be significantly
different. Phosphorus and nitrogen are also released into
wastewaters [11]. The main source of nutrients, nitrogen,
and phosphorus compounds is raw material such as wood.
The use of peroxide, ozone, and other chemicals in bleaching
makes it necessary to use a complexion agent for heavy
metals such as manganese.
3 MANUFACTURING PROCESS
In general, paper is manufactured by applying a liquid
suspension of cellulose fibers to a screen, which allows the
water to drain, and leaves the fibrous particles behind in a
sheet. The liquid fibrous substrate formed into paper sheets
is called pulp.
Processes in the manufacture of paper and paperboard can,
in general terms, be split into three steps: pulp making, pulp
processing, and paper/paperboard production. Paperboard
sheets are thicker than paper sheets; paperboard is normally
thicker than 0.3 mm. Generally speaking, however, paper
and paperboard production processes are identical [12]. First,
a stock pulp mixture is produced by digesting a material
into its fibrous constituents via chemical, mechanical, or a
combination of both. In the case of wood, the most common
pulping material, chemical pulping actions release cellulose
fibers by selectively destroying the chemical bonds in the
gluelike substance (lignin) that binds the fibers together.
After the fibers are separated and impurities have been
removed, the pulp may be bleached to improve brightness
and processed to a form suitable for papermaking equipment.
Currently, onefifth of all pulp and paper mills practice
bleaching [13]. At the papermaking stage, the pulp can be
combined with dyes, strength building resins, or texture
adding filler materials, depending on its intended end
18
product. Afterwards, the mixture is dewatered, leaving the
fibrous constituents and pulp additives on a wire or wiremesh
conveyor. Additional additives may be applied after the sheet
making step. The fibers bond together as they are carried
through a series of presses and heated rollers. The final paper
product is usually spooled on large rolls for storage.
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS
4.1 Sample collection
The effluent samples (bleached) were collected from a pulp
and paper mill effluent and were stored in plastic containers,
kept at 4 °C and transported to our laboratory. The remaining
effluent sample was kept in the cold room for later use.
4.2 Inoculums
The inoculums used in this experiment were collected from
oxidation pond and procured from a batch anaerobic reactor
located in the laboratory, which has been maintained at
ambient temperature condition.
4.3 SBBR
A reactor with 3 L working volume was used in this study. It
was operated at room temperature.The reactor was earlier
operated at hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 36 hours can
of the six months and later can adjusted to HRT of 24 hours
in order to make the performance comparison of the Biofilm
between both the HRTs. The samples were analyzed for
COD, AOXs and the amount of biomass washout before
being fed into the reactor.
5 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
The overall methodology of this study is as illustrated the
SBBR system was initiated with the characterization of the
influent and effluent samples and these were followed by
the kinetic studies of the microorganism growth and the
optimization of reactor operating parameters [14], [15] ,[16].
The COD and biomass parameters were analyzed using the
standard methods with the respective instruments as listed
in Table 2. The Adsorbable organic halides were extracted
using the solid phase extraction (SPE) .
6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The characteristics of batches of samples from recycled paper
mill factory were determined. That the maximum influent
concentrations obtained for COD on all samples were 7860
mg/L while the COD values on the effluent were below 300
mgL/1. The removal ranges for COD 24 hours were 50–
80% and 50–66%, respectively. As was previously observed
by the study of Barr et al. (1996), the removal of COD was
found to decrease with the decreasing of the HRT. It was
also observed that at the initial stage of the study
(approximately within the first 20 days), the COD removal
was higher even though the biomass concentration was
below 2000 mgL1. This was most probably due to the
adsorption of the COD onto the freshly introduced .The
concentrations of the compounds as identified in the paper
mill effluent with their percentage removals were as shown
in the concentrations of phenol were found to be very low
and could hardly be detected.
The efficiency of a system is also very dependent on the
characteristics of the microbe population in the reactor.
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

.Analysis of the growth kinetic parameters in SBBR had Table 2. The AOXs were extracted using the solid phase
deduced that the system is capable to operate a long biomass extraction (SPE) Technique and later analyzed using the
retention time under anoxic condition (or less HPLC instrument.
oxygen).Anderson et al. (1996) has reported that the PARA- INSTRU- METHOD REFERE-
consumption of nonbiodegradable substrate would lower the METER NCE
MENTS
specific growth rate.
Wastewater from pulp and paper industry is one of the serious Chemical HACH DR
problems due to the high concentration in COD and color Oxygen 5000 Spec- Digestion Method EPA
substances.Several treatment systems have been introduced Demand trophoto-
(COD) meter
for treating this kind of wastewater on the basis of its high
removal efficiency and low operating cost. NAINI pulp and Absorba- (HPLC) Zorbax-SB C18 Agilent
paper Industries Co., Ltd, one of the biggest companies to ble organo- with UV Column techno-
produce pulp and paper products in India, was used for logies (2002)
checking the wastewater quality. The wastewater from this halides detector (150mm×4.6mm
factory had high concentration of COD, BOD5 and color (AOX) (Agilent ×5μm)
substances as 1255 mg/l, 449 mg/l and 697 Pt- Co units, series 1100) Mobile phase:
respectively. The COD: BOD ratio was 2.8:1. This means 20% Aceton Nitril
that the pulp and paper industry wastewater contains large (ACN)/80%0.01MH3
amounts of organic compounds that are difficult to PO4 to 45%CAN in
biodegrade and inorganic reducing substances. However, 7.5 minwith gradient
most of the pulp and paper industry factory still uses the of 80% ACN in 2min
biological treatment system such as the oxidation pond, and UV detection at
aerated lagoon or activated sludge. Many factories have 254 nm
problems with the fluctuation in the quality of the effluent, Biomass Filtration unit Mass liquid APHA
stability of the system and, operating and investment cost. Suspended solids (1992)
The SBR system has been introduced into several kinds of
industries such as seafood and meat processing industries Kinetic - Monod Equation Monod
for reduction of investment and operating costs. In this study, growth (1949)
we have tried to introduce the SBR system to treat pulp and
paper industry wastewater. The results show that the 7 Conclusion
microorganisms in SBR system can remove both organic
matters (COD and BOD5) and color substances from the The study can show that selection of suitable processes effect
wastewater. The effluent qualities, except color intensity the COD removal. The results of this initial study thus
reaffirm the fact that SBBR system treatment of recycled
passed the standard permission .The removal efficiencies of
pulp and paper mill effluents could be considered as an
SBR system improved with the increase of HRT, except for
alternative option not only for energy cogeneration but also
color removal efficiency. The COD removal efficiencies of
as a means of significantly reducing some of the more
the SBR system were increased from 73.26% to 89.80% important, albeit organic recalcitrant, objectionable
while the color removal efficiency was reduced from parameters. COD reduction can see easily and the use of
56.96%to 48.92% when HRT of the system was increased with combination with SBR is one of the best methods for
from 1 day to 3 days. It means that when the HRT was the COD reduction. The reduction were observed about 60-
increased, the organic loading was decreased then; the 80% and rest of the parameters analysied as shown in the
removal efficiency was increase. graph below from fig.1 to fig.5

Table 1: Different values for batch process

Date 18 June,2010 MLSS Conc. At 4340Kg/m3
starting stage

Date 18 June,2010 VSS Conc. At 1520mg/l

starting stage

Date 28 June,2010 MLSS Conc. 3840 Kg/m3

Date 28 June,2010 VSS Conc. 1540 mg/l

Date 12 July,2010 MLSS Conc. 5220 Kg/m3

Date 12July,2010 VSS Conc. 2520 mg/l

Fig. 1: COD characteristics of influent and effluent
observed.

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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
Fig 2: Time Vs COD concentration and their %age
removal
Fig 3: Time Vs Influent & Effluent TSS Concentrations.
Fig 4: D.O Vs MLVSS/MLSS Concentration
Fig 5: Time Vs pH & Alkalinity profile
20
References
[1] Karnis. A, The mechanism of fibre developmentin
mechanical pumping. J. Pulp paper science, vol. 20, no.
10.1994, pp J280,-J288
[2] Salmen, L. Lucander, M. Harkonen, E. and Suldholm,
J.,Fundamental of mechanical pulping.Mechanical
pulping (Paermaking science and technology, Book-5)
Jan Sundholm, Fapet Oy Finland, 2000. Pp.35-61.
[3] Hill, J., Sabourin, M., Johansson,L., et al., Int. Mech.
Pulping Conf., Proc., SPCI, Stockholm, 2009, p. 36.
[4] Muhic´, D., Sundström,L., Nilsson,L., et al., Int. Mech.
Pulping Conf., Proc., SPCI, Stockholm, 2009, p. 344.
[5] Mokvist, A., Russell, G., and Lauritzen, J., Int. Mech.
Pulping Conf., Proc., Oslo, 2005, Conf. CD
[6] Meadow, D. G. 1998. “Improvements add CTMP line to
Enso’s Imatra mill” Tappi Journal 81(1).
[7] Panesar, P.S., S.S. Marwaha and R. Rai: Methanogenesis
of black liquor of pulp and paper industry using UASB
reactor in biphasic system. J. Indus. Pollut. Cont., 15(2),
157-163 (1999)
[8] Buisman, C.J., Witt, B. & Lettinga, G. (1988). A new
biotechnological process for sulphide removal with
sulphur production. In: Fifth International Symposium
on Anaerobic Digestion.Bologna, Italy, pp. 1922
[9] Wegener, G. (1992). Pulping innovations in Germany.
Ind. Crops Prod., 1(2-4):113-117
[10] M. Benjamin, et al., “A General Description of
Commercial Wood Pulping And Bleaching Processes”,
Journal Of The Air Pollution Control Association,
19(3):155-161, March 1969
[11] Manning J F and Irvine R L. The biological removal of
phosphorus in a sequencing batch reactor [J]. J. War.
Pollut. Control Fed., 1985, 57: 87-94.
[12] Dellinger, R.W. (1980). Development document for
effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the pulp,
paper and paperboard and the builders’ paper and board
mills.US Environmental Protection Agency Report
EPA440/025b, Washington DC, USA.
[13] Kham, L., Bigot, Y.L., Mlayah, B.B., and Delmas, M.
(2005b). Bleaching of solvent delignified wheat straw
pulp. Appita J., 58(2):135–137.
[14] Chozick R and Irvine R L. Preliminary studies on the
granular activated carbon-sequencing batch biofilm
reactor [J]. Environ. Prog., 1991:282.
[15] Wilderer P A, Roske I, Ueberschar A and Davids L.
Continuous flow and sequenced batch operation of
biofilm reactors: a comparative study of shock loading
responses[J]. Biofouling, 1993, 6: 295-304.
[16] Wilderer P A. Technology of membrane biofilm reactors
operated under periodically changing process conditions
[J]. War. Sci. Tech., 1995, 31: 173- 183.
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Suitability of Sludge as a Building Material

Krishna Priya Nair, Vivek J M, Prof.Shibu K
Abstract— Different industries produce sludge of different quality and in different quantities. Common method adopted for disposing the
sludge is land filling. Landfill disposal of the sludge has drawbacks like high cost of transportation, difficulty in getting suitable sites for
land filling, heavy metal contamination of the land, emission of foul gases etc. Thus the disposal of sludge has become a major issue.The
objective of this study is to identify the possibilities of using the sludge obtained from effluent treatment plant in Hindustan Latex
Limited,Trivandrum as a brick material. The different engineering properties were also studied by conducting tests on brick specimens of
various mix proportions prepared.It was seen that when percentage of sludge was increased beyond 60%, water requirement as well as water
absorption of the bricks increased by 18%. But at the same time, compressive strength of the brick deccreased by 10.85% . But on addition
of cement, flyash and sisal fibres, the compressive strength increased by 30% and thre properties of the bricks improved.Further it can be
added that other alternatives like coir fibres,charcoal husk ,lime whose addition shall enhance the properties which can be considered as the
scope for future research.

Index Terms— Brick,Cement,Compressive strength,Effluent,Flyash,HLL Lifecare Limited,Moisture,Property,Sisal fibres,Water absorption

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION effective quality control at every manufacturing stage right

from the raw material to the final product, during its various

A
large quantity of sludge is generated each year from
various industries. The quantity of the sludge
produced depends upon the amount of wastewater
and the type of treatment adopted for treating the wastewater.
Common method adopted for disposing the sludge is land
filling. Landfill disposal of the sludge has drawbacks like
high cost of transportation, difficulty in getting suitable sites
for land filling, heavy metal contamination of the land,
emission of foul gases etc. So, disposal of sludge has become
a major issue. The use of sludge in construction industry is
considered to be the most economic and environmentally
sound option.This study focuses on the possibility of using
sludge as a brick material[1]. The sludge for this study was
collected from HLL Lifecare Limited;
Peroorkada,Trivandrum. The main raw material used in this
industry is Latex (colloidal suspension of very small polymer
particles in water). The bricks were subjected to compressive
strength test and water absorption test and thus their
suitability for construction purpose was examined[2].
1.1HLL (formerly Hindustan Latex Ltd.)Lifecare
Limited
Hindustan Latex Limited or HLL Lifecare Limited is a
Government of India undertaking, under the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, which
started as a corporate entity in March 1966. Their product
ranges from contraceptive aids and healthcare aids to social
marketing products.HLL gives emphasis on
————————————————
• Krishna Priya Nair is currently pursuing Bachelor degree
program in Civil Engineering in College of Engineering
,Trivandrum,Kerala, India, PH-08547186572. E-mail:
krishnapriyanair1011@gmail.com
• Vivek J M is currently pursuing Bachelor degree program in Civil
Engineering in College of Engineering ,Trivandrum,Kerala,
India, PH-09400452755. E-mail: kevivvishnu@gmail.com
• Shibu k is currently working as an Assistant professor in Civil
Engineering department ,College of Engineering
Trivandrum,Kerala, India, PH-09446066302. E-mail:
shibukrishnanp@yahoo.co.in
ICICE-2013
production stages.
1.2 Literature Review
A study was conducted on the use of recycled paper
processing residues in making porous brick with reduced
thermal conductivity by Mucahit Sutcu et.al.(2009)[3]. In
this study mixtures containing brick raw materials and the
paper waste were prepared at different proportions (upto 30%
by weight). The results obtained showed that the use of paper
processing residues decreased the fired density of bricks
down to 1.25 g/cc. Compressive strengths of the brick
samples obtained in this study were higher than that required
for standards.
Another study conducted by Chih-Huang Weng et.al (2003)
investigated [4]the influence of sludge proportion and the
firing temperature in determining the brick quality. Results
showed that the brick weight loss in ignition was mainly
attributed to the organic matter content in the sludge being
burnt out during the firing process. With upto 20% sludge
added to the bricks, the strength measured at temperatures
960 °C and 1000°C met the requirements of the Chinese
National Standards. Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure
(TCLP) tests of bricks also showed that there is low metal
leaching.
The study conducted by Chihpin et al. (2001) investigated
[5]the use of sludge as partial substitute for clay in brick
manufacturing. In this study, four different series of sludge
and clay proportioning ratios were studied, which exclusively
involved the addition of sludge with ratios 50%, 60%, 70%
and 80% of the total weight of sludge-clay mixture. Each
series involved the firing of bricks at 950°C, 1000°C, 1050°C
and 1100°C, giving 16 different brick types. The physical
properties of the manufactured bricks were then determined
and evaluated according to Egyptian Standard Specifications
and British standards. From the results, it was concluded
that by operating at the temperature commonly practiced in
the brick kiln, 50% was the optimum sludge addition to
produce brick from sludge-clay mixture.
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2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objective of this study is to identify the possibilities of
using sludge obtained from effluent treatment plant [6] in
HLL Lifecare Limited ; Peroorkada, Trivandrum as a brick
material. The different engineering properties were also
studied. The sewage sludge is having a typical composition
leading to a preliminary property analysis[7].The bricks thus
manufactured were subjected to compressive strength test
and water absorption test and thus their suitability for
construction purpose was examined.
3 NATURE OF THE EFFLUENT TREA-
TMENT PLANT
The Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in HLL was installed
for clear water discharge from production line since 1969.
Present ETP can handle up to l000 kL/day of wastewater.The
following are the components of the said plant:
3.1.Collection Tank/ Equalization tank
The function of the equalization tank is to collect effluent
from the different streams and to keep uniform characteristics
for the effluent stream. Effluents from various sections of
the plant, which includes latex, filtrate from Nutsche filter,
wash water and canteen effluent are collected in this tank.
Four such collection tanks are installed to collect wastewaters
from the three plants A, B and C.
3.2.Lime Mixing Channel
pH of the raw effluent ranges from 9-10. Hydrated lime,
i.e., 1% solution of lime is therefore added to the effluent in
order to make the pH 12. This enhances floe formation. Lime
is allowed to flow into the channel under gravity.
3.3.FeCl3 Mixing Channel
FeCl3 reagent stored in Sintex tank is next transferred under
gravity and is added to the effluent at the rate of 150-1000
mL/min. This neutralizes the pH and brings the pH level to
6-8.
3.4.Sludge Recirculation Sump
Sludge from secondary settling tank is to be fed to sludge
recirculation sump by gravity. Sludge will be partially
recycled back to the aeration tank. Balance portion will be
send to sludge drying bed. It is cleaned once in a month.
3.5.Chemoxidation Tank
Overflow from secondary settling tank is fed to
Chemoxidation tank. Diluted sodium hypochlorite solution
is dosed for 24 hours (20 litre NaHOCl in 180 litre of water).
General flow rate is maintained as 140-200 mL/min. Addition
of NaHOCl oxidizes residual biodegradable organics. pH
after dosing is maintained at 7-8.
3.6.Pressure Sand Filter
The clear overflow from the chemoxidation tank is pumped
through two Pressure Sand Filters operated in parallel for
removing any precipitated solids during Chemoxidation.
Filter feed pumps are used for feeding the effluent to the
pressure sand filter. The filter is backwashed every 20
minutes.
22
3.7.Treated effluent water collection tank
Overflow from sand filter is fed to final effluent water
collection tank through a cascade. The overflow from the
final treated water is discharged through the final outlet. pH
of treated water is maintained at the range of 6-8 and recycled
on hourly basis. The flow rate through final outlet is noted
using V notch and calculated using the following relation:
Q=H5/2x 1.4x 60x 60x24 (1)
3
where,Q- Discharge through the V notch in m /s
H- Height of the water flow through V notch in cm
While calculating the discharge using (1), height of water
flow through V notch is maintained in the range of 6.5-12.5
cm.
3.8.Recycling of treated effluent water
40% of treated water [8] is used for gardening, toilet flushing,
floor cleaning, ETP cleaning works etc. In addition to the
above, treated water is supplied in tankers for gardening at
Golf Club, Trivandrum.
3.9.Sludge Drying Beds
Solid cake from the filter press is transferred to sludge drying
beds. Sludge from the other tanks during cleaning operation
is also transferred to sludge drying beds. There are 6 cells in
sludge drying beds. After filling each cell, sludge is taken to
the next cells. This process is separated till the sludge covers
the entire cells in drying cells. Filtrate from the bed is allowed
to enter aeration tank for further treatment.
4 STUDY SPECIMENS-BRICKS
Brick is one of the oldest building materials and it is
extensively used even at present because of its durability,
strength, reliability, low cost, easy availability etc. Bricks
are obtained by moulding clay in rectangular blocks of
uniform size then by drying and burning these blocks in brick
kilns .The use of typical sludge is the focal point of this
study[10].The study conducted at water treatment plants had
shown that the percentage of sludge in brick manufacture
can be progressively increased to desired strength with
addition of special additives[10,11,12].Use of flyash is being
studied here.
5 MATERIALS AND METHODS USED
The sludge subjected to drying for a period of two weeks
was collected from the effluent treatment plant of
HLLLifecare Limited, Peroorkada.The different engineering
properties studied are as follows:
5.1.Materials
• Sludge(<2.36mm)
• Clay (<2.36mm)
• Sand(<2.36mm)
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5.2 Moisture Content Brick moulds were properly oiled using furnace oil. The
mixed sludge was then filled in brick moulds in 3 layers.
Moisture content is the ratio of weight of water present in Each layer was compacted with the compaction rod and the
the sludge to the weight of dry sludge.It was calculated as surface was finished with a trowel.
per IS 2720 (Part II),1973.[13]
5.4.Drying
Table 1:Observation for moisture The bricks were removed from the mould immediately and
contentdetermination were kept aside at room temperature for drying.
Dish No. 1 2 3
5.5.High Temperature drying in Oven
Weight of Dish (Wl) g 48.22 34.04 28.18
After one day the bricks were subjected to burning in a muffle
Weight of dish+ 77.71 60.84 48.65 furnace. The bricks were burned at a temperature of 1000°C
wet sludge (W2) g for 2 days.
Weight of dish + oven 60.21 44.31 35.49 5.6. Testing
dry sludge (W3) g Standard tests as per IS Specification were conducted on
Weight of oven 11.99 10.27 7.31 bricks. The tests were conducted in the Strength of Materials
dry sludge (W3-W1) g Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, College of
Engineering, Trivandrum.
Weight of water 17.5 16.53 13.16
(W2-W3) g 6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Moisture content( %) 145.95 160.95 180.03 6.1.Number of bricks required
Three bricks each were made for conducting the compressive
Moisture Content=(W2-W3)/(W3-W1) (2) strength test as well as the water absorption test. With the
varying percentage of sludge, three bricks each were required
TheAverage moisture content was found to be 162.31%
for each percentage. Six moulds of dimensions
5.3. Specific Gravity 19cmx9cmx9cm were used and therefore simultaneously 6
bricks could be made at a stretch.
Specific gravity of sludge is the ratio of weight in air of the
given volume of dried sludge to the weight of equal volume
of water at 4°C.
Specific Gravity of sludge=
(W2-W1) / ((W4-W1)-(W3-W2)) (3)
Where,
W1=weight of dry pycnometer
W2=weight of pycnometer containing one-third sludge by
volume.
W3= weight of pycnometer containing one-third sludge by
volume + water to fill the pycnometer.
W4=weight of pycnometer fully filled with water. Fig 1.Brick specimens
Table 2: Observation for specific gravity 6.2. CASE 1- Variation in brick properties of bricks with
determination respect to change in percentage of sludge, clay and sand

Dish No. 1 2 3 The sludge, clay and sand were thoroughly crushed and
sieved through 2.36mm sieve. Two sets of bricks were made
Weight of bottle (g) 627 627 627 in the proportions 2:2:1 (sludge: clay: sand) and 1:3:1
(sludge: clay: sand).
Weight of bottle 791 844.5 943
+ soil,W1 (g) Table 3.Properties of Case I Bricks
Weight of dry soil, 164 217.5 316 Brick Proportion Proportion Compressive
W2 (g) (sludge:clay: Strength
specimen (sludge:clay:sand)
sand) (N/mm2)
Weight of pycnometer + 1558.5 1597 1630
soil + water,W3 (g) 1 2:2:1 37 1.5

Weight of pycnometer + 1521 1521 1521 2 1:3:1 24 0.93

full of water, W4 (g)
Specific gravity 1.296 1.537 1.5266

Specific Gravity= 1.53

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6.2.1 Compressive strength of Bricks 6.5. CASE 4- Variation in brick properties with respect
to flyash addition
After conducting the compression test on the brick specimens
a graph was plotted showing the effect of percentage of clay Flyash is used as an additive in making bricks. It was added
in the same way as cement was added in case III. Fly ash is
and sludge on compressive strength of brick as shown.From
one of the residues generated in combustion, and comprises
the graph it was observed that the compressive strength the fine particles that rise with the flue gases. In an industrial
decreased with increase in the percentage of sludge.After context, fly ash usually refers to ash produced during
conducting water absorption test on the two set of bricks a combustion of coal. Fly ash is generally captured by
graph was plotted showing the effect of percentage of clay electrostatic precipitators or other particle filtration
and sludge on water absorption .From the graph it was equipment before the flue gases reach the chimneys. Three
observed that the water absorption of the bricks increased sets of bricks were made with varying percentages of flyash.
with increase in the percentage of sludge.
6.3. CASE 2 - Variation in brick propertiess under
varying percentage of sludge and clay
Since sand could not melt at the temperature available in
the oven, it failed to bind the other materials properly. Thus
we removed sand later on and introduced Case II in which
bricks were prepared using sludge and clay only. Sludge and
clay were crushed, sieved through 2.36mm sieve and mixed
in different proportions. The sludge: clay proportions used
were 2:3, 1:4, 4:1, 3:2 and 1:1 respectively. Reference bricks
were also made using 100% sludge and 100% clay.[14]
Table4 : Properties of Case II bricks

Water Compressive Fig 2. Sample of Fly ash used

Brick Proportion absorption strength
specimen (Sludge:clay) Table5 : Properties of Case III bricks
(%) (N/mm2)
Proportion Percentage Water Compressive
Brick
1 2:3 22 1.8 (Sludge: of fly ash Absorption Strength
specimen added (%) (%) (N/mm2)
clay)
2 1:4 19 1.585
1 1:4 5 19 1.6
3 4:1 37 1.413
2 1:4 10 17 1.89
4 1:0 41 1.18
3 1:4 15 14 2.3
5 0:1 11 1.62

6 1:1 29 1.68

7 3:2 30 1.36

6.4. CASE 3- Variation in brick properties with addition

Water Absorption (%)

of cement
Cement is used as an additive to improve the properties of
the bricks. Cement is a binder, a substance that sets and
hardens independently, and can bind other materials together
[15]. The composition of sludge: clay is taken as 1:4 that is
20% sludge and the remaining 80% clay. This composition
was taken as water absorption at this composition as observed
in the above cases was within the permissible limits. To this
cement was added. Three sets of bricks were made in this
case, each set with a different percentage of cement. Cement
was added in 5%, 10% and 15% of the total weight of sludge Fig 3. Variation of water absorption with amount of flyash
and clay to a set of bricks. Each set comprises of 3 bricks
each. Thus total 9 bricks were made.
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sludge such as specific gravity and moisture content were

Fig 4. Variation in compressive strength with amount of
flyash
6.6. CASE 6- Variation in brick properties with respect
to sisal fibre addition
Sisal fibres made from the plant Agave sisalana is used for
improving the strength of the bricks of proportion 1:4 sludge:
clay. Some amount of sisal fibre each of length 5cm was
added into the mix and the bricks were moulded after
thoroughly mixing the fibres with the sludge-clay mix. Three
bricks of the mix were made and the tests for the same were
conducted.
studied. Specific gravity of sludge was obtained as 1.53 while
moisture content was observed to be 162%.Different
conditions affecting the strength of bricks were studied. It
was seen that when percentage of sludge was increased in
the mix, water requirement as well as water absorption of
the bricks increased. But at the same time, compressive
strength of the brick decreased. But on the addition of cement
and flyash, the properties of the bricks improved.
Eventhough the shearing resistance of the bricks improved
on the addition of sisal fibres, there was no effect on the
water absorption and compressive strength of the bricks.
Thus it could be concluded that the sludge alone cannot be
used for brick manufacture. But the properties of the bricks
have shown considerable improvement after the addition
of stabilizers like cement and flyash.The various effects [17]
of sludge are to be considered in future studies and its
health and environmental effects are to be taken into account.
8 SCOPE OF FUTURE STUDY
8.1 Mixing
In this study hand mixing was done to mix the ingidients of
brick together. The strength of bricks might be improved if
a pug mill was used for mixing.
8.2 Binding
Different other kind of additives like coir fibres, lime,
charcoal husk etc shall be tried to improve the strength of
the bricks.
9 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank the Department of Civil
Engineering, College Of Engineering,Trivandum for
providing the laboratory facilities for carrying out various
tests.
REFERENCES
[1] Tay J.H., “Bricks manufacture from sludge”. J. Environ.Eng. 113
(2), 278–283,1987

[2] Liew A.G., Idris A., Samad A.A., Wong H.K., Jaafar M.S., Baki
Fig 5.Sample of sisal fibre used A.M.,”Reusability of sewage sludge in clay bricks”, Journal of
Material Cycles andWaste Management 6 (1), 41–47, 2004
Table 6: Properties of Case IV bricks
[3] Mucahit Sutcu, Sedat Akkurt, “The use of recycled paper
processing residues in making porous brick with reduced thermal
Water Compressive conductivity”, Ceramic International, Vol 35, Issue 7, pages 2625-
Brick Proportion
absorption strength 2631, 2009
specimen (Sludge:clay) (%) (N/mm2)
[4] Chih-Huang Weng , “Utilization of sludge as brick materials”,
1 2:3 21 1.6 Advances in Environmental Research, Vol 7, pages 679-685,2003.

2 1:4 20 0.62 [5] Chihpin Huang , “Reuse of Water Treatment Plant Sludge and
Dam Sediment in Brick-making”, Water Science and Technology,
3 1:1 30 1.47 Vol 44, issue 10, pages 273-277,2001

[6] Vandana.G, Neethu Krishnan ,”Reutilization of Sludge as a brick

The shearing resistance of bricks was found to be
considerably high when sisal fibres were added.
[7]
7 CONCLUSION
Sludge produced in the plant was effectively used in
manufacture of bricks and the quantity of waste generated [8]
was minimized[16].Different engineering properties of the
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material”, M.Tech Thesis Report, College of Engineering,
University of Kerala,2011.
Lin, D.-F., Weng, C.-H., “ Use of sewage sludge ash as brick
material”. Journal ofEnvironmental Engineering 10 (127), 922–
927, 2009
Hassanain, A.M.,”Brick Manufacturing from Water Treatment
Plant Sludge”, M.Sc. Thesis, Civil Eng. Dept., Faculty of Eng.,
Benha Univ., Egypt,2008
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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
[9] Wiebusch B., Seyfried C.F.,” Utilization of sewagesludge ashes
in the brick and tile industry”. Water Sci.Technol. 36 (11), 251–
258,1997
[10] Badr El-Din E. Hegazy , ‘Reuse of Water Treatment Sludge and
Silica Fume in Brick Manufacturing’, Journal of American
Science, Vol 7, pages 569-576,2011
[11] Hegazy B.E. , “Brick making from water treatment plant sludge”,
J. Eng. Appl. Sci., 54(6), 599-616,2007
[12] Feenstra L., Wolde J.G.T. and Eenstroom C.M., “Reusing water
treatment plant sludge as secondary rawmaterial in brick
manufacturing”, Proceedings of the International Conference on
the Environment andTechnical Implications of Construction with
Alternative Materials, Houthem, June 1997
26
[13] Indian standard methods of test for soils part II determinati.on
of water content IS 2720 ( Part II ) - 1973 (Second Revision)
[14] Tay J. H., Yip W.K., and Show K.Y. , ‘‘Clay-blended sludge
aslightweight aggregate concrete material.’’ J. Envir. Engrg.,
ASCE,117(6), 834–844,1991
[15] Neville, A.M. , Properties of Concrete, 3rd Edition, Pitman
Publshing, London.,1989
[16] Alleman J. E., and Berman N.A., ‘‘Constructive sludge man-
agement: Biobrick.’’J. Envir. Engrg., ASCE, 110(2), 301–
311,1984
[17] Cusidó J.A., Cremades L.V. ,”Environmental effects of using clay
bricks produced with sewage sludge: Leachability andtoxicity
studies”. Waste Management , doi:10.1016/
j.wasman.2011.12.024,2012
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Cyclic Response of Stone Columns

K.V.S.B. Raju, L.Govinda raju, Chandrashekhar A.S
Abstract- Stone column is a proven ground improvement technique to improve the stiffness of ground in weak soils. It is found from the
literature that lot of studies was confined on static behavior of stone columns but studies were limited on the cyclic behavior of stone
columns. The necessity of cyclic behavior arises when the improved ground is to resist dynamic loads such as machine loads, seismic loads
and cyclic loads. In this paper an attempt is made to study the behavior of stone columns subjected to cyclic loading to improve the characteristics
of black cotton soil. The cyclic behavior was investigated by conducting a number of cyclic plate load tests on end bearing and floating stone
columns. Also studies were also extended to encased stone columns with geosynthetic material. From the cyclic plate load tests a parameter
known as coefficient of elastic uniform compression was found which is used in the design of machine foundations. It is found that as
compared to untreated black cotton soil alone, the coefficient of elastic uniform compression (Cu) increases with inclusion of stone columns
and further when compared to floating stone columns the parameter (Cu) increases for end bearing stone columns. Also when compared to
single stone columns the parameter (Cu) increases for group of stone columns, and further it more in case of encased stone columns due to
increased lateral stiffness due to encasement.

Index Terms— Stone columns, Geotextile, Dynamic load, Lateral stiffness, Black cotton soil, Coefficient of elastic uniform compression,
Cyclic plate load tests.
——————————  ——————————

1. INTRODUCTION significantly increase by including the geogrid in the sand

bed above the stone column on the soft clay and also the

S
everal researchers have worked on theoretical,
experimental and field study on behavior of stone
columns. Ambily and Gandhi (2007) carried out
experiments to evaluate the behavior of stone column by
varying spacing, shear strength of soft clay, moisture content
etc. Ayadat et al. (2005) conducted a series of laboratory
tests on the geofabric encapsulated stone column to
investigate its performance in a collapsible soil. The load
carrying capacity and the deformation characteristics were
studied. From this investigation, it was found that the load
carrying capacity of the encapsulated sand columns increased
with the increase of geofabric material stiffness. The increase
of column rigidity and column length increase the load
carrying capacity of the collapsible soil. Dipty and Girish
(2009) studied the influence of column material on the
performance of stone column through laboratory experiments
on model stone columns installed in clay. Five reinforcement
materials were studied: stones, gravel, river sand, sea sand
and quarry dust. Load versus settlement response was
obtained. The grain size of the stone column material is one
of the prime controlling parameters in the design of stone
columns. It was found that stones are the most effective stone
column material. Quarry dust, though a waste product is
effective in improving the load deformation characteristics
of the soil used. Deb et al. (2010) conducted a series of
laboratory test to investigate the effect of geogrid-reinforced
sand bed on stone column. From this investigation, it was
found that the load carrying capacity of the soft clay was
————————————————
• K.V.S.B. Raju, Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering
Department, University Visvesvaraya College of
Engineering,(U.V.C.E) Bangalore University, Bangalore –
560056, India. Email: kvsbraju.2007@gmail.com.
• L.Govindaraju, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering
Department, University Visvesvaraya College of
Engineering,(U.V.C.E) Bangalore University, Bangalore –
560056, India.
• Chandrashekhar A.S , Senior Engineer,CIVIL-AID
Technoclinic Pvt Ltd, Bangalore – 560070, India. Email:
cvshekar31@gmail.com
bulge diameter was significantly reduced and the bulge depth
was increased. Malarvizhi and Ilamparuthi (2004) studied
load versus settlement response of the stone column and
reinforced stone column i.e. geogrid-encased stone column
in the laboratory. Load tests were performed on soft clay
bed stabilized with single stone column and reinforced stone
column having various slenderness ratios and using different
type of encasing material.
The response of foundations due to dynamic stress
application produced by earthquakes, blasting, machine
vibrations resting on poor ground is a subject of interest in
recent times due to increased cost of land and lack of
availability of firm strata at or near to ground surface. Due
to increased infrastructure development taking place in many
parts of the country the availability of land is scarce
particularly in urban areas. This necessitates the use of land
which has weaker strata, where in geotechnical engineers
are challenged by presence of different problematic soils
having varied engineering characteristics. Concrete pile
foundations are not economically and technically feasible
for moderately loaded structures such as storage tanks and
industrial structures. In addition, their environmental
constraints greatly encourage the improvement of weak soils
by some ground improvement techniques. Out of several
techniques of ground improvement, the stone columns have
been used to a large extent for several applications. Of course,
a number of researchers have studied and substantially
contributed in the field of ground improvement using stone
columns but such studies were mainly confined to the static
loading conditions only. Studies pertaining to cyclic behavior
of stone columns are required when a machine foundation
is proposed to rest on a weaker stratum. Machine foundation
require the special attention of a foundation engineer as in
addition to static loads due to weight of machine and the
foundation, loads acting on such foundations are dynamic
in nature. In this type of foundation, a dynamic load is
applied repetitively over a very large period of time and many
loading cycles. While the magnitude is small, it is therefore

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necessary the soil behavior will be elastic, or else

deformation will increase with each cycle of loading until
the foundation displacements becomes practically
unacceptable. In designing a machine foundation, the
coefficient of elastic uniform compression of soil (Cu) is the
most important parameter which can be obtained by
conducting a cyclic plate load tests.
In the present study a series of cyclic plate load tests were
conducted for floating and end bearing single and group of
stone columns, with and without encasement of
geosynthetics to evaluate a dynamic parameter namely
coefficient of elastic uniform compression (Cu) which is used
in the design of machine foundations. In the present study
the ratio between the size of the model tank and size of plate
is not equal to five, hence it is expected to have some
boundary effects. However an attempt is made to conduct a
series of cyclic plate load tests in addition to static tests to
evaluate coefficient of elastic uniform compression.
2 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS
2.1 Properties of materials
The clay used was collected from Harpanahalli, Davanagere
district, Karnataka state. In order to maintain uniformity of
test results block sample was taken at a depth below 2m.The
other properties are specific gravity=2.72, liquid limit=83%,
plastic limit=32.5%, maximum dry density=14.4 kN/m3, and
optimum moisture content=28.5%.
Crushed stones (aggregates) of sizes between 10 and 2mm
have been used to form stone column. The stones were
compacted to a density of 16.6kN/m3 while constructing
stone columns for the experiments. Quarry dust is also used
as stone column material to fill the voids between the Fig.1. Schematic diagram showing floating and end
aggregates. Quarry dust is a cohesionless material which bearing stone columns.
consists mainly of sand size particle. Properties of quarry
In cyclic plate load test, each incremental load is maintained
dust are specific gravity=2.79, D10=2.7mm, Cc =0.9, and
constant till the settlement of the plate is complete. The load
Cu =1.37.
is then released to zero and the plate is allowed to rebound.
The geotextile used was Polyester woven multifilament TFI The reading of final settlement is taken. The load is then
3000, with the net of 1mm x 1mm aperture size as the increased to next higher magnitude of loading and
encasement material of the stone column. maintained constant till the settlement is complete, which
2.2 Procedure again is recorded. The load is then reduced to zero and the
settlement reading taken. The next increment of load is then
In continuation of author’s recent work on load settlement applied. The cycles of unloading and reloading are continued
response of black cotton soil using stone columns with and till the required final load is reached.
without encasement of geosynthetics, cyclic plate load tests
were carried out with rammed stone columns surrounded From the data, the load intensity versus elastic rebound is
by black cotton soil placed in a square tank of 300 mm side plotted, and the slope of the line is coefficient of elastic
and 360 mm height. Schematic diagram of floating and end uniform compression.
bearing stone columns are shown in Fig.1. Single and group Cu = P/Se……………. (kN/m3)
of columns with square pattern of arrangements were
adopted. The detailed experimental procedure and test results Where P = Load intensity in kN/m2
for static loading were not repeated herein as it is provided Se = Elastic rebound corresponding to P in m
in Raju et.al (2012).
3 Results and discussion
The cyclic plate load test was performed in a model test
tank. The equipment is same as used in static plate load test. Variation of load intensity Vs settlement are shown in Fig.2
A square bearing plate of thickness 10mm and size of to Fig.6 for the case of L/D =8 (Floating stone column) only
150mm*150mm was used. To commence the test, a seating where as all other figures for the case of L/D =10 (End
pressure is first applied to the plate. It is then removed and bearing stone column) are not presented herein just for
dial gauges are set to read zero. restricting the size of the article.
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From the load intensity Vs settlement, elastic settlement was

found and from which load intensity and elastic rebound
for each pressure increment was plotted as shown for a
typical case of four stone columns with encasement in Fig.7.
The coefficient of elastic uniform compression (Cu)was
found from the slope of pressure intensity Vs elastic
settlement and it is tabulated in Table1. It is found that the
parameter Cu varies from 0.24 x105kN/m3 for the case of
untreated black cotton soil to 1.27x 106kN/m3 for the case
of group of stone columns with geosynthetic encasement. It
is found that coefficient of elastic uniform compression was
found to be higher for end bearing stone columns and further
it is found to be more for geosynthetic encased stone columns
due to increase in lateral stiffness of encased stone columns.

Fig.4. Load intensity versus settlement of Encased single

stone column for L/D=8 in a cyclic plate load test

Fig.2. Load intensity versus settlement of BC soil alone

in a cyclic plate load test.

Fig.3. Load intensity versus settlement of single stone Fig.5. Load intensity versus settlement of four stone
column for L/D=8 in a cyclic plate load test columns for L/D=8, S= 2D in a cyclic plate load test

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5 Single stone column with

encasement (L/D=10) 0.77*105
6 4 SC square pattern
(L/D=8,S=2d) 0.91*105
7 4 ESC square pattern
(L/D=8,S=2d) 0.93*105
8 4 SC square pattern
(L/D=10,S=2d) 1.04*106
9 4 ESC square pattern
(L/D=10,S=2d) 1.27*106

4. Conclusions
In this paper an attempt is made to study the cyclic response
of stone columns by conducting series of cyclic plate load
tests on single, group and geosynthetic enacased stone
columns. From cyclic plate load test a dynamic parameter
called coefficient of elastic uniform compression(Cu) was
found which can be used in the design of machine
Fig.6. Load intensity versus settlement of four encased foundations constructed on treated ground with stone
stone columns for L/D=8, S=2D in a cyclic plate load columns. It is found that as compared to untreated black
test cotton soil alone, the coefficient of elastic uniform
compression (Cu) increases with inclusion of stone columns
and further when compared to floating stone columns the
parameter (Cu) increases for end bearing stone columns. Also
when compared to single stone columns the parameter (Cu)
increases for group of stone columns, and further it more in
case of encased stone columns due to increased lateral
stiffness due to encasement
REFERENCES
1. Ambily, A.P., and Gandhi, S.R (2007).,”Behaviour of
Stone Columns Based on Experimental and FEM
Analysis”, Journal of Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol.133, pp.405-415.
2. Ayadat, T. and Hanna, A. M., (2005), “Encapsulated
Stone Columns as a Soil improvement Technique for
Collapsible Soil”, Ground Improvement Journal, Vol. 9,
No. 4,137-147.
3. Deb, K., Samadhiya, N. K., Namdeo, J. B.( 2010).
Fig.7. Load intensity versus elastic rebound from cyclic Laboratory model studies on unreinforced and geogrid-
plate load test for four encased stone columns for L/D=10, reinforced sand bed over stone column-improved soft
S=2D clay. Geotextiles and Geomembranes: 1- 7
Table 1: Variation of coefficient of elastic uniform 4. DiptySarin Isaac and Girish M. S. (2009) Suitability
compression. of Different Materials for Stone Column Construction.
Sl. No Description Coefficient of The Electronic Journal of Geotechnical
elastic uniform Engineering.Vol, 14. Bund M.
compression 5. Malarvizhi, S. N., Ilamparuthi, K. (2004). Load versus
Cu (kN/m3) settlement of clay bed stabilized with stone and
1 Soil alone 0.24*10 5 reinforced stone column. 3rd Asian Reg. Conf. on
Geosynt.: 322-329.
2 Single stone column (L/D=8) 0.34*105
3 Single stone column with 6. Raju.K.V.S.B.,Chandrashekhar.A.S.,Chidanand.N.G.
encasement (L/D=8) 0.39*105 (2012) Proc. Indian Geotechnical Conference (IGC-
4 Single stone column 0.63*105 12), Delhi, Vol.1, pp.400-403.
(L/D=10)

30 ICICE-2013
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Capacity evaluation of Lead cell foundation

K. Subhashini, C. Harikumar, C. Sivathanu Pillai
Abstract— Shielding of radiations emitted by radioactive specimens is usually done using lead wall as lead is considered to be the best
radiation shielding metal. Impact toughness of irradiated samples made out of stainless steel, from the PFBR main vessel and safety vessel,
is to be found out for design requirements. For this a shielded impact test facility is needed due to the high gamma emission from the
irradiated specimen. Lead is well known among the heavy metals for its shielding properties. The present work is based on the evaluation
of capacity of the existing foundation for static load due to the placement of lead bricks as shielding arrangement in both strength and
serviceability.

Index Terms—Base pressure, Foundation, Interaction curve, Lead cells, Modulus of subgrade reaction, Radiation shielding, Shell and
wall finite elements, Stress resultants, Wood - Armer technique.
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION 2 PROBLEM DEFENITION AND LOCATION

T
he foundation for the lead cell shielding in RML
(Radio metallurgy Laboratory), Indira Gandhi Center
for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam, was
designed and constructed 25 years ago as shown in the Fig-
1, considering the loading due to lead cell mock up
arrangement. The experimental setup is such that a central
impact testing equipment will be installed with a block
foundation and impact test will be conducted on irradiated
specimen of dimensions 55 mm length and 5 sq.mm cross
sectional area. The test specimen encased in a capsule is
irradiated in FBTR (as PFBR is yet to be commissioned)
with 100 neutrons, which is comparable to 40 year irradiation
in the actual main vessel, safety vessel stainless steel material
in PFBR. The irradiated specimen has high gamma emission
dose and therefore the whole setup with provision for
inspection and maintenance on all sides and top had to be
shielded from radiation. The impact toughness of the
irradiated specimen is measured in a standard impact testing
machine, with an impact velocity of 5 m/s, as this is a very
important design parameter. The change in the impact
toughness after irradiation is to be measured. Based on the
strength of radiation that will be developed, the shield
material thickness and height were decided as 0.25 mm and
3.1 m respectively with 0.12 mm thick stainless steel roof
shield. Due to the proximity to the safety building, excavation
and reconstruction of the existing foundation was not
possible. So it was decided to evaluate the capacity of the
existing foundation for the current requirement. The
foundation was modeled in NISA /CIVIL package of NISA
suit of software with the help of shell elements. The boundary
conditions used in this model are foundation spring elements
generated based on the modulus of sub-grade reaction
determined theoretically for the soil.
————————————————
The existing foundation is a composite system comprising
of RC walls, top slab and base slab. The top slab is
continuous and covers the opening created by the RC walls
on all four sides and the base slab forms the strip footing for
the RC walls. It was probably intended at the time of
designing that, the lead shield would be placed on the RC
wall location such that the centerline of the lead shield and
that of the wall coincide and the entire load is transferred to
the foundation through the walls. But, due to experimental
requirements, there is an offset of 75 mm as shown in the
fig (2) in the placement of the lead bricks and that the lead
cells needed to be placed on the top slab below which there
is no RC wall. The foundation is taken to a depth of 2500
mm where the safe bearing capacity of soil is 250 KN/m2.
Below the top slab the soil is well compacted and is
comprised of layers of PCC, soling and gravel filling. The
other parts of the foundation are filled up with soil. This
foundation is to be evaluated for its various structural
capacities, against the static loading due to lead cell shield.
The structural effects of arrangement of lead shielding of
the specified height and thickness on existing foundation is
studied and the strength of the foundation against the loading
is evaluated in this paper. The following figures Fig-1 (a),
(b), (c) and Fig-2 (a), (b) show the location of the lead cell
foundation and shielding:
(a)

• K. Subhashini, Technical Officer, IGCAR, Kalpakkam, PH-044-

27480500-22270, E-mail: kksubhashini@igcar.gov.in
• C. Harikumar, Scientific Officer, IGCAR, Kalpakkam, PH-044-
27480500-22610, E-mail: chk@igcar.gov.in

• C. Sivathanu Pillai , Associate director, CEG, IGCAR,

Kalpakkam, E-mail: csp@igcar.gov.in

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Fig-3 Mathematical model of the lead cell foundation

Base raft and wall elements were modeled with 3D general
shell element, 300 mm thick. Top slab was modeled with
3D general shell element, 200 mm thick. In NISA CIVIL,
foundation springs (NKTP = 38, NORDER = 1) were
(c)
generated by specifying the vertical modulus of sub-grade
Fig-1 Foundation details as per drawing no. reaction based on the equation no (1).
IGCAR/RML/0202/REV1 3.4 Lead cell loads
The height of the wall is 3.1m and it is 0.25 m thick. Stainless
steel roofing of 0.12 m thick is also used. The pressure due
to lead cell loading = (114*3.1) = 353.4 KN/m2 where 114
KN/m3 is the density of lead. Additional pressure of 33.912
KN/m2 due to self weight of the roof was also considered.
Total pressure applied in the model was 390 KN/m2

(a)

Fig-4 Plan of top slab loaded with lead bricks

4 ANALYSIS RESULTS
(b)
4.1 Nodal displacements
Fig-2 Arrangement of Lead wall over the foundation
For the structural stability of the lead shield arrangement
3 ANALYSIS the maximum permissible displacement of the system after
Static analysis was done in NISA for the dead loads (DL) the placement of shield is to be less than 1 mm. Maximum
due to the shielding arrangement. vertical nodal displacement = 0.0227165 mm (downwards).
The maximum values of the 3 translational DOFs and the
3.1 Concrete material properties nodes at which they occur respectively are listed below and
Grade of concrete is M-20, Poisson’s ratio is 0.2 and modulus the figure shows the location of the respective nodes:
of elasticity is 22360 N/mm2 Table-1 Maximum displacements
3.2 Soil Properties DOF UX UY UZ
In order to idealize soil, Vesic’ s modulus of sub-grade Value, mm 0.009508 -0.02272 -0.0464
reaction [4] was considered and following soil properties
Node no. 657 667 691
were assumed in the model:
Modulus of elasticity of the soil, Es = 150 N/mm2 [4]
Poisson’s ratio of soil, μ = 0.3
Width of the foundation, Bf = 1500 mm
Thickness of the base raft, t f = 300 mm

Moment of inertia of foundation section, = 3.375E+09

4
mm
Fig-5 Points where maximum nodal displacements/
Modulus of elasticity of the foundation, rotations occur
4.2 Plate bending moments
= 22360.68 N/mm2
The plate elements for which the maximum and minimum
Modulus of sub-grade reaction, ….(1) stress resultant values occurred were considered critical and
32 ICICE-2013
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the final moments were determined based on Wood’s
criterion [2] and is listed below:
Table-2 Plate bending moments
4.3 Plate normal forces
The plate elements for which the maximum and minimum
stress resultant values occurred were considered critical and
the final normal forces were determined based on Wood’s
criterion [2] and are listed below:
Table -3 Plate normal forces
4.4 Plate shear forces
The plate elements for which the maximum and minimum
stress resultant values occurred were considered critical and
the plate shear forces are listed below:
Table-4 Plate shear forces
4.5 Support reactions
The support reactions at in the global directions at the
following nodes showed uplift:
Table-5 Support reactions
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Fig-6 Points where negative vertical support reactions
occur on the top slab
5 DEMAND VERSUS CAPACITY RATIOS
Based on the finite element analysis for the static loads the
demand versus capacity ratios for the slab and wall elements
were calculated for the various modes as follows:
5.1 Slab element
5.1.1 Flexure, [3]
Slab elements were checked for flexural capacity per unit
run with the flexural demand developed per unit run and
were found to be safe. The ultimate moment of resistance of
slab element of overall depth 200 mm was determined. The
reinforcement in the slab is 10 mm diameter at 300 mm c/c
both ways at top and bottom and effective depth for section
is 170 mm. Moment capacities of the concrete slab along
both the axes, Mu is 15.50944 KNm/m. This capacity was
taken for both slab bottom and top as the reinforcement
patterns are the same both ways in diameter and spacing
and the same value was compared with the demand. The
demand versus capacity ratios were calculated for all the
critical elements and are listed below:
Table-6 Flexure demand versus capacity ratios for slab elements
5.1.2 Shear
Area of steel, to resist shear over a length of 1000 mm is
522 mm2 (as both top and bottom reinforcements are present
at all sections). Percentage of reinforcement in the section
is 0.26 %. The design shear strength of slab [3] is 75.48
KN. This capacity was taken for both directions as the
reinforcement patterns are the same both ways in diameter
and spacing and the same value was compared with the
demand. The demand versus capacity ratio for all the critical
elements is listed below:
Table-7 Shear demand versus capacity ratios for slab
elements
Fig-7 Slab elements showing demand versus capacity
ratio>1
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The demand versus capacity ratios marked in red are greater
than 1 and the corresponding elements are located at the
slab wall interface. This may be due to the fact that the
chamfered portion in the slab wall junction as seen in Fig-1
(b) is not modeled in the FE model. There is no axial load
for shell elements as evident in the table (6), and hence P-M
interaction for slab elements is not plotted.
5.2 Wall element
5.2.1 Axial load – Uni-axial moment interaction
Wall elements were checked for axial load and uni-axial
moment capacities with the respective demand per unit run
of the wall using interaction curve for a typical wall section
with the following cross-sectional properties:
Overall depth of the section is 300 mm, longitudinal
reinforcement is 12 mm dia @ 150 c/c and transverse
reinforcement is 10mm dia @ 200 c/c. Area of steel over a
length of 1000 is 754 mm2, and were found to be safe.
Table-8 P-M Interaction values for wall elements
Fig-8 P-M Interaction curve for critical wall elements
5.2.2 Shear, [3]
Area of steel, A s v to resist shear over a length of 1000 mm
is 1058 mm2 (as both top and bottom reinforcements are
present at all sections) and percentage of reinforcement in
the section is 0.3526 %. Design shear strength is 149.328
KN. This capacity was taken for both directions as the
reinforcement patterns are the same both ways in diameter
and spacing and the same value was compared with the
demand. The demand versus capacity ratios for all the critical
elements is listed below:
Table-9 Shear demand versus capacity ratio for wall elements
6 MAXIMUM BASE PRESSURE
Area of contact of base raft and the foundation is 56.4 m2.
Total pressure on the soil due to lead wall (in addition to the
existing pressure on the soil) considering the whole of
contact area between the soil and foundation is 44.7712KN/
m2. This value is less than the SBC of the soil at 2.5m depth
of 250 KN/m2 and hence the foundation base pressures were
assured to be within limits.
34
7 PUNCHING SHEAR CHECK FOR THE
BASE SLAB, [3]
Considering 1m run of the footing loaded with lead wall
throughout the length of the wall, the check for punching
shear is evaluated for 300 thick bottom slab with a
reinforcement of 10mm dia @300 mm c/c.
Permissible shear stress in concrete = = 0.8944 Mpa
Shear capacity of concrete is 0.8944 times the area resisting
two-way shear and it is 429.3250 KN. The total load due to
1 m lead wall is 88.35 KN and self weight of the footing is
29.25 KN. Using a load factor of 1.5 to get the effect of
unaccounted loads, upward soil reaction is 117.5 KN/m2 and
the foundation shear is 112.896 KN which is less than shear
capacity.
8 FLEXURE CHECK FOR THE BASE SLAB, [3]
Moment developed by the bottom slab of, at the face of the
wall, due to loading is 21.15 KN m per meter run of the
slab. Moment of resistance of the section is 61 KN m per
meter run of the slab.
Area of steel required to resist the developed moment is
249.58 mm2. Available flexural reinforcement in 1 m run of
base slab of the footing is 754 mm2.
9 CONCLUSION
Based on the strength evaluation of the foundation the
following conclusions were made on the safety margins
available for the foundation for the lead shield loading:
1. The top slab elements are safe for the bending moments
developed in them.
2. The wall elements are safe in taking up both the axial
load and uni-axial bending moments developed in them
and this is clear from the interaction curve.
3. The base pressure developed below the foundation is
less than the SBC of the soil assumed at founding level.
4. The bottom slab elements are safe against the flexure
and punching shear developed in them due to the loading.
5. The top slab elements show higher demand versus
capacity ratio for shear forces developed in them (>1) at
the slab wall junction loaded with the lead wall.
6. Uplift forces are developed in the interior points of the
top slab
7. Maximum vertical displacement of the nodes as per the
present analysis is less than 1 mm.
REFERENCES
[1] “Reinforced plate design - Plate design for Mxy twisting
moment” – Johnli, 9 April 2002, Solutions research center,
603 eton tower, 8 hysan avenue causeway bay, hong kong
Phone: + 852 3185 9500 fax: + 8523102 0612 email:
johnli@src-asia.com web: www.src-asia.com
[2] “Method of calculating plate and shell reinforcement –
Wood and Armer”
(http://docs.autodesk.com/RSA/2013/ENU/
index.html?url=filesROBOT/GUID-80FE7814-C14D-
4A89-A6DF-68EB9E7E4815.htm,
topicNumber=ROBOTd30e93986)
[3] IS 456-2000 – Plain and Reinforced concrete – Code of
Practice –Fourth revision, Second Reprint OCT 2000
[4] “Foundation Analysis and Design”- Joseph E. Bowles –
Fourth Edition, page-407, equation 9-6
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Effect of fly ash on the properties of

expansive soil
Mahesh G. Kalyanshetti, Satish Basavaraj Thalange
Abstract— Expansive soil is highly problematic because of the susceptibility of this soil to undergo large change in volume due to
fluctuation in moisture content. Various stabilizers’ are used such as lime, cement and calcium chloride. In the present scenario fly ash has
emerged as an one of the potential admixture to stabilize the soil. In the present work an attempt is made to understand the effect of fly ash
on various properties of expansive soil. For this study locally available soil is used which is highly expansive. Fly ash is mixed in various
proportions in a parent soil. For these various proportions of fly ash different properties of soil are determined in laboratory and compared
with the parent expansive soil properties. The study is carried out on various properties i.e. compaction properties, Atterberges limits, free
swell index, swelling pressure, C.B.R (Soaked and Unsoaked).The study reveals that there is an appreciable reduction in the swelling
characteristics of soils. This is upto extent of 40% to 50%. CBR value is improved by 70% to 75% with addition of fly ash. It is also
observed that addition of fly ash beyond 20% is not significant on many of above properties.

Index Terms— Expansive soil, Fly ash, Free swell, Maximum dry density, Optimum moisture content,Swelling pressure, CBR, Atterberg’s
limts.
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION Erdal Cokea (2001) has carried out study on the effect of fly
ash on expansive soil and has concluded that on addition of fly

E
xpansive soil is found in arid and semi-arid regions
of the world and is in abundance where the annual
evaporation exceeds the precipitation. Hot climate,
poor drainage conditions are usually associated with the
formation of this soil. In India these soil are generally called soil. The study it is concludes that the addition of fly ash
as black cotton soil (BCS) and it covers about 20% of the
total land area. The BCS has the tendency of undergoing
volumetric change due to change in moisture content. This
will create instability to the structure resting on it. Various
innovative techniques are developed to mitigate the problem
posed by expansive soil. Stabilization of expansive soils with
various additives such as lime, cement, calcium chloride and
fly ash is also practiced.
In India, unlike in most of the developed countries, ash
content in the coal used power generation is 30–40%. India
ranks fourth in the world in the production of coal ash as
by-product waste after USSR, USA and China. The estimated
thermal power generation, coal consumption and ash
generation in India is given in Tables 1.
ash, plasticity index and swelling potential of sample decreased
with increasing percent stabilizer. Pandian et.al. (2002) studied
the effect of fly ash on the CBR characteristics of black cotton
increases the CBR value Udayashankar D.Hakari, S.C.Puranik
(2012) carried an experiment by adding the fly ash to the black
cotton soil. The results show that there is relative decrease in
the plasticity index of the soils. The shrinkage limit of the soils
increases with the addition of fly ash. The unconfined
compressive strength and CBR increases gradually with the
addition of fly ash.
Already the fly ash utilization is started in the brick/blocks
manufacturing, cement and concrete. These are huge potential
to consume the fly ash for stabilization of expansive soil. This
will help in achieving the aim of consumption of fly ash and
protect the environment with sustainable development.

TABLE 1 2 EXPRIMENTAL WORK

THERMAL POWER GENERATION, COAL
2.1 Introduction
CONSUMPTION AND ASH GENERATION IN INDIA
Year Thermal Coal Ash Fly ash in varying percentage is added to expansive soil.
Power Gene- Consume Produced The fly ash of 0%, 5%, 10% 20%, 25%, 30% and 40% by
ration (Mw) (Mt) (Mt) weight is mixed. The various properties of blended soil are
determined to study the variation in the properties of
1995 54,000 200 75
expansive soil.
2000. 70,000 250 90
2010 98,000 300 110 Fly ash used for the project work is from Parali Thermal
2020 1,37,000 350 140 Power Generation station in Maharashtra. The chemical
———————————————— composition of this fly ash is given in Table-2. The expansive
• Prof. Mahesh G. Kalyanshetti., Assistant Professor, Civil soil used for the project is borrowed from village Degaon
Engineering Department. Walchand Institute of Technology, near Solapur on Solapur Mangalvedha road in Maharashtra.
Solapur, M aharashtra, India. Mobile No.:-91-9422646598.Email
Various properties of this soil are determined in the
ID: -mgkalyanshetti@gmail.com.
laboratory. These are given in Table-3. As per IS 1498- 1970,
• Prof. Satish Basavaraj Thalange.Assistant Professor, Civil
Engineering Department. Walchand Institute of Technology, the soil is classified as ‘CH’ (Inorganic clay of high
Solapur, Maharashtra, India. Mobile No.:- 91-9423065244. Email plasticity). Chemical composition of expansive soil is given
ID: - talange.satish@gmail.com
in Table-4.
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TABLE 2 The laboratory tests to get above properties are done in

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FLY ASH accordance with following IS Codes.
1) IS: 2720 -Part 7, Determination of water content-Dry
Sr. No. Chemical Content Result % Density Relation Using Light Compaction.
2) IS: 2720 -Part 5, Determination of Liquid & Plastic
1 Silica content (SiO2) 61.32 Limits.
2 Alumina content (Al2O3) 29.61 3) IS: 2720 -Part 6. Determination of Shrinkage factors,
3 Ferric oxide (Fe2O3) 4.26 4) IS: 2720 -part-40. Determination of Free Swell Index
4 Silica+ alumina+ Ferric oxide of Soil.
(SiO2+Al2O3+Fe2O3) 95.19 5) IS: 2720 Part-41, Determination of Swelling Procure of
5 Titanium Oxide (TiO2) - Soil.
6 Calcium Oxide (C3O) 1.18 6) IS: 2720 -Part- 16, Laboratory Determination of CBR.
7 Magnesium Oxide (MgO) 0.82
2.3 STANDARD PROCTOR TEST
8 Sulphur Trioxide (SO3) 0.11
9 Available alkali as sodium oxide Standard Proctor Test is performed as per IS 2720(Part-7)
(Na2O) 0.38 .This test is performed for 0% to 40% fly ash content by
10 Loss on ignition 0.91 weight. The compaction curves for various percentages of
11 chloride 0.005 fly ash are presented below in Figure-1
13 moisture -
14 Sp. Surface (m2/kg) -
15 Calcium oxide(free) -
16 Phosphorus Pentaoxide (P2O5) -
TABLE 3
PROPERTIES OF EXPANSIVE SOIL

SR.NO TEST RESULT

1 Specific Gravity 2.253
2 OMC 28.57%
MDD 13.23%
3 Liquid limit 65%
Plastic limit 32%.
Fig. 1. Compaction curve for various trials (Fly ash from
Shrinkage limit 6.8%. 0% to 40%).
4 Free swell index 140%
5 Swelling pressure 142.2 kN/m2 The variation of “OMC” and “MDD” for fly ash of 0% to
6 CBR 40% is shown in Figure-2 and Figure-3.
Soaked 1.9%.
Unsoaked 5.2%.
TABLE 4
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF EXPANSIVE SOIL
SR. NO. TYPE OF TEST QUANTITY %
1 Silica (SiO2) 67.17
2 Alumina (Al2O3) 19.36
3 Ferric oxide (Fe2O3) 4.32
4 Titanium (TiO2) 0
5 Potassium (K2O) 1.73 Fly ash%
6 Magnesium (MgO) 0.82
7 Sodium (Na2O) 0.38 Fig. 2.Variation of OMC w.r.t. Fly ash.
8 Calcium CaO 0.67
9 Loss of igition 0.23
2.2 SCHEDULE OF EXPERIMENTAL WORK
Effect of fly ash on following properties are studied
a) Compaction properties (Optimum Moisture content and
Maximum dry density)
b) Plasticity properties (Liquid limit. Plastic limit.
Shrinkage limit, Plasticity index)
c) Swelling properties (Free swell index, swelling
pressure)
d) CBR (Soaked and Unsoaked)
Fig. 3. Variation of MDD w.r.t. Fly ash.
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Observations: Observations:-
1) Increasing percentage of fly ash increases MDD, 1) Liquid limit decreases rapidly up to 10- 15% of fly
decreases OMC. ash and further decreases gradually.
2) Rate of increasing MDD is higher up to 20% to 25% 2) Plastic limit increases with increase in percentage of
and it slows down after that. fly ash up to 10-15% and then further almost remain
3) Rate of decreasing OMC is higher up to 20% to 25% constant
and it slows down after that.
4) Addition of fly ash beyond 20% to 25%, is not 3) Plasticity index decreases rapidly upto 10% of fly ash
significant. and then it decreases gradually.
2.4 ATTERBERG’S CONSISTENCY LIMIT 4) Shrinkage limit goes on increasing constantly with
uniform rate with increasing percentage of fly ash.
Test is performed as per IS - 2720 - Part 5 and Part 6, to know
liquid limit (WL),Plastic Limit (WP), Shrinkage Limit (Ws). 2.5 FREE SWELL
This test performed by varying fly ash from 0%, to 35 %.
Free Swell is determined as per IS 2720(Part-40)-1977. The
The variation of liquid limit, Plastic limit and shrinkage limit
result for various percentage of Fly ash has been highlighted
are presented in Figure-4, Figure-5 and Figure-6.
in Figure-7.

Fig. 4.Variation of liquid limit (WL) w.r.t. % of fly ash.

Fig. 7. Variation of Free Swell Index w.r.t. % of fly ash.

2.6 SWELLING PRESSURE
The test is performed by Constant Volume method as per IS
2720(Part-41)-1977, this test is performed for 0% to 40%
fly ash results are shown in Figure-8.

Fig. 5. Variation of Plastic limit (WL) w.r.t. % of fly ash.

Fig. 8.Variation of Swelling Pressure w.r.t. % of fly ash.

Observations -
1) Fly ash reduces the Expansiveness of soil.
2) With the increase in fly ash free Swell Index and swelling
Pressure reduce.
3) Up to the addition of 20% to 25% of Fly ash. Swelling
Pressure reduces with higher rate, after that it reduces
Fig. 6. Variation of Shrinkage limit (WL) w.r.t. % of fly ash.
with slower rate.
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4) Addition of fly ash beyond 20% to 25% is not
significant.
2.7 CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO (CBR)
This test is performed as per IS: 2720- Part-15 .C.B.R values
for soaked and unsoaked samples are determined. Fly ash is
added by 0% to 40%. The combined graph for C.B.R (Soaked
and Unsoaked) test is presented in Figure-9.
Fig. 9. Variation of C.B.R (Soaked and unsoaked) w.r.t Fly
ash
Observation:-
1. Addition of fly ash improves the C.B.R.
2. C.B.R increases rapidly upto the addition of 25% to
30% of fly ash then increase gradually
3. Unsoaked C.B.R. increases by 40% to 45% after
addition of 25% to 30% of fly ash.
4. Soaked C.B.R increases by 70% to 75% after addition
of 25% to 30% of fly ash.
3.0 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
After studying experimental work in detail, following
conclusion are drawn.
3.1 The addition of fly ash reduces the plasticity
characteristics of expansive soil. The liquid limit
decrease and plastic limit increases with an increase
in fly ash content. Plasticity index reduces by 30-40%
with the addition of 10-15% fly ash. Shrinkage limit
goes on increasing constantly with uniform rate with
increase in fly ash content.
3.2 The addition of fly ash to expansive soil reduces the
free swell and swelling pressure. For the expansive
soil used both free swell and swelling pressure were
38
reduced by 40-50% at 20% fly ash. At higher
percentage of fly ash rate of reduction in free swell
and swelling pressure gradually decreased.
3.3 OMC decreases and MDD increases. Therefore
addition of fly ash is equivalent to increased
compactive effort. For the addition of 20-25%fly ash,
MDD increased by 15-17% and OMC reduced by 30-
35%. For higher percentage of fly ash (more than 20-
25%) variation in MDD and OMC is not appreciable.
3.4 Penetration resistance of expansive soil can be effectively
improved by addition of fly ash. In the present study CBR
value is observed on both soaked and unsoaked soil
sample CBR values increases with increase in fly ash.
CBR value increases with higher rate up to 25-30 % of
fly ash and then with slower rate. For the expansive soil
used, CBR increases by 70-75% with the addition of 25-
30% fly ash.
REFERENCES
[1] Bhuvaneshwari S., Robinson R.G. and Gandhi S.R.
(2005): ‘Stabilization of expansive soil using fly ash’,
Fly ash India, New Delhi.
[2] IS: 2720 -Part 7, Determination of water content-Dry
Density Relation Using Light Compaction.
[3] IS: 2720 -Part 5, Determination of Liquid & Plastic
Limits.
[4] IS: 2720 -Part 6. Determination of Shrinkage factors,
[5] IS: 2720 -part-40. Determination of Free Swell Index
of Soil.
[6] IS: 2720 Part-41, Determination of Swelling Procure
of Soil.
[7] IS: 2720 -Part- 16, Laboratory Determination of CBR.
[8] Phanikumar B. R. and Radhey S. Sharma. (July 2004):
‘Effect of fly ash on engineering properties of
expansive soil’, ASCE journal of geotechnical and
Geo-enviromental engineering, Page 764-767.
[9] Subha Rao K.S. (Jan 2000): IGS annual lecture “Swell
shrink behavior of expansive soil”, Geotechnical
challenge, vol-30, no.1.
[10] Udayashankar D.Hakari and S.C.Puranik. (February
2012): Karnatak University, Dharwad, India.
Stabilisation of Black Cotton Soils Using Fly Ash.
Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation Area,
Karnataka, India. Global Journal of researches in
engineering Civil and Structural engineering. Volume
12, Issue 2, Version 1.0.
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Analysis of Geotextile Reinforced

Embankment on Difficult Subsoil Condition
Jigisha M. Vashi, Atul K. Desai, Chandresh H. Solanki
Abstract—The behavior of geotextile reinforced embankment (GRE) on difficult subsoil condition was analyzed in this study. The
embankment were backfilled with flyash(80%) & clay(20%) soil and the safety factors obtained from general limit equilibrium and finite
element analysis. To compare with the analysis results from the GRE, variable geotextile stiffness of 50 to 2000 kN/m were taken as
reinforcement and series of finite element method (FEM) analyses were carried out with GEO5-FEM software. The FEM analysis results
showed that failure plane of stress counter for different model with variable stiffness was more or less consistent with each other. Modeling
results such as the maximum horizontal and vertical displacements in GRE have a good agreement with the measured data by other
researchers. In addition, maximum horizontal displacements and vertical settlement have not noteworthy influence while decreasing
vertical spacing of 0.5m to 0.4 m for geotextile. Based on this study, it could be concluded that beyond 500 kN/m strength of geotextile
reinforcement is not effective to reduce the displacement of the embankment face and/or the deformation of the backfill soil even if the
mobilized tensile stress after construction is very small.

Index Terms— deformation behavior, difficult subsoil, flyash & clay backfill, geotextile, numerical analysis, reinforced earth embankment
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION GEO5-FEM analysis was carried out for flooded condition.
The main trigger mechanism of embankment failure on soft

T
he limited equilibrium technique has been used for
the design and the analysis of reinforced structure
since the reinforced earth was commercially used at
the first time. In the limited equilibrium design, the force
applied to the top of the wall is used to calculate the
horizontal pressure, which is resisted by the reinforcement.
Although these forces are easily applied to the limited
equilibrium design, they cannot be simply incorporated to
the prediction of deformation. The finite element technique
was applied to analyze the behavior of the reinforced earth
in the middle of 70’s.
FEM has been used for the study of numerous parameters
and for the analysis of the GRE. In the research for the GRE,
FEM has been mainly applied to predict the reinforcing
strains and the deformation of the embankment [1], [2], [3],
[4]. FEM has been also applied to analyze the parameters
such as the length [5], [2], the strength, the spacing, the
stiffness, and the arrangement of the reinforcement [6],
facing material and facing construction [7], [8], compaction
stress and friction at the interface between the soil and the
reinforcement and the relative motion [3]. Silva and Pameria
[9] and Shukla [10], suggested that by putting berm in the
embankment can increase the factor of safety of reinforced
structure.
In present study the geotextile reinforced earth embankment
geometry is prepared in such a way to incorporating the
specified safe embankment slope of 58° & 64° with berm at
4 m height in reinforced earth embankment. Geotextile
vertical spacing of 0.4 & 0.5 m with a variable stiffness of
50 to 2000 kN/m (Here the market availability has been a
constraint for adopting) was followed.
————————————————
• Jigisha M. Vashi is currently pursuing Ph.D degree program in
Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering Section in S V
National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India, PH-
09879444739. E-mail: vashi.jigisha@gmail.com
• Atul K. Desai, and Chandresh H. Solanki is Professor in Soil
Mechanics & Foundation Engineering Section in S V National
Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India, PH-09327433390.
E-mail: akd@amd.svnit.ac.in
soil is related to rainwater infiltration in monsoon season
when flooding occur. The precipitation water infiltrates into
the weathered clayey slope debris and seeps via stabilized
clay down to the boundary to desiccated clay. Umravia et al
[11] observed failure of reinforced earth wall, due to
precipitation of flood water in to foundation. Therefore, FEM
analysis was carried out considering worst condition so the
model was analyzed for flooded condition (F.L effect at G.L)
only. The typical proposed geometrical layout of GRE with
berm developed by trials is shown in Figure 1. In this study,
horizontal and vertical stresses and horizontal and shear
displacements working on the embankment face with
geotextile reinforcement at the backfill will be compared
and analyzed by GEO5-FEM software [12].
2 GEOMETRY AND MODELING
In the present investigation, typical model with 8 m high
embankment, a crest width of 20 m and having slope angles
of 58° at base and adopting berm at 4 m height considering
slope angle of 64° was implanted. The embankment is placed
over a 2 m thick embankment foundation overlying a
relatively soft layer of 5 m thickness. A nominal height of 8
m is considered, based on commonly adopted industry
practice of vertical clearance required for flyover openings,
which is 6 m as per [13].
The embankment was reinforced by layers of geotextile
having variable length from top to bottom, covering whole
width of embankment. The vertical spacing of geotextile is
varied from 0.5 m and 0.4 m. The finite element mesh used
in these analyses involved 2037 elements with 6-nodes.
Figure 1 shows the assumed boundary conditions and
distinguished layers according to the representative materials.
A series of finite element analyses was performed on
embankments of the type shown in Figure 1, constructed on
a soft clayey desiccated foundation, for a variety of geotextile
stiffness. The analyses were performed to obtain estimates
of embankment deformation for embankments reinforced
with geotextiles ranging in “moduli” from 50 kN/m to 2000

ICICE-2013 39
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

kN/m. Also it was assumed that each layer of geotextile has TABLE 1
same tensile strength/stiffness & placed horizontally. Soil UNITS FOR MAGENTIC PROPERTIES
parameters of the backfill are determined by lab test by [14],
Table 1. Parameters of the foundation are determined by
feedback analysis based on the measured data from the
literature. In this study, the analytical modeling of earth
embankment with geotextile reinforcement is performed
using the GEO5-FEM software.

embankment height [15], [16], [17]. This means that vertical

settlement of the backfill is considerably restrained by the
lower stiffness and vertical spacing of the reinforcement
material and by the interaction between the soil and the
reinforcement. The higher geotextile stiffness and spacing
have not more influence on decreasing vertical settlement.
This is due to the very stiff embankment body as high
modulus of fill.
Fig. 1. Geometry of models

Fig. 2. Various section of earth embankment for analysis

3 RESULTS AND DISSCUSSIONS

The analysis of FEM embankment model with distance of
12 m was selected from side boundary to embankment toe.
To study the behavior of reinforced embankment on soft
soil FEM analysis was carried out. Figure 2 shows the various
sections A-A, B-B, C-C. D-D, E-E, and F-F of the geotextile
reinforced earth embankment at which the measured vertical
settlement and horizontal displacement were computed by
GEO5-FEM.
Typical maximum critical vertical settlement and horizontal
displacement section of reinforced embankment for stiffness
of 200 kN/m at Sv = 0.5 m are shown in Figures 4 and 5
respectively and tress contours for the same are shown in
Figure 3.
The maximum vertical settlement ranges observed for all
variable stiffness of 50 to 2000 kN/m at section A-A, B-B
and D-D of the reinforced embankment are 0.38 % to 1.78
%, 0.25 % to 1.27 % and (-) 0.02 % to 0.26 % of embankment
height respectively. Here at section D-D the negative sign Fig. 3. Typical vertical settlement and horizontal displacement
contour of reinforced embankment at various sections for 200 kN/m
indicates the small heave is observed at toe of the stiffness at Sv = 0.5 m
embankment. The maximum vertical settlement for the
unreinforced soil mass is about 2.4 % to 4 % of the These analysis results are in agreement with the analysis

40 ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
reported by [18]. The maximum vertical settlement in
reinforced case (Figure 3a) is mainly concentrated at top of
the embankment and to berm at height of 4 m in central
region of embankment only. Vertical settlement is not
affected at edge of embankment but it a negligible amount
of heaving at the toe of embankment is observed. This
heaving can be controlled by putting additional surcharge
on toe of embankment or putting geotextile layer at interface
of geotextile base and foundation. Also as increasing
stiffness, stress distribution is at deeper depth.
Fig. 4. Typical maximum critical vertical settlement section of
reinforced embankment for stiffness of 200 kN/m at Sv = 0.5 m
ICICE-2013
9th and 10th of May 2013
The FEM results of the maximum horizontal displacements
range at Section B-B, C-C and D-D of the reinforced
embankment are 0.28 % to 1.46 %, 0.4 % to 1.48 % and
0.38 % to 1.11 % of the embankment height respectively.
For the typical geotextile reinforced earth embankment, the
maximum displacement at the embankment is approximately
in range of 1.25 % to 1.75 % of the embankment height
measured by [4], [19]. Unlike the measured displacement
of section B-B, C-C and D-D exhibit maximum horizontal
displacement, which is even less than the data given by [4],
[19].
Fig. 5. Typical maximum critical horizontal displacement section of
reinforced embankment for stiffness of 200 kN/m at Sv = 0.5 m
41
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
This difference may be due to constructional technique since
that embankment is built by wrapping geosynthetic on gabion
by [4], [19]. The present study does not anchor geotextile at
slope but provides full width and thus stiffness is higher.
The maximum horizontal displacement by [15], [16], [17]
for the unreinforced soil mass is about 1 % to 2 % of the
embankment height. This means that horizontal displacement
of the backfill is considerably restrained by the tensile
strength/stiffness of the reinforcement material and by the
interaction between the soil and the reinforcement.
The Sv of 0.4 m and 0.5 m adopt for construction ease may
have played its role. As increasing stiffness from 200 kN/m
to 2000 kN/, horizontal displacement at base is more. The
maximum horizontal deformation in the geotextile reinforced
earth embankment (Figure 3b) is mainly concentrated at H/
3 from the bottom of the embankment to 2 m below the G.L.
On the other hand, the maximum displacement in the
unreinforced soil mass is occurred at H/2 from the base of
the embankment to 2 m below the G.L. The maximum
horizontal deformation is concentrated at the toe of the
geotextile reinforced earth embankment to berm at height
of 4 m. This means that the slip may be induced at the toe of
the geotextile reinforced earth embankment since the
reinforced soil mass is likely to be overturned. This slip of
soil mass can be avoided by designing gabion at the face of
the reinforced embankment.
4 CONCLUSION
This typical case model can provide a quick estimation of
deformation behavior and safety factors of reinforced
embankments with berm at middle height of embankment
on difficult sub soils for preliminary design investigation.
Based on the results of the analysis, it could be inferred that
the maximum horizontal and vertical displacement of the
geotextile reinforced earth embankment occurred in the
lower area than the unreinforced soil mass because of
reinforcing effects derived from friction between the soil
and the reinforcement. Since the both of horizontal and
vertical displacement of soil and geotextile reinforcement
are relatively small and do not have a significant effect by
increasing the stiffness, these can be negligible in
determining the suitable stiffness and vertical spacing of
reinforced geotextile in this case. But in the all case the
design with less than 500 kN/m stiffness of geotextile is
suggested as the following advantages for this proposed
model: increase of reliable factor of safety, favorable stress
distribution to the soil, allowance for use of soil with average
mechanical properties, the entire system lead to a more cost-
effective design of embankments. The application of model
on soft soil with berm in this case, provides valuable
information on the slope stability behavior of reinforced earth
embankments and failure scenarios.
REFERENCES
[1] Christopher, B. R, “Deformation Response and Wall Stiffness In
Relation To Reinforced Soil Wall Design,” PhD. dissertation,
Purdue University, U.S.A., 1993.
[2] Chew, S. H., and Mitchell, J. K, “Deformation Evaluation
Procedure For Reinforced Soil Walls,” Fifth International
Conference on Geotextiles, Geomembranes and Related Products,
Singapore, Vol. 1, pp. 171-176, 1994.
42
[3] Boyle, S. R, “Deformation Prediction of Geosynthetic Reinforced
Soil Retaining Walls,” PhD. dissertation, University of
Washington, U.S.A., 1995.
[4] Kim, Y. S., and Won, M. S, “Behavior Analysis of Geosynthetics
Reinforced Earth Walls Using Analytical Method,” Chonbuk
National University Engineering Research Institute, Engineering
Research, Vol. 30, pp. 103- 110, 1999.
[5] Ho, S. K., and Rowe, R.K, “Finite Element Analysis of
Geosynthetics-Reinforced Soil Walls,” Geosynthetics, 1, pp. 189-
201, 1993.
[6] Yoo, C.S, “Seismic Response of Soil-Reinforced Segmental
Retaining Walls by Finite Element Analysis”, Journal of the
Korean Geotechnical Society, 17(4), pp. 15-25, 2001.
[7] Allen, T. M., Chrisopher, B. R., and Holtz, R. D, “Performance of
a 12.6 m High Geotextile Wall in Seattle, Washington,”
Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Retaining Walls, Proceedings of
the International Symposium on Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil
Retaining Walls, Denver, J.T.H. Wuedl, A.A. Balkema Publ.,
Rotterdam, pp. 81-100, 1992.
[8] Tatsuoka, F, “Keynote Lecture: Roles of Facing Rigidity In
Soil Reinforcing,”Earth Reinforcement Practice, Proceedings
of the International Symposium on Earth Reinforcement, Vol.
2, pp. 831-870, 1993.
[9] Silva, A. R. L., and Palmeria, E. M, “Stability of Geosynthetic
Reinforced Embankment on Soft Soil,” Proceeding of 12th
Brazilian Conference on Geotechnical Engineering, Brasilia,
Brazil, pp.1213-1220, 1985.
[10] Shukla S.K, Geosynthetics and Their Applications,
Embankments, Thomas Telfords Ltd., pp. 96-121, 2002.
[11] Umravia, Nirav B., Vashi, Jigisha M., and M.D. Desai, “Need
for Relook at the Design Practice for Reinforced Earth Wall
Foundations,” Indian Geotechnical Conference, GEOtrendz,
IGS Mumbai Chapter & IIT Bombay. pp. 73-76, 2010.
[12] Geotechnical Software Suite GEO5- User’s Guide Manual,
Version 12, 2011.
[13] IRC: 6, “Standard Specification and Code of Practice for Road
Bridges,” Section –II (Load & Stresses), Fourth Revision, 2000.
[14] Vashi, J.M, Laboratory Study & Analysis of In-Isolation Test
on Geotextiles & Reinforced Alternative Backfill Material
(Flyash + Clay), II – Progress Seminar Report for Doctoral
Study, AMD, SVNIT, Surat, 2010.
[15] Desai, M. D. and Desai, T. B, “Analysis of Displacements
within Embankments for Design of Instrumentation,”
Proceedings of the Conference on Construction Practices &
Instrumentation In Geotechnical Engineering, Surat, India,
December, pp. 91-94, 1982.
[16] Ramamurthy, T, “Geotechnique in Monumental Structures
of India – Haritage Lectures,” 13th International
Conference Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering,
Delhi, Vol-6, January, pp.35-63, 1994.
[17] Vaughan, P. R, “Criteria for the Use of Weak and Weathered
Rock for Embankment Fill & Its Compaction Control.” 13th
International Conference Soil Mechanics & Foundation
Engineering, Delhi, Vol-6, January, pp.195-206, 1994.
[18] Wulandari, Paravita S., and Tjandra, Daniel, “Determination
of Optimum Tensile Strength of Geogrid Reinforced
Embankment,” International Civil Engineering Conference
towards Sustainable Civil Engineering Practice, pp. 187-194,
2006.
[19] Rowe, R.K., Gnanendran, C.Y., Landva, A.O., and Valsangkar,
A.J, “Construction and Performance of a Full Scale Geotextile
Reinforce Test Embankment, Sackville, New Brunswick,”
Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 32, pp. 512- 534, 1995.
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Design of Amended Soil Liner

Emy Poulose, Prof. Ajitha A. R., Dr. Sheela Evangeline Y.
Abstract— Landfills are highly engineered waste containment systems, designed to minimize the impact of solid waste on the environment
and human health. In modern landfills, the waste is contained by liner and cover system. The greatest threat to ground water posed by
modern landfills is leachate. Leachate consists of water and water soluble compounds in the refuse that accumulate as water moves through
the landfill. Barrier layer in liner system are used to prevent the flow of leachate out of landfill. These are normally constructed with very
low permeability clay. When low permeability clay is not available locally, in- situ soils may be mixed with medium to high plasticity
imported clay, or commercial clays such as bentonite to achieve the required low hydraulic conductivity. Such liners are called amended soil
liners. In this work, two amended soil liners are designed one clay soil from Kuttanad region, fine sand and bentonite and the other with
Kaolinite, fine sand and bentonite.

Index Terms— Bentonite, Clay Liner, Kaolinite, Kuttanad Soil, Landfill, Leachate, Permeability

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION Landfill liner can be prepared by using locally available soil

if it satisfies certain conditions, the most important condition

W
aste disposal has become one of the most serious
modern environmental problems in developed and
developing countries all over the world. One of
the preferred methods of dealing with this kind of
environmental problem is to dispose off the waste in sanitary
landfills. The most important problem in designing and
maintaining a landfill is management of the leachate.
Leachate is generated when water percolates through the
waste in the landfill.
Landfill liners should be designed to prevent leachate from
migrating to the surrounding environment. Low permeability
compacted clays are used to form landfill liners. Locally
available natural clays are used as liner material. If the local
soil does not possess the property of low permeability,
additives in the form of natural clays or commercially
available clays may be mixed with local soils to form
amended soil liners.
Various types of soil deposits are found in Kerala. Southern
region of the state has deposits of kaolinite at Thonnakkal
region of Thiruvananthapuram district and middle region
has high plasticity soils at Kuttanad of Allappuzha district.
Laterite is common at all places of the state. Studies are
already done on the acceptance of laterite as part of amended
soil liner. Hence, in this report, two amended soil liners are
designed one with Kuttanad soil, bentonite and fine sand
and the other with Kaolinite, bentonite and fine sand.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
To prevent the leakage of leachate from the landfill, liners
are designed. This is done using very low permeable clay
like bentonite. Local soil is sometimes mixed with bentonite
to form amended clay liners. There are various specifications
for a soil to be used for liner. All authors specify a minimum
hydraulic conductivity of 1 × 10-7 cm/s [1], [2].
————————————————
• Emy Poulose is currently pursuing masters degree program in
geotechnical engineering at College of Engineering,
Trivandrum, E-mail:emypoulose@gmail.com
• Prof. Ajitha A. R. isan assistant professor at College of
Engineering, Trivandrum E-mail: ajithavinod@rediffmail.com
• Dr. Sheela Evangeline Y. is professor at College of Engineering,
Trivandrum,E-mail: sheelabala2000@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
being a low hydraulic conductivity of less than 1 × 10-7cm/
s. Since the determination of plasticity index is too time
consuming, the primary design can be done such that the
resultant mix should have a minimum of 20 to 30% fines
and the percentage gravel should not exceed 30% [1], [2],
[3]. The maximum particle size is restricted to 25- 50mm.
the plasticity index should be between 12 and 30%. This
design can be adopted once it is found that the mix has
minimum shear strength of 200 kPa, volumetric strain is
less than 4%. To form amended clay liners, well graded soil
has to be mixed with 5 to 10 % bentonite whereas uniformly
graded soil has to be mixed with 10 to 15 % bentonite.
Medium to high plasticity clays (15 to 25 %) can be added
to local clays if bentonite is not available. 20% of bentonite
is suitable for amended clay liners [4].
3 EXPERINMENTAL PROGRAMME
3.1 Design of Liner
The main requirement of amended clay liner includes a
minimum hydraulic conductivity of 1 × 10-7 cm/s. For a soil
to have such a low value of permeability it should contain a
minimum of 20- 30% fines and the plasticity index should
be a minimum of 7- 10%. The properties of soils used for
the preparation of liner are given in table 1.
3.1.1 Materials
i. Kuttanad Soil
Kuttanad soil is obtained from Kuttanad region in Allapuzha
disrtict of Kerala. These are dark brown colored medium
sensitive alluvial deposits. The dominant mineral
constituents in this clay are kaolinite and illite. They are
characterized by high compressibility, low shear strength and
high percentage of organic matter.
ii. Bentonite
Bentonite is naturally occurring clay with high swelling
capacity, high ion exchange capacity and very low water
permeability. The term bentonite represents either calcium
montmorillonite or sodium montmorillonite. The bentonite
used in this study is calcium montmorillonite.
43
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

iii. Kaolinite 3.1 Check for design and Characterisation of amended

Kaolinite is white clay obtained from Thonnakkal regatn of soils
Trivandrum of Kerala. It is low expansive clay. It is clay The check for design is done by finding whether the plasticity
with very little percentage of fine sand. indices of the liners developed are within the limits.
iv. Aditive 3.2.1. Liner 1
Fine sand was used as additive for satisfying two purposes. The plasticity index of liner 1 was obtained as 29.23%. Since
First, Kuttanad clay and kaolinite alone could not produce the value is greater than 12% and less than 30%, the mix
the required amount of sand size particle as per literature. design can be adopted. The properties of the liner 1 are
Second, sand was required to reduce the amount of shrinkage summarized in table 4.
cracks.
TABLE IV
TABLE I PROPERTIES OF LINER 1
PROPERTIES OF BENTONITE, KUTTANAD SOIL AND
KAOLINITE Property Value
Value Liquid Limit (%) 57.7
Property Bentonite Kaolinite Kuttanad
soil Plastic Limit (%) 28.47

Specific Gravity 2.6 2.43 2.36 Maximum Dry density (g/cc) 1.584

Free Swell (ml/ 2g) 17 2 4 Optimum Moisture Content (%) 20.5

Liquid Limit (%) 265 55 112 3.2.1. Liner 2

Plastic limit (%) 53.23 29.3 62.32 For liner 2, the liquid limit and plastic limits were determined
as 55.57 and 25.04% respectively resulting in a plasticity
Percentage Clay (%) 66 44 30 index of 29.54%. Since the value is greater than 12% and
Percentage Silt (%) 34 49 54 less than 30%, the mix design can be adopted. The properties
of the liner 1 are summarised in table 5.
Percentage Fine Sand (%) - 7 9
TABLE V
Percentage Medium Sand (%) - - 5 PROPERTIES OF LINER 2
Percentage Coarse Sand (%) - - 2 Property Value
3.1.2 Mix Design Liquid Limit (%) 55.57
In the study, two liners were developed. The first liner, Liner Plastic Limit (%) 25.04
1 contained bentonite, Kuttanad soil and fine sand. The
second liner, Liner 2 was made by mixing bentonite, kaolinite Maximum Dry density (g/cc) 1.4
and fine sand. To develop the mix, the percentage of Optimum Moisture Content (%) 27
bentonite was fixed to be 10%. Various trial mixes were
then tried and finally a mix was obtained such that the The composition and plasticity indices of the two liners
resultant particle size distribution has the percentage of clay, satisfy the requirements for having low permeability. So the
silt and sand within the specifications given by various two mixes can be used as amended soils.
authors. Table 2 and 3 give the composition of liners 4 CONCLUSION
designed.
Landfill liners are constructed with very low permeability
TABLE II clay. Local soils are mixed with medium to high plasticity
COMPOSITION OF LINER 1 clays like bentonite to form amended soil liners. Two
Quantity of 100 g 650 g 250 g Total: amended soil liners are designed one with soil from Kuttanad
sand Bentonite Kaolinite Fine 1000 g region, fine sand and bentonite and the other with Kaolinite,
fine sand and bentonite. The designs have been checked and
Clay (g) 66 209.69 0 275.69 the properties of the liner were determined.
Silt (g) 34 377 0 411 5 REFERENCES
Sand (g) 0 62.92 250 312.92 [1] M. Datta and A. Juneja, “Landfill Liners: Compacted clays and
amended soils,” Waste Disosal in Engineered Landfills. pp. 108-
TABLE III 129, 1997.
COMPOSITION OF LINER 2 [2] S. S. Boynton and D. E. Daniel, “Hydraulic conductivity tests on
Quantity of 100 g 650 g 250 g Total: Compacted Clays,” Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE,
Vol. 111, No. 4, pp. 465- 477.
sand Bentonite Kaolinite Fine 1000 g
[3] R. M. Jones, E. J. Murray, D. W. Rix and R. D. Humphery, “Selection
Clay (g) 66 286 0 352 of clays for the use of landfill liners,” Waste Disposal by Landfill.
pp. 433- 438, 1995
Silt (g) 34 318.5 0 352.5 [4] P. V. Shivapulliah, “Clay liner systems for waste disposal facilities,”-
Sand (g) 0 45.5 250 295.5 Soil Waste Management and Engineeres Landfills. pp. 91- 108, 2009.

44 ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Role of Moulding Water Content on the

Strength Properties of Red Earth treated with
Mine tailings
Dr. H.N.Ramesh, Mr. A.J.Krishnaiah, Mrs.M.D. Supriya
Abstract— The role of moulding water content from the dry of optimum to wet of optimum condition, in the strengt properties of Red
earth (RE) in présence of mine tailings (MT) was investigated and presented in this paper. During compaction the structure of clay
particles can change from flocculated to dispersed states when water content increased from dry of optimum to wet of optimum conditions.
Water content plays an important role in soil-mine tailings mixtures and it increases from dry of optimum to wet of optimum conditions
due to formation of pozzolanic compounds. In the present investigation an attempt has been made to improve the strength of red earth
treated with mine tailings and to examine the possibility of using mine tailings as stabilizing agent for ground improvement at différent
moulding water content for various curing periods. The test results clearly lndicate that the strength ratio of red earth treated with mine
tailings is higher on wet of optimum condition than optimum and dry of optimum conditions at différent moulding water content for
various curing period. The strength ratio increased by 2.5, 1.75and 3.56 folds respectively for dry of optimum, optimum and wet of
optimum conditions respectively. However, the strength ratio is increased by 3.56 folds on wet of optimum condition which is advantages
for constructions.

Index Terms— Agglomeration, Flocculation, Mine tailings, Moulding water content, stabilization, strength ratio, Unconfined compressive
strength.
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION tailings for ground improvement technique to solve the

environmental pollution problems. With these objectives,

R
ed earth is a non-expansive soil having kaolinite as
primary clay mineral and it is abundantly available
natural soil in vast areas of in Karnataka. Mine tailings
is an industrial by-product which is produced in large
quantity from mining industries after extraction of minerals
from underground mined ores and poses serious disposal
problems and creating environmental hazards. In recent years
there is an increase in trend to utilize the mine tailings for
geotechnical applications. Stabilization is found to be one
of the effective methods to improve the engineering
properties of soils. Mine tailings can be effectively utilized
for civil engineering constructions which will minimize the
disposal problems and reduce the environmental hazards
(Pebble Project, 2005)[1]. Thian and Lee (2010)[2], studied
the effect of plastic fine grained soil of kaolinite clay on
over consolidated mining sand and to assess the main factors
affecting the mechanical behaviour of the soils subjected to
undrained triaxial compression tests resulted in normalized
deviator stress decreases with increasing the over
consolidated ratio. Soosan et al (2005)[3], investigated that
the addition of quarry dust in to two different type of cohesive
soils viz. kaolinite and Cochin marine clay resulted in the
improvement of compaction properties and CBR values. A
similar approach has been made to use industrial waste mine
————————————————
• Dr. H.N.Ramesh, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering,
UVCE , Bangalore University, Bangalore-560056, India, PH-091-
9845089445 E-mail: rheddur@yahoo.com
• Mr. A.J.Krishnaiah, Research scholar, Dept. of Civil Engineering,
UVCE, Bangalore University, Bangalore-560056, India, PH-091-
9448427496. E-mail: ajkmce@gmail.com
• Mrs.Supriya M.D, Former P.G.Student, Dept. of Civil Engineering,
UVCE, Bangalore University, Bangalore-560056, India,PH-091-
9686409111.E-mail: mastermindsupriya@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
studies have been taken to assess the suitability of mine
tailings for improving the engineering properties of red earth
for different moulding water content for various curing
period.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Materials
2.1.1 Red earth
The red was collected at a depth of 1.5 meters below the
natural ground level at Bangalore University, Jnanabharati
campus, Bangalore, India. Red earth is a typically non-
expansive clayey soil containing kaolinite as its chief mineral
constituent. To ensure the uniformity of the soil sample it
was oven dried, pulverized and sieved through 425 micron
BIS sieve before used in the present investigation.
2.1.2 Mine Tailings
Mine tailings was collected from an open dump from Kolar
Gold Fields (KGF), Kolar, Karnataka, India. After removing
the vegetations from the mine tailings, it was air dried,
pulverized and passed through 425 micron BIS sieve before
used in the present investigation.
The physical properties of Red Earth and Mine tailings are
presented in Table 1 and the chemical analysis of red earth
and mine tailings were carried out by adopting the standard
procedures as per the text book of Soil Chemical Analysis
by P.R.Hesse published by Chemical Pub. Co. (1972) [4].
University of Michigan, and are presented in Table 2 and 3
respectively.
45
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
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Table1. Physical properties of Red earth and Mine tailings optimum conditions. The prepared samples were kept in
(Ramesh et al 2012)[5]. airtight plastic bags and placed in to desiccators and
maintained 100% humidity for long term curing periods in
Properties Values
such a way that there is no moisture movement.
RE MT
Colour Brick red Pale gray 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Specific Gravity 2.59 2.78 3.1 Compaction

Liquid limit (%) 39.3 34 The compaction tests were carried out on red earth and mine
tailings respectively. Further compaction tests were also
Plastic limit (%) 26.1 Non plastic conducted on red earth treated with mine tailings. The tests
Plasticity Index (%) 13.2 Non plastic were carried out for dry of optimum, optimum and wet of
optimum conditions. The wet of optimum and dry of
Shrinkage limit (%) 15.4 24.6 optimum conditions the water content corresponding to 95%
Fine sand fraction (%) 11 17 of maximum dry density were selected from the compaction
curve on dry side and wet side of optimum values and are
Silt fraction (%) 42 70.4 represented in Fig.1 and Table 4.
Clay fraction (%) 47 12.6
Maximum dry density (kN/m3) 16.3 15.7
Optimum moisture content (%) 20.26 21.54
Table 2. Chemical properties of Red Earth.
Chemical composition Percentage
Silicon dioxide 60.4
Alumina 15.05
Iron oxide 6.6
Titanium dioxide 0.2
Calcium oxide 6.9
Magnesium oxide 1.7
Potassium oxide 0.4
3.2 Unconfined compressive strength
Loss on ignition 8.4
Sodium oxide 0.3 The unconfined compressive strength tests were carried out
on red earth and mine tailings respectively. Addition of
Table 3. Chemical properties of Mine tailings. various percentages of mine tailings to red earth, unconfined
Chemical composition Percentage compressive strength tests were conducted for immediate
PH 8.44 effect as well as with curing periods and 10% of mine tailings
for red earth was found to be optimum percentage (Ramesh
SiO2 40.5
et al 2012)[8]. Unconfined compressive strength tests were
Al2O4 0.5 carried out for red earth treated with mine tailings at dry of
P2 O 5 0.09 optimum, optimum and wet of optimum conditions
K2O4 16.1 respectively for 0, 7, 30, 90,180 and 365 days of curing
Cu 2.55ppm periods and the results are presented.
Pb 0.04 3.2.1 Effect of moulding water content on the red earth
As <0.01 treated with mine tailings for various curing periods.
CN- Nil
SO3 0.05 3.2.1.1 Dry of optimum condition
SO4 0.5 The unconfined compressive strength of red earth and mine
CaO 14.96 tailings for dry of optimum conditions are 230 kPa and 130
MgO 6.97 kPa respectively, strength of red earth treated with mine
tailings is 261 kPa on immediate testing. The strength of red
2.2 Methodology adopted earth and mine tailings mixture has shown an increasing trend
The compaction tests were conducted using mini compaction with increase in curing period and reached the value of
test apparatus as per the procedure of (Sridharan and 655kPa after 365 days of curing period. It indicate that the
Sivapullaiah 2005)[6]. Unconfined compressive strength strength increased by 2.5 folds compare to red earth alone
tests were carried out as per BIS: 2720 (part X) (1973)[7], as shown in Fig.2 and Table 5. The increase in strength could
for various combinations of black cotton soil and mine be attributed to ion exchange at the surface of the clay
tailings mixture treated with lime. All samples were prepared particles. The calcium oxide present in mine tailings as
at their respective maximum dry density and optimum additives reacted with silica present in red earth which has
moisture content for dry of optimum, optimum and wet of lower valence metallic ions in the clay which resulted in
agglomeration and flocculation of clay particles. The gain
46 ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

in strength of specimens with age was due to primarily the Table 7 Strength of red earth and mine tailings mixtures
long-term reaction as a result the strength increases on dry of optimum condition for various curing period
3.2.1.2 Optimum condition Mixture Unconfined compressive strength for optimumcondition
Curing period in days
The strength of red earth and mine tailings for optimum
0 7 30 90 180 365
conditions are 145 kPa and 122 kPa respectively. Strength
of red earth treated with mine tailings is 183 kPa on RE 91 91 91 91 91 91
immediate testing. Further strength increases with increase MT 46 46 53 53 53 69
in curing period of red earth treated with mine tailings is RE+10%MT 54 83 106 122 151 192
320 kPa after 365 days of curing period. It was found that
the strength increased by 1.75 folds compare to untreated
red earth as shown in Fig.2and Table 6. The increase in
strength is due to reaction between red earth and mine tailings
having calcium concentration and PH of the pore fluid will
increase.
3.2.1.3 Wet of optimum condition
The unconfined compressive strength of red earth and mine
tailings on wet of optimum conditions are 91 kPa and 46
kPa respectively. Unconfined compressive strength of red
earth and mine tailings mixture was found to be 54 kPa on
immediate testing. The strength increases with increase in
curing period of red earth and mine tailings mixture and
was observed to be 192 kPa after 90 days of curing period.
It indicates that the strength increased by 3.65 folds compare
to red earth alone as shown in Fig.3 Table 7. The increase in
unconfined strength red earth and mine tailings mixtures is
due to cation exchange and flocculation of particles on the Fig.2 Effect of moulding water content on the strength of
addition of mine tailings to red earth. This may be due to red earth and mine tailings mixture at various curing
more water which is available at wet of optimum condition period
which enhances the pozzolanic reaction for long term curing
at higher water content. 3.2.2 Effect of moulding water content on the strength
ratio of red earth and mine tailings treated with
Table 4. Selected dry density & corresponding water mixture.
contents on dry of optimum, optimum and wet of
optimum from compaction tests Strength ratio is defined as the ratio of strength of soil matrix
at any stage of curing with strength of the soil matrix at
Mixture Dry of opt Optimum Wet of opt immediate testing of the same combinations (Viswanath,
Density W/C Density W/C Density W/C 2007)[8].
RE Alone 14.1 18.1 16.3 20.2 14.1 26.8 Strength Ratio = [Qs / Qo]
MT Alone 14.9 17.6 15.7 21.54 14.9 28.7
Where Qs = Unconfined compressive strength of treated
RE + 10% MT 14.44 18.6 15.2 23.48 14.44 27.2 specimen at any curing period
Table 5. Strength of red earth and mine tailings mixtures
Qo = Unconfined compressive strength of specimen
on dry of optimum condition for various curing period
at corresponding combinations without curing Period
Mixture Unconfined compressive strength for optimumcondition
The strength ratio of red earth treated with mine tailings are
Curing period in days
2.5, 1.75 and 3.56 folds for 365days of curing at dry of
0 7 30 90 180 365
optimum, optimum and wet of optimum conditions
RE 230 230 230 230 230 230 respectively. The strength ratio increases considerably as the
MT 130 136 152 175 175 183 water content is increased from dry of optimum to optimum
RE+10%MT 261 316 337 475 556 655 condition. However, with further increase in water content
Table 6. Strength of red earth and mine tailings mixtures beyond optimum level the strength ratio increases further.
on wet optimum condition for various curing period This could be probably due to development of pozzolanic
reaction compound which will contribute for increase in
Mixture Unconfined compressive strength for optimumcondition strength. The strength ratio increases continuously with
Curing period in days increase in water content and it exhibit higher value on wet
RE 230 230 230 230 230 230 of optimum than dry of optimum and optimum conditions.
0 7 30 90 180 365 The variation of strength ratios of red earth treated with mine
RE 145 145 145 145 145 145 tailings for different moulding water content for various
MT 122 130 137 138 138 145 curing period are as shown in Fig3. This is due to the effect
RE+10%MT 183 193 201 221 245 320 of pozzolanic reaction which is favored by the higher water
content (Viswanath, 2007)[8].

ICICE-2013 47
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
Fig.3 Effect of moulding water content on the strength
ratio of red earth and mine tailings mixture at various
curing period
4 CONCLUSIONS
The detailed analysis of the results of the Red earth and Mine
tailings mixture the moulding water contents have varied
the strength and the following conclusions have been drawn:
1. The strength of red earth and mine tailings mixtures
increases with increase in curing period for all the
moulding water contents. However, higher strength was
observed in dry of optimum condition compare to
optimum and wet of optimum conditions.
2. Strength of red earth and mine tailings mixture increases
with increase in curing period for all the moulding water
contents. Addition of optimum mine tailings to red earth,
strength increased by 2.5 folds, 1.75 folds and 3.56 folds
respectively for dry of optimum, optimum and wet of
optimum conditions respectively compare to red earth
alone after 365 days of curing.
3. The strength ratio increases continuously with increase
in water content and it exhibit higher value on wet of
48
optimum than dry of optimum and optimum conditions.
From the present study, it has been concluded that mine
tailings can be effectively used for stabilization of soils.
ACKNOLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge late Mr. Venugopala,
former P.G.Student, Faculty of Engineering (Civil),
Bangalore University, Jnanabharati, Bangalore-560056,
India, for his help during experimental investigan.
REFERENCES
[1] Pebble Project, Tailings and Tailings Managements, Northern
Dynasty Mines Inc., 2005, 1-4
[2] S.Y.Thian and C.Y.Lee, Effect of Plastic Fines on over
Consolidated Mining Sand, ARPN Journal of Engineering and
AppliedScience,5(11),2010,6-14
[3] T T.Soosan , A. Sridhan, B.Jose and B.Abraham, Utilization of
Quqry dust to improve the geotechnical properties of
soilinhighwayconstruction,
Geotechnicaltestingjournal,28(4),2005,391-400
[4] A Text Book of Soil Chemical Analysis by P.R.Hesse, Published
by Chemical Pub. Co., University of Michign, 1972
[5] H.N.Ramesh, A.J.Krishnaiah and S.R.Venugopala,
“Compaction and Strength Behaviour of Black cotton soil
Treated with Mine tailings”, Procedings of Indian Geotechnical
Conference (IGC), Delhi Vol.2.pp838-841,2012.
[6] A.Sridharan and P.V.Sivapullaiah, Mini compaction test
apparatus for fine grained soils, Geotechnical testing Journal,
28(3),2005,1-20
[7] H.N.Ramesh, A.J.Krishnaiah and M.D.Supriya (2012), Effect
of Lime on the Compaction and Strength Behaviour of Red
Earth treated with Mine tailings, IOSR Journal of Mechanical
and Civil Engineering (IOSRJMCE), Vol.2(4), 01-06
[8] B.Viswanath, Role of moulding water content on the strength
properties of fine grained soils treated with pozzolanic and non
pozzolanic fly ashes and other additives, Ph.D Thesis submitted
to Bangalore University, 2007
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
Effect of Fly Ash on CBR and DCPT Results of
Granular Sub Base Subjected to Heavy Compaction
Ratna Prasad, R., Darga Kumar, N., and Janardhana, M.
Abstract— The granular subbase compacted at 5% of fly ash is showed higher dry density compared to all other proportions of fly ash. As
the percentage of fly ash increases from 0 to 25%, the CBR values are decreasing. Up to 5 to 10% of fly ash addition to granular subbase has
not shown any large decrease in CBR values, but addition of fly ash content beyond 15% to the granular subbase showed about 50 to 60%
reduction in CBR. The CBR values obtained from empirical formulae showed lower values than the laboratory CBR values.
Index Terms— CBR, DCPI60, fly ash,Gravelly sand, heavy compaction, MDD, OMC.
——————————  ——————————
1.0 INTRODUCTION
I
ndia has about 70 thermal power plants and coal currently
accounts for 70 per cent of power production in the
country. The process of coal combustion results in fly
ash. Various Indian collieries supply the coal, which is
known to have a very high ash content of almost 40 to 45
per cent. India’s thermal power plants produce an estimated
100 million tonnes of fly ash per annum. The problem with
fly ash lies in the fact that not only does its disposal require
large quantities of land, water, and energy, its fine particles,
if not managed well, by virtue of their weightlessness, can
become airborne. Currently, huge amount of fly ash is being
generated annually in India, with 65 000 acres of land being
occupied by ash ponds. Such a huge quantity does pose
challenging problems, in the form of land usage, health
hazards, and environmental dangers. Both in disposal, as
well as in utilization, utmost care has to be taken, to
safeguard the interest of human life, wild life, and
environment. The conventional method used to dispose of
both fly ash and bottom ash is to convert them into slurry
for impounding in ash ponds around the thermal plants. This
method entails long-term problems. The severe problems
that arise from such dumping are: (i). the construction of
ash ponds requires vast tracts of land and this depletes land
available for agriculture over a period of time, (ii). when
one ash pond fills up, another has to be built, at great cost
and further loss of agricultural land, and (iii). huge quantities
of water are required to convert ash into slurry. During rains,
numerous salts and metallic content in the slurry can leach
down to the groundwater and contaminate it. Hence, it is
necessitated to utilize the abundantly available fly ash for
the civil engineering construction activities especially in the
pavement construction so as to overcome the problems posed
by the fly ash [12].
Coal-based thermal power stations have been operational
for more than 50 years but the concept of developing
environment friendly solutions for fly ash utilization is only
————————————————
• R. Ratna Prasad, Research Scholar, JNTU Kakinada and
Professor of Civil Engg., VVIT, Guntur, AP, India.
E-mail: rekapallirp@yahoo.co.in
• N. Darga Kumar, Professor of Civil Engg., ASTU, Adama,
Ethiopia,E-mail:ndkumar@jntuh.ac.in, or
nandyala.darga@astu. edu.et.
• M. Janardhana, Professor of Civil Engg., JNTUH, Hyderabad,
AP, India, E-mail: jmaganti@yahoo.com
ICICE-2013
9th and 10th of May 2013
about 20 years old. Overall fly ash utilization in India stands
at a fairly low level of about 15 per cent of the quantity
generated.
Various possibilities for its use in different engineering
applications are under research. Fly ash utilization towards
road projects is rapid. The Planning, design and construction
of ash disposal facility require the integration of
geotechnical, environmental, hydrological engineering and
other governing factors.
Field compaction technique type adopted plays a vital role
in compaction of fine grained soils [18]. Sheepsfoot or pad
foot rollers are preferred because good compaction of the
lift from the bottom up is achieved, while the kneading action
helps to further mix the fly ash, soil, and water [3]. With the
increased reactivity of self-cementing fly ash, however, a
much shorter compaction delay time is typically specified.
For self-cementing fly ash stabilized sections, compaction
should commence as soon as possible after final mixing and
be completed within two hours, so the stabilized material
will show less strength and density decrease “[18], [ 3]”.
Generally, clay soils have soaked CBR values from 1.5% to
5%, which provides very little support to the pavement
structure. Addition of 16% self-cementing fly ash increases
the soaked CBR values of heavy clay soils, which is
comparable to gravelly sands [15].
Long-term strength gain is expected for Class C fly ash
stabilized soils [9]. A minimum of 3 to 5 per cent of lime
stabiliser is necessary to gain a significant increase in the
compressive strength of fly ash stabilized clayey soil [10].
Careful laboratory evaluation of different fly ash contents
for a given soil is necessary to find the optimum ash addition
rate [3]. Molded moisture content does not appear to affect
CBR of fly ash mixed soil, but the level of compaction effort
does [8]. Sub-standard compaction effort (~95% of standard
Proctor) produces unsoaked and soaked CBR values around
40%, while modified compaction effort yields values
between 80% and 90% [8]. Very rapid stabilisation of water-
logged sites has been achieved with the use of quicklime.
Small quantities of quick lime typically 1 to 3 % are used to
reduce the plasticity of the clay [19]. Optimum content of
fly ash in decreasing the swell potential was found to be
20% [2].
Generally the CBR/strength is contributed by the cohesion
and friction of fly ash [11]. Dynamic Cone Penetration (DCP)
testing can be used widely in evaluation of pavement
49
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

performance. DCP testing can be completed in five to ten 2.1.2 Fly ash Used
minutes, depending on the test depth and strength of the
The fly ash used in this investigation was collected from
material [20]. Maximum dry density of expansive soil mixed
Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS) Vijayawada. The
with fly ash occurred in the water content range of 12 to
fly ash sample collected was stored in the air tight containers.
14% [1]. Soft clay soil, asphaltic recycled pavement material
The grain size distribution curve for fly ash is presented in
(RPM), and road-surface gravel (RSG) were stabilized using
Fig. 1. The various properties of the fly ash obtained from
class C and off-specification fly ashes to create working
the VTPS are presented in the Table.2 and 3. The fly ash
platforms or stabilized base course for construction of
proportions adopted in the study by dry weight of soil are
flexible and rigid pavements [7]. Studies were reported on
0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%.
expansive soil stabilization with fly ash and rice husk ash
(RHA). RHA content of 12% and a fly ash content of 25% TABLE 1
are very effective in strengthening the expansive subgrade BASIC PROPERTIES OF SOIL
soil [14]. The design thickness for a pavement is controlled
Property Value
by the subgrade stiffness, as measured by the CBR [21].
The maximum dry density (MDD) of the black cotton soil Specific gravity 2.68
increased from 13.6 to 15.2 kN/m3 for addition of 40% fly Cohesion, c (kPa) at OMC 0
ash obtained from Nyveli (NFA) and whereas for red earth Angle of Internal Friction, φ (deg) at OMC 45
MDD changed from 14.6 to 17.8 kN/m3 for same fly ash Optimum Moisture Content, OMC (%) 7.5
[13]. Though the works of numerous researchers in the past Maximum Dry Density, MDD (kN/m3) 20.90
have helped in improving understanding of the beneficial Unsoaked CBR (%) 85
use of fly ash in cement concrete, brick manufacturing and % Gravel 21.3
other applications, but a comprehensive idea about
% Coarse Sand 14.6
geotechnical aspects of fly ash –gravelly sand mixtures for
various engineering applications especially for pavement % Medium Sand 38.3
construction have not yet understood clearly. % Fine Sand 18
% Silt & Clay 7.8
2.0 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY Soil Classification SW
2.1 Materials Used in the Study TABLE 2
2.1.1 Soil PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FLY ASH

The gravelly sand used in the present study was collected Property Value
from the outer ring road area near Gandi Misamma in Specific gravity 1.97
Hyderabad, AP state, India. The soil is a grayish to brown Cohesion, c (kPa) at OMC 10
coloured gravelly sand and has no cohesion. The soil Angle of Internal Friction, φ (deg) st OMC 28
collected was kept in controlled conditions in the laboratory Optimum Moisture Content, OMC (%) 18
and was used for testing as per the Indian Standard Maximum Dry Density, MDD (kN/m3) 13.80
specifications given in the respective test codes. For this
Unsoaked CBR (%) 34
soil, the basic tests were conducted in the laboratory for its
characterization. As per the basic properties of soils are % Gravel 0
concerned, it indicates that the soil has soil proportions of % e Fine Sand 97.5
gravel, sand and little fine fraction. In the soil the % slit and % Silt & Clay 2.5
clay is around 7%, sand is 70% and gravel is around 23%. 2.2 Tests Conducted
The grain size distribution curve of the soil is presented in
Fig.1. The various basic properties of soil are presented in The following tests are planned and conducted on fly ash
the Table 1. gravelly sand mixtures. The fly ash proportions adopted
in the study along with the gravelly sand are 0%, 5%,
10%, 15%, 20% and 25% by weight of dry soil. The tests
such as Modified Compaction test [5], California Bearing
Ratio (CBR) test [6] and Dynamic Cone Penetration (DCP)
tests are conducted. The tests such as CBR and DCPT are
conducted on the specimens compacted at OMC as per the
modified compaction. The modified compaction tests are
adopted because; the majority highway pavements are
designed for high traffic volumes.
2.3 Dynamic Cone Penetration Test
Dynamic cone Penetrometer (DCP) is portable equipment
that can be used for evaluation of unbound granular base,
sub base. Subgrade and also at pipe line congested narrow
trenches where testing with other equipments is difficult and
not feasible due to cost. Space and time constraints, therefore
DCPT are now being used in many parts of the country for
Fig.1. Grain size distribution curves for soil and fly ash. rapid characterization of unbound granular and sub grade
material properties.
50 ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

TABLE 3
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF FLY ASH

Content of the Component Value

% SiO2 60.5
% Al2O3 30.8
% Fe2O3 3.6
% CaO 1.4
% MgO 0.91
% SO3 0.14
% K2O+Na2O 1.1
Loss of ignition (LOI) 0.8
Specific surface area, m2/kg 338
Lime reactivity, N/mm2 6.2

The basic principle involved in operation of this apparatus

is to measure resistance offered by the pavement layers to
the penetration of a standard cone having 20mm diameter
(with 60 deg apex angle) is driven by 8 kg hammer freely
falling through a height of 575 mm [4]. The amount of
penetration of cone is generally reported in terms of the
average penetration per blow, DCPI 60 (mm/blow). This
indicates relative shear strength of the material across its
depth tested. During Penetration of the cone, the shear
strength of the material is mainly occurred due to resistance
offered by the soil particles by shear displacement taking
place. A greater value of DCPI60 indicates a softer material
and vice versa in the pit over sub grade layer on the plain
surface of granular base layer. It is noted that the DCP test
can be conducted in laboratory on remolded soil or granular
material compacted in a steel mould having internal
minimum diameter of 304.8mm may be used which is
significantly eliminate the effect of the confinement. As
another method a test bed of pavement can also be
constructed in an open area and such test can also be carried
out proto type model. The typical sketch of DCP is presented
in Fig. 2. The DCP test data can be represented in different
formats for determination of value of DCPI60 a plot is to be
drawn with number of blows vs. cumulative penetration of
the cone. All such plotted data points are to be connected by
lines and slope changes of the lines are marked. With this
demarcated slope along the plotted data points, the pavement
layer thickness can be assessed. The obtained DCPI60 value
can be used for CBR determination. Several relationships
between DCPI60 and CBR values were developed by different
researchers in various countries across the globe. There is a
applicable relationship between CBR and DCPI60 [17]. As
per this, the relation between CBR and DCPI60 is given as:
Log10CBR=2.48-1.057Log10(DCPI60) (1)
3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Compaction Characteristics
Fig.3 presents the compaction curves of fly ash gravelly sand
mixtures subjected to heavy compaction. From this figure,
it can be seen that the gravelly sand compacted at 5% of fly
ash is showing higher dry density compared to all other
proportions of fly ash mixed. The compaction curves
presented in this figure are showing the typical trend of
compaction behavior of granular soil.
ICICE-2013
Fig. 2 Dynamic cone penetrometer test equipment
It can be understand that up to about optimum moisture
content (OMC) the compacted behavior of soil is of rigid
and from OMC onwards the behavior of the compacted soil
is of flow able/soft nature. After OMC any small addition
of water to the fly ash soil mixture is causing reduction in
dry density. It is also noticed that as the percentage of fly
ash increases from 5% to 25%, the behavior of the mixture
shifting from granular soil to silt behavior. This behavior
can be attributed as the fly ash replacing the granular soil
and resulting in more silt fraction. Also due to modified
compaction there can be some amount of generation of fine
fraction in the fly ash soil mixture. The variation of OMC
and MDD of soil with the percentage of fly ash is presented
in Table 4. As the percentage fly ash increases from 0% to
15%, the OMC also increasing slightly. The OMC of fly ash
gravelly sand mixtures is almost similar at 20% of fly ash
and 0% of fly ash. This slight increase in OMC with the
percentage of fly ash can be attributed to presence of silt
fraction in the fly ash soil mixture. It can be seen that there
is a increase in MDD at 5% of fly ash addition to soil and
from 5% fly ash onwards the MDD is reducing gradually.
From this behavior, it can be attributed that the void spaces
can be effectively filled up with the fly ash proportion up to
about 5%, and beyond this further addition of fly ash may
result in excess fine fraction.
Hence it is understand that the fly ash proportion beyond
5% addition to soil leads to lesser weight and in turn cause
reduced values of dry densities of fly ash gravel sand
mixtures. It can be seen that the OMC of fly ash soil mixtures
corresponding to modified compaction is varying from 7.5%
to 8.5% and MDD of fly ash soil mixtures is varying from
21.2kN/m 3 to 20kN/m3.
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3.2 CBR Results
The load penetration curves of fly ash gravelly sand mixture
samples prepared at respective OMCs and obtained in un-
soaked test condition, are presented in Fig 4.
Fig. 3. Compaction curves for fly ash mixed gravelly sand
TABLE 4
OMC, MDD VALUES WITH % FLY ASH
% Fly Ash % OMC MDD (kN/m3)
0 7.5 20.9
5 7.5 21.2
10 8 20.9
15 8.5 20.82
20 7.5 20.3
25 8 20.05
The curves corresponding to 0% and 5% fly ash are moving
parallel and at higher level compared to the curves
concerning to 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% fly ash. In all these
curves, initially it is observed that there is a concave upwards
and beyond certain penetration levels such as from 2 to 4
mm onwards, these curves are moving towards linear and
curve linear pattern. From these curves, the CBR values were
recorded after applying the suitable correction for the initial
concave upward potion. The CBR values obtained for
various percentages of fly ash under un-soaked condition
are presented in Table 5. From this table, it can be seen that
as the percentage of fly ash increases the CBR values are
decreasing. Up to 5% of fly ash addition to soil has not shown
any large decrease in CBR values. For the fly ash content
beyond 15% addition to soil is causing about 50% to 60%
reduction in the CBR values. As the percentage fly ash
increases the granular soil behaving as sandy silty soil and
hence causing reduced values of CBR. From this CBR
behavior with the percentage of fly ash, it can be suggested
52
that 10% fly ash can be effectively utilized along with the
granular material for road payment constructions. In majority
times, though the CBR value of a subgrade soil is high, its
value may be limited to 20%. From the results it can be seen
that at 25% fly ash, the CBR of gravelly sand is 43%. Hence,
even addition of 25% fly ash to gravelly sand can perform
better in the pavement construction.
Fig. 4. Load – penetration curves for fly ash mixed gravelly sand
tested at OMC
3.3 DCP Test Results
To understand the penetration aspects of compacted gravelly
sand sub grade soil prepared in the CBR mould at OMC at
different proportions of fly ash, the standard test such as
DCPT was conducted on the compacted un-soaked samples.
The number of blows verses DCP total penetration curves
are presented in Fig 5 for various percentages of fly ash such
as 0%, 5%, 10%,15%, 20% and 25%. From this figure, it
can be noticed that as the number of blows increases, the
DCP total penetration is also increasing. Up to about 10%
of fly ash, the penetration values observed are about 10mm/
two blows, whereas for fly ash content of 15% and above,
and for the same number of blows two, the penetration values
observed are 18 to 30 mm. From this penetration curves, it
is further noticed that for the same number blows, the
penetration levels are increasing as the percentage of fly ash
increases from 0% to 25%. This increase in penetration levels
is more for the fly ash content of more than 10%. From these
curves the DCPI60 values are derived for the linear portion
of the curves. The DCPI60 is defined as the ratio of total
penetration in a particular stretch of liner portion of the curve
to the number blows in that stretch of penetration. The CBR
values from the DCP tests are obtained by substituting DCPI60
(Dynamic Cone Penetrometer Index value corresponding to
cone angle of 600) in the formulae given in Eqn.1. Since the
penetration is almost linear for the first two blows, and hence,
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the DCPI60 has been calculated for the penetrations occurred
in the first two blows only for all the fly ash gravelly sand
mixtures tested on samples prepared at respective OMC. The
DCPI60 and CBR values obtained from DCP tests conducted
on un-soaked samples are presented in Fig 6.
from 0% to 25%. Also it is noticed that the CBR values
obtained from DCP test are decreasing linearly with
percentage of fly ash and whereas the CBR values obtained
from CBR test are decreasing in a curve linear fashion. And
from these two comparisons, it is noticed that CBR values
obtained from DCP test are so low as compared to laboratory
CBR values. The CBR values obtained from laboratory CBR
test and DCP test are presented with the percentage of fly
ash in the Table 5.

Fig. 7 Comparison of CBR values obtained from CBR Test and

DCP Test for fly ash mixed gravelly sand
Fig. 5 Dynamic cone penetration curves for fly ash mixed gravelly
TABLE 5
sand
COMPARISON OF CBR VALUES
% Fly DCPI60 %CBR From %CBR from
ash DCPI60 CBR Test
0 5 55.1 85
5 6 45.5 80
10 7.1 38 31
15 8.8 30.4 17
20 11.2 23.5 46
25 14.4 18 43

4.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Fig. 6 DCPI60 and %CBR curves for fly ash mixed gravelly sand
From this curve, it is clearly understand that as the percentage
of fly ash increases, the DCPI60- values are increasing and
whereas the CBR values are reducing. From this plot, it can
be further seen that in between 10% and 15% of fly ash the
DCPI60 and CBR curves are meeting at a point. The variation
of CBR values obtained from DCP test and from the
laboratory CBR test along with the percentage of fly ash is
presented in Fig. 7. From this figure, it can be noticed that
the CBR values obtained from DCPI60 and laboratory CBR
test are decreasing as the percentage of fly ash increases
Use of locally available waste materials such as fly ash can
find a viable option in controlling the costs of gravelly sand
transport from far places to the construction site. Use of
locally available fly ash along with the gravelly sand will
solve three major issues such as (i) environmental issue and
(ii) gravelly sand transport cost will be minimized and (iii)
wastage of agricultural land can be avoided. The CBR values
obtained from DCPI60 (DCP test) and laboratory CBR test
are decreasing as the percentage of fly ash increases from
0% to 25%. The CBR values obtained from DCP test are
decreasing linearly with percentage of fly ash and whereas
the CBR values obtained from CBR test are decreasing in a
curve linear fashion. The CBR values obtained from DCP
test are so low as compared to the values obtained from
laboratory CBR test. Even 25% addition of fly ash to the

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gravelly sand, the CBR value showed more than 20%. In
general in majority flexible pavement design, though the
CBR value is more than 20%, its value is limited to 20%.
Hence, from this it can be proposed that even up to 25%
addition of fly ash can make the economic construction of
pavement without compromising any strength aspects.
REFERENCES
[1] S. Bhuvaneshwari, R.G. Robinson and S.R. Gandhi, “
Stabilisation of expansive soils using fly ash”, Fly ash Utilization
Programme (FAUP), TIFAC, DST, New Delhi, Fly ash India 2005,
VIII 5.1.
[2] Erdal Cokca, “Use Of Class C Fly Ashes for the Stabilization –
of an Expansive Soil”. Journal of Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 127, July’ 2001, pp. 568-
573.
[3] G. Ferguson and S.M. Leverson, “Soil and Pavement Base
Stabilization with Self-Cementing Coal Fly Ash”, American Coal
Ash Association, 1999, Alexandria, VA.
[4] IRC: SP: 72-2007, “Flexible Pavement Design for Rural Roads”.
[5] IS: 2720 (Part 7)-1980, “Methods of test for soils”:
Determination of water content-dry density relation using
compaction.
[6] IS: 2720 (Part l6)-1979, “Methods of test for soils”, Laboratory
determination of CBR.
[7] Lin Li, B. Tuncer Edil and H. Craig Benson, “Properties of
pavement geomaterials stabilized with fly ash”, World coasl ash
(WOCA) Conference, May 4-7, 2009, Lexington, KY, USA, pp.1-
11.
[8] D.B. Mahrt, “Reclaimed class C Iowa fly ash as a select fill
material: hydraulic conductivity and field testing of strength
parameters.” MSc thesis, 2000, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
[9] A. Misra, “Stabilization characteristics of clays using class c fly
ash.” Transportation Research Record 1611, Transportation
Research Board, 1998, pp.46-54.
[10] P. Paige-Green, “Recent Developments in Soil Stabilization”,
Proceedings of 19th ARRB Conference, Sydney, Australia, Dec
1998, pp.121-135.
[11] N.S. Pandian, K.C. Krishna and B. Leelavathamma, “Effect of
Fly Ash on the CBR Behaviour of Soils”, Indian Geotechnical
Conference 2002, Allahabad, Vol.1, pp.183-186.
54
[12] “Utility bonanza from dust”, State Environment Related Issues,
Department of Forests, Ecology & Environment, Government
of Karnataka, Parisara ENVIS Newsletter, 2007, Vol.2, No.6,.
[13] S.M. Prasanna Kumar, “Cementitious compounds formation
using pozzolanas and their effect on stabilization of soils of
varying engineering properties”, International conference on
environment science and engineering, IPCBEE, 2011, Vol.8,
pp.212-215, IACSIT Press, Singapore.
[14] M. Robert Brooks, “Soil stabilization with fly ash and rice husk
ash”, International Journal of Research and Reviews in Applied
Sciences, 2009, Volume 1, Issue 3, pp.209-217.
[15] M.P. Rollings, and R.S. Rollings Jr, “Geotechnical Materials in
Construction”, 1996, McGraw-Hill, New York.
[16] R. Srinivas Kumar, “Highway Engineering”, 2010, University
Press India Pvt., Ltd., Hyderabad.
[17] TRL Transport Research Laboratory, “A user manual for a
program to analyze DCP data”, Overseas Road Note 8, Dept. of
Transport, UK.
[18] R.L. Terrel, J.A. Epps, E.J. Barenberg, J.K. Mitchell, Thompson
and M.R. Thompson, “Soil stabilization in pavement structures:
A user’s manual” FHWA-IP-80-2, 1979a, Vol. 1, Department of
Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Washington,
D.C.
[19] D.J. White, “Hydrated fly ash fines as soil stabilizers.” ISU-
ERI-Ames Report 01177, 2000, Engineering Research Institute,
Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
[20] D.J. White, “Reclaimed hydrated fly ash as select fill under pcc
pavement Wapello County demonstration project – Field
Performance.” ISU-ERI-Ames Report 01176, 2002a, Engineering
Research Institute, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
[21] J. Zheng, R. Zhang and H. Yang, “Highway Subgrade
Construction in Expansive Soil Areas”, Journal of Materials in
Civil Engineering, 2009, vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 154-162.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are happy to express their sincre thanks are due
to the staff of geotechnical laboratory at JNTU Hyderabad
in India for continued support extended to complete this
project. Also, sincere thanks are due to the officials of ASTU,
Adama, Ethiopia for their moral support and facility provided
to prepare the manuscript.
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Strength Behaviour of Randomly Distributed

Fibre Reinforced Natural Sand
By Dr.T.Sambaiah
Abstract— The need for improvement of ground is ever increasing due to rapid growth in infrastructure development. The randomly
distributed fibre reinforced sand is one of the popular ground improvement techniques. The need for selection of a suitable fibre material is
an important aspect. A constitutive model for prediction of sand reinforced with any fibre will help in proper selection of the fibre material.
Efforts were made in this study to conduct a series of triaxial compression tests and based on the test results, efforts were made to constitute
a statistical model. To achieve the objective, a series of tri-axial tests were conducted on Aleru River Sand in its Natural grain size form
reinforced with four different fibre materials viz., Nylon, Steel, Plastic coated copper wire and coir. These fibres are mixed in 1%, 3%, 4%
and 5% duly varying the Aspect Ratios at 25 and 85. The results indicated an improvement in strength behaviour of Sand Reinforced with
fibre in randomly distributed form. The investigations showed an improvement in Strength Ratio upto 4.06 and Bearing Capacity Ratio
upto 5.58 when 5% of steel fibre with Aspect ratio 25 is used. Based on the results, a statistical constitutive model was developed to predict
the primary variable viz., the Deviatoric Stress at failure. The regression equations obtained showed R2 values in the range of 0.947
indicating good agreement. To sum up, this provided a tool to predict the BCR for Natural sand reinforced with fibres, based on fibre
characteristics.

Index Terms— All FOUR fibres, Aspect ratio, coir, constitutive model, fibre content, Fibre reinforced Natural sand, Nylon, Plastic coated
copper wire, Ramdomly distributed, Steel, Strength behaviour,Triaxial test validated.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION plates. Gray (1970) observed that the presence of plant roots
is beneficial to the strength of the soils and the stability of

I
mprovement of ground is an important challenge before
Geo-technical Engineers world over. Geo-reinforcement
is a very promising area in improvement of bearing
capacity of soil. Concept involving the reinforcement of
soil using fibres has been used since ancient times. For
example, early civilizations added straws and plants roots
to soil bricks to improve their properties, while building the
Great Wall of China the clay soil was mixed with tamarisk
branches, although the reinforcing mechanism may have not
been fully understood. While reinforcement in fabric form
is widely adopted in field applications, there is need for
though understanding of behaviour of fibre reinforced soil.
Efforts were made to formulate a constitutive model to
predict the behaviour of Randomly Distributed Fibre
Reinforced Soil . There is need for development of more
generalized, universally applicable constitutive model that
can predict the improvement in bearing capacity of Natural
Sand reinforced with any type of reinforcement material with
any aspect ratio mixed in any proportion. Efforts were made
in the current research, to develop such a model for predicting
of strength behaviour of Randomly Distributed Fibre
Reinforced Sand.
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The literature on strength characteristics of randomly
distributed fibre reinforced sand is reviewed in this section.
Schlosser and Long (1970), conducted extensive research
on samples of sand reinforced with horizontal thin aluminum
• Dr.T.Sambaiah, Associate Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering, University College of Engineering (Autonomous),
Osmania University, Hyderabad-500007. e-mail:
sambaiaht@yahoo.com
natural slopes. Subsequently more detailed studies on soils
reinforced with various kinds of reinforcements were
conducted. Subsequently by Broms (1977), Saran et al
(1978), Verma and Char (1978), Talwar and Saran (1983),
Gray and Ohashi (1983), Gray and Al-Refeai (1986),
Venkatappa Rao et al (1987), Fukushuima et al (1988),
Venkatappa Rao et al (1989), Shewbridge and Sitar (1989),
Shamsher (1992) and Haeri et al (2000) and others have
conducted extensive research on soils in which various kinds
of reinforcing material (primarily geosynthetics) were
oriented in particular directions and successfully
demonstrated their efficacy in ground improvement.
Venkatappa Rao et al (1987) based on their investigations
on the triaxial behaviour of geotextile reinforced sand,
reported the applicability of Hausmann’s model with a
difference that no geotextile rupture occurred even at high
confining pressures. Venkatappa Rao et al (1989) conducted
the drained triaxial tests on sand reinforced with disks of
woven and non-woven geotextiles. The results of this study
show that the reinforcement induced confining stress varies
hyperbolically with the applied confining pressure for both
the type of reinforcement. Shamsher (1992) performed
drained triaxial tests on three different types of sand
reinforced with oriented geotextiles.
Lee et al (1973) performed triaxial tests on medium sand
reinforced with random distributed wood shavings 0.2 mm
wide with length varying between 25 mm and 27 mm.
However, failure tends to occur at a slightly higher axial
strain in the reinforced specimens.

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Shamsher (1992) performed drained triaxial tests on three
different types of coarse grained soil reinforced with
randomly distributed geogrid micromesh (GMM) of size 30
mm x 30 mm and 50 mm x 50 mm.
3 METHODOLOGY
The methodology include characterization of the Natural
sand and the four types of fibres used as reinforcement
materials. Later, the preparation of the specimen and the
test procedure are described.
3.1 Characterisation of Natural Sand
3.2 Characterisation of fibres
3.3 Mix Proportioning
It is proposed to conduct conventional triaxial tests on dry
sand along with fibre reinforcement. Hence, to maintain
the percentage by weight of fibres in a given volume of the
specimen requires some computation. These are presented
in this section. The Aspect ratios of fibres adopted are 25
and 85. The percentages of fibres used were 1 %, 3 %, 4 %,
and 5 % by weight of the sand of the test specimen mould.
The percentage of fibres and sand has take into consideration
of volume and specific- gravity of materials. Using the
percentage of fibres used the volume content of sand is
adjusted.
According to the required void ratio (e o ) and fibre
concentration by volume ( ρ), the corresponding fibre
concentration by weight (ρw) was calculated as
ρW =
(1 + e ) Gs ρ
(1 + e )(Gr − Gs ) ρ + Gs
where, Gs and Gr = specific gravity of the sand and
fibres, respectively.
The weight of the dry sand (Ws) and the fibres (Wr) was then
calculated from
56
V (1 − ρ w ) G s G r
Ws = γ
(1 + e ) (1 − ρ w ) G r + ρ w G s w
V ρ w Gs Gr
Wr = γ
(1 + e ) (1 − ρ w ) Gr + ρ w Gs w
Where, V = required volume of the mixture (volume of the
specimen); and γw = unit weight of water.
Thus the densities of the specimens prepared will be
different.
However the density of sand is maintained at the required
level, to enable effective comparison. The same
methodology is adopted in the Steel, PCCW, Nylon, and Coir.
3.4 Test procedure
The Natural Sand used in this study has been reinforced using
FOUR different fibre materials namedly Nylon fibre, Steel
wire, Plastic Coated Copper wire (PCCW) and Coir. In each
of these the percentage of fibre Aspect ratio (As) has been
changed from 1%, 3%, 4% and 5%. The As 25 is maintained
for Nylon fibre, Steel wire and PCCW fibre materials and
As 85 for Nylon fibre and coir fibre. Total 63 number of
test samples have been tested including un-reinforced Natural
Sand.. The UU Triaxial compression tests with control on
confining pressure are performed as per the scheme of
experiments.
4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The experimental results are presented in the
following Table 1 and Table 2.
4.1 Strength behaviour of Natural sand
The stress-strain behaviour of Natural Sand is generally seen
that the strength of the sand increases with confining
pressure. Hyperbolic stress-strain relationships is observed
to be linear. From this it is evident that there is a general
agreement of the test data with hyperbolic predictions within
a range of 10 %. For further comparisons, the predicted
values of (σ1-σ3)f viz., (σ1-σ3)f,pred. are made use of. The values
of c’ and φ’ are computed from the plots of (σ1-σ3)/2 Vs
(σ1+σ3)/2. The sand exhibits a Õ’ value of 37.400 and no
effective cohesion intercept.
4.2 Strength Behaviour of Natural Sand Reinforced with
Different Fibres
This section presents the results of Natural Sand with the
four types of reinforcing fibres.
It is generally seen that increasing the percentage of fibre
has improved the overall stress-strain behaviour, i.e., there
is an increase in the peak strength and modulus with increase
in reinforcement content. Similar behaviour is observed at
all the three confining pressures.
The confining pressure 50 kPa for 1% reinforcement it is
observed that the maximum improvement is for Steel Wire
As = 25 followed by Plastic Coated Copper Wire (PCCW)
As = 25, Nylon fibre As = 85, Coir As = 85, and Nylon fibre
As = 25, with the best being for Steel. Similar behaviour is
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observed for confining pressures of 100 kPa and 150 kPa.
On the whole the behaviour observed is very similar with
increasing percentage of reinforcement showing a better
behaviour. The best improvement was found for 5% steel
fibres at the confining pressure of 150 kPa.
In general the relationship is found to be linear from the
results obtained by hyperbolic plots. Similar to unreinforced
sand, and reinforced Natural sand the predictions from
hyperbolic plots also indicate the percentage agreement with
measured (σ1 - σ3)f is found to be generally in the range of 5
% to 10 %, with a few exceptions to these. On the whole
the agreement is best for Nylon As = 25 and Coir and poor
for PCCW and Steel fibres.
The variation of Deviatoric stress with axial strain for Natural
Sand (without reinforcement) is shoewn in Fig. 1 and Natural
sand for different reinforcing fibres with 5% fibre content
under 50, 100 & 150 kPa confining pressure is Fig. 1(a),
1(b) & 1(c) respectively.
Similar plots were obtained for all other test conditions.
The variation of Deviatric Stress Vs % of fibre for Natural
Sand is shown in Fig. 2
5 OBSERVATIONS
From the laboratory model studies conducted on Natural
Sand (possessing c’= 0 and φ’= 37.400 ) reinforced with
various fibres, the following major conclusions are drawn.
1) With Nylon fibre As = 25, for increasing percentage of
fibre reinforcement, the average value of φ’ is 33.760
(Range 32.89 0 to 34.92 0), the value of c’ increases
gradually up to 49.70 kPa.
2) With PCCW (Plastic Coated Copper Wire), As = 25, the
average value φ’ is 36.030 (Range 34.500 to 37.640) the
value of c’ increases gradually with percentage
reinforcement upto 115.70 kPa.
3) With Steel fibre, As = 25, the average value of φ’ is 36.700
(range 34.950 to 39.540) and the value of c’ increases
gradually with percentage reinforcement up to 120.70
kPa.
4) With Nylon fibre, As = 85, the average value of φ’ is
35.370 (range 33.960 to 36.750) and the value of c’
increases gradually with percentage reinforcement up to
107.60 kPa.
5) With Coir fibre, As = 85, the average value of φ’ is 34.740
(range 33.160 to 35.940) and the value of c’ increases
gradually with percentage reinforcement up to 73.00 kPa.
By a further comparison, it is evident that the maximum c’
and φ’ were for Steel Fibre and the least for Nylon As = 25.
Steel fibre is followed by PCCW, Nylon 85 and coir. The
reason behind this may be the fact that, Comparing the fibres
with As = 25, Steel fibre has the best values of c’ and φ’ ,
followed by PCCW and Nylon (As = 25).
From the above it is evident that, the maximum improvement
in strength ratio of 4.06 is achieved when 5% of steel fibre
with aspect ratio of 25 is mixed with the natural sand.
On the whole this study indicates that a definite imprudent
in Strength behaviour of Sand is observed when it is
reinforced with RDFS. Hence using RDFS the thickness of
sand layer can be economized and thus depletion of sand
can be minimized.
6 DEVELOPMENT OF MODEL
Mathematical regression models are formulated based on
the experimental test data from the triaxial tests conducted
on the reinforced sand. The experimental data obtained from
63 Tiaxial tests Natural sand of Aleru River near Hyderabad.
6.1 Parameters Considered
The mathematical model developed to predict the
improvement factor for ‘sd’ deviatoric stress has the general
form
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Y = Bo +B1 X1 +B2 X2 +B3 X3 +B4 X4 +B5 X5 +B6 X6
+B7 X7+B8 X8 (5.3)
where,
Y is dependent variable,
Bo, B1, ….. B8 are the coefficients of the regression
equation for each input or independent variable and,
X1, X2, …. X8 are the input or the independent
variables.
All the variables in the regression model are
dimensionless.
The dependent variable for the developed model is
the value of ‘σd’ Deviatoric stress improvement
factor.
σd = f(As, γb, gb, σ3, D60, D10, fs, E)
The independent variables are
As = Aspect ratio (As = l/d), fb = % of fibre, γb = Bulk density
(kN/m3), σ3 = Confining pressure (kPa)
D60 = D60 of sand, D10 = D10 of sand, fs = Coefficient of
Surface friction of fibre
E = Young’s modulus or Elastic constant of fibre (kPa)
The linear Regression equation for estimation of the
deviatoric stess at failure for the Natural sand is obtained as
shown below :
σ d = −1625.642 + 1.630 As + 66.657 f b + 106.964γ b
+ 2.807σ 3 − 258.229 f s − 1.20 x10 − 7 E (1)
With the high values of R2 0.947in each of these equations,
the analysis is encouraging.
6.2 Validation of the model for individual sands
Fig. 3 depict the plots of predicted Vs measured value of σd,
which conforms to the above observations made.
Obviously, as already indicated by the high value of R2, the
predictions are quite satisfactory.
As such the regression equations can be of great use in field
application, for sands and fibres of same/similar type. Even
with limited data of fibre and sand, the equations could be
very useful in predictions, from which we can obtain the
values of c’ and φ’ and subsequently compute the improved
bearing capacity.
7 CONCLUSIONS
On the whole, the thesis has attempted to provide an insight
in to the behaviour of randomly distributed fibre reinforced
sand. Based on the investigations made in this research, the
following conclusions are made:
1) In general, there is a considerable improvement in
strength of Sand reinforced with any type of fibre
material. The maximum improvement in strength ratio
was found to be 4.06 (Fig. 4).
2) The value of B.C.R also increases with increase in Aspect
Ratio of reinforcing fibre. The maximum improvement
in B.C.R. was found to be 5.58 (Fig. 5).
3) For Natural sand, the improvement in strength ratio is
proportionately increasing as the percentage of fibre is
increasing.
4) For Natural sand and reinforced with any type of fibre,
the improvement in strength ratio is taking
proportionately as the aspect ratio is increasing.
5) For a given Sand-fibre combination, the strength ratio is
found to be more when the confining pressure is at 50
kPa.
The multiple regression analysis yielded mathematical
models with R2 0.947. This enables the designer to estimate
the behaviour of Fibre reinforced sand of given combination,
even without conducting the laboratory tests.
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Fig. 1(c) Stress-Strain Curves of Natural Sand for
different reinforcing fibres with 5% fibre content at σ3 = 150 kPa
References
[1] Broms. B.B. (1977), “Triaxial Tests with Fabric-reinforced
Soil” Proc. Int. Conf. on the Use of Fabric in Geotechnics,
Vol. 3, Paris, pp. 129 – 134.
[2] Bureau of Indian Standards., “Code of Practice for
Determination of Bearing Capacity of Shallow
Foundations”, IS: 6403 - 1981, New Delhi.
[3] Bureau of Indian Standards., “Guide for Undisturbed
Sampling of Sands”, IS: 8763 - 1978, New Delhi.
[4] Bureau of Indian Standards., “Test for Soils Classification
and identification of sands “, IS: 1498 (1970), New Delhi.
[5] Bureau of Indian Standards., “Test for Soils Part 11
Determination of Shear Strength parameters (UU test
without pore water pressure measurement)”,
IS: 2720 Part 11 – 1985 (1993), New Delhi.
[6] Bureau of Indian Standards., “Test for Soils Part 14
Determination of Density Index (Relative Density of
Cohesion less soils)”, IS: 2720 Part 14 – 1983 (1995), New
Delhi.
[7] Bureau of Indian Standards., “Test for Soils Part 3
Determination of Specific Gravity of fine grained soils”, IS:
2720 Part 3 - Section 1-1980 (1992), New Delhi.
[8] Bureau of Indian Standards., “Test for Soils Part 3
Determination of Specific Gravity of fine, medium and
coarse grained soils”, IS: 2720 Part 3 - Section 2 - 1980
(1992), New Delhi.
[9] Bureau of Indian Standards., “Test for Soils Part 4
Determination of Grain Size analysis”, IS: 2720 Part 4 – 1985
(1995), New Delhi.
60
[10] Fukushima, S., Mochizuki, Y. and Kagawa, K. (1988),
“Strength Characteristic of Reinforced Sand in Large Scale
Triaxial Compression Test”, Proc. Int. geotech. Symp. Theory
and Practice of Earth Reinforcement, Fukuoka, Japan, pp.
93 - 98.
[11] Goutam Kumar Pothal, (2007) “Improvement of Pond Ash
with Geosynthetics”, unpublished Ph. D. Thesis submitted to
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India.
[12] Gray, D.H. & Ohashi, H. (1983), “Mechanics of fibre
reinforcing in sand”, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Div., ASCE, Vol. 109, No. 3, pp. 335 – 353.
[13] Gray, D.H. (1970), “Role of Woody Vegetation in
Reinforceing Soils and Stabilizing Slopes”, Symp. on Soil
reinforcement and Stabilizing Techniques, Sydney, Australia,
pp. 253 - 306.
[14] Gray, D.H. and Al-Refeai, T. (1986), “Behaviour of Fabric
versus Fibre Reinforced Sand”, Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering, Div., ASCE, Vol. 112, No. 8, pp. 804 - 820.
[15] Lee, J.H., Salgado, R., Bernal, A. and Lovell, C.W. (1973),
“Reinforced Earth Retaining Walls”, Journal of Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineering Div., ASCE, Vol. 99,
No. SM. 10, pp. 745-764.
[16] Michalowski Radoslaw L.and Zhao Aigen, (1996) “Failure
of fibre-reinforced granular soils”, Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering, 1996, vol.122,pp. 226-232.
[17] Saran, S., Talwar, D.V. and Vaish, U.S. (1978), “Some Aspect
of Engineering Behaviour of Reinforced Earth”, Proc. Symp.
on Soil on Soil Reinforced and Stabilizing Techniques in
Engineering Practice, Sydney, Australia, pp. 40-49.
[18] Schlosser, F. and Long, N.T. (1970), “Comportment de la
Terrse Armee a’l Appareil Triaxial”, Papport da Activite du
Laboratorie, Central des Ponts at Chaussees, Paris.
[19] Shamsher, F.H. (1992), “Ground Improvement with Oriented
Geotextiles and Randomly Distributed Geogrid Micromesh”,
Unpublished Ph.D Thesis Submitted to Indian Institute of
Technology Delhi, India.
[20] Shewbrige, S.E. and Sitar, N. (1989), “Deformation
characteristics of reinforced soil in direct shear”, Journal of
Geotechnical Engineering Div., ASCE, Vol. 115, No. 8, pp.
1134 – 1147.
[21] SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), Version 13,
Chicago, IL 60606-9659, www.spss.com (currently the most
widely used method for the prediction of multi linear regression
equation by using).
[22] Talwar, D.V. and Saran, S. (1983), “Triaxial Performance of
A Reinforced Sand”, Proc. Indian Geotechnical Conference,
Madras, India, Vol. 1, pp. 13-19.
[23] Venkatappa Rao, G., Gupta, K.K. and Balan, K. (1987),
“Triaxial Behaviour of Geotextile Reinforced Sand”, Proc.
Indian Geotechnical conference, Bangalore, India, Vol. 1, pp.
323-328.
[24] Venkatappa Rao, G., Gupta, K.K. and Katti A.R (1989),
“Strength and Friction Evaluation of Geogrids”, Proc.
Int. Workshop on Geotextiles, India, Vol. 1, pp. 217-224.
[25] Verma, B.P. and Char, A.N.R, (1986), “Bearing Capacity Tests
on Reinforced Sand Sub-grades”, Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering Div., ASCE, 112(7), pp.701-706.
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Effect of Fibre Content on Strength Behaviour of

Geosynthatic Reinforced Medium Sand
By Dr.T.Sambaiah
Abstract— Improvement of ground is an important challenge before Geo-technical Engineers world over. Geo-reinforcement is a very
promising area in improvement of bearing capacity of soil. To achieve the objective, a series of tri-axial tests were conducted on Aleru
River Sand in its Medium grain size forms with Geosynthetic reinforcement materials viz., Nylon, Steel, Plastic coated copper wire and
coir. These fibres are mixed in 1%, 3%, 4% and 5% duly varying the Aspect Ratios at 25 and 85. The results indicated an improvement in
strength behaviour of Sand Reinforced with fibre in randomly distributed form. The investigations showed an improvement in Strength
Ratio upto 3.85 and Bearing Capacity Ratio upto 6.21 when 5% of steel fibre with Aspect ratio 25 is used. Based on the results, a statistical
constitutive model was developed to predict the primary variable viz., the Deviatoric Stress at failure. The regression equations obtained
showed R2 value of 0.962 indicating good agreement. To sum up, this provided a tool to predict the BCR for Medium sand reinforced with
fibres, based on fibre characteristics.

Index Terms— All FOUR fibres, Aspect ratio, coir, constitutive model, fibre content, Fibre reinforced Medium sand, Nylon, Plastic coated
copper wire, Ramdomly distributed, Steel, Strength behaviour,Triaxial test validated.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION is beneficial to the strength of the soils and the stability of

natural slopes. Subsequently more detailed studies on soils

I
mprovement of ground is an important challenge before
Geo-technical Engineers world over. Geo-reinforcement
is a very promising area in improvement of bearing
capacity of soil. Concept involving the reinforcement of
soil using fibres has been used since ancient times. For
example, early civilizations added straws and plants roots
to soil bricks to improve their properties, while building the
Great Wall of China the clay soil was mixed with tamarisk
branches, although the reinforcing mechanism may have not
been fully understood. While reinforcement in fabric form
is widely adopted in field applications, there is need for
though understanding of behaviour of fibre reinforced soil.
Efforts were made to formulate a constitutive model to
predict the behaviour of Randomly Distributed Fibre
Reinforced Soil . There is need for development of more
generalized, universally applicable constitutive model that
can predict the improvement in bearing capacity of Medium
Sand reinforced with any type of reinforcement material with
any aspect ratio mixed in any proportion. Efforts were made
in the current research, to develop such a model for predicting
of strength behaviour of Randomly Distributed Fibre
Reinforced Sand.
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The literature on strength characteristics of randomly
distributed fibre reinforced sand is reviewed in this section.
Schlosser and Long (1970), conducted extensive research
on samples of sand reinforced with horizontal thin aluminum
plates. Gray (1970) observed that the presence of plant roots
• Dr.T.Sambaiah, Associate Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering, University College of Engineering (Autonomous),
Osmania University, Hyderabad-500007. e-mail:
sambaiaht@yahoo.com
reinforced with various kinds of reinforcements were
conducted. Subsequently by Broms (1977), Saran et al
(1978), Verma and Char (1978), Talwar and Saran (1983),
Gray and Ohashi (1983), Gray and Al-Refeai (1986),
Venkatappa Rao et al (1987), Fukushuima et al (1988),
Venkatappa Rao et al (1989), Shewbridge and Sitar (1989),
Shamsher (1992) and Haeri et al (2000) and others have
conducted extensive research on soils in which various kinds
of reinforcing material (primarily geosynthetics) were
oriented in particular directions and successfully
demonstrated their efficacy in ground improvement.
Venkatappa Rao et al (1987) based on their investigations
on the triaxial behaviour of geotextile reinforced sand,
reported the applicability of Hausmann’s model with a
difference that no geotextile rupture occurred even at high
confining pressures. Venkatappa Rao et al (1989) conducted
the drained triaxial tests on sand reinforced with disks of
woven and non-woven geotextiles. The results of this study
show that the reinforcement induced confining stress varies
hyperbolically with the applied confining pressure for both
the type of reinforcement. Shamsher (1992) performed
drained triaxial tests on three different types of sand
reinforced with oriented geotextiles.
Lee et al (1973) performed triaxial tests on medium sand
reinforced with random distributed wood shavings 0.2 mm
wide with length varying between 25 mm and 27 mm.
However, failure tends to occur at a slightly higher axial
strain in the reinforced specimens.
Shamsher (1992) performed drained triaxial tests on three
different types of coarse grained soil reinforced with
randomly distributed geogrid micromesh (GMM) of size 30
mm x 30 mm and 50 mm x 50 mm.

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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
3 METHODOLOGY
The methodology include characterization of the medium
sand and the four types of fibres used as reinforcement
materials. Later, the preparation of the specimen and the
test procedure are described.
3.1 Characterisation of Medium Sand
3.3 Mix Proportioning
It is proposed to conduct conventional triaxial tests on dry
sand along with fibre reinforcement. Hence, to maintain
the percentage by weight of fibres in a given volume of the
specimen requires some computation. These are presented
in this section. The Aspect ratios of fibres adopted are 25
and 85. The percentages of fibres used were 1 %, 3 %, 4 %,
and 5 % by weight of the sand of the test specimen mould.
The percentage of fibres and sand has take into consideration
of volume and specific- gravity of materials. Using the
percentage of fibres used the volume content of sand is
adjusted.
According to the required void ratio (e o ) and fibre
concentration by volume (ρ), the corresponding fibre
concentration by weight (ρw) was calculated as
ρW =
(1 + e ) Gs ρ
(1 + e )(Gr − Gs ) ρ + Gs
where, Gs and Gr = specific gravity of the sand and
fibres, respectively.
The weight of the dry sand (Ws) and the fibres (Wr) was
then calculated from
V (1 − ρ w ) G s G r
Ws = γ As = 25, with the best being for Steel. Similar behaviour is
(1 + e ) (1 − ρ w ) G r + ρ w G s w
and
V ρw Gs Gr
Wr = γ
(1 + e ) (1 − ρ w )G r + ρ w G s
w
62
Where, V = required volume of the mixture (volume of
the specimen); and γw = unit weight of water.
Thus the densities of the specimens prepared will be
different.
However the density of sand is maintained at the required
level, to enable effective comparison. The same
methodology is adopted in the Steel, PCCW, Nylon, and
Coir.
3.4 Test procedure
The Medium Sand used in this study has been reinforced
using FOUR different fibre materials namedly Nylon fibre,
Steel wire, Plastic Coated Copper wire (PCCW) and Coir.
In each of these the percentage of fibre Aspect ratio (As) has
been changed from 1%, 3%, 4% and 5%. The As 25 is
maintained for Nylon fibre, Steel wire and PCCW fibre
materials and As 85 for Nylon fibre and coir fibre. Total 63
number of test samples have been tested including un-
reinforced Natural Sand. The UU Triaxial compression tests
with control on confining pressure are performed as per the
scheme of experiments.
4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The experimental results are presented in the following Table
1 and Table 2.
4.1 Strength behaviour of medium sand
The stress-strain behaviour of Medium Sand is generally seen
that the strength of the sand increases with confining
pressure. Hyperbolic stress-strain relationships is observed
to be linear. From this it is evident that there is a general
agreement of the test data with hyperbolic predictions within
a range of 10 %. For further comparisons, the predicted
values of (σ1-σ3)f viz., (σ1-σ3)f,pred. are made use of. The values
of c’ and φ’ are computed from the plots of (σ1-σ3)/2 Vs
(σ1+σ3)/2. The sand exhibits a Õ’ value of 34.880 and no
effective cohesion intercept.
4.2 Strength Behaviour of Medium Sand Reinforced with
Different Fibres
This section presents the results of Medium Sand with the
four types of reinforcing fibres.
It is generally seen that increasing the percentage of fibre
has improved the overall stress-strain behaviour, i.e., there
is an increase in the peak strength and modulus with increase
in reinforcement content. Similar behaviour is observed at
all the three confining pressures.
The confining pressure 50 kPa for 1% reinforcement it is
observed that the maximum improvement is for Steel Wire
As = 25 followed by Plastic Coated Copper Wire (PCCW)
As = 25, Nylon fibre As = 85, Coir As = 85, and Nylon fibre
observed for confining pressures of 100 kPa and 150 kPa.
On the whole the behaviour observed is very similar with
increasing percentage of reinforcement showing a better
behaviour. The best improvement was found for 5% steel
fibres at the confining pressure of 150 kPa.
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
In general the relationship is found to be linear from the
results obtained by hyperbolic plots. Similar to unreinforced
sand, and reinforced Medium sand the predictions from
hyperbolic plots also indicate the percentage agreement with
measured (σ1 - σ3)f is found to be generally in the range of 5
% to 10 %, with a few exceptions to these. On the whole
the agreement is best for Nylon As = 25 and Coir and poor
for PCCW and Steel fibres.
The variation of Deviatoric stress with axial strain for
Medium Sand (without reinforcement) is shoewn in Fig. 1
and Medium sand for different reinforcing fibres with 5%
fibre content under 50, 100 & 150 kPa confining pressure is
Fig. 1(a), 1(b) & 1(c) respectively.
Similar plots were obtained for all other test conditions.
The variation of Deviatric Stress Vs % of fibre for Medium
Sand is shown in Fig. 2
5 OBSERVATIONS
Based on the laboratory model studies conducted on Medium
Sand (possessing c’= 0 and φ’= 34.880 ) reinforced with
different fibres, the following major conclusions are drawn.
1) With Nylon fibre As = 25, for increasing percentage of
fibre reinforcement, the average value of φ’ is 31.710
(Range 30.580 to 32.760), the value of c’ increases
gradually up to 48.00 kPa.
2) With PCCW (Plastic Coated Copper Wire), As = 25,
the average value φ’ is 34.590 (Range 33.350 to 36.000)
the value of c’ increases gradually with percentage
reinforcement up to 78.00 kPa.
3) With Steel fibre, As = 25, the average value of φ’ is
35.400 (range 33.820 to 37.000) and the value of c’
increases gradually with percentage reinforcement up
to 96.80 kPa.
4) With Nylon fibre, As = 85, the average value of φ’ is
34.180 (range 32.430 to 35.790) and the value of c’
increases gradually with percentage reinforcement up
to 73.50 kPa.
5) With Coir fibre, As = 85, the average value of φ’ is 32.650
(range 31.420 to 34.290) and the value of c’ increases
gradually with percentage reinforcement up to 66.80
kPa.
By a further comparison, it is evident that the maximum c’
and φ’ were for Steel Fibre and the least for Nylon As = 25.
Steel fibre is followed by PCCW, Nylon 85 and coir.
Comparing the fibres with As = 25, Steel fibre has the best
values of c’ and φ’, followed by PCCW and Nylon (As =
25). Again comparing those with As = 85, Nylon (As = 85)
exhibits higher values of c’ and φ’ than coir (As = 85).
On the whole this study indicates that a definite imprudent
in Strength behaviour of Sand is observed when it is
reinforced with RDFS. Hence using RDFS the thickness of
sand layer can be economized and thus depletion of sand
can be minimized.
6 DEVELOPMENT OF MODEL
Mathematical regression models are formulated based on
the experimental test data from the triaxial tests conducted
on the reinforced sand. The experimental data obtained from
63 Tiaxial tests Medium sand of Aleru River near Hyderabad.
6.1 Parameters Considered
The mathematical model developed to predict the
improvement factor for ‘σd’ deviatoric stress has the general
form
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9th and 10th of May 2013
Y = Bo +B1 X1 +B2 X2 +B3 X3 +B4 X4 +B5 X5 +B6 X6
+B7 X7+B8 X8 (5.3)
where,
Y is dependent variable,
Bo, B1, ….. B8 are the coefficients of the regression equation
for each input or independent variable and,
X1, X2, …. X8 are the input or the independent variables.
All the variables in the regression model are dimensionless.
The dependent variable for the developed model is the value
of ‘σd’ Deviatoric stress improvement factor.
σd = f(As, fb, γb, σ3, D60, D10, fs, E)
The independent variables are
As = Aspect ratio (As = l/d), fb = % of fibre, γb = Bulk density
(kN/m3), σ3 = Confining pressure (kPa)
D60 = D60 of sand, D10 = D10 of sand, fs = Coefficient of
Surface friction of fibre
E = Young’s modulus or Elastic constant of fibre (kPa)
The linear Regression equation for estimation of the
deviatoric stess at failure for the medium sand is obtained
as shown below :
σ d = −1204 .035 + 1.304 As + 50.944 f b + 81.813γ b
+ 2.579σ 3 − 259 .352 f s + 3.55 x10 − 7 E
With values of R2 0.962 of these equation, the analysis is
encouraging.
6.2 Validation of the model for individual sands
Fig. 3 depict the plots of predicted Vs measured value of σd,
which conforms to the above observations made.
Obviously, as already indicated by the high value of R2, the
predictions are quite satisfactory.
As such the regression equations can be of great use in field
application, for sands and fibres of same/similar type. Even
with limited data of fibre and sand, the equations could be
very useful in predictions, from which we can obtain the
values of c’ and φ’ and subsequently compute the improved
bearing capacity.
7 CONCLUSIONS
On the whole, the thesis has attempted to provide an insight
in to the behaviour of randomly distributed fibre reinforced
sand. Based on the investigations made in this research, the
following conclusions are made:
1) In general, there is a considerable improvement in strength
of Sand reinforced with any type of fibre material. The
maximum improvement in strength ratio was found to be
3.85 (Fig. 4).
2) The value of B.C.R also increases with increase in Aspect
Ratio of reinforcing fibre. The maximum improvement
in B.C.R. was found to be 6.21 (Fig. 5).
3) For Medium sand, the improvement in strength ratio is
proportionately increasing as the percentage of fibre is
increasing.
4) For Medium sand and reinforced with any type of fibre,
the improvement in strength ratio is taking proportionately
as the aspect ratio is increasing.
5) For a given Sand-fibre combination, the strength ratio is
found to be more when the confining pressure is at 50
kPa.
The multiple regression analysis yielded mathematical
models with R2 0.962. This enables the designer to estimate
the behaviour of Fibre reinforced sand of given combination,
even without conducting the laboratory tests.
63
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Table No. 1: Summary of B. C. R. for Natural Sand 550

Nylon PCCW Steel Wire Nylon Coir 500

% fibre
As = 25 As = 25 As = 25 As = 85 As = 85

450
1 1.04 1.44 1.62 1.31 1.14

3 1.44 2.70 3.24 2.09 1.74

400

4 1.71 3.90 4.87 2.97 2.25

5 1.87 4.78 5.58 4.06 2.82 350

Deviatoric Stress (kPa)

Table No. 2: Summary of Shear Ratio for Natural Sand 300

Confining Steel 250

% Nylon PCCW Nylon Coir
Pressure Wire
fibre As = 25 As = 25 As = 85 As = 85
σ3 (kPa) As = 25
200
1 50 1.25 1.50 1.61 1.43 1.33
100 1.01 1.17 1.24 1.12 1.05
150

150 1.01 1.06 1.12 1.05 1.04

3 50 1.56 2.28 2.52 1.96 1.75 100

100 1.19 1.60 1.74 1.43 1.32 Natural Sand 50 kPa

50
150 1.06 1.38 1.48 1.25 1.17 Natural Sand 100kPa

Natural Sand 150kPa

4 50 1.73 2.80 3.17 2.40 2.02
0

100 1.30 1.91 2.12 1.68 1.47 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Axial Strain (%)

150 1.15 1.61 1.77 1.44 1.29
Fig. 1 Stress-Strain Curves for Natural Sand
5 50 1.98 3.84 4.06 3.57 2.66
100 1.39 2.38 2.51 2.23 1.76
150 1.19 1.89 1.99 1.78 1.46

Fig. 3. Comparision of measured and predicted values of σ us-

Fig. 2 Deviatric Stress Vs % of fibre for Natual Sand for As 25 & ing Eqauation 1
85 for 1, 3, 4, 5% and 50, 100, 150 kPa/m3

64 ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

B .C .R .
3

Nylon fibre (As=25)

Coir (As=85)
1
Nylon fibre (As=85)
PCCW (As=25)
Steel wire (As=25)
0
0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6%
% fibre

Fig. 5. B.C.R. for Natural Sand for different fibres with Aspect
Ratios (25, 85) fand different percentage of inclusion (1%, 3%,
Fig. 4. Strength Ratio Vs. % of fibre for Natural Sand 4% and 5%)

650
800

600 750

700
550

650

500
600

450
550

400 500
Deviatoric Stress (kPa)

Deviatoric Stress (kPa)

450
350

400
300

350

250
300

200 250

200
150
NS 5 % Steel wire (As = 25)
NS 5 % Steel wire (As = 25)
NS 5 % PCCW (As = 25) 150
NS 5 % PCCW (As = 25)
100
NS 5 % Nylon fibre (As = 85)
NS 5 % Nylon fibre (As = 85)
100
NS 5 % Coir (As = 85)
NS 5 % Coir (As = 85)
50 NS 5 % Nylon fibre (As = 25) NS 5 % Nylon fibre (As = 25)
50
Natural Sand (NS) Natural Sand (NS)

0
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Axial Strain (%) Axial Strain (%)

Fig. 1(a) Stress-Strain Curves of Natural Sand for different Fig. 1(b) Stress-Strain Curves of Natural Sand for different
reinforcing fibres with 5% fibre content at σ = 50 kPa reinforcing fibres with 5% fibre content at σ = 100 kPa

ICICE-2013 65
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

[9] Bureau of Indian Standards., ”Test for Soils Part 4 Determination of Grain
Size analysis”, IS: 2720 Part 4 – 1985 (1995), New Delhi.
[10] Fukushima, S., Mochizuki, Y. and Kagawa, K. (1988), “Strength Characte-
750
ristic of Reinforced Sand in Large Scale Triaxial Compression Test”,
720
Proc. Int. geotech. Symp. Theory and Practice of Earth Reinforcement, Fu-
690
kuoka, Japan,
660
pp. 93 - 98.
630
[11] Goutam Kumar Pothal, (2007) “Improvement of Pond Ash with Geosyn-
600
thetics”, unpublished Ph. D. Thesis submitted to Indian Institute of Technol-
570
ogy, Delhi, India.
540
[12] Gray, D.H. & Ohashi, H. (1983), “Mechanics of fibre reinforcing in sand”,
510
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Div., ASCE, Vol. 109, No. 3,
480
pp. 335 – 353.
Deviatoric Stress (kPa)

450
[13] Gray, D.H. (1970), “Role of Woody Vegetation in Reinforceing Soils and
420 Stabilizing Slopes”, Symp. on Soil reinforcement and Stabilizing Techniques,
390 Sydney, Australia, pp. 253 - 306.
360 [14] Gray, D.H. and Al-Refeai, T. (1986), “Behaviour of Fabric versus Fibre
330 Reinforced Sand”, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Div., ASCE,
300 Vol. 112, No. 8, pp. 804 - 820.
270 [15] Lee, J.H., Salgado, R., Bernal, A. and Lovell, C.W. (1973), “Reinforced
240 Earth Retaining Walls”, Journal of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engi-
210 MS 5 % Steel wire (As = 25) neering Div., ASCE, Vol. 99, No. SM. 10, pp. 745-764.
180
MS 5 % PCCW (As = 25) [16] Michalowski Radoslaw L.and Zhao Aigen, (1996) “Failure of fibre-
150
MS 5 % Nylon fibre (As = 85)
reinforced granular soils”, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 1996,
120 vol.122,pp. 226-232.
MS 5 % Coir (As = 85)
90 [17] Saran, S., Talwar, D.V. and Vaish, U.S. (1978), “Some Aspect of Engineer-
MS 5 % Nylon fibre (As = 25)
60 ing Behaviour of Reinforced Earth”, Proc. Symp. on Soil on Soil Rein-
30 Medium Sand (MS) forced and Stabilizing Techniques in Engineering Practice, Sydney, Austral-
0 ia, pp. 40-49.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
[18] Schlosser, F. and Long, N.T. (1970), “Comportment de la Terrse Armee a’l
Axial Strain (%)
Appareil Triaxial”, Papport da Activite du Laboratorie, Central des Ponts
Fig. 1(c) Stress-Strain Curves of Natural Sand for
Fig.different
1(c) Stress-Strain at Chaussees, Paris.
reinforcingCurves of Medium
fibres with 5% fibreSand for different
content at
reinforcing fibres with 5% fiber content at 3 = 150 kPa [19] Shamsher, F.H. (1992), “Ground Improvement with Oriented Geotextiles
σ = 150 kPa
and Randomly Distributed Geogrid Micromesh”, Unpublished Ph.D Thesis
Submitted to Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India.
[20] Shewbrige, S.E. and Sitar, N. (1989), “Deformation characteristics of rein-
forced soil in direct shear”, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Div.,
REFERENCES ASCE, Vol. 115, No. 8, pp. 1134 – 1147.
[21] SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), Version 13, Chicago,
[1] Broms. B.B. (1977), “Triaxial Tests with Fabric-reinforced Soil” Proc. Int.
IL 60606-9659, www.spss.com (currently the most widely used method for
Conf. on the Use of Fabric in Geotechnics, Vol. 3, Paris, pp. 129 – 134.
the prediction of multi linear regression equation by using).
[2] Bureau of Indian Standards., ”Code of Practice for Determination of Bear-
[22] Talwar, D.V. and Saran, S. (1983), “Triaxial Performance of A Reinforced
ing Capacity of Shallow Foundations”, IS: 6403 - 1981, New Delhi.
Sand”, Proc. Indian Geotechnical Conference, Madras, India, Vol. 1,
[3] Bureau of Indian Standards., ”Guide for Undisturbed Sampling of Sands”,
pp. 13-19.
IS: 8763 - 1978, New Delhi.
[23] Venkatappa Rao, G., Gupta, K.K. and Balan, K. (1987), "Triaxial Beha-
[4] Bureau of Indian Standards., ”Test for Soils Classification and identifica-
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tion of sands ”, IS: 1498 (1970), New Delhi.
rence, Bangalore, India, Vol. 1, pp. 323-328.
[5] Bureau of Indian Standards., ”Test for Soils Part 11 Determination of
[24] Venkatappa Rao, G., Gupta, K.K. and Katti A.R (1989), "Strength and
Shear Strength parameters (UU test without pore water pressure mea-
Friction Evaluation of Geogrids", Proc. Int. Workshop on Geotextiles,
surement)”,
India, Vol. 1, pp. 217-224.
IS: 2720 Part 11 – 1985 (1993), New Delhi.
[25] Verma, B.P. and Char, A.N.R, (1986), "Bearing Capacity Tests on Rein-
[6] Bureau of Indian Standards., ”Test for Soils Part 14 Determination of Den-
forced Sand Sub-grades", Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Div.,
sity Index (Relative Density of Cohesion less soils)”, IS: 2720 Part 14 –
ASCE, 112(7), pp.701-706.
1983 (1995), New Delhi.
[7] Bureau of Indian Standards., ”Test for Soils Part 3 Determination of Spe-
cific Gravity of fine grained soils”, IS: 2720 Part 3 - Section 1-1980 (1992),
New Delhi.
[8] Bureau of Indian Standards., ”Test for Soils Part 3 Determination of Spe-
cific Gravity of fine, medium and coarse grained soils”, IS: 2720 Part 3 -
Section 2 - 1980 (1992), New Delhi.

66 ICICE-2013
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Effect of reinforcement Spacing on the Performance of

Embedded Circular Footing in Reinforced FlyAsh
S. Gangadara, H.C. Muddaraju
Abstract— Fly ash, having certain desirable characteristics is now recognized as a valuable substance in many applications. A study is
under-taken to expand the knowledge concerning reinforced earth by investigating the potential benefits of using reinforced earth to
improve the bearing capacity and to reduce the settlement of Fly ash beds, a waste material replacing the soil under repeated loading. The
stress-strain behavior and strength properties of fly ash are improved with the inclusion of geosynthetic materials. The use of reinforced
earth concept has been widely accepted in many areas of construction but the utilization of flyash in place of back fill soil has not gained
much attention of researchers. The present work aims at conducting experiments on embedded circular footing in unreinforced and reinforced
fly ash beds subjected to repeated loading in order to investigate the effect of reinforcement spacing on their performance. The experimental
results clearly demonstrated that the spacing of reinforcement is an important parameter to be considered and the optuimum spacing of the
reinforcement is 0.3B, where B is the diameter of the circular footing.
Index Terms— Cyclic Resistance Ratio, Embedded circular footing, Flyashbed, Geogrid reinforcement, Reinforced soil, Repeated loads,
Settlement Ratio.
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION al.2005; Shivakumar Babu et al.2006; Tafreshi and Dawson

2010 ;). Hence the present invistiagion has been carried out to

S
afe disposal of flyash, a waste end product of thermal
power plants, is a challenge that the engineers and
environmentalist are facing in the modern era of
urbanization. One safe method of disposing this waste
byproduct is to utilize them in the civil engineering
construction activity. The reinforced earth is a construction
method which is gaining more popularly among the civil
engineers because of its inherent characteristics of simplicity,
design confidence and the easy method of construction. The
reinforced earth is a combination of tensile reinforcements
and a frictional back fill soil. Generally a well graded sand
or gravelly sand is used as a backfill material as they offer
adequate friction and provide good drainage. Attempts are
also being made to use non soil material like flyash for the
backfill in the reinforced earth construction. With the usage
of flyash in the backfill not only the method of construction
becomes more economical, the disposal problem of flyash
is also taken care to some extent. Further the non reactive
flyash, which is not conserved in other industries like cement
manufacturing, can also be effectively used in the backfill.
The research work carried out on the utility of flyash when
subjected to monotonic or static loading have established
clearly the effectiveness of flyash as backfill material.
However the studies on the performance of this backfill
material when subjected to repeated loads is limited.
In many practical situations, the dynamic loads are applied at
certain depth below the ground level simulating embedded
conditions. (eg. Foundations, bridge abutments etc). The circular
foundation, which is predominatly used in axi-symmetric
structures has economic advantages over boxed foundation and
has received little attention of researchers to investigate the
benefits of soil reinorcement. (Dash et al.2003; Boushehrian
and Hataf 2003; Yoon et al.2004; Deb et al.2004; Bera et
————————————————
• S. Gangadara Associate Professor email:gdhara_68@yahoo.com
• H.C.Muddaraju Assistant Professor e-mail:muddu.hc@gmail.com
Department of Civil Engineering, UVCE, Bangalore University,
Bangalore -560056, Karnataka, India.
ICICE-2013
understand the effictiveness of reinforced fly ash beds where
in a circular footing is embedded.
The objective of the present investigation to examine the effect
of reinforcement spacing on the performance of embedded
footing in unreinforced and reinforced fly ash beds subjected
to repeated loading. For this purpose the repeated load tests are
performed in an ‘Automated Dynamic Testing Apparatus
(ADTA)’ specially designed, fabricated and calibrated for the
purpose. A series of tests are conducted under controlled
conditions on the embedded footing resting in polyethylene
geogrid reinforced flyash beds. This paper presents the results
of all such experiment performed and discussion thereon.
2 MATIRIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Fly Ash
The fly ash used in the study is collected from Raichur
thermal power plant, Karnataka, India. It is a non-pozzolanic
fly ash belonging to ASTM classification “C”. This fly ash
is directly collected from open dry dumps. The property of
flyash is given in Table 1.
2.2 Reinforcement
Polyethylene reinforcement in the form of Biaxial Geogrid
is used in the present investigation. Table- 2 presents the
properties of geogrid used.
2.3 Model Footing
Mild Steel Footing
Size of Circular footing, B= 100mm
Thickness of the footing, t = 4mm
2.4 Preparation of Fly ash beds
Fly ash bed is prepared by manual compaction at its optimum
moisture content, to maximum dry density. Unreinforced
sample is compacted up to a height of 360mm in 3 equal
layers of 120mm thick. For reinforced sample, the geogrid
reinforcements are placed at predetermined spacing in
between fly ash layers from the bottom of footing, and by
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the same procedure remaining height of the tank is The following statements can be drawn from the observation
compacted. The reinforcements are provided in the shape of trend of curves presented in Fig.1 to Fig.4. a) The
of circular discs. A clearance of 5mm is provided to ensure performance of embedded circular footing in fly ash beds,
that no friction was generated between the reinforcement either unreinforced or reinforced is better when the loading
and the walls of the tank. pressures applied are of lower magnitude. b) The magnitude
of settlement reduced considerably when the flyash beds are
TABLE 1
reinforced with geogrids.c) Irrespective of spacing of
FLY ASH PROPERTIES reinforcement, all the embedded footings in reinforced flyash
beds exhibited better performance than their counterparts
Physical properties Test Results
which are embedded in unreinforced flyash beds.d) The trend
Colour Light grey of result (c), is observed to be true under all the tested cyclic
Specific gravity 2.07 pressures.e) A cross comparison of these figures reveals that
Grain size distribution the optimum spacing of the reinforcement is about 0.3B
Sand size fraction (%) 15 where B is diameter of circular footing.
Silt and clay size fraction (%) 85
Atterberg’s limits:
Liquid Limit (%) 31.8
Plastic Limit (%) —
Plasticity Index (%) Non plastic
Compaction characteristics
Optimum moisture Content (%) 23
Maximum Dry Density(kN/m3) 12.7
Unconfined Compressive Strength
at MDD(kPa) 51.4
TABLE 2
REINFORCEMENT PROPERTIES

Physical properties Unit Test Results Fig. 1. Performance of embedded circular footing in unreinforced fly
ash beds at loading pressures of 350 kPa and 450 kPa.
Aperture size MD mm 34
CD mm 32
Ultimate tensile strength MD kN/m 33.2
CD kN/m 31.1
Strain at ultimate MD % 14.4
CD % 6.9
2.5 Method of Testing
The reinforced and unreinforced fly ash beds are subjected
to repeated loading in the Automated Dynamic Testing
Apparatus. The excitation values, viz., cyclic pressure
(repeated load) and frequency are selected and fed in to the
computer. The load is applied on to the model footing and
the settlements are measured through three different LVDT’s
placed orthogonal to each other. The load cell and the
LVDT’s are in turn connected to the control unit, where the
analog to digital conversion takes place, and is recorded in Fig. 2. Performance of embedded circular footing in reinforced fly
ash beds (S=0.3B) at loading pressures of 350 kPa and 450 kPa.
the data acquisition system. The measured settlements after
each cycle of loading are recorded in the data acquisition
system, which is then recovered through the computer.
3 RESUTLS AND DISCUSSIONS
The results of the experiments carried out have been
represented in terms of cyclic load-settlement curves in
figures 1 to 4. The experiments are conducted under loading
pressure of 350 kPa and 450 kPa. Figure.1 shows the cyclic
load- settlement curves plotted for unreinforced fly ash beds
at different loading pressures. Figures.2 to4 indicate the
results of the experiments conducted on reinforced fly ash
beds with three layers of reinforcement which is kept
constant in all the cases and with a constant depth of first
layer of reinforcement (u/B = 0.3B) but varied spacing of
0.3B, 0.4B and 0.5B between the reinforcement layers, B Fig. 3. Performance of embedded circular footing in reinforced fly
being the diameter of circular footing., respectively. ash beds (S=0.4B) at loading pressures of 350 kPa and 450 kPa.

68 ICICE-2013
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(2)

Fig. 4. Performance of embedded circular footing in reinforced fly

ash beds(S=0.5B) at loading pressures of 350 kPa and 450 kPa.

3.1 Effect of Reinforcement Spacing on the

Performance of Embedded Circular Footing
Fig 5 and fig 6 presents a comparision on the performance
Fig. 5. Effect of reinforcement spacing on the performance of circular
of embedded footing in reinforced flyash beds having footing at P=350 kPa.
reinforcements at different spacing under a pressure of
350kPa and 450kPa respectively. It can be seen from fig
5that the settlement of footing in 0.3B spaced reinforced fly
ash beds is 26 mm after 20,000 load cycles (350kPa).It
increases to 31 mm for 0.4B spacing reinforced fly ash bed
and to 33.5 mm for 0.5B spacing reinforced fly ash bed under
the same number of cyclic loads. Comparison of settlement
values for three different spacing configurations at the same
number of loading cycles of 20,000 indicates 0.3B spacing
can be considered as optimum spacing. Similarly fig.6 shows
the results of the experiments conducted at a loading pressure
of 450 kPa.It can seen that even at 450 kPa loading, the
curve for 0.3B spaced flyash bed has excelled in its resistance
to the loading by taking up more number of load cycles and
by showing reduced settlement when compared to other
flyash beds with 0.4B and 0.5B spacing values. The footing
in reinforced fly ash beds settles by 35 mm and supports Fig. 6. Effect of reinforcement spacing on the performance of circular
20000 load cycles at a spacing of 0.3B, at 0.4B spacing the footing at P=450 kPa.
footing settles to 40 mm and. takes up 18003 load cycles Fig 7 and 8 plots the Cyclic Resistance Ratio curves for
and at 0.5B spacing the footings settle to 40 mm but bears embedded footings in flyash beds tested at a cyclic pressure
just 6223 load cycles. The influence of spacing of of 350kPa and 450kPa respectively. In each of these cases,
reinforcement on the performance of footing embedded in the test results pertaining to the reinforced flyash beds with
fly ash beds is confirmed from the results plotted and assuring reinforcement spacing 0.3B,0.4B and 0.5B are shown. It
better performance of footings in reinforced fly ash beds at can be seen from the fig.7 that the CRR at a settlement of 20
a spacing 0.3B between the reinforcement layers. mm for 0.3B spaced flyash bed is about 274, for 0.4B spacing
3.1 Effect of Reinforcement Spacing on the it is 35 and that for 0.5B spacing is 12. Initially for all the
Performance of Embedded Circular Footing flyash beds having different reinforcement spacing the CRR
is almost the same but it increases with the increase in
The results of the experiments are analyzed in terms of cyclic settlement value. From the graphs it is understood that the
resistance ratio (CRR) and the Settlement ratio (SR) by using curve for 0.3B spaced flyash bed shows the maximum value
the following definitions, as given by Nagaraja (2006). of CRR which in turn means that0.3B is the optimum. In
Fig.8 the curves for CRR follows almost the same trend as
that at spacing of 0.3B and 0.4B with CRR values at 20 mm
settlement as 13 for 0.3B spacing, 12 for 0.4B spacing and
least value of about 2 for 0.5B spacing. Initially up to a
(1)
settlement of 5 mm at all the spacing configurations the CRR
is almost the same but it increases with the increase in
settlement value after about 10 mm settlement. Here also
0.3B spaced flyash bed shows better performance. The cyclic
resistance ratio of footings in reinforced fly ash beds having
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reinforcement at a spacing of 0.3B is higher under any
magnitude of loading intensity than other spacing
configuration indicating that the performance of footings
excels at this spacing. The CRR value reduces when spacing
between the reinforcement layers increases thus indicating
that the reinforcement spaced closer yield better results and
0.3B is the optimum one.
Fig. 7. Effect of reinforcement spacing on the cyclic resistance ratio
at P=350 kPa.
Fig. 8. Effect of reinforcement spacing on the cyclic resistance ratio
at P=450 kPa.
Fig 9 plots the Settlement Ratio curves for embedded
footings in flyash beds tested at a cyclic pressure of 350kPa.
In this, the test results pertaining to the reinforced flyash
beds with reinforcement spacing 0.3B, 0.4B and 0.5B are
shown. It can be seen from fig.9 that the SR value for 0.3B
spaced flyash bed is 0.27, for 0.4B spacing it is 0.33 and
that for 0.5B spacing is 0.6. The values indicate that the
settlement ratio increase as the spacing increases. From the
graphs it is understood thatthe curve for 0.3 B spaced flyash
bed shows the minimum value of SR which in turn means
0.3B is the optimum. The values indicate that the settlement
ratio increase as the spacing increases. The settlement ratio
is less than unity in all the cases of footings in reinforced fly
ash beds which clearly states that the provision of
reinforcement is better in reducing settlement when footings
are subjected to dynamic loading. At a spaced flyash bed of
0.3B is the value of SR is minimum under any magnitude of
loading intensity than other spacing configuration indicating
that the performance of footings excels at this spacing. The
SR value reduces as the number of load cycles increases
and after 500 load cycles the SR value is not much affected.
70
Fig. 9. Effect of reinforcement spacing on the settlement ratio at
P=350kPa.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions are drawn from the results of the
experiments conducted in the present investigation:
1. Under any excitation pressure and any reinforcement
spacing configuration, the performance of embedded
circular footing in reinforced flyash bed is better than
its counterpart in unreinforced flyash bed.
2. The performance of embedded circular footings is
better when the footings are subjected to lower loading
magnitudes irrespective of whether or not the
reinforcement is included in fly ash beds.
3. The Cyclic Resistance Ratio and Settlement Ratio
clearly indicated that the optimum reinforcement
spacing is 0.3B.where B is diameter of circular footing.
REFERENCES
[1] Bera, A. K., Ghosh, A. and Ghosh, A(2005). “Regression model for
bearing capacity of a square footing on reinforced pond ash.”,
Geotextiles and Geomembranes Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 261–286.
[2] Boushehrian JH. Hataf N (2003). “Experimental and Numerical
investigation of the bearing capacity of model circular and ring
footings on reinforced sand. Geotextiles and Geomembranes Vol.
21, No. 4, pp. 241–256.
[3] Dash S, Siresh S, Sitharam T (2003) “Model studies on circular
footing supported on geocell reinforced sand underlain by soft clay.
Geotextiles and Geomembranes Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 197–219.
[4] Deb K.Chandra S, Basudhar PK (2005), “Settelment response of a
multi layer geosynthetic reinforced granular fill soft soil system.
Geosynthetics Int Vol 12,No6,pp 288-298
[5] Sivakumar Babu GL.Srivastava A, Murthy DSN (2006) “Reliability
analysis of the bearing capacity of a shallow foundation resting on
cohesive soil.Can Geotech J Vol. 43, No. 2, 217-223.
[6] Tafreshi SN,Dawson AR (2010) “Behaviour of footings on reinforced
sand subjected to repeated loading comparing use of 3D and planar.
Geotextile. Geotextiles and Geomembranes Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 434–
447.
[7] Yoon YW, Cheon SH, Kang DS (2004) “Bearing capacity and
settlement of tirereinforced sands. . .” Geotextiles and Geomembranes
Vol. 22, No. 5, pp. 439–453.
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Effect of Elevated Temperatures on Physical and

Residual Strength Properties of HPC
Kishor S. Kulkarni, K S Babu Narayan and Subhash C. Yaragal
Abstract— This paper reports a study of the effect of elevated temperatures on physical and residual strength properties of High Performance
Concrete (HPC) produced on of with incorporat pozzolanic materials, such as Ground Granulated Blast Slag (GGBS) and/or Silica Fume
(SF) etc. To evaluate the residual mechanical properties of thermally damaged High Performance Concrete (HPC), 100 mm cube specimen
were exposed to elevated temperatures of 1500C to 9000C and retained for 2 hours. After being cooled to room temperature in the furnace,
colour change was observed and sorptivity test was carried out on exposed HPC specimen. The compressive strength and split tensile
strengths were determined by destructive testing. The result show that HPC containg GGBS performs better than that of HPC containing
SF.

Index Terms— Compressive Strength, Elevated Temperatures, Ground Granulated Blast Slag, High Performance Concrete, Silica Fume,
Sorptivity Coefficient, Split Tensile Strength.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION 53 Grdae OPC conforming to IS 12269-1987 [2], ‘JSW

Cement Ltd.’ GGBS confirming to BS 6699 [3], and

H
igh Performance Concrete (HPC) is a novel ‘Corniche SF’ silica fume confirming to IS 15388:2003 [4]
construction material with improved properties like
were used. The physical and chemical properties of above
higher strength, longer durability, and higher
workability etc. than conventional concrete. Generally HPC materials are tabulated in Table 1 and Table 2.
is prepared with lower water to cement ratio and high content TABLE 1
of binder to meets special performance requirement with PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS
regard to workability, strength and durability.
Fire accidents, sabotages or natural hazards are the situations Properties Cement GGBS SF
where HPC is likely to get exposed to elevated temperatures. 2
Fineness (m /kg) 322 410 19700
Although concrete is generally belived to be an excellent
fireproofing material, many recent studies have shown Specific Gravity 3.07 2.90 2.20
extensive damage or even catastrophic failure at high
Density (kg/m3) 1430 1000-1100 650
temperatures, particularly in high strength concrete [1].
After exposure to elevated temperatures the structure needs TABLE 2
to be assessed, to know the extent of degradation in CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF MATERIALS (% BY MASS)
mechanical properties.
Chemical composition Cement GGBS SF
This paper investigates the effect of elevated temperatures
on the physical and residual strength properties of HPC. CaO 63.0 40.0 0.5
Two types of mixes are studied in this investigation one is
HPC-G mix containing 30% GGBS and 70% Ordinary SiO2 21.6 35.0 90.7
Portland Cement (OPC) and the second one is HPC-G-SF Al2O3 5.0 12.0 0.7
containing 25% GGBS and 5% of SF and 70% OPC.
Fe2O3 3.7 0.2 2.2
2 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTGATION
MgO 0.8 10.0 1.5
2.1 Materials Used
Fine aggregate (FA)
53 Grdae OPC conforming to IS 12269-1987 [2], ‘JSW
Cement Ltd.’ GGBS confirming to BS 6699 [3], and Fine aggregate is obtained from local river source. The
‘Corniche SF’ silica fume. grading of fine aggregate conforms to Zone III of IS 383-
1970 [5]. The specific gravity, fineness modulus, and water
————————————————
absorption were found to be 2.65, 2.38 and 1.5%
• Kishor S. Kulkarni is currently pursuing Ph. D program in Civil
engineering Departemnt in National Institute of Technology
respectively.
Karnataka, Surathkal, Mangalore, India, PH-575 025. E-mail:
Coarse aggregate (CA)
kishorsk1@gmail.com
• K. S. Babu Narayan and Subhash C. Yaragal are working as a The siliceous coarse aggregate of 12.5 and 20 mm size form
Professor in Civil Engineering Department, National Institute local quarrying. The specific gravity, fineness modulus, and
of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, Mangalore, India, PH-
water absorption were found to be 2.67, 7.15 and 0.5%
575 025. E-mail: shrilalisuta@gmail.com,
subhashyaragal@yahoo.com respectively.

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Super-palsticizer
Sulphonated napthalene polymer based high range water
reducing admixture (HRWRA) ‘CONPLAST 430’ of
FOSROC was used. The specific gravity of HRWRA was
1.18.
2.2 Specimen Preparation and Exposure to Elevated
Temperature
HPC has been designed for a characteristic strength of 80
MPa and slump of 130 mm. The concrete mix proportions
are shown in Table 3. The concrete mixing was done as per
the ASTM C 192- 90 [6]. Then concrete cubes of size 100
Fig. 1 Furnace time temperature build up curve.
mm were cast and cured in water for 28 days. After 28 days
of curing, specimen were taken out, air dried, exposed to
1500C, 3000C, 4500C, 6000C, 7500C and 9000C temperature
and retained for 2 hours in an electric muffle furnace. The
muffle furnace time temperature build up curve is shown in
Figure 1. After exposure to designated temperature the
specimen were allowed to cool in the furnace to the room
temperature. After cooling to room temperature the sorptivity
test was carried out. In order to assess the residual
compressive strength and splitting tensile strengths
destructive tests on exposed specimen were performed.
TABLE 3 Fig. 2 Test set up for sorptivity
DETAILS OF DESIGN MIX FOR ONE CUBIC METER OF At certain times the masses were measured using weighing
CONCRETE balance, and then amount of weight observed was calculated
Designation HPC-G HPC-G-SF and normalized with respect to cross-sectional area of
specimen exposed to water at various times, such as 0, 5,
OPC (kg) 350 350 10, 20, 30, 60, 180, 360 and 1440 min. The rate of capillary
GGBS (kg) 150 125 rise absorption or sorptivity coefficient (k) was obtained by
following equation,
SF (kg) — 25
(1)
FA (kg) 544 542
CA (kg) 12.5 mm 638
637 Where,

20 mm 638 Q- Amount of water absorbed (cm3)

637 A - Cross section of the specimen exposed to water surface
WATER (kg) 130 130 (cm2)

SUPER-PALSTICIZER (kg) 8.26 8.26 t- time (sec)

2.3 Tests on Exposed Concrete
Sorptivity test
The sorptivity test determines the rate of capillary rise
absorption by a concrete specimen. Measurement of capillary
sorption was carried out using specimen pre-conditioned in
the oven at 1050C. Then specimens were cooled for room
temperature, to achieve unidirectional flow the specimen’s
sides were coated with paraffin. The Figure 2 shows the test
set up adopted for the determination of the sorptivity.
To determine the sorptivity coefficient, Q/A was plotted
against the square root of time (√t), and then k was calculated
from the slope of the linear relationship between Q/A and
√t [7].
Compressive strength
The compressive strength was carried out as per IS 516-
1959 [8]. The compressive strength ratio is expressed as
ratio fcT/fc27, where fcT --is the compressive strength after
heating at T0C and f27 is the compressive strength of concrete
at 270C.

72 ICICE-2013

Split tensile strength
The split tensile strength was carried out as per IS 5816 -
1999 [9]. The split tensile strength ratio is expressed as
ratio ftT/ft27. Where, ftT is the split tensile strength after heating
at T0C and ft27 is the splitting tensile strength of concrete at
270C.
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
DISCUSSION
3.1 Physical Observation
In general up to 1500C, the concrete colour doesn’t change
noticeably. As temperatures is increased to 3000C colour
changes from normal to pink, brown/ red at 4500C - 6000C,
and buff at 7500C - 9000C is observed for HPC-G and HPC-
G-SF mixes.
3.2 Sorpitivity Test
Figure 3 shows the variation in sorptivity coefficient of
concrete cubes subjected to elevated temperatures. The
sorptivity coefficient increases as the temperature increases.
Up to 3000C the coefficient is relatively same as unexposed
specimens. The sorpitivity coefficient of HPC-G -SF mix
concrete is greater than that of HPC-G mix at all levels of
temperature. The sorptivity coefficient affected greatly by
loss of moisture in the concrete after exposure to the elevated
temperatures and also due to the formation of micro-cracks
or shrinkage cracks when exposure temperature was above
3000C [7-10]. Sorptivity coefficient is observed to increase
with increase in temperature, meaning increase in porosity.
Fig. 3 Variation in Sorptivity coefficient with exposure
temperature
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3.3 Compressive Strength
Figure 4 shows the variation in compressive strength ratio
with temperatures. It is observed that the compressive
strength ratio of HPC-G and HPC-G-SF mixes decreases
with increase in temperature. The compressive strength ratio
is 1.08 at 1500C, 1.10 at 3000C, 0.88 at 4500C, 0.57 at 6000C,
0.35 at 7500C and 0.20 at 9000C for HPC-G mix. The
AND
decrease in compressive strength ratio is 0.92 at 1500C, 0.96
at 3000C, 0.94 at 4500C, 0.36 at 6000C, 0.33 at 7500C and
0.14 at 9000C for HPC-G-SF mix. The increase in strength
is associated with the increase in surface forces between gel
particles (Van der Walls) forces due to the removal of
moisture content [11]. The decomposition of calcium
hydroxide does not generally occur below 3500C. This
conversion may lead to serious damage due to the expansion
of lime during the cooling period [12]. This effect of calcium
hydroxide eliminated using pozzolanic material such as
GGBS and SF. The compressive strength ratio of the HPC-
G-SF mix appeared to be not performing so well under
elevated temperatures when compared to the HPC-G mix.
The strength loss rate is significantly higher for HPC-G-SF
concrete than for that of HPC-G concrete. This may be due
to high densification of pore structure of concrete.
Fig. 4 Variation in compressive strength ratio with
exposure temperature
3.4 Split Tensile Strength
Figure 5 shows the variation in split tensile strength ratio
with temperature. It is observed that the split tensile strength
of HPC-G and HPC-G-SF mixes decrease with increase in
temperature. The split tensile strength ratio is 0.98 at 1500C,
0.74 at 3000C, 0.47 at 4500C, 0.25 at 6000C, 0.23 at 7500C
and 0.11 at 9000C for HPC-G mix. The decrease in split
tensile strength ratio is 0.95 at 1500C, 0.65 at 3000C, 0.43 at
4500C, 0.22 at 6000C, 0.19 at 7500C and 0.06 at 9000C for
HPC-G-SF mix.
The rate of decrease in strength is much faster beyond 1500C,
similar kind of observation was reported by W. Khaliq, and
V. K. R. Kodur [13]. At 3000C as the cracks were observed,
this signifies severe reduction in split tensile strength [14-
15]. The thermal stresses induced in the dense
microstructure of HSC, which results in many micro cracks
and few macro cracks [14]. The loss in split tensile strength
is considerably sharp.
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Fig. 5 Variation in split tensile strength ratio with
exposure temperatures
4 CONCLUSIONS
From this investigation the following conclusions were
drawn:
Sorptivity test can be useful for the qualitative assessment
of fire damaged structural concrete. HPC prepared with
GGBS shows better performance over HPC containing silica
fume. Tensile strength of concrete is more crucial than the
compressive strength of concrete when subjected to elevated
temperatures.
REFERENCES
[1] L.T. Phan, and N. J. Carino, “Review of mechanical properties
of HSC at elevated temperature”, J. Materials in Civil Engg.,
vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 58-64, 1998, doi: 10.1177/
1420326X09346228.
[2] IS 12269: 1987, “Specifications for 53 Grade Ordinary Portland
Cement”, BIS, New Delhi.
[3] BS 6699:1992, “Specification for ground granulated blast furnace
slag for use with portland cement”, British Standards Institution.
74
[4] IS 15388:2003, “Silica Fume Specification”, BIS, New Delhi.
[5] IS 383:1970, “Specifications for coarse and fine aggregates from
natural sources for concrete”, BIS, New Delhi.
[6] ASTM designation C192-90a, (1994), “Standard practice for
making and curing concrete test specimen in the laboratory”.
[7] B. Demirel and O. Keleºtemur, “Effect of elevated temperature on
the mechanical properties of concrete produced with finely ground
pumice and silica fume”, Fire Safety Journal, vol. 45, no. 6-8, pp.
385-391, 2010, doi: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2010.08.002.
[8] IS 516:1959, “Methods of tests for strength of concrete”, BIS, New
Delhi.
[9] IS 5816:1999, “Split tensile strength of concrete- method of Test”,
BIS, New Delhi.
[10] M. Ghandehari, A. Behnood and M. Khanzadi, “Residual
mechanical properties of high-strength concretes after exposure to
elevated temperatures” J. Materials Civil Engg., vol. 22, no. 1,
pp. 59-64, 2010, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0899-1561.
[11] X S Wang, B.S. Wu, Q-Y Wang, “ Online SEM investigation of
microcrack characteristics of concretes at various temperatures”,
Cement and Concrete Research, vol. 35, no. 7, pp. 1385-90, 2005,
doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2004.07.015.
[12] C. S. Poon, S. Azhar, M. Anson, and Y. L. Wong, “Comparison of
the strength and durability performance of normal and high strength
pozzolanic concretes at elevated temperatures”, Cement and
Concrete Research, vol. 31, no. 9, pp.1291–1300, 2001, doi:
10.1016/S0008-8846(01)00580-4.
[13] W. Khaliq, and V. K. R. Kodur, “Effect of high temperatures on
tensile strengths of different types of High Strength Concrete”,
ACI Materials Journal, vol. 108, no. 4, pp. 394-402, 2011.
[14] M. Li, C. X. Qian, and W. Sun, “Mechanical properties of high-
strength concrete after fire.” Cement and Concrete Research, Vol.
34, no. 6, pp. 1001–1005, 2004, doi.org/10.1016/
j.cemconres.2003.11.007.
[15] O. Arioz, “Retained properties of concrete exposed to high
temperatures: Size effect”, Fire and Materials, vol. 33, no. 5, pp.
211–222, 2009, doi: 10.1002/fam.996.
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
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Fracture Properties of Fibre Reinforced

Geopolymer Concrete
Deepa Raj S., Ruby Abraham, N. Ganesan, Divya Sasi
Abstract— The global demand of concrete for construction of infrastructures is continuously increasing in order to maintain the ongoing
growth and to accommodate the needs of the increasing population. The production of cement is highly energy intensive and it emits a lot
of CO2 into the air which adds to global warming. One of the efforts to produce more environment friendly concrete is to reduce the use of
ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Geopolymer concrete (GPC) is a ‘new’ concrete that does not need cement for its production. This is
usually based on fly ash as a source material. The behaviour of GPC has to be studied in detail to check its suitability in construction
industry.In the present study, the influence of the volumetric fraction of steel fibers on the fracture behaviour of geopolymer concrete was
investigated. Three-point bending test on notched prisms with a/W (notch depth/beam depth) ratio equal to 0.4 was used. The values of
ultimate load, fracture toughness, fracture energy, ductility and critical crack mouth opening displacement were measured. A total of 24
specimens were prepared using M30 grade geopolymer concrete and conventional concrete (PCC) of same grade and the fibre content was
varied from 0 to 0.75% with an increment of 0.25%. According to the experimental results, geopolymer concrete exhibited enhanced
fracture properties compared to conventional concrete of the same grade.

Index Terms— CMOD, Ductility, Fracture energy, Fracture parameters, Fracture toughness, Geopolymer concrete, Stress intensity factor.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION product materials such as fly ash and rice husk ash. He termed
these binders as geopolymers to represent the mineral

C
oncrete is a versatile construction material and is
extensively used in civil engineering practice.
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is conventionally
used as the primary binder to produce concrete. Some inherent
disadvantages of OPC are still difficult to overcome. There
are two major drawbacks with respect to its sustainability.
The amount of CO2 released during the manufacture of OPC
due to the calcination of limestone and combustion of
fossil fuel is in the order of one ton for every ton of OPC
produced. i.e., the contribution of OPC production worldwide
to the greenhouse gas emission is estimated to be about 7%
of the total greenhouse gas emission to the earth’s atmosphere.
Cement is also among the most energy intensive construction
materials after aluminium and steel. Also concrete made of
OPC deteriorates when exposed to the severe environments,
either under normal or severe conditions. Cracking and
corrosion have significant influence on its service behaviour,
design life and safety [1].
On the other scenario, the abundant availability of fly ash
worldwide creates opportunity to utilise this by-product of
burning coal, as a substitute for OPC to manufacture
concrete. The development and application of high volume
fly ash concrete, which enabled the replacement of OPC
up to 60% by mass is a significant development. In 1978,
Davidovits proposed that binders could be produced by a
polymeric reaction of alkaline liquids with the silicon and
aluminum in source materials of geological origin or by-
————————————————
• Deepa Raj S. is currently working as associate professor in Civil
Engineering in College of Engineering Trivandrum, India, E-
mail: deepaajayan@yahoo.com
• Ruby Abraham is currently working as professor in Civill
Engineering in College of Engineering Trivandrum, India.
• N. Ganesan is currently working as professor in Civil Engineering
in NIT Calicut, India.
• Divya Sasi is currently pursuing masters degree program in
Structural Engineering in College of Engineering, Trivandrum,
India, E-mail: divyasasi2@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
polymers resulting from geochemistry. Geopolymers have
emerged as novel engineering materials with the potential
to form a substantial element of an environmentally
sustainable construction and building products industry. They
have a very small greenhouse footprint when compared to
traditional concrete, and since they utilize abundantly
available wastes they are also economic [2], [3].
The requirements imposed on construction materials are so
demanding and diverse that no material is able to satisfy
them completely. This has led to a resurgence of the ancient
concept of combining different materials in a composite
material to satisfy diverse user requirements. Several studies
have shown that fiber reinforced composites are more
efficient than other types of composites. The main purpose
of the fibre is to control cracking and to increase the fracture
toughness of the brittle matrix through bridging action
during both micro and macro cracking of the matrix.
Debonding, sliding and pulling-out of the fibers are the local
mechanisms that control the bridging action. In the beginning
of macro cracking, bridging action of fibers prevents and
controls the opening and growth of cracks. This mechanism
increases the demand of energy for the crack to propagate.
The linear elastic behavior of the matrix is not affected
significantly for low volumetric fiber fractions. However,
post-cracking behavior can be substantially modified, with
increases of strength, toughness and durability of the material
[4], [5], [6].
Fracture mechanics is the field of solid mechanics concerned
with the study of the propagation of cracks in materials and
the quantitative relations between the crack length, the
material’s inherent resistance to crack growth, and the
stress at which the crack propagates at high speed to cause
structural failure. In quasi brittle materials like concrete, a
large Fracture Process Zone (FPZ) is usually formed in
front of a crack like defect that consume large amount of
energy prior to failure. This provides concrete with non-
linear post peak (tension softening) response. The main
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difficulty in designing against fracture is that the presence
of cracks can modify the local stresses to such an extent that
the elastic stress analyses by the designers are inaccurate.
When a crack reaches a certain critical length, it can
propagate catastrophically through the structure, even though
the gross stress is much less than that would normally cause
yield or failure in a tensile specimen. In general, we consider
three basic modes for crack growth, Mode I, Mode II and
Mode III, although mixed-mode growth is also possible. The
three basic loading modes are shown in Fig.1. Mode I is the
opening mode and the displacement is normal to the crack
surface. Mode II is a sliding mode and the displacement is
in the plane of the body- the separation is antisymmetric
and the relative displacement is normal to the crack front.
Mode III also causes sliding motion but the displacement is
parallel to the crack front, thereby causing tearing [7].
The objective of the present work is to determine the
fracture parameters of Fibre Reinforced GPC (FRGPC) of
M30 grade and to compare the results with that of
conventional fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) of the same
grade. The fracture parameters include fracture energy (Gf),
Critical stress intensity factor (K IC) and Crack Mouth
Opening Displacement (CMOD). Gf is the amount of energy
necessary to create a crack on unit surface area projected in
a plane parallel to the direction of propagation of crack. It is
calculated by the equation (1) [7]. Stress intensity factor is
defined to quantify the stresses at the crack tip. A material
fails by fracture when the stress intensity factor reaches a
critical value KIC, called fracture toughness which is given
by the equation (2) [8].These fracture parameters were
determined by conducting three point bending test on
notched prisms.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME
An experimental investigation was carried out to develop
geopolymer mix (GPC) and conventional concrete mix
(PCC) of grade 30MPa. Corresponding fibre reinforced
geopolymer concrete (FRGPC) and fibre reinforced
conventional concrete (FRC) mixes were also developed.
With the developed GPC, PCC, FRGPC and FRC mixes, a
fracture study has been conducted by using notched prisms.
The variable considered in this study is volume fraction of
fibres.
2.1 Materials Used
1) Fly Ash: In GPC, cement is completely replaced by
low calcium fly ash (CaO-2.14%). The test results
conform to ASTM C 618 F specifications.
2) Coarse Aggregate: Coarse aggregate of 20 mm nominal
size was used for making the specimens. Laboratory
76
tests were conducted on coarse aggregate to determine
the different physical properties as per IS 2386 (Part –
III)-1963 (Reaffirmed on 1997).
3) Fine Aggregate: Locally available river sand was used
as fine aggregate. Laboratory tests were conducted on
fine aggregate to determine the different physical
properties as per IS 2386 (Part –III)-1963 (Reaffirmed
on 1997). The results depicted that the river sand
conformed to zone II as per IS 383-1970
(Reaffirmed on 1997)..
4) Cement: Ordinary Portland cement of 53 grade
conforming to IS 12269-1987 was used for the
experimental programme. Various experiments were
conducted to determine the initial and final setting time
and compressive strength.
5) Alkaline Solution: A combination of sodium silicate
solution and sodium hydroxide solution was chosen as
the alkaline liquid. The sodium hydroxide solids
were purchased from commercial sources in pellets
form with 97-98% purity and mixed with water to make
a solution of appropriate concentration.
Commercially available sodium silicate solution with
SiO 2–to-Na 2O ratio by mass of 2 (Na 2O=14.7%,
SiO2=29.4%) and water = 55.9% by mass, was used
for the study.
6) Super Plasticiser: The action of super plasticisers (SP)
in concrete is to reduce the surface tension of water by
increasing the wetting ability as well as internal friction
of solid components of concrete. The properties of
super plasticizer used are given in Table 1.
TABLE 1
PROPERTIES SUPER PLASTICIZER
7) Steel fibre: Steel fibres with aspect ratio 60 were used
and the properties of the steel fibres are given in Table2.
TABLE 2
PROPERTIES OF STEEL FIBRES
2.2 Mix Design
Since there is no codal recommendation for the design of
GPC, the mix design was done by trial and error method.
Mix proportion corresponding to a compressive strength
of 30MPa was adopted from the trial mixes. A mix design
for M30 grade PCC was also done as per IS 10262-2009 for
comparison. The final mix proportions for GPC and PCC
with different fibre contents are given in Table 3.
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TABLE 3
MIX PROPORTIONS OF DIFFERENT MIXES

For the first trial mix, the mass of combined aggregates was energy absorbed to create a unit area of the fracture surface.
between 75% and 80% of the mass of geopolymer concrete The size of beam is 100mm x100mm x 500 mm with an
and the alkaline liquid to fly ash ratio by mass was chosen effective span of 400 mm. The test setup is shown in Fig. 2
in the range of 0.3 to 0.45 as in [1]. The molarity of sodium and the loading arrangement is shown in Fig. 3. During
hydroxide solution was selected as 10M and the ratio of testing, the central deflections were noted using the
sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide solution by mass was
taken as 2.5.
2.3 Casting of Specimens
The coarse aggregates and the sand in saturated surface dry
condition were first mixed in laboratory pan mixer with the
fly ash and steel fibre for about three minutes. At the end of
this mixing, the alkaline solutions together with the super
plasticiser and the extra water were added to the dry materials
and the mixing was continued for another four minutes.
Immediately after mixing, the fresh concrete was filled in
the moulds. All specimens were cast horizontally in three
layers. Each layer was compacted using a tamping rod. The
slump and compaction factor of fresh concrete was also
Fig. 2 Test Setup
measured in order to observe the consistency of the mixtures.
For GPC, no water curing is required. Temperature curing
for one day is sufficient. After casting, all specimens were
kept at room temperature for one day. After that, the
specimens were placed inside the oven and cured at 60oC
for 24 hours. After curing, the specimens were removed from
the chamber and left to air-dry at room temperature for
another 24 hours before demoulding. The test specimens
were then left in the laboratory ambient conditions until the
day of testing. In the case of PCC, all the specimens were
kept for water curing.
2.4 Fresh and Hardened Concrete Properties
The workability of all the mixes was determined by
conducting slump test and compacting factor test. The
compressive strength of hardened concrete mixes were
determined by testing cubes of size 150mmx150mmx150mm
on a compression testing machine in accordance to the IS
Standards.
2.5 Fracture Test
For the fracture study, three point bending tests were
performed on notched beam specimens with 3mm notch
width and notch depth to total depth (a/W) ratio 0.4 (notch
depth = 40mm). The fracture parameters such as fracture Fig. 3 Loading Arrangement
toughness and fracture energy were determined. Fracture
energy is defined as the consumed energy divided by newly
generated fracture surface or it can also be defined as the

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dial gauge and Crack Mouth Opening Displacement 3.2 Load - Deformation Behaviour
(CMOD) was noted using the LVDT.
The mid span deflections were noted with the help of dial
Fracture energy is determined using the following equation, gauge at 100 N intervals. The load deflection curves for GPC
and PCC with 0 to 0.75% fibre content is shown in Fig. 4.
From the test results it was observed that GPC had more
W0 + mgδ max load carrying capacity compared to PCC. When the fibre
Gf = (1) content increased, the load carrying capacity also increased.
Alig
3.3 Load – CMOD Behaviour
Where, CMOD was also measured with the help of LVDT mounted
W0 – area under load deflection curve (Nm) across the notch. The load - CMOD curves for GPC and
PCC with 0 to 0.75% fibre content is shown in Fig. 5. From
mg – self weight of the specimen between supports (N) the results, it was observed that when the fibre content
δmax – maximum displacement (m) increased, the CMOD also increased.

Alig – fracture area = [B (W-a)] (m2) 3.4 First Crack Load and Ultimate Load

B, W – width and depth of beam (m)
a – depth of notch (m)
The critical stress intensity factor (KIC), has been used to
represent the fracture toughness. Fracture toughness is
determined using the following equation,
PS
K IC = f (α )
BW 3 / 2
Where f(á) is determined using the equation,
3α 1/ 2 [1.99 − α (1 − α )(2.15 − 3.93α + 2.7α 2 )]
f (α ) =
2(1 + 2α )(1 − α ) 3 / 2
α – a/W
S – Span of the beam
P – Applied Load
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The observations made during the tests (Load-deflection,
Load-CMOD) were used to draw the load-deflection curves
and load-CMOD curves. The first crack load, ultimate load,
and the fracture parameters were determined.
3.1 Fresh and Hardened Concrete Properties
The workability and compressive strength of all the mixes
were tabulated in Table 4. From the test results, it was found
that the workability of the mixes decreased as the fibre
content increased.
TABLE 4
FRESH AND HARDENED PROPERTIES
The first crack load and the ultimate load were observed for
all the specimens. The first crack load denotes the point
where the load deflection tends to change from the linear
behaviour. First crack load increased with increase in fibre
content, which is due to the increase in tensile strain carrying
capacity of concrete in the neighbourhood of fibres. This
has lead to improvement in load carrying capacity. The first
crack load and ultimate load for all the specimens were
(2) tabulated in Table 5. Results show an increase of up to 120%
in first crack load for specimens with 0.75% fibres. When
compared to PCC, the increase in first crack load for GPC
was 60 to 70%.
From the table it was also observed that the load carrying
capacity was more for GPC than PCC. Results show an
(3) increase of up to 180% in ultimate load for specimens with
0.75% fibres. When compared to PCC, the increase in
ultimate load for GPC was 10 to 20%. As fibre content
increased, load carrying capacity was also found to be
increased. The ultimate loads for FRGPC1, FRGPC2 and
FRGPC3 were 1.78, 2.24 and 2.8 times respectively that of
GPC. The ultimate load for FRGPC1, FRGPC2 and FRGPC3
specimens are 6, 18 and 42% more than that of FRC1, FRC2
and FRC3 respectively.

78 ICICE-2013
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Fig. 5 Load - CMOD curves
3.5 Fracture Parameters
TABLE 5
FIRST CRACK LOAD AND ULTIMATE LOAD
The fracture parameters such as fracture toughness and
fracture energy were calculated using the equations. The
values of fracture toughness and fracture energy are shown
in Table 6. From the test results, it was observed that the
fracture toughness and fracture energy were more for GPC
compared to PCC in all fibre contents. When compared to
PCC, the increase in fracture toughness for GPC was around
14%. As the fibre content increased, the fracture toughness
and fracture energy were also found to be increased for both
GPC and PCC and the values for PCC and GPC with 0.75%
fibre content were 2.3 and 2.8 times that of concrete without
fibre. The fracture energy was a measure of the energy
absorption capacity for the notched specimens. The fracture
energy was 80% more for GPC compared to PCC. When
fibre content increased, fracture energy also increased in the
case of both PCC and GPC. Addition of 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75%
steel fibre resulted in an increase of fracture energy by 3.3,
4 and 4.5 times compared to GPC without fibre. When fibres
are added to concrete, crack propagation gets arrested which
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results in requirement of more energy. Fracture energy for
FRGPC specimens were 10 to 40% more than that of FRC
specimens.
TABLE 6
FRACTURE PARAMETERS
4 CONCLUSION
From the study conducted, the following conclusions were
made,
• The load carrying capacity, deflections and CMOD of
GPC are more than that of PCC at ultimate stage.
• The first crack load and ultimate load of GPC are 60-
70% and 10-20% respectively more than that of PCC.
An increase in fibre content by 0.0 to 0.75% increased
the ultimate load of GPC by 1.78 to 2.8 times. The
ultimate load for FRGPC specimen with 0.75% fibre
content was 42% more than that of FRC specimens
with same fibre content.
• The fracture energy for GPC is 80% more than PCC. An
increase in fibre content increased the fracture energy of
both GPC & PCC. FRGPC specimens exhibited 10 - 40%
more fracture energy than FRC specimens.
• GPC exhibited 10-40% more fracture toughness than
PCC. An increase in fibre content increased the fracture
toughness.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the Centre for Engineering
Research and Development for providing financial assistance
to this work.
REFERENCES
[1] Djwantoro Hardjito, Steenie E. Wallah, Dody M.J. Sumajouw and
B. Vijaya Rangan, “On the Development of Fly Ash Based
Geopolymer Concrete”, ACI Materials journal, Vol. 101, pp. 468-
472, 2004.
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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013
[2] Peter Duxson, John L. Provis, Grant C. Lukey and Jannie S.J. van
Deventer, “The Role of Inorganic Polymer Technology in the
Development of Green Concrete”, Cement and Concrete Research,
Vol. 37, pp. 1590-1597, 2007.
[3] D.B. Raijiwala and H.S. Patil, “Geopolymer Concrete : A Concrete
of Next Decade”, Journal of Engineering Research and Studies,
Vol. 2, pp. 19-25, 2011.
[4] Dylmar Penteado Dias and Clelio Thaumaturgo, “Fracture
Toughness of Geopolymeric Concretes Reinforced with Basalt
80
Fibers”, Cement & Concrete Composites, Vol. 27, pp. 49–54,
2005.
[5] J.M.L. Reis, “Fracture and Flexural Characterization of Natural
Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Concrete”, Construction and Building
Materials, Vol.20, pp. 673–678, 2006.
[6] J.M.L. Reis, “Fracture Toughness of Fibre Reinforced Polymer
Concrete”, Mechanics of soilds, Brazilian Society of Mechanical
Sciences and Engineering, 2007.
[7] L. Bushan Karihaloo, “Fracture Mechanics and Structural
Concrete”, Longman publications, 1995.
[8] Prashant Kumar, “Elements of Fracture Mechanics”, Tata
McGraw Hill Education Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2011.
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Experimental Study on Combined Effect of Fly Ash

and Pond Ash on Strength and Durability of
Concrete
S.A. Haldive, Dr. A. R. Kambekar
Abstract— Energy generation is increasing day by day due to rapid industrialization. Energy generation through thermal power plants is
very typical now days. Fly ash (FA) from these thermal plants is available in large quantities in fine and coarse form. Fine fly ash is used in
construction industry in some amount and coarse fly ash is subsequently disposed over land in slurry forms. In India around 160 MT fly is
produced and only 40% of that is being utilized in different sectors. Balance fly ash is being disposed over land. Currently around 65000
acres of land is occupied by fly ash. It needs one acre of land for ash disposal to produce 1MW electricity from coal. The worldwide
requirement of construction aggregate is estimated to be more than 40 billion MT and more than 3 billion MT of raw materials is required
for cement production. Fly ash and pond ash utilization helps to reduce the consumption of natural resources. This paper presents laboratory
investigation of concrete produced using fly ash, pond ash (PA) and OPC53 grade. An attempt has been made to investigate characteristics
of OPC concrete and combined fly ash- pond ash mixed concrete for various parameters like compressive strength, water permeability and
rapid chloride penetration test (RCPT). Results of the laboratory investigation conclude that the performance of concrete made up of
combination of fly ash and pond ash is superior to that of Ordinary Portland Cement concrete.

Index Terms— Ordinary Portland cement,fly ash, pond ash, river sand, compressive strength,water permeability test, Rapid chloride
permeability test,
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION ash in structural concrete, mass concrete construction like

highways, mortars for building etc. Fly ash in concrete is

C
oncrete is a most widely used construction material
today. Flexibility, molding ability of concrete
material, its high compressive strength and the steel
reinforcing and pre-stressing technique in concrete facilitates
to improve its strength as against its low tensile strength
property and contributed largely for its wide spread use.
Many researchers working in the concrete area are trying to
understand and modify various concrete properties along
with optimizing the cost of concrete. Nowadays concrete is
readily prepared for placing at site and is supplied at the site
directly from the RMC (Ready Mix Concrete) plant.
Chemicals in the form of admixture, polymers and epoxies
have been extensively used in concrete mix in order to
improve its performance. Use of various fibre materials
mixed with concrete is also an option to improve
performance of the concrete. Various alternatives of
improving performance of concrete are leading towards
increasing the cost of concrete6. To economize the cost of
concrete, use of ground granulated blast furnace slag, rice
husk, fly ash etc. have already been tried by many researchers
as a partial replacement of cement in concrete mix. Concrete
is most widely used construction material worldwide.
Cement concrete industry is one of the major users of fly
————————————————
• S. A. Haldive is currently pursuing masters degree program in
Construction Management in Mumbai University, India, Mobile
No-9820880065. E-mail: Sandip_haldive@rediffmail.com
• Dr. A. R. Kambekar, M.Tech.(Offshore-IITB), Ph.D. (Ocean
Engg.-IITB), Faculty Department of Civil Engineering, Sardar
Patel College of Engineering, (An Autonomous Institute affiliated
to University of Mumbai) Andheri (west), Mumbai, Maharashtra,
India Email: a_kambekar@spce.ac.in ,+91-22-26232192 or
26289777- (Ext: 279), Mobile: +91-9224306150
used for the purpose of economy and at the same time fly
ash contributes in better durability, reduced permeability,
reduction in W/C ratio, reduction in expansion due to alkali
aggregate reaction, and improved long term strength and
most importantly reduction in cement content.
It has been seen that in the production of Portland cement,
the essential constituent of concrete, releases large amount
of CO2 into the atmosphere. Around one ton of CO 2 is
released for every ton of Portland cement produced16. CO2
gas is a major contributor to greenhouse effect. Also the
production of around one ton of Portland cement requires
in the range of around 1.55 to 1.6 tons of raw material17.The
natural resources widely used for construction are likely to
be exhausted in coming days due to rapid construction.
In the present scenario, the use of complementary cementing
material such as fly ash, slag and silica fume as a partial
replacement for Portland cement in concrete presents a viable
alternative solution in addition to multiple benefits for
sustainable development of concrete industry. Due to its
abundant availability, the most commonly available
complementary cementing material used worldwide is a fly
ash. Fly ash is a by-product from combustion of pulverized
coal in thermal power plants. Fly ash, if not utilized properly,
has to be disposed off in landfills, ponds or in river system.
If construction industry does not increase the utilization of
fly ash considerably, it may be disposed off as waste and at
the same time it will have significant impact on greenhouse
gas emission. Hence, it is indispensable to propose the use
of concrete that will incorporate large amount of fly ash as
replacement of cement.

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2 GLOBAL SCENARIO
Fly ash in developed countries is generally used for brick
manufacturing, road construction, land filling, dam
construction, agriculture etc. In global context it has been
seen that countries like Italy, Denmark and Netherlands have
annual fly ash generation of 2 MT and have 100% utilization
of the same. Whereas, USA, Germany, which produce more
fly ash (10-75 MT/Year) utilize around 50-85% of fly ash
produced13. Major application of fly ash in these countries
are in cement, concrete, mine fill and bricks manufacturing
etc. Fly ash generated in India (112 MT/year) and China
(100 MT/year) is utilized only up to 38% and 45%
respectively13. In Poland and Germany, bulk quantity of fly
ash is used for mine filling, cement and concrete
production13.
3 INDIAN SCENARIO
Generation of energy has been increasing at a very fast rate
due to high growth of industrialization and urbanization. At
present, India produces around 112 million ton of fly ash
annually11. In the installed power generation capacity of
157229 MW, 64% comes from thermal power, 24.7% from
hydropower, 2.9% from nuclear and 7.7% from renewable
energy sources11. Coal alone contributes around 82% of the
total power produced from thermal sources. Indian coal
contains alround 35% to 45% of ash content. It is estimated
that about 65000 acres of land of India is occupied by
ash.This is a particularly important concern for India as India
currently produces over 100 million of fly ash annually12.
Disposal of fly ash is a growing difficulty in India. One acre
land is required for every MW of power generated for ash
disposal14. Huge amount of water is also required for fly ash
disposal in slurry form12. The concerned authorities have
already started taking positive steps in the utilization of fly
ash in construction such as mandating the use of fly ash in
road and building construction projects within a 100 km.
radius of a coal fired power plants. They have also made it
mandatory for every construction agency engaged in
construction of buildings with in radius of 100 km from a
coal or lignite based thermal plants to use clay bricks tiles
and blocks made up of fly ash15.
Ash generated in thermal power plants is classified as a
bottom ash and fly ash. In thermal power plants, pulverized
coal is blown into a burning chamber where it ignites to
heat the boiler tubes and leaves behind ash. Heavier ash
particles fall to the bottom of furnace and are known as
‘bottom ash’. The lighter particles are fine enough to be
carried away suspended in the exhaust gases and hence they
are called as ‘fly ash’9.
Blended cement not only enhances the life of concrete roads
by protecting them from chloride and sulphate attack, but
also reduces thermal cracking, plastic and drying shrinkages
that are common with ordinary Portland cement
constructions7. One of the advantages of the concrete roads
is the lower lifecycle cost compared to bituminous road.
Bitumen, a byproduct from petroleum crude processing is
supplied globally and its price has been rising. Nearly 70%
of India’s petroleum crude is imported7. The demand for
bitumen in the coming years is likely to grow compared to
its availability. Therefore it may be in the interest of
construction industry to explore alternative binder material
for road construction.
82
4 PROBLEM FORMULATION
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of fly ash
and pond ash as a partial replacement to cement and fine
aggregate respectively on the strength and durability of
concrete samples.
4.1 Material List
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) 53 grade confirming to IS
12269:1987.
4.2 Sand
Locally available river sand confirming to IS 383:1970 with
fineness modulus of 3.2 and specific gravity of 2.7 was used.
4.3 Flyash
Fly ash sample was collected from Nashik Thermal Power
Plant station, Nashik, Maharashtra, India. Fly ash confirmed
to low calcium ash (Class F) as per IS 3812 -2008. The
chemical properties of fly ash are given in Table 1.
4.4 Pond Ash
Pond ash sample was also collected from Nashik Thermal
Power Plant. Its sieve analysis is given in Table 2.
4.5 Coarse Aggregates
Crushed 20 mm aggregate had negligible water absorption
and had specific gravity of 2.78. The overall grading
requirement of coarse aggregate is as per IS: 383-1970.
5 MIX PROPORTIONS
M40 grade concrete was used for the laboratory investigation
as M30 to M40 grade concrete is being used in high rise towers
in foundation work to stand against aggressive condition. The
mix design for OPC concrete was confirming to IS 10262: 2009.
Then fly ash was used as partial replacement of cement by 20%,
30% and 40% using modified replacement method8. In this
combination, cementitious material was more than control mix
cementitious material. Pond ash was used as partial replacement
of river sand in control mix by 10 % and 20%10.Again in each
fly ash mix concrete pond ash was used as partial replacement
to river sand by 10% and 20%. The curing was carried out for
3, 7, 28, 45 and 90 days for compressive strength determination
and 45 days for durability test. Table3 gives mix proportion
used in this study.
6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSSIONS
6.1 Compressive Strength Test
Results obtained from compressive strength test at 3, 7, 28, 56
and 90 days for control, fly ash mix, pond ash mix, and fly ash-
pond ash mix are shown in Fig. 1. It was observed that at the
age of 3, 7, 28 and 45 days of OPC concrete (control mix)
shows higher value of compressive strength than fly ash
concrete. At 90 days, 20% fly ash and 40% fly ash concrete
show more strength as compared to OPC concrete. Initially, in
fly ash concrete the amount of cement quantity is less, hence it
is having less compressive strength. But at later age, secondary
reaction starts between fly ash and calcium hydroxide and forms
additional cementitous material.
For pond ash concrete, results are shown in Fig.2. At the age of
3, 7, 28 and 45 days of OPC concrete shows higher value of
compressive strength than pond ash. At 90 days, 10% pond
ash and 20% pond ash concrete shows more compressive
strength as compared to OPC concrete. Pond ash initially acts
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as pore filler. Only later, .i.e., after 10-12 days, finer particles
of pond ash react with calcium hydroxide from cement and
formed additional cementitous material and the larger particles
of pond ash acts as filler material. Pond ash is porous in nature,
needs more water in concrete compare to OPC concrete.
For fly ash-pond ash mix concrete, results are shown in Fig.3.
It is observed that, at age of 3, 7, 28 days OPC concrete
shows higher value of compressive strength. At 45 days,
(fly ash-20% + pond ash-10%) and (fly ash-20% + pond
ash-20%) shows higher value of compressive strength than
OPC concrete. At 90 days, (fly ash 20%+ pond ash 10%),
(fly ash 20% + pond ash 20%) and (fly ash 30% + pond ash
20%) shows higher value of compressive strength than OPC
concrete.
6.2 Water Permeability Test
This test was performed as prescribed in DIN 1048-199110.
Water penetrates into the concrete to a certain depth. A depth
of less than 50mm classifies the concrete as
“impermeable”6.A depth of less than 30 mm classifies the
concrete as “impermeable under aggressive conditions”6.The
results obtained from water impermeability test at 28, 45
and 90 days for control and fly ash pond ash concrete at are
given in Fig.4. From these test results, it was observed that
for 28, 45 and 90 days, water permeability was very low i.e.
it is impermeable under aggressive condition. Pond ash is
porous in nature and hence increases permeability as
percentage of pond ash increases.
6.3 Rapid Chloride Penetration Test
The Table 4 shows, the limits on amount of chloride
penetration in concrete in terms of electrical charge in
Coulombs and the classification from very high to
negligible 1. The results obtained from rapid chloride
penetration test at 45 days for control and fly ash mixes are
given in Figure 5. From the test results given in the table, it
is observed, all fly ash – pond ash concrete, except (fly ash
20% +pond ash 20%) mix concrete, show very low value of
Rapid Chloride Penetration Test (RCPT) than OPC concrete.
Pond ash is porous in nature. As the amount of pond ash in
concrete increases, the value of RCPT also increases. The
value is found to be in lower ranges.

TABLE 1
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF FLY ASH
Sr. No. Characteristics Result IS 3812 part-I
1 Silicon dioxide (SiO2), + aluminum oxide (Al2O3), + iron oxide (Fe2O3)
in percent by mass. (minimum) 93.303 70
2 Silicon dioxide(SiO2) in percent by mass.(minimum) 59.06 35
3 Reactive silica in percent by mass, Min - 20
4 Magnesium oxide (MgO) in percent by mass. (maximum) 1.763 5
5 Total sulphur as sulphur trioxide (SO3) in percent by mass. (maximum) 0.759 3
6 Available alkalis as sodium oxide (Na2O) in percent by mass.(maximum) 0.607 1.5
7 Total chlorides in percent by mass.(maximum) 0.029 0.05
8 Loss of ignition in percent by mass.(maximum) 1.214 5

TABLE 2
SIEVE ANALYSIS OF POND ASH
Sieve size 10 mm 4.75 mm 2.36 mm 1.18 mm 600 micron 300 micron 150 micron
Passing (%) 100 100 100 100 100 81.2 53.2
I.S. limit 100 90 - 100 60 - 95 30 – 70 15 - 34 20 - 5 0 – 10

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TABLE 3
MIX PROPRTION OF M40 GRADE CONCRETE
Fly ash mix Pond ash mix Fly ash + pond ash
20% fly 40% fly
20% fly 30% fly 30% fly 40% fly
20% 30% 40% 10% 20 % ash + ash +
Control ash + ash + ash + ash +
Mix No fly fly fly pond pond 10% 20%
mix 20% 10% 20% 10%
ash ash ash ash ash pond pond
pond ash pond ash pond ash pond ash
ash ash
Total cementit-
450 495 495 495 450 450 495 495 495 495 495 495
ous material (Kg)
OPC ( Kg) 450 396 347 297 450 450 396 396 347 347 297 297
Fly ash (Kg) 0 99 149 198 0 0 99 99 149 149 198 198
W/C ratio 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total water (Kg) 154 154 154 154 154 154 154 154 154 154 154 154
Total aggregate
1917 1840 1821 1803 1901 1884 1824 1795 1806 1777 1787 1772
(Kg)
Sand (Kg) 814 771 763 756 733 651 694 617 687 611 680 605
Pond ash (Kg) 0 0 0 0 65 130 61 123 61 122 60 120
CA -10 mm (Kg) 439 426 421 417 426 421 426 426 421 421 417 417
CA -20 mm (Kg) 664 643 636 630 643 636 643 643 636 636 630 630
Admixture (% of
total cementa- 1.30% 1.30% 1.30% 1.30% 1.30% 1.30% 1.30% 1.30% 1.30% 1.30% 1.30% 1.30%
tions material )
TABLE 4
LIMIT FOR RCPT VALUES IN COULOMBS
> 4000 very high
2000-4000 moderate
1000-2000 low
100-1000 very low
< 100 negligible

Fig. 1 Comparision of compressive strength of control concrete and fly ash

84 ICICE-2013
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D 10TH OF MAY 2013

Fig. 2 Comparision of compressive strength of control concrete and pond ash concrete

Fig. 3 Comparision of compressive strength of control concrete and combine fly ash –pond ash concrete

Fig. 4 Comparision of water permeability of control concrete and combine fly ash-pond ash mix

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Fig. 5 Comparision of rapid chloride penetration test of control mix and combine fly ash- pond ash concrete
7 CONCLUSION
Based on the experimental investigation, following
conclusions can be drawn
• Water permeability of fly ash and pond ash concrete
is less than OPC concrete; it would be impermeable
in aggressive condition
• As pond ash added in fly ash concrete, value of RCPT
increases, particularly at 20% pond ash
• Overall fly ash and pond ash can be replaced by 20%
and 10% as a partial replacement to cement and river
sand in concrete respectively. This can be concluded
from compressive strength, water permeability and
RCPT.
Acknowledgment
The author is thankful to K.Raheja Services Pvt. Ltd and
Structwell Designers and Consultant Pvt.Ltd for providing
laboratory facility.
REFERENCES
[1] ASTM Standards,Standard test method for electrical
identification of concrete’s ability to resist chloride ion
penetration, ASTM C 1202-94,ASTM
Standards,1995,V.4.02, pp.624-629.
[2] Indian standard 53 grade ordinary Portland cement-
specification, IS:12269-1987- Bureau of Indian
Standards, New Delhi
[3] Indian standard concrete mix proportioning-guidelines,
IS:10262-2009- Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi
[4] Indian Standard pulverized fuel ash-specification IS:
3812-part I and II, Bureau of Indian Standards, New
Delhi
[5] Indian standard specification for coarse aggregate and
fine aggregate from natural sources for concrete, IS:383-
1970- Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi
86
[6] A A Kamble , Experimental study on effect of fly ash in
concrete, dissertation of Master of Engineering,
(University of Mumbai)March 2006.
[7] Anrag Sullerey, Durability of concrete roads constructed
with blended cement, The Indian Concrete Journal,
March 2011, pp- 25 -34
[8] Ash Utilization Division, NTPC Limited,Noida,”Fly
Ash for cement concrete,resource for high strength and
durability of structure at lower cost, 3rd May 2007
[9] AyseÝdil Kaya., Study on blended bottom cement, A
Thesis submitted to the graduate school of natural and
applied science of middle east technical university in
Sept.2010
[10] B.Kondraivendhan,Velchurisairam and
NandagopalK.,Influence of pond ash as fine aggregate
on strength and durability of concrete, Indian Concrete
Journal Oct.2011,pp-27-36
[11] Benanga Bordoloi, Etali Sarmah., Fly ash pond
reclamation, CNRI, May 7,2010.
[12] G. K. Pandey .and S.K.Tyagi, Management of thermal
power plants in India, BAQ 2006 at
Yogyakarta,Indonesia.
[13] Prem Kishor, A.K.Ghosh and Dileepkumar, Use of fly
ash in agriculture:A way to improve soil fertility and its
productivity,Asian Journal of Agriculture Research
4(1):1-14,2010.PP.1 -14.
[14] Prof. R.Sinha and Dayal U. IIT Kanpur ‘‘ Save soil,Use
Fly Ash’’ TV Centre, IIT Kanpur 2010
[15] Suresh Chandra Pattanaik and Dr.AkshayaSabat., A study
of Nalco fly ash on compressive strength for effective
use in high volume mass concrete for a sustainable
development,Proceedings of International conference on
sustainable technologies for concrete construction, on
Sept.3and 4, 2010, pp 1 -10.
[16] V. M. Malhotra , Making concrete greener with fly
ash,The Indian Concrete Journal Oct.1999, pp.609-614
[17] V. M. Malhotra., Sustainability and concrete technology,
MTL Canmet LTM 2000
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Feasibility Study of Fly Ash as a Replacement for

Fine Aggregate in Concrete and its Behaviour under
Sustained Elevated Temperature
Parvati V. K, Prakash K.B.
Abstract: Increasing shortage of natural fine aggregates in concrete at present leads to search for alternate sources for its replacement. In
the present investigation of feasibility of using fly ash which is an industrial by product as a replacement of fine aggregate is studied. This
paper presents the results of experimental investigation carried out to evaluate the strength performance of concrete by replacing natural
sand by fly ash in various percentages when subjected to elevated temperature. The replacement of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%,
70% and 80% of fine aggregate with fly ash is considered and the concrete is exposed to elevated temperature of 200°C, 400°C, 600°C and
800°C. The various strength parameters studied are compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength and shear strength as per the
relevant IS standards. The experimental results indicate significant improvement in strength properties of plane concrete with replacement
of fine aggregate by fly ash when it is subjected to elevated temperature. Therefore it is feasible to adopt fly ash as a partial replacement of
fine aggregate when it is exposed to elevated temperature and can be effectively used for structural concrete.

Index Terms: Experimental investigation, Fly ash, fine aggregate, replacement, strength, sustained elevated temperature, structural concrete

——————————  ——————————
1. INTRODUCTION Thus some of the industrial wastes are effectively utilized
in the production of concrete. However, increasing shortage

H
uman safety in the event of fire is one of the
considerations in the design of residential, public
and industrial buildings. Concrete has a good service
record in this respect. Unlike wood and plastics, concrete is
incombustible and does not emit toxic fumes on exposure
to high temperature. Composition of concrete is important
because both the cement paste and the aggregate consist of
components that decompose on heating. The permeability
of concrete, the size of the element, and the rate of
temperature rise are important because they govern the
development of internal pressures from the gaseous
decomposition products.
Currently in India, it is estimated that the annual
consumption of cement concrete is to the tune of 400 metric
tones. This will obviously cause an equal demand on the
materials like sand, aggregates and other materials required
to produce huge quantity of cement concrete. This will
naturally cause depletion of all the natural resources
connected in producing cement concrete every year. Also
the production of huge quantities of cement requires large
amount of energy, cause emission of CO2 and carry forward
the allied problems. Therefore the researchers are
concentrating on finding out the supplementary cementitious
materials which can replace cement partially or fully. In this
direction, fly ash, blast furnace slag, silica fume, metakaoline
and rice husk ash have shown promising results to replace
cement partially. Thus came into existence the blended
cements.
————————————————
• Parvati V. K , Associate Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering, Gogte Institute of Technology,
Udyambag, Belgaum, Karnataka, 590 008, India PH :
0-9945863468
E-mail :vinodparvati123@rediffmail.com.
• Prakash K.B., Principal, Government Engineering
College, Haveri, Karnataka – 581110, India, PH: 0-
9448267374. E-mail : kbprakash04@rediffmail.com
ICICE-2013
of natural fine aggregates in concrete at present has lead to
search for alternate sources for its replacement. Fly ash is
generally used as replacement of cement, as an admixture in
concrete and in manufacture of cement. Enough studies have
been carried out on partial replacement of cement by fly ash
by earlier researchers. Fly ash could be very conveniently
used as a partial replacement of sand in structural concrete.
An increase in fly ash content results in higher strength for
a given density, as fly ash is of pozzolonic nature.
M. Potha Raju [2] Investigated the changes in flexural
strength of fly ash concrete under elevated temperature of
100°C, 200°C and 250°C for 1 hour , 2 hour, and 3 hours
duration. The results showed that the fly ash content upto
20% showed improved performance compared with the
specimens without fly ash by retaining, a greater amount of
its strength.
Lankard et al., [3] investigated the changes in flexural
strength of concrete containing gravel or limestone aggregate
heated to temperatures upto 260°C. The results showed that
the unsealed gravel and limestone concrete heat-treated at
79°C exhibited slight increase in flexural strength whereas
concrete heat treated at 121°C and 260°C exhibited loss of
flexural strength.
However less attention has been paid by researchers to use
fly ash as a replacement for fine aggregate and its behavior
under sustained elevated temperature.
The main objective of this experimental study is to
investigate the strength performance of concrete produced
by replacing natural sand by fly ash in various percentages
like 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% and 80%
when subjected to sustained elevated temperature of 200°C,
400°C, 600°C and 800°C. The various strength parameters
studied are compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural
strength and shear strength.
87
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2. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
Concrete acts as nonflammable construction material;
however most of its mechanical properties are changeable
due to chemical and physical changes that may occur due to
high temperature effect. In order to assess the structural safety
of such structures after a fire, it is important that the effect
of exposure to high temperature on mechanical properties
of concrete should be well understood. The aim of this
investigation is to study the influence of exposing to high
temperature on some mechanical properties of concrete by
replacing natural sand by fly ash in various percentages when
subjected to elevated temperature. Relevant BIS codes are
referred to conduct the various tests.
3. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Ordinary Portland cement of 43 grade (IS 8112)[8] with
specific gravity 3.15 was used in making the concrete. The
fine aggregate used was sand of zone III and its specific
gravity was 2.65 [9]. Course aggregates used in
experimentation were 20m and down size and their specific
gravity was found to be 2.75 [9]. Class F Fly ash used in this
experimentation was obtained from Raichur Thermal Power
Plant Karnataka. The specific gravity of fly ash is found to
be 2.1. To improve the workability Glenium B233
superplasticizer was used. The dosage of superplasticizer
was varied from 0.1% to 0.25% by weight of cement. Mix
proportion used for M25 concrete (control concrete) was
1:1.34:3.27 with w/c = 0.45 (IS 10262:2009)[11]. Slump
test was carried out to assess the workability in fresh state.
The concrete was given sufficient compaction both through
table vibration and hand compaction. After compaction the
specimens were given smooth finish and were covered with
gunny bags. After 24 hours, the specimens were demoulded
and transferred to curing tank where in they were allowed
to cure for 28 days. After 28 days of curing, the specimens
were weighed accurately. They were transferred to on oven
where they were subjected to an elevated temperature of
200°C, 400°C, 600°C and 800°C for 4 hours. After 12 hours
of their cooling they were taken out of oven and weighed
again accurately for loss in weight. They were visually
observed for change in colour and cracks. After this they
were tested for their respective strengths.
Concrete cube specimens of 150x150x150mm were cast and
tested for compressive strength as per IS:516:1959 [12].
Cylindrical specimens of 150mm diameter x 300mm length
were cast and tested for split tensile strength as per IS:5816-
1999 [13]. To evaluate shear strength, L-shaped shear test
specimens were prepared as proposed by Bairagi et al [7]
from 150mm cubes by inserting a wooden block 90mm x
60mm in cross section and 150mm high into the cube moulds
before casting of specimens. Beam specimens of 100mm x
100mm x 500mm were cast and tested for flexural strength
as per IS 516-1959 [12].
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The variation of slump is shown in Fig. 1. From the slump
test results obtained it is observed that as percentage
replacement of sand by fly ash is increased, there is a decrease
88
in slump value. An attempt is made to achieve workable
mix, by varying the superplasticizer dosage in the range of
0.1% to 0.25% since w/c is maintained constant. The
decrease in slump values is mainly attributed to the cohesive
and stiffer mix resulted with higher fly ash content.
The variation in compressive strength, tensile strength, shear
strength and flexural strength is represented in the form of
graph as shown in Fig. 2, 3, 4 and 5.
The following observations were made when the concrete
is subjected to sustained elevated temperature.
1. It is observed that the residual compressive strength
of concrete when subjected to elevated temperature
of 200°C for 4 hours, is higher at 40% replacement of
natural sand by fly ash. After 40% replacement the
compressive strength decreases. The percentage
increase in the compressive strength at 40%
replacement of natural sand by fly ash is about 16%
as compared to reference mix (0% replacement)
2. It is observed that the residual shear strength of
concrete when subjected to elevated temperature of
200°C for 4 hours, is higher at 40% replacement of
natural sand by fly ash. After 40% replacement the
shear strength decreases. The percentage increase in
the shear strength at 40% replacement of natural sand
by fly ash is about 30% as compared to reference mix
(0% replacement).
3. It is observed that the residual tensile strength of
concrete when subjected to elevated temperature of
200°C for 4 hours, is higher at 40% replacement of
natural sand by fly ash. After 40% replacement the
tensile strength decreases. The percentage increase in
the tensile strength at 40% replacement of natural sand
by fly ash is about 20% as compared to reference mix
(0% replacement).
4. It is observed that the residual flexural strength of
concrete when subjected to elevated temperature of
200°C for 4 hours is higher at 40% replacement of
natural sand by fly ash. After 40% replacement the
flexural strength decreases. The percentage increase
in the flexural strength at 40% replacement of natural
sand by fly ash is about 64% as compared to reference
mix (0% replacement).
5. Similar trend is observed the concrete is subjected to
elevated temperature of 400°C, 600°C and 800°C.
Again the strength parameters are maximum at 40%
replacement of natural sand by fly ash.
6. At 200°C cement paste is compact and there is no
spalling of concrete. At 400°C cement paste starts to
become loose but is continuous and combined with
aggregates. At 600°C the surface colour is frecnch grey
with slight red and cracks appear and cement aggregate
interface is destroyed. At 800°C the structure of cement
paste is honeycomb structure and large cracks exist in
cement paste which is separated from aggregate.
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CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions are derived from the results
reported in the paper.
a. Results of investigation reveal that it is feasible to
replace natural sand by fly ash to achieve strength,
economy and to achieve problem of waste disposal.
b. The compressive strength, tensile strength, shear
strength and flexural strength were found to
increase with increase in the percentage
replacement of natural sand by fly ash upto 40%
at elevated temperature of 200°C and thereafter
decrease.
c. Similarly when concrete is subjected to sustained
elevated temperature of 400°C, 600°C, 800°C the
strength parameters are maximum corresponding
to 40% replacement of natural sand by fly ash.
d. The results of this investigation suggest that the
fly ash could be very conveniently used as a partial
replacement of natural sand in structural concrete
even at sustained elevated temperature.
e. Slump values were found to reduce with increase
in percentage replacement and to achieve workable
mix suitable dosage of superplasticizer is necessary.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Dr. A.S Deshpande,
Principal, G.I.T, Belgaum and Dr. S. C. Pilli, Principal
K.L.E.S.C.E.T Belgaum for giving all the encouragement
needed which kept the enthusiasm alive. Thanks are also
due to the management authorities of both the colleges and
others who constantly boosted the morale by giving all the
help required. Thanks are also due to authorities of Grasim
Industries Bangalore(Cement Division) and BASF
construction Chemicals (India) Pvt Ltd. Bangalore for
sponsoring the materials
REFERENCES
[1] Malhotra H. L. “Effect of Temperature on the
Compressive Strength of Concrete” Magazine of
Concrete Research, 1956, 8 No. 23, 85-94.
90
[2] Potha Raju M., Shobha M., Rambabu K., “Flexural
Strength of Fly Ash Concrete Under Elevated
Temperatures” Magazine of Concrete Research, 2004,
56 No. 2, March 83-88.
[3] Lankard D.R., Birkimer D.L. Foundriest F.F. and
Snyder M.J., “Effects of Moisture Content on the
Structural Properties of Portland Cement Concrete
Exposed to Temperatures of 500°F in Temperature
and Concrete, “ ACI Special Publication SP 25-3,
American Concrete Institute, 1971, pp 59-102.
[4] Mohamedhbai G.T., G., “The Residual Compressive
Strength of Concrete Subjected to Elevated
Temperatures” Concrete, 1983, December 22 to 27.
[5] Siddique R. “ Effect of Fine Aggregate Replacement
with Class F Fly ash on Mechanical Properties of
Concrete” Cement and Concrete Research, vol.33,
2003, pp 539-547.
[6] Rajamane N.P, Annie Peter, Ambily P.S, “ Prediction
of Compressive Strength of Concrete with Fly ash
as Sand Replacement Material” Cement and Concrete
Composite, Vol.29, 2007, pp 218-223.
[7] Bairagi N.K Modhera C.D, “Shear Strength of Fiber
Reinforced Concrete.” ICI Journal, January -March
2001, pp 47-53.
[8] IS: 8112-1989: Specification for 43 Grade Ordinary
Portland Cement.
[9] IS: 383-1970: Specification for coarse and fine
aggregates from natural sources for concrete.
[10] IS: 2386 (Part-I,II, III and IV) -1963: Method of Tests
for Aggregates for Concrete.
[11] IS 10262 -2009 -: Recommended Guide Lines for
Concrete Mix Design.
[12] IS: 516-1959: Method of Test for Strength of
Concrete.
[13] IS: 5816-1999: Splitting Tensile Strength of Concrete
Method of Test.
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Effect of Wollastonite micro fiber addition in

mortar and concrete mixes
Shashi Kant Sharma, G.D.Ransinchung R.N., Praveen Kumar
Abstract—Concrete and mortar though are same units, made of same kind of material, but still there is a lot of difference in their properties.
We can say that a lot of properties depend upon mortar paste, for example: strength, flow, workability; but addition of aggregates play an
important role due to the formation of a transition layer between them and mortar. The strength of concrete in that case, may be more, equal
or less than the mortar, depending upon the strength of interface. If another material, like a microfiber is introduced above that, then the
property of concrete changes significantly. The microfiber acts at the interface of cement-sand and mortar-aggregate and reinforces the
frontal process zone present, there itself. This reduces the shrinkage of composites thus making them quasi brittle. In this study experimental
results show that, flexural strength which is an indicator of shrinkage resistance of cement composites, improves with the addition of
wollastonite micro fiber. It is beneficial to take wollastonite microfiber and silica fume in ratios between 2:1 to 3:1. About 27.5% cement
replacement can be achieved by wollastonite micro fiber addition. Also it was found that, in concrete, the rate gain of flexural tensile
strength and compression strength with age was lower by about 60% and 30% as compared to the same rate gain in mortar.

Index Terms— Flexural, Frontal Process Zone, Interfacial Transition Zone, Microfiber, Quasi Brittle, Reinforce, Shrinkage
——————————  ——————————

1. INTRODUCTION With proper incorporation of fibers, the failure mode of

cement composites can change from brittle to quasi-ductile

C
ement composites are basically designed for two ([2], [3], [4], [5]). The toughness of the material (measured,
qualities: strength and durability. Although strength for example, from the area under a complete load-
is a major factor which determines the performance displacement curve) can also be significantly increased. In
of composites but durability should be taken into account all the composites, fibers influence the fracture processes
to mitigate the deterioration caused by environmental and ahead of the crack tip in the frontal process zone (FPZ) and
rheological factors. behind the crack tip in the crack bridging wake (shown in
fig. 1). It is what happens in the FPZ that determines the
Two well known such factors are creep and shrinkage, which first crack strength of the composite. Preventing the
cause the deterioration of composites by the formation of formation of the first crack is highly desirable in the design
cracks. Their effect, added by fatigue strains at loading of durable thin sheet, fiber-reinforced cement composites.
(depending upon strength performance under loading) lead
to the growth of cracks in cement composites. Although
they appear to work hand in hand, but it is the cracks
produced at initial stage of setting and curing of composite
mixes, which starts the process of crack formation. Hence,
the micro cracks formed by shrinkage and creep are the
foundation factor for pavement deterioration.
Initial flaws are always present in any cementitious material,
whether it is a plain cement paste specimen or fiber-
reinforced cement composite (FRCC). When load is first
applied to the FRCC, areas of stress concentration develop
at the tips of the initial flaws. With additional loading,
microcracks form (or initially present) and grow in the
frontal process zones ahead of the crack tips. It is assumed
that the initial flaw will extend into the microcracked region
when the microcracking has reached a saturated level [1].
Fig. 1 Crack formation in cement composites (P.K Nelson
———————————————— et al. 2002)

• Shashi Kant Sharma, Research Scholar, Department of Civil

Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee,
India. Mobile: +917417474687
Email: shashi_pec@yahoomail.com,
• G.D.Ransinchung R.N., Asst. Prof., Department of Civil
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee,
India. Email: gdranfce@iitr.ernet.in,
• Praveen Kumar , Prof., Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India. Email:
pkaerfce@iitr.ernet.in
It is interesting to know that irrespective of the type of
composite, fibers improve its behaviour but the level of
improvement at each position is different for different
composites. This too depends upon the type of fibers and
their geometry. For a thin sheet fiber reinforced cement
concrete having initial ûaw of approximately 60 ìm, fibers
with diameter <30 ìm will be deemed micro diameter ûbers.
Generally microfibers are fine fibers with lengths less than
10 mm and diameters in range 25-40ìm. With their high
specific surface areas (>200 cm2/g), they provide a large

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number of fibers in a given section of the composites and
thus furnish more effective reinforcing mechanisms at the
microcracking level (cracking due to thermal and mechanical
shrinkage).
Application of Microfiber Reinforced Mortar and
Concrete
Repair works suffer from debonding and spalling of concrete
layer. The major reasons often cited for debonding and
spalling of repairs are differential thermal movements, elastic
incompatibilities, shrinkage stresses, occasional impact;
rebar corrosion, substrate deficiencies, frost action, and poor
workmanship ([6], [7], [8], [9]). These same reasons are
responsible for cracks in an otherwise, a simple concrete
pavement topping. Given these reasons for spalling and
debonding of repairs, durable thin repairs (less than 25 mm
thick) are particularly difficult to achieve. For a durable
repair, the desired characteristics of the repair material
include low permeability, a high tensile strength, adequate
impact resistance, sufficient deformability (ductility), high
fracture toughness, low shrinkage, good dimensional
stability, good abrasion resistance, and most of all, a strong
tensile and shear bond with the base concrete. For thin
repairs, however, the maximum dimensions of both the
aggregate particles and the fibers have to be limited.
Consequently, for thin repairs, the use of cements concrete
and mortars reinforced with microfibers is conceivable.
2. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
It consists of two parts: testing of pastes, mortars and then
testing of concrete. With shrinkage there is a loss of flexural
strength of cement composites, even though the strength may
not be affected to a considerable extent. Hence this test has
been performed at 28 and 56 days to serve as an indicator of
shrinkage cracks produced due to drying (hydration).
2.1 Paste and Mortar Testing
Fresh state tests like, normal consistency, initial and final
setting time tests (IST and FST) were performed on four
blended pastes and one normal cement (OPC 43 grade) paste.
The blends were made by replacing cement with silica fume
(0, 7.5% by weight) and wollastonite micro fiber (10, 20,
and 30% by weight) respectively in all mixes. In all five
mixes were tested: pure cement mix, cement plus
wollastonite micro fiber and three mixes of ternary
combination of cement with wollastonite micro fiber and
silica fume. Mortar mixes were then prepared on the basis
of water demand obtained from the normal consistency test,
having 1:3 proportion of cementitious material: sand. IS 4031
(Part 6):1988 and IS 516:1959 were followed to perform
compression and flexural strength test respectively. For
mortar cubes of 7.06×7.06×7.06 cm3 were cast and tested
after 7, 28 and 56 days at a uniform and steady load of 35N/
mm2/min. Beams of size 10×10×50 cm3 were cast and tested
after 28 and 56 days of curing, at a steady and uniform
loading rate of 180 kg/min.
2.2 Concrete Test
The test specimens consisted of 150×300mm cylinders, and
100×100×500mm prisms made of concrete mix M 40 having
water/cementitious material ratio of 0.40. Wherever required,
92
superplasticizer (NSF) was added to bring the slump value
between 50-100mm. About 0.25% and 0.5% (by weight of
cement) superplasticizer was added in X2 and X3 mix to do
the same.
The cylinders were used for compressive strength tests, the
prisms were tested for flexural strength. The cylinders were
cast using 150×300mm plastic molds. The prisms were cast
using Plexiglas molds. After casting, the specimens were
stored at room temperature for 24 hr. They were covered
with plastic sheets to minimize evaporation loss. After 24
hr, the specimens were removed from the moulds and cured
for 7,28 and 56 days in a room maintained at 100 percent
relative humidity and a temperature of 23°C+/-2°C. IS
516:1959 was followed to perform both compression and
flexural strength test. Compression strength test was
performed on three cube samples per mix and their average
value was taken as compression strength of mix. Modulus
of rupture was obtained using the prisms supported over a
simply supported span of 400 mm, at 28 and 56 days. Loads
were applied at middle third points. The loads applied were
measured using a set-up, shown in fig.2, which eliminated
the extraneous loads.
Fig. 2 Setup for performing flexure strength test (IS
516:1959)
3. RESULTS
3.1 Paste and Mortar
Table 1and fig. 3 give the percentage composition of mixes
along with its constituents in (kg/cubic metre) and fresh state
properties of cement composites. It was found that both
wollastonite micro fiber and silica fume increase the water
demand, IST and FST of cement pastes. At their equal ratios,
the mix starts loosing plasticity very early (earlier than
cement) and even sets somewhat earlier (earlier than other
blends) with respect to pure cement or cement plus
wollastonite microfiber mix. Therefore chances of shrinkage
are more for this ratio. For ternary blends, upto the ratio 2:1
(WMF: SF) IST and FST increase and then drops. X2 marks
the transition stage of properties. Since water demand drops
after X2, therefore chances for shrinkage reduction are more
between 2:1 to 3:1 ratios of these materials.
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TABLE 1 PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION AND FRESH TABLE 2 MECHANICAL TEST RESULTS OF MORTAR
STATE PROPERTIES OF MIXES.
Mortar Compression strength Flexural strength
Mix Composition Consistency IST FST (N/sq mm) (kg/sq. cm)
(%age) min. min.
Mix 7days 28 days 56 days 28days 56 days
(C+WMF+SF)
C0 32 44 54 18.8 20.1
C0 100 29 150 220
W0 29.5 36 40 14.2 15.7
W0 90+10 30.5 170 255
X1 31 48.5 54 17.2 19.0
X1 82.5+10+7.5 32 140 249
X2 26.5 38 42 15.2 17.6
X2 72.5+20+7.5 34 159 284
X3 17 28.5 31.5 13.2 16.0
X3 62.5+30+7.5 35.5 152 275

Fig. 3 Bar chart showing comparison of setting times Fig. 4 Graph showing compression strength gain of mortar
with water demand for mortar mixes with age
Table 2, fig. 4 and fig.5 give the compressive strength and
flexural strength result with the respective duration for mortar
mixes. In general, with an increment in wollastonite micro
fiber content, compression and flexural strength decrease to
a small extent due to replacement of cement, but, with the
addition of silica fume these values become comparable to
those of pure cement mixtures. Even the strength of X1 mix
becomes nearly equal to normal (pure cement) mix. In terms
of percentage strength gain with age, it was found that, with
an increment in wollastonite micro fiber content, there was
an apparent increment in flexural strength whereas
compression strength found large decrement, when the mixes
were compared with normal mix at 56 days. It was also found
that silica fume addition led to a decrement in flexural
strength increment rate at lower wollastonite micro fiber
content. At higher wollastonite micro fiber content the
flexural strength rose to more than 20% for X3 combination,
with the ageing of mixes from 28 to 56 days. The possible Fig. 5 Bar chart showing percent increment in compression
reason could be refinement of pore structure by pozzolanic and flexural strength of mortar with age (28-56 days)
action of wollastonite micro fiber, in addition to its fiber
3.2 Concrete
action. Also there may be reduction in interstitial voids at
higher ratios (greater than 2:1) of wollastonite-silica fume Table 3, fig. 6 and fig. 7 provide the test results for concrete,
combination. for both types of mechanical tests. In general, with the
introduction of wollastonite micro fiber in concrete, the
Compression strength on the other hand, increased compression strength and flexural strength do show
maximally by 11.4% for X1 and; for other mixes it was nearly increment, but it may reduce at higher wollastonite micro
10% only. fiber content, due to higher cement replacement. With

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addition of silica fume this trend is ascending in nature, with

X1 and X2 mix showing higher compression and flexural
strength. Hence silica fume addition complements high
higher replacement of cement with wollastonite without any
strength loss. In terms of percentage strength gain with age,
wollastonite micro fiber addition with silica fume increased
the compression strength apparently and a partial increment
in flexural strength was found upto X2, when the mixes were
compared with normal mix. With the increment in age, both
compression strength and flexural strength increased by 8%,
maximally for X1 combination, whereas compression
strength was little lesser at 7.8% for X2 combination. Same
factors are responsible for the improvement in the properties
of these mixes alike mortar, but the difference in flexural
strength improvement rises due to limited fiber action in
concrete by wollastonite microfibers. Hence pore size
improvement is a major factor apart from fiber action, which
improves flexural strength. Fig. 7 Bar chart showing percent increment in compression
and flexural strength of concrete with age (28-56 days)
TABLE 3 MECHANICAL TEST RESULTS FOR
CONCRETE 4. CONCLUSION
Concrete Compression strength Flexural strength For mortar, higher ratio of wollastonite micro fiber-silica
(N/sq mm) (kg/sq. cm) fume combination can be taken, whereas for concrete, larger
Mix 7days 28 days 56 days 28days 56 days replacements are avoidable (maximum value of 27.5% only).
Also wollastonite-silica fume ratio should lie close to 2:1.
C0 32.0 49.0 58.5 43.6 47.1 Water demand, IST and FST also recommend the use of this
W0 34.0 52.5 56.5 49.3 53.2 ratio. Also, the rate of flexural tensile strength and
compression strength gain in concrete, was lesser than 60%
X1 35.0 56.0 60.5 52.8 57.0 and 30% respectively as compared to the same gain in mortar.
X2 33.0 51.0 55.0 48.5 52.4 REFERENCES
X3 31.0 47.5 51.0 42.8 46.2 1. P.K. Nelson, V. C Li, T. Kamada, “Fracture Toughness of Micro-
fiber Reinforced Cement Composites,” Journal of Materials
in Civil Engineering, 14(5), pp. 384–391, 2002.
2. V. C. Li and C. K. Y. Leung, “Tensile failure modes of random
discontinuous fiber reinforced brittle matrix composites,” J.
Engg. Mech., ASCE, 118 (11), pp. 246–264, 1992.
3. V. C. Li and H. C. Wu, “Micromechanics based design for
pseudo strain-hardening in cementitious composites,” Proc.,
9th ASCE Conf. on Engg. Mech., L. D. Lutes and J. M.
Niedzwecki, eds., ASCE, Reston, Va., pp. 740–743, 1992.
4. V. C. Li and H. C. Wu, “Conditions for pseudo strain-hardening
in fiber reinforced brittle matrix composites,” Appl. Mech. Rev.,
45, pp. 390–398, 1992.
5. Leung C. K. Y., “Design criteria for pseudoductile fiber-
reinforced composites,” J. Engg. Mech., ASCE, 122(1), pp. 10–
18, 1996.
6. E. J. Felt, “Resurfacing and patching concrete pavements with
bonded concrete,” Hwy. Res. Board Proc., 35, pp. 444-469,
1956.
7. E. J. Felt, “Repair of concrete pavement,” J. Am. Concrete Inst.,
pp. 139-153, 1960.
8. ACI Committee 546, “Guide for repair of concrete bridge
superstructures,” Concrete International, 2 (9), pp. 69-88, 1980.
Fig.6 Graph showing compression strength gain of concrete 9. G. E. Ramey, R. K. Moore, F. Jr. Parker and A.M. Strickland,
with age “Laboratory evaluation of four rapid setting concrete patching
materials,” Transp. Res. Rec., No. 1041, pp. 47-52, 1988.

94 ICICE-2013
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Use of Blast Furnace Slag Aggregate in

Concrete
K.G. Hiraskar and Chetan Patil
Abstract- The Iron industries produce a huge quantity of blast furnace slag as by–product, which is a non–biodegradable waste material
from that only a small percentage of it is used by cement industries to manufacture cement. In the present investigation Blast Furnace Slag
from local industries has been utilised to find its suitability as a coarse aggregate in concrete making. Replacing all or some portion of
natural aggregates with slag would lead to considerable environmental benefits. The results indicate that the unit weight of Blast Furnace
Slag aggregate concrete is lower than that of the conventional concrete with stone chips. The experimental result show that replacing some
percentage of natural aggregates by slag aggregates causes negligible degradation in strength. The compressive strength of Blast Furnace
Slag aggregate concrete is found to be higher than that of conventional concrete at the age of 90 days. It has also reduced water absorption
and porosity beyond 28 days in comparison to that of conventional concrete with stone chips used as coarse aggregate.

Index Terms— Blast Furnace Slag, Coarse Aggregate, Compressive Strength, Environmental Benefits, Iron Industries, Non–Biodegradable
Waste, Porosity

——————————  ——————————

1. INTRODUCTION Portland cement since 1892, and in other parts of the world
it has been added to concrete as a separate constituent since

C
oncrete is prepared by mixing various constituents
like cement, aggregates, water, etc. which are
economically available. Concrete is a composite
material composed of granular materials like coarse
aggregates embedded in a matrix and bound together with
cement or binder which fills the space between the particles
and glues them together. Almost three quarters of the volume
of concrete is composed of aggregates. To meet the global
demand of concrete in the future, it is becoming a more
challenging task to find suitable alternatives to natural
aggregates for preparing concrete. Therefore the use of
alternative sources for natural aggregates is becoming
increasingly important. Slag is a co-product of the iron
making process. Iron cannot be prepared in the blast furnace
without the production of its co-product i.e. blast furnace
slag. The use of blast furnace slag aggregates in concrete by
replacing natural aggregates is a most promising concept
because its impact strength is more than the natural
aggregate. Steel slag aggregates are already being used as
aggregates in asphalt paving road mixes due to their
the early 1950’s. Although some of the GGBFS produced is
used stabilizing mine tailings and industrial waste materials,
the rest is used in Portland cement concrete. There are two
primary advantages for adding GGBFS to concrete as a
separate material, rather than intergrinding it in the cement:
(1) Each material can be ground to its own optimum fineness
(2) The proportions can be adjusted to suit the particular
project needs. Compares the composition of a typical ground
granulated blast-furnace slag to that of typical Type I Portland
cement, a typical Class C fly ash and a typical Class F fly
ash as shown in Table No 1.0 It can be noted that the GGBFS
and the two fly ashes have the same kinds of oxides as the
cement, which means that when GGBFS or fly ash is added
to concrete, materials similar to Portland cement are being
introduced into the system.
TABLE NO. 1
SLAG ACTIVITY INDEX REQUIREMENTS OF
ASTM C989
Type CFly

Type FFly

GGBFS

Chemical
Cement
Type I

mechanical strength, stiffness, porosity, wear resistance and

Ash

Ash

Constituents
water absorption capacity.
(as Oxide)
1.1. Ground Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag: Its
SiO2 21.1 33.5 43.4 40.0
Chemistry and Use with Chemical Admixtures
Al2O3 4.6 22.9 18.5 13.5
Paper by Grace Construction and Product Company [1] found
that GGBFS was first used in lime mortar production as early CaO 65.1 27.4 4.3 39.2
as the 1700’s. In Germany, it has been interground with MgO 4.5 4.6 0.9 3.6
————————————————
• K.G. Hiraskar, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Fe2O3 2.0 6.1 29.9 1.8
Department, K.I.T’s college of Engineering, Kolhapur, India
Email:drhiraskar@yahoo.com, Tel: 09822379529 SO3 2.8 2.2 1.2 0.2
• Chetan Patil, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering
Department, Sanjay Ghodawat Group of Institute, Kolhapur,
India Email: patilchetans78@gmail.com, Tel: 09423041617

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1.2. Application of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace
Slag in High-Performance Concrete in China
Wang Ling, Tian Pei, and Yao Yan from China Building
Materials Academy [2] introduce studies and the application
of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) in China.
GGBS concrete is characterized by high strength, lower heat
of hydration, and resistance to chemical corrosion. They used
GGBFS in High-Strength HPC with different fineness level
and through the result table we can see effects on workability
and strength of concrete. It is characterized by energy
savings, cement savings, low cost, environmental protection,
and environmental and social benefits as well as economic
profit. This kind of new building material can be called green
concrete. It has good properties and its application should
be more widespread.
TABLE NO. 2
MIX PROPORTION (KG/M3) AND PROPERTIES OF
HIGH STRENGTH HPC
Cement
separated using a weir, the molten iron being channelled to
a holding vessel and the molten slag to a point where it into
be treated further. The final form of the blast furnace slag is
dependent on the method of cooling and can be produced in
the following forms:
a) Air-Cooled Blast Furnace Slag
If the liquid slag is poured into beds and slowly cooled under
ambient conditions, a crystalline structure is formed, and a
hard, lump slag is produced, which can subsequently be
crushed and screened.
b) Granulated Blast Furnace Slag
If the molten slag is cooled and solidified by rapid water
quenching to a glassy state, little or no crystallization occurs.
This process results in the formation of sand size (or frit-
like) fragments, usually with some friable clinker like
material. When crushed or milled to very fine cement-sized
particles, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) has
cementitious properties, which make a suitable partial

Slag (m2/kg) replacement for or additive to Portland cement.

water

Stone

Sand
No

1 500 - - - 150 1085 665

2 350 150 - - 150 1085 665
3 350 - 150 - 150 1085 665
4 350 - - 150 150 1085 665

1 23.0 56.4 60.0 70.7 74.1

2 22.0 61.5 70.0 79.5 84.3
3 23.0 64.7 74.2 81.3 84.1
4 23.0 76.7 88.3 93.6 99.0
Photograph No. 1: Blast Furnace Slag
Dr. D.K. Singha Roy [3] was presented that the compressive
strengths of steel slag aggregate concrete were marginally
2. MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTAL
same as those of the limestone aggregate concrete and water DETAILS
absorption of concrete with steel slag aggregate was 2.1. Cement:
somewhat better but no improvement in tensile strengths
were observed. In this work an attempt is made to study the Ordinary Portland cement (Ultratech43 Grade) confirming
strength parameters, modulus of elasticity, water absorption, to IS: 269-1976 was used throughout the investigation.
porosity and saltwater effect on two types of concrete mixes, Different tests were performed on the cement to ensure that
i.e., one comprising blast furnace slag and the other it confirms to the requirements of the IS specifications.
comprising granite stone as coarse aggregates. The
2.2. Coarse Aggregates [Natural]
compressive strength of BFS aggregate concrete is higher
than that of the stone aggregate concrete at the age of 90 Locally available river sand, basalt stone chips were used
days. for preparation of concrete. Machines crushed locally
1.3. Slag- Manufacturing and Types available hard basalt, well graded 20 mm and down size
were used.
In the production of iron, iron ore, iron scrap, and fluxes
(limestone and/or dolomite) are charged into a blast furnace Specific gravity 3.10
along with coke for fuel. The coke is combusted to produce Fineness modulus 3.44
carbon monoxide, which reduces the iron ore to a molten
iron product. When the blast furnace is tapped to release the 2.3. Sand (Fine Aggregate)
molten iron, it flows from the furnace with molten slag Locally available river sand passing through 4.75mm sieve
floating on its upper surface. These two materials are as per IS: 383 provisions were used as fine aggregates.
96 ICICE-2013
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Specific gravity 2.85 for concrete design mix. As IS method more common and
precise, therefore for this dissertation work IS Method was
Fineness modulus 2.79
adopted to calculate the proportions of ingredients of
Referring to 600 micron sieve, the percentage passing is concrete.
58.00 % which confirm that fine aggregate belongs to Zone
Grade of Concrete M30
–II as per Is: 383-1970.
Target strength 38.0 MPa
TABLE NO. 3
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF FINE Cement Content 340.0 gms
AGGREGATE
Chemical Perma Plast Ex
Sieve size in mm Cumulative % % passing 1 % per kg of cement
4.75 mm 3.8 96.2 TABLE NO. 5
2.36 mm 10.0 90.0 MIX PROPORTION OF M30 GRADE CONCRETE
WITH % REPLACEMENT OF BFS TO COARSE
1.18 mm 24.4 75.6
AGGREGATE
600 micron 42.0 58.0
300 micron 95.1 4.9
150 micron 103.7 0
Total 279.0

2.4. Blast Furnace Slag

Ghatge Patil Industry, a machine part manufacturing plant
is situated Uchgaon, Kolhapur. When the blast furnace is
tapped to release the molten iron, it flows from the furnace
with molten slag floating on its upper surface. These two
materials are separated using a weir, the molten iron being
channelled to a holding vessel and the molten slag to a point
where it is to be treated further and according to treatment
3. RESULT ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION:
the slag is classified. And it is dumped on the sides of 3.1. Compressive Strength:
artificial ponds which have now formed hillocks occupying
a lot of space; hence considerable expenditure is involved Compressive Strength of the concrete design mix was check
in maintaining these sites and disposal of wastes. by casting and testing of cubes (size 150 mm x 150 mm x
150 mm) after the curing period of 3 days, 7 days, 14 days,
Specific gravity 2.8 28 days & 60 days.
Fineness modulus 6.17 TABLE NO. 6
Photograph No. 1 shows Blast furnace slag is glassy black COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF DIFFERENT
in colour. Its characteristics depend on the nature of iron CONCRETE MIXES
ore used in the extraction of iron, which significantly differs
from place to place. For the experimental work, blast furnace
slag was procured from Ghatge Patil Industry. The material
was crushed and sieved and blast furnace slag passing
through 20 mm sieve and retaining on 4.75mm.
TABLE NO. 4
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FURNACE SLAG
Components Percentage
Calcium Oxide 34-43%
Silicon Dioxide 27-38%
a) Flexural Strength :
Aluminium Oxide 7-12%
Flexural strength of the concrete design mix was check by
Magnesium Oxide 7-15% casting and testing of beams (size 100 x 100 x 500 mm3)
Iron 0.2-1.6% after the curing period of 7 days, 28 days and 60 days.

2.5. Mix Proportion

One of the ultimate aims of studying the various properties
of the materials of concrete is to enable a concrete
technologist to design a concrete mix for a particular strength
and durability. Following are the some methods available

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TABLE NO. 7
FLEXTURAL STRENGTH OF DIFFERENT
CONCRETE MIXES
3.2. Split Tensile Strength:
Tensile strength of the concrete design mix was check by
casting and testing of 100 mm diameter & 200 mm depth
size Cylinders after curing period of 7 days, 28 days and 60
days.
TABLE NO. 8
SPLIT TENSILE STRENGTH OF DIFFERENT
CONCRETE MIXES
4. CONCLUSION
Blast furnace slag is a by product and using it as aggregates
in concrete will might prove an economical and
environmentally friendly solution in local region. The
demand for aggregates is increasing rapidly and so as the
demand of concrete. Thus, it is becoming more important to
find suitable alternatives for aggregates in the future.
The results showed that it has properties similar to natural
aggregates and it would not cause any harm if incorporated
into concrete. The research were encouraging, since they
98
show that using blast furnace slag as coarse aggregates in
concrete has no negative effects on the short term properties
of hardened concrete.
Graph No. 1: 28 Days Strength of BSF Concrete for
different Mixes
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We express our sincere thanks to all the teaching and non-
teaching staff members of Department of Civil Engineering
for their help in all stages of work. Last but not the least; we
will not forget the warmth of our family members, our
colleagues and all our friends for motivating us throughout
the thesis work and providing innumerable useful comments,
suggestions, love and support.
5. REFERENCES
1) Wang Ling, Tian Pei, and Yao Yan “Application of ground
granulated blast furnace slag in high-performance concrete”
China Building Materials Academy, PRC in china
2) Dr. Y. P. Kakar, “Management of Industrial Solid Waste Need
for Recycling”, Civil Engineering & Construction Review,
February 1998. Ph 67-71
3) Hogan, F. J., and Meusel, J. W., “Evaluation for Durability and
Strength Development of a Ground Granulated Blast-Furnace
Slag,” Cement, Concrete, and Aggregates, V. 3, No.1, Summer,
1981, pp. 40-52
4) Wagaman, T and W.J.Stanley (2005), “Slag: The Ultimate
Renewable Resource” Pit and Quarry, May 24 2007.
5) M Maslehuddin, M A Sharif, M Shameen, M Ibrahim and M S
Barry, “Comparison of Properties of Steel Slag and Crushed
Limestone Aggregates Concretes”, Construction and Building
Materials, August 2002, pp 105–112.
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Soil-structure interaction analysis of RC frame

shear wall buildings over raft foundations under
seismic loading
H.K Chinmayi, B.R Jayalekshmi.
Abstract— Structural failures during earthquakes in the past demonstrated the importance of soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects and its
consideration to avoid failure and ensure safety. The present study focuses on SSI analysis of RC frame shear wall building over raft
foundation subjected to seismic loading. Multi story buildings symmetric in plan of height below 45m, located in seismic zone V according
to IS1893:2002 are considered. The stress resultants in the structure and raft foundation considering SSI are compared with stress resultants
obtained by the conventional method of analysis assuming rigidity at the base of the structure. The results show the significance of SSI
effect
Index Terms — Base shear, Equivalent soil spring system, Natural period, Raft foundation, RC frame-shear wall building, Seismic loading,
Soil structure interaction.

——————————  ——————————
INTRODUCTION study for which the buildings were modelled by four alternate
approaches, namely, (1) bare frame with fixed supports, (2)

R
esponse of structure depends on the properties of soil,
structure and the nature of the excitation. The process
in which, the response of the soil influences the
motion of the structure and vice versa, is referred to as Soil-
Structure Interaction (SSI). Implementing soil-structure
interaction effects enables the designer to assess real
displacements of the soil-foundation structure system
precisely under the influence of seismic motion. Present
design practice for dynamic loading assumes the building
to be fixed at their bases. Whereas, in reality supporting soil
medium allows movement to some extent due to their natural
ability to deform which decrease the overall lateral stiffness
of the structural system resulting in the lengthening of lateral
natural periods[1],[2],[3]. Such lengthening of lateral natural
periods does considerably change the seismic response of
building frames. The effect of soil-flexibility is suggested to
be accounted through consideration of springs of specified
stiffness as prescribed in well-accepted literature [4] and the
possible severity of neglecting the effect of the same is fore
grounded in few of the research works [5],[6].
The present study has been carried out for buildings with
the same geometry found on varying soil types over raft
foundations in Zone V [7]. An attempt has been made to
find the stress resultants under seismic loading in the structure
and raft foundation by incorporating the effect of soil-
structure interaction which was further compared with those
of fixed base condition.
Influence of variation of the parameters such as, different
soil conditions and number of stories were also considered
in the present
————————————————
• H.K.Chinmayi,Research scholar, Department of Civil
Engineering, NITK Surathkal, India, PH-+919964928818.
E-mail:chinmayi.moorthy@gmail.com
• B.R Jayalekshmi,Associate professor, Department of Civil
Engineering, NITK Surathkal, India, PH-+919448560518.
E-mail: br.jaya@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
bare frame with supports accounting for soil-flexibility,
(3) frame-shear wall with fixed supports and (4) frame-shear
wall with supports accounting for soil-flexibility.
2 IDEALIZATION OF THE SYSTEM
2.1 Structural idealization
To analyse the dynamic behaviour while considering the
effect of soil-structure interaction, building frames of 2, 3,
6 and 12 storey with and without shear wall have been
idealized as 3D space frames using two nodded frame
elements. Slabs at different storey level, shear wall and the
slabs of raft foundation was modelled with four-nodded plate
elements with consideration of adequate thickness. The
storey height as well as length of each bay of all the building
frames was chosen as 3.5m and 4m respectively which is
reasonable for domestic or small office buildings. For all
the cases, the dimensions of reinforced concrete columns
were taken as 320X320mm and beams as 230X300 mm.
Similarly, the thickness of the roof slab, floor slabs and shear
wall was taken as 150mm for the building considered. These
dimensions were arrived on the basis of the design following
the respective Indian code for design of reinforced
concrete structures [8], [9].
2.2 Soil Idealization
To incorporate the effect of soil-structure interaction in the
analysis impedance functions associated with rigid mass less
foundations was utilized. The present study considers
translations of foundations in two mutually perpendicular
principal horizontal directions and vertical direction as
well as rotations of the same about these three directions.
For buildings with raft foundation, three translational springs
along two horizontal and one vertical axes together with
three rotational springs about these three mutually
perpendicular axes have been attached below the centre of
gravity of the foundation to simulate the effect of soil-
flexibility. The stiffness’s of this centrally placed spring for
raft type of foundation resting on homogeneous elastic half
space have been computed on the basis of the guidelines
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prescribed in a well-accepted literature [4] formed on the 5% [7] considering fixed base condition and also the effect
basis of an extensive literature survey and study based on of soil-flexibility.
boundary element method. These expressions were
With idealization of structure and soil as mentioned above,
developed in such a form that the single spring located at
the change in lateral natural period, base shear and stress
the centroid of the raft, in each of the said six degrees of
resultants in the structure and raft foundation due to
freedom, can account for the flexible behaviour of soil
consideration of the effect of soil-structure interaction are
below the entire raft in the equivalent sense.
investigated and discussed in the following sections.
Expressions for such spring stiffness have been extracted
2.3 Methodology
from the literature [4], [10] and are presented in Table1.
The study Seismic analysis of frame-shear wall building accounting
for the effect of soil–structure interaction is carried out based
primarily attempts to see the effect of soil-structure
on the design spectrum provided in IS: 1893-2002 .The
interaction on buildings resting on different types of non-
seismic base shear of these buildings are obtained due to
cohesive soil, viz., soft, stiff, dense and rock. To obtain the
the design spectrum corresponding to 5% of critical damping
values of the stiffness of the springs for these varieties of
[7] considering fixed base condition as well as considering
soil, values of shear modulus (G) of soil have been
flexible-base condition resulting from soil-flexibility. 5%
estimated using the shear wave velocity [11]. The other
of critical damping which is reasonable for concrete
details of different soil parameters are tabulated in Table 2.
structures is considered.
Table 1: Expressions for stiffness’s of equivalent springs
along various degrees of freedom

Degrees of freedom Stiffness of equivalent soil spring

Vertical [ 2GL / (1 - υ ) ] ( 0.73 + 1.54 χ 0.75

) with χ = A b
/ 4L
2

Horizontal [ 2GL / (2 − υ ) ] ( 2 + 2.50 χ 0.85

) with χ = A b
/ 4L
2

(Lateral direction)
[ 2GL / (2 − υ ) ] ( 2 + 2.50 χ 0.85
)−
Horizontal
[ 0.2 / (0.75 − υ ) ] GL [1 − ( B / L ) ]
(Longitudinal direction)
[ G / (1 − υ )] I ( L / B ) [ 2.4 + 0.5( B / L ) ]
0.75 0.25
Rocking bx

(about the longitudinal)

[ 3G / (1 − υ )] I ( L / B )
0.75 0.15
Rocking by

(about the lateral)

0.75 0.4 4 0.2 Fig 1: System idealization and ground motion characteristics
Torsion 3.5GI ( B / L) ( I / B )
bz bz
Fig 1(a): Typical 4 storeyed frame-shear wall building on raft
Note: Ab-Area of the foundation considered; B and L-half Fig 1(b): Idealized soil–foundation structure system
width and half-length of a rectangular foundation,
Fig 1(c): Design spectrum (IS: 1893-2002).
respectively; I bx; I by; and I bz-Moment of inertia of the
foundation area with respect to longitudinal, lateral and From observation in the findings of an experiment as well
vertical axes, respectively. as computation based study [14] it was found that for an
isolated raft and equivalent soil spring system, the damping
Table 2: Details of soil parameters considered [12], [13
is not considerably larger than 5%. Further, damping will be
still reduced if the effect is considered with respect to the
entire structure foundation-equivalent soil spring system,
instead of the isolated raft and equivalent soil-spring system
[15].
The effect of soil-flexibility contributes to the variations in
lateral natural period, base shear and stress resultants in the
structure and raft foundation. The change in the base shear
has been computed by combining the contributions of all
the possible lateral modes by square root of the sum of the
A typical 4 storeyed frame-shear wall building on raft and squares (SRSS) method for building with fixed base
the corresponding idealized soil–foundation–structure condition and by incorporating the effect of soil-flexibility.
system for the same is shown in Fig. 1a and 1b, respectively. When the modes are close-spaced the CQC method is used
Seismic analysis for computing base shear of building frames to obtain the contribution of the modes. This modal
accounting for the effect of soil-structure interaction was combination method is applicable for wide variety of
carried out with the help of the design spectrum provided in structures. The expressions for combined modal response
IS: 1893-2002 as shown in Fig. 1c for a critical damping of are available in standard literature, [16].

100 ICICE-2013
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In the present study, base shear of frame-shear wall building
for fixed base and also for flexible base condition was arrived
as per the provisions of Indian Earthquake Code [7] by
applying seismic zone factor 0.36 for very severe seismic
intensity, reduction factor 3.0 for ordinary moment-resisting
frame and importance factor 1.0 for general residential
building frames.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This section presents the change in lateral natural period,
base shear and stress resultants in the structure and raft
foundation as a function of influential parameters namely,
number of stories and types of soil.
3.1 Effect of soil-flexibility and number of stories
a) On lateral natural period
Idealisation of building as a bare frame is unrealistic, but
such idealization is used many a time in the design offices.
Hence, a parametric study has been made for such frames
and frame shear wall building and the percentage changes
in lateral natural period due to incorporation of the effect of
soil–structure interaction and the comparison of results are
presented in the fig.2, fig 3 and fig 4.
Fig 2 Variation of lateral natural period in bare frame building
Note: SB, SC, SD and SE denotes soil profile type SB, SC,
SD and SE
Fig 3 Variation of lateral natural period in shear wall building
Fig 4 Variation in lateral natural period for building frames
with and without shear wall
Note: F and SW denotes frame and shear wall respectively
The study shows that the incorporation of SSI tends to
increase the fundamental lateral natural period of buildings
by 14%, 15%, 19% and 27% in frame building and 180%,
98%, 94% and 61% in shear wall building for 2, 3, 6 and 12
stories respectively.The comparison of fundamental lateral
natural periods of bare frames and building with frame-shear
wall as represented in Fig.4 shows a maximum decrease in
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lateral natural period by 46%,44%,40% and 37% in soft soil
for 2, 3, 6 and 12 stories due to the addition of shear wall as
an effect of increase in stiffness, which is the primary
parameter, which regulates the seismic lateral response of
the building.
b) On base shear
Seismic base shear reflects the seismic lateral vulnerability
and is considered as one of the primary input for seismic
design. Present section presents the variation in base shear
due to the effect of soil–structure interaction for building
frames with and without shear wall and are presented in fig
5, fig 6 and fig 7.
Fig 5 Variation of base shear in bare frame building
Fig 6 Variation of base shear in shear wall building
Fig 7 Variation in base shear for building frames with and
without shear wall
The study shows that the seismic base shear increases due
to soil flexibility which considerably decreases with increase
in hardness of soil. The variation is about 1%, 36% and 67%
for SC, SD and SE soil profile respectively for a 12 story
building and the variation is negligible in two story building
and varies considerably with increasing building height.The
comparison of base shear in bare frames and building with
frame-shear wall as represented in Fig.7 shows significant
increase in the value of base shear in frame shear wall
building due to the increase in weight of structure by
inclusion of shear wall, which is about 12%, 13%, 14% and
15% for 2, 3, 6 and 12 stories respectively on soft soil.
c) On stress resultants in the structure and raft
foundation
The incorporation of soil–structure interaction leads to
variation in stress resultants, such as bending moment and
shear stresses in building as well as in foundation. The
outcome of the analysis is given by the changes in stress
resultants in structure and raft foundation with and without
shear wall and are presented in the fig8 (a), fig8 (b), fig 9(a)
and fig 9(b) respectively.
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The comparison of stress resultants in structure and
foundation of bare frames and building with frame-shear
wall as did in the above figures clearly reveals the change in
the stress resultants due to the inclusion of soil flexibility
and addition of shear wall. The bending moments and shear
force in the structure and foundation are reduced due to the
equal and opposite pull exerted by the vertical components
of diagonal tension of shear wall. Thus addition of shear
walls to a structure will improve its lateral load capacity.
4 CONCLUSION
The present study makes an effort to evaluate the effect of
soil structure interaction on primary dynamic characteristic
of bare frame buildings and building with frame-shear wall
of varying heights over varying soil property on raft
foundation. For a 12 story building the study shows increase
in lateral natural period by 27% and 61% and increase in
seismic base shear by 67% and 68%. Reduction in bending
moment and shear force by 37% and 20% in structure and
29% and 26% in foundation due to the effect of soil
flexibility is seen in bare frames and building with shear
wall for a 12 story building on soft soil.
The change in lateral natural period, seismic base shear and
stress resultants, due to the varying soil type and height
parameters, are presented in the form of graphs to show the
102
trend in the effect of variation of these characteristics. Effect
of SSI is neglibile for 2
storey building but it is significant in the case of 12 story
building.
REFERENCES
[1] J. Bielak, “Dynamic behavior of structures with embedded
foundations,” International Journal of Earthquake
Engineering and Structural Dynamics, vol. 3, no. 3, pp.
259–274, 1974, doi: 10.1002/eqe.4290030305.
[2] J.P. Stewart, G.L. Fenves, and R.B. Seed, “Seismic Soil–
Structure Interaction in Buildings. I: Analytical Method,”
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering, vol. 125, no. 1, pp26–37, 1999, doi:
10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(1999)125:1(26)
[3] J.P. Stewart, R.B. Seed, and G.L. Fenves, “Seismic Soil–
Structure Interaction in Buildings. II: Empirical Findings,”
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering, vol. 125, no. 1, pp38–48, 1999, doi:
10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(1999)125:1(38)
[4] G. Gazetas, “Formulas and charts for impedances of surface
and embedded foundations,” Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering, vol. 117, no. 9, pp. 1363–1381, 1991, doi:
10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1991)117:9(1363).
[5] G. Mylonakis, A. Nikolaou, and G. Gazetas, “Soil-pile-
bridge seismic interaction: kinematic and inertial effects.
Part I: soft soil,” International Journal of Earthquake
Engineering and Structural Dynamics, vol. 26, no. 3,
pp337–359, 1997, doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-
9845(199703)26:3<337::AID-EQE646>3.0.CO;2-D.
[6] R. Roy and S.C. Dutta, “Effect of soil–structure interaction
on dynamic behavior of building frames on grid
foundations,” Proc. of Structural Engineering
Convention (SEC ’01), pp. 694–703, 2001.
[7] IS 1893(part 1):2002, Indian standard criteria for
earthquake resistant design of structures, Bureau of Indian
Standards, New Delhi, India, 2002.
[8] IS 456:2000, Indian standard code of practice for plain
and reinforced concrete, Bureau of Indian Standards, New
Delhi, India, 2000.
[9] IS 13920:1993, Ductile detailing of reinforced concrete
structures subjected to seismic forces -code of practice,
Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India, 1993.
[10] ATC 40:1996, Seismic evaluation and retrofit of concrete
buildings, Applied Technology Council, Redwood City,
California, 1996.
[11] J.E. Bowles, Foundation Analysis and Design. , 5th
Edition, Civil Engineering Series, McGraw-Hill
International Editions, New York, pp. 1101, 1996.
[12] FEMA 273:1997, NEHRP guidelines for the seismic
rehabilitation of buildings, Federal Emergency
Management Agency, Washington, D.C, 1997.
[13] FEMA 356:2000, Prestandard and Commentary for the
seismic rehabilitation of buildings. Federal Emergency
Management Agency, Washington, D.C, 2000.
[14] G. Gazetas and K.H. Stokoe II , “Free vibration of
embedded foundations: theory versus experiment,” Journal
of Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 117, no. 9, pp. 1382–
1401, 1991, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733 9410(1991)
117:9(1382).
[15] K. Bhattacharya, S.C. Dutta, and S. Dasgupta, “Effect of
soil-flexibility on dynamic behaviour of building frames
on raft foundation,” Journal of Sound and Vibration,
vol. 274, no. 1-2, pp111-135, 2004, doi: 10.1016/S0022-
460X (03)00652-7.
[16] A.K. Chopra, Dynamics of Structures: Theory and
Applications to Earthquake Engineering. , Prentice Hall,
New Delhi, India, pp. 515-519, 1998.
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9th and 10th of May 2013

Challenges in design and construction of

building housing 100 T shake table
C. Harikumar, R. preetha, Davy Herbert, C. Sivathanu Pillai
Abstract— A shake table of 100 MT, largest in India was established at Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research, Kalpakam for conducting
seismic qualification experiments of large size components of Fast Breeder Reactor. The table is placed on massive block foundation. The
site is collocated with major safety structures. Attenuation relations were evaluated for rock blasting to avoid blasting related damage to the
structures and personal. This paper presents the details of design and construction methodology adopted for this structure.

Index Terms— Control Blasting, Heat of hydration, shake table, shear wave velocity, reactor , water proofing, mass concrete

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION The building integrates the experimental areas along with

control room, power pack area; other office area etc., at the

I
ndia has planned to construct four fast breeder reactors same time isolates the office structure from vibrations
(FBRs), following Prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR). generated in the experimental area. The lab is a RC framed
For these FBRs, it is necessary to do further research in structure of 20m x 40m and height 16.5m to facilitate tests
various areas of structural mechanics for enhancing safety of tall components. Steel tubular roof truss is provided for
and improving economy. Design of major components of flexibility of top loading of specimen if need arises. There
PFBR and FBRs are controlled by the seismic loading. are tall openings with sliding door and rolling shutter for
Seismic design should address many issues such as non- truck entry. The power pack room is provided with acoustic
wall paneling. The experimental hall is also provided with
linear sloshing, strong fluid-structure interactions, non-
20MT capacity EOT crane for handling test components.
linear random vibration of core subassemblies, nonlinear
contact mechanics between grid-plate and core-support 2.0 FOUNDATION
structure, strong interaction between top-shield structure
In order to attenuate the transmitting vibration to around
with the cold pool structure through main vessel and sodium 0.01g at 10 m from foundation the actuators (4 vertical and
and dynamic buckling. Numerical simulation of these 4 horizontal) are placed on massive block foundation.
complex phenomena calls for extensive experimental Geotechnical investigations showed presence of weathered
validation. Considering many non-linearities, tests on larger rock at 4 m depth (figure 1) from natural ground level. Shear
scales are essential. Minimum 1/4 to 1/3 scale models can wave velocity of the subsoil was evaluated through cross
depict the phenomenon with reasonable accuracy. With this hole tests. Figure 2 shows the modulus of subsoil evaluated
objective, structural dynamics lab in IGCAR is built for from shear wave velocity. Shake table is founded on massive
conducting seismic qualification experiments of large size block foundation on rock 7 m deep.
components of FBR. The table is 6mx6m with a central hole
of 3.5 m diameter. This will be a unique facility in the
country. The capacity of the seismic shake table is 100 MT,
largest in India, with six degrees of freedom and necessary
data acquisition for simulation of earthquake ground
motions and analysis. This special design gives the flexibility
of testing large diameter vessels in hanging condition
eliminating the requirement of stiff support structure
reducing overall weight of pay load.
————————————————
• C.Harikumar, Scientific Officer, IGCAR, Kalpakkam, India
E-mail: chk@igcar.gov.in
• R.Preetha, Scientific Officer, IGCAR, Kalpakkam, India.
E-mail: predinesh@igcar.gov.in
• Daby Herbert Scientific Officer, IGCAR, Kalpakkam India,
E- Mail herbert@igcar.gov.in
• C. Sivathanu Pillai , Associate director, CEG, IGCAR
Kalpakkam:India csp@igcar.gov.in
Fig. 1. Sub soil profile

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á, is the scaling parameters and square root scaling is used

widely for prediction the blast vibrations [1],[2]. It is based
on the assumption that the explosive charge is distributed in
a cylindrical hole. K, and â depend on largely on type of
rock and are determined for the site by carrying out trial
blasts with varying weights (Q) and recording resultant
velocity at different distances (R). Following attenuation
relations were derived for over burden soil and rock surfaces
from the least square and 95 % confidence level from figure
3 and 4.

Fig. 2. Shear wave velocity profile

2.1 Control Blasting

The site is collocated with major safety structures.
Excavation of hard rock by traditional method of drilling
and blasting, is commonly associated with several unwanted
effects like ground vibration, air blast and fly rocks. In order
to maintain safety of the personal and structures, control
blasting was adopted. Also, if ground vibration exceeds
certain limits, it may cause damage to nearby structures and Fig. 3 Attenuation relation for Over burden
installations. Therefore, to ensure the safety, after necessary
experimental studies by CWPRS procedure for control
blasting was evolved.
2.1.1 Details of experimental studies
The rock formations at the site are Charnokite. The
overburden consists of dense sand layer. A total of ten
experimental blasts were conducted at the site . The charge
weight per delay varied from 0.5 kg to 11.2 kg. The ground
vibrations generated from the experimental blasts at
Kalpakkam on rock and overburden were recorded at
different distances. The resultant peak particle velocity , VP
is computed by the pseudo vector sum methods as follows .
(1)

VT- Transverse, VV- vertical, VL- Longitudinal components.

Fig. 4 Attenuation relation for Rock
The amplitude and frequency of the elastic waves generated
from blasting attenuates with distance. In addition the
attenuation is also controlled by several other parameters
like the quantity of explosive and properties of the
transmitting rock mass. Therefore to predict the peak particle
velocity at various distance from blast it is essential to
determine the attenuation laws for each site , because the
attenuation characteristics in an area, in general, is highly
site specific. Equation 2 is used widely to study attenuation
of blast vibration

(2) So breaking of 1550 m3 of rock using control blasting was

VP is the peak particle velocity (mm/s), R is the distance
between observation and blast point, and Q is the quantity
(kg) of explosive used per delay, and K, á, â are site specific
parameters .
104
carried out without exceeding the permitted peak particle
velocity of 8 mm/s, based on above equations. The procedure
adopted for controlled blasting operation was line drilling
method. The diameter of the blast hole was 32 mm and depth
ranged from 0.75 m to 1.5 m. Blast material used was gelatin
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gel each 125g m.The charge factor was maintained
approximately between 0.40 to 0.50 kg/m3 of rock so as to
make fragmentation only in the excavation pit (figure 5).
The peak particle velocity was measured during actual
blasting.
Fig. 5. Control blasting layout
2.2 Water proofing
Shallow water table in site called for an effective water
proofing system. In order to isolate seismic mass from
building there is a gap of 25 mm. So complete water proofing
was essential. Bentonite geotextile waterproofing with
integrated polyethylene liner was used.
In this system the high swelling, low permeable sodium
bentonite is encapsulated between the two geotextiles. A
proprietary needle punch process interlocks the geotextiles
together forming an extremely strong composite that
maintains the equal coverage of bentonite, as well as, protects
it from inclement weather and construction related damage.
Once backfilled, it forms a monolithic waterproofing
membrane by forming a low permeability membrane upon
contact with water. When wetted, unconfined bentonite can
swell up to 15 times its dry volume. Whenconfined under
pressure the swell is controlled, forming a dense, impervious
waterproofing membrane. This swelling action will self-
Fig. 6 Water proofing
seal small concrete cracks caused by ground settlement,
concrete shrinkage, or seismic action. Figure 6 shows the
water proofing works at this site.
3. DESIGN OF FOUNDATION BLOCK
The seismic block was provided with counter fort retaining
wall to achieve vibration isolation (figure.7). The seismic
mass block concrete was 1043 m3 and could not be done in
single layer due to high heat of hydration. Temperature rise
for M35 grade concrete with 400 kg/m3 OPC, was analysed
using ACI 207.2R-95 [3]. Number and size of pours was
determined so as to avoid joints at critical locations ([4],[5].
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Fig. 7 Retaining walls details
Hence concrete was placed in four pours with maximum
single pour of 297 m3. Temperature controlled concrete with
a placement temperature less than 23ºC, was achieved using
60-90% ice flakes ,along with chilled water. Temperature
reinforcement of 16mm dia @ 200 centers was placed in
each pour.
In order to transfer the heavy axial and torsional reactions
from powerful actuators a steel frame work with heavy
embedded parts were also embedded well within concrete
(figure8 and 9).
Fig. 8 Supporting steel structure
A smaller shake table of 10MT capacity will also be founded
on the same block (figure 9).
3.1 Loading environment
In addition to self weight and earth pressure following
load cases were considered in the analysis of the mass block.
3.1.1 Live load
A live load of 10 KN/m2 for maintenance has been
considered.
3.1.2Pay Load
A total load of 1500 KN was assumed to act at the jack
position. 20 % of jack load assumed to act for smaller
actuator with + 15O deviations.
3.1.3 Seismic load
The structure is in Zone III. Lateral loads have been
computed based on IS 1893:2002 . Earthquake loads have
been considered in all three directions with suitable load
combinatios.
3.1.4 Actuator load
There are two types of actuators. Main and subsidiary are
identified as AL and SAL. The load taken as harmonic time
varying load. The maximum stress was considered after
running the programme at various frequencies.
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3.2 Mathematical Model.
The foundation was modeled with solid element of
approximate size 0.775 x 0.96x 0.75 m . Corners and at the
points of loading smaller element sizes have been used to
represent geometry (figure 9 ) as nearly as possible. The
whole foundation model was discretised in to 2547 elements.
They were connected with 3408 nodes each with six degrees
of freedom.
Fig. 9 Foundation block of shake table before erection
Fig. 10 Maximum Principal Stress for the foundation
Maximum principal stress variation of 3D idelised model is
shown in figure 10.
3.3 Material Properties
M 35 grade concrete and Fe 500 steel was used. The design
was based on IS 456: 200.
3.4 Results discussion
The foundation was analyzed for limit state of collapse and
limit state of serviceability and maximum values of stress
under all load combinations at different levels were extracted.
Maximum deflection as per analysis was < 1mm and
negligible. Reinforcement was provided for resisting the
stress in three mutually perpendicular directions. Based on
Wood and Armor equations, the shear stress was added to
normal stress. After determining maximum stress it was
converted to equivalent force by multiplying element size
along that plane. This was applied to all critical elements.
Figure 11 shows the final stage of shake table foundation
before erection of shake table.
106
Fig. 11. Final stage before erection of shake table
4. CONCLUSION
Design and construction of foundation and the building for
100 T shake table was completed successfully within 12
months. Heat of hydration due to mass concreting was taken
care in the design. Proximity to the safety structures called
for a detailed study on rock blasting and attenuation relations.
It was evaluated for the rock present at the site before actual
excavations. Complete water proofing system was placed to
avoid any leakage of water.
REFERENCES
[1] Siskind, D.E., M.S. Stagg, J.W. Koop and C.H.
Dowdling (1980) . Structure response and damge
produced by ground vibration produced from surface
mine blasting, U.S. Bureau of Mines, R.I. No 8507,
74pp.
[2] Tripathy, G.R., R.R shirke, S.C. Marwadi and I.D.
Gupta (1995). Attenuation characteristics of seismic
waves generated due to blasting of rock excavation,
Proc. Int. Seminar on Rock Excavation Engineering _
Present and Future Trends, Panji, Goa, 25-26
September 1995, Vol 1, pp. AII 1-12
[3] ACI (2007). “Report on Thermal and Volume Change
Effects on Cracking of Mass Concrete”. ACI
207207.2R-07, USA.
[4] Harikumar, C., Preetha, R., Sivathanu Pillai,C., and
Chetal, S.C (2011). Seasonal effects in mass
concreting economy - A case study based on ACI
Approach, International Journal of Earth Sciences and
Engineering, Volume 04, No 06 SPL, pp 859-863.
[5] Preetha, R., Pillai, C.S. (2007). Design of PFBR raft
for heat of hydration, 1st International Conference on
Modern Design, Construction and Maintenance of
Structures, Hanoi, Vietnam.
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ParametricInvestigations on Behaviour of
Square CFST Columns
Ziyad A. Khaudhair, P.K. Gupta,A.K. Ahuja
Abstract-A three-dimensional non-linear finite element model using ANSYS code has been used to conduct a parametric study presented
in this paper. Theaim of this parametric study is to study the load carrying capacity and post-yield characteristics of axially loaded Concrete
Filled Steel Tube (CFST) columns with square cross section. The verified computational model has beenused for predicting the ultimate
axial load carrying capacity of CFST columnshaving different sizes filled with normal compressive strength concrete. The specimens were
selected to simulate the cross-section sizes in actual construction practice. All specimens hadlength equal to three times the cross-section
width to behave as short columns and neglect the effect of slenderness.The parameters of this study were cross-section width and thickness
of steel tube. Effects of these parameters on enhancement the properties of concrete core, load carrying capacity and post-yield behaviour
have been numerically investigated.

Index Terms— ANSYS, Axial Load, Confined Concrete, CFST, Concrete Filled Tube, Ductility, Post Yield Behaviour.

——————————  ——————————

1INTRODUCTION high strength steel filled with two grades of high strength
concrete.The results showed favorable ductility

D
ue to the composite action between steel and concrete
in the member, concrete filled steel tube (CFST)
columnshas good structural performances, such as
high ductility, high load carrying capacity, high stiffness,high
shear resistance and more energy dissipation ability[1]. CFST
has been generally used as columns or piers in buildings or
bridges because of its superior structural behavior. CFST
columns can be constructed with different cross sections such
as circular, square, rectangular, octagonal, elliptical, etc. The
structural behavior of CFST columns is affected by many
factors, such as the geometry of steel section, column
slenderness and member material properties[2]. Knowles and
Park[3]investigated experimentally the behaviour of circular
and square CFST columns. The results of this study showed
that in circular columns the confinement effect increased
the load carrying capacity of short columns while no
increasing in the load carrying capacity due to confinement
effectat failure load was observed forsquare columns [3]. In
the study conducted by Schneider[4]a total of fourteen
specimens have been prepared with different grades of
concrete.The results showed thatthe axial load behaviour of
the specimens was significantly affected by the shape of cross
section and the ratio between breadth and thickness of the
steel wall (B/t). He concluded that the circular tubes offer
more confinement and much more post-yield axial ductility
than the square or rectangular tube sections[4].
The effects of slenderness ratio and load eccentricity on four
square specimens and eight rectangular specimenshave been
investigated by Liu[5]. The specimens were fabricated from
• Ziyad A. Khaudhair ,PhD Research Scholar, Deptt. of Civil Engg.,
Indian Instt. of Tech. Roorkee, India, and on leave from Al-
Muthanna Univ., Iraq, corresponding author:
ziyaddce@iitr.ernet.in
• P.K. Gupta, Associate Prof., Department of civil Engineering,
Indian Institute. of Technology Roorkee, India.
• A.K. Ahuja ,Professor, Department of civil Engineering, Indian
Institute.of Technology Roorkee, India.
performancefor all specimens during the test[5].
Fujimoto[6]tested sixty fiveeccentrically loaded specimens
(thirty three circular and thirty two square). Analytical studies
for predicting the behavior of the square and box CFST have
been reported in the literature. Lakshmi and Shanmugam[7]
proposed a semi analytical method for predicting the
behaviour of box CFST columns. Liang et al. [8]presented a
nonlinear fiber element analysis method for predicting the
ultimate strength and behaviour of short concrete-filled thin
walled steel box columns with local buckling effects. Hu et
al. [9]performed nonlinear finite element analyses of CFST
columns with circular and square with stiffened and
unstiffened cross-sections using finite element code
ABAQUS. Gupta, Khaudhair, and Ahuja[10] proposed a
three- dimensional non-linear finite element model for
predicting the ultimate load and behaviour of circular CFST
under axial loadings using finite element code ANSYS[10]
and square CFST under axial loading using same software
[11].In the present study, a parametric study was conducted
using the ANSYS model developed and verified by Gupta,
Khaudhair, and Ahuja[11]to investigate the effects of cross-
section geometry on the load carrying capacity and post-
yield behaviour of such columns.The detailed approach for
modeling and verification of the proposed model are given
elsewhere[11].
2 PARAMETRIC INVESTIGATIONS
There is no doubt that the full scale physical testing is more
reliable. As the engineering systems get complicated day by
day, a better understanding of such systems is pivotal to their
correct design and fabrication. However, in such cases the
experimental approach suffers from various drawbacks such
as limited capacity of instrumentations, significance increase
in the cost of materials and data acquisition systems etc. For
example, due to their high load capacity, the capacity of
loading machine can become a major issue in testing of CFST
columns. Therefore, most of the researchers have performed

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Tables 1 Details of Simulated Columns

B (mm) t (mm) B/t As/At Pn Pu EL HI
(kN) (kN)

300 6 50 0.078 5476 5559 1.50 0.87

300 8 37.5 0.104 6318 6390 1.13 0.97
300 10 30 0.129 7148 7213 0.90 1.00
300 12 25 0.154 7967 9064 13.77 1.14
300 14 21.43 0.178 8773 10961 24.93 1.18
400 6 66.67 0.059 8599 8737 1.60 0.74
400 8 50 0.078 9736 9864 1.31 0.83
400 10 40 0.098 10860 10976 1.06 0.91
400 12 33.33 0.116 11973 12083 0.91 0.94
400 14 28.57 0.135 13074 13421 2.65 1.03
400 16 25 0.154 14163 16094 13.63 1.16
400 18 22.22 0.172 15241 18620 22.17 1.18
500 6 83.33 0.047 12363 12461 0.80 0.66
500 8 62.5 0.063 13793 13898 0.76 0.64
500 10 50 0.078 15212 15319 0.70 0.71
500 12 41.67 0.094 16620 16725 0.63 0.77
500 14 35.71 0.109 18015 18121 0.59 0.85
500 16 31.25 0.124 19399 19505 0.55 0.92
500 18 27.78 0.139 20771 21974 5.79 1.06
500 20 25 0.154 22131 25133 13.57 1.15
500 22 22.73 0.168 23479 28174 19.99 1.18
500 24 20.83 0.183 24816 30896 24.50 1.19

tests on limited scale for such columns, due to which there

is lack of knowledge regarding behaviour of CFST columns.
With simulations, engineers are able to overcome most of
these problems, as these are time and cost-friendly, and need
no special instrumentations. Hence, the aim of present
parametric study is to simulate CFST columns with
controlled increased sizes of steel tube to clarify the effect
of such increaseon the load carrying capacity and on the
post-yield behaviour of CFST columns.The increase in sizes
has been achieved by increasing cross-sectional area of steel
tube and/or wall thicknesses.Three cross-sectional sizes have
been used which are 300 mm square cross-section, 400 mm
and 500 mm square cross-section.A Wide range of
thicknesses have been adopted for each size.A total of
twentytwo CFST columns have been simulated using the
ANSYS model. Same grade of concrete (150 dia. cylinder
compressive strength,f’c equals 32 MPa) andsame yield
strength of steel (fy equals 400 MPa) have been used in all
columns to investigate the change in the behaviour of CFST
columns due to changing the area of steel tube only. All 2.1 Enhanced Load, (EL)
specimens have been simulated with L/D equal to three, to Enhancement in axial load capacity was measured in the
assure there will not be any effect of slenderness.The details present study as given in Eq.1.
of the simulated columns are listed in Table 1,where B is
width of cross-section, t is thickness of steel tube, As is cross- (1)
sectional area of steel tube, At is total cross-sectional area
of composite column, Pn is nominal capacity of cross-section Where, Pu is the ultimate axial capacity of CFST from
proposed model, Pn is the nominal cross-sectional axial
calculated as given in Eq. 2, Pu is ultimate axial capacity of
capacity of CFST calculated as the summationof axial
CFST column from ANSYS model.The numerical results capacity of steel and concrete independently, as given in
of the proposed model for these specimens are presented in Eq.2:
Fig.1, Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.Two parameters were usedin this
investigation, namely, Enhanced Load (EL) and Hardening (2)
Index (HI).

108 ICICE-2013
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In whichAs and Ac are the cross-sectional area of steel tube
and concrete core, respectively. Effect of the ratio of area of
steel to total area of composite section (At)was investigated
to define the optimum ratio of area of steel. The relationships
are presented in Fig.4 and 5.
Fig. 4. Effect of increasing area of steel on enhance load
parameter of CFST columns
Fig. 5. Effect of wall width to wall thickness on enhanced
load parameter of CFST columns
From Fig.4, It can be noticed that there was no enhancement
in axial load capacity for CFST columns having area of steel
less than or equal to 13% of total area of composite section
(i.e. no confinement effect). For specimens having area of
steel more than 13% of total area, an increase was observed
in axial load capacity of the composite columns due to
confinement provided by steel tube to concrete.Fig.5 shows
the relationship between B/t ratio, which indicates the cross-
sectional stability, and the percentage enhancement in load.
It can be noticed that increasing the B/t ratio significantly
reduces the enhancement in load carrying capacity; for
specimens having B/t morethan 30, percentage enhancement
is negligiable.It is thus concluded from Fig. 4 and Fig.5 that
for better enhancement in axial load carrying capacity of
CFST columns with square cross-sections,two limitations
can be proposed:
As/At> 13%
B/t d” 30
2.2 Hardening Index, (HI)
The main advantages of CFST is the enhanced ductility
because such columns are prefered in high-rise buildings
and/or high seismic activity zones. It is also commonly
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prefered by engineers that the structure sholud be able to
sustain the gravity load imposed on it, even at high
deformation levels. Therefore, to evaluate post-yield
behaviour of CFST columns, Hardening Index (HI) proposed
by Johansson (2002) [12]has been adopted. Hardening index
is defined as “the load at five times the yield strain,
P5[y,divided by the yielding load,Py.”
(3)
Fig. 6. Effect of increasing area of steel on hardening index
parameter
Physically, this means that the specimens having HI less than
one will behave as strain softening behavior for post yield
behavior, while the specimens having HI equal to 1 will
behave as elastic-perfectly-plastic and specimens having HI
more than one will behave as strain hardeing. In the present
study analysis was conducted until an elastic-perfectly-
plastic behaviour was obtained in CFST columns (i.e. until
no signifcant degradation were observed in load carried after
the peak-axial capacity).HI for all the simulated specimens
is calculated and presented in Table 1. Effect of increasing
area of steel on this index, HI, has been investigated through
Fig.6 and Fig.7.
Fig. 6shows that increasing the ratio As/At will increase the
hardening index significantly. Hence, it can be concluded
from Fig. 6 that the HI will be one for CFST specimens
having As/Atratio 14% at least and formaximum B/t ratio 33
(see Fig.7).
As/At> 14%
B/t d” 33
Fig. 7. Effect of wall width to wall thickness on hardening
index parameter
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3 CONCLUSIONS
A total of twenty two finite element CFST columns have
been simulated to investigate the optimum ratio of area of
steel in the composite section of such columns.A three-
dimensional non-linear finite element model has been used
for conducting a parametric studt to investigate the effect of
controlled increase in area of steel tube in the composite
section on the load carrying capacity and ductility of CFST.
It is concluded that the area of steel should be at least 13 %
of the total area of composite section with cross-section to
thickness ratio (B/t ) d”30 to enhance the load carrying
capacity and ductility of CFST. No significance enhancement
in load carrying capacity was observed for columns having
area of steel lower than 13% or B/t higher than 30. Further,
to achieve an Elastic-Perfectly-Plastic or strain hardening
characteristics as it is desired for design purposes and sustain
ductility, the area of steel should be at least 14 % of the
total area of composite section.This ratio is also be governed
by the parameter B/t which should be less than 33. Strain
softening behaviour was observed for columns having
unsaftisfied limit for this purpose. Eventually, using
superposition principle, it is recommended to use such
composite columns with minimum area of steel 14% of total
area of cross-section and maximum B/t ratio as 30 to
efficiently utilize the distinct composite features of CFST
columns.
4 REFERENCES
[1] M. Shams and M.A. Saadeghvaziri, “State of the Art
of Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular Columns,” ACI
Structural Journal, pp. Title No. 94-S51, 558-569,
1997.
[2] J. Gardner and R. Jacobson, “Structural behavior of
concrete filled steel tubes,” ACI Journal, pp. Title No.
64-38, 404-413, 1967.
[3] Robert B. Knowles and Robert Park, “Strength of
concrete filled steel tubular columns,” Journal of the
structural division, Proceedings of the American
Society of Civil Engineering, vol. 95, no. (ST12), pp.
2565-2587, 1969.
110
[4] S.P. Schneider, “Axially Loaded Concrete-Filled Steel
Tubes,” Journal of Structural Engineeing, ASCE, pp.
Vol. 124, No. 10, 1125-1138, 1998.
[5] D Liu , “Behaviour of high strength rectangular
concrete-filled steel hollow section under eccentric
loading,” Thin Walled Structures, vol. 42, no. 12, pp.
1631-1644, 2004.
[6] Toshiaki Fujimoto, Akiyoshi Mukai, Isao Nishiyama,
and Kenji Sakino, “Behaviour of eccentrically loaded
concrete-filled steel tubular columns,” Journal of
Structural Engineering,ASCE, vol. 130, no. 2, pp. 203-
212, 2004.
[7] B. Lakshmi and N. E. Shanmugam, “Nonlinear analysis
of in-filled steel-concrete composite columns,” Journal
of Structural Engineering,ASCE, vol. 128, no. 7, pp.
922-933, 2002.
[8] Qing Quan Liang, Brian Uy, and J.Y. Richard Liew,
“Strength of concrete-filled steel box columns with
local buckling effects,” in Australian Structural
Engineering Conference, Newcastle, Australia, 2005,
pp. 1-10.
[9] Hsuan-Teh HU, Chiung-Shiann Huang, and Zhi-Liang
Chen, “Finite element analysis of CFT columns
subjected to an axial compressive force and bending
moment in combination,” Journal of Constructional
Steel Research, vol. 61, pp. 1692-1712, 2005.
[10] P. K Gupta, Ziyad A. Khaudhair, and A. K. Ahuja, “A
study on load carrying capacity and behaviour of
concrete filled steel tubular members subjected to axial
compression,” in the 11th International Conference on
Concrete Engineering and Technology 2012, Putrajaya,
Malaysia, 2012, pp. 337-342.
[11] P. K. Gupta, Ziyad A. Khaudhair, and A. K. Ahuja, “3D
Numerical simulation of concrete filled steel tubular
columns using ANSYS,” in Innovations in Concrete
Constructions, Jalandhar, India, 2013, Accepted for
Publishing.
[12] M. Johansson, “The efficiency of passive confinement
in CFT columns,” Steel and Composite Structures, vol.
2, No. 5, , 2002, pp. 379-369.
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Effect of Corrosion on Load Deflection

Behaviour of OPC concrete in NBS Beam
Akshatha Shetty, Katta Venkataramana, Babu Narayan K. S
Abstract— Problems of corrosion have always been a matter of serious concern for structural engineers. The problems of corrosion are
widespread all over the globe. Expansive corrosion products provoke cracks along the reinforcement, and subsequently, spalling of the
concrete cover occurs. loss of bond-strength may lead to reduction in load bearing capacity.This paper aims to quantify the experimental
investigation on load carrying capacity and center deflection behavior under different degree of corrosion levels on Ordinary Portland
Cement (OPC) in NBS beam specimen.

Index Terms—Bond Strength, Corrosion, Deflection, Flexural Behavior, Load, OPC, Reinforcement Bar.

——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION which is the time from construction to the time of initiation
of corrosion (depassivation). It had been noted that the

F
lexural strength is a measure of resistance against
initiation and propagation of corrosion in the specimens
failure in bending. Although the probability of
depend on many factors; the important among them are given
structures being flexure deficient is low, one of the
below [6]:
factors by which failure can occur due to reduction or total
loss of rebar area causing the corrosion in service i. Permeability of the concrete matrix;
environ-ments. ii. Cover thickness;
Quality concrete is an utmost environment for embedded iii. The electric current applied;
rebars, but the increased use of chlorides and carbon dioxide iv. Density of the solution used;
are result into corrosion of rebar. Corrosion is one of the v. The environmental temperature.
important factors that reduces the cross-sectional area of the
steel, thereby reducing the load carrying capacity, bond
strength and spalling of concrete and induces brittle failure
of structure without prior warning. Hence, these effects of
corrosion need to be studied for better performance of
structures.
When steel corrosion develops, the corrosion products first
accumulate at the bar surface and try to fill the closest voids.
Then they spread throughout the material and mix with the
hydrated products of cement [1], [2], [3]. Once the threshold
value of chloride content at the reinforcement reaches, then
accumulates in the concrete –steel interfacial zone, generate
unrestrained pressure on the surrounding concrete, and cause
crack initiation and propagation [4]. Longitudinal cracks may
affect the load bearing capacity of the structural elements
presenting this distress, and in consequence may shorten their
service life, in addition to opening a path for a quicker arrival
of aggressive elements to the environment [5]. Fig. 1: Typical deterioration levels for a steel reinforced
concrete structure suffering from corrosion [7].
1.1 Time-Dependent States of Reinforcement
Corrosion The propagation phase starts from the time of depassivation,
tp, to the final state, is reached at a critical time, tcr, at which
The status of corrosion of steel in concrete may be
corrosion would produce spalling of concrete cover or
predictable to change as a function of time. Corrosion process
cracking through the whole of concrete cover.
has three distinct stages, namely; depassivation, propagation,
and final state, as shown in Fig. 1. Depassivation is the loss During the propagation period, i.e. corrosion period, tcor,
of thin film passive layer over the rebar, which is initially which begins at the moment of depassivation, the rebar
formed due to the high alkalinity of concrete. The process corrosion is usually assumed to be in a steady state, as
of depassivation takes an initiation period, tp, indicated by a straight line in Fig. 1. The critical time, tcr, as
———————————————— defined above can be expressed as:
• Ms. Akshatha Shetty is currently pursuing her PhD program in
Department of Civil Engineerimg NITK, Surathkal. E-mail: t cr = t p + t cor (1)
akshathashetty16@mail.com
• Co-Authors: Katta Venkataramana and Babu Narayan K.S. are For reinforced concrete, it has been assumed reasonable to
professors in the Department of Civil engineering NITK
equate the unacceptable corrosion damage to the onset of
Surathkal. Srinivasnagar- 575025
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spalling of concrete cover. Therefore, the service life can Specimens were immersed in a 5% NaC1 solution for 8 days.
be equated to the critical time, as given by equation (1). Current required to achieve different corrosion levels can
The depassivation time, tp, can be assumed to be zero when be obtained using Faraday’s law. The amount of current to
the quantity of free chloride ions, introduced in concrete at be applied to obtain required corrosion levels of 2.5%, 5%
the time of construction itself by any means, is found to be and 7.5% and 10% are respectively 2.5A, 5A, 7.5A and 10A.
more than the rebar corrosion threshold value. For each trial, three specimens were considered. A photo of
accelerated corrosion of beam specimen is shown in Fig. 3.
The corrosion of rebar in concrete is generally considered After completion of accelerated corrosion the corrosion rate
as an electrochemical process [8], [9], [10], [11]. With is monitored with applied corrosion monitoring instrument
attention of researchers focusing towards the prediction of as in Fig. 4, based on Linear Polarization Resistance (LPR)
the residual life of reinforced concrete structures affected method.
by reinforcement corrosion, the use of electrochemical
techniques for the determination of relevant parameters in
this regard becomes a major area of durability study.
Therefore nowadays the electrochemical techniques are
widely used for the study of rebar corrosion in laboratories
together with their application to real life structures [12].
1.2 Effects of corrosion on the structural behavior
It has been already accentuate that corrosion of reinforcing
bars produces effects on the structural behavior of RC
members. This phenomenon involves due to the reduction
in the bond strength of two composite materials i.e. steel
and concrete. The effects of steel corrosion are mainly
distinguishing between the “local” effects, i.e. at the RC
member level, and the “global” effects, i.e. at the RC
structure level. It is worth noting that, among the global
consequences of corrosion on the structural performance, Fig. 2: Reinforcement details of beam specimen (NBS beam)
together with the decline of load carrying capacity and
ductility, also the shift of the failure mechanism and
detrimental torsion effects may occur [13].
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
2.1 Preparation of NBS Specimens
National bureau of Standard (NBS) beam specimens of size
2.15mx0.457mx0.203m were designed as an under
reinforced section as per IS 456-2000 [14] for the present
study. A total fifteen number of specimens were cast and a
mass concreting was adopted for the huge specimens. TMT
rebar of 25mm diameter bar was placed at a cover depth of
50mm from bottom and 12mm hanger rebar was provided
at top and Side bars of 12mm with a stirrups of 8mm diameter Fig. 3: A Photo of accelerated corrosion of beam specimen
as in Fig. 2.
The corrosion current density was calculated by using the
Concrete mix for M30 Grade was prepared using Ordinary Stern-Geary formula.
Portland cement concrete (OPC), fine sand and aggregate
(20 & 12.5mm) as per IS 10262:2009 [15]. Mix proportion
of 1: 1.77: 2.87 was used for the present study. Water cement (1)
ratio of 0.45, with an addition of 2ml/kg of a commercially
available chemical admixture was used to get desired. Slump where,
obtained was 58mm. Specimens were kept in water for 28 icorr = corrosion current density (ìA/cm2)
days of curing. Compressive strength of 34.44N/mm 2
achieved at the end of 28days. Rp = polarization resistance (kÙ cm2).
2.2 Accelerated Corrosion Technique
B = 26 mV (for steel in active condition this value is
The electrochemical corrosion technique was used to normally used).
accelerate the corrosion of steel bars embedded in the beam Using Faraday’s law, the corrosion rate in mm/year obtained
specimens. Electrical wires were connected to the rebar at from gravimetric measurement was converted to corrosion
both the ends and it was left outside to impress current, at current density (μA/cm2) by assuming uniform corrosion over
one end and monitoring of specimen at the other end. the rebar surface by the following equation [16], [17], [18]:

112 ICICE-2013

0 . 0327 × a × i corr
Corrosion rate ( mm / year ) =
n× D
where,
a =atomic weight of iron, i.e. 55.84 amu
n = no. of electrons exchanged in corrosion reaction, i.e. 2
for iron and =density of rebar (7.85g/cm3).
Fig. 4: Monitoring of Test Specimen
3 Test Setup
The beam specimens were tested under four point bending
D to determine load and deflection measurements. Dial gauges
were fixed at the top side (two at load points and one at
centre) to measure the deflection at each load increment.
Proving ring of 50 tonnes capacity was used to note the
applied load (Fig. 5 and Fig. 6). Pump of the hydraulic jack
(50 tonne capacity) was operated by a hand lever.
In the present paper only central deflection behaviour with
increase in the load for different degree of corrosion levels
is calculated. Effect of corrosion on load -deflection curve
is shown in Fig. 7.
Fig. 5: Test set up of NBS beam Specimen
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(2)
Fig. 6: Position of Dial gauges at centre and load points
Fig.7: Effect of corrosion on load with central deflection
curve
4 CONCLUSIONS
Beam specimens of different degree of corrosion levels such
as 2.5%, 5% 7.5% and 10% beam respectively failed at 0.94,
0.92, 0.88 and 0.85 times than that of the control specimens.
It is observed that as the corrosion level increases load
carrying capacity decreases as well as the deflection
increases. The explanation for this may be that, as steel
reinforcement yielded, bond between reinforcement steel and
concrete failed, and the deflection increased with higher
corrosion percentage.
5. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research has been funded by the Board of Research in
Nuclear Science (BRNS), Government of India.
REFERENCES
[1] A. Raman, A .Razvan, B. Kuban, K.A. Clement and E. Gravesw,
“ Characteristics of the rust from weathering steels in Louisiana
bridge spans,” Corrosion NACE, Vol. 42, No. 8, pp. 447-455,
1986.
[2] K.K. Sagoe- Crentsil, and F.P. Glasser, “Analysis of the steel
concrete interface,” 3rd Symp. Corrosion of reinforcement in
Concrete, Edt. C.L.Page et al. pp. 74-96, (Elsevier Applied Sci-
113
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
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ence), 1990.
[3] A.G. Constantinou, K.L. Scrivener, C. Alonso, and C. Andrade,
“The corrosion of steel in concrete subjected to chloride and car-
bon dioxide environment”, Conf. on cement and Concrete Sci-
ence, Oxford, Sept, 1992.
[4] Dong Chen, and Sankaran Mahadevan, “Chloride induced rein-
forcement corrosion and concrete cracking simulation,” Cement
and Concrete Composites, Vol. 30, pp. 227-238, April 2007.
[5] C.Alonso, C. Andrade, J. Rodriguez, and J.M. Diez. “Factors
controlling cracking of concrete affected by reinforcement cor-
rosion,” Materials and structures, Vo.31, August/September
1998, pp. 435-441.
[6] S. Ahmad, “Reinforcement Corrosion in Concrete Structures, Its
Monitoring and Service Life Prediction––A Review,” Cement &
Concrete Composites, Vol. 25, pp. 459–471.
[7] Fib (International Federation of Structural Concrete) Bulletin,
“Model Code for Service Life Design,” ISBN 978-2-88394-074-
1, Vol. 34, 2006.
[8] T. Maheswaran, J. G. Sajavan, “A semi-closed form solution for
chloride diffusion in concrete with time varying parameters,”
Journal of Material Concrete Research, Vol. 56, pp. 359-366,
2004.
[9] B. Elsener, “Macrocell corrosion of steel in concrete implica-
tions for corrosion monitoring.” Journal of Cement concrete
Composites. Vol. 24, pp. 65-72, 2002.
[10] M.A. EI-Gelany, “Short-term corrosion rate measurement of OPC
and HPC reinforced concrete specimens by electrochemical tech-
niques”. Journal of Material Structures, Vol. 34, pp. 426-432,
2001.
114
\[11] T. Liu. R.W. Weyers, “Modelling the dynamic corrosion process
in chloride contaminated concrete structures,” Journal of Ce-
ment Concrete research, Vol. 28, pp. 365-379 1998.
[12] C. Andrade and C. Alonso. “Corrosion rate monitoring in the
laboratory and on site,” Journal of Construction building mate-
rials, Vol. 10, pp. 315-328, 1996.
[13] P. Simioni, “Seismic response of reinforced concrete structures
affected by reinforcement corrosion,” Thesis of Civil engineer-
ing and environmental Sciences university, Braunschweig and
Florence, 2009.
[14] IS 456:2000, Indian Standards, “Plane and reinforced concrete
“– code of practice, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 2000.
[15] IS 10262-2009, Indian Standards, “Concrete mix proportioning
guidelines,” Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 2009.
[16] D. Trejo and P.J. Monteiro, “Corrosion performance of conven-
tional (ASTM A615) and low-alloy (ASTM A706) reinforcing
bars embedded in concrete and exposed to chloride environ-
ments,” Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 562
-71, May 2005.
[17] B. Pradhan, and B. Bhattacharjee, “Performance evaluation of
rebar in chloride contaminated concrete by corrosion rate,” Con-
struction and Building Materials, Vol. 23, No. 6, pp. 2346-2356,
June 2009.
[18] C. Andrade and C. Alonso, C. Gonzalez, J.A. and J. Rodriguez
“Remaining service life of corroded structures”, Proceedings of
[ABSE Symposium on Durability of structures, Lisbon, pp. 359-
363, September 1989.
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Assessment of First Order Computational Model

for Free Vibration Analysis of FGM Plates
K. Swaminathan, D. T. Naveenkumar
Abstract— This paper presents the complete theoretical formulation and the analytical solutions for the free vibration analysis of functionally
graded material (FGM) plates using First-order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT). The material properties are assumed to be isotropic
along the plane of the plate and vary through the thickness according to the power law function. The equations of motion are obtained using
Hamilton’s principle. The analytical solutions are obtained in closed-form using Navier’s solution technique and by solving the eigenvalue
equation.

Index Terms— Analytical solution, Functionally graded Material plates, First-order model, Hamilton’s principle, Navier’s method, Power
law function, Shear deformation.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION In this paper, an attempt has been made to compare and assess
quantitatively the accuracy of the results obtained using First-

T
he concept of Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs) order computational model for predicating free vibration
was proposed in 1984 by materials scientists as a response of simply supported FGM plates.
means of preparing thermal barrier materials. FGMs
are the heterogeneous composite materials in which the 2 DISPLACEMENT MODEL
material properties are gradually varied along certain
directions in a predetermined manner. Thus, mitigating the Based on the FSDT the displacement field at a point in an
problems induced due to sudden change of thermo- FGM plate is expressed as [7],
mechanical properties as in the case of laminated composites.
FGMs have a great potential of becoming an advanced struc- u ( x, y , z ) = u0 ( x, y ) + z θ x ( x, y ),
tural material in various engineering and industrial
v ( x, y , z ) = v0 ( x, y ) + z θ y ( x, y ),
applications. Therefore, to use them efficiently a good (1)
understanding of their structural and dynamical behavior and w( x, y , z ) = w0 ( x, y ).
also an accurate knowledge of the deformation
charecteristics, stress distribution, natural frequencies and Where the terms u, v and w are the displacements of a general
buckling loads under various load conditions are needed. point (x, y, z) in x, y and z directions respectively. Where
Several analytical and numerical approaches have been the terms u0, v0 are the in-plane displacements and the term
proposed by various authers for the analysis of FGM plates. w0 is the transverse displacement of a general point (x, y) on
Hamilton’s principle and assumed mode technique were used the middle plane. The functions è x, è y are rotations of the
to study the parametric resonance of FGM rectangular plates normal to the middle plane about y and x axes respectively.
based on classical plate theory under harmonic in-plane
loading [1]. A meshfree radial point interpolation method The strain is assumed to be linear through the thickness of
was employed for static and dynamic analyses of FGM plates the FGM plate
based on First-order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT) [2]. (2)
First five natural frequencies of an FGM plate were
maximized using FSDT along with FEM [3]. The CPT was
employed to show that FGM plates can be idealized as
homogeneous plates by properly selecting the reference
surface so that no special tool is required to analyse their
behavior [4]. A Levi type solution was employed for free
vibration analysis of FGM plates based on FSDT, where two
opposite edges are simply supported and other two edges (3)
under various boundary conditions [5].

2.1 Constitutive Relationship

————————————————

• K. Swaminathan, Professor Department of Civil Engineering,
NITK Surathkal, India, PH-09448477825. E-mail:
swami7192@yahoo.co.in
• D. T. Naveenkumar, Research scholar, Department of Civil En-
gineering, NITK Surathkal, India, PH-09632553840.
E-mail: naveendt012@gmail.com
Assuming through the thickness gradation of material
properties, the volume fraction composition is defined
using power law function as,
(4)

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Where, ⎧ ∂u0 ⎫ ⎧ ∂u0 ⎫

Em = Young’s modulus of metal, ⎪ ∂x ⎪ ⎪ ∂y ⎪
Ec = Young’s modulus of ceramic, ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪
p=Parameter that dictates the variation of material profile ⎪ ∂v0 ⎪ ⎪ ∂v ⎪
through the thickness, ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ 0⎪
ν=Poisson’s ratio, ⎧⎪N xy ⎫⎪ ∂
⎪ ⎪y ⎪ ∂x ⎪
⎨ ⎬ = ⎡⎣B ⎤⎦ ⎨ ⎬ + [B′] ⎨ ⎬'
'
h=Thickness of the plate. (8)
The stress-strain relationship accounting for the transverse shear ⎪⎩M xy ⎪⎭ ⎪∂θ x ⎪ ⎪∂θ x ⎪
deformation is given by, ⎪ ∂x ⎪ ⎪ ∂y ⎪
⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪
{σ} = [Q]{ε}. (5) ⎪∂θ y ⎪ ⎪∂θ ⎪
Where, ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ y⎪
⎩ ∂y ⎭ ⎩ ∂x ⎭
{σ} = Stress vector,
[Q ] = Transformed elastic stiffness matrix, ⎧ θx ⎫ ⎧ θy ⎫
{ε} = Strain vector. ⎧⎪Qx ⎫⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪
E(z)
⎨ * ⎬ = [D] ⎨∂w ⎬ + [D′] ⎨∂w0 ⎬, (9)
Q11 = Q 22 = , Q12 = Q 21 = νQ11 , ⎩⎪Qx ⎭⎪ ⎪ 0⎪ ⎪ ⎪
( )
1-ν
2
⎩ ∂x ⎭ ⎩ ∂y ⎭
E(z) ⎧ θy ⎫ ⎧ θx ⎫
Q 44 = Q 55 = Q 66 = . ⎧⎪Qy ⎫⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪
2(1+ν)
⎨ * ⎬ = [E] ⎨∂w0 ⎬ + [E ′] ⎨∂w ⎬. (10)
2.3 Govering equations ⎩⎪Qy ⎪⎭ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ 0⎪
⎩ ∂x ⎭
The governing equations of motion are derived using Hamilton’s ⎩ ∂y ⎭
principle. The equations of motion associated with the present first- Where the matrices [A], [A ′], [B], [B′], [D], [D′], [E], [E ′] are
order computational model are, the matrices of plate stiffness whose elements are defined as,
∂N x ∂N xy ⎡ Q11 Q12 Q11 z Q12 z ⎤
δ uo : + u 0 + I 2&&
= I1&& θx ,
∂x ∂y h/2⎢Q Q22 Q12 z Q22 z ⎥
∂N y ∂N xy [A] = ∫ ⎢ 12 ⎥ dz ,
δ vo : + v 0 + I 2&&
= I1&& θy, −h/2
⎢Q11 z Q12 z Q11 z 2 Q12 z ⎥ 2

∂y ∂x ⎢ 2⎥
⎣Q12 z Q22 z Q12 z Q22 z ⎦
2

∂M x ∂M xy
δθ x : + − Qx = I3&&
θ x + I 2 && ⎡ Q44 Q44 z ⎤
h/2
u0 , Q44 Q44 z
∂x ∂y [B] = ∫ ⎢
Q44 z ⎥⎦
(6) dz ,
⎣
2 2
Q
−h/2 44
z Q44 z Q44 z
∂M y ∂M xy
δθ y : − Q y = I 3&&
θ y + I 2 v&&0 ,
h/2
+
∂y ∂x [D] = ∫ [Q 66
Q66 ] dz ,
−h/2
∂Qx ∂Q y +
&& 0 .
h/2
δ w0 : + + Pz = I1 w
∂x ∂y [E] = ∫ [Q 55
Q55 ] dz ,
−h/2
Here (Nx, Ny, Nxy), (Mx, My, Mxy) and (Qx, Qy) respectively de-
[ A′] = [ B′] = [C ′] = [ D′] = 0.
notes in-plane, bending and shear stress resultants, which can be
defined as,
2.4 The Navier Solutions
⎧ ∂u0 ⎫ ⎧ ∂u0 ⎫ The following boundary conditions are imposed for a simply sup-
⎪ ∂x ⎪ ⎪ ∂y ⎪ ported rectangular FGM plate having thickness h with sides a and b.
⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ At edges x=0 and x=a;
⎧Nx ⎫ ⎪ ∂v0 ⎪ ⎪ ∂v0 ⎪
⎪N ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪⎪ ∂x ⎪⎪ v0 = 0; w0 = 0; θ y = 0;
⎪ y⎪ ⎪ ⎪
∂y
⎨ ⎬ = [A] ⎨ ⎬ + [A′] ⎨ ⎬'
(11)
M x = 0; N x = 0;
⎪∂θ x ⎪ ⎪∂θ x ⎪
(7)
⎪M x ⎪
⎪⎩M y ⎪⎭ ⎪ ∂x ⎪ ⎪ ∂y ⎪ At edges y= 0 and y = b
⎪∂θ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ u0 = 0; w0 = 0; θ x = 0;
⎪ y⎪ ⎪∂θ y ⎪ (12)
⎩⎪ ∂y ⎭⎪ ⎩⎪ ∂x ⎭⎪ M y = 0; N y = 0;

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X 44 = A33α + B23 β + D11 ,

2 2

∞ ∞
u0 = ∑∑ u 0 mn
cos α x sin β y e
-iωt
X 45 = A34αβ + B24αβ ,
m =1 n =1
X 55 = A44 β + B24α + E11 ,
2 2

∞ ∞
v0 = ∑∑v 0 mn
sin α x cos β y e
-iωt
X ij = X ji , i , j = 1 to 5.
m =1 n =1

∞ ∞ For any fixed values of m and n. The elements of mass matrix

w0 = ∑∑ w 0 mn
sin α x sin β y e
-iωt
(13) [M] are given as,
m =1 n =1
M1,1 =I1 M1,2 = 0 M1,3 = 0 M1,4 =I 2
∞ ∞
θ x = ∑ ∑ θ x cos α x sin β y e
-iωt
mn
M1,5 = 0 M 2,2 =I1 M 2,3 = 0 M 2,4 = 0
m =1 n =1

∞ ∞ M 2,5 =I 2 M 3,3 =I1 M 3,4 = 0 M 3,5 = 0

θ y = ∑ ∑ θ y sin α x cos β y e
-iωt
mn M 4,4 =I3 M 4,5 = 0 M 5,5 =I3
m =1 n =1

Where,
mπ nπ 3 NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
α= and β = .
a b In this section, the numerical examples solved are described and
discussed. A shear correction factor of 5/6 is used in the present
Where, model for computing results. For all the problems, a simply sup-
mπ nπ
α= and β = . ported rectangular FGM plate with SS-1 boundary conditions is con-
a b sidered for the analysis.
The following sets of data are used in obtaining numerical results,
Substituting eqn. (11)-(13) in in eqn. (6) and collecting the coeffi- Material set 1 [7].
cients, one obtain
E m = 70GPa, ν = 0.3, ρ = 2702kg / m
3
,
⎧u 0 ⎫
⎪ ⎪ E c = 200GPa, ν = 0.3, ρ = 5700kg / m
3
,
⎪v0 ⎪
⎪ ⎪ p = 1.
([ X ]5 X 5 − λ [ M ]5 X 5 ) ⎪⎨ w0 ⎪⎬ = 0, Where λ=ω
2
. (1) Material set 2 [8].
⎪ ⎪
⎪θ x ⎪ E m = 70GPa, ν = 0.3, ρ = 2702kg / m ,
3

⎪ ⎪
E c = 380GPa, ν = 0.3, ρ = 3800kg / m ,
3
⎪⎩θ y ⎪⎭5×1
p = Open.
For any fixed values of m and n. The elements of coefficient matrix
[X] are given as, Results are reported using the following non-dimensional form,

X 11 = A11α + B11 β ,
2 2
⎛ a 2 ⎞ ρm
ωmn = ωmn ⎜ ⎟
X 12 = A12αβ + B12αβ , ⎝ h ⎠ Em
X 13 = 0, Example 1: A simply supported FGM square plate is considered for
the analysis. Material set 1 is used. The nondimensionalized values
X 14 = A13α + B13 β ,
2 2

of natural frequency for various side-to-thickness ratio (a/h) are giv-

X 15 = A14αβ + B14αβ , en in Table 1. The non-dimensionalized values of natural frequency
are found to increase with increase in the side-to-thickness ratio. It is
X 22 = A22 β + B12α ,
2 2
found that at lower thickness modes, the present results are in good
agreement with the exact three-dimensional elasticity solution [7]
X 23 = 0,
where as significant difference between the ptesent results and exact
X 24 = A23αβ + B13αβ , solution exists at higher thickness modes.

X 25 = A24 β + B14α ,
2 2
Example 2: A simply supported FGM plate with side-to-thickness
ratio equal to 5 is considered for the analysis. Material set 2 is used.
X 33 = D12α + E12 β ,
2 2

The nondimensionalized values of natural frequency for various as-

X 34 = D11α , pect ratio (a/b) and power law function are given in Table 2. For any
given a/b ratio, the non-dimensionalized natural frequency decreases
X 35 = E11 β , as the power law function p increases and for any given power law

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function value p as the a/b value increases, the natural frequency

increases. [3] R.C. Batra, and J.Jin, “Natural frequencies of a functionally graded aniso-
tropic rectangular plate,” Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 282, no. 1-
2, pp. 509–516, 2005, doi: 10.1016/j.jsv.2004.03.068.
4 CONCLUSION
[4] S. Abrate, “Functionally graded plates behave like homogeneous plates,”
Analytical formulations and solutions to study the free vibration Composites part B: engineering, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 151–158, 2008, doi:
response of simply supported FGM rectangular plates using a first- 10.1016/j.compositesb.2007.02.026.
order computation model are presented. The accuracy of the solution [5] S. Hosseini-Hashemi, M. Fadaee, and , S.R. Atashipour, "A new exact ana-
is first established by comparing the results with exact three- lytical approach for free vibration of Reissner–Mindlin functionally graded
dimensional elasticity solution available in the literature. After estab- rectangular plates " , International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, vol. 53,
lishing the accuracy of prediction, new results for the FGM plates no. 1, pp. 11–22, 2011, doi: 10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2010.10.002.
with varying side-to-thickness ratio, aspect ratio, and power law [6] J.M. Whitney and N.J. Pagano, “Shear deformation in heterogeneous aniso-
function are presented. tropic plates,” Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering,
vol. 37, pp. 1031-1036, 1970, doi: doi: 10.1115/1.3408654.
TABLE 1 [7] S.S. Vel and R.C. Batra, “Three-dimensional exact solution for the vibration
NON-DIMENSIIONALIZED NATURAL FREQUENCY
of functionally graded rectangular plates,” Journal of Sound and Vibration,
Thickness 3D exact vol. 272, no. 3-5, pp. 703–730, 2004, doi: 10.1016/S0022-
a/h Present FSDT
mode solution [7] 460X(03)00412-7.
1 5.4806 5.6908 [8] A.M. Zenkour, “A comprehensive analysis of functionally graded sandwich
2 14.558 15.341 plates: Part 2—Buckling and free vibration,” International Journal of Solids
5 3 24.381 25.925 and Structures, vol. 42, no. 18-19, pp. 5224–5242, 2005, doi:
4 53.366 57.812 10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2005.02.015.
5 57.620 62.691
1 5.9609 6.1864
2 29.123 30.686
10 3 49.013 51.866
4 207.50 225.25
5 212.22 230.60
1 6.1076 6.3372
2 58.250 61.374
10 3 98.145 103.74
4 823.92 894.88
5 828.78 900.37

TABLE 2
NON-DIMENSIIONALIZED NATURAL FREQUENCY

a/b
p
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
0 10.374 15.857 22.683 30.414 38.732
0.5 8.8650 13.602 19.536 26.298 33.614
1 8.0107 12.306 17.700 23.861 30.542
5 6.7767 10.330 14.739 19.720 25.073
10 6.5019 9.8731 14.029 18.695 23.681

REFERENCES
[1] T. Ng, K. Lam, and K Liew, “Effects of FGM materials on the parametric
resonance of plate structures,” Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics
and Engineering, vol. 190, no. 8-10, pp. 953–962, 2000, doi:
10.1016/S0045-7825(99)00455-7.
[2] K.Y. Dai, G.R. Liu, K.M. Lim, X. Han and , S.Y. Du, “A meshfree radial
point interpolation method for analysis of functionally graded material
(FGM) plates,” Computational Mechanics, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 213–223,
2004, doi: 10.1007/s00466-004-0566-0.

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Higher order computational model for the

thermo-elastic analysis of cross-ply laminated
composite plates
K. Swaminathan, Reginald Fernandes
Abstract— Analytical formulations and solutions for the stress analysis of simply supported cross-ply laminated composite plates subjected
to thermal load based on higher order refined theory are presented. In addition, another higher order theory and the first-order theory
developed by other investigators and already available in the literature are also considered for the evaluation. The equation of equilibrium
is obtained using Principal of Minimum Potential Energy (PMPE). Solutions are obtained in closed form using Navier’s technique by
solving the boundary value problem. The transverse stresses are obtained by integrating equilibrium equations. Plates with different aspect
ratio are studied. Numerical results are presented for the displacments and the stresses.

Index Terms— Analytical solution, Composite plates, Higher-order theory, Navier’s solution, Stress analysis, Thermo-elastic, Thermal
load .
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION oped by [8]. A global-local higher order theory combined with

finite element method is been used to capture the response

M
ulti-layered plates made up of composite materials
details of laminate subjected to thermal loading [9]. In this paper,
are widely used in aerospace, aeronautical,
an attempt has been made to compare and assess quantitatively
automobiles and other hi-tech industries.
the accuracy of the results obtained using the various higher
Mathematical modeling and behavior of these structural
order models in predicating the thermal stresses of simply
components subjected to severe thermal loading has attracted
supported cross-ply laminated composite plates subjected to
considerable attention. Delamination of layers and longitudinal
thermal loading.
cracks in the matrix are predominant cause of failure of
composite plates subjected to severe thermal loading, therefore
developing very accurate and efficient theoretical model for
2 DISPLACEMENT MODELS
thermo-elastic analysis of composite plates have constantly been
an important area of research. The thermal-membrane coupling The following two higher order and the first order shear
effect was found to be very significant in the thermo-elastic deformation models are considered.
analysis of antisymmetric cross ply and angle ply laminates
[1]. The finite element formulations and solutions using first PRESENT [10]
order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and penalty finite
element was presented for the thermal analysis of multi-layered
u ( x, y , z ) = u0 ( x, y ) + z θ x ( x, y ) + z u0 ( x, y ) + z θ x ( x, y )
2 ∗ 3 ∗

plates [2]. A generalized Levy type solution in combination

v ( x, y , z ) = v0 ( x, y ) + z θ y ( x, y ) + z v0 ( x, y ) + z θ y ( x, y )
∗ ∗
with state-space method is used to analyses the thermal bending 2 3

of cross-ply laminated plates [3]. To get complete insight in to

this area, researchers may refer to the review article on the w( x, y , z ) = w0 ( x, y )
various computational models used for the thermo-elastic
analysis of multi-layered plates [4], [5]. A discrete-layer shear HSDT5 [11]
 ⎡ 4⎛ z⎞
{ }⎤⎥⎦
2
deformation laminated plate theory is used to analyses steady- ∂w0
state thermal stresses in laminated plates [6]. A displacement u ( x, y, z ) = u 0 ( x, y ) + z ⎢θx ( x, y ) − ⎜ ⎟ θx ( x, y ) +
⎣ 3⎝h⎠ ∂x
centered higher order theory which employs realistic
⎡ 4⎛ z⎞ ⎧ ∂ w ⎫⎤
2
displacement variations through the thickness is presented in
v( x , y , z ) = v0 (x , y ) + z ⎢θ y ( x , y ) − ⎜ ⎟ ⎨θ y ( x, y ) + 0 ⎬⎥
[7]. In-order to overcome the limitation of classical and first ⎣ 3⎝h⎠ ⎩ ∂ y ⎭⎦
order shear deformation theory, globahigher-order based on
power series for the evaluation of inter-laminar stresses w ( x, y, z ) = w0 ( x , y )

subjected to thermal loading have been devel

FSDT [12]
————————————————

• K. Swaminathan, Professor, Department of Civil

Engineering, NITK Surathkal, India, PH-09448477825. E-
mail: swami7192@yahoo.co.in
• Reginald Fernandes, Research scholar, Department of Civil
Engineering, NITK Surathkal, India, PH-09880536130.
E-mail: regi_fernandes@rediffmail.com

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The parameters u0 , v0 are the in-plane displacements and w0 is the
transverse displacement of a point (x, y) on the middle plane (z=0).
The functions θ x , θ y are the rotations of the normal to the middle
∗ ∗ ∗
plane about y- and x- axes, respectively. The parameters u0 , v0 , θ x ,
∗
θ y are the higher-order terms in the Taylor’s series expansion and
they represent higher-order transverse cross-sectional deformation
modes.
The stress-strain relationship accounting for the transverse shear
deformation and thermal effects is given by
In-plane normal stress (σ x ) : ( a / 2, b / 2, + h / 2)
In-plane normal stress (σ y ) : ( a / 2, b / 2, − h / 2)
In-plane shear stress (τ xy ) : (0, 0, − h / 2)
Transverse shear stress (τ xz ) : (0, b / 2, ± h / 6)
Transverse shear stress (τ yz ) : ( a / 2, 0, ± h / 6)
Example: A steady-state thermo-elastic bending of a simply supported
three layer cross-ply (0/90/0) square laminated plate (a=b) is analyzed.

{σ } = [Q ]{ε } − [Q ]{α } ΔT (4) TABLE 1

IN-PLANE AND TRANSVERSE DISPLACEMENTS FOR THERMAL LOADING
Where, {σ } = Stress vector
a/h MODEL u v w
[Q ]Transformed
= elastic coefficients PRESENT 14.58 71.88 25.67
HSDT5 14.45 62.52 25.78
{ε } = Strain vector 4
FSDT 9.17 71.14 22.75
EXACT [7] 18.11 81.83 42.69
{α } =Thermal expansion coefficient vector PRESENT 15.85 29.49 14.17
ΔT = Temperature rise in the laminate 10
HSDT5 15.58 27.87 14.11
FSDT 14.30 29.70 13.30
The equations of equilibrium are obtained using principal of Min- EXACT [7] 16.61 31.95 17.39
imum Potential Energy (PMPE). Solutions are obtained in closed PRESENT 15.96 19.66 11.27
form using Navier’s technique by solving the boundary value prob-
HSDT5 15.88 19.24 11.25
lem. The in-plane stresses are computed using the constitutive rela- 20
tionship and the transverse stresses are obtained by integrating the FSDT 15.53 19.71 11.03
3D elasticity equilibrium equations. EXACT [7] 16.17 20.34 12.12
PRESENT 15.99 16.59 10.36
3 NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION HSDT5 15.97 16.52 10.36
50
FSDT 15.92 16.60 10.32
In this section, the numerical example solved is described and dis-
cussed. A steady state thermo-elastic bending of a simply supported EXACT [7] 16.02 16.71 10.50
cross-ply laminated plate is considered for analysis.
The material properties and the thickness of each layer are uniform.
The material constants considered are as follows [7]: TABLE 2
IN-PLANE AND TRANSVERSE STRESSES FOR THERMAL LOADING
E1 / E2 = 25, E2 = E3 = 1, G12 = G13 = 0.5, G23 = 0.2
a/h MODEL σx σy τ xy τ xz τ yz
ν 12 = ν 13 = ν 23 = 0.25, α 2 / α1 = 1125 PRESENT 898 890.2 135.8 94.5 -135.74
HSDT5 880.1 919.8 120.9 95.6 -137.78
Results reported are using the following non-dimensional form: 4
FSDT 471.0 896.8 126.2 104.2 -134.50
w u v
w= u = v = EXACT [7] 1183 856.1 157.0 84.81 -121.87
hα1 T0 S
2
hα1 T0 S hα1 T0 S PRESENT 964 1023 71.23 62.16 -66.65
HSDT5 942 1028 68.26 62.52 -66.82
10
σx σy τ xy FSDT 842 1023 69.10 63.60 -66.61
σx = σy = τ xy =
EXACT [7] 1026 1014 76.29 60.54 -66.01
E2 α1 T0 E2 α1 T0 E2 α1 T0
PRESENT 965 1054 55.95 34.23 -34.86
τ xz τ yz a 20
HSDT5 958 1055 55.16 34.29 -34.88
τ xz = τ yz = Where, S= FSDT 931 1054 55.36 34.44 -34.85
E2 α1 T0 E2 α1 T0 h EXACT [7] 982 1051 57.35 33.98 -34.76
PRESENT 964.9 1063 51.17 14.09 -14.13
Unless otherwise specified within the table the location (i.e. x,y and
HSDT5 963.7 1063 51.05 14.10 -14.13
z coordinates) for values of displacements and stresses for present 50
evaluation are as follows: FSDT 959.3 1063 51.08 14.11 -14.13
In-plane displacements (u ) : (0, b / 2, − h / 2) EXACT [7] 967.5 1063 51.41 14.07 -14.13
In-plane displacements (v ) : ( a / 2, 0, − h / 2)
Transverse displacement ( w) : ( a / 2, b / 2, ± h / 2)
CC

120 ICICE-2013
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Fig. 1. Through thickness variation of In-plane displacement u for Fig. 3. Through thickness variation of Transverse shear stress τ xz
ratio of a/h=10 for ratio of a/h=10

Fig. 2. Through thickness variation of In-plane normal σx stress

for ratio of a/h=10
Fig. 4. Through thickness variation of Transverse shear stress τ yz
for ratio of a/h=10

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The plates are loaded through a temperature distribution of the form:
ΔT ( x , y , z ) =
2T0 ⎛ π x ⎞sin ⎛ π y ⎞
z sin ⎜
⎟ ⎜ ⎟
h ⎝ a ⎠ ⎝ b ⎠
The non-dimensional values of in-plane and transverse
displacements and the stresses for various values of a/h ratio are
given in Table 1 and Table 2. It is found that the results generated
using the three models are in good agreement with the exact three-
dimensional elasticity solution for thick to relatively thin plates,
whereas considerable difference in numerical values exists in the
case of very thick plates (i.e. a/h=4). This is attributed to the fact that
these models do not represent the higher-order transverse cross
sectional deformation modes, which is very significant in thick
plates. Fig. 1 represents through the thickness variation of in-plane
displacement. The through the thickness variation of in-plane and
transverse stresses are shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. It is found
that the variation of all the three models are in close agreement with
each other.
Wise Theories for Computing Inter-Laminar Stresses of Laminated Compo-
site Plates Subjected to Thermal Loadings," Composite Structures, vol. 64,
no. 2, pp. 161-177, 2004, doi: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2003.08.001.
[9] W. Zhen, and C. Wanji, "An Efficient Higher-Order Theory and Finite
Element for Laminated Plates Subjected to Thermal Loading," Composite
Structures, vol. 73, no. 1, pp. 99-109, 2006,
doi: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2005.01.034.
[10] B.N. Pandya, and T. Kant, "Finite Element Stress Analysis of Laminated
Composites Using Higher Order Displacement Mode," Composites Science
and Technology, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 137–155, 1988,
doi:10.1016/0266-3538(88)90003-6.
[11] J.N. Reddy, "A Simple Higher-Order Theory for Laminated Composite
Plates," Journal of Applied Mechanics, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 745–752, 1984,
doi: 10.1115/1.3167719.
[12] J.M. Whitney, and N.J. Pagano, "Shear Deformation in Heterogeneous
Anisotropic Plates," Journal of Applied Mechanics, vol. 73, no. 1, pp.
1031–1036, 1970, doi: 10.1115/1.3408654.

4 CONCLUSION
Analytical formulations and solutions for the thermal stress analysis
of simply supported cross-ply laminated composite plates using
higher- order shear deformation theory is presented. The maximum
and through the thickness variation of displacements and stresses
with varying side-to-thickness ratio are discussed. The accuracy of
each model in prediciting the displacments and stresses are estab-
lished by comparing the results with the three-dimensional elasticity
solutions. The bench mark numerical results presented herein will
provide a good reference for researchers working in the area of
thermo-elastic analysis of composite plates.

References
[1] C.H. Wu and T.R. Tauchert, "Thermo-Elastic Analysis of Laminated Plates.
2: Antisymmetric Cross-Ply and Angle-Ply Laminates," Journal of Thermal
Stresses, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 365-378, 1980,
doi:10.1080/01495738008926975.
[2] J.N. Reddy and Y.S. Hsu, "Effects on Shear Deformation and Anisotropy on
Thermal Bending of Layered Composite Plates," Journal of Thermal
Stresses, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 475-493, 1980,
doi:10.1080/01495738008926984.
[3] A.A. Khdeir and J.N. Reddy, "Thermal Stresses and Deflections of Cross-
Ply Laminated Plates Using Refined Plate Theories," Journal of Thermal
Stresses, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 419-438, 1991,
doi: 10.1080/01495739108927077.
[4] T.R. Tauchert, "Thermally Induced Flexure, Buckling and Vibration of
Plates," Applied Mechanics Review, vol. 44, no. 8, pp. 347-360, 1991,
doi: 10.1115/1.3119508.
[5] A.K. Noor, and W.S. Burton, "Computational Models for High-Temperature
Multi-Layered Composite Plates and Shells," Applied Mechanics Review,
vol. 45, no. 10, pp. 419-446, 1992, doi: 10.1115/1.3119742.
[6] Ji-Fan He, "Thermoelastic Analysis of Laminated Plates Including Trans-
verse Shear Deformation Effects," Composite Structures, vol. 30, no. 1,
pp. 51-59, 1995, doi: 10.1016/0263-8223(94)00026-3.
[7] J.S.M. Ali, K. Bhaskar, and T.K. Varadan, "A New Theory for Accurate
Thermal/Mechanical Flexural Analysis of Symmetric Laminated Plates,"
Composite Structures, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 227-232, 1999,
doi: 10.1016/S0263-8223(99)00028-8.
[8] H. Matsunaga, "A Comparison Between 2D Single Layer and 3D Layer-
CC

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Ductility Behavior of reinforced high volume

flyash concrete beams
R.Preetha, Joanna.P.S, Jessy Rooby,C.Sivathanu Pillai
Abstract— Ductility behavior of reinforced high volume flyash beams in comparison with reinforced ordinary Portland cement beams
were studied experimentally. The ductility factors obtained experimentally are also compared with theoretical values .

Index Terms—Beam, Curvature ,Ductility, Displacement, Flyash Concrete, Rotation, Strain.

——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION 3 BEAM DETAILS & TEST SETUP
Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is one of the main The beam span was 2500 mm and cross section 150mm x
ingredients used for the production of concrete. The utilization 250mm. The specimens were designed as per IS 456:2000 (Table
of industrial waste like fly ash in eco-friendly way along with 1). Out of the twelve specimens tested, four specimens were
cement, helps in preserving resources and also improves cast without fly ash and the other eight specimens were cast
durability of concrete as it densifies the matrix. The enhanced with 40%&50% fly ash. Six specimens were tested at 28th day
durability of fly concrete is well documented; hence an attempt and six specimens were tested at 56th day from the date of
is made to study the structural behavior of reinforced flyash casting.
concrete beams in comparison with ordinary concrete beams.
Beams are the structural elements in which large amount of Table 1 Test beams details
seismic energy dissipation takes place, through stable flexural
yield mechanism. In this paper ductility of reinforced flyash
concrete beams is compared with reinforced ordinary Portland
cement concrete beams. Ductility is the capacity to undergo
inelastic deformation and absorb energy. These include
curvature, displacement and rotational ductility.
2 MATERIAL & MIX DESIGN
The materials used in the mix were Ordinary Portland
Cement (OPC), river sand, Fly Ash (F grade) and potable water.
Beams are of M30 grade concrete(fig.1). Water-binder ratio of
0.45 and 0.75% conplast superplasticizer was used for OPC
reinforced concrete beams(1:1.8:2.7). Water-binder ratio of 0.45
and 1.3% conplast superplasticizer was used for fly ash concrete
beams(1:1.7:2.5). Fe 500 grade steel was used for longitudinal
reinforcement and for stirrups.

The testing was carried out in a loading frame of 400 kN

Fig.1 Compressive strength at 28 and 56 days
————————————————
• R.Preetha,Scientific officer,IGCAR,Kalpakkam,India. E-mail:
predinesh@igcar.gov.in
• P.S .Joanna,Professor,Civil engineering department,Hindustan
university,Chennai,India E-mail: joanna@hindustanuniv.ac.in
• Jessy Rooby,,HOD,,Civil engineering department,Hindustan
university,Chennai,India E-mail: civil@hindustanuniv.ac.in
• C.SivathanuPillai,Associate Director,CEG,IGCAR, Kalpakkam,
India. Email: csp@igcar.gov.in
ICICE-2013
capacity. TML strain gauge was fixed at the mid span of the
tension bar and then protected using coating tape to avoid
accidental damage during pouring of concrete[1]. Strain gauges
were also attached to the concrete surface in the central region
of the beam to measure the strain at different depths. The top
surface of the beam was instrumented with strain gauge to
measure the concrete compressive strains in the pure bending
region. LVDTs were used for measuring deflections at several
locations one at mid span, two directly below the loading points
and two near the end supports .Strain gauges and LVDTs were
connected to a data logger from which the readings were
captured by a computer at every load intervals until failure of
the beam occurred . The test was carried using a 400 kN
hydraulic actuator and the beams were subjected to two-point
loads under a load control mode (fig.2).
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5.1 Curvature ductility

Theoretical curvature ductility was arrived using the following
equations and compared with the experimental values[4,5] .
fy
ϕy = ………………….. [1]
E s (1 − k )d
⎧ ⎛ ⎛ d '⎞⎞ ⎫
⎨ (ρ + ρ ' ) n + 2 ⎜⎜ ρ + ⎜ ρ ' ⎟ ⎟⎟ n ⎬ − n (ρ + ρ ' )
k =
2 2 …… [2]
⎩ ⎝ ⎝ d ⎠⎠ ⎭
ε c β1
ϕu = …………………… [3]
a

AS f y − A' s f y
Fig 2. Test set-up a= …………………… [4]
4 OBSERVATIONS 0.85 f c b
Vertical flexural cracks were observed in the constant-moment ϴϬ
region and final failure occurred due to crushing of the compression ϳϬ
concrete with significant amount of ultimate deflection[2]. When
ϲϬ
maximum load was reached, the concrete cover on the compression zone
ϱϬ
DŽŵĞŶƚ;ŬE͘ŵͿ
ϬйϭͲϱϲ
started to fall for both beams with and without fly ash. Crack formations
ϰϬ ϬйϮͲϱϲ
were marked on the beam at every load interval at the tension steel level.
ϰϬйϭͲϱϲ
It was noticed that the first crack always appeared close to the mid span ϯϬ
ϰϬйϮͲϱϲ
of the beam. The cracks formed on the surface of the beams were mostly ϮϬ
vertical, suggesting flexural failure in beams(fig.3). ϭϬ

Ϭ
Ϭ ϮϬ ϰϬ ϲϬ ƵƌǀĂƚƵƌĞ
ϴϬ ϭϬϬ ϭϮϬ ϭϰϬ

ϴϬ

ϳϬ

ϲϬ
DŽŵĞŶƚ;ŬE͘ŵͿ

ϱϬ ϬйϭͲϮϴ
ϰϬ ϬйϮͲϮϴ

ϯϬ ϰϬйϭͲϮϴ
ϰϬйϮͲϮϴ
ϮϬ

ϭϬ

Ϭ
Ϭ ϮϬ ϰϬ ϲϬ ϴϬ ϭϬϬ ϭϮϬ ϭϰϬ ϭϲϬ
ƵƌǀĂƚƵƌĞ;yϭϬͲϲͿ

Fig 3. Crack formations
5 DUCTILITY
Ductility is the capacity to undergo inelastic deformation and absorb
energy. Several forms of ductility are often considered. These
include curvature, displacement and rotational ductility.
Displacement ductility(μΔ) is the ratio of ultimate (Δu) to first yield
deflection (Δy). Based on idealized moment curvature (M-φ) behavior,
curvature ductility(μφ) is defined as the ratio of maximum curvature (φu)
to curvature at first yield (φy). Similarly, rotational ductility(μθ) is the
ratio of ultimate rotation (θu) to yield rotation (θy)[3].


Fig.4 Moment curvature theorectical Fig.5 Moment curvature experimental

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Moment-Curvature diagrams were generated for all the beams based on Theoretical rotational ductility was arrived from equation shown in fig.6
the concrete strain and steel strain(fig.5). The experimental results and compared with the experimental values.
showed 80-95% of theoretical curvature ductility.
5.2 Displacement ductility ϴϬ
Theoretical displacement ductility was arrived using the following ϳϬ
equations and compared with the experimental values[3]. ϲϬ

DŽŵĞŶƚ;ŬE͘ŵͿ
ϱϬ ϬйͲϭϮϴ
ϰϬ ϬйͲϮϮϴ
ϯϬ ϰϬйͲϭϮϴ
ϮϬ ϰϬйͲϮϮϴ

ϭϬ
⎛ z ⎞
2
z
Δy = ϕy + ϕ y z 2 ⎜ z1 + 2 ⎟
1 Ϭ
………………… [5] Ϭ Ϭ͘ϱ ϭ ϭ͘ϱ Ϯ Ϯ͘ϱ ϯ
3 ⎝ 2⎠ ŶĚZŽƚĂƚŝŽŶ;ĞŐƌĞĞͿ

L p = 0.08 z1 + 0.022d b f y ………………… [6]

2
⎛ z ⎞ ⎛ Lp ⎞
+ ϕ u z 2 ⎜ z1 + 2 ⎟ + (ϕ u − ϕ y )L p ⎜⎜ z1 −
ϴϬ
z
Δu = ϕ y 1
⎟ ϳϬ

3 ⎝ 2⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎟⎠ ϲϬ

DŽŵĞŶƚ;ŬE͘ŵͿ
ϱϬ ϬйͲϭϱϲ
ϰϬ ϬйͲϮϱϲ
…………………. [7]
ϯϬ ϰϬйͲϭϱϲ
Table 2. Performance details of fly ash concrete beams and OPC ϮϬ ϰϬйͲϮϱϲ
concrete beams. ϭϬ
Ϭ
Ϭ Ϭ͘ϱ ϭ ϭ͘ϱ Ϯ Ϯ͘ϱ
BeamID Deflection Max. Displacement
/testing at yield deflection ductility ŶĚZŽƚĂƚŝŽŶ;ĞŐƌĞĞͿ

day (mm) (mm)

CB0% -28 4.8 20.0 4.17

CB0% -28 5.4 27.5 5.09
CB40% -28 5.0 20.6 4.12
CB40%-28 5.8 25.2 4.35
CB0% -56 4.6 24.6 5.34
CB0%-56 3.5 22.0 6.28
CB40% -56 6.2 28.6 4.61
CB40% -56 4.9 21.7 4.43
CB50% -28 5.0 19.3 3.86
CB50% -28 5.0 22.2 4.44
CB50% -56 5.0 21.6 4.32
CB50% -56 4.0 20.5 5.13
CB50% -75 4.3 27.0 6.30

The experimental results showed 80-100% of theoretical

displacement ductility.
5.3 Rotation ductility

Fig.7 Moment rotation experimental

The experimental results showed 70-90% of theoretical rotational

ductility.
5.4 Comparison of different types of experimental ductility
factors
Comparison of different measures of ductility was made with the
experimental results. It is seen from fig.8 that the behaviour of beams
with and without flyash are similar and within -10% to +10% range of
each other. Curvature ductility is the measure of the cross section ,hence
it is seen as significant than other two measures of ductility. In general
Fig.6 Yield & Ultimate rotation theoretical

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high ductility ratios indicate that a structural member is capable of • The reinforced concrete beams cast with high volume flyash
undergoing large deflections prior to failure. as designed in the experiment are capable of under going large
deflections prior to failure .Thus indicating that the flyash
concrete reinforced beams can be considered for structural
members subjected to large displacement such as sudden
7.0 forces caused by earthquake.
6.0 REFERENCES
Ductility factor

5.0
μφ [1] Effect of Replacement of Cement with FA on the Strength and Durability
4.0
μΔ Characteristics of HPC, Indian Concrete Journal,2011, p. 335-341.
3.0 Gopalakrishnan S, Rajamane NP, Neelamegam M, Annie Peter J, Dattatrya
2.0 μθ
JK.
1.0 [2] Assessment of High-Volume Replacement Fly Ash Concrete-Concept of
0.0 Performance Index, Construction and Building Materials, 2012. Obada
CB0% 28

CB40% 28

CB50% 28

CB0% 56

CB40% 56

CB50% 56
Kayali, Sharfuddin Ahmed M.
[3] Ductility of High Strength Concrete Heavily Steel Reinforced Members,
A.A. Maghsoudi1 and Y. Shari, Transaction A: Civil Engineering Vol. 16,
Mix designations No. 4, pp. 297{307c Sharif University of Technology, August 2009.
[4] Reinfoced concrete design ,S.Unnikrishna Pillai,Devdas Menon.
[5] Earthqauke resistant structures,Andreas Kappos,G.G.Peneles.
Fig.8 Comparison of different ductilities

6 CONCLUSION

Total of twelve reinforced beams specimens were tested under two point
loading and following inferences were made.
• Vertical flexural cracks were observed in the constant-
moment region and final failure occurred due to crushing of
the compression concrete with significant amount of ultimate
deflection.
• The cracks formed on the surface of the beams were mostly
vertical, suggesting flexural failure in beams
• The ductility factors ie. Curvature,displacement and rotational
of beams with and without flyash are similar and within -10%
to +10% range of each other.
• The experimental and theoretical ductility factors are very
close to each other.

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Investigations on Elastic Behaviour of

Corrugated Plates
Lathi Karthi, C.G.Nandakumar
Abstract— The high inherent stiffness of corrugated profile along with high, strength to weight ratio, makes the corrugated plates a
versatile construction material in marine structures, girders, decking, sheet piling, roofing, wall cladding and even as blast walls on offshore
installations. Corrugated plates undergo bending due to transverse loading and buckling due to inplane compressive loads. Very few research
publications are available in the strength prediction of corrugated plates under different load combinations and various boundary conditions.
In many of the studies, the corrugated plates are approximated as orthotropic plates of uniform thickness but differ in the elastic properties
along the two perpendicular directions. A parametric study on the strength of corrugated plates with varyinyg parameters viz., thickness,
angle of corrugation and aspect ratio for various boundary conditions have been carried out using linear elastic analyses. Equations for
maximum principal stress and maximum deflection for corrugated sheets subjected to various loadings with simply supported boundary
condition are made available in non dimensional parameters based on the multivariable regression method.

Index Terms— Angle of corrugation, aspect ratio, corrugated plates, lateral loading, linear elastic analyses, maximum principal stress,
parametric study.
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION 2 ORTHOTROPIC PLATE MODEL

C
orrugated plates are used in the field of civil
engineering, architecture, marine transportation,
container body, sheet piling, web plates in bridge
girders etc. They are found in decking, roofing and sandwich
plate structures.These are light, easy to form and can provide
higher load carrying capacity than flat plates. They are shaped
into alternate ridges and grooves.
Corrugated plates are plates with inbuilt stiffness. Their
higher depth due to the corrugations attribute to higher
structural rigidity. The structural orthotropy of corrugated
plates is due to their geometric configuration unlike the
sandwich plate where it is due to the material. Corrugated
plates have higher stiffness to weight ratio and high strength
to weight ratio. For a high performance structure, corrugated
plates can be recommended because of the above special
structural features and/properties and low fabrication cost.
This paper presents the the parametric investigation into the
linear elastic ehavior of corrugated plates with trapezoidal
profile under variations in thickness, depth of corrugation
and angle of corrugation,when they are subjected to various
loadings with different boundary conditions.
The stress analyses are done with the help of the software
ANSYS, a finite element software, used extensively for
linear and nonlinear analysis in the field of research. The
validation of the analysis for corrugated plates using the
software ANSYS was done with the results published in the
research paper of Liew et al6].
————————————————
• Lathi Karthi, Research Scholar, Department of Ship
Technology, Cochin University of Science and Technology,
Kochi682022, India. E-mail: lathikarthi@cusat.ac.in
• C.G. Nanadakumar, Associate Professor, Department of
Ship Technology, Cochin University of Science and
Technology, Kochi,682022, India. E-mail:
nandu@cusat.ac.in
ICICE-2013
Corrugated plates have different flexural characteristics
along the two perpendicular directions. The theoretical
analysis of corrugated plate is based on the assumption that
it can be analysed as an equivalent thin orthotropic plate of
uniform thickness. The governing differential equation[13]
for orthotropic plates of thickness ‘h’ with E, G and õ as the
Young’s modulus, shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio
respectively, is
(1)
Where,
The number of elements and calculation time can be reduced
by modeling the corrugated plate as two dimensional
orthotropic plates. Samanta and Mukhopadhyay [10],
Brassoulis [2], and Liew et al [6] have analytically derived
extensional and flexural rigidities of corrugated plates.
Classical Equations
In corrugated plate analysis, Seydel’s formula available
with[1], [4] is considered to be classical expressions.
Briassoulis[2], Easley[3], and Lau[4] have later modified
these formulae after comparing the computation results from
the expressions and precise analysis. Samanta [10],
Briassoulis[2] derived new and more precise expressions
for the extensional rigidity of trapezoidally corrugated plates.
Many of the past studies reveal that the effect of transverse
shear causes errors in the results.
Various equations involved in the analysis of trapezoidally
corrugated plates subjected to different kinds of loads are
given elsewhere [5],[7],[8],[9].
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3 LINEAR ELASTIC ANALYSIS 3.3 Modeling and Meshing

3.1 Selection of Model
The profile of the model selected for the study is trapezoidal
and the dimensions are adopted from commercially available
plates. The geometry of the corrugated plate is given in fig.
1. The variations in the parameters adopted for the numerical
analysis are tabulated in Table 1.
Three dimensional static linear analysis for the corrugated
plate is performed using ANSYS. ANSYS is a general
purpose finite element program for static, dynamic as well
as multiphysics analyses and includes a number of shell
elements with corner nodes only and with corner and mid-
side nodes. An 8-node rectangular SHELL93 element[14]
with six degrees of freedom at each node, i.e., translation in
x, y and z directions and rotations about x, y and z axes as
shown in fig 2, is employed for the analysis. The deformation
shapes are quadratic in both in-plane directions. Shell 93
has the advantage that it can follow a curved surface.

L length of plate parallel to corrugation

W breadth of the plate
(a) Plan

Fig. 2. Details of a 8 nodded shell 93 element[14]

Linear elastic analyses for deflection and maximum principal
stress are done for 256 models as per the numerical values
a, c width of flange and web, s width of unit corrugation given in table 1.
h, t height and thickness, l length of unit corrugation 3.4 Analyses
(b) Details of Corrugation For the lateral loading of the trapezoidally corrugated plate,
Fig. 1. Profile of the corrugated plate a uniformly distributed load of 0.05MPa is considered. Fig.
3 and Fig. 4 show typical model and response for the analysis
TABLE 1 done for the lateral load case.
VARIATIONS IN THE PARAMETERS
For inplane loading, the boundary condition for the
Length (L) 1219 mm corrugated edge is kept as simply supported. A uniform
Thickness of Plate (t) 4 mm, 5 mm, 5.5 mm & 6 mm pressure of 500MPa is applied on the corrugated edge.
Angle of Inclination (è) 45p , 50p , 55p & 60p
Height (h) (mm) 63.50 , 76.20 , 88.90 & 101.60
Flange (a) (mm) 63.50, 76.20 , 88.90 & 101.60
The non dimensional parameters taken for the analysis are
(0.9<á<1.6), where á=(L/W)
(1.2<â<1.7), where â=(l/b)
(10.5<ã<25.5) where ã=(h/t)
and tanè (1< tanè < 1.7).
3.2 Type of Loading and Boundary Conditions.
Two types of loadings viz. lateral loading and inplane loading
are considered for the analyses. Each load case is analysed
separately, for different boundary conditions.
For each load case, two different boundary conditions are
adopted. In one case all the edges are considered simply
supported and in the other case, the straight edges are kept
clamped and the other two edges are kept simply supported. Fig. 3. FE Model of corrugated sheet with lateral loading
128 ICICE-2013
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Fig. 4. Transverse displacement for lateral loading
4 PARAMETRIC RESULTS
4.1 Formulation of Regression Equation
A fitted linear regression model can be used to identify the
relationship between a single predictor variable xj and the
response variable when all the other predictor variables in
the model are “held fixed”[11]. Each of the four independent
variables is separately analysed with the response variable.
The regression analysis was done by using the software
SPSS.
The new formulae for predicting the deflection and stress
are derived by using multi variable regression model. The
general form of the multi variable regression equations for
deflection and maximum principal stress are taken as given
in equations (2) and (3).(YS is the yield stress taken as
250MPa).
(2)
(3)
a) Lateral Loading.
The four independent variables are separately analysed with
the response variable viz. maximum deflection, ‘w’ and
maximum principal stress, ‘MPS’. Based on the regression
analysis, the coefficients of the nondimensional parameters are
substituted in the proposed equations of deflection and MPS
as given in equations (4) and (5).
(4)
(5)
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9th and 10th of May 2013
Values of deflection calculated using the formula is compared
with the values obtained from FEM and the results are plotted
as shown in the graph below. (Fig. 5.)
Fig. 5. Predicted Value vs. FEM value for deflection
The multiple coefficient of determination R2 can represent
how well a multiple regression model fits a set of data.. R2
=0 indicates a complete lack of fit of the model to the data
and R2 =1 implies a perfect fit of the model. In the analysis
for deflection, the value of R2 is 0.94 implying that the
proposed regression model fits well into the set of data.
b) Inplane Loading.
Since the nondimensional parameters chosen for the
corrugated plate is same for both the loadings, the proposed
multi variable equations for maximum deflection and
maximum principal stress are same as equations (2) and (3)
for inplane loading also. The equations obtained by
substituting the values of the coefficients of different
nondimensional parameters got from the regression analysis
for maximum deflection and MPS can be represented as
given in equations (6) and (7).
(6)
(7)
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9th and 10th of May 2013
Fig. 6. Predicted Value Vs FEM value for MPS
Values of MPS calculated using the formula is compared
with the values obtained from FEM and the results are plotted
as shown in the graph below (Fig. 6.). In the analysis for
MPS the value of R2 is 0.96, indicating that the multiple
regression model fits well into the set of data.
5 CONCLUSION
Parametric equations developed herein can be used for
determining the static response viz., maximum deflection and
longitudinal bending stress of trapezoidally corrugated plate
with simply supported edges and inplane as well as normal
loading.
REFERENCES
[1] Biegus A., Czepizak D. “Experimental investigations on
combined resistance of corrugated sheets with strengthened
cross-sections under bending and concentrated load.” Thin-
Walled Structures 2008 46: 303–309
130
[2] Brissoulis D. “Equivqlent Orthotropic properties of corrugated
sheets.” Computers and structures1986. 23 129-138.
[3] Easely T J .” Buckling formulas for corrugated metal
diaphragms.” J of Struct Div. ASCE 1975: 1403-17
[4] Lau S C W, Hancock G J.” Buckling of thin walled structures
by a spline finite strip method.” Thin Walled Structures
1986.269-94.
[5] Lathi Karthi, C.G.Nandakumar. “Linear Elastic Analysis of
Corrugated Sheets.” Proceedings of International Conference
on Recent Innovations in Technology ICRIT2012. 57-60
[6] Liew K.M., Peng L.X., Kitipornchai S.” Non –linear analysis
of corrugated plates using FSDT(first order shear deformation
theory) and a mesh free method.” Comput. Methods Appl.
Mech. Engg.2006. 196: 2358–2376.
[7] Nordstrand T.”On buckling loads for edge-loaded orthotropic
plates including transverse shear.” Composite Structures 2004.
65: 1–6 1963, pp. 271–350.
[8] Paik.J.K., ThayamballilA.k., Chun M.S.” Theoritical an
Experimental Study on the Ultimate Strength of corrugated
bulkheads.” Journal of Ship Research1997. 41: 301–317
[9] Sun H., Spencer J. “Buckling strength assessment of
corrugated panels in offshore structures.” Marine Structures
2005. 18: 548–565
[10] Samanta A and Mukopadhyay.” Finite Element static and
dynamic analysis of folded plates.” Engineering
Structures1999. 21: 277-287
[11] Montgomery D C, Elizabeth A Peck, Vining G G.” Introduction
to Linear Regression Analysis”, 3rd ed. John Wiley & Sons,
Inc;2001
[12] Shanmugham N.E, Woinowsky-Krieger.S. “Analysis and
design of plated structures”, 1st ed. Cambridge, England:
Woodhead Publishing Ltd; 2006
[13] Timoshenko S.P, Wang C.M. “Theory of Plates and Shells”,
2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co; 1959
[14] Shell93, Element Reference, ANSYS 12.1 Documentation
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Strength Parameters Of Self Compacting

Concrete With Partial Replacement Of
Cement By Rice Husk Ash And Natural Sand
By Filtered Sand
Praveen.G.Suryavanshi, Dr. B. P. Annapurna, Dr. K Chethan, Manjunath N.K, Chandrashekar H.S
Abstract - This paper presents an experimental study on the strength parameters of SCC with Rice Husk Ash (RHA) and filtered sand (FS)
as a partial replacement for cement and sand respectively in SCC of M70 grade, termed as RHA-FS SCC. The cement has been replaced by
RHA in four different levels of 5%, 10%, 15% & 20%, and FS in four different levels of 25%, 50%, 75% & 100%. Strength parameters of
Compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strengths of RHA-FS SCC are tested for 28 days & 56 days curing periods.
Strength parameters of RHA-FS SCC are compared with Conventional SCC, it is found that SCC with Filtered Sand (FS) for the replacement
of sand in proportion of 50:50 along with Rice Husk Ash (5%, 10%, 15% & 20%) had more strength than the other proportions of FS &
RHA.

Keyword: Conventional Self compacting concrete(C-SCC), Filtered Sand (FS), High Range Water Reducing Agent (HRWR), Natural
Sand (NS), Rice Husk Ash (RHA), Rice Husk Ash-Filtered Sand-Self Compacting Concrete(RHA-FS-SCC), Self Compacting Concrete
(SCC), Viscosity Modifying Agent (VMA)
——————————  ——————————

1. INTRODUCTION engineers. River sand which is used as fine aggregate is

becoming very scarce, sand mining is discouraged to save

O
ne major challenge facing the civil engineering
community is to execute projects in harmony with
nature using the concept of sustainable development.
This calls for use of high performance environment-friendly
and economical construction materials. In the context of
concrete, this is the most predominant building material.
Concrete is a composite material which is made of filler and
a binder. However, there is a limit to the fluid behaviour of
normal fresh concrete. Thorough compaction, using
vibration, is normally essential for achieving workability.
Inadequate compaction of concrete results in large number
of voids, affecting performance and long term durability of
structures. Self-compacting concrete (SCC) provides a
solution to these problems. Concrete that is capable of
compaction under its own weight and can occupy all the
spaces in the forms, which self-levels, does not segregate
and does not entrap air is termed as self-compacting concrete
(SCC).
The main components of concrete are cement, sand & coarse
aggregate. The production of cement adds pollution to the
environment is a well-known fact to civil
————————————————
• Praveen.G.Suryavanshi P.G student, U.V.C.E Bangalore Univer-
sity, Bangalore, India. E-mail: pgsuryavanshi@gmail.com
• Dr.B.P. Annapurna Assistant U.V.C.E Bangalore University,
Bangalore, India. PH-944855826. E-mail:
annapurna_bpuvce@rediffmail.com
• Dr.K Chethan Assistant U.V.C.E Bangalore University, Banga-
lore, India. E-mail: k.chethu@gmail.com
• Manjunath N.K P.G student, U.V.C.E Bangalore University,
Bangalore, India. E-mail: manjugagana@gmail.com
• Chandrashekar H.S P.G student, U.V.C.E Bangalore University,
Bangalore, India. E-mail: chandramandya@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
the rivers of our country. Because of these environmental
and economic reasons it requires thinking about the use of
industrial wastes as alternative materials in concrete
production, which not only reduce the cost of production of
concrete but also controls the pollution relatively.
Rice plant is one of the plants that absorbs silica from the
soil and assimilates it into its structure during the growth
(Smith et al., 1986). Rice husk is the outer covering of the
grain of rice plant with a high concentration of silica,
generally more than 80-85%
Surface soils from tank beds, agricultural fields and village
common lands have been excavated and washed to produce
a kind of artificial sand in order to meet the enormous
demand known as filtered sand. Only source materials with
suitable strength, durability and shape characteristics should
be considered.
Therefore the utilization of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) & Filtered
Sand (FS) in concrete for the replacement of cement & sand
is environmentally and economically advantageous.
This paper analyses the effect of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) &
Filtered Sand (FS), in SCC by partial replacement of cement
and sand on compressive strength, split tensile strength and
flexural strength of SCC.
2. TESTING OF SCC
It is important to mention that none of the test methods for
SCC have yet been standardized and included in Indian
Standard Code for the present. The following are some of
the features of SCC mentioned in Indian standard code
IS456-2000.
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1. Slump flow: minimum 600mm. Filtered sand (FS): Filtered Sand obtained from Harohalli
(Ramanagar), Karnataka state. This is an extracted sand from
2. Sufficient amount of fines (<12.5mm) preferably in the
the agricultural soil which consists of silt content more than
range of 400kg/m3 to 600kg/m3.This can be achieved
the IS specification, this will affect the strength of concrete.
by having sand content more than 38% and using
The amount of silt content in the present filtered sand is
mineral admixture to the order of 25% to 50% by mass
investigated by using Hydrometer test as described in IS:
of cementitious materials.
2720(part 4) -1985. The silt content of FS for 100%, 75%,
3. Use of high range water reducing (HRWR) admixture 50% and 25% by weight of Natural sand are of 49.87%,
and viscosity modifying agent {VMA) in appropriate 42.5%, 28.8% and 14.3% respectively. The physical
dosages are permitted. properties for different replacement levels of NS by FS are
presented in Table 1.
European guidelines for testing, covers number of parameters
ranging from material selection, mixture design and testing TABLE 1: Physical properties of Natural sand &
methods liked slump flow test, L-box test and V-funnel test Filtered sand
as recommended by EFNARC3 for determining properties
of SCC in fresh state. Most of Indian researchers are
following these guidelines to determine the rheological
properties of SCC mixes.
3. TESTING METHODS OF SCC
Different methods have been developed to characterize the
rheological properties of SCC. No single method has been
found until date, which characterizes all the relevant
workability aspects. Each mix has been tested by more than
one test method for the different workability parameters.
Following are the tests recommended by European
guidelines.
A. Slump flow test- The slump flow test is used to assess
the horizontal flow of SCC in the absence of
obstructions. The test also indicates resistance to Rice Husk Ash (RHA): Rice husk ash was collected from
segregation. On lifting the slump cone, filled with the rice mill from Maddur (Mandya dist, Karnataka state).
concrete the average diameter of spread of the The chemical properties of Rice husk ash tested from CIVIL
concrete is measured. It indicates the filling ability AID are tabulated in Table 2. It is found that the presence of
of the concrete. SiO2 is higher than 90%, it is highly silicious in nature.

B. V-funnel test- The flowability of the test fresh TABLE 2: Chemical characteristics of RHA
concrete can be tested with the V-funnel test, where
by the flow time is measured. The funnel is filled with
about 22kgs of concrete and the time taken for it to
flow through the apparatus is measured. Shorter flow
time indicate greater flowability.
C. L-Box test- This is a widely used test, suitable for
laboratory and site use. It accesses filling and passing
ability of SCC and serious lack of suitability can be
detected visually. The vertical section of the L-box is
filled with concrete, and then the gate is lifted to let
the concrete flow into the horizontal section. Blocking
ratio,it indicates passing ability of concrete or the
dosage to which the passage of concrete through the
bars is restricted.
4. MATERIALS
The materials used in this investigation are:
Cement: OPC Birla Super 53 grade cement with specific
gravity of 3.12. Coarse aggregate: The granite metal jelly of 12.5mm down
size with fineness modulus -6.54 and specific gravity-2.65.
Fine aggregate:
Admixture: Glenium 6100 has been used to maintain the
i) Natural sand(NS) : River sand from Malavalli taluk, workability of the concrete without increasing the water
Mandya district, Karnataka state. Its physical properties cement ratio. The dosage of superplasticizer was fixed based
are: Fineness Modulus -2.855, Specific Gravity-2.62, on the Marsh Cone method and the dosage is restricted to
Water absorption-1.0% and conforms to Zone-II as per 0.8% of the cementations content.
IS specifications.
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5. EXPERIMENTAL WORK
In this experimental work, a total of 378 numbers of concrete
specimens were casted. The specimens considered in this
study consisted of 126numbers of 150mm size cubes for
compressive strength test, 126 numbers of 150mm dia and
300mm long cylinders for split tensile test and 126 numbers
of 100mmx100mmx500mm for flexural test. The mix design
of concrete to achieve high strength SCC of grade M70 was
done according to OKAMURA (Japanese) METHOD7,8 .
The water cement ratio of 0.32 was kept constant.
Based on the quantities of ingredients of the mixes , the
quantities of RHA has been partially replaced in proportion
of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% and FS by 25%, 50%, 75% and
100% by weight of cement and sand respectively. The
ingredients were thoroughly mixed in mixer machine by
adding 0.8 % of the admixture till uniform consistency was
achieved and the concrete was tested for the workability as
per EFNARC guidelines, slump test, V-funnel test & L-box
tests are being carried out to determine the properties of
SCC in fresh state. Then the concrete was poured into the
moulds without any compaction or vibration, allowing the
concrete to get self compacted. The top surface was finished
by means of trowel. The specimens were removed from the
mould after 24 hrs and cured for 28days and 56days. The
test for compressive , split tensile and flexural strengths were
conducted using 2000kN compression testing machine on
both 28days and 56 days cured specimens , as per IS
specification.
The concrete with partial replacement of cement and sand
by RHA and FS has been termed as RHA-FS-SCC and the
concrete without RHA or FS has been termed as C-SCC.
The properties of RHA-FS-SCC of fresh state and hardened
state were compared with the properties of C-SCC.
6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The results of workability tests and strength tests are shown
in table 3 and 4. Comparison of compressive strength of
RHA-FS-SCC of different percentages of RHA and FS with
C-SCC are presented in Fig.1. The comparison of typical
split tensile strength and flexural strength of RHA-FS-SCC
of 5% RHA with C-SCC are shown in Fig. 2a & 2b
respectively.
Workability
Workability test for SCC can be broadly split into three
categories: Filling ability test, passing ability test and
segregation resistant test. Each test i.e slump flow test, T-
500time test, V-tunnel test and L-box tests fits into one or
more of these categories.
Slump Flow Test: The flowability has been measured by
using slump cone test. The slump value reduced with the
increases in the percentage of RHA. The slump value of
RHA-FS-SCC with 0% FS and different levels of RHA of
5%, 10%, 15% &20% compared to C-SCC of 768mm
reduced to 760mm, 690mm, 686mm & 680mm respectively.
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The addition of FS along with RHA further reduced the
slump. For a typical 5% RHA and FS varying from 0 to 100%
the slump value varied from 768mm to 694mm(Table 3).
However, the slump values are within the EFNARC
guidelines of 800mm to 650mm.
T-500time: It is an indication of rate of spread of concrete.
Lower time indicates greater flowability. T-500time increased
with the increase in percentage of RHA & FS(Table 3). The
T-500time for 5 to 20% RHA along with different levels of
FS are within the EFNARC guidelines (EFNARC guideline-
2sec to 5sec).
V-Funnel Test: It is used to assess the viscosity and filling
ability of SCC. If SCC shows segregation then the flow time
increases significantly. According to EFNARC values the
flow of V-Funnel test should be between 8 & 12sec. The
flow time of RHA-FS-SCC with different levels of RHA
and FS varies between 8.54 to 10.83sec which are within
the EFNARC values(Table 3), though the flow time of RHA-
FS-SCC compared to C-SCC are higher.
Passing Ability: This test is conducted to assess the flow
of concrete and also the extent to which the concrete is
subjected to blocking by the reinforcement. According to
EFNARC an acceptable H2/H ratio should be between 0.8
to 1. The H2/H1 ratio of RHA-FS-SCC with different levels
of RHA and FS varies between 0.84 to 0.925. Which are
within the EFNARC values(Table 3). The H2/H1 ratio of C-
SCC is 0.945.
Hardened Properties
The SCC with RHA starts attaining its significant
strength(Compressive, Split tensile & Flexural strength) only
after 28days unlike C-SCC(Table 4 and fig1 & 2).
Compressive Strength: The partial replacement of cement
by RHA reduced the compressive strength of RHA-FS-SCC,
for 5%, 10%, 15% &20% RHA with 0% FS compared to C-
SCC the compressive strength reduced by 8.17%, 15.24%,
32.52% & 42.59% respectively(Table 4). Further reduction
in compressive strength was observed with the partial
replacement of natural sand by FS(Fig1). For replacement
of 5%,10%,15% & 20% RHA with replacement of 50% FS
the compressive strength was higher than the other
replacement levels of FS(25%,75% & 100%)(Fig2). The
compressive strength of A2 to D2 mixes of RHA-FS SCC
(50% FS with 5%, 10%, 15% & 20% of RHA) were higher
by 3.35% to 3.60% compared to A1 to D1 Mixes (25% of
FS) of RHA-FS SCC. The compressive strength of RHA-FS
SCC with replacement levels of 20% RHA & 100% FS (D4
Mix) was 46.46% of C.SCC.
Split Tensile Strength and Flexural Strength: The
variations of split tensile and flexural strengths of RHA-
FS-SCC with different levels of RHA & FS were similar to
the variations of compressive strength (Table 4 and Fig 2a
& 2b).
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6. CONCLUSIONS
Based on the experimentation, following conclusions are
drawn:
1) Presence of RHA in SCC along with FS the required
strength of SCC was obtained after 56 days of
curing.The presence of RHA reduced the slump, with
the increase in quantity of RHA in SCCs the reduction
in slump also increased. The addition of FS along with
RHA further reduced the slump
2) The increase of RHA affected the consistency of flow
of SCC. The presence of FS along with RHA further
reduced the consistency of flow.
3) In RHA-FS SCC the replacement of FS in any
percentage (i.e.25%, 50%, 75% & 100%) influenced
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in reduction of strength of hardened properties of
concrete (compressive strength, split tensile strength
& flexural strength).This may be due to the presence
of silt content in the FS
4) Of the all percentage replacement of FS in RHA-FS
SCC the 50% proportions with any percentage of RHA
(5%, 10%, 15% & 20%) has higher strength
(compressive strength, split tensile strength & flexural
strength) than all other proportions of FS.
5) 5% RHA to 20% RHA with 0% FS achieves the strength
of M 65 grade to M 35 grade. Whereas for 5% RHA
to 20% RHA with 100% FS achieves the strength M
50 grade to M 30.However for 5% RHA to 20% RHA
with 50% FS achieves the strength M 60 grade to M 40
grade.
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REFERENCES
[1] D.V. Reddy, Marcelina Alvarez ,”Marine Durability
Characteristics of Rice Husk Ash-Modified Reinforced
Concrete” “Breaking Frontiers and Barriers in
Engineering: Education, Research and Practice” 21-23
(June 2006).
[2] Zhengwu Jiang1,*, Shilong Mei 2, “Properties of Self-
Compacting Concrete with Machine-Made Sand and
High-Volume Mineral Admixtures”, The Open
Construction and Building Technology Journal, 2, 96-
102 (2008).
[3] Dr. Hemant Sood1, “Incorporating European Standards
for Testing Self Compacting Concrete in Indian
Conditions” International Journal of Recent Trends in
Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 6, (May 2009).
[4] Mohd Fakri Bin Muda, “The Properties and Flexural
Behaviour of Self Compacting Concrete Using Rice
136
Husk Ash and Admixture” A project report
(NOVEMBER 2009).
[5] Alireza Naji Givi 1, Suraya Abdul Rashid 2, Farah Nora
A. Aziz 3, Mohamad Amran Mohd Salleh 2
“Contribution of Rice Husk Ash to the Properties of
Mortar and Concrete:A Review”, Journal of American
Science;6(3)(2010).
[6] Md. Harunur Rashid 1, S. M. Kamal Uddin2, and Sobura
khatun3, “The Influence of RHA on the Mechanical
Properties of Mortar Heated Up To High Temperature”
, World Academy of Science, Engineering and
Technology 67 (2010).
[7] Mixture Proportioning procedure for Self-compacting
concrete, The Indian Concrete Journal,Aug 2004.
[8] OKAMURA H., Ozawa, Kand Ouchi, M. self
compacting concrete, structural concrete, March 2001,
No.1,pp.5.17
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Response of a 3-Dimensional 2 X 3 Bays Ten Storey

RC Frame with Steel Bracings as Lateral Load
Resisting Systems Subjected To Seismic Load
Venkatesh S.V., Sharada Bai H., Divya S.P.
Abstract— A natural hazard like Earthquake causes damage to or collapse of buildings if not designed for lateral loads resulting due to
Earthquake. Hence for seismic resistance for high rise structures it is important to provide exclusive Lateral Load Resisting System (LLRS)
which will supplement the behavior of moment resisting frames in resisting the lateral load. Some of the LLRS commonly used are shear
walls, infill frames and steel bracings. In the present study, an attempt is made to study the difference in structural behavior of 3-
dimensional (3D) two-bays - three-bays, 10 storey basic moment resisting RC frames when provided with steel bracings as LLRS. The
detailed investigations are carried out for zone V of Seismic zone of India, considering primary loads and their combinations. Three models
are analyzed consisting of one basic moment resisting RC frame and other two include basic moment resisting RC frame with external and
internal steel bracings. The results obtained from the linear dynamic analysis are thoroughly investigated for maximum values of joint
displacements, support reactions, beam forces and forces in steel bracings. The results indicate better resistance to lateral load of the frames
in the presence of steel bracings.

Index Terms—Earthquake, Lateral loads, LLRS, RC frame, Retrofit, RSM, Steel bracings.
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION 3 METHOD OF ANALYSIS

The present study undertaken deals with Linear Dynamic

E
arthquakes are perhaps the most unpredictable and
devastating of all natural disasters. They not only analysis i.e Response Spectrum Method.
cause great destruction in terms of human causalities,
3.1 Modeling of the Structure
but also have a tremendous economic impact on the affected
area. Many existing buildings lack the seismic strength and For the present 3D study STAAD.Pro software package is
detailing requirements as per Indian standard codes of used.
practice at present and thus need to upgrade if the structure
was initially not designed and constructed to resist an 4 DETAILS OF THE PROBLEM CHOSEN
earthquake i.e. designed only for gravity loads but still has The details and dimensions of the frames and structural
not undergone failure. For structures, which have undergone elements considered in the present study are given below.
failure due to earthquake, it is essential to retrofit for future
use. 4.1 Plan and Height of the Frames
2 PRESENT INVESTIGATION The plan consists of two bays of span 7.5 m along X
direction, three bays of span 3.0 m each along Z direction.
Depending upon the local guidelines and for commercial The typical Ten-Storey building has each storey height of
purpose 10 storey buildings are common in practice .Thus, 3.0 m along Y direction.
the present investigation is concerned with detailed 3D study
of results of analysis of a ten storey Moment Resisting Frame 4.2 Beam Cross-Sections Plinth Beam Size Floor Beam Size
having two bays along X and three bays along Z provided
B1 (Primary) (Z x Y) 300mm X 450mm 300mm X 750mm
with steel bracings as Lateral Load Resisting Systems
B2 (Secondary) (X x Y) 300mm X 300mm 300mm X 375mm
(LLRS), in comparison with identical Moment Resisting
Bare Frame (without any special LLRS feature) subjected 4.3 Column Size
to gravity load, seismic load and their combinations. Two
types of steel bracings, External and Internal are considered Square column: 636mm X 636mm.
in the present investigation. The study is hoped to be helpful 4.4 Steel Section
during retrofitting of such structures which are initially
designed only for gravity loads and found unsafe for seismic ISLC 225
loads and any combination of loads. 4.5 Seismic Zone
————————————————
Zone V as per IS code [1] for which zone factor (Z) is
• Venkatesh S.V is currently an Associate Professor in Faculty of
0.36.
Civil Engineering, PESIT, Bangalore 560 085, India, PH-
09343773569. E-mail: svvenkatesh@pes.edu. 4.6 Types of Primary Loads and Load Combinations
• Sharada Bai H is currently a Professor, Faculty of Engineering -
The structural systems are subjected to three types of
Civil, UVCE, Bangalore University, Bangalore 560 056, India,
PH-09341213638. E-mail: sharadaj29@yahoo.com
Primary Load Cases as per IS code [2], they are:
• Divya S.P. was a former Student in Faculty of Engineering - Civil, 1. Dead Load case (Gravity load), “DL”
Bangalore University, Bangalore 560 056, India, PH-0948022128. 2. Live Load case (Gravity load), “LL”
E-mail: divya.sp24@gmail.com
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3. Seismic (Lateral) Load in X-direction, “ELx” Based on experimental data, the formula for calculating the
4. Seismic (Lateral) Load in Z-direction, “ELz”. length of a cantilever link to ensure that the link yields
In addition, the structural systems are subjected to 13 primarily in shear is
different Load Combinations, they are:
5. 1.5(DL + LL)
6. 1.2(DL + LL +ELx)
Where, and t f are the width and thickness of the flange
7. 1.2(DL + LL - ELx)
8. 1.2(DL + LL +ELz) and tw is the web thickness of a wide flange section link.
09. 1.2(DL + LL - ELz)
10. 1.5(DL + ELx) In the present work, steel bracing section considered is
ISLC225, whose section properties are
11. 1.5(DL - ELx)
12. 1.5(DL + ELz) b f = 90mm , and
13. 1.5(DL - ELz)
14. (0.9DL + 1.5ELx) Therefore,
15. (0.9DL - 1.5ELx)
16. (0.9DL + 1.5ELz) ecrit = 320mm = 0.32m
17. (0.9DL - 1.5ELz)
4.8 Frames considered
The dead load consists of self-weight of structural elements
and masonry wall load of thickness 230 mm (The lateral 4.8.1 Bare frame (Fig.2 and Fig. 3).
load resistance effect of infill wall is not considered for
analysis). The live load considered is as adopted for medium
office, hospital or hostel building i.e. 4 kN/m2 as per IS code
[2]. The Response Spectrum Method of analysis is adopted
for the calculation of the lateral load at each floor level as
per IS code [3]. The lateral loads applied are given in Table1.
Table 1. Joints Load at each storey in kN.
Level Bare Frame/Steel bracing
End- frame Mid-frame
Plinth 26.25 33.75
Floor 79.92 122.34
Terrace 53.97 72.69
4.7 Physical Properties Considered for Present FEA
Density of brick wall = 18.85 kN/m3
Density of R.C.C = 25 kN/m3
Young’s modulus of concrete = 2.17185x107 kN/m2
Poisson’s Ratio of concrete = 0.17 Fig.2 BF – Plan
4.8 Connection details of bracing
The external steel bracings are connected at the junction of
the beam column and the ground. In case of internal steel
bracings, connection at the beam center is through a vertical
steel shear link as shown in Fig. 1, proposed by Ghobarah
A., Abou Elfath H. [1]. This arrangement is considered as
the concrete beams are incapable of performing as a ductile
link for the steel bracing system that is inserted in the frame
bays.

Fig. 1 Connection details of a vertical steel link. Fig.3 BF – 3D

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4.8.2 Frames with External Steel Bracing (ESB), provided at 4.8.3 Frames with Internal Steel Bracing (ISB), provided at
end bays along X and Z directions. External steel bracing is end bays along X and Z directions. (Fig.6 and Fig.7).
provided upto five storeys only due to practical
considerations. (Fig.4 and Fig.5).

5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The results obtained are observed and the maximum
values obtained among all the load cases and load
combinations (L/C) considered are presented in Table 2,
along with the corresponding load case. The Table indicates
the results of frames with both types of LLRS considered
(i.e. ISB and ESB) and for the moment resisting Bare Frame
(BF). The discussions focus on the comparison between the

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two LLRS considered and the basic Bare Frame with respect
to Maximum Joint Displacements, Maximum Support
Reaction, Maximum beams Forces, Maximum axial forces
and axial stresses in steel bracings.
TABLE 2 - Magnitude of the parameters considered and
corresponding Load Case.
5.1 Maximum Joint Displacements
For all the structural systems considered, the maximum joint
displacement is observed at the top storey level (Lateral sway
in X and Z directions) as expected, the Bare Frame (without
any LLRS) undergoes the maximum joint displacement
namely Max X & Max Z.
5.1.1 Effect of load and load combinations
For the structural systems considered, load combinations for
which Max X and Max Z occur are load case 10 or 11 i.e.
1.5(DL ± ELx) and 12 or 13 i.e. 1.5(DL ± ELz) respectively.
5.1.2 Effect of LLRS
The value of Max X reduces by 21% to 94% in ESB and
ISB respectively when compared with bare frame .The values
of Max Z reduce by 30% in ESB and 91% in ISB respectively
when compared with the bare frame .The main objective of
providing LLRS is to control the lateral displacement, which
is observed in case of both the LLRS considered.
5.2 Maximum Support Reactions
5.2.1 Effect of load and load combinations:
The maximum support reaction Fx occurs when seismic load
combination 10 or 11 i.e. 1.5 (DL ± Elx) is applied, except
in case of ISB where it occurs when load case 5 i.e
1.5(DL+LL) is applied. The Maximum Support reaction Fy
occurs when non-seismic load case 5 i.e 1.5(DL+LL) is
applied. The maximum support reaction Fz and maximum
support moment Mx occurs when seismic load combination
12 or 13 i.e. 1.5 (DL ± Elz) is applied. The maximum support
moment Mz occur when load case 10 or 11 i.e. 1.5 (DL +
Elx) is applied respectively.
5.2.2 Effect of LLRS:
The maximum support reactions Fx and Fz increase by 129%
and 178% in case of ESB and reduce by 45% and 75%
respectively in ISB. The maximum support reaction Mx
reduces by 69% and 90% for ESB and ISB respectively. Also
the maximum support reaction Mz reduces by 53% and 76%
respectively for frames with LLRS considered.
140
5.3 Maximum Forces in Beams
Generally the maximum beam forces Fx, Fy, Mx and Mz
occur in seismic load combinations.
The greatest value of the maximum Shear force Fy, Torsion
moment Mx and Bending moment Mz in beams, of all the
structural systems considered, occur in bare frame.
Comparing the frames with LLRS with bare frame, the
maximum axial force Fx increases. The maximum shear force
Fy, moment Mx and Mz decrease for all LLRS considered.
5.4 Forces in Steel Bracings
The forces considered are maximum Axial Force and Axial
Stress in Steel Bracings.
The maximum Axial force and axial stress for ESB and ISB
occur when load case 12 i.e. 1.5(DL+ELz) is applied. The
maximum axial stress values as given in Table 2 in ESB and
ISB are less than the permissible stresses in steel as
applicable.
6 CONCLUSIONS
It is necessary to consider gravity and seismic loads as well
as all the load combinations during analysis of the structure.
Provision of both ESB and ISB effectively reduce large joint
displacements found in bare frame. The best performing
LLRS among the two LLRS considered is ISB as all the
parameters considered reduce in this case when compared
with bare frame. When these LLRS considered in the study
are employed in field for upgrading or retrofitting a structure,
it is necessary to ensure proper connections between existing
structure and LLRS provided.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank the Authorities of PESIT and
Bangalore University for their support.
REFERENCES
[1] Ghobarah A, Abou Elfath H “Rehabilitation of a reinforced
concrete frame using eccentric steel bracing”, Engineering
structures Vol.23, 2001, pp. 745 - 755.
[2] IS: 875 – 1987 - Code of Practice for Design Loads (other
than Earthquake) for Buildings and Structures, Part 1: Dead
Loads, Part 2: Imposed Loads, Part 5: Special Loads and
Load Combinations, Bureau of Indian Standards, New
Delhi.
[3] IS: 1893 (Part–1)–2002 - Code of Practice for Criteria for
Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures, Part 1: General
Provisions and Buildings, Bureau of Indian Standards, New
Delhi.
[4] S.V.Venkatesh, H.Sharada Bai, R.Rajeshwari “Effect of
Shear wall and Steel bracing as lateral load resisting system
on a ten storey building”, The Fourth International
Conference on Structural Engineering, Mechanics and
Computation (SEMC 2010), University of Cape Town,
Cape Town, South Africa.
[5] Venkatesh S.V, Sharada Bai H, Divya S.P “Seismic
Analysis of 3-D Building Frame with Masonry Infill and
Steel Bracings as Lateral Load Resisting Systems”, ‘The
5th International Multi-Conference on “Engineering and
Technological Innovation” (IMETI 2012)’, Orlando, USA,
Proceedings Pg. 56 – 64.
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Review of Particle Packing Theories Used For

Concrete Mix Proportioning
Mangulkar M. N., Dr. Jamkar S.S.
Abstract – High performance concrete (HPC) has became more popular in recent years. The various performance attributes of HPC such as
strength, workability, dimensional stability and durability against adverse environmental conditions, can be achieved by rationally
proportioning the ingredients. Various methods have been in use for proportioning HPC mixes. Particle packing theories proposed by
various researchers is an advanced step in this direction. This paper presents a review of these theories.

Index Terms – Angularity, Coarse Aggregate, Concrete Mix Proportioning, Digital Image Processing, Particle packing Theories, Shape,
Surface Texture.
——————————  ——————————

1. INTRODUCTION It is observed that the voids in the most rounded gravel are
about 33%. The fact that mixture proportioning has long

C
oncrete is the widely used construction material. It
is produced by proper proportioning of ingredients
such as cement, water, coarse aggregate and fine
aggregate, so as to satisfy the required characteristics in green
and hardened state. HPC have same constituents as that of
concrete along with one of the following product such as
organic admixture, supplementary cementitious materials,
fibers etc and which are not limited to the final compressive
strength, but include rheological properties, early-age
characteristics, deformability properties and durability
aspects.
Thus the purpose of mix proportioning is to obtain concrete
that will have suitable workability, maximum density,
strength at specified age, dimensional stability and specified
durability. Proportioning of concrete mixes is highly trial
intensive. A purely experimental and empirical optimization
could not give optimum proportion as number of parameters
are involved as input and output as mentioned above. But
the positive aspect is no concrete technology is younger
technology. Huge amount of experimental data and various
mix proportioning methods are available for designing the
concrete. Concrete proportioning is first of all the packing
problem. All existing methods recognize this problem by
suggesting the measurement of the packing parameter of
some component or by approximating an ‘ideal’ grading
curves.
1.1 CONCRETE MIX PROPORTIONING AS PER
VARIOUS CODES
Evolutions in concrete mix proportioning procedures are
taking place since long. Abram’s w/c ratio versus strength
law is a breakthrough step (1918) [1]. Angularity number as
suggested by Shergold [1] is a pioneering work in the
evaluation of aggregate shape using the concept of
percentage of voids. It is determined by subtracting the voids
in the most rounded gravel from the voids present in the
aggregate, when compacted in a specified manner.
————————————————
• Mangulkar M. N. is pursuing PhD in Department of Applied
Mechanics, Govt. College of Engineering, Aurangabad, India.
PH-07588854600, E-mail: mangulkarm@yahoo.com.
• Dr. Jamkar S. S. is an Associate Professor, Department of Applied
Mechanics, Govt. College of Engineering, Aurangabad India.
PH-09423392448, E-mail: ssjamkar@yahoo.com.
ICICE-2013
been more ‘an art than a science’ (Neville, 1995) [1] is
illustrated by the variety of methods encountered worldwide.
Developments in methods of proportioning of concrete
mixes.
1. Dreux 1970, this method is basically of an empirical
nature, which was based upon Caquot’s optimum grading
theory.
2. DOE 1988 (Department of Environment, UK) method,
the method of DOE revised in 1988 has considered water
cement ratio with regard to compressive strength is
clearly the most advanced investigation, but not all
crushed aggregate gives the same contribution to
compressive strength.
3. ACI Committee – 211.1.91 method, this method is
probably one of the most popular worldwide. It is best
mainly on the works of American researches (Abrams
and Powers). The relationship between water/cement
ratio and compressive strength is assumed to be unique.
Hence if the diversities of aggregate nature and cement
strength are cumulated, the compressive strength
obtained for a given water/cement ratio may range from
1 to 2, in relative terms. Therefore, the prediction of
water/cement ratio appears very crude.
4. IS 10262 – 1982, IS 10262 – 2009, many of the criteria
of the method is just like ACI 211 [1].
Various concrete mix proportioning method make the
provision regarding grading and size of aggregate. The
aggregates are broadly classified as angular / rounded,
crushed / uncrushed and accordingly separate values of water
content for desired workability are specified “[2],[3],[4]”.
However the shape and surface texture of aggregate have
significant effect on the property of the concrete produced,
because it is the result of parameters, like type of parent
rock, the forces to which it is subjected during and after its
formation, and design and operation of crushing equipment.
Hence, there is a need for proper quantification of aggregate
for concrete mix proportioning. One major effect is on the
packing density of aggregate which determine the amount
of cement paste needed to fill the voids between the aggregate
particles. Methods have been proposed that deal with the
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minimization of voids or the maximization of the packing
density of aggregates or the dry components of mixtures.
This paper presents a review of these theories.
2. FUNDAMENTALS OF PARTICLE
PACKING THEORIES
The packing of an aggregate for concrete is the degree of
how good the solid particles of the aggregate measured in
terms of ‘packing density’, which is defined as the ratio of
the solid volume of the aggregate particles to the bulk volume
occupied by the aggregate, as given by:
Where :
Vs = volume of solids
Vt = total volume = volume of solids plus volume of voids
e = Voids = volume of voids over total volume to
Fig. 1 Definition of Packing Density
From the packing density ‘voids ratio’, that is the ratio of
the volume of voids between the aggregate particles to the
bulk volume occupied by the aggregate.
Particle packing models are based on the concept that voids
between larger particles would be filled by smaller particles
thereby reducing the volume of voids or increasing the
packing density. Thus the important property regarding
packing of multi particle system is the packing density as
per figure 1.
The packing density of a multiparticle system is of basic
importance in science and industry. Efficient packing in the
making of ceramics has undoubtedly interested mankind for
centuries. More recently, a greater knowledge of packing
would prove useful to the concrete and nuclear power
industries as well as in physics and soil mechanics.
The particle packing models may be categorized as (a)
discrete model (b) continuous model.
2.1 DISCRETE MODEL
The fundamental assumption of the discrete approach is that
each class of particle will pack to its maximum density in
the volume available [5]. The discrete model is classified as
(i) binary (ii) Ternary and (iii) Multimodal mixture model.
2.2 BINARY MIXTURE MODEL
Basic research of packing theory was started by Furnas [6].
His theory was set up for sphere shaped particles and was
142
based on the assumption that the small particles fill out the
cavities between the big particles without disturbing the
packing of the big particles. Furnas considered the ideal
packing of a mixture of two materials. Depending upon the
volume fraction of fine and coarse aggregate, two cases may
be considered
i. The volume fraction of small particle is large (y1>> y2).
This case is called “fine grain dominant”.
ii. The volume fraction of coarse particle is large (y2>>
y1). This case is called “coarse grain dominant”.
This two cases is only possible when d1<< d2 (d1 and d2 being
the particle diameters). If this condition is not fulfilled, the
packing density of the binary mixtures will also depend on
the diameter ratio d1 / d2. When the diameter d1» d2 the
interaction effect occurs. The effect is classified as wall effect
and loosening effect.
Wall effect: - when an isolated coarse particle is in the matrix
of fine aggregates it disturbs the packing density of fine
aggregate. There increased voids around the fine particles
causing wall effect.
Loosening effect: - when a fine particle is in the matrix of
coarse particle and the small particle is too large to fit into
the interstices of the coarse aggregate (d1» d2) it disturbs the
packing density of coarse particles.
Fig. 2 Wall Effect and Loosening Effect
M. Mooney [7] Einstein’s viscosity equation for an infinitely
dilute suspension of spheres is extended is apply to a
suspension of finite concentration. The argument makes use
of a functional equation which must be satisfied, if the final
viscosity is independent of stepwise sequence additions of
partial volume fractions of the spheres to the suspension.
For a monodisperse system the solution of the functional
⎛ 2.5φ ⎞
equation isηr = exp ⎜ ⎟ where hr is the relative viscosity,
⎝ 1 − kφ ⎠
f the volume fraction of the suspended spheres, and k is a
constant, the self-crowding factor, predicted only
approximately by the theory. The solution for a polydisperse
system involves a variable factor, lij, which measures the
crowding of spheres of radius rj by spheres of radius ri. The
variation of lij with ri/rjis roughly indicated. There is good
agreement of the theory with published experimental data.
T. C. Powers [8] in his studies on particle packing took
account of the wall effect and loosening effect. He proposed
an expression to get the minimum void ratio of the binary
mixture.
Aim and Goff “[9],[10]” proposed a simple geometrical
model to account for the excess porosity observed
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experimentally in the first layer of spherical grains in contact
with a plane and smooth wall, the work of Aim and Goff
addressed the “wall effect” and suggested a correction factor
when calculating the packing density of binary mixtures.
2.3 TERNARY MIXTURE MODELS
Toufar et al “[9], [10]” extended the binary mixture model
to calculate the packing density. The fundamental concept
of the Toufar model is that the smaller particles (diameter
ratios > 0.22) will actually be too large to be situated within
the interstices between the larger particles. The result is a
packing of the matrix that may be considered as (i) a mixture
of packed areas mainly consisting of larger particles and (ii)
packed areas that may mainly consisting of larger particles
and (ii) packed areas that may mainly consist of smaller
particles with larger particles distributed discretely
throughout the matrix of smaller particles.
For a multi-component system, it is assumed that any two
components form binary mixtures. Then the packing density
for the total multi-component mixture is calculated by
summation of the contribution from all the binary mixtures.
Goltermann et al “[10],[11]” proposed a modification in
Toufar model. They also termed the packing degree factor
of the individual components (f1 and f2) as “Eigen Packing”,
which is calculated according to the procedure mentioned
in their work.
Goltermann et al also compared the packing values suggested
by Aim model, Toufar model and Modified Toufar model to
the experimental packing degree of the binary mixtures. They
found that Toufar model, especially the modified Toufar
model, corresponded very well to the measured packing
degrees. Europack is software based on modified Toufar
model. For this model, the required input information is
density, packing density, and characteristic diameters of each
components. The characteristic diameter is defined as the
diameter for which the cumulative probability of the Rosin-
Raimmler distribution is 0.37. This corresponds
approximately to the size associated with 63 percent of the
material passing. With the size distribution, the model
determines the characteristic diameter.
2.4 MULTI-COMPONENT MIXTURE
MODELS
Based on the property, of multimodal discretely sized
particles, De Larrad postulate different approaches to design
concrete; the Linear Packing Density Model (LPDM), Solid
Suspension Model (SSM) and Compressive Packing Model
(CPM) “[2],[13]”.
T. Stovall et al [13] this paper presents a model for the
packing density of multi sized grains. For a given mixture,
the packing density is expressed as a function of the
fractional solid volume of each grain size present. The case
of grain sizes continually distributed is derived. Comparison
of model predictions with binary, ternary and higher-order
mixtures is quite encouraging. They claimed that LPDM
showed good performances in predicting optimal proportions
of superplasticised cementitious materials
F. de Larrard et al “[14],[15],[16],[17],[18],[19]” the concept
of high packing density has been recently rediscovered, as a
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key for obtaining ultra-high-performance cementitious
materials. These model are derived from the Mooney’s
suspension viscosity model. De Larrard and Sedran proposed
the solid suspension model (SSM) with some modification
in LPDM. They concluded that SSM is a valuable tool to
optimize high packing density of cementitious materials. The
essential innovation is the distinction between the actual
packing density, f, and virtual packing density, b - the
maximum packing density achievable with a given mixture,
by keeping each particle in its original shape and placed one
by one of a mixture. It was also anticipated that the model
would be suitable for predicting the plastic viscosity of
concentrated suspensions.
M. Glavind, et al [16] When selecting a concrete mix design,
it is always desirable to compose the aggregates as densely
as possible, i.e. with maximum packing. That minimises the
necessary amount of binder which has to fill the cavities
between the aggregates for a constant concrete workability.
Apart from an obvious economic benefit, a minimum of
binder in concrete results in less shrinkage and creep and a
more dense and therefore probably a more durable and strong
concrete type.Another extended application of LPDM has
been by Glavind et al. They used the concept of “Eigen
packing” to calculate the packing density.
De Larrard “[2],[13]” presumed that the packing density of
the mixtures depends also on the process of the building of
the packing, such as compaction effort, the proposed the
compressible packing model (CPM). This model was derived
from the linear packing model proposed by Lee and is
independent of other models (that is, LPDM and SSM). He
introduced the index K, to calculate actual packing density,
f from virtual packing density, b.
J. D. Dewar “[20],[21]” consider packing density in loose
condition. The parameter requires for this model is the mean
size (i.e. grading) and the density of each fraction. Dewar
suggest that mean diameter of micro fines and cementitious
material could be estimated from the Blaine fineness not if
the size distribution is not available. Theory of particle
mixture (TPM) works with void ratio instead of packing
density, where void ratio as defined as the ratio of voids to
solids volume. The relationship between voids ratio, U and
packing density
φ is
1
u= −1 (2)
φ
2.5 CONTINUOUS MODELS
Continuous approach assumes that all possible sizes are
present in the particle distribution system, that is, discrete
approach having adjacent size classes ratios that approach
1:1 and no gaps exist between size classes.
The fundamental work of Féret et al [5], Fuller et al [12]
showed that the packing of concrete aggregates is affecting
the properties of the produced concrete. Both Féret as well
as Fuller and Thomsen concluded that the continuous grading
of the composed concrete mixture can help to improve the
concrete properties. Féret demonstrated that the maximum
strength is attained when the porosity of the granular
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structure is minimal. In 1907 Fuller and Thomson proposed
the gradation curves for maximum density, which is well
known as Fuller’s “ideal” curve. It is described by a simple
equation:
CPFT = (d / D)n100 (3)
Where,
CPFT = cumulative (volume) percent finer than,
n = 0.5; the value of n was later revised to 0.45; these curves
find application in highway pavement mixture design.
The above expression was recently modified by Shakhmenko
and Birsh for concrete mixture proportioning as follows:
CPFT = Tn (di / d0 ) n (4)
Where,
n = degree of an “ideal” curve equation
T n = is a coefficient, dependent on maximum size of
aggregate and the exponent n.
Andreassen et al “[9], [10]” worked on the size distribution
for particle packing with a continous approach and proposed
the “Andressen equation” for ideal packing. Although the
approach is more theoretical, it partly represents an empirical
theory of particle packing.
Andressen assumed that the smallest particles would be
infinitesimally small. Dinger and Funk recognized that the
finest particles in real materials are finite in size and modified
the Andreassen equation considering the minimum particle
size in the distribution. A modified model linking the
Andreassen and Furnas distributions was later developed
and termed as AFDZ (Andreassen, Funk, Dinger and Zheng)
equation for dense packing.
According to the Andressen model,
According to the Modified Andressen model,
CPFT = {( d − d 0 ) / ( D − d 0 )}q 100 (6)
Where,
CPFT = the cumulative (volume) percent finer than,
d = the particle size,
d0 = the minimum particle size of distribution,
D = the maximum particle size, and
q = the distribution coefficient or exponent.
The exponent, q, in the Andressen equation could be varied
from 0.21 to 0.37, depending upon the various workability
requirements. If the exponent increases, it means an increase
of the coarse materials, and if it decreases, the amount of
the fine materials is increased [10]. The exponent value, q,
gives the indication of the finer fraction that could be
accommodated in the mixture. As the water demand and
water holing capacity of the mixture is controlled by the
volume of fines, this exponent gives a reasonable basis for
choosing the amount of water and rheology modifying agents
like superplasticiser to be added to the mixture.
The exponent value q = 0.25 to 0.3 may be taken for high
performance concrete and conventional concretes depending
144
compacting concretes, q < 0.23 may be taken, and for roller
compacted concrete, q > 0.32 may be taken.
Rosin-Rammler Model
The characteristic diameters of the particle size distributions
for the components of concrete were shown to be adequately
Described by the D’ from the Rosin-Rammler equation which
is written as:
R (D) = the residue fraction (percentage passing)
D = diameter
D’ = characteristic diameter
n = constant, ranging from 1.04 – 4, usually between 1 and
2.
Johansen et al [10] have used this equation for finding out
the characteristic diameter of the distribution for calculating
the packing density of the mixtures in their discrete approach.
2.6 3D COMPUTER SIMULATION MODEL
Simulation to assess the packing characteristics has been
developed based on static simulation system by Bentz et al
and some system based on dynamic simulation system such
as SPACE (software package for the assessment of
compositional evaluation) by Stroeven et al
“[22],[23],[24]”.The SPACE system has been developed to
assess the characteristics of dense random packing situation
in opaque materials by a realistic structural simulation.
Grading of aggregate based on size and shape has significant
effect on the properties of concrete produced. But all packing
models are based on the assumption that particle are
spherical. Kwan et al “[25],[26],[27]” the shape factor and
convexity ratio are the important shape parameter. Void ratio,
specific gravity and mean size of particle are important
parameters influencing the packing density of mixture.
Digital image processing and Fourier analysis are used to
explore the characteristics of aggregate.
2.7 DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING
Rajeswari et al. “[28],[29]” also stated that the improvement
in the shape of crushed rocks used as aggregates as amongst
the most important characteristics of high quality aggregates
particularly for use in the concrete or construction industry.
Aggregates with beefed up characteristics such as more
cubical and equidimensional in shape with better surface
texture and ideal grading are considerably gaining much
more attention particularly from the concrete industry as
these aggregates greatly assist in increasing the strength and
enhancing the quality of concrete. This work also
scientifically showed the optimum orientation and packing
of high quality shape aggregate particles (i.e. cubical and
angular) in a concrete mix compared to the poorly shaped
particles (i.e. irregular, elongated, flaky and flaky and
elongated). Hence, aggregates with improvement in particle
shape and texture acts as a catalyst for the development of
good mechanical bonding and interlocking between the
surfaces of aggregate particles in a concrete mix. Overall,
stronger aggregates with improvement in particle shape and
textural characteristics tend to produce stronger concrete as
the weak planes and structures are being reduced.
Substitution of equidimensional particles derived as crushed
product produce higher density and higher strength concrete
than those which are flat or elongated because they have
less surface area per unit volume and therefore pack tighter
when consolidated.
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A concrete mix is constituted largely of aggregate and its
quality is hence dependent on the grading, size, and shape
of the aggregate used. Applications of the DIP technique to
particle size and shape analysis have been attempted by
Barksdale et al., Li et al., Yue and Morin, and Kuo et al.,
A.K.H. Kwan[25] any useful results have been obtained.
The shape of the aggregate particles used has significant
effects on the properties of the concrete produced. One major
effect is on the packing density of the aggregate which
determines the amount of cement paste needed to fill the
voids between the aggregate particles. In order to study how
the various shape parameters of aggregate particles would
affect the packing of aggregate, aggregate samples of
different rock types from different sources have been
analysed for their shape characteristics using a newly
developed digital image processing technique and their
packing densities measured in accordance with an existing
method given in the British Standard. The packing densities
of the aggregate samples are correlated to the shape
parameters to evaluate the effects of the various shape
parameters on packing. From the results of the correlation,
it is found that the shape factor and the convexity ratio are
the most important shape parameters affecting the packing
of an aggregate. Two alternative formulas revealing the
combined effects of these two shape parameters on the
packing density of aggregate are proposed.
However, there are a number of problems associated with
the application of DIP to particle size and shape analysis.
Traditionally, standard techniques and test procedures
complying with British Standards, American Society for
Testing and Materials (ASTM) and New Zealand Standards
have been widely used to analyze and evaluate the shape,
size grading and surface texture of aggregates.
Digital video technology has advanced so rapidly that it is
now much more affordable and easier to use than before.
From a video camera, a scene can be captured electronically
producing video signals, which are first digitized and then
stored as an array of pixels. Subsequently, pictorial
information about the scene may be extracted from the pixel
array by the use of a technique called digital image
processing (DIP).
Over the past 20 years, many works have been done to
improve the methods for analyzing aggregate images using
digital image processing (DIP) technique particularly to
shorten the time for classification thus making it more cost
effective and faster compared to the conventional processes.
Much of the work tried to explore the advantages of DIP to
have a real time classification system and the data
information storage for the aggregates, making it more
automated thereby simplifying the analysis in the future.
Different methods and algorithms were developed to tackle
the issues encountered and to improve the process further.
Kwan et al [27] adopted DIP to analyze the shape of coarse
aggregate particles. Application of DIP for the measurement
of coarse aggregate size and shape is presented in the works
of Maerz et al [29]. Mora and Kwan [27] had developed a
method of measuring the sphericity, shape factor and
convexity of coarse aggregate for concrete using DIP
technique.
A number of methods using imaging systems and analytical
procedures to measure aggregate dimensions are already
available. An imaging system consisting of a mechanism
for capturing images of aggregates and methods for
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analyzing aggregate characteristics have been developed
such as Multiple Ratio Shape Analysis (MRA), VDG-40
Video grader by Emaco Ltd Canada, Computer Particle
Analyzer (CPA) by Tyler, Micromeritics Opti Sizer (PSDA)
by Strickland, Video Imaging System (VIS) by John B. Long
Company, Buffalo Wire Works (PSSDA) by Penumadu,
Camsizer by Jenoptik Laser Optik System and Research
Technology, Wip Shape by Maerz and Zhu ,University of
Illinois Aggregate Image Analyzer (UIAIA) by Tutumluer
et al. Aggregate Imaging System (AIMS) by Masad and
Laser-Based Aggregate Analysis System (LASS) by Kim et
al. Description of the existing test methods can be found in
Al-Rousan “[30]-[31]”. X. Jia et al [32] developed packing
algorithm based on digitization technology that is “DigiPac”
for non spherical partials of uniforms size and powders of
different size distribution. The porosity obtained is consistent
with the measurement of other model predictions. X-ray
tomography is used for digitization of irregular shapes so
that 3D images of a real particles are easily obtained. Since
interactions of particles are limited to geometric constraints
the limitation of DigiPac are obvious. The potential
application of DigiPac may be found in ceramics, powder
storage, transportation etc. more work needs to be done to
extended DigiPac to solve more complicated system such
as particles where cohesive forces are involved.
The packing density of aggregate can be measured under
dry condition, due to agglomeration, all early attempts to
measure the packing density of cementitious materials under
dry condition failed. To overcome the above difficulty, The
University of Hong Kong has recently developed a wet
packing test for measuring the packing density of
cementitious materials under wet condition. Wong and Kwan
“[33],[34],[35]” developed wet packing density. Basically,
this test mixes the cementitious materials with different
amounts of water and determines the highest solid
concentration achieved as the packing density of the
cementitious materials. Any air trapped inside the cement
paste is taken into account in the calculation of the packing
density. If there is SP added to the cement paste, the effect
of SP is also taken into account by adding exactly the same
dosage of SP into the mixture. The accuracy of the wet
packing test has been verified by Fung et al [36] checking
against established packing models and the results indicated
that the differences between theoretical results by packing
models and experimental results by the wet packing test are
well within 3%.
2.8 DISCRETE ELEMENT MODELING
(DEM)
Piets stroeven “[37],[39]”, Shihui shen, Hunan yu [40]
suggest discrete element modeling( DEM) simulation
method for particle packing analysis Contact force chains
and mean contact force were calculated using PFC3D DEM
simulation, which provided an indication of the capability
of the aggregate structure to transmit stresses through
aggregate skeleton, and thereby, to resist permanent
deformation. The study conducted here demonstrated the
aggregate size distribution played a significant role in the
packing characteristics, affecting both volumetric and the
contact characteristics of a packed structure. Such findings
are critical for evaluating the combined effect of size and
shape distribution on packing, and achieving a performance
based aggregate gradation design.
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3 CONCLUSION
The review of the research work shows that all the popular
packing models are based on the assumption that the particles
are spherical. Actually review studies have shown that shape
factor and convexity ratio are the most important shape
parameters and mean size, specific gravity and voids ratio
are the most important size parameters influencing the
packing of aggregate. Packing of aggregate seems to be
sound concept to predict the behavior of fresh concrete and
hardened concrete. A concrete mix is constituted largely of
aggregate and its quality is hence dependent on the grading,
size, and shape of the aggregate used.
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[25] Kwan, A. K. H., Mora, C. F. and Chan, H. C. “Particle shape
analysis of coarse aggregate using digital image processing”,
Cement and Concrete Research, 29(9), (1999), pp. 1403-1410.
[26] C.F. Mora, A.K.H. Kwan, “Sphericity, shape factor, and convexity
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[27] A.K.H. Kwan, W.W.S. Fung, “Packing density measurement and
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[28] Rajeswari, S. R. M. “Studies on the Production and Properties
of Shaped Aggregates from the Vertical Shaft Impact Crusher,”
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[31] M. R. Jones, L. Zheng and M. D. Newlands, “Comparison of
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[32] X. Jia, R.A. Williams, “A Packing Algorithms for Particles of
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[33] Henry H.C. Wong and Albert K.H. Kwan, “Packing Density: A
Key Concept for Mix Design of High Performance Concrete”,
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[34] Henry H. C. Wong. Albert K. H. Kwan, “Packing density of
cementitious materials: part 1-measurement using a wet packing
method”, Materials and Structures (2008) 41: pp.689–701.
[35] K. H. Kwan. H. H. C. Wong, “Packing density of cementitious
materials: part 2-packing and flow of OPC + PFA + CSF”,
Materials and Structures (2008) 41: pp.773–784.
[36] W.W.S. Fung, A.K.H. Kwan, H.H.C. Wong, “Wet packing of
crushed rock fine aggregate”, Materials and Structures (2009)
42: pp.631–643.
[37] Jing Hu and Piet Stroeven, “Properties of the Interfacial
Transition Zone in Model Concrete”, Interface Science 12, 2004,
pp.389-397.
[38] M. Gan, N. Gopinathn, X. Jia and R.A. Williams, “Predicting
Packing Characteristics of Particles of Arbitrary Shapes”, Kona
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[39] P. Stroeven, J. Hu, “Gradient structures in cementitious
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[40] ShihuiShen, Huanan Yu, “Characterize packing of aggregate
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Influence of Horizontal Reinforcement on

Ultra High Performance Concrete Wall
Panels under Two way in plane action
N Ganesan , Ruby Abraham , Beena P.R , Anil R

Abstract— This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation carried out to determine the influence of horizontal reinforcement
on the strength and behavior of Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) wall panels under two way in plane action. The percentage of
horizontal reinforcement adopted was 0.25, 0.45 and 0.65. Two wall panels were cast corresponding to each percentage of horizontal
reinforcement and were tested under two way in plane loading. The test results show that the increase in ultimate strength is about 14.6%
for a increase in horizontal reinforcement from 0.25 to 0.45% and beyond 0.45% of horizontal reinforcement the increase in strength was
negligible. The increase in energy absorption capacity was about 48% for an increase in the percentage of horizontal reinforcement from
0.25 to 0.65%.

Index Terms— Crack pattern, Energy absorption, Load- deflection, Horizontal reinforcement, Two way, Ultra high performance concrete,
Wall panels
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION These investigations showed that the different parameters

which influence the ultimate strength include aspect ratio,

A
dvances in the science of concrete materials have
led to the development of a new class of
cementitious material composites and Ultra High
performance concrete (UHPC) is one among them. It is a
material composed of an optimized gradation of granular
constituents, a low water cement ratio and a high percentage
of internal fiber reinforcement. The mechanical properties
of UHPC include high compressive strength and sustained
post cracking tensile strength. It has a discontinuous pore
structure that reduces liquid ingress and significantly
enhancing durability as compared to conventional and high
performance concrete [9].
The concrete elements normally used for cladding and curtain
wall applications have a substantial structural reserve
strength which is not always recognized and utilized. With
very little addition to the standard or specially designed
shapes, the elements can easily be used as structural
components, thus taking full advantage of the concrete
section and the embedded reinforcing steel which otherwise
is needed only for handling purposes [2],[10].
Architectural precast concrete wall panels that act as load
bearing elements in a building are both a structurally efficient
and economical means of transferring floor and roof loads
through the structure and into the foundation. In building
practice, the most economical application of architectural
precast concrete is as load bearing structural elements.
Many studies have been conducted to study the strength and
behavior of wall panels under one way in plane action [3].
————————————————
• N Ganesan, Professor, National Institute of Technology, Calicut,
Kerala.
• Ruby Abraham, Professor, College of Engineering Trivandrum,
Kerala, India.
• Beena P.R., Assistant Professor, College of Engineering
Trivandrum, PH-9496887003, E-mail: prbeena@yahoo.com.
• Anil R., M.Tech Student, College of Engineering Trivandrum,
Kerala, India.
slenderness ratio, and amount of steel in vertical and
horizontal direction. Ruzitah Supinyeh and Siti Hawa
Hamzah [11] carried out experiments
on the structural behavior of steel fabric reinforced concrete
wall panels under eccentric loading and described the failure
patterns. Pillai and Parthasarathy [4] conducted study on the
behaviour of panels with a central single layer of
reinforcement and found that the influence of the steel ratios
on ultimate strength was negligible. Saheb and Desayi [5],[6]
conducted experimental studies on wall panels using two
layers of reinforcement meshes in both directions and found
that the ultimate strength of the wall panels increases with
the increase in the vertical steel. A detailed comparative
study on normal and high strength concrete wall panels was
carried out by Doh [7]. He conducted studies on the
slenderness ratio and aspect ratio of concrete wall panels
using a single central layer of reinforcement mesh. Ruby et
al. [8] worked on UHPC wall panels with varying thickness
using a single central layer of reinforcement. The strength
of wall panels depends on the concrete grade and percentage
of steel used. This paper presents the results of experimental
investigation conducted on six UHPC wall panels with
varying percentage of horizontal reinforcement under two
way in plane loading.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME
The experimental investigations were carried out to find the
effect of different percentages of horizontal reinforcement
on the behavior of UHPC wall panels under two way in plane
action. Six numbers of square wall panels of size 750 mm
and 35 mm thickness were castand tested.
2.1 Materials
Ordinary Portland Cement (53 grade) conforming to IS
12269-1999 and fine aggregate less than 4.75mm size
conforming to grading zone I as per IS 2386 (Part-III) -1973
having a specific gravity of 2.67 were used. Potable water
conforming to the requirements of water for concreting and

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curing as per IS:456-2000 were used for the present 2.6 Testing of Wall Panels
investigation. Cement was replaced by the micro filler silica
After marking the positions of LVDT and dial gauge, the
fume with a specific gravity of 2.2. Superplasticizer used
specimen was placed vertically on a 300 t compression
was Conplast SP 430. Mild steel bars of 3mm diameter
testing machine. The vertical sides were supported to ensure
were used as reinforcement for wall panels.
hinged conditions on all the four sides. In order to transfer
2.2 Mix Proportions the load uniformly, a box section was kept on the top of the
specimen.
UHPC mix proportion of M80 grade was developed using
the modified ACI 211 method suggested by Aitcin [1] and After applying the seating loading, compressive
the mix proportions are given in Table 1. load was applied at the interval of 50 kN and the dial gauge
and LVDT readings were taken. The wall panel was loaded
TABLE1
to failure and the first crack load and ultimate load were
MIX PROPORTIONS OF UHPC
noted.
Particulars Quantity (kg/m3)
Cement 675
Sand 1356
Silica fume 75
Water 192
Superplasticizer 22
2.3 Reinforcement
The reinforcement in the form of rectangular grid, fabricated
using 3 mm diameter steel bars, was placed in a single layer
at mid-thickness of the panel. The yield strength of
reinforcement steel was 250 N/mm2. The percentages of
reinforcement and spacing provided in the panels are given
in Table 2.

TABLE2

Fig. 1(a). Set-up for lateral deformation

2.4 Casting of Wall Panels

Cement, sand and silica fume were mixed in dry state in
drum type mixer machine. The required quantity of super
plasticizer was added along with 50% water. Mixing was
continued till a uniform paste was obtained. Then the mould
was filled with concrete in two layers. The specimens were
cast horizontally on a level floor. The two ends of the
specimen were made wider for uniformly distributing the
load and to obtain proper seating. The wall panels were moist
cured with wet gunny bags for an initial period of three days Fig. 1(b). Set-up for vertical strain
and were then immersed in the curing tank. After 28 days of
curing, the panels were taken out from the curing tank and
were white washed and made ready for testing.
2.5 Experimental setup 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Wall specimens were tested under two way in-plane loading. 3.1 First crack load and Ultimate load
For measuring the deflection, dial gauge is positioned at the
middle. In order to measure the deformation and to calculate Table 3 shows the first crack load and ultimate load
the vertical strain, LVDT was used. The load setup, dial values for the specimens under two way in-plane loading.
gauge and LVDT positions are shown in Fig. 1(a) and Fig. First crack load was taken as the load corresponding to the
1(b). point at which the load-deflection curve becomes nonlinear.

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TABLE 3 means the capacity to deflect laterally and vertically increases

FIRST CRACK LOAD AND ULTIMATE LOAD with increase in the percentage of horizontal reinforcement
indicating considerable improvement in the ductile property.
Designation First crack load in kN Ultimate load in
kN
WP25 400 820
WP45 500 940
WP65 450 950

The ultimate strength of wall panel increases with the

increase of percentage of horizontal reinforcement. The
increase in ultimate load is about 14.6% for an increase in
horizontal reinforcement from 0.25% to 0.45%. The increase
in strength could be because of the two way bending in which
the horizontal reinforcement resist the bending action. For
the percentage of reinforcement above 0.45% the increase
Fig. 3. Load- Vertical strain curve
in strength was not considerable and was only 1.16% for an
increase in horizontal reinforcement from 0.45% to
0.65%.The reduction in strength development with increase 3.4 Crack pattern
in horizontal reinforcement beyond 0.45% may be because The crack pattern for three panels is shown in Figs. 4(a)
of the insufficient reinforcement in the vertical direction to to 4 (c). For the specimen WP25, one large vertical crack
balance the increased resistance offered by the horizontal and one or two diagonal cracks were formed when the load
reinforcement. reached near the ulti mate load. Four or five small diagonal
3.2 Load - Deflection Behaviour and vertical cracks were noticed in the panel WP45 before
failure while the specimen WP65 showed large number of
Based on the observations, the load-deflection graphs and fine cracks. Thus it can be observed that as the horizontal
load-vertical strain graphs were plotted for the specimens reinforcement increases the number of cracks increases, but
and are shown in Fig.2 and Fig.3. the width of cracks and propagation of cracks decreased.

Fig. 2. Load - Deflection Curve at mid point Fig. 4(a). Crack pattern for the specimen WP25

The lateral deflection and vertical strain increases with the

increase of percentage of horizontal reinforcement under two
way in plane loading. A maximum deflection of 1.95mm is
obtained for the ultimate load of 950 kN in the case of the
panel WP65.The maximum deflection for the panel WP 25
and WP45 were 1.51mm and 1.65mm respectively. That
means the addition of horizontal reinforcement increases the
ductile behavior of wall panels under two way in plane
loading.
3.3 Load-strain behaviour
The vertical strain in the middle portion of wall panels
was calculated from the deformation values observed using
LVDT which was fixed within a gauge length of 120 mm c/
c marked at the centre of the specimen. Fig. 3 shows the
load-strain behaviour for the vertical strain at middle point
for the specimen. For a given load, vertical strain increases
with increase in percentage of horizontal reinforcement. That Fig. 4(b). Crack pattern for the specimen WP45

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Fig. 4(c). Crack pattern for the specimen WP65
3.5 Energy absorption capacity
Energy absorption capacity was calculated from the area
under load deflection graph. Fig. 5 shows the energy
absorption capacity of various wall panels. The energy
absorption capacity increases with the increase in the
percentage of horizontal reinforcement. The increase in
energy absorption capacity was 20% when horizontal
reinforcement increased from 0.25 to 0.45%. As the
horizontal reinforcement increased from 0.25 to 0.65% the
increase in energy absorption capacity was about 48%.
Fig.5. Energy absorption capacity of panels
4 CONCLUSIONS
• From the studies conducted, it can be observed that,
the ultimate strength of wall panel increases with the
increase of percentage of horizontal reinforcement
under two way in plane action. The increase in ultimate
load is about 14.6% for an increase in horizontal
reinforcement from 0.25% to 0.45% . The rate of
increase in ultimate strength diminishes as the
percentage of horizontal reinforcement increased
beyond 0.45% to 0.65% .
• The lateral deflection and vertical strain increases with
the increase in the percentage of horizontal
150
reinforcement indicating considerable improvement
in the ductile property.
• The energy absorption capacity increases with increase
in the percentage of horizontal reinforcement. About
50% increase in energy absorption capacity can be
achieved by increasing the horizontal reinforcement to
0.65%.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The financial assistance from CERD (Centre for Engineering
Research and Development), College of Engineering,
Trivandrum for carrying out this research work is greatly
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
[1] P.C. Aitcin, “High-Performance Concrete”, E & FN Spon, an
Imprint of Routledge, London, 2010.
[2] In Hwan Yang, Changbin Joh, Byung-Suk Kim “Structural
behavior of UHPC beams subjected to bending”, Engineering
structures, vol. 32, pp 3478-3487, Nov. 2010.
[3] G.D. Oberlender and N. J. Everard, “Investigation of
Reinforced Concrete Wall Panels”, Journal of the American
Concrete Institute, vol. 74, pp 256-263, 1977.
[4] S. U. Pillai and C. V Parthasarathy, “Ultimate Strength and
Design of Concrete Walls”, Building and Environment, vol.
12, pp 25-29, 1977.
[5] S .M. Saheb and P Desayi, “Ultimate Strength of RC Wall
Panels in Oneway In-plane action”, Journal of Structural
Engineering, ASCE, vol 115, pp 2617-2630, 1989.
[6] S. M. Saheb and P Desayi, “Ultimate Strength of RC Wall Panels
in Two-way In-plane action”, Journal of Structural
Engineering, ASCE, vol 116, pp 1384-1402,1990.
[7] J. H. Doh, “Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Normal
and High Strength Concrete Wall Panels”, PhD Thesis, Griffith
University, Gold Coast Campus, Australia, 2002.
[8] Ruby Abraham, P. R. Beena, Minu Elizabeth Mathew,
“Experimental Investigation on Behaviour of Ultra High
Performance Concrete Wall Panels under One-Way In-Plane
Loading”, International Journal of EarthScience and
Engineering, vol.04, No. 05, pp 907-915, Oct.2011.
[9] Ben Graybeal, “Ultra High Performance concrete”,
Technical note FHWA publication, March 2011.
[10] Ivan varkay,” Load bearing wall panel design and
application”, PCI journal, pp 34-48, Nov 1971.
[11] Ruzitah Supinyeh and Siti Hawa Hamzah, “Structural behavior
of steel fabric reinforced concrete wall panel under eccentric
loading”, Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering
IJCEE-IJENS, vol.10, No.04, pp 48-72, 2007.
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Forensic Investigation for

Sustainability Issues in Structure
Prof. D.S.Bhosale
Abstract- It is well said that, “Every contact leaves a trace”. Technological innovation and advances in engineering have always been
attended by failure of one type or another, including collapse of structures such as bridges and dams, multistoriey buildings,underground
construction involves a number of uncertainties and risks, Construction failures which may carry a considerable price tag for developers,
consultants and contractor in terms of structural rehabilitation and loss of business or life and could well lead to dispute and litigation
process. Infrastructure plays a major role in the economy of a country and the failure of such structure will affect the economy of country.
Investigation details of such failure will provide many lessons to construction professionals from past failures so that recurrence of such
failures could be eliminated or minimized. Forensic Engineering is the investigation of materials, products, structures or components that
fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to property. Forensic engineering is useful to develop
practices and procedures to reduce the number of failures, to disseminate information on failures, and to provide guidelines for conducting
failure investigation.

Index Terms - Economy, Failure, Forensic Engineering, Investigation, Risk investigation construction, Technological innovation,
Uncertainties, Underground construction.
——————————  ——————————

1.INTRODUCTION
General analysis of failures would indicate that, inadequate

T
he most prominent single reason for failures which
emerged was grossly inadequate appreciation of
loading conditions or real behavior of the structure.
Thus the apparent inability of designer or the contractor to
appreciate how the structure will react to the loads was the
main reason. It would be observed that this is not associated
with the design safety factor which is being applied.
However, the answers to the questionnaire constitute the
assessment as to whether the incorporation of partial safety
factors, at the present design levels, would be likely to
influence the matter, and the apparent conclusion is that they
would not significantly have done so.
Bad erection procedures are next in importance in causing
failures and perhaps if the building is not well designed in
the first place, any defect introduced by construction will
only hasten the onset of failure.
Lack of communication in the construction industry is
one more vital point. In the past, criticism about the general
inability of the people, involved in the design and
construction process, to develop a clear and unambiguous
transfer of information necessary for the building project is
observed. Thus, it is important on the part of the client to
appoint competent, suitably qualified person to supervise,
design and construct the building. Lack of experience,
foresight or imagination is the common weaknesses of
persons involved in the construction project. There is ample
and serious condemnation of the present system in the
industry, as well as of the education and training which the
engineers undergo. Lack of recognition and incorrect
procedures, are generally contributory factors to inadequate
and ineffective communication between the parties involved.
• Prof. D.S.Bhosale Assit. Professor,Civil Engineering Department,
Sou.Sushila Danchand Ghodawat Charitable Trust’s, Atigre,
Kolhapur, Shivaji University , Kolhapur,India, PH-09860237068.
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thought and attention is given to the transmission of vital
information between the parties involved in the building
process. This has become increasingly important when we
move away from the well understood traditional materials.
More and more of the building components require careful
study and assessment by the engineers, as to their suitability,
of manufacture and erection. Furthermore because the
building industry now contains so many different
technologies and relies on people with different training and
abilities, there is an ever-increasing need for effective
communication.
The bridge between design and construction needs to be
strengthened to create a two-way flow of information
.Lessons learnt on it, need to be fed back in the design process
and vice versa.
Financial problems often adversely affect the design and
construction process especially with decisions delayed or
reversed out of sequence with the network requirements. It
is particularly so on large particularly so on large projects
which seem to have their own relentless determination to
end in catastrophe. How universally it is true! The term leader
with strong and persuasive personality is therefore essential.
He must be capable of reconciling use requirement, with
good building design and construction awareness and
perception.
1.1HOW TO AVOID FAILURE?
Getting information from the structure either in use or
collapsed, is an art requiring highly developed and sensitive
understanding of structural engineering , material science
and behavior of structure .Once the designer establishes a
report with the structure, it conveys its health condition to
the engineer. Depending upon the engineer’s involvement
and knowledge, he can interpret fairly correctly the trouble
spots in the structure. It is more important that the
observations like instability, inharmonious matching of
materials, defective specification and details,settlements,
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restraints and constraints, severity of secondary stresses
acting on the structure are made from time to time and well
in time, so as to compare with design assumptions. These
observations would provide deeper insight in the actual
problem. Many other parameters are also observed on site.
Every failure is normally a combination of several factors
and each time,the main contributor is different. This is why
the failure problem becomes interesting through uncertainty
prevails.
2. OBJECTIVE
The objective of the project is to study and find causes of
construction failure to avoid recurrence of such failures. Also
study an effective technology of investigation to:
1) Review construction failures investigation process and
2) Develop a modified and concise technique that would
provide a more effective documentation process for
construction failures.
In order to achieve this objective the study:
• Examined the failure analysis processes being used by
forensic engineers for conducting failure investigations
and developed recommendations for improving
investigation techniques.
The purpose of this research project is to;
1) Provide engineers, architects and contractors with an
overview of current literature related to construction
failures.
2) Determine concept of forensic engineering in
construction field.
3) Investigate the methods used for documenting
construction failures; and
4) Provide members of construction industry with
information and guidance on construction to improve
the investigation process.
3. METHODOLOGY
Forensic engineering is an important tool of structural
failure investigation but, still very less work is done on
forensic engineering so it’s necessary to study this effective
tool of investigation in greater depth.
This project include the following phases;
1) Conduct a literature review of construction failure
investigation processes.
2) Methods and applications of forensic engineering in
construction field.
3) Suggest a checklist to avoid geotechnical failure and
formwork failure.
2.1 NECESSITY OF FAILURE INVESTIGATION
These observations become more educative and
instructive than any other academic background. We learn
much more from mistakes than success. There is tremendous
amount of information in each of the failure studies. If we
can properly document, it would assist in advancement of
our knowledge, focusing our attention on the shortcomings.
Engineers know that they learn more b experience than from
theory. So, do contractors, architects and developers. They
also err, but they analyze their errors quickly, keep them to
themselves , permitting someone else to repeat.
Who can afford to have a non functional performance? Even
small inadequacy in the performance of any particular
152
element of the structure, may lead to the annoyance of the
user. This in turn, apart from legal aspects, puts the reputation
of the professional at stake. It is not restricted to individual
only. With more cases of observed deficiency the entire
profession gets a set-back .
For every major incident reported , there are many unreported
small ones . These small incidents, probably because of their
nature and being not so serious, do not make news or put us
on our toes. Several small cracks, deficient local
workmanship, not true –to-form and out of plumb element,
and not so serious magnitude of the problem do remain, but
we are used to live with such small deficiencies as if they
are unavoidable in construction.
These construction errors and other minor design
deficiencies, get sheltered under the cover of fully
workmanship. This is very useful and handy screen available
with the designers, so as to pass on most of it to the
construction practices.
All the laboratory research is theoretical. No one can really
explain why one structure lasted, while another with similar
design and loading and construction specifications,
collapsed. There are several other structures, which defy us
to understand as to why they have not failed so far or even
earlier. The data perused from each failure often turns out to
be unique , contributing to experience. What we miss today
is co-ordination and proper documentation of our failure
observations.
3.1INVESTIGATION: TECHNIQUE AND OUTCOME
Investigations—for whom and how to make them useful has
always posed a problem. Collection of information is
important. It must be done in such a manner that it can be
classified, codified and compiled in a way easy to understand
and interpret in proper formats, so that useful guidance is
available. It is easier to say this but difficult to implement.
The approach of each Institution or Centre collecting
information on the failure would be different or limited. ‘All
under one’ information questionnaire is not possible. Specific
data collection would be out of context for some other
purpose. The factors involved in the process, though mainly
technical, several other issues like political, legal,
serviceability, accountability and responsibility,
recommendation and so on, need to be considered. Also there
would be several constructional aspects to be covered. Along
with this confidentiality, costing, stage at which the failure
occurred, if during construction or in use, might be covered
in the format. Also, any unusual loading, misuse,
deterioration, special activity damage, additions and
alterations etc., may be also needed. Thus, to evolve the
format, appropriate for all purpose information, may be
difficult. A few formats developed by individuals, or by
institutions and those which were specially used in the past
for data collection, are presented in the Annexure at the end.
This is just to offer some insight into the available formats,
their limitations and possible new formats for future use.
After years of experience of investigations of several
failures, it becomes almost an inbuilt aptitude to understand
more in regard to prediction and pattern of failure. This is a
relatively unknown branch of engineering technology or
science.
The performance problem is normally attributed to
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shortcomings in design, construction materials or
combination. It, therefore, becomes necessary to identify
what must have gone wrong in the first phase. Though it is
difficult to project interdependent reactions and actions of
several deficiencies in various stages of the construction
process, it is necessary to study and develop this
understanding. If the first important cause is identified in
order of seriousness, one would be in a position to place the
next and the next, in order of seriousness. One damaging
effect may lead to explore the weakness of some other
activity, either due to wear and tear or reduced factor of safety
or self reduces strength. The most important aspect in the
process is to clearly bring out all factors which would have
affected the structure and caused it to fail. Such factors
should be in order of their merit and sequential contribution.
All this process of continued damaging effect, and reduction
in the strength of the structure and subsequent reduction in
the factor of safety, would establish the importance of
monitoring of the structure. One such format for monitoring
the structure is also attached in the Annexure at the end.
3.2CONVENTIONAL METHODS OF STRUCTURAL
FAILURE INVESTIGATION
‘Inspection of failure structure’ is one of the conventional
methods of investigation to find out causes of failure. This
inspection generally expects observations, technical
assessment, damage causing sources, present safety levels
and recommendation for restoration with a block cost-
estimate about the restoration and its phasing. This report is
submitted to the clients in appropriate format. The report
may contain written text, figures, sketches, drawings of
existing structure, proposed work, and photographs etc. and
invariably expects to comment on duration, sequence of
repaires and block estimate provisions. This is a safeguard
against tendency for mass scale repaires in the form of entire
replaster, major guniting/shotcreting, and at times entire
waterproofing to be replaced etc.
Common Observations which are helpful to find out
causes of failure.
• External Façade
• Peeling of plaster and external/internal seepage marks
• Efflorescence, plinth protection, external drainage,
ground water ingress, ground water floodin
• Overall response of plumbing
• Building has horizontal and vertical projections
• Terrace inspection
• Terrace housekeeping is poor
• Left RC column stubs
• Innovative user observations
• Option for waterproofing
• Incorrect drainage channel slopes in industrial structures
4. AN EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGY OF INVESTI-
GATION
The professional engineering investigation work carried
out in these cases has come to be described as FORENSIC
ENGINEERING.
This paper discusses the general nature of forensic
engineering and the special issues and difficulties
confronting forensic geotechnical engineers, particularly in
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the investigation of failures or collapses in underground
construction and underground mining. The investigation
methods used are outlined and the important interface with
legal systems is discussed. In the author’s experience of
forensic investigations in underground civil construction and
mining, this legal aspect of the forensic engineer’s role is
becoming increasingly important and demanding, given the
increasing proclivity of some authorities to prosecute
engineers and their employers in the courts
Forensic engineering within civil engineering involves the
investigation of failures of construction facilities and the
built environment. While collapses are the most spectacular
and potentially lethal type of failures - particularly when
caused by criminal acts such as terrorism and arson - the
discipline also includes investigation of failures in
serviceability and performance, both during and after
construction.
The key to forensic engineering is that the investigation
practice and procedure should be sufficiently robust to stand
up to rigorous scrutiny. It needs to embrace examination of
a range of technical and organizational factors that may have
contributed to a failure, especially where it results in claims
and litigation. There is also a wider benefit in that the
outcomes of forensic investigation and assessment can
increase the sustainability of infrastructures by prolonging
its use.
The failure report on the forensic investigation of everything
from collapse to cracks in a diverse range of structures in
the world, with causes includes blast, fire, storm, flood,
erosion and corrosion.
Forensic analysis in geotechnical engineering involves
scientific and legalistic investigations and deductions to
detect the causes as well as the process of distress in a
structure, which are attributed to geotechnical origin. Cases
of remedied installations where the analysis and evaluation
of adopted remedial measures with regard to their
effectiveness and economy may be subjected to judicial
scrutiny also fall under this purview. The normally adopted
standard procedures of testing, analysis, design and
construction are not adequate for the forensic analysis in
majority of cases. The test parameters and design
assumptions will have to be representative of the actual
conditions encountered at site. The forensic geotechnical
engineer (who is different than the expert witness) should
be able to justify the selection of these parameters in a court
of law. Hence he has to be not only thorough in his field of
specialization, but should also be familiar with legal
procedures.
A forensic investigation is the process by which the forensic
engineering team gathers the necessary information to form
the probable causes of the failure that has occurred . It
involves “the application of the engineering sciences to the
investigation of failures or other performance problems”
where failures are “defined as instances when a structure
does not conform to design expectations”. Forensic
investigation of pavements can help pavement engineers to
determine the cause of premature failures as well as to
develop appropriate rehabilitation strategies and to improve
future design and construction practices. In determining the
cause of failures, the principal goal is to determine the
contributory mechanism related to an observed pavement
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failure as well as the events that may have caused the
problem.
4.1WHAT IS DONE IN FORENSIC ENGINEERING?
For damage assessment in construction failure broadly
two types of test are carried out-
1) Destructive Test -:
• Core sampling
• Drilled samples
• Steel sampling
• Pullout test
2) Non-destructive Test (NDTs)-:
• Rebound Hammer
• Ultrasonic pulse velocity(UPV)
• Sonic logging
• Mechanical impedance
• Re-bar locator
• Half – cell potential test
• Bulk resistivity
Dammage assessment through methodical tests permits the
engineer to determine with reasonable clarity, true causes of
damage and to measure its extent in structure and also to
decide appropriate corrective measures.
5. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS
It has been observed that, The key to forensic engineering
is that the investigation practice and procedure should be
sufficiently robust to stand up to rigorous scrutiny. It needs
to embrace examination of a range of technical and
organisational factors that may have contributed to a failure,
especially where it results in claims and litigation. There is
also a wider benefit in that the outcomes of forensic
investigation and assessment can increase the sustainability
of infrastructures by prolonging its use.
A forensic investigation is the process by which the
forensic engineering team gathers the necessary information
to form the probable causes of the failure that has occurred
. It involves “the application of the engineering sciences to
the investigation of failures or other performance problems”
where failures are “defined as instances when a structure
does not conform to design expectations”. Forensic
investigation of pavements can help pavement engineers to
determine the cause of premature failures as well as to
develop appropriate rehabilitation strategies and to improve
future design and construction practices. In determining the
cause of failures, the principal goal is to determine the
contributory mechanism related to an observed pavement
failure as well as the events that may have caused the
problem.
Some guidelines to avoid Formwork Failures.
 Form work must be correctly installed, checked and
periodically examined for its wear and tear and for
correct position; incorrect intersections and connections
should be checked.
 External ground, grade level, should be properly
stabilized or concreted well in time before it receives
shores of formwork.
 Individual shore should be braced in at least two
directions with continuous runners, and must be cross
braced for lateral stability.
154
 When formwork erected in position ready to receive the
load of concrete pour, they should be sufficiently tight
and safely nailed to prevent slipping. Special spacers
should be provided for tall shores for more than normal
floor height, one should use double or triple stage shores.
 Proper bearing provided for stringers and joists at
supports, ledgers or stringers either firmly attached or
bridged, laterally braced to prevent over turning, and
their inspection become necessary.
 High shores, susceptible to failure, must be diagonally
braced.
 Shocks and vibrations from the use of concrete trolleys,
runways, powered buggies must be controlled, and also
properly provided in the shores.
 Details that are difficult to perform, such as the overhead
driving of nails to connect flat cap plates of a shores to
unloaded wooden joists, will often not be properly
performed and may start a failures.
 Forms are continuously supported structures and must
be provided uniform bearing at each support and each
end. Settled mud sills or disturbed timber shores splices,
will completely upset the reactions with possible
overloading of some shores and creating imbalance. This
may trigger a collapse.
 Wedging of shores to counter balance the loads, must
be done under proper supervision, so that a previously
assembled form support, is no disturbed.
 Unbalanced stripping of form and unbalanced re-shore,
will cause stresses in green concrete in locations which
are not sufficiently reinforced or expected to develop
the types of stress induced due to the activity. Permanent
damage , cannot be ruled out.
 Adequate re-shore must be provided immediately and
concurrently with stripping operations.
 Entire work needs constant and vigilant supervision of
skilled foreman, assisted by designer/ engineer at site.
 As you go up one has to be more careful in his
observation and inspection, since there would be more
chances of slips and omissions due to re use.
 Role of bracing and lacing in single shoring system is
not properly understood by many. Inadequate
understanding has resulted in serious problems. Vertical
shoring systems over 4 m in heights, presents critical
exposures to failures, if proper precautions to cater to
loading systems to which shores are subjected, are not
taken.
5. REFERENCES
1) Dr. V. V.S. Rao, ‘International society for soil mechanics and
geotechnicalengineering.’TC40:ForensicGeotechnical
Engineering Oct 2009. (dr_rao@nagadi.co.in)
2) E. T. Brown, Golder associates Pty. Ltd. Brisbane, Australia.
(tbrown@golder.com.au) ‘Forensic Engineering for underground
construction’ :
3) Janet K. Yates and Edward E. Lockley, ‘Documenting and
Analyzing Construction Failure.’ ASCE Journal of construction
engg. and management,VOL.128, Jan/Feb2002
4) Prof. J Y Richard Liew , ‘Forensic engineering-Investigation
And Lessons Learnt from Structural Failure’.One hour Technical
Seminar organized jointly by Department of Civil and Structural
Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
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Fibre Reinforced Light Weight Aggregate

(Natural Pumice Stone) Concrete
N. Sivalinga Rao, Y.Radha Ratna Kumari, V. Bhaskar Desai, B.L.P. Swami
Abstract— Steel fibre reinforced concrete (S F R C) is a composite material developed to reduce the brittleness of concrete and dramatically
increases its ductility. Steel fibre reinforced concrete (S F R C) is used extensively to line the tunnels and other underground structures, to
increase the thickness of pavements, and to repair and strengthen various structures. Increasing utilization of lightweight materials in
structural applications is making pumice stone a very popular raw material. More than the target means strength of M 20 concrete is
achieved with 20 percent replacement of natural coarse aggregate by pumice aggregate and with 1.5 percent of fibber. Also with 40%
pumice and with 0.5% of fibbers average target mean strength of M 20 concrete is achieved. The compressive strength of pumice concrete is
seen to increase with the fiber content and reaches an optimum value at 1.5% of fiber content and afterwards it gets decreased for various
contents of pumice.

Index Terms— Cube Compressive Strength, Cylinder Split Tensile Strength, Impact Resistance of slabs, Light Weight Aggregate Concrete,
Natural Pumice Stone, Steel fibre, Strain energy Stored in Beams.
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION have suggested that the presence of fibbers reduces material

decay in the field of the strains exceeding that corresponding

P
umice is a natural sponge-like material of volcanic
origin composed of molten lava rapidly cooling and
trapping millions of tiny air bubbles. In recent years,
the existing limited research that has been conducted in this
area of structural concrete with compressive strength up to
25 M Pa can be produced with adequate economic benefits
using pumice. Pumice is the only rock that floats on water,
although it eventually becomes waterlogged and sinks.
Worldwide, over 50 countries produce pumice products. The
largest producer is Italy, which dominates pozzolonic
production. Other major pumice producers are Greece, Chile,
Spain, Turkey, and the United States. Pumice and pumicites
are used to make lightweight construction materials. About
three-quarters of pumice and pumicite are consumed
annually for this purpose.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Banthia, N. and Trottier,J.,[1] conducted research on concrete
reinforced with deformed steel fibers and suggested that in
lightweight fiber reinforced concrete the addition of fibers
produces an increase in compressive strength.
Compione, G., et all [2-4] suggested that brittle nature of
lightweight aggregate can be overcome by increasing the
ordinary confinement of transverse reinforcement and/or by
adding reinforcing fibbers to the concrete matrix. Also they
• N. Sivalinga Rao, Research Scholar in J N T U H Hyderabad,
India, 09949219877, E-mail: sivalingarao@gmail.com
• Y.Radha Ratna Kumari Assistant Executive Engineer, Roads &
Buildings Department, Andhra Pradesh
• V. Bhaskar Desai ,Professor and ICS Director JNTUA Anantapur,
09866236537, E-mail: desai@jntugmail.com
• B.L.P. Swami ,Professor and ICS Director Vasavi College of
Engineering, Hyd. 09848032940,
E-mail: blpswamy@gmail.com
to the peak value of strength.
Balaguru, P.; and Ramakrishnan, V. [5] conducted research
on Properties of fiber reinforced concrete and suggested that
Properties of lightweight fiber-reinforced concrete resemble
that of normal-weight concrete except for air entrainment.
Controlling air content is the primary problem in lightweight
fiber concrete. By incorporating high-range water-reducing
admixtures, one can formulate lightweight fibber concrete
that is of higher workability.
Campione G., Mindess S., and Zingone G.??6?? suggested
that in the case of normal weight or light weight high strength
concrete fibers in combination with traditional steel
reinforcements reduce the brittleness characterizing these
advanced materials. Fibers improve ductility of concrete and
avoid congestion of secondary reinforcements required in
critical regions of structures designed in seismic zones.
Lightweight concrete, which was largely utilized for its non-
structural properties (as lagging or sound-proofing material),
has also been employed more recently to make structural
elements, in particular in the field of precast concrete
structures.
Campione G., Cucchiara C., La Mendola L., Papia M.[8]
suggested that although lightweight concrete is characterized
by brittle behaviour it is possible to achieve the ductility
required for seismic purposes by using adequate percentages
of short fibbers. Also observed that, using fibers only
moderate effects in terms of maximum and residual strength
were increased.
3 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
Mix design has been conducted for M 20 concrete making
use of IS 10262:2009 code with normal constituents of
concrete like locally available UltraTech OPC 43 grade
cement, Pandameru river sand and mechanically crushed 20
mm conventional granite. Pumice light weight aggregate and
steel fibre of size 0.6 mm dia and 25 mm length were
procured from Turkey and Nagpur. In the course of

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investigation, normal granite aggregate has been replaced TABLE 1

by 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of light weight CUBE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH
aggregate namely pumice by volume. In the present
investigation the crimpled steel fibbers are added in equal
proportions in five percentages i.e. 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0. For
the study of various properties, different specimens have
been casted and tested. Here a constant water cement ratio
of 0.50 has been adopted along with the usage of super
plasticizer (SP-430) to maintain more or less same
workability throughout the investigation.
3.1 Reinforcement Details
Beams: For casting of beams steel cages are prepared with
Fe-415 grade Steel bars. Steel cage consists of 12 mm bars
two at bottom and two at top with 8 mm diameter stirrups at
120 mm C/C.

Slabs: The slabs are also cast with reinforcement cage of

Fe-415 grade Steel bars. The reinforcement for a square slab TABLE 2
provided as a square mesh with 8 mm dia. bars in both ways CYLINDER SPLIT TENSILE STRENGTH
at 100 mm C/C. The reinforcement for a slab is shown in
Plate 1.3.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The 20% replacement of natural aggregate by 20% pumice
and with 1.5% fiber is supposed to be optimum percentage
with respect to compressive strength within the scope of
present investigation. However with 40% pumice content
and 0.5% of fibers more or less the target mean strength of
M20 concrete 25.13 N/mm2 is achieved. For this
combination more than target mean strength of M20 concrete
(30.25 N/mm2) of the concrete is achieved. Also pumice
content of 20% without fiber is supposed to be the
recommendable range to achieve the design strength of
concrete and the value is around 23 N/mm2.

The replacement of natural aggregate by 20% pumice and

1.5% percentage of fiber is supposed to be optimum TABLE 3
percentage, since for this combination maximum split tensile STRAIN ENERGY STORED IN BEAMS
strength of the concrete is achieved. Also pumice content of
20% with out fibers is supposed to be the recommendable
percentage as with 20% pumice maximum split tensile
strength of concrete is achieved.

It is seen that at 1.5% of fiber and with 40% replacement of

natural aggregate 40% pumice yields maximum strain energy.

It is also seen that at 0.5% of fiber and 100% replacement

of natural aggregate by 100% pumice yields maximum strain
energy.

From the investigation it is observed that 20% replacement

of natural aggregate by 20% pumice and with 1.5% fiber is
supposed to be optimum percentage, since for this
combination higher number of blows is achieved. Also
pumice content of 20% without fiber is supposed to be the
recommendable range to achieve optimum impact value.
156 ICICE-2013
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TABLE 4
CYLINDER MOULD IMPACT RESISTANCE

Fig. 3. Variation of Moment carrying capacity of slab vs. % of

fibre

Fig. 1. Variation of cube compressive strength Fig. 4. Variation of No of Blows vs. % of fibre

Plate. 1. Steel fibres

Fig. 2. Variation of split tensile strength

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Plate 2 UDL Slab Pattern
Plate. 3. Two Point Load Arrangement
Plate 4. Impact Mould
5. CONCLUSIONS
1. The density of concrete is found to decrease with the
increase in percentage replacement of natural aggregate
by pumice aggregate.
2. The compressive strength of concrete is found to
decrease with the increase in pumice content. It is found
to decrease from 32.75 to 7.95 M Pa as the pumice
content is increased from 0 to 100 percent.
3. The compressive strength of pumice concrete is seen
to increase with the fibber content and reaches an
optimum value at 1.5% of fibber content and afterwards
it gets decreased for various contents of pumice.
4. The split tensile strength of blended concrete is found
to vary from 3.50 to 1.22 MPa with the replacement of
natural aggregate by pumice from 0 to 100 percent.
158
5. The moment carrying capacity of slabs is found to vary
from 12.05 K N-m to 7.23 K N-m with the replacement
of natural aggregate by pumice from 0 to 100 percent.
At 1.0 percentage of fibber the optimum values of
moment carrying capacity are observed and afterwards
it gets decreased for various contents of pumice.
6. The strain energy values stored in slabs varies are
observed to vary 156671.68 to 52307.96 units with the
replacement of natural aggregate by pumice from 0 to
100 percent. At 0.5% of fibber with 100% pumice
optimum strain energy 46386.65 units is observed in
case of slabs.
7. The impact values are optimum at 1.5% of fibber
content for each percentage of pumice content
considered in this investigation. The optimum value is
achieved at the combination of 20% pumice content
with 1.5% of fibber content.
REFERENCES
[1] Banthia, N. and Trottier, J., ‘Concrete reinforced
deformed steel fibbers, part 1: Bond-slip mechanisms’,
ACI Material Journal 91 (5) (1994) 435-446.
[2] Compione, G., La Mendola L. and Miraglia, N.,
‘Behaviour in compression of lightweight fiber
reinforced concrete with pumice stone’, (available only
in Italian), Proceedings of National Congress Giomate
AICAP 99, Tornio, Nov. 1999, 1-17-26.
[3] Compione, G.,Mindess, S. and Zingone, G.,
‘compressive stress-strain behavior of normal and high-
strength Carbone-fiber concrete reinforced with steel
spirals’. ACI Materials Journal 96 (1) (1999) 27-34.
[4] Balguru, P. and Foden, A.,’Properties of fiber reinforced
structural lightweight concrete’, ACI Structural Journal
93 (1) (1996) 62-77.
[5] Balaguru, P.; and Ramakrishnan, V.’ ’Properties of
lightweight fiber reinforced concrete’, Fiber Reinforced
concrete- Properties and applications, SP105,
American Concrete Institute, Detroit, Michigan,
1987.pp. 305-322.
[6] Campione G., Mindess S., and Zingone G.,
“Compressive stress-strain behavior of normal and
highstrength carbon-fiber concrete reinforced with steel
spirals”, ACI Materials Journal (1999); 96(1):27-34.
[7] Balaguru P., Foden A., “Properties of fiber reinforced
structural lightweight concrete”, ACI Structural Journal
(1996); 93(1): 62-77.
[8] G. Campione, Calogero, C., L. la Mendolaand, M.
papia. ‘Experimental investigation on local bond-slip
behavior in lightweight fiber reinforced concrete under
cyclic actions’ 13th World conference on earthquake
Engineering Vancouver,B.C., Canada. August 1-6,
2004, paper No. 2087.
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Dynamic Buckling of Composite Cylindrical

Shells subjected to Axial Impulse
Chitra V., Priyadarsini R.S.

Abstract— Advanced lightweight laminated composite shells are increasingly being used in modern aerospace structures, for enhancing
their structural efficiency and performance. Due to the thin walled construction used, they are susceptible to buckling when subjected to
significant static and dynamic or time dependent loadings. While numerous studies are available on the buckling and postbuckling behaviour
of isotropic shells, relatively few investigations have been undertaken on the performance of laminated composite shells under dynamic
loading conditions. The attempt to design shells to withstand time –dependent dynamic loads, sometimes quite severe, and thus may be
susceptible to dynamic buckling is relatively new in aerospace structures. Landing impact of an aircraft is categorized as a dynamic loading
condition where instability arises in very short time duration. This paper presents the results of a numerical study on the behaviour of
laminated composite circular cylindrical shells under dynamic axial impact loads. Layup sequences, [0°/90°/0°/90°/90°/0°/90°/0°] and
[0°/0°/60°/-60°/-60°/60°/0°/0°] were used for the current study and their behaviour were compared under impact loading for different time
durations.

Index Terms—Aerospace structures, Axial compression, Composites, Cylindrical shells, Dynamic buckling, Impact loads, Numerical
study

——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION aluminium under axial impact loading. The work covered
numerical and experimental investigations and a good

C
omposites refer to the class of materials formed by
combining two or more distinct materials. They are
preferred over other isotropic materials basically due buckling studies on long isotropic cylindrical shells imposing
to their weight sensitive properties. Laminated fibrous
composites are widely used for defence and aerospace
applications. Fairings, engine cowlings and radomes of
aircrafts and base interface ring and payload fairing of launch Xu et al. [3] studied local and global buckling phenomenon
vehicles are some areas where laminated composites are
mainly employed.
Such structures may be subjected to a wide range of loads,
both static and dynamic. Being very thin, they may be
subjected to various types of instability conditions such
as buckling. Buckling can be broadly classified into two,
static and dynamic. Static buckling occurs under static loads
and dynamic buckling occurs under dynamic loads.
Dynamic buckling is of two types, vibration buckling and
pulse buckling. The former is associated with the response
of structures to oscillatory loads and the latter relates to the with dynamic instability of
behavior of structures under pulse loads. Pulse buckling is
one critical condition where the structure undergoes
unacceptably large deformations under short duration.
The predominant force acting in shells erected in an aircraft
or spacecraft structure is axial compression which causes
buckling. Also, among all types of dynamic loading, the
response under short duration forces called impact loads, is
less investigated. Dynamic buckling has been studied
extensively for many years but studies on structure under
impact are very few. Fairly good numbers of studies are
available for shells made of isotropic materials under axial
impulsive compression. Coppa and Nash [1] conducted
studies on the dynamic buckling of shell structures made of
• Chitra V. is pursuing masters degree program in
structural engineering at College of Engineering ,
Trivandrum. E-mail:itzchitra.v@gmail.com
• Priyadarsini R.S. is working as assistant professor at
College of Engineering, Trivandrum, India. E-
mail: priyadarsini_rs@yahoo.com
ICICE-2013
agreement was recorded in results obtained in both cases.
Hutchinson and Budiansky [2] have conducted dynamic
imperfections in shells. The results of the work gave an
insight on the reduction of load carrying capacity under short
duration loading in case of both perfect and imperfect shells.
associated with axial impact dynamic loads on steel
cylindrical shells.The work investigated the propagation of
buckling waves under axial impact loads by reducing the
problem into eigen type and solving using Hamiltonian dual
equations.
Composite cylindrical shells are also studied for conditions
of dynamic buckling but most works considered loads in
lateral direction like hydrostatic pressure. Most of them
concentrated on dynamic buckling under long duration pulse
loading. Schokker et al. [4] carried out studies in relation
unstiffened and interior ring
stiffened shells under hydrostatic pressure. Shells made
of isotropic, orthotropic and anisotropic materials and the
response under pulse loads in long duration lateral pulse
loads was investigated. The occurrence of unbounded
response upon reaching the limiting conditions of dynamic
buckling was remarked in the work. Tanov and Tabiei [5]
conducted numerical studies on the behaviour of graphite
epoxy laminated shells under suddenly applied lateral
pressure having cross ply laminate configurations. The
length and thickness of the shell was varied and critical loads
were calculated. The results of the work revealed that load
duration has greater influence on the load carrying capacity
of the shell under suddenly applied conditions.
Studies on composite axisymmetric structures are very few
under axial impulsive loads. Bisagni and Zimmermann [6]
conducted buckling of fiber composite cylindrical shells
under axial compression with finite duration of time
analytically using commercially available finite element
codes. Bisagni [7] has carried out dynamic buckling of fiber
reinforced composite shells containing four plies under
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impulsive axial compression. In practical situations, the
numbers of plies are increased in order to reduce the effects
of coupling in laminated composites.
The objective of the present paper is to investigate the
behaviour of thin walled composite circular cylindrical shells
under impulsive axial compression. The problem is
numerically solved using the finite element software,
ABAQUS.
2 PROBLEM
2.1 Fibre Composite Cylindrical Shells
Laminated cylindrical shells made up of carbon fibre
reinforced plastics (CFRP) and consisting of eight plies
are used in the present study. Shells having a length (L) of
400 mm, mean diameter of 300 mm and a thickness (t)
of 1 mm, with a nominal radius(R) to thickness ratio (R/t)
of 150 are used in the present study. Two layup
sequences, [0°/90°/0°/90°/90°/0°/90°/0°] and [0°/
0°/60°/-60°/-60°/60°/0°/0°] are considered, where the 0°
corresponds to the meridional direction of the shell and the
stacking sequence is taken from outside to inside. Each ply
is 0.125 mm thick and has the material properties reported
in Table 1[8].
TABLE 1
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CFRP LAMINATE
The stacking sequence of plies in a laminated cylindrical
shell influences the coupling properties and consequently
the buckling strength of the laminate. Symmetric laminates
are used in order to avoid coupling properties. Angle-ply
laminates offer more shear stiffness than cross ply laminates
due to which they find more applications over other laminate
configurations [9]. This study aims at evaluating the
performance of cross-ply and angle-ply laminated
shells under axial impulsive loading. Hence,
configurations representing crossply sequence, [0°/90°/0°/
90°/90°/0°/90°/0°] and angle ply sequence [0°/0°/60°/-
60°/-60°/60°/0°/0°] were selected for the current study.
2.2 Methodology
The buckling analysis of the CFRP shell is carried out using
the finite element software, ABAQUS. ABAQUS is a
general purpose finite element program with linear static,
dynamic and non-linear analysis capabilities. At first,
buckling analysis of the shell subjected to static axial
compression is performed by linear static (eigen value)
analysis and nonlinear static method using ABAQUS/
Standard. A frequency analysis is also performed in order to
determine the natural frequency of the shell and hence the
natural period. The dynamic buckling analysis of shell under
impulsive loading is then carried out by explicit integration
scheme used in ABAQUS/Explicit. For impact loading, the
160
load of constant magnitude is suddenly applied with finite
duration. Different values of load duration, greater than and
less than the natural period of the shell are considered for
the present study. The dynamic buckling loads under axial
impact are calculated using the Budiansky-Roth criterion.
This approach is easily adapted to computational methods
such as finite element analyses. The dynamic buckling loads
thus obtained are compared with the static buckling loads.
2.3 Finite Element Model
Complete geometry of the cylinders are considered for the
modelling since number and shape of waves in longitudinal
and transverse direction is not known apriori to take
advantage of the symmetry to model part of the composite
cylinder. Cylindrical shells are done using 4-noded shell
elements, S4R having six degrees of freedom per node,
available in ABAQUS. They can be used for both static and
dynamic analyses. Mesh sensitivity analyses were conducted
and a model containing 13860 elements (180 elements in
the circumferential direction and 76 elements in the axial
direction) was chosen for further analysis taking into
account the compromise with computational time
and accuracy. All the six degrees of freedom, three
translations and three rotations, are suppressed at the bottom
end of the shell and only the axial translation is allowed at
the other end of the shell where the axial compressive load
is applied. Load is applied as uniformly distributed shell
edge load.
3 STATIC BUCKLING
Two different analyses namely linear and nonlinear static
analysis are carried out in the work. Linear buckling analysis
gives the theoretical buckling strength by linear shell
theories. The linear buckling strength will be greater than
the actual buckling strength since it doesnot account for the
nonlinear behaviour of shell. Hence, nonlinear analysis using
modified Riks procedure is also performed to find the actual
load carrying capacity of the shell. The values of buckling
loads from linear and nonlinear static analyses for two layups
are reported in Table 2. Static buckling modes of composite
cylinders with layups [0°/90°/0°/90°/90°/0°/90°/0°] and
[0°/0°/60°/-60°/-60°/60°/0°/0°] are presented in Fig.1.
TABLE 2
STATIC BUCKLING ANALYSIS FOR THE TWO
LAYUPS
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4 DYNAMIC BUCKLING UNDER IMPACT to 84 kN, there is a sudden change between the two
LOADS responses. This indicates the dynamic buckling condition
and the load average equal to 83 kN is regarded as the
Dynamic buckling due to impact load of constant magnitude dynamic buckling load of the shell [0°/90°/0°/90°/90°/0°/
applied for finite duration is investigated here. The 90°/0°] for that time duration. Using this criterion to estimate
Budiansky-Roth criterion is followed, where the equations the dynamic buckling loads, dynamic analyses are performed
of motion are solved for various values of the load parameter, for different time durations for both layups and the results
and thus obtaining the system responses, are adopted in are reported in Table 3. The dynamic buckling loads for
this study. The load value, at which there exists a sudden different time durations for both composite cylinders are
change in the responses, is called critical load for that presented in Fig. 4. The dynamic deformation of the shells
particular load duration. The response of the system is at T= 5ms are presented in Fig. 5.
monitored using displacements of selected points for small
values of loading parameter. Small oscillations are observed
about an equilibrium point at loads lower than the critical
condition. When the loading reaches its critical value, the
amplitude-time history curve experiences a sudden
jump. The lowest load where there is a sudden change in the
response is termed as critical buckling load for that
particular load duration.
In the present study, the axial compression in the form of
step pulse is applied as uniformly distributed shell edge load
having constant magnitude applied suddenly with finite
duration. The loading diagram is shown in Fig. 2. From
the frequency extraction (free vibration) analysis, it was
found that the lowest natural frequency of the shell is 427
Hz and hence the natural period of the system is around 2
ms. Based on this, five time durations of pulse loading
namely T= 1ms, 2.5ms, 5ms, 10ms and 15ms are considered.
Such a selection of load duration enables to understand the
Fig.3. Axial displacement for different load magnitudes on
behaviour of shell under impulsive axial loading for different
cylinder-[0°/90°/0°/90°/90°/0°/90°/0°] at T= 5 ms
durations greater than and less than the natural period of
shells. TABLE 3
DYNAMIC BUCKLING ANALYSIS FOR THE TWO
LAYUPS

a) Cylinder with axial loading b) Step pulse used for

loading
Fig.2. Model Geometry and Loading Diagram

To be able to get good results from the dynamic analyses,

the points for which displacements to be monitored, are
carefully chosen, otherwise the plots produced may be
rather obscure and confusing. Therefore, the axial
displacement at a unique point on the loaded end of the shell
is considered in this study. Fig.3 presents the axial
displacement of a point on the loaded end of the laminated
cylinder [0°/90°/0°/90°/90°/0°/90°/0°] subjected to
suddenly applied axial compression for duration of 5ms with
different load magnitudes. In this case, the curve Fig. 4. Dynamic Buckling Loads for different time
corresponding to 82 kN show regular response and the durations for cylinders with layups [0°/90°/0°/90°/90°/0°/
cylinder vibrates about its equilibrium position. From 82 90°/0°] and [0°/0°/60°/-60°/-60°/60°/0°/0°]
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5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Dynamic buckling of composite cylindrical shells under axial
impulsive loading for different time durations are presented
in the current study. Two layup sequences, [0°/90°/0°/90°/
90°/0°/90°/0°] and [0°/0°/60°/-60°/-60°/60°/0°/0°] were
considered in the study. Static and dynamic buckling loads
were calculated for the cylinders. The two buckling loads
were then compared for both the layups and are plotted for
different time durations as shown in Fig. 6.
Fig.6. Ratio of dynamic to static buckling load for different
time durations for cylinders with layups [0°/90°/0°/90°/
90°/0°/90°/0°] and [0°/0°/60°/-60°/-60°/60°/0°/0°]
For both the layups, the dynamic load values under impulsive
axial loading are higher than the static load for load durations
less than the natural period of shell. As the load duration
approaches the natural period of shell, a sudden decrease
in dynamic buckling loads are observed in both cylinders.
For durations higher than the natural period of the shell, the
dynamic buckling loads are less than the static ones,
thereafter the dynamic loads for different load duration
remain more or less the same. This phenomenon is due to
stress wave transmission between impacted ends and fixed
ends of the shells [6].
For cylinder with layup [0°/0°/60°/-60°/-60°/60°/0°/0°],
when the loading duration exceeds the natural period, the
load values continues to decrease below the corresponding
static values. Hence, cylinder with layup [0°/0°/60°/-60°/-
60°/60°/0°/0°] show more sensitivity to load duration than
162
[0°/90°/0°/90°/90°/0°/90°/0°] layup under impact loading
conditions.
In general shells experience dynamic buckling loads larger
than static buckling loads, if their duration is very short as
compared to the natural period of the system and less than
the static buckling load for longer durations. Hence, the ratio
between the dynamic buckling load and the static buckling
load is of practical importance as it gives a direct indication
of the load carrying capacity of the shells exposed to
suddenly applied load.
6 CONCLUSION
Composite circular cylindrical shells with two different
layups having same length to radius (L/R) ratio were
considered to study their behaviour under axial impact
loading. The equation of motion approach, Budiansky-Roth
criterion was adopted to calculate the buckling loads under
dynamic impact conditions. Dynamic buckling loads were
found to be larger than the static load values when time of
application of load is less than natural period of the structure
in both cylinders.When the load duration exceeds the natural
period of shell, the load values were found to fall below the
static load values in both the cylinders. This means that
taking static buckling loads as the design load for dynamic
problems might be unsafe under long duration impulse
loading. Also, the duration of impact have appreciable
influence on the buckling load of angle-ply laminates than
cross-ply laminates. Therefore, the behaviour of composite
shells under impact loads depends on the layup sequence of
laminates.
REFERENCES
[1] A.P. Coppa and W.A. Nash, “Dynamic Buckling of Shell
Structure Subject to Longitudinal Impact”, Technical
Documentary Report No. FDL-TDR-64-65, General Electrical
Co., Philadelphia, PA, 1964
[2] J.W. Hutchinson and B. Budiansky, “Dynamic Buckling
Estimates,” AIAA Journal, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 525-530,
Mar.1966.
[3] X.Xu, Y. Ma, C.W. Lim and H. Chu, “Dynamic Local and Global
Buckling of Cylindrical Shells under Axial Impact”,
Engineering Structures, vol.31, pp.1132-1140, 2009.
[4] A. Schokker, S. Sridharan and A. Kasagi, “Dynamic Buckling
of Composite Shells”, Computers & Structures, vol.59, no.1,
pp. 43-53, 1996.
[5] R. Tanov and A. Tabiei, “Static and Dynamic Buckling of
Laminated Composite Shells”, Proc. Fifth International LS-
DYNA Users Conference, Sept. 1998, South Field, MI.
[6] C. Bisagni and R. Zimmermann, “Buckling of Axially
Compressed Fiber Composite Cylindrical Shells due to
Impulsive Loading”, Proc. European Conference on Spacecraft
Structures, Materials and Mechanical Testing, Braunschweig
(Germany), pp.557-562, 1998.
[7] C. Bisagni, “ Dynamic Buckling of Fiber Composite Shells
under Impulsive Axial Compression”, Thin Walled Structures,
vol. 43, pp.499-514, 2005
[8] R.S. Priyadarsini, V. Kalyanaraman and S.M. Srinivasan,
“Numerical and Experimental Study of Buckling of Advanced
Fibere Composite Cylinders under Axial Compression”,
International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics,
vol.12, no.4, pages 1-25, 2012.
[9] Robert M.Jones, “Mechanics of Composite Materials”, McGraw
Hill Kogakusha, Washington D.C., 1975.
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Spline Finite Strip Bending Analysis of Functionally

Graded Plate using Power-law Function
Parvathy U, Beena K.P.
Abstract—Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs) are widely used in many structural applications because of their high performance of
heat resistant and also due to the superior properties they posseess compared to homogeneous material composed of similar constituents.
Closed form solutions are already available for the analysis of plated FGM structures for simple loading and boundary conditions. Hence
here the authors have developed an approximate solution for FGM plates using Spline Finite Strip Method (SFSM) which can be extended
to complicated boundary conditions and loading. Power law idealization is used to show the variation of Young’s moduli along the thickness
direction. The deflections are obtained using Classical Plate Theory.

Index Terms— Classical Plate Theory, Exponential function, Functionally Graded Material, Power-law function, Sigmoid function, Spline
Finite Strip Method, B3 splines
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION 2 FUNCTIONALLY GRADED MATERIALS

F
unctionally graded materials (FGM) are the advanced
materials in the family of engineering composites made
of two or more constituent phases with continuous and
smoothly varying composition. These advanced materials
with engineering gradients of composition, structure and/or
specific properties in the preferred direction/orientation are
superior to homogeneous material composed of similar
constituents [1]. Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are
widely used in many structural applications such as
aerospace, nuclear, civil and automotive because of their high
performance of heat resistant. The concept of FGM, initially
developed for super heat resistant materials to be used in
space planes or nuclear fusion reactors, is now of interest to
designers of functional materials for energy conversion,
dental and orthopaedic implants, sensors and thermo-
generators and wear resistant coatings. FGMs are also used
for joining dissimilar materials.
An FGM can be prepared by continuously changing the
constituents of multi-phase materials in a pre-determined
volume fraction of the constituent material. Due to the
continuous change in material properties of an FGM, the
interfaces between two materials disappear but the
characteristics of two or more materials of the composite
are preserved. Subsequently the stress singularity at the
interface of a composite can be eliminated and thus the
bonding strength is enhanced [2], [3]. Because of the wide
material variations and applications of FGMs, many research
works have already been done for the bending and buckling
analysis.
In this study, the Spline Finite Strip bending analysis of
PFGM using the power-law idealisation technique is
investigated using Classical Plate Theory. The material
properties are varied continuously in the thickness direction
according to a power-law distribution. The results are
compared with the results of the closed form solution
developed from Fourier Series Expansion by Chi &
Chung[2].
————————————————
• Parvathy U is currently pursuing masters degree program in civil
structural engineering in University of Kerala, India, PH-
04712430903. E-mail: paru0903@gmail.com
• Beena K.P. is currently working as Asst. Professor in civil structural
engineering in College of Engineering, Trivandrum, India, PH-
04712515628. E-mail: kpbeena@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
2.1 General
FGMs are microscopically non-homogenous materials in
which the mechanical properties vary smoothly and
continuously from one surface to the other. This is achieved
by gradually varying the volume fraction of the constituent
materials. Typically these materials are made from a mixture
of ceramics and metal or a combination of different metals.
The ceramic constituent of the material provides the high-
performance resistance due to its low thermal conductivity.
The ductile metal constituent, on the other hand, prevents
fracture caused by stresses due to high temperature gradient
in a very short period of time. They are now being regarded
as one of the most promising candidates for future intelligent
composites in many engineering structures.
2.2 Mathematical Idealisation Techniques of FGM
Although FGMs are highly heterogeneous, it will be very
useful to idealize them as continua with their mechanical
properties changing smoothly with respect to the spatial
coordinates. The homogenization schemes are necessary to
simplify their complicated heterogeneous microstructures
inorder to analyse FGMs in an efficient manner. A typical
FGM represents a particulate composite with a prescribed
distribution of volume fractions of constituent phases. The
material properties are generally assumed to follow gradation
throughout the thickness in a continuous manner.The
Poisson’s ratios of the FGM plates are assumed to be
constant, but their Young’s moduli vary continuously
throughout the thickness direction according to the volume
fraction of constituents defined by power-law (PFGM),
sigmoid (SFGM), or exponential function (EFGM). Power-
law and exponential functions are commonly used to
describe the variations of material properties of FGMs.
However, in both power-law and exponential functions, the
stress concentrations appear in one of the interfaces in which
the material is continuous but rapidly changing.These three
types of variations/gradations are popular for the analysis
of material properties.
3 SPLINE FINITE STRIP METHOD
Although closed form analytical method may be possible
in simple cases of idealized structure and loading, various
numerical approaches like FEM, CFSM, SFSM etc. are
usually resorted to complex systems and loading conditions.
The Finite Element Method (FEM) has been extensively used
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for the analysis of plated structures. The computational

E ( z ) = g ( z ) E 1 + [1 − g ( z )]E 2 (2)
requirement of FEM, in terms of storage space and time is
very high, especially in linear prismatic members wherein where E1 and E2 are the Young’s moduli of the lowest (z = h/
some of the elements have small width. Hence, this method 2) and top surfaces (z = ”h/2) of the FGM plate, respectively.
has only limited application in the stability and non-linear
analysis of linear prismatic members modeled using plates
and shells, especially when iterative non-linear analysis is
needed, as in optimum design. The Classical Finite Strip
Method (CFSM), on the other hand, allows more efficient
modeling of such prismatic members using strips as elements
along the length of the member. This method works well for
simple boundary conditions (simply supported, clamped,
etc.), but fails to effectively deal with complex boundary
conditions and partial and concentrated loads, since the
trigonometric functions used to model displacements in the
longitudinal direction are infinitely continuous. The
continuity and discontinuity requirements can be satisfied
by replacing the classical trigonometric function by a spline Fig. 1. A typical ceramic metal Functionally Graded Plate.
function as is done in Spline Finite Strip Method (SFSM).
The spline function is defined as a piecewise polynomial of 4.2 Stiffness matrix formulation using classical plate
nth degree which is smoothly connected to the adjoining theory
spline functions which has n-1 continuous derivatives. There
is variety of splines namely natural spline, cardinal spline, The simplest Equivalent Single Layer (ESL) laminate theory
basic spline etc. B3 spline (cubic basic) is most common is the Classical Plate Theory which is an extension of
and is continuous over only four consecutive sections. Equal Kirchoff’s Plate Theory. Here both transverse shear and
and unequal spaced spline series have been used by many transverse normal stresses are neglected. The deformationis
researchers to analyse thin and thick plate structures. The is entirely due to bending and in-plane stretching. The normal
unequal splines are more efficient when the structure is stresses óx, óy and shear stress ôxy acting in the XY plane are
subjected to concentrated loads and reactions, when the derived. The stress resultants are obtained by integrating
support of members are either isolated or at irregular stress along the thickness. Thus the axial forces and the
locations and when cut-outs are present. bending moments are obtained in terms of coefficients Aij,
Spline finite strip has all the advantages of classical finite Bij and Cij.
strip and there are additional merits also. The trigonometric
series that is used in Classical Finite Strip Method (CFSM)
is not the right approximation to model the bending
behaviour. Since, the series being infinite in nature the
accuracy will depend on number of terms chosen and (3)
demands a harmonic analysis. In addition, these series cannot
be applied to generalized boundary conditions and loading
conditions. The B 3 spline series do not suffer these
shortcomings of CFSM. The B3 spline series is a piecewise
cubic polynomial, which is an ideal approximation of the
bending behaviour. Another property of B3 spline is its
localized behaviour that makes the stiffness matrix highly
banded. Owing to this property, incorporating the boundary (4)
conditions is easy, and only three splines adjacent to the
constraint need to be modified.
They are the stiffness matrix coefficients which are obtained
4 PROBLEM FORMULATION by the integration of material properties of the FGM plate
4.1 Power law idealisation and are defined as shown:
E ( z )υ ( z )
h/2
A typical ceramic-metal FGM plate is shown in Fig. 1.The
volume fraction of the P-FGM is assumed to obey a power , A12 = ∫
−h / 2
1 − υ ( z)2 ,
dz (5)
law function:
h/2
zE ( z )υ ( z )
h/2
zE ( z )
∫
p
⎛ z + h/2⎞
g( z) = ⎜ ⎟ (1)
B11 =
1 −
dz
υ ( z)2 ,
B12 = ∫
−h / 2
1 − υ ( z)2
dz ,
−h / 2
⎝ h ⎠
h/2
z 2 E ( z) z 2 E ( z )υ ( z )
h/2
where p is the material parameter and h is the thickness of
the plate. C11 = ∫ 1 − υ ( z ) 2 dz ,
−h / 2
C12 = ∫ 1 − υ ( z ) 2 dz ,
−h / 2
Once the local volume fraction g(z) has been defined, the
E( z) ⎛ 1 − υ ( z) ⎞
h/2
material properties of a P-FGM can be determined by the
rule-of-mixture. A66 = ∫
−h / 2
⎜
1 − υ ( z)2 ⎝ 2 ⎠
⎟dz

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kg/cm2, E1/E2=3 for PFGM. The SFSM results shows good

zE ( z ) ⎛ 1 − υ ( z ) ⎞
h/2
B66 = ∫ ⎜ ⎟dz agreement with the closed form solutions given by Chi&
−h / 2
1 − υ ( z)2 ⎝ 2 ⎠ Chung (2006) which is shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 for p=0.5
and p=2 respectively.
z 2 E ( z) ⎛ 1 − υ ( z) ⎞
h/2
C 66 = ∫
−h / 2
⎜
1 − υ ( z)2 ⎝ 2 ⎠
⎟dz

The effect of Poisson’s ratio in causing deformation of the

plate is negligible. Hence the Poisson’s ratio is assumed as
constant. On substituting (2) in (5), the stiffness matrix
coefficients for PFGM plate is obtained as

h ⎛ pE 2 + E1 ⎞
A11 = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ (6)
1 −υ 2 ⎝ p +1 ⎠

h2 ⎛ ( E1 − E 2 ) p ⎞ Fig. 3. Discretisation of Functionally Graded Plate.

B11 = ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
1 −υ 2 ⎝ 2( p + 1)( p + 2) ⎠ Fig. 3 shows the discretisatisation of one quarter of the
Functionally Graded Plate into different strips. The knots
h3 ⎛ 12( E1 − E 2 ) ⎞ and nodal lines present in the plate are clearly depicted in it.
C11 = ⎜E −
2 ⎜ 2
⎟
12(1 − υ ) ⎝ ( p + 2)( p + 3) ⎟⎠

Similarly all the other coefficients can be obtained. These

stiffness matrix coefficients are used to derive the
equilibrium equations which in turn gives the deflection of
the FGM plate subjected to uniformly distributed load.
4 RESULTS
4.1 Square plate subjected to uniformly distributed
load
A square FGM plate of width to thickness ratio 50 is
considered. The plate is simply supported on its four sides
as shown in Fig.2 and is subjected to a uniformly distributed
load of 1 kg/cm2. The Poisson’s ratio of the FGM plate is
assumed to be constant in the whole plate. õ = 0.3. The
Young’s modulus at the bottom surface of the FGM plate,
E1 is 2.1x106, while that at the top surface of the FGM plate, Fig. 4. Dimensionless deflection (w/h) of PFGM plate
E2 varies with the ratio of E1/E2. The Young’s modulus at along the x direction for E1/E2=3 & p=0.5.
any point on the FGM plate varies continuously in the
thickness direction based on the volume fraction of the
constituents.

Fig. 2. Configuration of simply supported square FG

plate.
Due to the symmetry about the x- and y-axes, only one quarter
of the full plate is considered for analysis. In the finite strip
method, 5 strips in the longitudinal direction are used to
simulate the variation of deflection of the FGM plate.
Fig. 5. Dimensionless deflection (w/h) of PFGM plate
The SFSM results are obtained for values of E1=2.1x106 kg/ along the x direction for E1/E2=3 & p=2.
cm2, E2=0.7x106 kg/cm2, a=b=100cm, h=2cm, õ=0.3, q0=1
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SFSM results obtained for deflection with varying E1/E2
ratios for different x/a values for the PFGM plate by
assuming the value of material parameter ‘p’ as 2. Fig. 6
shows the variation of E1/E2 values for both theoretical as
well as Spline Finite Strip Method. This shows that both the
results agree very well with maximum error less than 5%.
Fig. 6. Dimensionless deflection (w/h) of PFGM plate
along the direction for different E1/E2
5 CONCLUSION
The Spline Finite Strip Method results using the power-law
function agrees very well with the theoretical result
developed for the deflection of the PFGM plate under
uniformly distributed load. The results lead to the following
conclusions:
1) For values of ‘p=0.5’, the PFGM shows largest stiffness
and gives less deflection. But for other values of ‘p’
stiffness is found to reduce causing increased deflection.
2) As the value of ‘p’ increases the stiffness of the plate
decreases due to the rapid variation of Young’s Modulus
towards the lower surface.
3) The more E1/E2, the larger deflection ‘w’, because of less
stiffness of the PFGM plate for larger E1/E2.
REFERENCES
[1] D.K. Jha, Tarun Kant, and R.K. Singh, “A Critical Review of
Recent Research on Functionally Graded Plates”, Composite
Structures, submitted for publication, 2012.
[2] Shyang-Ho Chi and Yen-Ling Chung, “Mechanical Behaviour
of Functionally Graded Material Plates Under Transverse Load-
Part I, Analysis”, International Journal of Solids and Structures,
Vol. 43, No. 13, pp. 3657-3674, 2006.
[3] Shyang-Ho Chi and Yen-Ling Chung, “Mechanical Behaviour
of Functionally Graded Material Plates Under Transverse Load-
Part II, Numerical Results”, International Journal of Solids
and Structures, Vol. 43, No. 13, pp. 3675-3691, 2006.
[4] Bouazza Mokhtar, Tounsi Abedlouahed, Adda Bedia El Abbas,
and Megueni Abdelkader, “Buckling Analysis of Functionally
Graded Plates with Simply Supported Edges”, Leonardo Journal
of Sciences, No. 15, pp. 21-32, July-December 2009.
166
[5] M. Kashtalyan, “Three Dimensional Elasticity Solution for
Bending of Functionally Graded Rectangular Plates”, European
Journal of Mechanics and Solids, Vol. 23, pp.853-864, 2004.
[6] J.N. Reddy, “Mechanics of Laminated Composite Plates”, CRC
Press, New York, 1997.
[7] Serge Abrate, “Functionally Graded Plates Behave Like
Homogenous Plates”, Composites Part B: Engineering, Vol. 39,
No. 1, pp. 151-158, 2008.
[8] Kyung-Su Na and Ji-Hwan Kim, “Three-Dimensional Thermal
Buckling Analysis of Functionally Graded Materials”,
Composites: Part B Engineering, Vol. 35, pp.429-43, 2004.
[9] Huu-Tai Thai and Dong-Ho Choi, “An Efficient and Simple
Refined Theory for Buckling Analysis of Functionally Graded
Plates”, Applied Mathematical Modelling, Vol. 36, pp.1008-
1022,2012
[10] S.A.M. Ghannadpour, H.R. Ovesy, and M. Nassirnia, “Buckling
Analysis of Functionally Graded Plates under Thermal Loadings
using the Finite Strip Method”, Computer and Structue, article
in press.
[11] B.A. Samsam Shariat, R. Javaheri, and M.R. Eslami, “Buckling
of Imperfect Functionally Graded Plates under In-plane
Compressive Loading”, Thin Walled Structures, Vol. 43,
pp.1020-1036, 2005.
[12] B.A. Samsam Shariat and M.R. Eslami, “Buckling of Thick
Functionally Graded Plates under Mechanical and Thermal
Loads”, Composite Structures, Vol. 78, pp.433-439, 2007.
[13] Majid Badiey and M.A. Kouchakzadeh, “Buckling of a
Functionally Graded Plate (FGP) under Shear and In-plane
Directional Loading”, 27 th International Congress of the
Aeronautical Sciences, 2010.
[14] Tsung-Lin-Wu, K.K. Shukla and Jin H. Huang, “Post-Buckling
Analysis of Functionally Graded Rectangular Plates”, Composite
Structures, Vol. 81, pp. 1-10, 2007.
[15] S. Wang and D.J. Dawe, “Spline Finite Strip Analysis of the
Buckling and Vibration of Composite Prismatic Plate
Structures”, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, Vol.
39, No. 10, pp. 1161-1180, 1997.
[16] S. Wang and D.J. Dawe, “Spline FSM Postbuckling Analysis of
Shear-Deformable Rectangular Laminates”, Thin-Walled
Structures, Vol. 34, No.2, pp. 163-178, 1999.
[17] H. Sheikh and M. Mukhopadhyay, “Geometric Nonlinear
Analysis of Stiffened Plates by the Spline Finite Strip Method”,
Computers & Structures, Vol. 76, No.6, pp. 765-785, 2000.
[18] R. Lafore, Object Oriented Programming in MICROSOFT C++,
Galgotia Publications Pvt Ltd, NewDelhi, 2005.
[19] C.S. Krishnamoorthy, Finite Element Analysis, Theory and
Programming, Second Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing
Company Limited, New Delhi, 1987.
[20] J.H. Ahlberg, E.N. Nilson and J.L. Walsh, The theory of Splines
and Their Applications, Academic Press, New York, 1967.
[21] K.J. Bathe, Finite Element Procedures, Prentice Hall of India
Private Limited, NewDelhi, 1997.
[22] E. Balagurusamy, Object Oriented Programming with C++,
Second Edition, Tata McGrawHill Publishing Company Limited,
NewDelhi, 2005.
[23] Y.K. Cheung and L.G. Tham, Finite Strip Method, CRC Press,
New York, 1998.
[24] Y. K. Cheung, Finite Strip Method in Structural Analysis,
Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1976.
[25] P.M. Prenter, Splines and Variational Methods, John Wiley and
Sons, NewYork, 1975.
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Numerical Modeling of Rectangular Concrete-

Filled Steel Tubular Short Columns
Heaven Singh, P.K. Gupta
Abstract— This paper presents a numerical investigation into the behavior of rectangular concrete filled steel tubular (CFT) short columns
loaded in axial compression. Nonlinear finite-element analysis is performed for the compression process using commercial software ABAQUS
6.9 [1]. A total of 16 specimens of different steel tube sizes, wall thickness, length and filled with normal as well as high strength concrete
are chosen for modeling from the available literature. The proposed model is validated by comparing its results with those of the corresponding
experimental specimens. It is observed that the computational model is able to map the deformed shapes and the load deformation pattern
of the CFT columns across different column sizes and filled with different grades of concrete. A good agreement is also observed between
the experimental and predicted peak axial load capacities

Index Terms— ABAQUS, Axial Compression, CFT column, Confinement, Finite element, Peak axial load, Steel tube
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION square or rectangular columns. A finite element (FEM)
analysis was also performed for these samples using the

C
oncrete filled steel tubular (CFT) columns are a new
type of structural member which are being extensively
used across the world in construction of high-rise
buildings, bridges etc. These compression members show
higher axial load capacity, larger energy absorption, higher
initial stiffness and better ductility than the conventional
RC columns. These advantages are primarily due to the
composite action between steel and concrete. The steel tube
also acts as a formwork and supports the erection loads, thus
reducing the overall cost [2].
In a CFT member, the confinement provided by the steel
tube to the concrete core causes a triaxial stress state in
concrete which is the main source of the enhanced
compressive strength of the tubular columns. Many studies
have been carried out to investigate the composite action in
the CFT columns. Knowles and Park [3] observed that for
circular columns, the peak load capacity was higher than
the summation of individual load capacities of steel and
concrete and could b predicted using the tangent modulus
approach. A detailed study by Tomii et al [4] on 268 CFT
columns concluded that the short columns failed mainly by
crushing of concrete. Further, the circular and octagonal
CFST columns were found to exhibit strain hardening or
perfectly plastic post-yield behavior. But for square CFST
columns, strain softening was the failure mode after the
critical load was reached. Shakir- K halil [5] tested nine 3 m
long in eccentric loading and twelve short rectangular
specimens in concentric loading. Theyconcluded that BS
5400 [6] conservatively predicted the ultimate capacity of
short columns in uniaxial bending about minor axis.
Schneider [7] tested fourteen specimens to study the effect
of tube shape and steel tube thickness on the composite
column strength. It was observed that circular columns
provided higher post-yield axial ductility and stiffness than
• Heaven Singh is currently pursuing PhD degree program
in civil engineering in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Roorkee, India. E-mail : heavensingh216@gmail.com
commercial code ABAQUS. Hu et al [8] also used the FEM
program ABAQUS to simulate the behavior of composite
columns in axial compression. Circular and square CFT
members from Schneider [7] and Huang et al [9] were
analysed. A good agreement was obtained between the
numerical results and their experimental counterparts. Han
[10] tested 24 rectangular CFT columns in compression. He
concluded that the ultimate load capacity was influenced by
confining factor and aspect ratio. Liu et al [11] tested 22
high-stength concrete filled CFT columns to failure under
axial compression. These columns were found to present a
similar failure behavior to the normal strength concrete filled
specimens. Liu and Gho [12] also tested 26 high-strength
rectangular columns and reported favorable ductility
performance for all specimens. It was also observed that the
local buckling in steel tube occurred firson the broader faces.
From the review of literature, it is clear that there is a lack
of numerical FEM based model the experimental
investigations for therectangular CFT columns. Therefore, this
paper primarily aims to present a numerical model for the
analysis of such specimens. The model is then validated by
comparison with some select experimental results from
literature.
2 NUMERICAL MODELING METHOD
In a CFT member, the contact between steel tube and concrete
causes composite action between the two members. The
radial lateral confining pressure exerted by the steel tube on
the concrete induces confinement in concrete. A biaxial state
of stress is also induced in steel, which may cause some
reduction in its axial load capacity. Thus any numerical model
that intends to capture the behavior of CFT in compression
must use suitable constitutive model for the steel tube and
concrete.Further, to effectively replicate the inherent
advantages of CFT, it is necessary that the composite action
between steel and concrete be very carefully modeled.
2.1 Material Modeling

• P.K. Gupta is currently an Associate Professor in In the proposed model, the steel tube is modeled as an elastic-
Department of civil engineering in IIT Roorkee,India. E- perfectly plastic material. The poisson ratio for steel is taken
mail: spramod_3@yahoo.com as 0.3. The values of Young’s modulus Es and yield strength

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fy of the steel tube for different specimens given in Table 1 difference between the experimental and ABAQUS peak
are used. Von-Mises yield criterion is used to define the yield load capacities. The model must also be able to successfully
surface for steel. capture the deformed shape of the composite member.The
The compressive strength of concrete is enhanced by the results of simulations for different authors are presented.
confinement provided by the steel casing. The confined 3.1 Schneider [7]
concrete model adopted by Hu et al [8] is used to define the
stress-strain behaviour for concrete in the modeling Schneider [7] tested six rectangular specimens (R1 through
procedure. As per the method, the lateral confining pressure R6). All these specimens had a Length (L) to width (B) ratio
fl is calculated as: (L/B) of 4 The specimens were filled with normal strength
concrete. In the present study, the samples R2, R4, R5 and
fl / fy = 0.055048- 0.001885(B/t) (17 B/t 29.2) (1) R6 were simulated. The dimensions and other details of the
fl / f y = 0 (29.2 B/t 150) (2) specimens are shown in Table 1(see Appendix). Fig. 1
represents the load deformation behavior (experimental vs
fcc= fc+ k1fl (3)
ABAQUS) of some of these samples. A comparison of peak
where fc is the unconfined cylinder strength of concrete, fcc load capacities of all the samples is presented in Table 2(see
is the confined strength of concrete and k1 is a constant. A Appendix).
value of 4.1 is used for k1 based on Richart et al [13]. B
denotes the larger outer lateral dimension of the steel tube,
while t represents the wall thickness of the tube.
Further, the Drucker Prager plasticity model inset in
ABAQUS was adopted for specimens to describe the plastic
stress strain behavior of the confined concrete.
2.2 Interface Modeling
The correct simulation of composite action between concrete
and steel tube is the single most important factor guiding
the behavior of the CFT column. To model this interaction,
the normal contact between the two materials is provided
using friction, with the inner surface of the stiffer steel tube
serving as the rigid surface and the outer surface of the
concrete core as the slave surface. The coefficient of friction
between the two surfaces is chosen as 0.25. Hard Contact is
provided between the two surfaces, which allows the
pressure to be transmitted across the two surfaces only when 3.2 Liu et al [11]
there is actual contact among them, while causing the
surfaces to separate under the influence of a tensile force. Two samples, viz. C6-1 and C9-2 tested by Liu et al [11]
were simulated. The sample properties are shown in Table
2.3 Meshing 1(see Appendix). Fig. 2 compares the experimental and
The Abaqus Standard module inset in ABAQUS is used for ABAQUS load-strain pattern for both the samples. From
all analytical modeling purposes. The Abaqus Standard the results, it is clear that the numerical model is adequate
module consists of a comprehensive element library that to capture the compression behavior of the specimens. The
provides different types of elements catering to different experimental and numerical peak load values, as shown in
situations. Trials were performed with various element types Table 2(see Appendix), also display good agreement with
such as Quad (C3D4), Wedge (C3D6) and Brick (C3D8). each other.
The C3D8 brick elements were found to be suitable for
meshing both concrete and steel tube based on the accuracy
as well as the computationa effort required.
2.4 Loading and Boundary conditions
The steel tube and the concrete core are left completely
unrestrained in all directions to allow any possible
deformation in the column. A rigid plate is attached at both
the top and bottom of the model to simulate the platens in
an actual testing machine.The bottom rigid plate is fixed
completely using the encastre boundary condition applied
at its reference node, while the loading was applied on the
top rigid plate through displacement control (to simulate
the strain controlled test).
3 RESULTS AND VALIDATION OF MODEL
The proposed model was used to numerically simulate 3.3 Liu et al [12]
different rectangular CFT columns from literature. The Six samples tested by Liu et al [11] were simulated. The
accuracy of the numerical model is evaluated based on the specimen labels and properties are shown in Table 1(see
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Appendix). Fig. 3 compares the experimental and
numerically obtained deformed shapes for a typical
rectangular specimen A5-1. Fig. 4 compares the experimental
and ABAQUS load-strain behavior of these samples, while.
It is clear that the numerical model agrees well with the
experimental results for both these parameters.
Fig. 3 Comparison of experimental deformed shape with
deformed shape from ABAQUS for a typical column A5-1
3.4 Han [10]
Five samples tested by Han [10] were simulated. The
specimen labels and properties are shown in Table 1(see
Appendix). Fig. 5 compares the experimental and ABAQUS
load-strain behavior of the samples rc6-1 and rc11-1. The
peak axial load capacities for all the simulated specimens
are shown in Table 2(see Appendix). From the table, it is
clear that the load values obtained from ABAQUS generally
show a good correlation with their experimental counterparts.
4 CONCLUSION
A nonlinear FEM based model has been developed using
ABAQUS for the numerical simulation of rectangular CFT
specimens. The proposed model is validated by comparing
its output with the corresponding experimental data available
in literature. The results (tabulated in Table 2) show that the
proposed model is capable of reproducing the load-
deformation behavior and deflected shape of the composite
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specimens. The model is found to work equally well for steel
tubes filled with normal as well as high strength concrete,
with the load capacities predicted by ABAQUS Pabq generally
varying within ±5% of the corresponding experimental value
Pexp.The average v
-alue of Pabq / Pexp was obtained as 0.954, which indicates a
good corr
-elation between the experimental and numerically simulated
results.
5 REFERENCES
[1] ABAQUS 6.9 Documentation, ABAQUS User’s and Analysis
User’s Manual 2009, Providence R.I
[2] N.E.Shanmugam and B.Lakshmi, “State of the art report on steel-
concrete composite columns,” Journal of Constructional Steel
Research ,vol. 57 no.10, pp 1041-1080, Oct. 2007
[3] R.B. Knowles and R. Park,” Strength of concrete filled steel tubular
columns,” Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 95, no.12, pp
2565- 87, Dec.1969
[4] M. Tomii, K. Yoshimura, Y. Morishita, “Experimental studies on
concrete-filled steel tubular stub columns under concentric
loading,” Proc. of the In ternational Colloquium on Stability of
Structures under Static & Dynamic Loads. Washington: SSRC/
ASCE; pp. 718–41, 1977.
[5] H. Shakir-Khalil , M. Mouli, “ Further tests on concrete-filled
rectangular hollow-section columns,” The Structural Engineer,
vol. 68, no. 20, pp 405–13, 1990
[6] BS5400 Steel. Concrete and composite bridges: Part 5: Code of
practice for design ofcomposite bridges, London: British Standards
Institution, 1979
[7] S.P. Schneider, “Axially loaded concrete-filled steel tubes,” Journal
of Structural Engineering, ASCE, vol.124, no. 10, pp 1125-38,
Oct. 1998
[8] H-T Hu et al. “Nonlinear analysis of axially loaded concrete-filled
tubes with confinement effect,” Journal of Structural Engineering,
ASCE, vol.129, no. 10, pp 1322-29, Oct. 2003
[9] C. Huang et al., “Axial load behaviour of Stiffened concrete-filled
Steel columns,” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, vol.
128, no. 9, pp 1222-1230, Sept. 2002
[10] L-H. Han, “Tests on stub columns of concrete-filled RHS
sections,” Journal of Constructional Steel Resarch , vol. 58, no.
3, pp. 353-72, March 2002
[11] D. Liu, W-N. Gho, J. Yuan, “Ultimate capacity of high-strength
rectangular concrete-filled steel hollow section stub columns,”
Jour nal of Construc tional Steel Resarch , vol. 59, no. 12, pp.
1499-1515, Dec. 2003
[12] D. Liu, W-N. Gho, “Axial load behaviour of high-strength
rectangular concrete-filled steel tubular stub columns,” Thin-
Walled Structures, vol. 43, no. 8, pp 1131-42, Aug. 2005
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APPENDIX

TABLE 1
GEOMETRIC DETAILS AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF SIMULATED SPECIMENS

Specimen Label Tested by B (mm) H (mm) t (mm) B/H B/t L (mm) fc (MPa) fy (MPa) Es (GPa)
R2 Schneider (1998) 152.8 76.5 4.47 2.0 34.18 611 26.044 383 213.59
R4 152.7 102.8 4.57 1.5 33.41 610 23.805 365 206.01
R5 151.4 101.3 5.72 1.5 26.47 606 23.805 324 204.63
R6 152.37 102.13 7.34 1.5 20.73 609 23.805 358 205.32
rc4-1 Han (2002) 150 135 2.86 1.1 52.45 450 59.30* 228 182
rc6-1 100 75 2.86 1.3 34.97 300 59.30* 228 182
rc8-1 140 105 2.86 1.3 48.95 420 59.30* 228 182
rc10-1 160 120 2.86 1.3 55.95 480 59.30* 194 194
rc11-1 130 85 2.86 1.5 45.45 390 59.30* 228 182
C6-1 Liu et al (2003) 119.6 80.6 4.18 1.5 28.61 360 60.8 550 207
C9-2 160.7 80.5 4.18 2.0 38.45 480 72.1 550 207
A-4-1 Liu et al (2004) 130 100 5.80 1.3 22.41 390 83 300 203
A-5-1 130 100 5.80 1.3 22.41 390 106 300 203
A-8-1 180 100 5.80 1.8 31.03 300 106 300 203
A-10-1 150 100 4.00 1.5 37.50 390 55 495 206
A-14-1 190 100 4.00 1.9 47.50 390 55 495 206

TABLE 2
COMPARISON OF NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Specimen Tested by B/H B/t fc Exp. Peak Axial Load Pexp ABAQUS Peak Axial Load Pabq Pabq /
Label (MPa) (KN) (KN) Pexp
R2 Schneider 2.0 34.18 26.044 1006 1021.54 1.015
R4 (1998) 1.5 33.41 23.805 1224 1164.06 0.951
R5 1.5 26.47 23.805 1335 1306.52 0.979
R6 1.5 20.73 23.805 1691 1629.69 0.964
rc4-1 Han (2002) 1.1 52.45 59.30* 1420 1188.09 0.837
rc6-1 1.3 34.97 59.30* 640 560.79 0.876
rc8-1 1.3 48.95 59.30* 1044 862.55 0.826
rc10-1 1.3 55.95 59.30* 1820 1607.87 0.883
rc11-1 1.5 45.45 59.30* 760 677.04 0.890
C6-1 Liu et al (2003) 1.5 28.61 60.8 1560 1541.43 0.988
C9-2 2.0 38.45 72.1 1820 1758.22 0.966
A-4-1 Liu et al (2004) 1.3 22.41 83 1601 1655.27 1.034
A-5-1 1.3 22.41 106 1854 1903.52 1.027
A-8-1 1.8 31.03 106 2287 2459.26 1.075
A-10-1 1.5 37.50 55 1815 1732.34 0.954
A-14-1 1.9 47.50 55 2038 2060.04 1.010
Average 0.954
Standard deviation 0.07328

* indicates the compressive strength of 150 mm cube; it must be noted that all other fc values represent unconfined cylinder strength of
concrete

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Performance Assessment of Sandwich

Structures with Debonds and Dents
Anju Mohanan, K.R. Pradeep , K.P. Narayanan
Abstract -A sandwich construction is a special form of the laminated composite consisting of light weight core, sandwiched between two
stiff thin face sheets. Due to high stiffness to weight ratio, sandwich construction is widely adopted in aerospace industries. As a process
dependent bonded structure, the most severe defects associated with sandwich construction are debond (skin core bond failure) and dent
(locally deformed skin associated with core crushing). Reasons for debond may be attributed to initial manufacturing flaws or in service
loads and dent can be caused by tool drops or impacts by foreign objects. This paper presents an evaluation on the performance of honeycomb
sandwich cantilever beam with the presence of debond or dent, using layered finite element models. Dent is idealized by accounting core
crushing in the core thickness along with the eccentricity of the skin. Debond is idealized using multilaminate modeling at debond location
with contact element between the laminates. Vibration and buckling behavior of metallic honeycomb sandwich beam with and without
damage are carried out. Buckling load factor, natural frequency, mode shape and modal strain energy are evaluated using finite element
package ANSYS 13.0. Study shows that debond affect the performance of the structure more severely than dent. Reduction in the fundamental
frequencies due to the presence of dent or debond is not significant for the case considered. But the debond reduces the buckling load factor
significantly. Dent of size 8-20% of core thickness shows 13% reduction in buckling load capacity of the sandwich column. But debond of
the same size reduced the buckling load capacity by about 90%. This underscores the importance of detecting these damages in the initiation
level itself to avoid catastrophic failures. Influence of the damages on fundamental frequencies, mode shape and modal strain energy are
examined. Effectiveness of these parameters as a damage detection tool for sandwich structure is also assessed.

Keywords- Buckling, Debond Dent, Finite Element Method, Frequency, Honeycomb and Sandwich Cantilever Beam.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION

S
andwich structures consist of two thin, stiff and strong
face sheets (skin sheets) attached to the top and bottom
side of a thick, light weight, low modulus core.
Generally face sheets are adhesively bonded to the core to
obtain load transfer between the components. The faces will
act together to form an efficient stress couple or resisting
moment counteracting the external bending moment. The
core resist shear and stabilize the faces against the buckling
and wrinkling. The bond between the faces and the core
must be strong enough to resist the shear and tensile stress
set up between them. A typical honeycomb sandwich panel
is as shown in Fig. 1. Sandwich constructions are used almost
in every industrial sector ranging from buildings to aerospace
applications because of their low density, high specific
stiffness and strength. Strength and stiffness of honeycomb
sandwich structure are reduced by the presence of debond
and dent. As a process dependent bonded structure, the most
severe defects associated with sandwich construction are
debond and dent, where debond is the bond failure between
skin and core and dent is local deformation of skin associated
with core crushing. One of the reason for debond may be
large dissimilarities in the properties of the constituent skin
and the core materials. Debond also may occur due to the
initial manufacturing flaws and inter-laminar stress created
by the impact load or eccentricities in structural load paths.
Dent can be caused by tool drops or impacts by foreign
objects, birds etc.
• Anju Mohanan, Department of Ship Technology, Cochin
University of Science & Technology, Kochi, Kerala. India.
• K.R. Pradeep, Honeycomb Product Development Division, Vikram
• Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Trivandrum, Kerala. India,
Ph: 0471 2562711, E- Mail: kr_pradeep@vssc.gov.in.
• K.P. Narayanan, Department of Ship Technology, Cochin
University of Science & Technology, Kochi, Kerala. India.
ICICE-2013
This paper presents an evaluation on the performance of
honeycomb sandwich structures with the presence of debond
or dent using layered finite element models. Dent is idealized
by accounting core crushing in the core thickness along with
the eccentricity of the skin. Debond is idealized using
multilaminate modeling at debond location with contact
element between the laminates. In both cases continued
loading of the structure can cause crack growth in the debond
area, i.e. it leads to the crack propagation in the interface
between core and face. It also changes the parameters like
buckling load factor, natural frequency, mode shape, strain
energy etc. The various literature surveys in this topic showed
that the detection of such damages in the early stages is an
important aspect to avoid catastrophic failure.
Pandey et al [1] have demonstrated that curvature mode
shape can be used for identifying and locating damage in a
structure by analyzing a cantilever and simply supported
beam models. Jiang et al [2] have investigated the dynamic
analysis of free undamped vibration behavior of honeycomb
structures with debond in order to study the natural frequency
of these structures using Finite Element software ‘MSE/
NASTRAN’. An experimental damage identification
procedure was developed based on structural dynamic
response and using smart sensors by comparing dynamic
responses of healthy and damaged Fibre Reinforced Polymer
(FRP) sandwich beams [3]. An experimental verification of
a method was presented for prediction of location and size
of multiple cracks based on natural frequency measurements
in slender cantilever beams with 2-3 normal edge cracks
[4]. Li et al [5] have found a methodology to detect crack
location and size which takes advantage of wavelet Finite
Element Method in the modal analysis by measuring natural
frequencies. Alavandi [6] brought out that the strain energy
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Fig.1. A typical sandwich structure and its different layers.

based damage detection was found to be efficient compared of the study conducted by Caminero et al [15] was to assess
to other methods which consider the modal strain energy the use of different online monitoring techniques such as
changes in each structural element before and after the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and Lamp waves, in order
damage formation. An experimental and numerical curvature to study the performance and damage detection in bonded
mode shape analysis was carried out to detect the presence, composite repairs.
location and size of delamination in composite laminated
In this paper, Modal analysis and buckling analysis are
plates using smart piezoelectric materials and modern
conducted using layered finite element modeling of sandwich
instrumentation like Scanning Laser Vibrometer (SLV) [7].
cantilever beam with and without damage (Debond or dent).
A new damage identification method namely Element Modal
The influence of size, location and number of damaged zones
Strain Damage Index (EMSDI) was developed based on
on buckling and vibration parameters are investigated.
measured modal displacements. The EMSDI utilizes the
element shape function avoiding the problems associated 2 MODELING OF SANDWICH STRUCTURE
with numerical differentiation procedure in modal curvature
Layered shell finite elements are used across the aerospace
method [8]. Chiu et al [9] presented a set of numerical results
industry to model composites and sandwich constructions
on the use of lamb waves for monitoring crack growth in
due to its computational efficiency, accuracy and easiness
the lower wing skin adhesively bonded with a composite
in the modeling complex structural configurations. Typical
repair patch and gave a demonstration about the interaction
layered shell element (Shell 91-ANSYSTM) and its model
of stress waves with structural defects and the probability
are as shown in Fig. 2. Here the stiffness matrix of the finite
of detection of these defects existing in a geometrically
element is derived based on the lamination theory.
varying section of an aircraft structure. Manoj Kumar et al
[10] performed a vibration based damage identification LN: Layer number
method based on changes in modal strain energies before
NL: Number of Layers
and after the occurrence of damage in a sandwich composite
beam. Natural frequency and mode shapes were calculated
with the influence of location, size and type of debonding
zone of the sandwich plates with various boundary conditions
using a commercial Finite Element code ‘ABAQUS’ and
the results of free vibration analysis were compared both
for intact and debonded sandwich plates[11]. An
experimental study on the effects of multi-site damage on
the vibration response of honeycomb sandwich beams was
carried out. The shifts between the modal parameters of
damaged and undamaged specimens were found [12]. Free
vibration analysis in sandwich plates containing single or
multiple debonding was conducted and identified the size,
location and number of debonding zones on the basis of
changes in dynamic characteristics such as natural
Fig.2. Layered shell model of honeycomb sandwich panel
frequencies and corresponding mode shapes by comparing
utilizing the 8 noded layered shell finite elements.
results with sandwich plates without debond by using finite
element code ‘ABAQUS’ [13]. A three dimensional finite 3.1 Modeling of debond
element with an embedded interface was developed for
analyzing the laminated composite structure and a well Fig. 3. shows a sandwich model with debond. Multilayered
organized procedure for the identification of delamination model used for idealizing the debond is as shown in Fig. 4.
in laminated composite beams was brought out[14]. The aim In finite element model, the defect free zone (Region 1) of

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sandwich structure is modeled as three layered shell. In the

debond zone, two regions of layers are generated; one
representing the debonded skin and the other representing
the two layered skin-core. Subsequently, two layers of top
zone (Region 2) and one layer of bottom zone (Region 3)
are simulated with zero material properties to avoid error in
neutral axis positioning. This results in making only the top
skin active in the top section and core and bottom skin are
active in the bottom section. The merging of nodes of both
sets is given only at the boundary of the debond zone so that
within the zone of defect, both the sections are distinct
simulating the debond.

Fig.6. Dent simulation in FE model. Region1: Three layer

Fig.3. Sandwich structure with debond. The projection
of skin layer representing the debond.
Fig.4. Debond simulation in finite element model. Region
1: Three layer sandwich; Region 2: Single layer representing
debonded skin; Region 3; Two layer representing debonded
core and skin
3.2 Modeling of dent
Fig.5. shows a sandwich model with dent. Multilayered
model used for idealizing the dent also is as shown in Fig.6.
The defect free zone (Region1) of sandwich structure is
modeled as three layered shell and the dent zone (Region2)
is modeled as four layered shell by introducing dent as a
core thickness reduction. At the dent location the core
thickness is reduced and the fourth layer is simulated with
zero material properties to avoid neutral axis shift. Thus the
top layer behaves like dent location and the bottom skin-
reduced core-skin portion behave like region1. Merging of
nodes is done for the whole structure.
sandwich; Region 2: Three layer sandwich with reduced
thickness of core with additional dummy layer to correct
bottom face location
4 CASE STUDY
The case study is carried out on sandwich cantilever beam.
Buckling and vibration parameters are evaluated. Vibration
parameters include frequency, mode shape and modal strain
energy.
4.1 Sandwich Cantilever Beam
A metallic honeycomb sandwich cantilever beam
(850x100x23.46mm) with and without debond or dent is
considered for the study. The specimen and boundary
conditions considered for the present study are as shown in
Fig. 7. The skin and core of sandwich panel are of AA 2014
T6 and AA5056 142 type. The thickness of the skin sheet is
0.3 mm and the core layer is 22.86 mm. Mass of the
cantilever beam is 0.342 kg. The material properties are given
in table 1.
Ef = Elastic Modulus of Face Sheet,ñ =Density,õ=Poisson’s
Ratio, Gyz= Shear Modulus in yz direction, Gxz= Shear
Modulus in xz direction.

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Fig.9. FE idealization of cantilever sandwich beam with dent.

4.2 Modal analysis and result discussion
Modal analysis is carried out in both intact and damaged
sandwich cantilever beam in order to find out how the
damage affect the natural frequency and to idealize the mode
shape variations in intact and damaged beams. Table.2 shows
the natural frequency comparison for the first three modes.
TABLE 2
NATURAL FREQUENCY (Hz) OF INTACT AND
DAMAGED SANDWICH CANTILEVER BEAMS

Mode Intact Debond 2mmDent 5mm Dent

Fig.8 & 9 show the layered finite element (8 noded Shell
281 element) idealization of intact, debonded and dented I 33.15 31.97 32.09 30.02
honeycomb sandwich cantilever beam respectively. The II 79.58 80.04 79.98 79.76
model consists of 435 elements. The size of the debond is
100mm x 100mm and the same size of dent is modeled by III 204.89 129.68 202.90 199.12
reducing core thickness by 2mm & 5mm from the total core Reduction in natural frequencies corresponding to the
thickness of 22.86mm. There are two dent cases considered damaged cases is noticed. However, localization and size of
on separate beams, one having 2mm dent size and the other the damages are not identifiable from this natural frequency
having 5mm dent size. data. The mode shape comparison (for the first mode only)
for all cantilever cases are as shown in the Fig. 10. The change
in mode shape pattern for the first mode is depicted in the
figure.

Fig.10. Mode shape comparison of undamaged and

damaged cantilever beams (for the first mode)

It may be noted that the magnitude of displacement is reduced

for the damaged case compared with undamaged case. While
comparing damaged sandwich beam with the undamaged
one, the debonded sandwich beam shows a clear variation
Fig.8. FE idealization of cantilever sandwich beam: (a)
in first mode itself. This proves that the debond case is
Undamaged beam; (b) Sandwich beam with debond
critical than dent case. The change in mode shape only gives
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an idea about the presence of damage in the structure but it
could not give an exact location and size of the damage. In
order to find out location and size of the damage, modal
strain energy (MSE) data of two modes are extracted as
shown in the Fig. 11 and Fig.12 for the debond and dent
respectively.
Presence of debond caused significant variation in the modal
strain energy for the first mode (Fig. 11) at debond location.
The dent caused variation in the strain energy but which
less in magnitude compared to debond case (Fig. 12). Both
the case, maximum variation is observed near to the debond
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location. The figures show that the location and extent of
damage is clearly visible from modal strain energy
distribution. .
4.3 Buckling analysis and result discussion
The buckling behavior of the both undamaged and
damaged sandwich column have been studied by applying
an axial load of 1000N at its one end. The analysis is
conducted on intact, debonded and dented column. The
dimensions and material properties of the column are same
as that of the sandwich cantilever beam. The obtained
buckling factors for all the cases are shown in the table 3.
TABLE 3
BUCKLING LOAD FACTOR COMPARISON FOR
INTACT AND DAMAGED SANDWICH CANTILEVER
BEAM
Mode Intact Debond 2mm Dent 5mm Dent
I 2.18 0.14 2.09 1.89
The results from the above table showed that the buckling
load factor is reduced by about 90% for the debond case
and for about13% is reduced for the dent of size 8-20% of
the core thickness. Hence it is clear that the debond is critical
than the dent in the sandwich structures. This reduction in
load carrying capacity of structure due to the presence of
debond will lead to catastrophic failure of structure, and
hence early detection of damage is very important. This
proves the importance of online monitoring in sandwich
structures.
4 CONCLUSION
In the present work, Finite Element modeling of metallic
honeycomb sandwich column with and without debond/dent
has been demonstrated and assessed the performance of the
structure in the presence of damage by conducting vibration
and buckling analysis. The parameters extracted include
buckling load factor, natural frequency, mode shape and
modal strain energy. These parameters are considered for
their usefulness as damage detection tools. In summary the
following conclusions from the viewpoint of sensitivity of
the dynamic and buckling characteristics can be drawn.
Firstly, both changes in natural frequency and mode shapes
are sensitive to the presence of damage within the structure
but less sensitive in identifying the damage location and its
size. Secondly, modal strain energy is found to be an effective
tool for finding number of elements affected by the damage.
Thirdly, the buckling load factor is reduced by about 90%
for the debond case and by about 13% for the dent of size 8-
20% of the core thickness. This result proved that debond is
more critical than dent in sandwich column. Fourthly, the
reduction in load carrying capacity of the axial sandwich
column in the presence of debond/ dent pointing out the
importance of on-line monitoring of sandwich structures
for damaged to avoid premature failures.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Rameshkumar, Head
HPDD(Honeycomb Product Development Division),VSSC
(Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre) Trivandrum, for giving
permission to this research at HPDD and Dr. C.G
Nandakumar, Associate Professor, CUSAT( Cochin
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University of Science and Technology) Kochi, for the
technical guidance.
REFERENCES
[1] A.K. Pandey, M. Biswas, and M.M. Samman, “Damage detection
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[2] L .Jiang, K.M. Liew, M.K. Lim,and B.C. Low, “Vibratory
behaviour of delaminated honeycomb structures: A 3-D finite
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structures,vol.55,no.5,pp.773-788,Oct.1993.
[3] W. Lestari and Pizhong Qiao, “Damage detection of fibre–
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[4] D.P. Patil and S.K. Maiti, “Experimental verification of a method
of detection of multiple cracks in beams based on frequency
measurements,” Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol.281, no.1,
pp.439-451, Oct.2004.
[5] B. Li, X.F. Chen, J.X. Ma, and Z.J. He, “Detection of crack
location and size in structures using wavelet finite element
methods,” Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol.285, pp. 767–
782, Dec.2004.
[6] A. Alavandi and C. Cremona, “Assessment of vibration – based
damage identification techniques,” Journal of Sound and
Vibration, vol.292, pp.179–202, Sept.2005.
[7] Pizhong Qiao, Kan Lu, Wahyu Lestari, Jialai, and Wang,”Curvature
mode shape – based damage detection in composite laminated
plates,” Composite Structures.vol.80, pp.409-428, July.2006.
[8] Hong Gaun, and Vistasp M. Karbhar, “Improved damage detection
method based on element modal strain dmage index using sparse
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measurement,” Journal of Sound and Vibration,vol. 309, pp.465-
494,Sept.2007.
[9] W.K. Chiu, T.Tian, and F.K Chang, “The effect of structural
vibrations on the health monitoring of composite structures,
Composite Structures,vol. 87, pp.121-140,Aug.2008.
[10] Kumar. M, R.A. Shenoi, and S.J. Coz, “Experimental validation
of modal strain energies based on damage identification method
for a composite sandwich beam,” Composite Structures, vol.
69, pp.1635-1643,April.2009.
[11] Vyacheslav N. Burlayenko, and Tomaz Sadowski, “ Influence of
skin/core debonding on free vibration behaviour of foam and
honeycomb cored sandwich plates,” Journal of Non linear
Mechanics, vol. 45,pp. 959-968,July.2009.
[12] Shahdin. A, Joseph Morlier, and Yves Gourinat, “Damage
monitoring in sandwich beams by modal parameter shifts. A
comparative study of burst random and sine dwell vibration
testing,” Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 329, pp.566-584,
Oct.2009.
[13] V.N. Burlayenko,and T.Sadowski, “Dynamic behaviour of
sandwich plates containing single/ multiple
debonding,”Computational Material Science,vol.50, pp.1263-
1268,Aug.2010.
[14] M.Rezaiee- Pajand, F. Shahabian, and F.H. Tavakoli,
“Delamination detection in laminated composite beams using
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2792,April.2012.
[15] M.A. Caminero, S. Pavlopoulou, M.Lopez-Pedrosa, B.G
Nicolaisson, C.Pinna, and C.Soutis, “Analysis of adhesively
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Composite Structures, vol. 87, pp.121-140, July.2012
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Seismic Fracture Analysis In Concrete

Gravity Dams
Deeja Alora, Indrani Gogoi
Abstract— Modelling of crack propagation in solids has been a major area of focus both in industry and research communities. The
formulation and numerical implementation of an embedded finite element technique which incorporates the cohesive frictional law is
presented here. This technique is also termed as embedded cohesive element method. The solution of dynamical system is obtained using
the classical Newmark’s Method. The crack is restricted to propagate from edge of one element to the other, only if the crack propagation
criterion is fulfilled. A set of MATLAB codes, called MAT-DAM for convenience, have been developed particularly for the purpose of
crack propagation in concrete gravity dams under static and dynamic loadings. A comparative study on dynamic analysis result is carried
out between the dam with and without fracture. The problem definition arises through a cohesive frictional crack model using an EFEM
approach.

Index Terms— Cohesive fracture, Crack model, Crack initiation, Crack propagation, MAT – DAM, Lift Joints, Embedded finite element
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION Discrete crack method: Discrete crack method is known

as natural crack model. Methods pertaining to the discrete
1.1 FRACTURE MECHANICS CONCEPT crack approach calculate each crack individually in an
explicit way in the Finite Element mesh. After pioneering

A
crack which is present in a loaded body can be
deformed in different ways. Irwin observed that
there are three independent kinematical movements
of the upper and lower crack surfaces with respect to each
other and these are categorized as: Opening mode, Shearing
mode, and Tearing mode.
Crack model
Fracture is an important mode of deformation and damage
in both plain and unreinforced concrete structures. To
predict the accuracy of fracture behaviour, using finite
element analysis would be essential. In this paper, for the
process of crack propagation analysis in concrete structures,
there are two general models: discrete crack and smeared
crack [Wang et al. 2000].
Smeared crack model: Smeared crack method is based on
two essential steps. The first step is to detect the place of
initial crack, and the second one is to estimate the crack
path, and to replace it with a soften element. The smeared
crack approach implies a continuum type representation with
a fixed Finite Element mesh. In this method, crack depends
on the concrete materials and it will happen when the stress
exceeds of allowable amount. The smeared crack model
can consist of two parts: one is initial part of the crack that
determines the orientation and location of a new crack, and
the other one is the developed part where tractions and
displacements of the crack opening is determined by the
softening law [Lohrasbi et al. 2008].
works in which cracks would be allowed to open between
exist continuum elements according to a maximum stress
criterion, procedures for general crack propagation with
remeshing were developed for concrete structures. Newer
software techniques now enable the remeshing process, at
least in two dimensional problems. The fracture process
zone may be defined as the area surrounding a crack tip in
which inelastic material behaviour occurs. In very large
concrete structures (ex. dams) it is possible to apply linear
elastic fracture method appropriately [Ahmadi et al. 2001].
A numerical scheme based on nonlinear crack band theory
is presented to study the 2D seismic fracture behaviour of
concrete gravity dams. A mesh size of the Finite elements
close to the characteristic size of the crack band of concrete
material is adopted, so that the strain softening behaviour
of the concrete can be properly taken into account. Also, a
technique of Finite element (FE) remesh at the crack front is
presented by changing the element edge pairs of the cracking
element candidate to be parallel with the principal tensile
stresses, in order to better accommodate the crack extension.
The procedure is verified using test results for a notched
beam and then applied to the seismic fracture analysis of
the Koyna dam in India as a demonstration of prototype
application.
1.2 FINITE ELEMENTAL FORMULATIONS
The Strong Discontinuity Approach

———————————————— In this section an introduction to the discrete model of the

• Author Deeja Alora is currently working as Structural
Engineer in Gulf Contracting Co. W.L.L. Qatar, Past student
of National Institute of Technology Karnatak, Surathkal
(NITK) PH-+97433568614. E-mail: 12.deeja@gmail.com
• Co- Author Indrani Gogoi is currently working as Professor
in Assam Engineering Institute, Guwahati, Past work in
National Institute of Technology Karnatak, Surathkal (NITK)
E-mail: indrani.gogoi@yahoo.com
crack adopted in the present work is given. While embedding
the cohesive crack model into finite elements two
possibilities arise depending on the way cracks are modelled.
If model of the crack is a band, then the thickness of the
crack/discontinuity inside the element has to be considered,
which give rise to the weak discontinuity. If the crack inside
the element is of zero-thickness which is the model of the
crack chosen for the present study, then the approach is called

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strong discontinuity approach. It’s named so because of the
oscillating character of the displacement field at both sides
of the crack inside one element (technically).
Prior to the development of strong discontinuity approach,
smeared crack models (band models) were used for
numerical simulation of cracking in concrete. Despite the
many theoretical flaws in these models, they are simple and
with careful use they can provide remarkably good
predictions of actual responses [Wells & Sluys, 2001]. The
key issue is that the finite element size must be included
directly in the constitutive model to make the energy
dissipated in failure objective. This numerical shortcoming
is termed the “spurious mesh transfer”, which is the finer
the mesh size the less the energy dissipated [Roy Chowdary
& Narasimhan, 2000].
On the other hand discrete or cohesive crack approaches
indeed has led to the development of elements with
embedded strong discontinuity. Unlike the smeared crack
models which use the element size as the length scale for
hardening modulus [Hughes, 1987]; the length scale does
not appear in finite elements with strong discontinuity and
they are thought as zero-thickness surface. This is the reason
why these approaches are called “strong discontinuity” (i.e.
a sudden displacement jump which is entirely localized in a
surface). In fact it is shown in that there is a conceptual
equivalence between smeared and discrete crack approaches.
This will be discussed later when we present the discretized
form of embedded finite elements with strong discontinuity.
Alternatively, the use of special interface elements to capture
this displacement jumps has also been reported in the
literature, but as mentioned in the previous section they
require a priori knowledge of crack path.
In the case of the derivation of element matrices obtained
from global coordinates, involves the integration of shape
functions and their derivatives or both over the element. The
integrals can be evaluated easily if the displacement models
are written in terms of natural coordinate system or local
coordinate system that is defined separately for each element
[Bathe. 1996, Hughes, 1987].
Once [k], [m] and [c] matrices are calculated for each element
locally, the global stiffness matrix [K], global mass matrix
[M] and global damping matrix [C] are calculated for the
whole system. The calculation of these global (system)
matrices depends on the element connectivity. The algorithm
for their calculation is given in the MAT-DAM pre-processor
code.
Dynamic Analysis By Newmark’s Implicit Integration
Method
In the case of static analysis, where inertial and damping
effects are not active, the solution of the boundary value
problem ultimately reduces to the following linear system
of equations:
[K]{u} = {fext}
where [K] is the global stiffness matrix after assembling the
stiffness matrices of all the elements. In dynamic analysis
where both inertial and damping effects are present the
equation of motion has to be linearized. Using the classical
Newmarks method first the equation of motion is linearized
178
and is solved the same way as in the case of static analysis.
Once the linear system of equations is solved (in static or
dynamic analysis), the stresses can be calculated. In the
context finite element analysis the stiffness, mass, damping
and stresses values are computed by numerical integration
technique rather than the exact analytical solution. In this
work the Gauss Quadrature technique is adapted for
calculation of stresses.
The Cohesive Fracture Law
The cohesive fracture constitutive law which is used
separately for the crack is essentially the crack initiation
criterion, because in the present FE formulation no
information is provided for the crack initiation from the bulk.
The Mohr-Coulomb friction model generally used for geo-
materials and concrete can now be written for the Eqns. 4.15
and 4.16, which implies that discontinuity can carry a certain
magnitude of shear stress across their interface before they
start “sliding” relative to each other. This state is also known
as “sticking”.
τlim = c+μσmax
|τmax| <τlim
The ômax values calculated at each node will be compared
with the limiting value of shear stress for each time step and
if the maximum shear stress at a node exceeds, then the node
is considered failed [Carol et al. 1997 and Cai et al. 2008].
Crack Propagation and Crack Path Continuity
Although stresses are most accurate at gauss points, but due
to computational and round-off errors, most of the time stress
values in gauss point oscillate, and the failed points may
not lie next to each other. The problem becomes even more
complicated in dynamic analysis. The neighbouring nodes
and consequently the neighbouring elements may not fail at
subsequent time steps [Alfaiate et al., 2002]. A common
technique to deal with the crack propagation is to first
identify the damage zone i.e. the elements which have their
four nodes/three nodes/two nodes failed and mark these
elements as failed elements, then order the these elements
in such a way that a proper crack path continuity can be
enforced. The crack path continuity algorithm used for the
present work is explained in the following:
1. Based on the crack criterion (Cohesive fracture law)
first the damage zone is identified, i.e. the cracked
elements at each time step.
2. In the damage zone the location of the interpolation
point is found out with the maximum shear stress value
to be the crack initiation point, CI.
3. Now knowing CI we need to get the other points of
discontinuity/crack in the damage zone. In the
proximity of CI we identify edges of elements which
have the highest shear stress values.
4. The next point will be located on the identified edge
of the elements. The location will be based in the
weighted average of the shear stress values of the nodes
on the element edge. This point will be K1.
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5. We repeat steps 3 and 4 again till the crack propagates The damping value considered is 5%. Boundary condition
to an element with only two failed nodes. This will used is fixity at bottom.
give points K2, K3, etc.
6. The whole process is repeated at each time step with
the last crack point from the previous time step
becoming the initiation point for the present time step.
Flow chart for the analysis and routine used in MAT-DAM
is shown below.

Fig. 2 Pine Flat Dam Structure

For the seismic analysis of Pine Flat dam, the horizontal

Fig. 1. Flow chart for programing
The work of Bazant reveals that if the size of the dam exceeds
a certain limit, the apparently conservative ‘no tension’
design cannot always be regarded as safe. The rigid body
equilibrium, strength based criterion was initially adopted
where it was assumed that a crack would propagate whenever
the principal tensile stress at the crack tip exceeds the
specified tensile strength of the concrete. This was the only
criterion for determining crack growth in concrete dams
before the late 1970s. The strength-based criterion for crack
analysis of concrete dams is based on the assumptions that
there is a linear distribution of compressive stresses in the
un-cracked concrete, and that a crack will propagate
horizontally in a plane and extend up to a point where the
tensile stress becomes zero.
2 CRACK PROPAGATION IN PINE FLAT
DAM UNDER DYNAMIC EXCITATION
The material parameters used for the analysis are reported
in [Mao & Taylor 1997], E = 30 GPa, 5Øß = 0.2, cohesion
value is assumed zero for capturing the crack path [Alfaiate
et al. 2005] and the friction coefficient is taken as 0.577.
component of San Francisco 1989 earthquake acceleration
record downloaded from PEER Berkeley website has been
applied to the base of the dam. The San Francisco 1989
earthquake was a devastating earthquake of magnitude 6.9
which hit the Loma Prieta on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m.
local time. The maximum gravitational acceleration of the
ground recorded was around 3.5g. The FE model shown
above is the one from ANSYS in which the base is restrained
and the acceleration is applied to the entire model [ANSYS
2002]. It has to be noted that, the results (displacements,
velocities, accelerations, and stresses) of the MAT-DAM
code for the present E-FE analysis have been simultaneously
cross-checked with ANSYS to ensure that the
implementation is correct.
Fig. 3 Accelerogram for San Francisco 1989
The dam was analyzed with gravity loads, hydrostatic
pressure = ñgh and hydrodynamic pressure calculated from

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IS 1893 applied at upstream. At the 7th time step the crack

initiates at the downstream near the neck. The pattern of the
crack obtained is mixed mode. MAT-DAM code result is
now combined for the second case. The crack path after
dynamic analysis is shown in Figure.

The damage zone in the present analysis is relatively smaller

than that reported by Mao & Taylor [1997]. This is due to
the difference in material models and fracture laws used.
The point of crack initiation at the neck is in the proximity
Fig. 4 Pine Flat FE Model & crack path of the crack initiation reported by Mao & Taylor [1997].
TABLE 1 The advantages of present work over are:
COORDINATES, DISPLACEMENT AND SHEAR
STRESS AT THE CRACK POINTS 1. The material model used in the present analysis is not
mesh sensitive, whereas in [M. Mao & Taylor 1997]
Points X co- Y co- Disp X Disp Y Shear the fracture energy criterion is used to remove the mesh
ord (m) ord (m) (m) (m) Stress sensitivity of the analysis.
(N/mm2)
2. The material model used in the present analysis is a
linear orthotropic model, with a separate fracture law
1 18.5675 97.003 0.0089 0.0013 2.7917
for the crack. In [Mao & Taylor 1997] the nonlinear
2 17.8758 97.003 0.0089 0.0014 2.5365 concrete model is used which as mentioned before is a
3 19.1839 94.6274 0.0089 0.0013 2.2152 smeared crack model for the concrete. Considering
that the bulk is behaving inelastic in [Mao & Taylor
4 18.4571 94.5128 0.0086 0.0013 1.9623
1997] and it is elastic in the present case, the
5 17.6928 94.4432 0.0086 0.0014 1.9914 computational cost can be significantly reduced.
Now the first two crack points are selected and the crack is 3. The concrete model in ADINA is a continuum model,
modelled with crack width of 0.003m in Pine Flat dam and and the cracking pattern reported in [Mao & Taylor
dynamic analysis is carried out with the same loading, but 1997] is based on failed elements whereas in the present
for the crack model different meshing and element is used. analysis a discrete cohesive law is used for the crack
Comparison of dam model with and without crack is given which not only identifies the failed elements but also
in following graphs (Figure 5A, 5B & 5C). identifies the crack path.
3 CRACK PROPAGATION IN KOYNA
DAM UNDER DYNAMIC EXCITATION
The geometry of a typical non-overflow monolith of the
Koyna dam-reservoir-foundation is illustrated in Figure. This
monolith is 103 m high and 70 m wide at its base [Chopra
and Chakrabarti, 1973]. The upstream wall of the monolith
is assumed to be straight and vertical which is slightly
different from the real configuration. The depth of the
reservoir at the time of the earthquake was 91.75 m. The
non-overflow monolith of the dam is assumed to be in the
plane-strain condition. Boundary condition used here is
fixity at bottom. The effect of reservoir is applied as
hydraulic pressure distribution on upstream side.
Parameters of the Koyna dam considered are [Bhattacharjee
and Leger, 1993; Ghrib and Tinawi, 1995; Skrikerud and
Bachmann, 1986]: elastic modulus E = 31027 MPa, mass
density ñ = 2643 kg/m3, Poisson’s ratio í = 0.2. Dam model
is subjected to Koyna 1967 horizontal acceleration which is
Fig. 5 (B) Pine Flat Dam – Y crest displacement applied to the base of the dam.

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The combined effect of water pressure and seismic
acceleration is taken and transient dynamic analysis is done.
Analysing the results the damage zone is identified. The
400th element has got damaged first. The damage zone was
identified at 0.5 sec. and 4.2 sec. The associated nodes are
22, 43, 441 and 41. The first two nodes are selected and a
horizontal crack of width 5mm was modelled. In the next
stage Koyna with crack is modeled and analyzed. The results
are compared and shown in following section. The results
are quite match with [Sarkar & Paul 2007]. Table 5.7 shows
a comparison of results with literature review. Slight
difference is because the base excitation given in ANSYS is
only in X direction and hydro dynamic effect is considered
here where as in [Sarkar & Paul 2007] hydro static force
and excitation in Y direction also were applied.
Fig. 8 (A) Koyna Dam – X crest displacement
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The nonlinear seismic analysis of a cracked concrete gravity
dam has been investigated by different approaches to study
the propagation of cracks in this kind of dams. The discrete
crack approach, models the crack by separating the nodes
of crack surfaces while the smeared crack approach, tries to
represent the physical discontinuity introduced in a system
of cracks by modification of material properties in the zone
of cracking [Mirzayee et al., 2010].
From the results review, it’s clear that the response of the
dam with cracks is higher compared to the results without
cracks. The shear stress concentration in the first case, i.e.
Koyna model without crack was maximum near to the neck
region where the section was changing and damage zone
was identified and crack was modelled there. In un-cracked
Koyna dam model, the maximum shear stress is 10.33Mpa,
Where as in cracked model its 7.71MPa. Principal stresses
were also reduced. The horizontal displacement of crest
was in the range of 3.6cm. Dynamic analysis results of
Koyna dam with crack gave higher value of response about
40 percent increment as of those result values obtained
without crack. The analysis result diagrams of cracked
Koyna model reveals that at starting stage during earthquake
(at 0.005 sec) the crack opens up, then it slowly closes, and
at 4.26 sec it again opens, and finally it closes at 9.995sec. i
e. The crack behaviors in mixed mode fashion (both opening
and closing nature.
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4 BEHAVIOUR OF LIFT JOINTS UNDER
DYNAMIC EXCITATIONS IN KOYNA
DAM
The un-cracked Koyna is modelled here in this section with
lift joint. A lift joint is provided at 66.50m from the base of
the dam model. The combined effect of water pressure and
Fig. 9 (C – 1) Shear Stress distribution at 0.01 sec
182
seismic acceleration (same as previous cases) is taken and
transient dynamic analysis is carried out.
The responses (crest displacements) of Koyna with lift joints
compared to Koyna model without crack are lesser, but the
dam behaves non-linearly after particular time period (0.24
sec).
Fig. 9 (C – 4) Shear Stress distribution at 0.20 sec
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5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper the formulation and implementation of
embedded finite elements for dynamic crack propagation in
concrete were presented. The finite element is implemented
using MATLAB for crack propagation in Pine flat dam under
dynamic excitations. The results of the analysis were first
compared with those obtained from ANSYS to ensure that
they are correct.
• An elegant technique for numerical analysis of crack
propagation in concrete gravity dams is proposed.
• The cracking behaviour can be captured for aged
concrete gravity dams, where both the crack and the
bulk are affected by many factors.
• The results obtained from MAT-DAM are consistent
with ANSYS.
• Unlike ANSYS and ADINA which lack a proper
method of crack propagation in non-symmetric
specimens, the present FE technique can track the crack
path with complex geometries.
• The present MAT-DAM code is applicable for those
cracks which occurs at the first, it shows the initiation
and propagation to certain extend but whereas the
analytical method (ANSYS) can’t predict the path
propagation if its mixed mode kind. From parametric
studies it can be concluded that:
• The stresses are reduced for aged concrete whereas the
displacement, acceleration and velocity are drastically
increased at nodes for same value of damping.
• When the cohesion value is taken as zero the crack
pattern is similar to those reported in the literature, this
may be due to stress locking in the elements.
• The crack path predict is the same whether aging of
concrete considered or not. With an increased length
of the crack and bigger damage zone for the case when
aging effect is considered. From the analysis of Koyna
it can be concluded:
• Here MAT-DAM code is not used, but from the dynamic
analysis results damage zone is identified and crack
modeling is done.
• The dynamic analysis results are quite match with
literature reference.
• The responses of cracked dam model are higher
compared to the dam model without cracks.
• This research shows dynamic analysis results of Koyna
dam with crack are increased to 20 - 40 percent of those
result values obtained without crack.
• The crack behaviors in mixed mode fashion (both
opening and closing nature).
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• When dam model is provided with lift joints, the
dynamic analysis result shows that it behaves non-
linearly after 0.24 sec. So we can’t allow the cracks to
propagate through the joints since the safety of the
structure is not ensured. Provision of shear key will
ensure the safety.
• Allowing sliding at the lift joints eliminates stress
concentration which would generally occur in the
structure. High tensile stresses at the interface resulting
from such stress concentration would initiate crack
which would propagate along the interface and destroy
the proper bond between those faces. So proper safety
should be taken at those joints while designing the
structure.
FUTURE SCOPE
• The current work extracts the concept of Embedded
Finite Element (E-FEM) and that is applied in case of
crack propagation in Pine Flat dam using MATLAB
and compared with ANSYS. The same work can be
extended in Extended Finite Element (X-FEM) also.
• This research work is interested in the first damage zone
and concentrating on those cracked (damaged)
elements. The work can be extended for second and
third damage zone and so on.
• The responses of both Koyna and Pine Flat dam with
crack are higher by 10 to 40 percent that of without
crack here. By changing the parameters like material
(concrete), density, modulus of elasticity, or softening
parameter (reinforcement) etc. we can observe the
whole response of the structure and how it differs from
the present study.
• The present work considers the effect of dam body
model alone under combined effect of water pressure
and seismic excitation. We can extend this with
reservoir effect and foundation interaction.
• The work can be extended for many other dams and
can have a comparative study for analysing the
behaviour of cracks or fracture those already existing
or imposed cracks so that it will be helpful in the field
of secure and safety assessment of dams.
REFERENCES
[1] Ahmadi, M., Izadinia, M., and Bachmann, H., (2001). “A
discrete crack joint model for nonlinear dynamic analysis of
concrete arch dam”, Computers & Strucures, 79, 403–420.
[2] Alfaiate, J., Wells, G.N., Sluys, L.J., (2002). “On the use of
embedded discontinuity elements with crack path continuity
for mode-I and mixed-mode fracture”, Engineering Fracture
Mechanics, 69, 661–686.
[3] Bhattacharjee, S.S. and Leger, P. (1993). “Seismic Cracking
and Energy Dissipation in Concrete Gravity Dams”,
Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics, 22(11),
991–1007.
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[4] Cai, Q , Robberts, J M. and Van Rensburg, B W J., (2008).
“Finite Element Fracture Modelling Of Concrete Gravity
Dams”, Journal Of The South African Institution Of Civil
Engineering, 50(1), 13–24, 640.
[5] Carol, I., Prat, P. C. and Lopez, C. M. (1997). “Normal/shear
cracking model: Application to discrete crack analysis.”
Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 123(8), 765–773.
[6] Ghrib, F. and Tinawi, R. (1995). “An Application of Damage
Mechanics for Seismic Analysis of Concrete Gravity Dams”,
Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics, 24(2), 157–
173.
[7] Lohrasbi, A.R. and Attarnejad, R., (2008). “Crack Growth in
Concrete Gravity Dams Based on Discrete Crack Method”,
American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 1(4),
318-323.
[8] Mao M., Taylor C. A., (1977). “Nonlinear seismic cracking
analysis of medium-height concrete gravity dams”, Computers
and Structures, 64, 5/6, 1197-1204.
[9] Rajib Sarkar, D.K. Paul and L. Stempniewski, (2007).
“Influence of Reservoir and Foundation on the Nonlinear
184
Dynamic Response of Concrete Gravity Dams”, ISET Journal
of Earthquake Technology, 490, 44(2), 377–389.
[10] Rene Tinawi, Pierre Le ger, Martin Leclerc,and Giovanni
Cipolla, “Seismic Safety Of Gravity Dams: From Shake Table
Experiments To Numerical Analyses”, Journal of Civil
Engineering, 20-22, 3327-3343.
[11] Roy Chowdary, S. and Narasimhan, R, (2000). “A cohesive
finite element formulation for modelling fracture and
delamination in solids”, Sadhana, 25(6), 561–587.
[12] Wang Guangluna, Pekaub, O.A., Zhang Chuhana, Wang
Shaomina. (2000). “Seismic Fracture Analysis Of Concrete
Gravity Dams Based On Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics”,
Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 65, 67-87.
[13] Wells, G. N. and Sluys, L.J. (2001). “On the conceptual
equivalence of embedded strong discontinuity and smeared
crack formulations”, Heron, 46(3), 181-189.
[14] Wells, G. N. and Sluys, L. J.,( 2001). “A new method for
modelling cohesive cracks using finite elements,”
International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering,
50, 2667-2682.
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Seismic Soil-Structure Interaction Studies on

Tall Chimneys
Ansu Thomas, B. R. Jayalekshmi, R. Shivashankar
Abstract—A detailed estimation of seismic soil-structure interaction (SSI) effect on tall reinforced concrete chimneys resting on raft foundation
is presented in this paper. The transient analysis of chimney-raft-soil system is carried out using LS-DYNA software. Bhuj (2001) earthquake
motion in time domain is used to excite the finite element model of soil-structure system. For incorporating the significance of soil-structure
interaction (SSI), four types of soils are used based on shear wave velocity. Responses in terms of radial and tangential moments of raft
foundation that are obtained from the analysis of the model are compared with that obtained from conventional method according to the
Indian standard code of practice, IS 11089:1984. The results show that the seismic SSI effects are significant in the variation of natural
frequency and radial and tangential moment especially if the structure is founded on very soft soil. The analysis results show that the natural
frequency decreases and tangential and radial moment increases with increase in soil flexibility. There is a considerable decrease in the
variation of both moments with increase in the ratios of outer diameter to thickness of raft.

Index Terms— dynamic soil-structure interaction, industrial chimney, LS-DYNA, natural frequency, non-reflecting boundary, seismic
response, soil flexibility.
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION The methods of modelling the soil may be divided into

five categories of varying complexity [8]:

S
oil-structure interaction represents the difference in
structural response obtained by assuming the motion
at the foundation to be the same as the free-field ground
motion and by considering the modified or actual motion of
the foundation. Neglecting soil stiffness might cause
considerable underestimation of design forces. Hence it is
important to account for soil-structure interaction in
modelling of structure. The potential beneficial effect of SSI
was apparently first noted by Housner who considered the
rocking motion of the structure on the soil [3]. The
importance of SSI effects on the seismic behaviour of tall
chimneys is also noted by Navarro [2].
Modelling soil-structure interaction in dynamic analysis
falls into two main categories namely, multistep methods
(substructure approach) and direct methods depending on
the modelling strategy adopted for the soil adjacent to the
structure. The structure and soil are treated as a whole system
in direct method. The region of the soil adjacent to the
structure-soil interface is also explicitly modelled. Artificial
boundary must be introduced so as to cover the unbounded
soil domain.
In substructure method, the structure and the soil are
treated as two different substructures. Each substructure can
be analysed using a best-suited computational technique.This
is done by combining the force-displacement relationship
of the soil with the discretized motion equation of the
structure which results in the final system of equation of the
total dynamic system.
————————————————
• Ansu Thomas, Assistant Professor,Department of Civil
Engineering, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering,
Kanjirappally. E-mail: ansuthomasmace@gmail.com
• B. R. Jayalekshmi , Associate Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka,
Surathkal.
• R. Shivashankar ,Professor,Department of Civil Engineering,
National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal.
i. Equivalent static springs and viscous damping located
at the base of the structure only
ii. Shear beam analogy using continua or lumped masses
and springs distributed vertically through the soil
profile
iii. Elastic or viscoelastic half-space
iv. Finite elements
v. Hybrid model finite elements and half-space properties
Generally the dynamic behaviour of chimneys is analysed
by using a lumped model approximation where the lumped
masses are assumed to be connected to one another through
elastic massless elements and usually the structure is assumed
to be fixed at the base without considering any interaction
between the soil and the structure. Rajasankar et al. [7]
presented a brief theoretical background on modelling a
problem that involves dynamic SSI effects and subsequent
issues to be addressed in the analysis. A parametric study on
the seismic structural response of 100 to 400m high chimneys
has been carried out for estimating the effect of flexibility
of soil and thickness of foundation.
2 PARAMETRIC STUDIES ON THE SEIS-
MIC RESPONSE OF TALL CHIMNEYS
2.1 Properties of chimney-raft-soil system
The seismic analyses of 100m to 400m high reinforeced
concrete chimneys with annular raft foundation founded in
different types of soils were carried out. The ratio of height
to mean base diameter of 12 and ratio of top diameter to
base diameter of 0.6 were taken for modelling the chimney.
The base of the chimney is supported by rigid annular raft
foundation with uniform thickness. The overall diameter of
a foundation for a concrete chimney is typically 50% greater
than the diameter of the chimney shaft at ground level [1].
To study the effect of thickness of raft foundation in
chimneys, three different outer raft diameter to raft thickness
ratios (Do/t) were considered. Details of different geometric

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parameters of chimney and annular raft foundation are given LS-DYNA were used to simulate the effect of infinite soil
in Table 1. M30 grade concrete and Fe 415 grade steel were medium. The nodes at the interface of bottom of foundation
selected as the materials for both chimney and raft [6]. The and the soil were completely coupled and the chimney-raft-
mass density and poisson’s ratio of reinforced concrete was soil system was analysed using direct approach by
taken as 25.5kN/m3 and 0.15 respectively. considering the linear elastic behaviour of whole system.
The modelling of the chimney-raft-soil system was generated
Four types of soil were used in this study. The soil properties
using the ANSYS software and is shown in Fig.1. The
are given in Table 2. Soil medium is infinite. In this analysis,
dynamic analysis was carried out using LS-DYNA software.
a finite element model of an elastic continuum was used to
represent the soil. Therefore it was required to keep the soil
boundary away at sufficient finite distance so that the waves
propagated from the soil were not reflected back. The soil
taken for modelling was four times the breadth of foundation
for sideways with non-reflecting boundaries and bedrock
was assumed to be at a depth of 30m for all chimneys.
Table.1. Geometric parameters of chimney and raft

Fig.1. Chimney-raft-soil model

Table.2. Properties of soil
2.3 Seismic Analysis
The time history analysis of the chimney-raft-soil system
was carried out with ground motion corresponding to the
Kutch earthquake at Bhuj with a magnitude of 7.0 and peak
ground acceleration 0.105g. The duration of the earthquake
is 133 seconds. But for the analysis, the loaded earthquake
data was limited to 30 seconds without losing the peak
ground acceleration and it was scaled up to 0.3g. Using the
*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION SET in LS-
DYNA, the time history of acceleration was applied in the
global X direction of the entire soil-structure model.
Acceleration time history and associated Fourier spectrum
of this ground motion are shown in Figs. 2 & 3 respectively.

2.2 Finite element modelling of chimney-raft-soil

system
The chimney-raft-soil system was analysed by finite element
software LS-DYNA assuming its linear elastic behaviour.
The chimney and the annular raft foundation were modelled Fig.2. Acceleration time history of Bhuj ground motion
using four noded Belytschko-Lin-Tsay shell elements, which
has both bending and membrane capabilities. The element
has six degrees of freedom at each node. The chimney shell
was discretised with element of 2m size along height and
with divisions of 7.5 º in the circumferential direction.
Annular foundation was discretised into 1m, 2m and 4m in
the radial direction for 100m, 200m and 400m chimneys
respectively and 7.5º in the circumferential direction.
Finite element model of an elastic continuum was adopted
for modelling of soil. Eight noded fully integrated solid Fig.3. Fourier spectrum curve of Bhuj ground motion
hexahedron elements with three translational degrees of The material damping ratio was assumed as 5% for
freedom at each node were used for the 3-D modelling of chimney and annular raft foundations. In this study
soil. Non-reflecting boundaries in the lateral boundaries in equivalent-linear properties were used to take into account

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non-linearity of soil. The G/Gmax modulus reduction curve
and the equivalent damping ratio versus shear strain
relationship for sand given by Seed and Idriss were assigned
to the soil deposit [4]. The horizontal loading due to wind
and other causes were neglected. The stresses due to gravity
loading were initiated in the integrated structure-soil system.
The peak structural response in terms of radial and tangential
bending moments of annular raft were noted down for
different types of soil for different height of chimney models
with different raft thickness ratios. Structural response
variation due to the effect of flexibility of soil and thickness
of raft has been studied. The bending moments obtained
from soil-structure interaction analysis were compared with
that obtained from conventional method according to the
Indian standard code of practice [5].
3 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
3.1 Variation in natural frequency
Modal analyses of all the chimney models were carried out
for fixed-base and flexible-base conditions. It is seen that
the natural frequency of the chimney structure with flexible-
base condition decreases compared to the fixed- base system
because of the flexibility of soil medium below foundation.
Table 3 shows first five natural frequencies of 400 m high
chimney with raft thickness ratio of Do/t=17.5.
Table.3. Natural Frequencies of 400m chimney with
Do/t=17.5
It is observed that the natural frequency decreases with
increasing flexibility of soil and with decreasing raft
thickness. A reduction of 20%, 25% and 31% is noticed for
raft thickness ratio of Do/t =12.5, Do/t = 17.5 and Do/t =
22.5 for 400m chimney resting on S1 as compared with fixed
base conditions; slight variation in the symmetric mode
frequencies are observed due to soil flexibility.
3.2 Variation in tangential and radial moments of raft
3.2.1 Effect of flexibility of soil
Fig.4. Variation of tangential moment in 400m
chimney of Do/t=17.5
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Representative variation in tangential moments in raft
foundation from conventional method [5] as well as SSI
analysis for 400m chimney with Do/t =17.5 founded on
different types of soil is shown in Fig.4. It is observed that
in most of the cases, the maximum tangential moment is
obtained at interior of raft and it decreases towards the
exterior parts in both methods.
The tangential moments obtained from the SSI analysis
of tall chimney founded on type of soil S2, S3 and S4
(Vs>300m/s) is lower than that predicted by the conventional
method. The seismic analysis of chimney considering rigidity
at base overestimates the moments of foundation. The
maximum percentage variations of tangential moments are
47%, 157% and 170% for 100m, 200m and 400m high
chimneys founded on loose sand respectively. Therefore
SSI should be considered in the seismic analysis if the
structure is constructed on loose sand. From the parametric
study it is seen that, tangential moments decreases with
decrease in flexibility of soil.
Fig.5. Variation of radial moment in 400m chimney of
Do/t=17.5
Representative variation in radial moments in raft from
conventional method as well as SSI analysis for 400m
chimney with Do/t =17.5 founded on different types of soil
is shown in Fig.5. It is observed that for SSI and conventional
method, the maximum radial moment values are seen at
chimney shell location. For all the models the radial moment
calculated by conventional method is less compared with
that of SSI method.
The radial moments obtained from the SSI analysis of
tall chimney founded on loose sand and medium sand
(Vs<300m/s) shows higher percentage variation when
compared to fixed base condition. The maximum percentage
variations of radial moments are 160%, 368% and 397%
for the 100m, 200m and 400m high chimneys respectively.
In all cases the radial moments decreases with decrease in
flexibility of soil.
3.2.2 Effect of thickness of raft
The effect of thickness of raft is investigated by considering
Do/t ratios of 12.5, 17.5 and 22.5. Representative figures of
tangential and radial moment in raft for the 100m tall
chimneys resting on loose sand S1 are shown in Figs. 6 and
7. It is seen that as the thickness is reduced, the moments
are also reduced due to the flexible behaviour of raft.
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Fig.6. Variation of tangential moment in 100m
chimney on S1
Fig.7. Variation of radial moment in 100m chimney on
S1
3.2.3 Time history plots
The time history response of tangential and radial moments
in raft for 400m high chimney with Do/t ratio 17.5 resting
on S1, S2, S3 and S4 are shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The dynamic
moment response in raft foundation of chimney resting on
loose sand is severely affected. The change in natural
frequency affects the response of the overall structure.
Fig.8. Time history of tangential moment response of 400
m chimney with Do/t =17.5
188
Fig.9. Time history of radial moment response of 400 m
chimney with Do/t =17.5
4 CONCLUSION
Finite element seismic analyses of the chimney-raft-soil
system were carried out with four types of soils with different
shear wave velocities and the results are compared with those
obtained through IS codal provisions. Based on the
parametric study on the seismic response analysis of
chimneys, the following conclusions are drawn.
(i) The natural frequency of the structure decreases with
increase in soil flexibility and by the decrease in raft
thickness.
(ii) Tangential and radial moments of annular raft of
chimney increase with increase in flexibility of soil.
(iii) Tangential and radial moments of annular raft of
chimney decrease as the thickness of raft is reduced.
(iv) The radial moments in raft varies more compared to
tangential moments due the effect of seismic soil-
structure-interaction.
REFERENCES
[1] CICIND, Model Code for Concrete Chimneys, Part A: The Shell,
International Committee on Industrial Chimneys, Switzerland,
1999 and 2000.
[2] C.Navarro, “Influence of Soil Flexibility on the Seismic Behavior
of Chimneys,” Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol.
11, pp.403-409, 1992.
[3] G.W. Housner, “The behavior of inverted pendulum structures
during earthquakes”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of
America, Vol. 53, pp. 403-417, 1963..
[4] H. B.Seed, I. M. Idriss, “Soil moduli and damping factors for
dynamic response analysis, Report no. UCB/EERC 70-10,
University of California, Berkely, CA, 1970.
[5] IS: 11089-1984, “Code of practice for design and construction
of ring foundation,” Bureau of Indian standards, New Delhi.
[6] IS: 4998-1992, “Indian Standard Criteria for Design of
Reinforced Concrete Chimneys”, Bureau of Indian standards,
New Delhi.
[7] J. Rajasankar, R. Iyer Nagesh, B.Yerrayaswamy,
N.Gopalakrishnan and P.Chellapandi, “SSI analysis of a massive
concrete structure based on a novel convolution/deconvolution
technique.”Sadhana, Vol.32, No. 3, pp. 215–234, 2007.
[8] K. Muthumani, “Earthquake resistant design of foundations”,
Advanced Course on Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering,
CSIR-SERC, Chennai 113, India. pp. 251-278, 2012.
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Coupled Layerwise Theories for Hybrid and

Sandwich Piezoelectric Beams
Akil Ahmed
Abstract— This paper presents review of the available one dimensional (1D) models of hybrid and sandwich beams and highlights the need
of computationally efficient and accurate electromechanical coupled 1D beam models. The paper covers the discussion of uncoupled
equivalent single layer theories, coupled equivalent single layer theories, layerwise theories, efficeint layerwise theories, 3D theories, efficient
coupled zigzag theories, finite element models, exact piezoelasticity solution and coupled third order smeared beam models.

Index Terms— electromechancal loads, finite element, hybrid beams, laminate theories, piezoelectric, sandwich beams, zigzag models

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION thickness coordinate z for all layers. The deflection w is

usually assumed to be independent of z. The electric

C
omposite laminates and sandwich structures with
some embedded or surface bonded piezoelectric
layers form part of a new generation of smart adaptive
structures which have received enormous research attention
in recent years. The sensing and actuation capability of
piezoelectric layer is used for achieving active vibration
control, shape control, noise control, health monitoring etc.
Sandwich structures have high ratio of flexural stiffness to
weight ratio resulting in lower deflection, higher buckling
load and higher natural frequencies compared to other
configuration of this type of structures. Sandwich structures
offer advantage of placement of electrodes for the
piezoelectric layers. Due to inhomogeneity in the mechanical
properties across the thickness and presence of electric
heterogeneity caused by the embedded piezoelectric layers,
these structures can be analysed accurately and efficiently
by coupled electromechanical three dimensional (3D), two
dimensional (2D) and one dimensional (1D) models for
solids, plates and shells, and beams, respectively.
The relevant literature is reviewed from the view point
of this objective. Beginning with the pioneering book by
Tiersten [1] on piezoelectric plate vibration, several books
[2], [3] have been written on piezoelectric and smart
structures. Several articles [4], [5] have surveyed on the
research of hybrid composite and sandwich piezoelectric
structures.
2 CLASSIFICATION OF THEORIES
The majority of the reported piezoelectric laminate
theories fall into following categories. Their points of
differentiation are based on assumed displacement field and
the exclusion or inclusion of the piezoelectric coupling by
independent electric potential variables.
2.1 Uncoupled Equivalent Single Layer Theories
In single layer beam or shell, the displacement field is
assumed to have the same functional dependence on the
————————————————
• Dr. Akil Ahmed is an Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering
Department, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University), New
Delhi, India 110025 (E-mail: akilhm@gmail.com).
potential is not included as an independent state variable
and the piezoelectric coupling is neglected. The electric
potential across each actuated piezoelectric layer is assumed
to vary linearly across the thickness and induces piezoelectric
strains. The electric field in the sensory layer can be back
calculated from the mechanical strains using constitutive
equations. Many reported theories belong to this class. In
the classical laminate theory (CLT), the transverse shear and
normal strains are neglected and so the axial displacement u
and deflection w are approximated as
In the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT), uniform
transverse shear strain across the thickness is assumed and
so the displacements are approximated in terms of three
displacement variables u0, ø0, and w0 as:
Since the actual shear strain distribution is not uniform, a
shear correction factor is introduced to enhance this. No
shear correction factor is required in higher order theories
in which shear deformation is nonuniform across the
thickness with u being a function of z of degree higher
than in FSDT. In third order theory, u is taken as cubic in z
such that the shear strain ãzx is zero at the top and bottom
of the beam of thickness h and displacement field is
expressed in terms of u0, ø0, w0 as:
2.2 Coupled Equivalent Single Layer Theories
The displacement field is assumed to have the same
functional dependence on z for all layers and electric
potentials are treated as independent state variables with
layerwise approximation of electric potential ö across the
thickness. Usually w is assumed to be independent of z and

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ö is assumed to be layerwise linear. The piezoelectric where the superscript T denotes matrix transpose and è is
coupling is explicitly considered through direct and converse the temperature rise above the stress-free reference
piezoelectric effects. Coupled CLT, coupled FSDT and temperature and
coupled third order theory belong to this class.
 ⎡ s11 s12 s13 0 0 0⎤
2.3 Layerwise Theories ⎢s s22 s23 0 0 0 ⎥⎥
The axial displacement field is approximated across the ⎢ 21
⎢s s32 s33 0 0 0⎥
thickness, layerwise or sublaminate (a set of layers) wise S = ⎢ 31 ⎥
with continuity at each interface, and w is usually assumed ⎢0 0 0 s44 0 0⎥
to be independent of z. In the uncoupled layerwise theories, ⎢0 0 0 0 s55 0⎥
the electric potentials are not independent state variables. ⎢ ⎥
In the coupled layerwise theories, the electric potentials are ⎣⎢ 0 0 0 0 0 s66 ⎦⎥ ,
independent state variables and ö is approximated across
the thickness layerwise, sublayerwise or sublaminate (a set
⎡0 0 d 31 ⎤ ⎡α1 ⎤
of layers) wise, and u and ö are usually assumed piecewise ⎢0 ⎢α ⎥
linear across the thickness. These theories attempt to ⎢ 0 d 32 ⎥⎥ ⎢ 2⎥
reproduce the performance of 3D theories with less analytical ⎢0 0 d 33 ⎥ ⎢α ⎥
complexity and computational effort and yield accurate d =⎢
T
⎥ α = ⎢ 3⎥
values of intralaminar stresses and interlaminar shear stresses ⎢0 d 24 0 ⎥ ⎢0⎥
for thin and thick piezoelectric laminates and can handle ⎢d15 0 0 ⎥ ⎢0⎥
arbitrary electrical configurations. Consequently, they offer ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
analytical flexibility and robustness at an increased
⎢⎣ 0 0 0 ⎥⎦ , ⎣⎢ 0 ⎦⎥ ,
computatinal effort since the number of primary
displacement variables depends on the number of layers.
⎡ε 11 0 0⎤ ⎡0⎤
The computational cost is almost one order more than that
of equivalent single layer theories. The shear stress ôzx ε = ⎢⎢ 0 ε 22 0 ⎥⎥ q = ⎢⎢ 0 ⎥⎥
computed from constitutive equations, for theories in ⎢⎣ 0 0 ε 33 ⎥⎦ , ⎣⎢q3 ⎦⎥ .
categories 1,2,3 is generally not continuous at the layer
interfaces. 2.6 Exact Piezothermoelasticity Solutions
2.4 Efficient Layerwise Theories These are exact solutions of the partial differential equations
The assumptions of displacement and electric potential fields of equilibrium or motion and electric displacement
are the same as in layerwise theories above with additional conservation through the laminate thickness and exactly
quadratic and cubic global dependence of u on z. The number satisfy the continuity conditions at the layer interfaces and
of primary displacement variables is reduced to three by the boundary conditions at the boundary. These are exact
enforcing the shear traction free conditions at top and bottom 3D solutions for a laminated piezoelectricplate or shell, and
and the conditions of continuty of ôzx at the layer interfaces. exact 2D solutions for plane strain problem of cylindrical
These theories are computationally efficient as the number bending of a flat or curved panel or assumed generalised
plane stress problem of a beam of small width. These
of primary displacement variables is only three and this does
solutions do not involve any approximations. Such solutions
not depend on the number of layers. In the theories described
exist only for few specific geometric configurations,
in categories 2.1 to 2.4, ôzx and óx predicted from constitutive electromechanical boundary conditions and loadings. These
equations can be improved upon (corrected) by integrating are mostly used as benchmark tests for assessing other
the equations of motion of 3D elasticity. theories of laminates. Naturally, some of the reported
2.5 3D Theories formulations may not clearly fall in one of the above
categories.
The 3D theories are based on assumed 3D expansions for
all displacement components and electric potential which 2.7 Coupled Zigzag Models
are made layerwise, sublayerwise or sublaminate wise. The An efficient new coupled 1D theory was developed for
3D constitutive equations of a piezoelectric continuum and piezoelectric hybrid beams under electromechanical static
equations of motion and charge balance are used in the and dynamic load by extending the theory [31] for static
differential form or in the weak integral form. These theories analysis to a theory for any layup including piezoelectric
directly yield interlaminar normal strain and stresses using layers of different materials [36], [37]. The model combines
the constitutive equations. Most importantly, these theories third order zigzag approximation for the displacement with
include the effect of the d33 piezoelectric coefficient which layerwise approximation of the electric potential field as
is neglected by most previous categories. The 3D constitutive piecewise linear for sublayers. The transverse displacement
equations of a piezoelectric orthotropic material of class is approximated to account for the piezoelectric transverse
mm2 symmetry, with principal material axes x1, x2, x3 and normal strain induced by the electric potential. By enforcing
polarised along direction x3, with stress ó, engineering strain approximately (by neglecting the explicit contribution of ö
õ, electric field E and electric displacement D with respect to ôzx the conditions of zero transverse shear stress at the top
to the principal material axes, are given by and bottom and its continuity at layer interfaces, the
displacement field is expressed in terms of three primary
ε = Sσ + d T E + αθ displacement variables and potentials. This layerwise theory
for displacement and potential fields thus preserves the
D = dσ + ε E + qθ computational advantage of an equivalent single layer (ESL)
theory. The governing coupled equations of motion and

190 ICICE-2013
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charge balance and variationally consistent boundary
conditions are derived from Hamilton’s principle. Analytical
Fourier series solutions are obtained, for static response,
natural frequencies and forced response under harmonic load,
for simply supported hybrid beams.
The theory is assessed by comparison of the results with the
exact 2D piezoelastic solution and uncoupled FSDT solution.
The present results are generally much more accurate than
the FSDT solution and agree well with the exact solution
for thin and moderately thick hybrid beams. The capability
of the developed theory to adequately model open and closed
circuit electric boundary conditions to accurately predict their
influence on the response is demonstrated. The effects of
ratio of span-to-thickness and ratio of piezolayer thickness
to beam thickness on the response are investigated.
Another efficient new coupled 1D zigzag theory [38] was
developed for static and dynamic analysis of hybrid beams
under thermoelectromechanical loads, by extending the
above zigzag model by including the explicit contribution
of electric potential ö and temperature ô in the conditions
imposed on ôzx. The axial displacement is approximated as a
combination of global third order variation across the
thickness with additional layerwise piecewise linear
variation. The thermal and potential fields are approximated
sublayer-wise as piecewise linear. The model considers both
the axial and transverse electric fields. The deflection field
is approximated to account for the transverse normal strain
induced due to the piezoelectric d33 coefficient and the
thermal expansion coefficient á3. The displacement field is
expressed in terms of only three primary displacement
variables, electric potential variables and thermal field by
satisfying exactly the conditions of zero transverse shear
stress at the top and bottom and its continuity at layer
interfaces. The governing coupled dynamic equations of
stress and charge and variationally consistent boundary
conditions are derived using Hamilton’s principle.
The developed theory can accurately model open and closed
circuit boundary conditions. The number of primary
displacement unknowns is three, which is independent of
the number of layers and equal in number to the ones used
in the FSDT. This layerwise theory for displacement and
potential fields thus preserves the computational advantage
of an equivalent single layer (ESL) theory. Analytical Fourier
series solutions are obtained for simply supported hybrid
beams, for static response under electrothermomechanical
load, natural frequencies of free vibrations and steady state
undamped and damped forced response under harmonic load.
3 VARIOUS BEAM MODELS
A review of 3D continuum-based approaches, 2D theories
for plates and shells and 1D theories for beams, along with
their comparative study for plates under static loading, is
presented by Saravanos and Heyliger [4]. In these papers,
analytical 3D solutions are available only for some specific
shapes and boundary conditions [6], [7] such as simply-
supported infinite flat panels. The 3D finite element analysis
for piezoelectric plates [8], [9] and 2D finite elements for
beams result in large problem size which may become
computationally costly for practical dynamics and control
problems. Hence efficient accurate electrothermomechanical
coupled 2D plate and 1D beam theories are required without
too much loss of accuracy compared to 3D models.
ICICE-2013
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Control of beam vibration using piezoelectric materials
vibration was demonstrated by early researchers [10], [11].
Several beam theories of varying accuracy have been
developed. Early works used elastic beam models [12], [13]
with effective forces and moments due to induced strain of
piezoelectric actuators. Finite element formulations were also
presented [14], [15]. A discrete layer theory with layerwise
approximation of displacements was developed for elastic
laminated beams with induced actuation strain by Robins
and Reddy [16]. Classical laminate theory (CLT) [17], [18]
first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) [18], [19] and
the refined third order theory (TOT) [20, 21] based on
Reddy’s theory [22], have been applied without
electromechanical coupling to hybrid beams and plates. No
shear correction factor is needed in third order theories.
Coupled CLT, FSDT [23], [24] and TOT [25], [26] for hybrid
beams and plates including the charge equation of
electrostatics and electromechanical coupling have been
reported with layerwise linear approximation for the potential
field. In these third order theories, the transverse shear strain
ãzx is zero at the top and bottom of the beam, but the shear
traction free conditions at the top and bottom of the beam
are not exactly satisfied. Saravanos and Heyliger [27] have
presented coupled discrete layer theory (DLT), using
layerwise approximation for displacements and electric
potential, which yields accurate results for thin and thick
beams. But it is expensive for practical problems since the
number of displacement unknowns depend on the number
of sublayers. Carrera [28] has presented a coupled DLT for
plates with layerwise linear zig-zag approximation for axial
displacement and quadratic one for transverse shear stresses
and potential. But the axial electric field is neglected and
the constitutive equation for shear stresses is only
approximately satisfied. Several of these theories have been
applied in the above works and in [29], [30] for control of
vibration of hybrid beams with piezoelectric layers by active
or passive damping strategy and also by hybrid active-passive
intelligent constrained layer damping treatments.
Except for the coupled DLT [27], in which the transverse
displacement is also taken as piecewise linear, no other 2D
theory discussed above considers the piezoelectric transverse
normal strain induced due to piezoelectricity through d33
coefficient, which has been observed to have considerable
effect on the response, especially for electrical load [4]. To
overcome the disadvantage of large number of displacement
unknowns, dependent on the number of layers, in the DLT
of Ref.[27], Kapuria [31] has recently developed a novel
efficient coupled layerwise theory (DLT), for static analysis
of hybrid beams, using a third order zigzag approximation
for the axial displacement [32-34] with a sublayerwise
piecewise linear approximation for the potential ö. The
transverse displacement is approximated to account for the
piezoelectric transverse normal strain induced by the electric
potential through the piezoelectric strain constant d33. The
model considers both the axial and transverse electric fields.
By neglecting the explicit contribution of ö, the conditions
of zero transverse shear stress ôzx at the top and bottom
surfaces and the conditions of continuity of ôzx at layer
interfaces are enforced to formulate the theory in terms of
only three displacement unknowns, which are independent
of the number of layers and equal in number to the ones
used in the FSDT. This DLT has the computational advantage
of an equivalent single layer (ESL) theory and yet yields
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accurate through-the-thickness variations of displacements,
electric field and stresses. Vidoli and Batra [35] have recently
derived plate and rod equations for piezoelectric body from
a mixed three dimensional variational principle.
4 CONCLUSION
A review is presented for different computational models
for smart beams. Special emphasis is laid upon the
development of different theories related to smart beams.
Due to the inhomogeneity in the mechanical properties across
the thickness and the presence of electric heterogeneity
caused by the piezoelectric layer, the classical and first order
shear deformation theories are inadequate for the analysis
of thick and moderately thick beams and so third order and
several higher order theories have been developed. This paper
reviews different theories with latest development for smart
beams starting with elastic beam models. Several beam
theories of varying accuracy have been developed. Early
works used elastic beam models with effective forces and
moments due to the induced strain of the piezoelectric
actuators. Finite element formulations were also presented.
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zigzag theory for dynamic analysis of piezoelectric composite
and sandwich beams with damping,” Journal of Sound and
Vibration, vol. 279, pp. 345 – 371, 2005.
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Prediction of elastic modulus of high strength

concrete by Gaussian Process Regression
Ishan Saini, Pranav Chandramouli
Abstract— Elastic moduli play a vital role in determining the deformation characteristics of concrete structures. This paper suggests a
novel approach to predict the elastic modulus of high- strength concrete (HSC) using Gaussian Process Regression (GPR). GPR model is
used to establish a relation between the modulus of elasticity and the compressive strength of HSC. GPR model is a non-parametric black-
box model which searches for the relationship among measured data and estimates distributions over functions. GPR models are constructed
and tested using available test data attained through existing literature studies. The first dataset used in this study is derived from experimental
results. Out of a total of 87 cases of data, 79 are used for training and the rest are used to test the created model. The data are normalized
between 0 and 1 prior to being used in the model. A subsequent parametric analysis is carried out to evaluate the sensitive variations of the
elastic modulus corresponding to variations in the compressive strength. The GPR model accurately predicts the elastic modulus of concrete
blocks considered. The output of the GP model is a normal distribution, expressed as mean and variance - the former represents the most
likely output and the latter is a measure of its confidence. The results predicted are compared to those obtained from empirical results from
buildings codes and various models – accurate results portray the strong potential of GPR, as a feasible and reliable tool, to predict elastic
moduli of concrete.

Index Terms— Compressive strength, Elastic modulus, Gaussian Process Regression, High strength concrete, Normal distribution,Training
data, Testing data
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION fuzzy logic model faces problem during determining fuzzy

rules. This paper presents Gaussian process (GP) model as

E
lastic modulus is a significant property of concrete
which has been used to calculate deformation of
structures [1]. Thence, making elastic moduli an
imperative value to be predicted for different structural
engineering problems. It is usually determined from the
stress–strain graph of concrete, subjecting concrete cylinder
under compression. Determining elastic modulus using
conventional method engages complex testing steps like
cyclic loading and strain measurements. This makes
determination of elastic modulus, a complicated and time-
consuming task compared with measuring compressive
strength. As a result, many researchers and engineers have
attempted to predict the elastic modulus using theoretical
and empirical approaches. Elastic modulus has been
predicted based on compressive strength (óc) of concrete.
For example American [2], European [3], and Norwegian
[4] committees recommended the following equations for
HSC, respectively:
Ec = 3.32(fc )1/2 + 6.9
Ec = 10 (fc + 8)1/3
Ec = 9.5 (fc )0.3
Where, fc is compressive strength (in MPa) and Ec is elastic
modulus (in GPa).
an alternative for the determination of elastic modulus,
overcoming many previously faced problems.
2. GAUSSIAN PROCESS REGRESSION
The GP model is a non-parametric black-box model which
searches for the relationship among measured data. It differs
from other black-box classification approaches since it does
not try to approximate the modelled system by fitting
constraints of particular basis functions. GP model uses
kernel functions similar to Support Vector Machines (SVM)
and Relevance Vector Machines (RVM) [7, 8]. It gives
normally distributed output, articulated in terms of mean
and variance. The former value represents the most likely
output and the latter can be inferred as the measure of its
confidence. The latter value is dependent on the amount and
quality of available identification data. Let us consider the
following dataset:
{(xk, yk)}Nk =1 , x “ R y “ R (4)
(1)
Where, x is input variable, y is output variable, R is one-
(2) dimensional vector space and N is number of data.
(3) This study uses fc as input variable and Ec as output variable.
So, x = [fc] and y = [Ec]. The above dataset have been drawn
from the following noise process.

Apart from empirical relations, prediction of elastic modulus yi = f (xi )+ å , å ~ N( 0, ó 2) (5)

have also been done by using Data Mining techniques such For a given input x*, GPR defines a gaussian predictive
as Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and the fuzzy logic distribution over the output y* with mean
model [5,6]. Though, ANN has some shortcomings like slow
convergence speed, poor generalising performance whilst ì = K(x*,x)(K(x, x )+ ó 2 I)”1y (6)

———————————————— Where K(x,x) is kernel function and I is identity matrix and

variance is represented by following equation:
• Ishan Saini is currently pursuingbachelors degree program
in civil engineering in VIT University, India, PH- Ó = K( x *, x *) “ ó 2 I – K( x * , x)( K (x, x )+ ó 2 I)”1 K (x,
09043293798. E-mail:ishansaini92@gmail.com x* ) (7)
• Pranav Chandramouli is currently pursuing bachelors degree A suitable covariance function and its parameter are required
program in Mechanical (Spec. in Energy) engineering in VIT to develop the GPR model. For a fixed value of gaussian
University, India, PH-07200306606. E-mail: noise, GPR is trained by maximizing marginal likelihood.
pranav.c2010@vit.ac.in
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3 GPR FOR PREDICTION OF ELASTIC MODULUS OF HSC
As stated above, various methods have been proposed for
the prediction of elastic modulus of concrete using
compressive strength value. This study employs the use of
Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) for prediction of
modulus of elasticity (Ec). The experimental results for HSC
are taken from Wee [9] and Gesoglu [10]. GPR uses 79 out
of 87 cases for HSC in order to train the model while rest
for testing the developed model. The data are normalized
between 0 and 1 before being used in the model as following:
Dnorm = (D – Dmin)/(Dmax – Dmin) (8)
Where, Dmax and D min are the maximum and minimum
values of input and output data.
Normalized values of Ec and Fc of training dataset are given
as input in GPR model. The value of the co-relation
coefficient ‘R’ obtained from GPR model is 0.77. Fig.1
shows performance of testing dataset in terms of R. This
value is achieved at a radial basis function width ‘ó’ = 0.0001
and noise ‘å’ = 4. The developed model is then tested using
testing dataset (see table 1).
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Actual Ec values for testing dataset are compared with
already existing models including the recently developed
GPR model (see Table 1). The comparison has been shown
in terms of errors (predicted values subtract measured
values). In order to explicitly compare the magnitude of error,
Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is calculated. The RMSE
value for GPR is shown in Fig. 2 along with the other
194
developed models RMSE values. The model with the
smallest RSME can be considered as the best model. From
Fig. 2, we can infer that the GPR model predicts elastic
modulus with much less error as compared to previously
existing models. The study shows that the GPR has strong
potential to predict accurate elastic modulus of HSC.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This study has investigated the use of GPR for prediction of
elastic modulus of concrete from compressive strength.
RMSE of the predicted results by GPR method is the smallest
among all the prediction methods. Thus, GPR model can be
regarded as a very efficient method to predict elastic modulus
of HSC from their compressive strength value. Precision in
prediction of elastic modulus increases with increase in the
amount of data and number of regressors.
Fig. 2 Comparison between GPR and other models in
terms of Root Mean Square Error
REFERENCES
[1] Mesbah HA, Lacherni M, Aitcin PC. Determination of elastic
properties of high performance concrete at early age. ACI Mater
J 2002;99(1):37–41.
[2] ACI Committee. 363 State-of-art-report on high strength
concrete. ACI Mater J 1984;81(4):364–411.
[3] CEB-FIB Model Code. Bull. D’information CEB, No. 213/214,
Lausanne; 1993.
[4] Norwegian Council for Building Standardization. Concrete
structures design rules NS 3473. Stockholm: Norwegian Concrete
Association; 1992.
[5] Fuat D. Prediction of elastic modulus of normal and high strength
concrete by artificial neural networks. Constr Build Mater
2008;22:1428–35.
[6] Fuat D. A new way of prediction elastic modulus of normal and
high strength concrete-fuzzy logic. Cem Concr Res
2005;35:1531–8.
[7] Qui˜ nonero-Candela J, Rasmussen CE. Analysis of some
methods for reduced rank gaussian process regression. In: Murray-
Smith R, Shorten R, editors. Switching and learning in feedback
systems. Lecture notes in computer science, vol. 3355. 2005.
[8] Bishop CM, Tipping ME. Bayesian regression and classification.
In: Suykens J, Horvath G, Basu S, Micchelli C, Vandewalle J,
editors. Advances in learning theory: Methods, models and
applications. NATO science series III: Computer and systems
sciences, vol. 190. Amsterdam: IOS Press; 2003.
[9] Wee TH, Chin MS, Mansur MA. Stress–strain relationship of
high-strength concrete in compression. J Mater Civ Eng
1994;8(2):70–6.
[10] Gesoglu M, Guneyisi E, Ozturan T. Effects of end condition on
compressive strength and static elastic modulus of very high
strength concrete. Cem Concr Res 2002;32(10):1545–50.
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Vibration of laminated composite cylindrical

shells with cutouts using higher order theory
Ajay Kumar, Anupam Chakrabarti , Pradeep Bhargava
Abstract— Free vibration of laminated composite shells with cutouts are presented by a nine noded curved C0 finite element (FE) formulation
developed by authors based on higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT) using Sander’s approximations. The proposed model satisfies
parabolic distribution of transverse shear strains through the shell thickness and zero transverse shear stress conditions at shell top and
bottom. The 2D finite element implementation of the higher order shear deformation theory is done to solve the problem of free vibration
problem of laminated composite shells with cutouts. Validations of numerical results show that the present 2D model is fairly good in
predicting the different modes of vibration of shells with cutouts. Free vibration of laminated composite shells with cutouts has been done
for first five modes by varying boundary conditions and geometry of composite shells. New results are presented which should be useful
for future research.
Keywords — composite, cutout, cylindrical shell, finite element method, free vibration, frequency parameter, higher order shear deformation
theory
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION displacements of the middle surface are expanded as linear

functions of the thickness coordinate and the transverse

T
he free vibration of composite as well as isotropic plate
deflection is assumed to be constant through the thickness.
with cutout was studied by different researchers from
The theory is based on a displacement field in which the in-
time to time. Reddy [2] investigated large amplitude
plane displacements of the middle surface are expanded as
flexural vibration of composite plate with cutout. Later in
cubic functions of the thickness coordinate and the transverse
1989, Malhotra et al. [3] studied free vibration of composite
displacement is assumed to be constant through the
plate with cutout for different boundary conditions. One of
thickness. A scrutiny of the literature on vibration of
the early reports on free vibration of curved panels with cutout
composite cylindrical shells with cutouts indicates that there
was due to Sivasubramonian et al. [4]. They analysed the
is no C0 FE results based on HSDT of composite cylindrical
effect of cutouts on the natural frequencies of plates with
shells with rectangular cutouts. In the present paper the free
some classical boundary conditions. The plate had a curvature
vibration of composite cylindrical shells with rectangular
in one direction and was straight in the other. The effect of
cutouts based on HSDT, is studied considering different
fibre orientation and size of cutout on natural frequency on
curvatures, thicknesses and boundary conditions.
orthotropic square plates with square cutout was studied
using Rayleigh-Ritz method. Later Sivakumaret al. [5], Rossi 2 GOVERNING EQUATIONS
[6], Huang and Sakiyama [7], and Hota and Padhi [8] studied
free vibration of plate with various cutout geometries. A laminated shell made of a finite number of uniformly thick
Chakravorty et al. [1] analyzed the effect of concentric cutout orthotropic layers oriented arbitrarily with respect to the shell
on different shell options. Again in 1999, Sivasubramonian co-ordinates (x, y, z) is takenis shown in Fig. 1. The reference
et al. [9] studied the effect of curvature and cutouts on square plane (i.e., mid plane) is defined at z = 0.
panels with different boundary conditions. The size of the
cutout (symmetrically located) as well as curvature of the
panels is varied. Hota and Chakravorty
[10] Published useful information about free vibration of
stiffened conoidal shell roofs with cutout. Later Nanda and
Bandyopadhyay [11] , Dey et al. (12) studied the effect of
different parametric variation on free vibration of cylindrical
shell with cutout using first order shear deformation theory
(FSDT).
Reddy and Liu (13) presented a simple higher-order shear
deformation theory (HSDT) for the analysis of laminated
shells. It contains the same dependent unknowns as in the Fig. 1 Inplane displacement across thickness of shell
first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) in which the
The displacement fields are assumed in the form given by
• Ajay Kumar, Research Scholar,Civil Engineering Department,IIT Reddy and Liu [17] and may be expressed as,
Roorkee, Roorkee, India-247667. E-mail: sajaydce@gmail.com
• Anupam Chakrabarti , Associate Professor,Civil Engineering u ( x , y , z ) = u 0 ( x , y ) + zθ x ( x , y ) + z 2ξ x ( x , y ) + z 3ζ x ( x , y )
Department,IIT Roorkee, India-247667 .
Email:anupam1965@yahoo.co.uk v ( x, y , z ) = v0 ( x, y ) + zθ y ( x, y ) + z 2ξ y ( x, y ) + z 3ζ y ( x, y )
• Pradeep Bhargava, Professor,Civil Engineering Department,IIT w( x, y ) = w0 ( x, y ) (1)
Roorkee,Roorkee,India-247667 . E-mail:bhpdpfce@iitr.ernet.in

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whwhere u, v and w are the displacements of a general point
(x, y, z) in an element of the laminate along x, y and z
directions, respectively. The parameters u0, v0, and w0 denote
the displacements of a point (x ,y) on the mid plane of shell,
and are the rotations of normals with respect to
the mid plane about the y and x axes. The functions î x ,æx , îy
and æy can be found using the conditions of zero transverse
transverse shear strains at the top and bottom surfaces of
the shell.
The linear strain-displacement relations according
to Sanders’ approximation are shown in Eq. (2) below:
3 FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION
Fig. 2 Nine noded curved isoparametric element with
typical node numbering and gauss points.
A nine-noded curved isoparametric C0 element shown in
Fig. 2, with seven unknowns per node is used in the present
finite element model. The FE code is developed to take the
position and size of cutout. The free vibration analysis is
done to determine the natural frequencies from the following,
(3)
The remainning procedure is standard finite element
method as in [14].
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Comparison And Convergence Studies
All analyses are carried out corresponding to the convergence
mesh size: 20x20 (full shell). Comparison studies are first
made to establish the correctness of the present FE model
based on HSDT.
The validity of the present approach for free vibration of
composite cylindrical shells are checked in Table 1, through
solution of a problem which was earlier solved by Sheikh
et. al [15] for free vibration of laminated composite plates
with cutout and found to compare well.
196
TABLE 1
Frequency parameter of a simply supported, cross ply
(0/90), square ( a x a) laminate having a central
rectangular cut-out. ( a /b =1, h/a = 0.01, E1/E2 = 25, G12 =
G13 = 0.5E2, G23 = 0.2E2 and í 12 = 0.25 ).
4.2 NEW RESULTS
For all the investigations, unless otherwise mentioned, the
geometric properties are taken as: a/b = 1, h/a = 0.01,c/a =
0.2 and the material properties are: E1/E2 = 25, G12 = G13 =
0.5E2, G23 = 0.2E2 and í 12 = 0.25. Non-dimensional frequency
parameter, = ù a2/h
4.2.1 Effect Of Curvature On Free Vibration
Frequency OF Composite Cylindrical Shell With
Cutout
The fundamental frequencies of 0/90/0/90 composite
cylindrical shells with cutout are presented in Table 2 and 3
for various curvatures under simply supported boundary
condition with h/a=0.01 and 0.1 respectively.
TABLE 2
Frequency parameter of a simply-supported, cross ply (0/
90/0/90), cylindrical shell having a central rectangular cutout,
h/a=0.01

From Table 2, it is observed that in 0/90/0/90 composite
cylindrical shells with cutout frequency parameter
decreases as the curvature increases. The frequency
parameter incrases with increase in mode number. Cutout
frequency parameter depends on the size of cutout.
From Table 3, it is observed that in 0/90/0/90 composite
cylindrical shells with cutout frequency parameter
decreases as the curvature increases, but this decrease is
lesser compared to h/a = 0.01. The frequency parameter
increases with increase in mode number. Cutout frequency
parameter depends on the size of cutout.
From Tables 2-3, for same cutout frequency parameter is
more for h/a=0.01compared to h/a=0.1
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TABLE 3 TABLE 5
Frequency parameter of a simply-supported, cross ply Frequency parameter of a clamped, cross ply (0/90/0/90),
(0/90/0/90), cylindrical shell having a central rectangular cylindrical shell having a central rectangular cutout, h/a=0.1
cutout, h/a=0.1

From Table 4, it is observed that in 0/90/0/90 composite

4.2.2 Effect Of Boundary Condition On Free Vibration
Frequency Of Composite Cylindrical Shell With
Cutout
The fundamental frequencies of 0/90/0/90 composite
cylindrical shells with cutout are presented in Tables 4 and
5 for various curvatures under clamped boundary condition
with h/a=0.01 and 0.1 respectively.
TABLE 4
Frequency parameter of a clamped, cross ply (0/90/0/
90), cylindrical shell having a central rectangular cutout,
h/a=0.01
cylindrical shells with cutout frequency parameter
decreases as the curvature increases. The frequency
parameter incrases with increase in mode number. Cutout
frequency parameter depends on the size of cutout.
From Table 5, it is observed that in 0/90/0/90 composite
cylindrical shells with cutout frequency parameter
decreases as the curvature increases, but this decrease is
lesser compared to h/a = 0.01. The frequency parameter
increases with increase in mode number. Cutout frequency
parameter depends on the size of cutout.
From Tables 4-5, for same cutout frequency parameter is
more for h/a=0.01compared to h/a=0.1
From Tables (2-5), it is observed that frequency parameter
for the same cutout size is more in clamped case than that in
simply supported case.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In the present study, the free vibration analysis based on
higher order theory of laminated composite cylindrical shells
with cutout has been studied using a C0 finite element model
by incorporating all three radii of curvatures developed by
the authors. Cutout frequency parameter of composite
cylinrical shell decreases as the curvature increases. The
frequency parameter increases with increase in mode number.
Frequency parameter for the same cutout size is more in
clamped case than that in simply supported case. Many new
results are generated which should serve as benchmark for
future research. As such the present model may be
recommended for wide applications to solve many
engineering problems related to vibration of composite shells
with cutout.

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REFERENCES
[1] D. Chakravorty, P. K. Sinha, and J. N. Bandyopadhyay,
“Applications of FEM on free and forced vibration of laminated
shells,” J Eng Mech, vol. 124, no. 1, pp.1–8, 1998.
[2] J. N. Reddy, “Large amplitude flexural vibration of layered
composite plates with cutouts,”J Sound Vib, vol. 83, no. 1, pp.
1–10, 1982.
[3] S. K.Malhotra, N. Ganesan, and M. A. Veluswami, “Vibration of
composite plates with cut-outs,” J ASI, vol. 41, pp. 61–64,
1989.
[4] B. Sivasubramonian, A. M. Kulkarni, G. Venkateswara Raoand
A. Krishnan, “Free vibration of curved panels with cutouts,” J
Sound Vib, vol. 200, no. 2, pp.227–234, 1997.
[5] K. Sivakumar, N. G. R. Iyengar, and K.Deb, “Free vibration of
laminated composite plates with cutout,” J Sound Vib, vol. 221,
no. 3, pp. 443–465, 1999.
[6] R. E. Rossi, “Transverse vibrations of thin, orthotropic
rectangular plates with rectangular cutouts with fixed
boundaries,” J Sound Vib, vol. 221, no. 4, pp. 733–736, 1999.
[7] M. Huang and T. Sakiyama, “Free vibration analysis of
rectangular plates with variously-shaped holes,” J Sound Vib,
vol. 226, no. 4, pp. 769–786, 1999.
198
[8] S. S. Hota and P. Padhi, “Vibration of plates with arbitrary shapes
of cutouts,” J Sound Vib, vol. 302, no. 4-5, pp. 1030–1036, 2007.
[9] B. Sivasubramonian, G. V. Rao, and A. Krishnan, “Free vibration
of longitudinally stiffened curved panels with cutout,” J Sound
Vib, vol. 226, no. 1, pp. 41–55, 1999.
[10] S. S. Hota and D. Chakravorty, “Free vibration of stiffened
conoidal shell roofs with cutouts,” J Vib Control, vol. 13, no. 3,
pp. 221–240, 2007.
[11] N. Nanda and J. N. Bandyopadhyay, “Nonlinear free vibration
analysis of laminated composite cylindrical shells with cutouts,”
J Reinf Plast Comp, vol. 26, no. 14, pp. 1413–1427, 2007.
[12] A. Dey, J. N. Bandyopadhyay, and P. K. Sinha, “Finite element
analysis of laminated composite paraboloid of revolution shells,”
Comput Struct, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 675–682, 1992.
[13] J. N. Reddy and C. F. Liu, “A higher-order shear deformation
theory of laminated elastic shells”, Int J Eng Sci, vol. 23, pp.
319-330, 1985.
[14] R. D. Cook, D. S. Malkus, and M. E. Plesha, Concepts and
Applications of Finite Element Analysis, John Wiley & Sons,
New York, NY, USA, 1989.
[15] A.H. Sheikh, S. Haldar, D. Sengupta, “Free flexural vibration of
composite plates in different situations using a high precision
triangular element,” J Vib Control, vol. 10, pp. 371–386, 2004
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Reactive Powder Concrete Properties with

Cement Replacement Using Waste Material
Mr.Anjan kumar M U, Dr. Asha Udaya Rao, Dr. Narayana Sabhahit
Abstract— Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is composed of very fine powders (cement, sand, quartz powder and silica fume), steel fibres
(optional) and superplasticizer. A very dense matrix is achieved, and this compactness gives RPC ultra-high strength and durability properties.
In the present study, performance of reactive powder concrete without quartz powder and containing fly ash and GGBS as a replacement for
cement at the percentage of 5% (RPC1), 10% (RPC2) and 15% (RPC3) by each is investigated. To compare the results of cement replaced
mixture, specimen without cement replacement (RPC)are also casted. Performance of the various mixes is tested by the compressive
strength, flexure strength and modulus of elasticity. The results show improvement in compressive strength, flexural strength and modulus
of elasticity in cement replaced mixes.

Index Terms— compressive strength, flexure strength, fly ash, ggbs, modulus of elasticity, RPC, silica fume, steel fiber.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

R
eactive Powder Concretes (RPC) constitute a
particular type of cementitious materials developed
in the early 1990s [Richard et al., 1995] and
characterized by ultra-high mechanical performances. As
compared to ordinary cement-based materials, the primary
improvements of RPC include the particle size homogeneity,
porosity, and microstructures. The mechanical properties that
can be achieved include the compressive strength of the
range between 200 and 800 MPa, fracture energy of the range
between 1200 and 40,000 J/m2, flexural strength range
between 30 and 60 MPa and very high ductility. Its ductility
is about 250 times higher than that of conventional concrete
[Richard and Cheyrezy,1995]. This is generally achieved by
micro-structural engineering approach, including elimination
of the coarse aggregates, reducing the water-to-cementitious
material ratio, lowering the CaO to SiO2 ratio by introducing
the silica components, and incorporation of steel micro-
fibers. The incorporation of silica fume in RPC matrix
remarkably enhances the steel fiber–matrix bond
characteristics due to the interfacial-toughening effect upon
fiber slip [chen et al., 2003]. As more skyscrapers are being
built, the demand for high strength concrete with
compressive strength over 100N/mm2 has been increasing
year by year. Demands for materials with much higher
strength will be far larger in the future. Many successful
applications of RPC have been reported such as the 60m
span Sherbrooke footbridge in Canada [1997]; the 25 meter
span Futur Bridge in USA [2005] and many others. This
paper focuses on the effect of fly ash and GGBS on properties
of compressive strength, flexural strength and stress-strain
behaviour of RPC mixes.
————————————————
• Anjan Kumar M U is currently pursuing masters degree program
in structural engineering in Manipal Institute of Technology,
Manipal University, India. E-mail: anjankumarmu@gmail.com
• Dr. Asha Udaya Rao is currently professor in civil engineering
depart ment in Manipal University, INDIA. E-mail:
asha.prabhu@manipal.edu
• Dr. Narayan Sabhahith is currently professor in civil engineering
depart ment in Manipal University, INDIA. E-mail:
sabha4@rediffmail.com
ICICE-2013
Many researchers have carried out studies on RPC in the
past years to assess the properties and its behavior. Some of
the works carried out re discussed below:
Richard and Cheyrezy [1995] developed an ultrahigh
strength ductile concrete with the basic principles of
enhancing the homogeneity by eliminating the coarse
aggregate, enhancing the microstructure by post-set heat
treatment and the tensile strength of concrete was increased
by incorporating small, straight, high tensile microfibre. Two
types of concretes were developed and designated as
RPC200 and RPC800, which had exceptional mechanical
properties. The mean compressive stress obtained for
RPC200 was 218MPa and for RPC800 was exceeding
600MPa. For RPC800, a value of 810MPa has been obtained
with a mixture incorporating steel aggregate. The concrete
finds its applications in industrial and nuclear waste storage
silos.
Chan and Chu, [2002] has studied the effect of silica fume
on the bond characteristics of steel fiber in matrix of reactive
powder concrete (RPC) by bond strength, pullout energy,
etc. Various silica fume contents ranging from 0% to 40%
are used in the mix proportions. Results of them show that
the incorporation of silica fume can effectively enhance the
fiber–matrix interfacial properties, especially in fiber pullout
energy.
Yang et. al., [2007] has carried out direct uniaxial tension
tests on ‘8-shaped’ RPC200 specimens. The bond-slip
process, mesoscopic structural variation and mechanical
characteristics of a fiber pullout of the matrix have been
investigated using the real-time SEM loading system and
CCD observation techniques. Results of them show that there
exists an optimal threshold of fiber volume ñv, opt =1.5% at
which the bond performance of a fiber pullout of RPC
behaves best.
Yunsheng et. al., [2008] prepared (C200 GRPC) by utilizing
composite mineral admixtures, natural fine aggregates, short
and fine steel fibers. They investigated mechanical properties
under three different type of curing (standard curing, steam
curing and autoclave curing) condition. Their experimental
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results show that the mechanical properties of the C200 3.2.1. Specimen preparation
GRPC made with the cementitious materials consisting of
Materials are weigh batched, mixed in a mixer, cast into
40% of Portland cement, 25% of ultra fine slag, 25% of
ultra fine fly ash and 10% of silica fume, 4% volume fraction steel moulds and compacted using a vibrating machine to
of steel fiber are higher than the others. The corresponding consolidate the specimens. The specimens were stored in
compressive strength, flexural strength, fracture energy and room temperature for 24 hours, then removed from the
fiber–matrix interfacial bonding strength are more than moulds, and cured in normal water until tested.
200MPa, 60MPa, 30,000J/m2 and 14MPa, respectively. Table 1
Maroliya and Modhera, [2010] compared the mechanical Mix propotions of various RPC mix
properties of plain RPC with Recron-3s fibre (RSFRPC) and
corrugated steel fiber (SFRPC). Their results shows that
compressive strength of SFRPC was 30% increased while
in RSFRPC strength reduced by 19%. Flexural strength of
SFRPC and RSFRPC in comparison to plain RPC was found
that 60% and 40% higher.
Prabha et. al., [2010] conducted a study on complete stress-
strain curves from uniaxial compression tests. The effect of
material composition on the stress strain behaviour and the
toughness index were studied. The highest cylinder
compressive strength of 171.3 MPa and elastic modulus of
44.8 GPa were recorded for 2% 13 mm length fibres. The
optimum fibre content was found to be 3% of 6mm length
or 2% of 13mm length fibres. A new measure of compression
toughness known as MTI (modified toughness index) was
proposed by them and it is found to range from 2.64 to 4.65
for RPC mixes.
*Steel fibre of length 13mm, diameter 0.175mm
Yang et. al., [2010] studied dynamic mechanical properties
3.2.2.Testing
of reactive powder concrete subjected to compressive
impacts with high strain by means of SHPB (Split- Specimens are tested for compressive strength, flexure
Hopkinson-Pressure-Bar) tests of the cylindrical specimens strength and modulus of elasticity as per IS standards.
with five different steel fiber volumetric fractions. The
dynamic stress-strain relationships of RPC were modeled 4 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
based on the experimental data. The investigations indicate
The test results are discussed and compared with the two
that for the plain RPC the stress response is greater than the
mixes from Yunsheng et al., [2008].
strain response, showing strong brittle performance. The
RPC with a certain volume of fibers sustains higher strain 4.1 Compressive strength:
rate impact and exhibits better deformability as compared
with the plain RPC. With a constant fiber fraction, the peak The results of compressive test are tabulated in the table 2 and
compressive strength, corresponding peak strain and the figure 1 shows the variation of compressive strength for various
residual strain of the fiber-reinforced RPC rise by varying mixes considered. It is observed that there is an increase in
amounts when the impact strain rate increases, with the compressive strength at 28 days in RPC1 and RPC2 compared
residual strain demonstrating the greatest increment. to the RPC mix. The highest compressive strength of 128MPa
is obtained at 28 days for RPC1 mix containing 5% of fly ash
3 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM and GGBS each. Compressive strength of RPC3 was less
3.1 Mix composition compared to the RPC. The mix M3-2% and M3-3% tested by
Yunsheng et al., (2008) gives compressive strengths of
The material used in this study includes cement(53 grade),
153.57MPa and 167.85MPa respectively at 28 days, which may
silica fume, fly ash, GGBS, sand (2.36mm below size), steel
fiber having 0.2mm diameter and 10mm length, and water be because of high percentage of steel fibre and low water
binder ratio of 0.2. The mix propotions used are based on cement ratio. Comparison of 28 days compressive strength of
Yunsheng et al., (2008). A control mix CRPC without cement mixes with RPC, RPC1, RPC2, RPC3, M3-2% and M3-3%
replacement is tested. Fly ash and GGBS are used to replace for are shown in figure 2.
cement content at 5% (RPC1), 10% (RPC2) and 15% (RPC3) Table 2
in the mixes. All mixes contains same amount of silica fume Compressive strength test
of 0.1%. Two mix compositions tested by Yunsheng et al.,
(2008) containing 2% (M3–2%) and 3% (M3–3%)of steel
fibres is used for comparison with control RPC, RPC1,
RPC2 and RPC3. The various mix proportions are as
tabulated in Table1.
3.2 Specimen casting and testing
Casting and testing of specimen was carried out as per IS
codes IS:516-1959 for compression strength, flexural
strength, modulus of elasticity.
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Fig 3. Variation of flexural strength

Fig 1. Variation in compressive strength

Fig 4.Variation in 28 days flexural strength

4.3 Modulus of elasticity

The test results corresponding to modulus of elasticity are tabu-

lated in table 4 and figure 5 shows the variation in stress strain curve
of RPC mixes.

Fig 2. Varation in comprssive strength of 28 days Table 4

Modulus of elasticity
4.2 Flexural strength
The results of flexural test are tabulated in the table 3 and figure 3
shows the variation of flexural strength for various mixes considered.

Table 3
Flexural strength

It is observed that there is an increase in modulus of elasticity

at 28 days in RPC1 and RPC2 compared to the control RPC. The
highest modulus of elasticity of 46.29MPa is obtained at 28 days for
RPC1 mix containing 5% of fly ash and GGBS each. Modulus of
elasticity of RPC3 was less compared to the control mix RPC.

It is observed that there is an increase in flexural strength at 7, 14

and 28 days in RPC3 compared to the RPC mix. Highest flexure
strength of 28.525MPa is obtained at 28 days for RPC3 mix contain-
ing 15% of fly ash and GGBS each. Flexural strength of RPC1 was
less compared to the RPC. The mix M3-2% and M3-3% tested by
Yunsheng et al., (2008) gives flexural strengths of 23.33MPa and
28.33MPa respectively at 28 days, which may be because of change
in aspect ratio of steel fibre. Comparison of 28 days flexural strength
of these mixes with RPC, RPC1, RPC2 and RPC3 for are shown in
figure 4.

Fig 5. Stress strain curve for various RPC mixes

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Fig 3. Variation of flexural strength

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4 CONCLUSION
1) The 28 days compressive strength increased for 5%
(RPC1) and 10% (RPC2) replacement of cement by
flyash and GGBS each. For 15% replacement (RPC3)
the results were lower than the control mix (RPC).
2) RPC1 with 5% cement replacement gave highest 28
days compressive strength of 128MPa as compared
to RPC having 28 days strength of 126.33MPa.
3) The 7 days and 14 days compressive strength values
were lower than RPC for all mixes with cement
replacement, which is because of slow hydration of
cementitious matter at initial days.
4) Flexural strength of RPC with 10% and 15% replacement
of cement by flyash and GGBS each (RPC2 and RPC3)
were higher than that of control mix (RPC). For RPC
with 5% replacement of cement (RPC1), the flexure
strength was lower than the strength of control mix
(RPC).
5) RPC with 15% replacement of cement by fly ash and
GGBS each (RPC3) gave higher 28 days flexural
strength of 28.525MPa.
6) As the finer material increases flexural strength also
increased for each RPC mix with cement replacement
(RPC1, RPC2 and RPC3).
7) Modulus of elasticity of RPC with 5% and 10%
replacement of cement by flyash and GGBS each (RPC2
and RPC3) was higher than that of control mix (RPC).
For RPC with 15% replacement of cement (RPC1), the
modulus of elasticity was lower than the, that of control
mix (RPC).
8) RPC2 mix with 10% replacement of cement gave
increase in compressive strength, flexural strength and
modulus of elasticity of 126.67MPa, 25.604MPa and
42.433GPa respectively, when compared to the strengths
of control mix (RPC).
9) The various mix considered RPC2 mix with 10%
replacement of cement gave better results.
202
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
we wish to thanks the Department of civil engineering,
Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal for providing an
oppprtunity to do project work in the laboratory; and Mr.Anil
Baliga, concrete solutions, Mangalore;Mr. Adithya Shastry,
Fosroc Chemicals (India) Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore; Mr.Navneet
Narayan, Manager, Beakart Industries, India; Mr.Srinivas
Reddy, Udupi Power Corporation Ltd., Udupi; Mr.Vergeshe,
Ready mix concrete, Mangalore; General Construction
Company, Manipal for providing materials.
REFERENCES
[1] Arnaud Poitou, Francisco Chinesta, and Ge´rard Bernier,
“Orienting fibers by extrusion in reinforced reactive Powder
concrete”, Journal of engineering mechanics, june, pp.593-598,
2001.
[2] JU Yang, JIA YuDan, LIU HongBin and CHEN Jian,
“Mesomechanism of steel fiber reinforcement and toughening
of reactive powder concrete”, Science in China Series E:
Technological Sciences, vol. 50, no. 6, December, pp.815-832,
2007.
[3] JU Yang, LIU HongBin, SHENG GuoHua & WANG HuiJie,
“Experimental study of dynamic mechanical properties of
reactive powder concrete under high-strain-rate impacts”, Science
China Technological Sciences, Vol.53 No.9, September, pp.
2435–2449,2010.
[4] Mahesh K Maroliya and Chetan D Modhera, “A comparative
study of reactive powder concrete containing steel fibers and
recron 3s fibers”, Journal of Engineering Research and Studies,
Vol. I ,Issue I, July-September, pp.83-89, 2010.
[5] Pierre Richard and Marcel Cheyrezy, “Composition of reactive
powder concretes,” Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 25. No.
7, pp. 1501-1511, 1995.
[6] S. Lavanya Prabha, J.K. Dattatreya, M. Neelamegam and
M.V.seshagiri Rao,”study on stress-strain properties of reactive
powder concrete under uniaxial compression,” International
Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Vol. 2(11),
pp.6408-6416, 2010.
[7] Yin-Wen Chan and Shu-Hsien Chu (2003), “Effect of silica fume
on steel fiber bond characteristics in reactive powder concrete,”
Cement and Concrete Research, No- 34, pp. 1167–1172, 2004.
[8] Zhang Yunsheng , Sun Wei, Liu Sifeng, Jiao Chujie, and Lai
Jianzhong, “Preparation of C200 green reactive powder concrete
and its static–dynamic behaviors,” Cement & Concrete
Composites, Vol.30, pp. 831–838, 2008.
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Catalytic use of Laterite Iron for

Degradation of 2-Aminopyridine
Using Advanced Oxidation Processes
Rahul Karale, Basavaraju Manu and S.Shrihari
Abstract— Pyridine derivatives like 2-aminopyridine (2-AP) can be toxic to certain life forms and are rated as priority pollutants by United
States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). In the present study, degradation of 2-AP is carried out by Advanced oxidation employing
Fenton and Photo-Fenton processes using iron extracted from laterite soil. Effect of pH, Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration and
Lateritic iron concentration (Fe3+) was investigated under different doses of synthetic 2-AP solutions varying from 10-80mg/L. At [H2O2] :
[Laterite iron] :: [40-65] : 1 for Fenton process and [40-47]:1 for Photo-Fenton process , maximum 2-AP removal was obtained. 2-AP
removal of 88% and 100% respectively for Fenton and Photo-Fenton was obtained at pH= 3 corresponding to 10 mg/L initial concentration.
Studies showed that Advanced oxidation processes undergoing Fenton and Photo-Fenton treatments using low cost iron, extracted from
laterite soil, can be a suitable alternative to the traditional ferrous salts.Catalytic use of laterite iron with H2O2 is effective and can be used
to treat polluted water bodies containing 2-Aminopyridine.

Index Terms— 2-Aminopyridine, Degradation, Fenton, Photo-Fenton, Hydroxyl radical, Laterite iron, Reaction time.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION 2-Aminopyridine must be treated, before discharging into

the environment. Methods like thermal incineration and

N
itrogen containing heteroaromatic pharmaceutical
compounds like pyridine have received immense
attention recently, because of their presence in the
environment and their toxic and carcinogenic potential and
hazardous effect on natural environment. Pyridine
derivatives like 2-aminopyridines can be toxic to certain life
forms. [1].These are rated as priority pollutants by (USEPA)
United States Environmental Protection Agency [2].Of the
three monoaminopyridines, 2-Aminopyridine appears to
have the highest production [3]. 2-Aminopyridine has
various uses, but is primarily a starting material in the
production of various drugs. The primary use of 2-
Aminopyridine is as an intermediate in the manufacturing
of pharmaceuticals, particularly antihistamines and
piroxicam.
2-Aminopyridine is not expected to be readily biodegradable
in aerobic and anaerobic conditions [3]. If released into
water, 2-Aminopyridine is not expected to adsorb to
suspended solids and sediments in water. Biodegradation in
water may slowly occur. Because of its high water solubility,
a large fraction of vapour phase pyridine released to the
atmosphere would also tend to dissolve in water vapour. In
one study, 2-Aminopyridine was found to completely
degrade in greater than 96 days under both aerobic and
anaerobic conditions. [3].Industrial wastewater containing
• Rahul Karale is currently pursuing Ph. D program in Civil
Engineering Department in National Institute of Technology
Karnataka, Surathkal, Mangalore-575025, India. E-mail:
karalers@rediffmail.com
• Basavaraju Manu is working as an Asst. Professor in Civil
Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology
Karnataka, Surathkal, Mangalore-575 025, India. PH-
08242474000 E-mail:bmanu8888@gmail.com
• S.Shrihari is working as a Professor in Civil Engineering
Department, National Institute of Technology Karnataka,
Surathkal, Mangalore-575 025, India. PH-08242474000 E-
mail:s.shrihari@gmail.com
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Ultrafiltration are not economical. Biological methods are
environmentally friendly, using optimised natural pathways
to actually destroy pollution and transform it into another
form[4].However due to the high organic load, toxicity and
persistent nature of 2-Aminopyridine, biological treatment
is not feasible. In such a case, chemical pre-treatment like
the advanced oxidation technologies can be investigated,
because it can adequately increase the biodegradability and
remove toxicity of the wastewater prior to biological
treatment [5].
AOPs which rely on the generation of very reactive oxidizing
agents, i.e. free radicals such as the hydroxyl radical (•OH).
•OH can initiate oxidative degradation reactions of
refractory synthetic and natural organic compounds and is
capable of mineralizing them ultimately to carbon dioxide
and water owing to their high oxidation potential (+2.80
eV) in aqueous solution. A great number of methods have
been classified under the broad definition of AOPs. Most of
them use a combination of strong oxidizing agents (e.g
hydrogen peroxide and or ozone) with catalysts (e.g.
transition metal ions like ferrous salts) and irradiation (e.g.
ultraviolet) [6].
One such advanced oxidation method called the Fenton and
Photo-Fenton oxidation using iron exracted from laterite soil
is therefore studied here for such type of waste containing
the 2-Amino derivatives of pyridine.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Chemicals: 2 Aminopyridine Extra pure (98% assay)
was purchased from SD Fine Chem. Ltd. (India).
Fig.1 Chemical Structure of 2-Aminopyridine
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Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) (50% w/w) and Ferrous Sulfate 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Heptahydrate (FeSO4.7H2O) was purchased from Merck 3.1 Effect of pH on % 2-AP removal under Fenton’s
(India). The chemicals were used as received in the Oxidation Oxidation.
Process. Hydrochloric acid (HCl, Merck, India, 35% purity),
To determine optimal pH, experiments were conducted at
Sulfuric acid (H2SO4, Merck, India, 98% purity), Sodium
different pH values varying from 2 to 5.5 with initial trial 2-
hydroxide (NaOH, Merck, India, 98% purity),were also used
Aminopyridine (2-AP) concentration of 10 mg/L, [H2O2] =
in the experiments. The 2-Aminopyridine aqueous stock 30 mg/L and [Laterite iron] = 1 mg/L.
solution of 1000mg/L concentration was prepared with
Millipore Elix-3deionized water every week and stored in
the dark at 40C.
2.2. Experimental Procedure
The experiments were conducted at ambient temperature
(27±30C) in batch reactors. A 1000 mL solution of required
2-Aminopyridine concentration was prepared from the stock
2-Aminopyridine solution and was taken in a 2 litre reactor.
Initial pH of the solution was maintained using 0.1 N H2S04
and 0.1NNaOH. Appropriate amount of Fe2+ concentration
from the1000 mg/L stock solution, freshly prepared from
FeSO4.7H2O, was added to the reactor bath and stirred with
magnetic stirrer. Required amount of H2O2 was added to the
reactor bath to initiate the reaction. For the experiments, pH Fig.2 Effect of pH on % 2AP removal by Fenton Oxidation,
was adjusted after adding appropriate iron and H2O2 solution, [2AP]0 = 10mg/L ;[H202] = 30mg/L; [laterite iron]=1.0mg/
stirred with magnetic stirrer. The mixture of 2-Aminopyridine L.
solution and Fenton’s reagent was stirred with magnetic Optimum pH 3 was obtained in the present study on Fenton’s
stirrer during treatment. The experiment of Photo-Fenton oxidation of 2AP solutions and was set for subsequent
oxidation is similar except stirring is carried out in presence experiments.The 2-AP removal efficiency was reduced for
of UV light (253.7nm) in specially designed UV reactors. the other pH values. At higher pH (above 4), ferrous ions
get easily converted to ferric ions, which have a tendency to
The 2-Aminopyridine solution samples were taken out for
produce ferric-hydroxo complexes with H2O2. The low
analysis at pre-defined time intervals and filtered through a degradation at pH 2 and 2.5 is due the hydroxyl radical
0.45 ìm Millipore Syringe filter for determination of residual scavenging by H+ ions and also there was an inhibition for
2-Aminopyridine concentration by using UV-VIS the radical forming activity of iron.
Spectrophotometer. 3.2 Effect of H2O2 and Laterite iron concentration
2.3. Analytical Methods The investigation for optimization of hydrogen peroxide
2-Aminopyridine solutions of concentration 10, 20, 30, 40, concentration was carried out by varying H2O2 concentration
from 10 to 50 mg/L, keeping the Laterite iron concentrations
50, 60, 70 and 80mg/L were prepared and UV-VIS spectra
(0-2mg/L) constant for each varied set of H2O2 conc.
were recorded from 190 to 400 nm using UV-VIS double
beam spectrophotometer (Systronics-2201). The absorbance
peaks of 2-Aminopyridine for all the considered
concentrations were at wavelength 290 nm. A standard
absorbance verses 2-Aminopyridine concentration
calibration curve was prepared by single wavelength mode
using 2-Aminopyridine standards. This curve was used to
determine the 2-Aminopyridine concentrations in aqueous
solutions during the subsequent experiments. The
concentration of 2-Aminopyridine in the aqueous solution
at wavelength 290 nm was measured immediately after
removal of samples from the reactor using the standard curve,
which has already been calibrated with UV-VIS Double beam
Spectrophotometer. The pH was measured with a digital pH
meter (Lovibond – pH 100). The Iron concentration was
measured using Spectrocolorimeter (PC Spectroll, Lovibond)
by Thiocynate-colorimetric Method. The H2O2 concentration Fig.3. Fenton studies on Degradation of 2-AP ;[2AP]0 =
was determined by Iodometric titration method. 10mg/L at pH 3.0;[H202]opt = 40mg/L;[Laterite iron ]opt =
1.0mg/L
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As seen from Fig.3, the max degradation of 88 % at optimum

pH = 3.0 was obtained corresponding to optimum H2O2 conc.
of 40mg/l under Fenton’s oxidation and 100% degradation
of 2-AP corresponding to H2O2 conc. of 30mg/l in case of
Photo-Fenton treatment. This is due to the fact that Photo-
Fenton results in additional pathway for the generation of
hydroxyl radicals which in turn helps in further degradation
of compound so as to completely eliminate it from the system
as shown in Fig.4

Fig.5 Effect of Initial conc. of 2-AP on reaction time under

Fenton’s oxidation at optimum conditions at pH=3

Fig.4 Photo-Fenton studies on Degradation of 2-AP ;[2AP]0

= 10mg/L at pH = 3.0;[H202]opt = 30mg/L;[Laterite iron
]opt = 0.75mg/L.
It has also been observed that at higher laterite iron
concentrations the 2-AP removals were reduced. This may Fig.6 Effect of Initial conc. of 2-AP on reaction time under
be due to the inhibition that occurs when high concentration Photo-Fenton’s oxidation at optimum conditions at pH=3
of laterite iron was present in the system as it can react with
OH radicals resulting in the scavenging of OH radicals.
3.3. Effect of initial concentration of 2-Aminopyridine
(2-AP)
Experiments were conducted to study the effect of initial 2-
AP concentrations (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 mg/L)
using both Fenton’s and Photo-Fenton oxidation process as
shown in Fig.5 and 6.
For initial 2-AP concentrations from 10 to 80mg/L using
Photo-Fenton oxidation, the optimum ratio of [2AP]/ [H2O2]
was observed to be 1:[2.5] (w/w) and the optimum ratio of
[H2O2]/[Laterite iron] was [40-47]:1 (w/w) at pH 3. Fenton
runs showed higher ratios [2AP]/[H 2O 2]:[1]/[3.5] and
[H2O2]/ [Laterite iron]:[40-65]/[1].
At optimum conditions of Fenton oxidation ,as conc. of 2-
AP was increased from 20 to 80mg/L, the percent 2- AP
removals reduced from 86.3 to 70.4 %.This is mainly because
of built up of recalcitrant intermediates as initial conc.
Increases. It is also seen from the present study that increase
in conc. of 2-AP from 10-80mg/L, also increases the reaction
time from 6.5 to 11 hrs. Photo-Fenton oxidation process
showed 100% removal of 2-AP for conc. upto 40mg/L in
1.5 hrs of irradiation and thereafter percent removals were
reduced to 86.5 as conc. increased to 80mg/L, thus requiring
4hrs for effective removal. Almost complete mineralisation
can be achieved by extending the UV irradiation time.
Finally the treated samples were scanned for UV-VIS range Fig.7 UV-VIS scan showing pre and post treatment curves
using spectrophotometer which proved the absence of 2-AP indicating absence of 2-AP peak after Fenton (F) Oxidation (
peak after both Fenton and Photo-Fenton oxidation shown by green curve) and Photo-Fenton (PF) Oxidation
treatments as shown in Fig 7. (shown by pink curve) using iron extracted from laterite iron.

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4 CONCLUSION
2-AP degradation of 100% was observed in Photo-Fenton
oxidation for 10-40mg/L of 2-AP. Higher conc. requires more
irradiation time to completely degrade the compound.
Removal efficiency upto 90% can be achieved at lower conc.
of 2-AP in case of Fenton oxidation using laterite iron.At
higher conc.of 2-AP, there are increased chances of
scavenging by laterite iron. Photo-Fenton oxidation of 2-
AP is very effective as compared to Fenton process.
5 REFERENCES
[1] K.S Padoley, Mudliar and R. Pandey, “Heterocyclic nitrogenous
pollutants in the environment and their treatment options –An
overview”, Bioresource Technology, 99, pp.4029–4043, 2008.
[2] H. Fenton, Oxidation of tartaric acid in the presence of Iron, J.
Chem. Soc. 65,pp.899, 1894.
[3] L Nora, “Aminopyridine data sheet”, Prepared for NCI by
Technical Resources International, Inc. to support chemical
nomination under contract no. N02-CB-07007 (06/03; rev. 11/
05; 3/06) Technical Resources International, Inc.,
U.S.(ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/Chem.../aminopyridines.pdf),
2006.
[4] K.S Padoley, Mudliar, S. Banerjee,S. Deshmukh and R. Pandey,
“Fenton oxidation: A pretreatment option for improved biological
treatment of pyridine and 3-cyanopyridine plant wastewater”,
Chemical Engg Jr., 166,pp.1–9,2011.
[5] E Olanipekun, “Kinetics of leaching laterite”, Int. J.Miner.
Process, 60, pp.9-14, 2000.
[6] P.Westerhoff, Y.Yoon, S. Snyder. and E. Mert. “Fate of Endocrine-
Disruptor, Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Product Chemicals
during Simulation Drinking Water Treatment Processes.”
Environ. Sci. Technol. 39(17), pp.6649-6663, 2005.
206
[7] APHA, AWWA, WEF, “Standard methods for the Examination
of Water and Wastewater”, 21st ed., Washington, DC. USA, 2005.
[8] A.Collier, “Pharmaceutical contaminants in potable water:
Potential concerns for pregnant women and Children”, Eco.
Health, 4, pp.164-171, 2007.
[9] J.Dunnick,”NTP Research Concept: Aminopyridines”, Federal
Register,Vol.72,14817(http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/go/9741),2008.
[10] J.Kreisberg, “Green Pharmacy: Preventing Pharmaceutical
Pollution”, The Journal of Ecologically Sustainable Medicine,
Spring/Summer,(www.teleosis.org),2007.
[11] D Stapleton, D.Mantzavinos and M. Papadaki.. “Photolytic
(UVC) and photocatalyic (UVC/TiO2) decomposition of
pyridines.”Journal of Hazardous Materials, 146, pp.640–645,
2007.
[12] H Tekin, O.Bilkay, S.Ataberk, T.Balta, I.Ceribasi, F.Sanin. “Use
of Fenton oxidation to improve the biodegradability of a
pharmaceutical wastewater.”J. Hazard. Mater., 136, 258-265,
2006.
[13] C.Walling, A. Goosen, “Mechanism of the ferric ion catalysed
decomposition of hydrogen peroxide: effects of organic
substrate”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 95 (9) pp.2987–2991, 1973.
[14] J.H.Weisburger, “Comments on the history and importance of
aromatic and heterocyclic amines in public health”, Mutat. Res.
506–507, pp.9–20, 2002.
[15] T. A Ternes. Joss A. and H. Siegrist H. “Scrutinizing
pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Wastewater
Treatment.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 392A-399A (2004).
[16] Westerhoff P, Y.Yoon, S. Snyder. and E. Mert . “Fate of
Endocrine-Disruptor, Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Product
Chemicals during Simulation Drinking Water Treatment
Processes.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 39(17), 6649-6663,2005.
[17] S.H.Safe, Endocrine disruption and human health-is there a
problem? An update, Environ. Health Perspect.,108(6),487-
493.2000.
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Strengthening of Existing Building Column

Using FRP Wrap& GI Wire Mesh
Engr. Azam Amir, Dr. AmjadNaseer, Engr. Orooj Azam
Abstract—In this paper strengthening of deficientbuilding columns with FRP wrap and comparison of its effectiveness with wire mesh has
been studied. Three full scale building columns have been tested under cyclic loading in Earthquake Engineering Center, University of
Engineering & Technology, Peshawar.The size of columns were 12"x12" with 10' in height, representing the most common size in
practice.Same quality concrete and reinforcement details were used in all columns. The research was divided into four main phases: testing
of cylinders for the achievement of desired strength; fabricationof columns; application of FRP wrap and wire mesh at the critical section;
assemblage of testing plan for columns; and quasi-static testing of columns.

Index Terms—Concrete Cylinders, Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP),Quasi-Static Testing, Retrofitting, Reinforced Concrete Column,
Strengthening, GI Wire Mesh.
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION the effect of the FRP confinement and to assess the behavior
of the FRP confined members [1]. A preliminary Finite

T
his universe is full of natural phenomenon from its
origin which occurs in each and every second of time
in different places of the world. Among these
phenomenons some are favourable to mankind and some
are very destructive which causes loss of both lives and
assets. Various disasters like earthquake, land slide, volcanic
eruptions, floods, cyclones and fire are natural hazards that
kill thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of
habitat and property each year.
Pakistan is one of the highly seismically prone countries in
the world. According to Pakistan Meteorological
Department, more than 40 earthquakes of magnitude Ms =
7 have occurred from year 1900 to 2005. October 08, 2005
earthquake was one of them. Due to these earthquakes, many
structures were completely damaged and some of them
damaged partially. A good number of these partially damaged
structures were reinforced concrete (RC) structures. As most
of the people were unaware of the retrofitting techniques so
they demolished their structures and rebuilt them which
caused them huge financial loss. These buildings could have
been saved by using proper retrofitting techniques.
There are many strengthening/retrofitting techniques which
can be employed to enhance the capacity of such structures.
Among many materials used for retrofitting, Fiber
Reinforced Polymers (FRP) is one of the latest materials
with a number of advantages which has been used
worldwide. In order to enhance the shear and flexural
strength,FRP materials have been widely used in the form
of jacketing and proved to be very effective [1].
An extensive research on retrofitting of RC columns by using
FRP wrapping has been carried out by various renowned
researchers. They have used different approaches to simulate
————————————————
• Engr. Azam Amir, MSc Structural Engineering, University of
Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan, PH-
092912244036. E-mail: engineerazam@hotmail.com
• Dr. AmjadNaseer, PhD Structural Engineering, University
of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan, PH-
092919218569. E-mail: amjad_naseer@yahoo.com
ICICE-2013
Element Method (F.E.M.) analysis has been conducted in
the elastic range to evaluate the stress field generated by
external wrapping on concrete column. They found that in
the case of hollow concrete cross sections, FRP jacketing
can enhance the ultimate load and significantly the ductility
[2].
Similarly research on modeling of RC hollow square
columns wrapped with CFRP under shear-type load has also
been done [4, 5]. It was found that actual failure mode did
not change by confinement but it was able to delay bars
buckling and to resultantly compressive concrete strains
attain higher values, thus resulting in higher load carrying
capacity of the column (strength improvement is about 15%)
and significantly in ductility enhancement [6].
The columns that need strengthening or retrofitting arein
different shapes i.e. square, circular or rectangular and have
both transverse and longitudinal steel reinforcement.
Theresearch on response of FRP-wrapped square reinforced
concrete columns is limited [7].
This research will provide a foundation for a better
understanding of the behavior of RC square columns
strengthened with FRP wraps. For increasing resistance of
Reinforced Concrete (RC) columns, which are subject to
high axial loadings, strengthening by means of FRP wrapping
system has been proposed since 15 years ago. The
strengthening of RC vertical columns, either building
columns or bridge piers, show different reponsesdepending
on whether the strengthening measures are carried out on a
conventional structure or on a structure in a seismic area
[5].
For traditional structures, the strengthening measures usually
aims to increase the bearing capacity of RC column by either
enlarging the cross sectional area or at enhancing the
compressive strength of concrete by applying a confining
action. These are usually applied in buildings where live
loads have increased as a consequent of a change in use.
There are different types of FRP wraps/sheets which are
available in Pakistan. Due to many advantages of FRP wrap,
especially no need of evacuation of the structure during
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retrofitting/strengthening, people in Pakistan have also
started using these FRP sheets. The scientific quantifiable
evaluation of various properties of structures strengthened/
retrofitted with FRP in the local environment is scanty so
This research aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of FRP
wrap in increasing the flexural capacity of square RC
columns.
2 PROCEDURE OR EXPERIMENTAL
PROGRAM
The experimental work consisted of three square reinforced
columns of full scale with dimensions of 12 inches by 12
inches and 10 feet in height. The steel reinforcement
consisted of four (4) No. 05 (Ø=0.625 in) axial reinforcing
bars with No. 03 (Ø =0.374in) stirrups at 10 in center to
center. Low strength concrete having a compressive strength
of 1500 psi has been used. The columns were casted into a
heavily reinforced 15 inches deep and 7 feet long pad/
foundation. The foundation was so design so as to avoid
punching shear failure and to best support the assembledge
and testing plan. Only one type of commonly available FRP
sheets has been used for horizontal wraps in strengthening
schemes. GalvanisedIron (GI) wire mesh has been used in
the 2nd strengthening scheme. The columns have been
strengthened at critical sections as defined in provisions/
codes for Special Moment Resisting Frame or simply
SMRFs. The materials used were of identical properties for
all the columns. The FRP manufacturer’s guidelines in the
primer application and resin impregnation have been strictly
followed.
2.1 Strengthening Plan
The first strengthening plan (scheme-1) consisted of one
horizontal (0R”) layer of FRP wrap that was bonded to the
column surface and it was designated as HF1LC. The second
scheme (scheme 2) consisted of strengthening of column
with the GI wire mesh and it was designated as HW1LC.
The control specimen without FRP was built for comparison
purposes and was designated as CSC.
The material properties and testing program are summarized
in the table 1 and table 2:
TABLE1
MATERIAL’S PROPERTIES
Material Properties
Concrete Strength 1500 psi
Reinforcement 1 % reinforcement of total
X-section
Main Reinforcement 4 #5 bars
Steel Grade Grade 40
Tie bar # 3 bar @ 10" c/c
FRP wrap 230-C having manufacturing
tensile strength of 131ksi
Wire mesh GI wire mesh
Plaster 1:2 csm
2.2 Column Fabrication
The columns’ surfaces have been prepared before the
application of FRP wraps. The critical section of the column
(as defined in ACI section 11.12.1.2) has been marked i.e.
208
4-ft. Columns’ surfaces were abraded with the help of hand
held grinder. The edges were chamfered to approximately
10mm round in order to avoid premature failure of wrap at
corner points due to stress concentration in the FRP wrap.
Debonding may occurr due to improper surfaces. Dust and
dirt particles were removed with pressurized air.
Honeycombed surfaces were removed and patch up repair
work was done with epoxy repair mortar (chemdur 41/42).
Surface has been primed with Sikadur 300-impregnation
epoxy via roller. Column has been wrapped with impregnated
CFRP sheets up to a height of 4 ft. from the base of column.
TABLE 2
SUMMARY OF TEST PROGRAM
Column tested for wire mesh/ ferrocement jacketing was
also of same strength. Before application of ferrocement,
the corners of the column were chamfered to approximately
10mm round in order to avoid premature failure due to sharp
corners. The wire mesh was wrapped along the column up
tocritical section (4-ft). 10 inches overlap was given. Holes
were drilled along all the sides of column at a distance of 1-
ft with the help of 6-mm diameter bit. 1.5 inch rawlplugs
were fixed in drilled holes. The wire mesh was applied on
column by pressing it, so that, foldings of mesh may be
avoided. The bolts were fixed in rawl plug. 1 inch thick of
plaster with 1:2 cement sand mortar (csm) was applied
around the wire mesh. Plastering was done in two layers.
The commonly available wire mesh was used. The properties
of the wire mesh are given below:
TABLE 3
PROPERTIES OF WIRE MESH
Characteristics Properties
Wire Mesh GI Wire mesh
Diameter of wire 16 gauge
Size of opening 18mmx18mm
Weight of one layer per unit area 1.08 kg/sq.m
Steel surface per unit volume 0.245 sq.mm/ cu.mm
2.3 Testing Setup
To determine the seismic load effect on strengthening
efficiency, an external technique was adopted. The column’s
behavior was studied under cyclic loading of transverse
displacement under constant force.Quasi-static testing was
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done. Lateral force was appliedat the height of 9.5-ft from

the base of the column through Hydraulic Jack having
capacity of 50 tons. The lateral load was recorded through
load cell. Electronic data logger unit was used for recording
test data.To closely study the cyclic behavior of the column,
load history with closely spaced single cycle was chosen
over the usual intervals of 3 cycles.
The figure 1 comprised of 10-ft column with heavily
reinforced18-inches deep foundation, hydraulic jack with
capacity of 50 tons mounted on shear wall and 3 steel plates
for connecting hydraulic jack with column.
2 Nos displacement transducers of 50-mm were attached on
an aluminium frame at about 6-inches above the base column
joint in opposite direction and one 500-mm displacement
transducer was positioned at the top of the column. The
location points for these displacement transducers were
selected at the positions where stress concentration was more Fig.2. Critical section where the cracks were developed
likely to occur as shown in Fig. 1. Load-displacement curves
were used to understand the effects of strengthening The column was loaded at an interval of every 10 mm
techniquesin a better manner. and corresponding force/ load was recorded until failure.
Mode of failure was also recorded.

Fig.3.Crushing of concrete near the joint of Column-

base of CSC

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig.1. 10-ft full column with testing setup
2.4 Testing Procedure
The control specimen (CSC) was first tested. The idea to
strengthen the critical/ specific section of the columns was
visually observed in control column (CSC) (as shown in Fig.
3). First crack was observed at a distance of 3-ft from the
base.
The control specimen/ column was loaded first with the
force control loading mode i.e. 0.4 tons, 0.6 tons, 0.8 tons
and 1.2 tons. After the appearance of first crack at the force
of 1.2 tons, the mode of loading was changed to displacement
control loading.
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It is very important that the member which is to strengthen
must be subjected to the condition that are more likely similar
to the field conditionsfor the effectiveness and performance
of strengthening/ retrofitting scheme [3].In this research, the
mix design of concrete and the dimension of the columns so
selected were more realistic and depict the general
construction practices in this part of the world.
Control specimen column (CSC) was first tested. Initially
force-control mode of testing was applied. The loading
started from 0.4 tons. At the load/ force of 0.4 tons first
crack appeared and its corresponding displacement was 4-
mm (as shown in Fig.3). The mode of loading was then
changed to displacement control. The displacement was
increased at regular intervals of 10-mm. Different cracks
were generated. At the displacement of 110-mm and at its
corresponding force of 1.5-tons, the columns was not taking
more load. The failure of the column was due to the observed
crushing of concrete near the joint of column-base (as shown
in Fig-3).
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Fig.4. Load-Displacement BackBone Curve for Control Specimen
(CSC) i.e. unstrengthened Column
The second testing was done on the specimen wrapped with
FRP at the critical section (HF1LC). The critical section of
the column was established on the basis of testing on the
Control column (CSC). The specimen was tested under the
same conditions in which CSC was tested. The procedure
of application of loading was also sameas shown in Fig.5.
Fig. 5. Testing setup and FRP wrapped section on HF1LC
During testing, at the displacement of 147 mm, its
corresponding load increased to about 1.97 tons,and then
the capacity of the column suddenly dropped.The failure of
the column was due to the failure of joint between the column
210
and the base/ foundation as shown in Fig. 6 (b). Minor cracks
also appeared on FRP wrap due to the cracking of concrete
as shown in Fig. 6(a). Visibly the strengthened section of
the column did not fail and was still taking load.
The third testing was done on the column strengthened with
the GI wire mesh (HW1LC). The critical section of the
column established during the testing of CSC was
strengthened. The testing conditions were similar to the
earlier columns. The procedure of the application of load
was also same. Minor cracks appeared at different positions
during loading. These cracks were very symmetric from
down to up in horizontal direction as shown in Fig. 7(a). At
a displacementvalue of about 150 mm, the corresponding
load was 1.8 tons,the capacity of the column dropped and
loadstarted decreasing. The failure of the column was near
the column-footing joint as shown in the Fig 7(b).
Table 4 shows load (P), applied at the distance of 9.5 feet
from base, and the corresponding maximum displacement
for all the columns.
TABLE 4
STRENGTH AND DISPLACEMENT FOR ALL THE
THREE SCHEMES
Scheme Load (Tons) Displacement (mm)
CSC 1.5 110
HF1LC 1.97 147
HW1LC 1.8 150
It was observed that both the strengthening techniques i.e.
FRP jacket and wire mesh enhances thestrength and ductility
capacity of the RC column. Moreover the FRP was found to
be impressive in increasing the strength capacity.
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The load-displacement curves for the three specimens(CSC,
HF1LC, HW1LC) i.e. unstrengthened, FRP strengthened and
GI wire mesh strengthened column are presented in Fig. 8,
9 and 10 respectively.
Fig. 9. Load-Displacement curve for HF1LC
It was also observed that due to the FRP wrap and wire mesh,
the ductility of the column was greatly increased. In case of
CSC, the column reached upto the maximum displacement
of 110-mm where as in case of FRP wrap, the maximum
displacement was 147-mm and similarly in case of wire mesh
strengthened column, the maximum displacement was 150-
mm.
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Fig.10. Load-Displacement curve for HW1LC
4 CONCLUSION
The research work was designed to study the two
strengthening scheme for square RC columns, taking into
account the effects of seismic loading to columns with low
compressive strengths. From the experimental work, it can
be concluded that both the FRP jacketing and application of
wire mesh can increase the seismic capacity of the columns
in increasing their strength and ductility. The efficiency of
FRP jacketing was more then the other strengthening
technique. Due to many advantages of FRP, especially no
need of evacuation of the structure during retroffitting/
strengthening, it can be preferred over other strengthening/
retrofitting technique.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank University of Engineering &
Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan for providing Earthquake
Engineering Center for performing experimental work.
REFERENCES
[1] G.P Lignola, A. Prota, G. Manfredi and E. Cosenza,
“Non-linear modeling of FRP confined RC
Columns,” University of Patras, Patras, Greece, July
16-18, 2007
[2] G.P Lignola, A. Prota, G. Manfredi, E. Cosenza,
“Non-linear modeling of RC rectangular hollow piers
confined with CFRP,” Composite Structures 88
(2009) 56-64
[3] S. Tanwongsval, M. Maalej and P. Paramasivam,
“Strengthening of RC wall-like columns with FRP
under sustained loading,” Materials and Structures/
Materiaux et Constructions, Vol. 36, June 2003, pp
282-292
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9th and 10th of May 2013
[4] Lignola GP, Prota A, Manfredi G, Cosenza E,
“Deformability of RC hollow columns conûned with
CFRP,” ACI Struct J 2007;104(5):629–37
[8]
[5] M.N Sheikh, A. Vivier and F. Legeron, “Seismic
vulnerability of hollow core concrete bridge piers”
CONSEC’07 Tours, France
[9]
[6] Prota A, Manfredi G, Cosenza E, “Ultimate behavior
of axially loaded RC wall-like columns conûned with
[10]
GFRP,” Composites: Part B, Elsevier 2006;37:670–
8.
[7] M. Maalej, S. Tanwongsval, P. Paramasivam,
“Modelling of rectangular RC columns strengthened
212
with FRP,” Cement & Concrete Composites 25
(2003) 264–265.
Saafi M, Toutanji HA, Li Z, “Behaviour of concrete
columns confined with fiber reinforced polymer
tubes,” ACI Mater J 1999;96(4):500-9.
Shakir-Khalil H. Composite columns of double-
skinned shells, J Constr steel Res 1991;19:133-152.
G. Promis, E. Ferrier, P. Hamelin, “Effect of external
FRP retrofitting on reinforced concrete short columns
for seismic strengthening,”LGCIE site Bohr,
University de Lyon, INSA-LYON, 82 bdNiels Bohr,
F-69622 Villeurbanne, France
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
Fatigue life estimation of ship structure
Emil Mathews, C G Nandakumar
Abstract- This paper deals with the estimation of fatigue life of a ship structure based on International Association of Classification
Society’s(IACS) recommendations. The structural analysis of ship structure is carried out using ANSYS software and the fatigue life has
been estimated.
Index terms- cumulative fatigue damage, design life, fatigue life of ship structure, finite element method, fracture mechanics, hot spot
stress, shell 93
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION
S
hips are large complex vehicles which are durable in
their environment for long periods with a high degree
of reliability. A ship is constructed primarily as a
network of welded cross-stiffened plates, referred as
“grillage” . The plating is stiffened by steel sections such as
flat bars, inverted Tees etc. The ship structure in general
may be longitudinally stiffened or transversely stiffened with
stiffners and bulkheads. Steel for hull construction is usually
mild steel containing 0.15 to 0.23 per cent carbon, and a
reasonably high manganese content. Both sulphur and
phosphorus in the mild steel are kept to a minimum (less
than 0.05 per cent). In its entire life this complex structure
will be submitted to distinguished load conditions beginning
with the ship launching and continuing with each sailing
and interval docking for survey and repair.
Fatigue of structural components in ships is a long known
problem and has been investigated in depth owing to its
relevance in design. Fatigue occurs due to inevitable
microscopic damage accumulation in material due to cyclic
loading mainly the wave loads so that after certain amount
of time or stress reversal structural failure occurs. This may
lead to problems that vary in scale from unwanted and costly
repairs to a large crack propagation that endangers entire
structure. Inspite of the significant scientific effort involved
in understanding fatigue phenomena, fatigue failure is still
a significant problem to be tackled completely from the
designer point of view.
According to Hughes O F & Paik J K [1], the factors which
contribute to the fatigue of ship structure are the local
configuration and geometry of weld details which produce
a local increase in stress , weld material defects and internal
• Emil Mathews is working as Assistant Professor in Mechanical
engineering department of FISAT, Mookkannoor,Angamaly.
emilmathews29@gmail.com
• Dr. C G Nandakumar is working as Associate Professor in
Department of Ship Technology, CUSAT. nandu@cusat.ac.in
ICICE-2013
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discontinuities such as under cuts, porosity, slag inclusions,
lack of fusion or penetration etc.; bad workmanship including
such problems as misalignment, angular distorsion and
insufficient quality of welding which introduces additional
stress concentrations, use of higher tensile steels and cyclic
loads especially wave induced loads. Environment assisted
fatigue is a subject of special attention because the marine
environment is highly corrosive.
The aim of fatigue assessment is to ensure that all parts of
the hull structure subjected to static and dynamic loading
have an adequate fatigue life. To ensure that the structure
will fulfill its intended function till the predicted design life
a fatigue assessment has to be carried out for each individual
type of structural detail which is subjected to extensive
dynamic loading. The calculated fatigue life provides a true
life span of the components or the entire structure. Fatigue
life estimation of a three compartment hull model is
envisaged in the present study.
2 FATIGUE ANALYSIS OF SHIP
STRUCTURE
2.1 Fatigue life prediction methods
Fatigue life of structures are predicted using the S-N curve
approach based on strength of material concept and the
fracture mechanics approach. The former is based on strength
of material assumptions such as linear isotropic flawfree
material whereas the later is based on the fact that the material
is with defects and likely to allow crack initiation and
development.
The Fracture mechaics approach commonly makes use of
Paris law and Erdogan fatigue crack propagation law. The
later assumes a power relationship between the crack growth
rate da/dn and the stress intensity range, ÄK. A robust fatigue
life assessment is based on proper calculation of ÄK. The
fracture based fatigue prediction has been adopted to ship
structural design by ISSC ,2009 [2]
2.2 FE model for fatigue life estimation
As per IACS [3] recommendations for bulk carrier, the finite
element model is normally to cover the considered tank/hold,
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and in addition one tank/hold outside each end of the
considered tank/hold ie. the model extent is a three cargo
hold of a bulk carrier. The boundary conditions to be applied
to the model are Both ends of the model are to be simply
supported, The nodes on the longitudinal members at both
end sections are to be rigidly linked to independent points
at the neutral axis on the centreline and the independent
points of both ends are to be fixed. The boundary conditions
are shown in Table 1 and Table 2.
Table 1
Boundary conditions-Rigid links of both ends for FE
model
Table 2
Boundary conditions-Support condition of the|
independent point for FE model
3 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
3.1 Description of structure
Structural scantlings of the ship have been designed in
accordance with the provisions of Rules and Regulations
for the Classification of Ships of Lloyds Register of Shipping
[4]. The ship has a design life of 25 years. The ship
parameters used in the design are given in the following
Table. 3
Table 3.
Ship parameters
214
LBP is the length between perpendiculars, B mld is the moulded
breadth, Dh is the depth of the ship and CB is the block co-
efficient
Scantlings of the cargo hold model is shown in Fig.1. The
model consists of three cargo holds with dimension 24m ×
21m × 13m. The structural members considered for this
model are the longitudinal stiffeners of double bottom and
deck plate, longitudinal girders, inner bottom and outer
bottom plating, transverse floors, web frames, deck plate,
side plate, bulkhead and bulkhead stiffeners. The model has
12314 elements and 49063 nodes.
Fig.1 Cross section of cargo hold model (half model)
3.2 Description of software and finite element
The software used for analysis is ANSYS. It offers a
comprehensive range of engineering simulation solution sets
providing access to virtually any field of engineering
simulation that a design process requires. The element type
used for this model is shell93 which has 8 nodes and having
six degrees of freedom at each node. The thickness and
material properties of the element has to be specified and
the final output will be nodal displacements and stresses
3.3 Description of FE model
Hot spot stresses for fatigue assessment are to be obtained
by the global cargo hold models where the areas for fatigue
assessment are modeled by very fine meshes.. All structural
members are modeled by shell93 and FE model is shown in
Fig.2.
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Fig.2 FE model
3.4 Load cases
The load applied for the analysis is the wave bending moment
and the loading conditions are full load conditions and ballast
conditions. For the present analysis unit bending moment
has been applied at midship section.
3.5 Linear elastic analysis
Linear elastic analysis is carried out with the boundary
conditions explained in the Table 1 and Table 2 and the load
as unit bending moment on all the nodes of the midsection
of the FE model. The modulus of elasticity and Poisson’s
ratio for the ship building grade steel is 2.1x1011 N/m2 and
0.3 respectively.
Deformed shape and longitudinal stress are shown in the
Fig.3 and Fig.4 respectively. The maximum value of stress
is acting on the deck structure and is at the mid section of
the model.
Fig.3 Deformed shape
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Fig.4 Longitudinal stress
4 FATIGUE LIFE CALCULATION
Fatigue strength is assessed based on an equivalent notch
stress range obtained by multiplying an equivalent hot spot
stress range by a fatigue notch factor. The hot spot stress
range corresponding to the predominant load case for each
loading conditions are calculated and used to calculate the
equivalent hot spot stress range.The fatigue life calculation
procedure given in IACS,2010[3] has been given as follows
The predominant load case ‘I’ in fatigue assessment for each
loading condition is the load case for which the combined
stress range for the considered member is the maximum
among the load cases ‘H’, ‘F’, ‘R’ and ‘P’.
ΔσW, I(k) =maxi (ΔσW, i(k)) (1)
Where ΔσW, i(k) is the combined hot spot stress range, in
2
N/mm and I is the suffix which denotes the selected
predominant load case of loading condition’k’
Hot spot stress range
The hot spot stress range in N/mm2, in load case ‘i of loading
condition ‘k’ is obtained from the following formula
ΔσW, i(k) = |ΔσW, i1(k) - ΔσW, i2(k)| (2)
Where ΔσW, i1(k), ΔσW, i2(k) are the hot spot stress in N/mm2
in load case ‘i1’ and ‘i2’ of loading condition ‘k’, obtained
by direct FEM analysis using fine mesh model.
From the hot spot stress range, equivalent hot spot stress
range is calculated using the formula given in [2.3.2] and
equivalent notch stress is calculated based on the formula
given in [2.3.1] of Ch.8,Sec.2, IACS,2010 [3]. Correction
of equivalent stress range is carried out based on [3.1.1].
Finally cumulative damage ratio is found out based on
[4.1.1], Ch.8,Sec.2, IACS,2010 and also the fatigue life is
estimated subsequently.
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Cumulative fatigue damage 5 CONCLUSION

The cumulative fatigue damage, D is calculated for the Linear static analysis of the three cargo hold model of ship
combined equivalent stress based on the formula given in structure has been carried out and the maximum hot spot
[3.3.1] of Ch.8, Sec.2, IACS, 2010 [3] stress is found out. The fatigue life has been estimated for a
The expected fatigue life, in years, is given by unit bending moment at midship section.

Fatigue life = Design life / D (3) 6 REFERENCES

[1] J K Paik and O F Hughes, Ship structural analysis and design

Fatigue life estimation [2] Fatigue & Fracture, International Ship and Offshore Structure
Congress 2006,2009
For the problem studied herein the hot spot stress obtained
[3] Common structural rules for bulk carrier,IACS(2010)
for the ship structure is 210.5 Mpa and cumulative fatigue
[4] Rules and Regulations for the classification of ships, Lloyd’s
damage (D) is 0.81. Fatigue life corresponding to a design
Register of Shipping(2011)
life of 25 years has been estimated as 31 years.

216 ICICE-2013
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Reliability analysis of response surface based

damage identification method
Tanmoy Mukhopadhyay, Rajib Chowdhury, Anupam Chakrabarti
Abstract— Non-destructive structural damage identification (SDI) and quantification of damage is an important issue for Civil, Mechanical
and Aerospace engineering structures.Recently,response surface based damage identification methods have been successfully applied for
this purpose.In this paper,the reliability of response surface based damage identification methodology has been studied.

Index Terms— 2k factorial design, D-optimal design, Genetic algorithm, Non-destructive structural damage identification, reliability,
response surface methodology, sensitivity analysis.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION example of damage identification using RSM, section-5:

reliability of RSM based damage identification technique,

D
amage in structures is defined as the changes to the
material and/or geometric properties of the systems,
including changes to the boundary conditions and
system connectivity, which adversely affect the system’s
performance [1]. Numerous methods have been developed
so far for damage detection in structures [2].Recently one
methodology called Response surface Methodology (RSM)
has been successfully applied for damage identification. SDI
using RSM involves formation of response surface equation
and inverse optimization to achieve some target value of
the responses with the help of different statistical and
mathematical techniques. This method can measure the
extent of damage very explicitly along with its location.
Though RSM-based damage identification techniques
provide comparatively lesser accuracy, but it is very much
computationally efficient and cost effective. Damage
detection using RSM is a four step procedure: step-1:
Identification of structure of interest,step-2: Identification
of proper input and output features,step-3: Formation of
response surface relating input and output features,step-4:
Identification of damage.
RSM was primarily proposed by Box and Wilson [3]
for application in chemical industry. After that the
methodology has been modified and enriched rigorously for
achieving different objectives. Comprehensive description
about RSM can be found in [4].Cundy [5] gave a preliminary
idea of using RSM in damage detection of structures. Cho
[6] performed an investigation using RSM to predict the
accumulated damages in concrete structures. Fang and
Perera [7] established a comprehensive methodology for
damage identification using RSM.In this paper, a reliability
analysis of such damage detection methods have been
carried out. The paper is organized as, section-1:
introduction, section-2: brief overview of RSM, section-3:
different steps of SDI based on RSM, section-4: numerical
————————————————
• Tanmoy Mukhopadhyay is currently pursuing masters degree
program in Structural Engineering, IIT Roorkee,India ,PH-
07417529653. E-mail: tanmoym.89@gmail.com
• Rajib Chowdhury is currently assistant professor in IIT
Roorkee,India
• Anupam Chakrabarti is currently associate professor in IIT
Roorkee,India
section-6: conclusion.
2. RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY
On the basis of statistical and mathematical analysis RSM
gives an
approximate equation which relates the input features î and
output
features y for a particular system.
y = f (î1, î2, . . . , îk ) + å (1)
where f denotes the approximate response function and å is
the statistical error term having a normal distribution with
mean zero. k is the number of input parameters. The î are
usually coded as dimensionless variables having mean zero
and the same standard deviation of î .
The metamodel is fit approximately to a set of points in
the design space (which may be chosen using design of
experiment approach) using a multiple regression fitting
scheme. Design of experiments (DOE) is an efficient
procedure for planning experiments so that the data obtained
can be utilized to achieve any particular goal.In the present
study two different DOE methods have been used for the
purpose of sensitivity analysis and response surface
formation.These two DOE methods are described below.
2.1. 2k factorial design
One of the most common first order designs is 2k factorial
design which is very useful for screening out some non-
significant input parameters by determining the contribution
of each parameter to the total model variance. In this design
every input parameter has two coded levels (±1), that
corresponds to the lower and upper value bound of the design
space.
In this design, the number of experimental runs is equal to
2k provided no single design point is replicated more than
once. If k is large (k ≥ 5), the 2k design requires a large number
of design points. In that case, we can consider a one-half
fraction design consisting of one-half the number of points
of a 2k design, or a one-fourth fraction design consisting of

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one- fourth the number of points of a 2k design. In general,
a 2-m th fraction of a 2k design consists of 2k-m≥ points from a
full 2k design. m should be chosen in such a way that 2km≥
number of unknowns in the response surface equation.
Sometimes a few additional centre point samples (level=0)
are added to the design to evaluate the curvature of the middle
region of the design space [4].
2.2. Optimal design
Optimal designs require fewer samples than the other
standard design procedures and thus it is much more
computationally feasible mainly in case of large number of
input factors. In this design, position of design points is
chosen algorithmically according to the number of factors
and the desired model and the points are not at any specific
positions, they are selected to meet the optimality criteria.
Optimal designs can be used to create a good design for
fitting a linear, quadratic, cubic or higher order models.
There are several types of optimality criteria such as D-
optimality, A-optimality and E-optimality. D-optimality is
achieved if the determinant of (X tX) -1 is minimal. A-
optimality is achieved by minimising the trace of (XtX)-1.E-
optimality is achieved if the largest eigenvalue of (XtX)-1 is
minimal. Here, X denotes the design matrix as a set of value
combinations of coded parameters and Xt is the transpose
of X [4],[8],[9]. Among these, D-optimal design is the most
popular one. In this study, for model construction an over-
determined D-optimal design (na=k additional samples along
with the minimum point design and nl =5 samples to estimate
the lack of fit) has been used [10].
3. DAMAGE IDENTIFICATION BASED ON
RSM
A RSM based structural damage identification procedure
consisting of the aforementioned four steps has been
discussed in this section.
3.1. Identification of structure of interest
First step of SDI is to identify the structure whose damage
is needed to be identified.In this study a simply supported
beam has been taken.
3.2. Identification of proper input and output features
Material properties,such as Young’s modulus, density,
Poisson’s ratio and geometric properties such as section
ineria may be taken as input parameters depending on the
type of structure under consideration.Time domain
features(peak acceleration,temporal moments,logarithmic
decrement etc.) and frequency domain features (such as,
modal frequencies,mode shapes etc.) are generally taken as
output.For highly nonlinear structures,time domain features
are more suitable than frequency domain features.Selected
output features should not be highly corelated to each other.
In Design Expert software, the percentage contribution of
each input parameter(including the contribution of the
interaction terms) to the total model variance can be obtained.
The percentage contribution of each term is obtained by
summing all the term sum of squares (SS) and then taking
each individual SS and dividing it by the total SS and
multiplying by 100 [11].
218
3.3. Formation of response surface relating input and
output features
In this step the models have been formed for responses in
terms of input parameters using D-optimal design.It should
be mentioned that, the models have been constructed using
numerical data instead of actual experiments in this
study.ABAQUS and Design-Expert softwares have been
employed for finite element analysis and response surface
model construction respectively [11],[12].
An optimized response surface model is formed by adding
or deleting input factors through backward elimination,
forward addition or stepwise elimination/addition. It involves
the calculation of the P-value (probability value, gives the
risk of falsely rejecting a given hypothesis) and Prob. > F
value (gives the proportion of time one would expect to get
the stated F-value if no factor effects are significant).
The response surface model constructed should be checked
by some criterias such as R2(A measure of the amount of
variation around the mean explained by the model),R2adj (A
measure of the amount of variation around the mean
explained by the model, adjusted for the number of terms in
the model. The adjusted R-squared decreases as the number
of terms in the model increases if those additional terms
don’t add value to the model) and R2pred (A measure of the
prediction capability of the response surface model). The
values of R2, R2adj and R2pred should be close to 1.A difference
between R2adj and R2pred within 0.2 indicates that the model
can be used for further prediction.Another check is Adequate
precision ,which compares the range of the predicted values
at the design points to the average prediction error. A value
greater than 4 indicates adequate model.
Further, some plots should also be checked such as normal
plot of residuals(indicates whether the residuals follow a
normal distribution, in which case the points will follow a
straight line),residuals vs. predicted plot(plot of the residuals
versus the ascending predicted response values), actual vs.
predicted plot (A graph of the actual response values versus
the predicted response values for the design points used for
response surface formation. It helps to detect a value, or
group of values, that are not easily predicted by the model),
Box-cox plot (helps to determine the most appropriate power
transformation to be applied to response data) etc [11].
If experimental data is available for a particular structure,the
numerical model can be further modified using model
updating technique to get predictions much closer to the
actual structure [7],[13].
3.4. Identification of damage
Damage identification using the obtained response surface
models is an inverse optimization problem i.e. knowing the
measured output features,finding out the input parameters
that lead to such output values.A hybrid multiobjective
genetic algorithm has been used for optimization with the
help of Matlab [14]. A hybrid function (fgoalattain has been
used in this problem as hybrid function) is an optimization
function that runs after the genetic algorithm terminates in
order to improve the value of the fitness function. The hybrid
function uses the final point from the genetic algorithm as
its initial point.
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
4. NUMERICAL EXAMPLE OF DAMAGE
IDENTIFICATION
4.1. Identification of structure of interest
A 3m long simply supported beam having cross-section of
0.25m x 0.25m (as shown in figure 2) has been taken first
for SDI.Material properties of the beam are: Young’s
modulus(E) =30 GPa, Density (D) =2400kg/m3 ,Poisson ratio
(P) =0.2.The beam is devided into 20 identical parts (as
shown in figure 1) for the damage detection purpose.
Figure 1.Dimensions of the simply supported beam
4.2. Identification of proper input and output features
Since the beam is having uniform cross section and material
property along its length,four parameters, Young’s
modulus(E), density (D), Poisson ratio (P) and section inertia
(I) of substructure number-4 are taken as input parameters
for screening.For screening purpose,a 2k factorial design is
adopted having 16 samples. The first four bending
frequencies are taken as responses (output feature) in this
case. The bounds (±1) of each parameter are identically set
to be ±30% change with respect to the initial values.
Figure 2.Parameter screening results
The percentage contribution to total model variance of each
input parameter (including the two factor interaction effects)
to the output features has been shown in Figure 2.From the
figure it is evident that chosen output features are highly
sensitive to E, I and D, whereas Poisson ratio has almost no
effect on output features. However, in most of the real
applications, material property (Young’s modulus) and mass
(density) remain unaltered. Therefore, in the present study,
the beam is assumed to be damaged only due to reduction
of section inertia (I) i.e. damage has been modelled by
reducing the stiffness locally [15]. Furthermore, as modal
frequency is a global quantity, damage at two symmetric
locations of the symmetric beam will cause same amount of
frequency change. Therefore, instead of taking 20 section
inertia values, 10 section inertia values (I1,I2…I10) have been
taken as input parameter. Here, I1 denotes the section inertia
of substructure-1 consisting of two symmetric parts of the
beam part-1 and part-20.Similarly, I2 denotes the section
inertia of substructure-2 consisting of part-2 and part-18 and
so on.
4.3. Formation of response surface relating input and
output features
An over determined D-optimal design considering a linear
model (with no interaction terms) having total 26 samples
ICICE-2013
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consisting of 21 model points plus 5 points to estimate lack
of fit has been used. The lower and upper bounds (±1) are
set to 0.7I0 and I0, where I0 represents the undamaged section
inertia. In the Design Expert software, the search option used
is ‘Best’ which tries both Point exchange and Coordinate
exchange searches of the design space.
4.4 Identification of damage
In this section, the capability to identify damage by using
the response surfaces formed by D-optimal design has been
discussed. For this purpose, damage have been introduced
to the structure by 30% reduction of the section inertia in
sub-structure 6. The responses (first four bending
frequencies) corresponding to the induced damage condition
are found out first.
Figure 3.Damage identification result
Then, to judge how the method works for damage detection,
the response surfaces formed are optimized by using multi-
objective Genetic algorithm to find the value of the input
parameters (section inertias of ten substructures), which can
cause such responses. In Figure 3 optimization result is
shown. Undamaged section inertia of the beam is 3.2552 x
10-4 m4.Figure 3 shows that damage has been correctly
identified using D-optimal design.
5. RELIABILITY OF DAMAGE IDENTIFI-
CATION
The estimation of the time-invariant reliability of a system
or component entails the computation of multidimensional
probability integrals[16],[17]
PF = P(g(x)<0) = ∫
g ( x)≤0
px(x)dx
(2)
where x = {x 1,x 2,x 3….x n},represent the N-dimensional
random variables of the model under consideration; g(x) is
the limit state/performance function, such that g(x)< 0
,represents the failure domain; and Px(x) is the joint
probability density function of the input random variables.
In the present study sources of variation are considered
due to modeling error (Error due to the inaccurate modeling
of the structure in finite element analysis softwares, variation
in material properties,geometric configurations etc.) and the
effect of noise(to simulate the actual field condition).To
introduce the modeling error, four natural frequencies
corresponding to each set of samples have been varied by
generating some random numbers (randn) in the range of 0
to 1 with the help of Matlab as shown below.
f = foriginal x (1 + p1 x randn) (3)
where, foriginal and f represent the set of natural frequencies
obtained from finite element software and the randomly
219
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9th and 10th of May 2013
varied natural frequencies respectively.p1 is the percentage
of variation(ranging from 0 to 5 percent).The response
surfaces are now formed by using the randomly varied set
of natural frequencies.The effect of external noise is
introduced to the set of natural frequencies of the actual
structure (whose damage is to be identified) in the similar
manner.In this case also,the range of percentage of
variation(say p2) is taken as 0 to 5 percent.
For the purpose of reliability analysis, the percentage of
variations p1 and p2 are ramdomly varied and percentage
error in damage detection (E) is computed corresponding to
each set of p1 and p2.In this study,the reliability analysis has
been done by forming response surface equation for
percentage error in damage detection in terms of p1 and
p2.The response surface have been constructed by using D-
optimal design.
Figure 4. 3D response surface plot for percentage error in
damage detection
Response (E) is obtained by carrying out Monte Carlo
simulation (105 runs) and varying p1 and p2.More than 5
percent deviation in the damage detection result (section
inertia value) is regarded as the failure of the method to
identify damage.The failure probability is finally calculated
as
NS
1 −
PF =
NS
∑ I[ g ( x ) < 0]
i =1
i
(4)
where xi is ith realization of X, NS is the sampling size,I [.] is
a deciding function of the fail or the safe state such that I
=1,if g(xi) < 0 otherwise zero.
Figure 5.Histogram of error in damage detection vs.
number of samples in Monte Carlo simulation
220
Figure 4 shows the variation of E with p1 and p2 in a 3D
plot.Figure 5 shows a histogram describing the number of
samples satisfying the limit state function corresponding to
a particular threshold value of E.For the present study,the
failure probability i.e. probability of false damage
detection,comes out to be 0.26.
6. CONCLUSION
In this paper the damage identification method using RSM
has been described in details for a simply supported
beam.Then the reliability of such damage identification
process based on meta-modelling approach has been
explored.This methodology for reliability assessment of
damage detection techniques can be extended to more
complex structures.Before carrying out the actual damage
detection process in any structure, this type of reliability
assessment is strongly recommended for judging its
probability to successfully detect the damage in that
particular structure.
REFERENCES
[1] Farrar C R and Worden K “An introduction to structural health
monitoring”, 2007, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 365, 303–315
[2] Doebling S W, Farrar C R, Prime M B and Shevitz D W “
Damage Identification and Health Monitoring of Structural and
Mechanical Systems from Changes in Their Vibration
Characteristics: A Literature Review”, 1996
[3] Box G E P and Wilson K B “ On the experimental attainment
of optimum conditions”, 1951 J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. B 13 1–45
[4] Myers R H and Montgomery D C “ Response Surface
Methodology: Process and Product Optimization Using
Designed Experiments”, 2002, 2nd edn (New York: Wiley)
[5] Cundy A L , “Use of response surface metamodels in damage
identification of dynamic structures”, Master Thesis Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2002
[6] Cho T “ Prediction of cyclic freeze–thaw damage in concrete
structures based on response surface method”, 2007 Constr.
Build. Mater. 21 2031–40
[7] Fang S E and Perera R “ A response surface based damage
identification technique”, 2009Smart Mater.
Struct.18(2009)065009
[8] Michael J B and Norman R D “On minimum-point second-
order designs”, 1974 Technometrics 16 (4) 613–616.
[9] Unal R,Lepscht R A,McMillin M L “ Response surface model
building and multidisciplinary optimization using D-optimal
designs”, 1998, in: Annual AIAA/ NASA/ISSMO Symposium
on Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization, seventh, St.
Louis, MO, USA pp. 10–31.
[10] Carpenter W C “ Effect of design selection on response surface
performance” 1993, NASA Contractor Report 4520
[11] Design-Expert® Version 8.0.7.1,Stat-Ease Inc ;2011
[12] ABAQUS CAE 6.8. Dassault Systèmes Simulia Corp.; 2008
[13] Friswell M I and Mottershead J E “ Finite Element Model
Updating in Structural Dynamics”, 1995 (Dordrecht: Kluwer
Academic)
[14] Matlab Version 7.12.0.635 (R2011a),MathWorks Inc ;2011
[15] Friswell M I and Penny J E T “ Crack modeling for structural
health monitoring”, 2002, Sage Publications Vol 1(2): 0139–
148
[16] Ditlevsen O, Madsen HO. “Structural Reliability Methods”
.Chichester, Wiley; 1996.
[17] Chowdhury R, Rao B.N. “Assessment of high dimensional
model representation techniques for reliability analysis”, 2009,
Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics 24 100–115
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Seismic Reliability Assessment of

Typical Soft-storey RC Building In Manipur Region
Monalisa Priyadarshini, Robin Davis P, Haran Pragalath D C and Pradip Sarkar
Abstract—Significantly low stiffness and strength in any storeys compared to adjacent storeys is commonly referred to as soft-storied
buildings. When car parking space is provided in the ground storey like in an open ground storey building (OGS), the building invariably
becomes a soft-ground storey. These types of buildings are found to be the most affected in an earthquake as seen from the past Indian
earthquakes. The ground storey columns of this type of buildings are the weakest element that may experience failure due large inter-storey
drifts. For such ground storey columns, magnification factors (MF) are suggested by the design codes. The present study is focus on the
seismic reliability of typical OGS building configurations in Manipur region (Ukhraul), which is one of the most vulnerable regions in
India. Reliability indices for each building are estimated by combining fragility curves with the available hazard curve of the Manipur
region. Building frames with different heights (6, 8 &10 stories) and MFs considered for the design. Fragility curves are developed for each
type of buildings by conducting nonlinear dynamic analysis. Thirty natural time history data are selected, and modified to match with
Indian response spectrum. Uncertainties in concrete and steel are included. Conclusions are drawn based on the reliability indices obtained.

Index Terms— Fragility, Hazard curve , Maginification Factor, Open ground storey, Peak Ground Acceleration, Performance levels,
Reliability.
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION region in India. The building is designed for seismic zone V

and the hazard curve of Manipur Region is considered for

C
ar parking space for residential apartments in urban
areas is a matter of increasing concern. The ground
storey of the buildings is generally used for parking
facilities. In such cases the ground storey will be free of any
infill walls, this type of buildings are called open ground storey
(OGS). The stiffness and strength of the ground storey is
significantly low compared to adjacent storeys. Open ground
storey buildings are considered as extreme soft-storey
buildings. These types of buildings are found to be more
vulnerable during the past earthquakes. [1] , Clause 7.10.3(a)
states: “The columns and beams of the soft-storey are to be
designed for 2.5 times the storey shears and moments
calculated under seismic loads of bare frame”. The prescribed
magnification factor (MF) of 2.5, applicable for all OGS
framed buildings. The proposed MF is reported as empirical
[2]. The code proposal has also met with resistance in design
and construction practice due to cost implications and
congestion of heavy reinforcement in the ground storey
columns. As the magnification factor increases the ground
storey of the building becomes stronger, which may improve
the performance of the building. The present study focus on
the probability of failure and corresponding reliabilities of
the building designed considering existing codal procedures.
The reliability of the designed buildings is found out by
combining a fragility curve and the hazard curve for a selected
————————————————
• dG A
Monalisa Priyadarshini is currently pursuing masters degree
program in Structural engineering in NIT Rourkela,, India, PH-
+91-9861806249. E-mail: mpcutelisa@gmail.com
• Robin Davis P is currently working as Assistant professor in NIT
Rourkela, India, PH-+91-9583066760. E-mail:
robin.davisp@gmail.com
• Haran Pragalath D C is currently pursuing Doctrate programe
in Civil engineering in NIT Rourkela, India, PH-9861244568. E-
mail: haran5441@gmail.com
• Pradip Sarkar is currently working as Associate professor in NIT
Rourkela, India, PH-+91-9439429739. E-mail:
sarkarp@gmail.com
the reliability evaluation.
2 METHODOLOGY
2.1 Assessment of Seismic Reliability
A methodology for the assessment of seismic risk of building
structures is presented [3]. This assessment involves three
parts. First part is the identification of the seismic hazard,
P[A = a], described by the annual probabilities of specific
levels of earthquake motion. In this study, hazard curve
developed by [4] for Manipur region is considered. Second
part is the analysis of global response of the structural system.
The response analysis of the structure is carried out by
conducting a nonlinear time history analysis for different
earthquakes, and the response is expressed in terms of
maximum inter- storey drift at any storey. Third part is the
calculation of limit state probabilities of attaining a series
of (increasingly severe) limit states, LS i, through the
expression:
P [LS i ] = ∑ P [LS i | A = a ]P [ A = a ] (1)
a
A point that estimate of the limit state probability for state i
can be obtained by convolving the fragility FR(x) with the
derivative of the seismic hazard curve, GA(x), thus removing
the conditioning on acceleration as per Eq. (1).
P [LS i ] = ∫ FR ( x )
(2)
dx
dx
The parameters at the fragility-hazard interface must be
dimensionally consistent for the probability estimate to be
meaningful. The reliability index for corresponding
probability of failure can be found by the following standard
Equation as shown below.
β = −φ − 1 ( pf ) β = −φ −1 ( pf ) (3)
φ is the inverse standard normal distribution.
-1

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2.2 Seismic Hazard Analysis
The seismic hazard at a building site is displayed through a
complimentary cumulative distribution function (CCDF).
The hazard function is the annual frequency of motion
intensity at or above a given level, x, to the intensity.
Elementary seismic hazard analysis shows that at moderate
to large values of ground acceleration, there is a logarithmic
linear relation between annual maximum earthquake ground
or spectral acceleration, and the probability, GA(a), that
specifies values of acceleration are exceeded. This
relationship implies that A is described by following
equation,
−k
GA ( x) = 1 − exp[−( x / u) ] (4)
u and k are parameters of the distribution. Parameter k
defines the slope of the hazard curve which, in turn, is related
to the coefficient of variation (COV) in annual maximum
peak acceleration.
3 HAZARD CURVE OF MANIPUR
REGION IN INDIA
Hazard curve of Manipur region, which is one of the most
vulnerable earthquake prone areas, is developed by [4]
Seismic hazard curves in terms of PGA for a 2500 year return
period (2% exceedance probability in 50 years) for all nine
district headquarters of Manipur (Senapati, Tamenglong,
Churachandpur, Chandel, Imphal east Imphal west, Ukhrul,
Bishnupur and Thoubal) obtained from the probablitistic
seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) are shown in Fig. 1. Out of
these hazard curves, the curve corresponding to Ukhrul
region is found to be the more severe and it is selected in the
reliability estimation. The PGA considered for the evaluation
of probability of failure and reliability index is 1.6g as shown
in Fig.1
Fig 1. Seismic hazard curves at the district headquarters
of Manipur at rock level [4]
4 DEVELOPMENT OF FRAGILITY
CURVES
A fragility function represents the probability of exceedance
of the selected Engineering Demand Parameter (EDP) for a
selected structural limit state (DS) for a specific ground
motion intensity measure (IM). These curves are cumulative
probability distributions that indicate the probability that a
component/system will be damaged to a given damage state
or a more severe one, as a function of a particular demand.
Fragility curves damaged to a given damage state or a more
222
severe one, as a function of a particular demand. Fragility
curve can be obtained for each damage state and can be
expressed in closed form as using “(5),”
⎛ s
ln d ⎞
P ( C − D ≤ 0 | IM ) = φ
⎜ sc ⎟
⎜ β d2| IM + β c2 ⎟
⎝ ⎠ (5)
where, C is the drift capacity, D is the drift demand, Sd is the
median of the demand and Scis the median of the chosen
damage state (DS). âd/IM and âc are dispersion in the intensity
measure and capacities respectively. Equation “(5)” can be
rewritten as “(6)” for component fragilities [5] as,
⎛ ln IM − ln IM m ⎞
P ( DS | IM ) = φ ⎜ ⎟
⎜ β comp ⎟
⎝ ⎠ (6)
where, “IM m =(exp (ln Sc –ln a))/b” , a and b are the
regression coefficients of the probabilistic Seismic Demand
Model (PSDM) and the dispersion component, âcomp is given
as,
β d2|IM + β c2 β d2|IM + β c2
β comp = β comp = (7)
b b
The dispersion in capacity, âc is dependent on the building
type and construction quality. For âc, [6] 50% draft suggests
0.10, 0.25 and 0.40 depending on the quality of construction.
In this study, dispersion in capacity has been assumed as
0.25. It has been suggested by [7] that the estimate of the
median engineering demand parameter (EDP) can be
represented by a power law model as given in “(8)”.
EDP = a (IM )b
EDP = a (IM )
b
(8)
In this study, inter-storey drift (ä) at the first floor level
(ground storey drift) is taken as the engineering damage
parameter (EDP) and peak ground acceleration (PGA) as
the intensity measure (IM).
4.1 Ground Motion Data
The number of ground motions required for an unbiased
estimate of the structural response is 3 or 7 as per [8].
However, [6] draft recommends a suite of 11 pairs of ground
motions for a reliable estimate of the response quantities. A
set of thirty Far-Field natural Ground Motions are collected
from [9]. These are converted to match with Indian spectrum
[10] using a program, WavGen developed by [21]. Figure
2 shows the Response spectrum for converted ground
motions along with Indian spectrum.
4.2 Building Design
The buildings frames considered for numerical analysis in
the present study are located in Indian seismic zone V with
medium soil conditions. These frames are designed as an
Ordinary moment resisting frames, seismic loads are
estimated as per [10] and the design of the RC elements are
carried out as per [12] standards. The characteristic strength
of concrete and steel were taken as 25MPa and 415MPa.
The buildings are assumed to be symmetric in plan. Typical
bay width and column height in this study are selected as
3m and 3.2m respectively for all the frames. The different
building configurations are chosen from 6 storeys to 10
storeys by keeping the number of bays as six for all the
frames. The building configurations of different frames are
shown in Fig. 2.
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

4.3 Sampling reliability index for all the frames. This is due to fact that
the exceedance probability decreases as the level of limits
Material properties of concrete, steel and masonry used in
state increases.
the construction are random in nature. To incorporate the
uncertainties in concrete, steel and masonry strength, a Latin Among all frames, bare frames are found to be more
Hypercube sampling scheme is adopted using [13] program. vulnerable due to higher values of failure probability. The
The mean and covariance values for concrete and steel are stiffness and strength of infill walls are neglected in the bare
taken [14] and that for masonry is taken from [2]. frame analysis and the force demands in the bare frame is
high and hence they are more vulnerable. In reality the infill
4.4 Modelling, Analysis and Performance Levels
walls will contribute stiffness and strength to the building,
30 models are considered for each case, which is modelled which increases the performance of the building. For
in [15] for nonlinear analysis. Concrete is modelled as per example, the reliability of bare frame for immediate
[16] and reinforcements using a bilinear steel model with occupancy performance level is about 1.61 where as, for
kinematic Strain hardening. Infilled masonry walls are fully infilled frame it is 3.80. This shows that fully infilled
modelled according to [17], which take into account of the frame perform better than a bare frame.
stiffness and strength degradations in each cycle, which is
From Table 1, it can be seen that Bare frames (BF) are not
implemented in SeismoStruct. Hilber-Hughes Taylor series
able to meet the target reliability suggested [18], in all the
scheme is adopted for the time step analysis and skyline
performances levels where as the full infilled frames (FF)
technique is used for matrix storage. Three performance
meets the target reliability in all performances levels.
levels, Immediate Occupancy (IO), Life safety (LS) and
collapse Prevention (CP) are considered in the present study. The infill walls are ignored at anlaysis and design stage, in
The inter-storey drift (Sc) corresponding to these the current design methodology. In reality, the infill walls
performance levels has been taken as 1%, 2% and 4% which is ignored and provided at the time of construction,
respectively as per [18]. contribute to some stiffness and strength to the global
performance of the buildings (eg. Fully infilled frames).
5 FRAGILITY CURVES FOR BUILDING
FRAMES However, for an Open ground storey building the same
design methodology may not guaranty the required
Fragility curves for building frames BF, FF, OGS-1, OGS1.5,
performance. But in the present study OGS1 marginally
OGS2 and OGS-2.5 for three performance levels namely,
reaches the Target Reliability in all the performance levels,
IO, LS and CP are generated. The variation of exceedance
which may not be always possible. This implies that more
probability of the inter-storey drift with the PGA for the
storeys ranging from 6 to 10 storeys for the performance
level of Immediate Occupancy (IO) obtained is shown in
Figure 3.
The bare frame (BF) is found to be more vulnerable than the
FF and OGS frame for the performance levels considered.
The exceedance probability of inter-storey drift of OGS
buildings designed by magnification factors 1.5, 2 and 2.5
are less than that of FF in all the cases. The magnification
factor 2.5 is likely to increase the performance than actually
needed by decreasing the inter-storey drift. The same
behaviour is observed in the case of eight and six storied
frames. These fragility curves are combined with the harzard
curve to estimate the joint probability of failure using the
“(2),” as discussed.
6 ASSESSMENT USING THE RELIABIL-
ITY INDICES
The Target Reliability Indices in accordance with [18] is
used in the present study. The target reliability requirement
for each performance level (consequences of failure) for each
relative cost of measures is shown [18]. The assessment of
performance of each building is carried out by comparing
the reliability indices obtained for each building with
corrsponding target reliability indices corresponding to
moderate level of relative cost measure. The target reliability
indices are taken as 2.5, 3.0 and 4.0 respectively for the
performance levels IO, LS and CP.
The probability of failure of each frame and corresponding
reliability indices are presented in the Table1. For example,
the values of reliability indices for a 6S6B bare frame are
1.61, 2.10 and 2.71 for IO, LS and CP respectively. It can be
seen that as the level of limit states increases from IO to CP,
the probability of failure reduces which increases the
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research is required in this direction. For OGS 2.5 Reliability
Indices are found to be twice that of target reliability, which
indicates that the factor MF may be more conservative. For
optimum design of an OGS building, particularly for the
design magnification factor, the target reliability can be a
considered as a basis.
7 CONCLUSION
The present study is focussed on the seismic reliability of
typical OGS building configurations in Manipur region
(Ukhraul). Exceedance probabilities (fragility curve) of inter-
storey drift of each performance levels for all the frames are
developed. The selected Hazard curve is combined with the
fragility curve to find the joint probability of failure and
corresponding reliability. It is seen that Bare frames are the
most vulnerable, and these type of frames with no infill walls,
failed to meet the Target reliability index. Open ground storey
buildings designed with magnification factors 1.5, 2.0 and
2.5 performed well by meeting the corresponding target
reliability index with some margin. The result of the present
study shows that Open ground Storey building designed for
Magnification factor of 1.0 reaches the Target Reliability
Index marginally. In order to arrive at a generalized
conclusion on the behavior of OGS buildings with
Magnification 1.0, further research work is required in this
direction.
REFERENCES
[1] IS 1893 (2002) PART 1, “Indian standard Criteria for Earthquake
ResistanceDesign of Structures,” Bureau of Indian standards;
New Delhi, 2002. (code)
[2] H.B. Kaushik, D.C. Rai and S.K. Jain, “Stress-strain
characteristics of clay brick masonry under uniaxial
compression.” Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Vol.
19, No. 9, 2007. (journal)
[3] Bruce R. Ellingwood, “Earthquake risk assement of building
structures,” Reliability engineering and system safety, vol. 74,
pp. 251-262, 2001. (journal)
[4] Kumar Pallav, S T G Raghukanth and Konjengbam Darunkumar
Singh, “Probabilistic seismic hazard estimation of Manipur,
India,” journal of geophysics and engineering, vol. 9, pp. 516–
533, 2012 (journal)
[5] B.G. Nielson, “Analytical fragility curves for highway bridges
in moderate seismic zones.” Ph.D. Thesis, Georgia Institute of
Technology, 2005.(Thesis)
224
[6] ATC 58 50% Draft, 2009. “Guidelines for Seismic Performance
Assessment of Buildings”, Applied Technology council, Redwood
City, CA. 2002. (code)
[7] C. Allin Cornell, Jalayer Fatemeh, O. Hamburger Ronald and A.
Foutch Douglas,” The probabilistic basis for the 2000 SAC/FEMA
steel moment frame guidelines.”Journal of Structural Engineering
vol. 128 no.4, pp.526-533, 2002. (journal )
[8] ASCE 7 (2005). “Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and
Other Structures. American Society of Civil Engineers.” USA.
2005. (journal)
[9] C.B. Haselton and G.G. Deierlein, “Assessing seismic collapse
safety of modern reinforced concrete frame buildings,”
BlumeEarthquake Engineering Research CentreTechnical report
no. 156, stanford university, pp. 313, 2007.(journal)
[10] IS 1893 (2002) PART 1, “Indian standard Criteria for Earthquake
ResistanceDesign of Structures,” Bureau of Indian standards;
New Delhi, 2002. (code)
[11] S. Mukherjee and V.K. Gupta, “Wavelet-based generation of
spectrum compatibtime-histories,” Soil dynamics and Earthquake
engineering vol.22, pp. 799-804, 2002. (journal)
[12] IS 456 (2000), “Indian Standard for Plain and Reinforced
Concrete”Code of Practice, Bureau of Indian Standards, New
Delhi. 2000. (code)
[13] MatLab (2009),” MatLab - Programming software for all kind
of problems” [online]. < http:// www.mathworks.com/ > (July
20, 2012). (software)
[14] R. Ranganathan,” Structural reliability analysis and design.”Jaico
Publishing House, Mumbai, 1999. (journal)
[15] Seismostruct (2007) SeismoStruct–”A Computer Program for
Static and Dynamic Nonlinear Analysis of Framed Structures”
[online]. < http://www.seismosoft.com/ > (software)
[16] J.B. Mander, M.J.N. Priestley and R. Park, “Theoretical stress-
strain model for confined concrete.”Journal of Structural
Engineering. Vol. 114, pp. 1804-1826, 1988. (journal)
[17] F. J. Crisafulli, “Seismic behaviour of reinforced concrete
structures with masonry infills,” Ph.D. Thesis. University of
Canterbury. New Zealand, 1999. (journal)
[18] FEMA 356 (2000). “Pre-standard and Commentary for the
Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings”American Society of Civil
Engineers. USA. 2000. (journal )
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A Numerical Model of Externally Prestressed

Concrete Beam
Jafar Sadak Ali, Soumendu Bagchi, Sumit Gupta
Abstract— In an external prestressing system, there is no strain compatibility between the cable and the concrete at every cross-section,
the increment of cable strain must be evaluated by taking into account the whole structure, rather than performing the calculation at each
section, independently. In this study, a method for the calculation of cable strain, which is based on the deformation compatibility of beam
and friction at the deviators, was proposed to predict entire response of externally prestressed concrete beams up to elastic limit. Application
of the developed method in numerical analysis on a rectangular beam with different profiles of prestressing cable was then performed. An
algorithm has been developed to determine the structural behaviour at the deviator points in an externally pre-stressed beam. The predicted
results showed that the structural behavior of externally prestressed concrete beams could be satisfactorily predicted from zero loading
stage up to the proportional limit loading stage for different cable profiles.The results obtained have been verified by subsequent modeling
of the externally pre-stressed beam in ABAQUS 6.10 CAE platform. A comparative study has been carried out to justify the most effective
cable profile for most effective prestressing.

Index Terms— Cable Strain, Compatibility, Deformation, Deviator, Elastic Limit, External Cable, External Prestressing.
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION overall deformation of beam. This means that the strain change
in the cable is member-dependent, and is influenced by the

E xternal prestressing is defined as prestress introduced

by the high strength cable which is placed outside the
cross section and attached to the beam at some deviator
points along the beam. The use of external prestressing is gaining
popularity in bridge constructions because of its simplicity and
cost-effectiveness. Moreover, the external prestressing is applied
not only to new structures but also to existing structures which
need to be repaired or strengthened. Although various
advantages of external prestressing have been reported
elsewhere, Some questions concerning the behavior of
externally prestressed concrete beams are often arisen in the
design practice.
One of major problems concerning the beams prestressed with
external cables is in calculating the cable stress beyond the
effective prestress. In the case of beams prestressed with bonded
cables, since the cable strain is assumed to be the same as the
concrete strain at the cable level, the calculation of cable strain
under the applied load is a problem related only to a section of
maximum moment, i.e., the increase of cable strain is section-
dependent. This is totally different in the case of beams
prestressed with external cables. Since the cable is unbonded,
the cable freely moves in the relation of beam deformation.
Therefore, the cable strain is basically different from the concrete
strain at every cross section, i.e., the cable strain cannot be
determined from the local strain compatibility between the
concrete and the cable. For the calculation of cable strain, it is
necessary to formulate the global deformation compatibility of
beam between the extreme ends. The strain variation in an
external cable should be considered to be a function of the
• Jafar Sadak Ali, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering,
Alliah University, Kolkata, India, PH-8621074460, Email-
jsa_2005@rediffmail.com
• Soumendu Bagchi, Student, Department of Civil Engineering,
Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, PH-9038810869, Email-
soumendubagchi@gmail.com
• Sumit Gupta, Student, Department of Construction Engineering,
Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, PH-8100053978, Email-
sumitg100@gmail.com
initial cable profile, span to depth ratio, deflected shape of the
structure, friction at the deviators, the initial condition of beam,
etc. This makes the analysis of a beam with external cables
more complicated, and proper modelling of the overall
deformation of beam becomes necessary.
Since the prestressing force transfers to the concrete beam
through the deviator points and anchorage ends, the cable
friction obviously exists at the deviators, resulting in a different
level of strain increase
between the two successive cable segments. The increment of
cable strain can be expressed as:
(1)
Where Äås and Äåcs are the increments of cable strain and
concrete strain at the cable level, respectively; l is the total
length of cable between the extreme ends.
If the cable is considered perfectly fixed at the deviators,
meaning that the strain variation for each segment is
independent from the others. The increment of cable strain
depends only on the deformations of two successive
deviators or anchorages, at which the cable is attached. The
strain variation can be expressed as:
(2)
The strain compatibility principle considering the frictional
force has been implemented for three different types of cable
profiles such as parabolic, trapezoidal and straight. The
effectiveness of those cable profiles is analysed in terms of
ultimate mid-span deflection.
2 METHOD OF ANALYSIS
To obtain a whole deformed shape of beam, a finite element
method is commonly used as one of powerful and popular
tools in the structural analysis. The conventional finite

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element method often approximates a deformed shape of or

beam element with interpolation functions such as a cubic
polynomial function for transverse displacement and a linear
function for longitudinal displacement. The cubic function
implies a linear variation of curvature along the element. Where Eps and Aps are the elastic modulus and area of the
However, the analysis of unbonded beams in general or the cable; Äåsi, Äåsi+1 are the increments of cable strain at the
analysis of externally prestressed concrete beams in both sides of deviator, respectively.
particular necessitates an accurate evaluation of strain
variation in the concrete since the compatibility equation
should be formulated with the values of concrete strain at
the level of cable. Thus, a large number of short elements
are necessary for the adequate evaluation of cable strain.
The program is capable of accounting for the flexural
deformation, friction at the deviators, and external cables
with different configuration (parabolic, trapezoidal, straight
profile). In the analysis, the beam was represented by a set
of beam elements connected together by nodes located at
either end. Each node has three degrees of freedom, namely,
horizontal displacement, vertical displacement and rotation.
Incemental cable strain has been calculated considering the 2.1.3 PROPOSED EQUATION FOR CABLE
strain compatibility between the cable and the concrete beam STRAIN
at the deviator points within the elastic limit and the
incremental stress in cable has been estimated thereafter. Since the deflection of external cable does not follow the
The estimated cable stress has been applied on the beam deflection except at the deviator points during the beam
prestessing tendons in the analysis.Cross section of the beam is being deformed, the strain in a cable totally differs the
was divided into layers, in which each layer might have strain in the concrete at the cable level. The strain induced
different materials, but its properties were assumed to be in the concrete at the cable level varies according to the
constant over the layer thickness. The concrete strain of each bending moment diagram, while the strain in an external
layer for every beam element was determined, and appeared cable is uniform over the length of cable segment between
to take as the initial condition of beam. Thereafter the cable two successive deviators or anchorage end. The cable strain,
strain is calculated assuming free slip condition considering therefore, cannot be determined from the local compatibility
the frictional force. In this study, the only one displacement of deformation. An analytical model for externally
control at the mid span of the beam, was applied in the prestressed concrete beams, therefore, should satisfy the total
analysis. compatibility requirement, i.e., the total elongation of a cable
must be equal to the integrated value of concrete deformation
2.1 Strain variation in external cables
at the cable level. This is referred to as “deformation
2.1.1 Force equilibrium at a deviator compatibility of beam” in this study. The mathematical
expression of the deformation compatibility of beam is
Figure 1 showed that Fi, Fi+1 are tensile forces in the cable
expressed as:
segments (i) and (i+1) at the deviator (i). Correspondingly,
è i, è i+1 are cable angles, respectively. Thus, the force (6)
equilibrium condition on the X direction can be expressed
as:
where Äåsi is the increment of cable strain; li is the length
(3) of cable segment under consideration; Äåcs is the increment
of concrete strain at the cable level. Combining Eq.(6) with
where coefficient ki depends on the slipping direction, and the force equilibrium condition at the deviator, which is
has value ki=1 if Ficosèi > Fi+1cosèi+1 and ki=2 if Ficosèi expressed in Eq.(5), one can analytically obtain the increment
< Fi+1cosèi+1; ì is the friction coefficient at the deviator. of cable strain of each segment at the certain loading stage,
Eq.(3) can be rewritten in terms of incremental forces as: and it can be expressed as the following:

(4)

where ÄFi, ÄFi+1 are the incremental forces at the both sides
of deviator.
Since the stress of an external cable usually remains below
the elastic limit up to the failure of the beam, it is possible
to rewrite the force equilibrium condition at the deviator in
terms of the increments of cable strain by dividing both sides
of Eq.(4) by EsAs, the force equilibrium condition can be
then expressed as:

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assumed to have a certain value, and they were about 0.2,

(7) .25, .3 for the beamswith different cable profiles as
mentioned. These values may be not true in actual; they were,
however, only adopted for the purpose of numerical analysis.
Finally, the increment of cable strain can be defined by
using the 4. General discussions of Analytical Results
inverse matrix operation as: An algorithm (based on finite element method) has been
developed to calculate the incremental strain at the level of
(8) deviators points.
It is also capable to evaluate the incremental cable strain
where the letters Ci and Si are denoted as cosine and sine of due to the applied loading condition. Incremental cable stress
the cable angle, and the subscripts under these letters indicate is calculated thereafter. Fig.2 to Fig.4 represent the variation
the cable angle number; {d} is the increment of nodal of cable strain with various frictional coefficient (μ=.2,
displacement vector.It can be seen from Eq.(7) that the strain μ=.25, μ=.3) respectively at different deviator points.
variation in an external cable depends mainly on the overall
deformation of the beam, friction at the deviators and cable
angle. The increasing beam deformation under the applied
load is in the relative change of cable elongation. The
adequate evaluation of cable strain depends on the accurate
extent in the calculation of concrete strain at the cable level.
That is the strain variation in a cable depends on the
displacement of every point of beam. Therefore, the concrete
beam should be necessarily divided into a large number of
short elements by using the finite element method.
3. Numerical Model Study
A uniformly distributed load of 22 KN/m is applied on the
entire span of the beam. Two noded linear beam element is
used with appropriate meshing compatible with deviator
locations of the beam. The evaluated pre-stressing force has
been applied at those deviator points as equivalent nodal
forces resolving it into two componenets to find the
effectiveness of the calculated prestressing force with
different cable profiles.
Property Details
Beam Section 250X400 mm
Length 6 Meters
Material Concrete
Density 2500 kg/m3
Poission’s Ration .2
Support Condition Simply supported
Imposed Load(UDL) 22 KN/m
Table-1 Description of the proposed model
A total of three externally prestressed concrete beams with
different cable profile (parabolic, trapezoidal, straight) and
same loading conditions, were considered to analyze as
numerical examples in this study. They are simply supported
beams. The compressive strength of concrete for these beams
is 35.0 N/mm2. The material properties of the beams are
shown in table1.
As mentioned earlier, there is a friction between the cables
and the deviators, and the friction can be expressed in
terms of the friction coefficient, ì as shown in Eq.(3). The
real value of the friction coefficients depends on many
factors, and it can only be determined by experimental
investigations. However, the friction coefficients were not
easy to find in any of the available literature. For analytical
purposes, the friction coefficients at the deviators were

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The maximum values of incremental cable stresses at
different anchorage locatios with different frictional
coefficients are tabulated in table 2.
Table-2 Maximum incremental Stresse for different cable
profiles with different frictional coefficient.
The obtained incremental cable stress would be induced in
the prestressing cable due to the applied load. This stress is
applied in the cable in opposite direction of the induced stress
due to imposed load.
The performance of the prestressed beams with various cable
profiles is judged by evaluationg the final midspan deflection
of the beam.
The beams with different cable profiles are subsequently
modeled in ABAQUS 6.10 CAE platform. A uniformly
distributed load of 22 KN/m is applied as uniformly
distributed load. Eight noded brick element is used with
appropriate meshing compatible with deviator locations of
the beam. The evaluated pre-stressing force has been applied
at those deviator points as equivalent nodal forces.
Fig.5 Finite element model of the beam with meshin in
ABAQUS
The final midspan deflection obtained from the analysis in
ABABQUS, have been compared with the final deflection
obtained from the proposed algorithm. The predicted values
of mid-span deflection are found in tune with the ABAQUS
results.
Fig.6 Comparision between predicted final mid-span
upliftment and mid-span upliftment obtained from abaqus
for various cable profiles.
5. CONCLUSIONS
Using a finite element algorithm the deflection of the
anchorage point due to applied load is evaluated. The strain
228
variation in an external cable was investigated on the basis
of the deformation compatibility of beam. The following
conclusions can be made in this study:
1. The proposed method for the numerical analysis can
satisfactorily predict the behavior of externally
prestressed concrete beams up to propotional limit. The
predicted prestressing forces for various cable profiles
are capable to bring back the deflected beam in its intial
position
2. The stress increase in an external cable depends mainly
on the overall deformation of beam and cable friction
at the deviators.
3. As the maximum upliftment can be found for the
parabolic profile of the cable, it can be concluded that
the parabolic profile is most efficient among all the cable
profiles discussed for the concerened beam.
4. Friction at the deviator points plays no role in case of
straight cable profile whereas minute changesin
incremental cable stress can be observed for parabolic
and trapezoidal profiles.
5. The proposed method is generally suitable for the
investigation of all kinds of beam prestressed with
external cables with different types of cable profiles in
simply supported or multispan continuous beams.
6. The final deflection, increase in cable starin and
incremental cable stress for externally prestressed beam
can be efficiently evaluated with the help of developed
algorithm.
REFERENCES
[1] Aravinthan, T., Mutsuyoshi, H., Fujoka, A., Hishiki, Y., “Flexural
behavior of two span continuous segmental prestressed concrete
beams with external tendons”, Proceeding of JCI, 1996, Vol.18,
No.2, pp.1121-1126.
[2] Aravinthan, T., Mutsuyoshi, H., Niitsu, T., Chen, An., “Flexural
behavior of externally prestressed concrete beams with large
eccentricities”, Proceeding of JCI, 1998, Vol.20, No.3, pp.673-
678.
[3] Diep, B.K, “Non Linear Analysis of externally prestressed
concrete continuous beams considering shear deformation”,
Master Thesis of Department of Civil Engineering-Nagoya
University, 2000.
[4] Diep, B.K., Tanabe, T., “Analysis of two continuous span
prestressed concrete beam with external cables considering shear
deformation”, Proceeding of JCI, 1999, Vol.21, No.3, pp.955-
960.
[5] Garcia-Vargas, J.A., Menezes, N, Trinh, J.L., “Effect of external
tendon slipping at deviator on beam behaviour”, Proceeding of
the Workshop on Behavior of External Prestressing in Structures,
France, 1993, pp.227-237.
[6] Lee, L.H., Moon, J.H., Lim, J.H., “Proposed methodology for
computing of unbonded tendon stress at flexural failure”, ACI
Structural Journal, Nov-Dec, 1999, pp 1040-1048.
[7] Macgregor,.R.J.G., Kreger M.E., Breen J.E., “Strength and
ductility of three span externally post tensioned segmental box
girder bridges model”, Proceeding of External Prestressing in
Bridges, 1990, Sp120-15, pp.315-338.
[8] Harajli, M.H., “Effect of span-depth ratio on the ultimate steel
stress in unbonded prestressed concrete members”, ACI
Structural Journal, May-June, 1990, pp.305-312.
[9] Mutsuyoshi, H., Tsuchida, K., Matupayont, S., Machida, A.,
“Flexural behavior and proposal of design equation for flexural
strength of externally prestressed concrete members”, JSCE
Journal of Materials, Concrete Structures and Pavements, 1995,
Vol.26, No.508, pp.67-77.
[10] Paulo Chaves de Rezende-Martins, Paulo de Araujo Regis, Jean-
Marie Desir, “A study on the behavior of hyperstatic concrete
beams with mixed prestressing”, Proceeding of the Workshop
on Behavior of External Prestressing in Structures, France,
1993, pp.217-226.
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Design and Development of High Strength

Heavyweight Concrete Using SBR
S. P. Jadhao, M. G. Shaikh
Abstract— Heavyweight concrete is used in many applications such as bascule and lift bridges, radiation shielding structures in nuclear
plants etc. In this study an industrial waste material produced by shot blasting of metallic chains is being used as heavy material in concrete
due to its high density. The material is called as Sand Blast Residue (SBR). In this attempt some tests were carried to check the compability
of SBR with cement and aggregate. The concrete mix as per IS-10262-(2009) is used for M20 grade of concrete and 50% sand is replaced
with SBR. The workability obtained in this test is 25 mm slump and the strength is 23 MPa. These results were satisfactory as compared to
control mix.

Further it is planed to design a concrete as per D.O.E (British Standard) to acheive M60, M70, and M80 grade of concrete replacing fine
aggregates with SBR. The replacement starts from 0 – 100% with fraction of 20%. Due to presence of high iron in SBR some durability
tests also would be conducted with compressive and tensile tests.

Index Terms— Admixture, Aggregates, Cement, Compression test, Concrete, Durability tests, Mix Design, Slump test, Tensile test,High
density, High strength
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION
Heavyweight concrete is used in counterweights of bascule

A
composite material that consists essentially of a
and lift bridges, but it is generally used in radiation shielding
binding medium, such as a mixture of Portland
structures. It differs from normal weight concrete by having
cement and water, within which are embedded
a higher density and special compositions to improve its
particles or fragments of aggregate, usually a combination
attenuation properties. When the heavyweight concrete is
of fine and coarse aggregate is called concrete. Concrete is
used to absorb gamma rays, the density and materials costs
by far the most versatile and most widely used construction
are of prime importance.
material worldover. It can be engineered to satisfy a wide
range of performance specifications, unlike other building 1.2 High Density Aggregates
materials, such as natural stone or steel, which generally
High density aggregates such as barite, ferrophosphorus,
have to be used as they are. Because the tensile strength of
goethite, hematite, ilmenite, limonite, magnetite, and
concrete is much lower than its compressive strength, it is
degreased steel punching and shot are used to produce high-
typically reinforced with steel bars, in which case it is known
density concrete. Where high fixed-water content is
as reinforced concrete. [1]
desirable, serpentine (which is slightly heavier than normal
Heavyweight concretes can be designed in the same way as weight aggregate) or bauxite can be used. Heavyweight
normal weight concretes, but the additional self weight aggregates should be reasonably free of fine material, oil,
should be taken into account. They can be transported and and foreign substances that may affect either the bond of
placed in the same way as normal weight concretes but the paste to aggregate particle or the hydration of cement. For
additional density means that smaller volumes can be good workability, maximum density, and economy,
transported and placed. aggregates should be roughly cubical in shape and free of
excessive flat or elongated particles.[2]
1.1High Density Concrete
In this experiment, the fine particals, named SBR, formed
Density of normal concrete is in the order of 2400 kilograms
during sand blasting of metallic chains produced in industries
per cubic meter, whereas that of light weight concrete is
are used as a replacement of fine aggregate in concrete. Being
less than normal density i.e. 1900 kilograms per cubic meter
heavy material, it is expected to produce heavyweight
or so. To call the concrete as high density concrete, it must
concrete when it is used as partial replacement of sand in
have unit weight ranging about 3360 to 3840 kilograms per
the concrete.
cubic meter, which is about 50% higher than the unit weight
of conventional concrete. They can however be produced 2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
with density up to about 5280 kilograms per cubic meter
The ingredients of concrete used in this attempt i.e. cement,
using iron as fine and coarse aggregate. [6]
————————————————
fine aggregate (river sand), course aggregate are tested before
use in sample test of concrete. The relevant Indian standard
• Shivanand Jadhao is currently pursuing masters degree program codes were followed for conducting various tests on the
in Structural engineering in Government College of
Engineering,Station Road, Osmanpura.Aurangabad,
materials.
Maharashtra.Pin-431003 India, E-mail: jshiv278@gmail.com 2.1 Cement
• Dr. Mohummad Shaikh is Associate Professor in Dept. of Applied
Mechanics Government College of Engineering,Station Road,
The cement used in this experimental work is 53 grade
Osmanpura.Aurangabad, Maharashtra.Pin-431003 India, E-mail: ordinary Portland Cement. Its properties tested as per IS
mohummadshaikh@gmail.com 12269-1987 [36] are shown in table 1.
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Table 1: Physical Properties of Cement Table 4 Chemical Properties of SBR

Sr. Description of test Results Sr.No Description (% by mass)

No 1. Calcium Oxide (CaO) 2.20
1. Fineness of cement 3.12% 2. Iron Oxide (Fe2O3) 93.02
2. Specific gravity 3.15 3. Magnesium Oxide(MgO) 1.30
3. Standard constancy 30% 4. Silicon dioxide (SiO2) 1.37
5. Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) 0.80
4. Setting time
6. Alumina (Al2O3) 0.61
a) Initial setting time 160 minutes
7. Cupric Oxide (CuO) 0.07
b) Final setting time 250 minutes
8. Manganese Oxide (MnO) 0.62
5. Soundness by Le-Chatelier’s method 1.0mm
2.5 Superplasticiser (SP)
6. 28 days compressive strength 66 N/mm2
Conplast SP430 is the chloride free, superplasticiser based
2.2 Aggregate
on sulphonated naphthalene polymers super plasticizer is a
Natural sand from Paithan river near Aurangabad is used. unique workability retaining high performance
Various tests such as specific gravity, water absorption, superplasticiser with high strength properties. The properties
moisture content, sieve analysis, etc. have been conducted of SP as reported by manufactured are presented in Table 5.
as per Indian Standard. The test results are presented in Table Conplast SP430 conforms with BSEN 934-2, BS 5075 Part
2. The crushed well graded aggregate of size 20 mm 3 and with ASTM C494 as Type A and Type F, depending
confirming the requirements of IS 383-1970 [37] is used as on dosage used.
coarse aggregate. Storage should be as near the batch plant Table 5: Properties of Super Plasticizer
as possible, and protected from moisture.
Table 2: Physical Properties of Fine and Coarse Sr.No Properties Details
Aggregate (CA) 1. Appearance Brown liquid
2. Specific gravity 1.220 – 1.225 @ 30°C
3. Water soluble chloride Nil
4. Alkali content Less than 55g. Na2O
5. Chloride content 0.2% Max
6. Air entrainment Nil
7. Nitrate content Nil
Uses

2.3 Water • To produce pumpable concrete

• To produce high strength, high grade concrete M30 &
Potable laboratory tap water was used for mixing of concrete.
above by substantial reduction in water resulting in low
In addition, water should be clean and free from injurious
permeability and high early strength
amounts of oil, acid, alkali, organic matter, or other
deleterious substances. • To produce high workability concrete requiring little or
no vibration during placing
2.4 Industrial Waste Material (SBR)
The SBR used in this experimental work is produced at an
Advantages
industry in the neighbourhood of Aurangabad in the State • Improved workability - Easier, quicker placing and
of Maharashtra. It has a very high content of iron oxide compaction.
available in the dry powder form. Properties of SBR are
• Increased strength - Provides high early strength for
presented in Table 3 and Table 4.
precast concrete with the advantage of higher water
Table 3: Physical Properties of SBR reduction ability.
Sr.No Properties Details • Improved quality - Denser, close textured concrete with
reduced porosity and hence more durable.
1. Color Blackish
• Higher cohesion - Risk of segregation and bleeding
2. Specific gravity 5.98
minimised; thus aids pumping of concrete
3. Water absorption 4.15%
• Chloride free - Safe in prestressed concrete and with
sulphate resisting cements and marine aggregates.
Compatibility
It can be used with all types of cements except high alumina
cement. Conplast SP430 is compatible with other types of

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Fosroc admixtures when added seperately to the mix. Site 4.3 Compressive Strength of Concrete
trials should be carried out to optimise dosages.
In many codes the compressive strength is named a concrete
Effect on Compressive strength rank because of its importance; the compressive strength
test was carried out on samples. The specimens were tested
Early strength is increased upto 20% if water reduction is
at 7 and 28 days age for all mixes. The result shows that the
taken advantage of. Generally, there is improvement in
compressive strength of concrete is independent of
strength upto 20% depending upon W/C ratio and other mix
percentage SBR used. The reason is in all sample strength
parameters.
of concrete is near about same shown in Fig. 2.
3 MIX PROPORTION TRIALS
By performing number of trails on mix design and
adding various percentage of super plasticizer, the mix
proportions of normal concrete with varying percentage of
SBR, replacing sand were tried. Selected proportions of
ingredients after several trials, is used for final mixing.
Properties of fresh state of concrete is checked by using
slump cone test as well as compacting factor test and
hardened properties like compressive strength of trial mix
results are given in below.
4 PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE
The various properties of concrete produced in this work
are discussed in the following sections. The properties of
concrete prepared with SBR in different amounts in the
concrte replacing sand by 25 and 50% were determined.
4.1 Density of Concrete
The increase in percentage of SBR increases the density of
concrete. In other words, we can say that the density is 5. CONCLUSION
directly proportional to percentage of SBR. The details are
shown in fig. 1 where SA represents the concrete made with The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the use
conventional materials, SB represents sample of concrete of industrial waste material (SBR) as an additive in the
prepared with SBR replacing 25% sand, and SC represents concrete to make it a heavy weight material, as a replacement
sample of concrete prepared with SBR replacing 50% sand. of sand. Based on the results obtained from the tests
considered in this study, it may be seen that SBR could be
used for making heavyweight concrete, without affecting
much the compressive strength.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors thankfully acknowledge the facility rendered in
the Concrete Laboratory of the Department of Applied
Mechanics at Govt College of engineering Aurangabad.
UltraTech Cement Ltd. is gratefully acknowledged for
sponsoring the work in kinds.
REFERENCES
[1] Robert A. Kelsey, Heavyweight Concrete: Measuring, Mixing,
Transporting, and Placing, ACI 304.3r-96
4.2 Workability of Concrete [2] M. Mahdy, Fatigue properties of heavyweight, high strength
The workability of concrete gets affected as the percentage concrete, Canadian Society For Civil Engineering, Montreal,
of SBR increases. It may be due to high water absorption of Quebec, Canada 5-8 June 2002 / June 5-8, 2002
SBR. The results are in Table 6. [3] Essam Eltehawy, Behavior of heavy weight concrete under
Table 6: Workability of Trials Samples impact effect, ASAT-13-CV-23
[4] C. Basyigit, The Physical and Mechanical Properties of
Sr. No. Slump(mm) Compacting Factor Heavyweight Concrete Used in Radiation Shielding, Journal
1 SA 180 — of Applied sciences 6(4): 762-766, 2006.

2 SB 47.5 — [5] Peng Yu Chu and Hwang Chao Lung, “Development of High
Performance and High Strength Heavy Concrete for Radiation
3 SC — 0.74 Shielding Structures”, International Journal of Minerals,

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Metallurgy and Materials, Vol. 18, Issue No 1, Feb. 2011, pp
89-93.
[6] M. S. Shetty, “Concrete Technology Theory and Practice”, S.
Chand and Co. Ltd., New Delhi, pp.1-624.
[7] IS 456, “Indian Standard for Plain and Reinforced Concrete”
(fourth revision), BIS New Delhi, 2000, pp. 1-107.
[8] M. Mahdy, Effect of transient high temperature on
heavyweight, high strength concrete, 15th ASCE Engineering
Mechanics Conference June 2-5, 2002, Columbia University,
New York
232
[9] Standard Practice for selecting proportions for normal,
heavyweight, mass concrete, ACI 211.1.91 (1991), ACI
committee 211, Farmington Hills, MI, USA.
[10] Indian standard, recommended guidelines for concrete mix
design, IS 10262-1982, Bureau of Indian Standard, New Delhi.
[11] Indian standard, Concrete Mix Proportioning- Guidelines
(First Revision) IS 10262-2009, Bureau of Indian Standard,
New Delhi.
[12] Dauda Dahiru, Research Journal of Applied Sciences 3 (6):
447-455, 2008,Nigeria.
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Effect of Soil Structure Interaction in Seismic

Loads of Framed Structures
Shiji P.V, Suresh S., Glory Joseph
Abstract— Seismic response of structures is extremely complex because of the non-linear behaviour soils during earthquakes. Usually in
the seismic design of buildings, soil structure interaction is neglected and the dynamic response of the structure is evaluated under the
assumption of a fixed or a hinged base response. The code based method of seismic analysis is also seldom based on the soil structure
interaction effect because of the complexity in the analysis procedures. In this paper, the interaction between the super-structure and sub-
structure is investigated by modelling the soil as nonlinear spring and as elastic continuum. To illustrate the effects of soil-structure
interaction on the seismic response of framed structures, frames with 5, 10, 20 and 40 storeys have been considered with base supported as
fixed with and without considering the soil structure interaction. Influence of soil structure interaction by modeling soil as compression
only spring and elastic continuum are presented in the form of fundamental period of vibration and base shear.

Index Terms— Base shear, compression spring, dynamic response, fundamental period,non linear spring, SAP 2000, soil structure interaction
——————————  ——————————

1INTRODUCTION idealized soil–structure system in a single step. The structure

and soil are treated as a whole system in direct method. In

T
he interactive dynamic response of a structure during
an earthquake significantly depends on the
characteristics of the ground motion, the surrounding
soil medium, its properties and the structure itself. The soil
structure interaction refers to the effects of the compression
of supporting foundation medium on the motion of the
structure. During an earthquake, seismic waves are
transmitted through soil from the origin of disturbance to
the structure; the wave motion of the soil excites the
structure, which in turn modifies the input-motion by its
movement relative to the ground. The movements of soil
under foundation will interact with the deformations of the
structure itself. The interaction phenomenon is generally
affected by the mechanism of energy exchange between the
soil and the structure, and the primary influence on the
building is to modify the natural period of vibration and
hence the response in terms of stress and strain [1].
Structures founded on rock are considered to be fixed based
structures and when it is subjected to an earthquake, the
extremely high stiffness of the rock constrains the motion
of the rock to be very close to the free field motions. For
soft soils, the foundation motion differs from that in the
free field due to the coupling of the soil and structure during
the earthquake. This interaction results from the scattering
of waves from the foundation and the radiation of energy
from the structure due to structural vibrations [1].
There are two main methods dealing with Soil Structure
Interaction (SSI) analysis: Direct Method, and Substructure
Method. In the direct method, the response of the soil and
structure is determined simultaneously by analysing the
• Shiji P.V, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering,
SCMS School of Engineering & Technology, Karukutty.
• Suresh S., Senior Structural Consultant, Associated Structural
Consultants, Kochi.
• Glory Joseph, Associate Professor,School of Engineering,Cochin
university of Science & Technology,Kochi.
ICICE-2013
substructure method, the structure and the soil are treated as
two different substructures. Each substructure can be
analysed using a best-suited computational technique.This
is done by combining the force-displacement relationship
of the soil with the discretized motion equation of the
structure which results in the final system of equation of the
total dynamic system.
Usually in the seismic design of framed buildings, soil
structure interaction is neglected and the dynamic response
of the structure is evaluated under the assumption of a fixed
or a hinged base response. The period of vibration of the
structure is calculated based on this assumption and the
seismic loads are evaluated. However, during actual seismic
loading the soil undergoes deformations or settlements,
which are imposed to the foundation, and also due to the
actual soil parameters, the period of vibration of the structure
increases. The increase in period of vibration makes a
structure more flexible and causes a reduction in the seismic
loads acting on the structure.
Spyrakos et al. [2] investigated the effects of soil structure
interaction on the response of base isolated multistory
buildings founded on an elastic soil layer overlying rigid
bedrock and subjected to a harmonic ground motion. The
study demonstrated that SSI effects are significant, and the
interaction between soil and structure results in a decrease
of the fundamental frequency of the response and a
modification in the energy dissipation, which is attributed
to radiation and material damping in the soil.
Bhattacharya et al. [3] assessed lateral period of building
frames incorporating soil-flexibility. Flexibility of soil
medium below foundation decreases the overall stiffness of
the building frames resulting in a subsequent increase in the
natural periods of the system. The study showed that the
presented variation curves for dynamic characteristics can
be used for reasonably accurate assessment of the effect of
soil-structure interaction on any building frame and for
calculating base shear through a simple methodology.
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Hence a detailed soil structure interaction analysis
considering the actual settlements, soil conditions and
support conditions is required for the evaluation of seismic
loads on framed structures.
2 METHODOLOGY
ii) Elastic continuum model
This model can be considered as an approximation of real
soil behaviour. The set of parameters adopted to represent
the model in the analysis are young’s modulus and poisson’s
ratio.

Frames with 5, 10, 20 and 40 storeys have been considered The soil is being idealized by 8 noded elements of solid
in the study. Fundamental period of vibration of the frame model. Soil size of 60m×60m×40m is considered in the
with fixed support using codal formula in IS 1893(Part analysis. The building frame is placed centrally with a
I):2002) [4] and model analysis has been evaluated. Inorder projection of 20 m on either side in plan. The dimensions
to understand the effect of soil structure interaction on are taken inorder to get a considerable stress distribution.
fundamental period of vibration soil has been modelled as At a depth of 40 m, the vertical stress has been reduced to
nonlinear spring and as elastic continuum using SAP 2000. about 25%.
Base shear representing the seismic load on the frame is
The soil data used for the analysis is given in Table 2
then evaluated and compared for various cases.
Table 2: Soil data used in analysis
2.1 Data considered for analysis
Soil Condition Soft weathered rock
Location of the building = Zone III [4]
Soil condition = Soft weathered soil Weight, ã 19 kN/m3
Thickness of slab = 125 mm Young’s modulus, E 15 × 104 kN/m2
Storey height = 3.5 m
Floor load = 1.5 kN/m2 Poisson’s ratio, í 0.33
Unit weight of brick = 19 kN/m3
Unit weight of concrete = 25 kN/m3 3 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
Live load on floor and roof = 5 kN/m2
3.1 Fundamental period
The modal analysis of frames with fixed support and soil
support presented in Table 3 and 4 indicates a higher value
of fundamental period in modal analysis as compared to IS
code method. Table 4 points out that soil structure interaction
can significantly affect the period of vibration in frames upto
10 storeys and thereafter the effect is marginal.
Table 3 Fundamental period without considering
SSI Effect

5 0.372 0.455
10 0.724 0.798
20 1.429 1.761
Fig. 1 Plan of building frame
40 2.838 3.833
2.2 Idealization of soil for modal analysis
The soil stratum is idealized by:
i) Non linear spring Table 4 Effect of SSI on Fundamental Period
The soil can take only compression during loading and this
can be modelled by using a non linear compression only
spring support. The stiffness of the spring in the vertical
direction considering subgrade modulus of soil and type of
foundation [5] used for defining the model for different
frames are given in Table 1.
Table 1 Stiffness of springs 5 0.462 0.539

Frame Stiffness (kN/m) 10 0.824 0.948

5 storeys 243280 20 1.821 1.867
10 storeys 471857
20 storeys 1272500 40 4.004 4.010
40 storeys 2262000
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Table 5 Base shear from modal analysis using SAP 2000

5 321.23 321.23 0.00

10 630.23 572.17 9.21
20 767.50 622.73 18.86
40 833.99 617.41 25.97

Fig. 3 Variation of Fundamental period with No. of storeys Table 6 Base shear from modal analysis using SAP 2000

Fig. 4 Influence of soil modelling on fundamental period

of vibration
3.2 Base shear

Base shear is computed from the equation [4] VB= Ah × W;

where Ah - design horizontal seismic coefficient, W - seismic
weight of the building, and,
Fig. 5 Variation of base shear with No. of storeys
Ah = Z I Sa
2Rg

where, Z - Zone factor, I - Importance factor, R - response

reduction factor and Sa/g - acceleration coefficient term
(depending on the fundamental period and type of soil strata).
Base shear evaluated for various frames with different
support conditions are presented in Table 5 and Table 6. It
can be noticed that soil structure interaction decreases the
base shear value up to 29%. The percentage reduction
increases with number of storeys. The decrease in base shear
indicates a reduction in the lateral load on each floor causing
a lesser moment in the members of the frame compared to
analysis without considering soil structure interaction.

Fig. 6 Influence of soil modelling on base shear

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4 CONCLUSIONS
The modal analysis of the frames were carried out with and
without considering the soil structure interaction and the
results are compared with those obtained through IS codal
provisions.
i) The period of vibration increases for the modal
analysis using as compared to the calculated value as
per IS 1893(Part I):2002. The period of vibration is
more when considering soil as elastic continuum
models than as non linear spring model. The influence
of soil structure interaction is more significant in
frames with higher number of storeys.
ii) The influence of soil structure interaction on base
shear is observed to be significant on frames with
more than 10 storeyes.
iii) Variation in the fundamental period and base shear
between modeling soil as nonlinear spring and as
elastic continuum is observed to be marginal.
REFERENCES
[1] Pankaj Agarwal and Manish Shrikhande, “Earthquake resistant
design of structures”, pp 181-185,196-197, 2009.
[2] C.C. Spyrakos, Ch.A. Maniatakis and I.A. Koutromanos, “Soil
structure interaction effects on base-isolated buildings founded
on soil stratum. Engineering Structures”, pp. 729-737, 2009
236
[3] Bhattacharya, Koushik and Dutta, Sekhar Chandra,”Assessing
lateral period of building frames incorporating soil-flexibility”,
Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 269, Issue 3-5, pp 795-
821, 2004
[4] Bureau of Indian Standards IS 1893 (Part I): 2002. Criteria for
earthquake resistant design of structures. Part I General
provisions and Buildings, 2002.
[5] Joseph E Bowles, “Foundation analysis and design”, The
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,Vth Edition, pp. 501-505, 1996.
[6] Jonathan P. Stewart, Gregory L. Fenves and Raymond B. Seed,
“Seismic Soil Structure Interaction in Buildings I: Analytical
methods”, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering, pp. 26-37, 1999.
[7] P. C. Vasani, “Interactive analysis models for soil and
structures”, Applied Mechanics Department, L. D. College of
Engineering, Ahmedabad.
[8] P.E.Kavitha, K.P.Narayanan and K.S.Beena (2011) A review
of soil constitutive models for soil structure interaction analysis.
Proceedings of Indian Geotechnical Conference. Kochi. Paper
No.N-259, 2011.
[9] Ross W. Boulanger, Christina J. Curras, Bruce L. Kutter, Daniel
W. Wilson and Abbas Abghari, “Seismic Soil Pile Structure
Interaction Experiments AND ANALYSES”, JOURNAL OF
GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL
ENGINEERING, PP. 750-759, 1999.
[10] Steven L. Kramer, “Geotechnical earthquake engineering”, pp.
294-303, 2003.
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Sustainable Concrete using Waste Paper Ash

as Partial Replacement for Cement
Dr.P.B.Sakthivel, C.B.Yaamini, T.Vidhya
Abstract— The manufacturing industries generate huge amount of wastes, which eventually leads to air, water and land pollution, due to
improper treatment and disposal methods. Such industrial wastes can be used as an partial substitute material in concrete for building
construction. This study has made an attempt to partially replace cement with waste paper ash generated from paper manufacturing industry,
which will solve the land-fill and pollution problems to a great extent. This study has used waste paper ash from 5% to 40% (with 5%
increment) to replace cement by weight in M 35 grade concrete and the results compared with controlled concrete. It was found that only
replacement of 5% of waste paper ash has given the optimum results with increased strength, and for other ratios (10% to 40%), it has given
a downward trend, when compared to control specimens. The present authors recommend the use of waste paper ash as partial replacement
to cement in concrete and suggest that further studies be conducted on concrete with other mix ratios, and also experiment with cement
mortar for various applications in brickwork and plastering works.

Index Terms—Hypo Sludge, Landfill, Lime sludge, Material Replacement, Pollution, Sustainability, Waste
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION context of climate change and gets even worse considering

Portland cement demand is expected to increase almost 200%

U
rbanisation, Industrialization and Personal
Sophistication have become the goals of human
community. As a result of these developments, the
construction industry is growing at a fast pace, for instance,
between 2012 and 2017, India will invest 1 trillion dollars
in infrastructures [1], [2]. The foreseeable increase in world
population (by 2030 is expected to increase by more than
2000 million people) and the needs in terms of buildings
and other infrastructure, would further increase the
consumption of non-renewable materials, as well as waste
production [3]. The building sector globally accounts for a
large share of energy use, and has great potential for reducing
primary energy use and CO2 emissions [4]. To reduce CO2
emissions, important strategies have to be adopted in the
selection of energy efficient and sustainable building
materials for use in construction projects [5]. Some of the
methods for achieving sustainability would be, to use cost-
effective materials and environmentally appropriate
technologies [6] such as use of the wastes generated by the
manufacturing industries as partial or complete replacement
in building materials.
1.1 Cement Manufacture and its Implications
Concrete, the primary construction material is most widely
used infrastructure material [2] second to water on a volume
consumption basis and its usage is expected to double in
the next thirty years. The main binder of concrete, Portland
cement, represents almost 80% of the total CO2 emissions
of concrete, which in turn, are about 6-7% of the planet’s
total CO2 emissions; this is particularly serious in the current
_______________________________
• Dr.P.B. Sakthivel is a Professor of Civil Engineering in the
Department of Civil Engineering in Jerusalem College of
Engineering (Affiliated to Anna University, Chennai), Tamil
Nadu, India, PH-+919840315073. E-mail: pbs_ms@yahoo.com
• C.B. Yaamini and T. Vidhya are currently pursuing Bachelor’s
Degree Program in Civil Engineering in Jerusalem College of
Engineering, Chennai, India, PH-+919790718094. E-mail:
cbyaam@gmail.com; tvidhyadd@gmail.com.
ICICE-2013
by 2050 from 2010 levels thus reaching 6000 million tons/
year [2]. Approximately for every ton of cement
manufactured, 1 to 1.25 ton of CO2 is being emitted [7] and
requires about 4 GJ of energy [8]. For cement production,
mining is done to extract large quantities of raw materials
like limestone and clay and fuel (such as coal), and this leads
to environmental impacts, namely extensive deforestation
and top-soil loss [2]. To avoid the production of materials
affecting the natural resources, it is necessary to promote
the use of the best techniques available and innovation in
production plants and to replace, as far as possible, the use
of finite natural resources with the waste generated in
different manufacturing processes, closing the cycles of the
products [9].
1.2 Waste Paper Ash and its Implications
The rapid growth of manufacturing/ production sector result
in enormous amount of waste generation causing
environmental degradation. For example, in a conventional
paper mill, it is estimated that for every ton of paper pulp
produced, about 0.47 m3 of lime sludge is generated [10],
which on calcination process produces Waste Paper Ash
(WPA) with high pozzolanic activity. During the multiple
recycling of the paper, the low quality paper fibers are
separated out to become waste sludge; and in the process,
all the inks, dyes, coatings, pigments, staples and stickies
(tape, plastic films, etc.) used in the paper manufacturing
process are washed off; also, the recycled fibers including
the shiny finish on glossy magazine type paper produced
using a fine kaolin clay coating become solid wastes during
recycling [11]. But this paper mill sludge generated in huge
quantities pose disposal problems, and land-filling is
increasingly uneconomical and decreasingly feasible [12].
Also if these wastes are spread on crop land, then there are
chances that the trace contaminants build up in soil or run
off into streams, lakes, rivers or sea [11]. For example, the
Malaysia Newsprint Industry produce about 80 tons per day
of incinerated waste paper sludge ash from wood pulping
and paper-making industries; and the wastes are disposed
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off to a landfil, which not only shortens the life span of the 25%, 30%, 35% and 40% have been carried out on weight
facility on its surroundings, but also causes a number of basis, and named as “test specimens.” Workability was
pollution and environmental problems [13]. determined by conducting the slump tests using slump cone
for each of these mixes, and good consistency and
In order to reduce the use of natural resources and reuse
workability have been noticed for concrete mix with WPA
of waste material [6], waste paper sludge ash can be an
replacement of 5%, 10% and 15% and 20%. There have
innovative material in the production of concrete to support
been some workability problems for all WPA replacement
the green technology [13]; this is because hyposludge
percentages from 25% to 40%.
exhibits pozzolanic properties due to the presence of silica,
low calcium and maximum calcium chloride [11] and
behaves like cement because of silica and magnesium
properties [14].
1.3 Previous Studies
Balwaik and Raut (2011) [14] replaced cement by waste
paper sludge in the range of 5% to 20% by weight for M20
and M30 mixes. The results show that the compressive,
splitting tensile and flexural strength increased for these
ratios up to 10% replacement of waste paper sludge for
cement. In another study, Pitroda et al., (2013) [15] have
replaced waste paper sludge in 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%
for cement by weight for M25 and M40 mix and found that
the compressive strength increase upto 10% addition of
hyposludge, and decreased as the percentage of hyposludge
Fig.1 Appearance of Waste Paper Ash and Cement
replacement is increased from 20% to 40%. Also, Srinivasan
et al. (2012) [11] have investigated on developing low cost Table 1. Properties of Cement and Waste Paper Ash
concrete from hyposludge waste generated by paper industry, (WPA)
which is based on partial replacement of cement with hypo
sludge in M25 concrete from 10% to 70% with 10%
increment. The compressive strength of M25 for control
specimen is obtained at 37.33 N/mm2 which increases by
50% approximately to 56.11 N/mm2 at optimum of 30%
replacement. The research studies of Srinivasan et al. [11]
confirmed that hyposludge can be used as an effective
supplementary cementitious material.
In continuation of the above studies, this study is
undertaken by the present authors on partial replacement of
cement in M35 grade concrete mix with Waste Paper Ash
(from TNPL paper industry, Karur) using several replacement
ratios ranging between 5% and 40% (with 5% increment) to
find out the optimum level of replacement of WPA in 2.2 Casting of Specimens
concrete. The compression strength, split tensile strength and flexural
2 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION strength of concrete are determined for both control and test
specimens. The cube moulds of sizes 150 X 150 X 150 mm
2.1 Materials and Mix Proportion Used for compression test, 150 X 300 mm (height) cylinders for
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC-53 Grade) with a specific split tensile test and beam moulds of 100 X 100 X 500 mm
gravity of 3.14, complying with IS:12269:1987 [16] and for flexure test were used. Fig. 2 represents the casting of
locally available river sand (fine aggregate) and blue metal concrete with WPA partially replacing cement. All the
(coarse aggregate) conforming to IS:383-1970 [17] are used materials (cement, WPA, sand, blue metal) are weighed and
in this study. Figure 1 shows the Waste Paper Ash (WPA) kept ready (Fig.2a) for mixing purposes. The mortar is first
(Fig.1a) and Cement (Fig.1b) used in this study and Table 1 prepared by mixing cement with WPA (Fig.2b) (for all
shows the properties of WPA and cement. replacements ranging between 5% and 40% by weight, with
The WPA used in this study is obtained from the waste 5% increment between each ratio). The control specimens
generated during the manufacture of paper by Tamil Nadu of M35 grade concrete are identified as C100 H0 (in C100,
News Print Limited (TNPL), Karur, Tamil Nadu. The mix C represents Cement and 100 represents 100% cement
design has been carried out for the controlled M35 grade without replacement). The test specimens for 5%, 10%, 15%,
concrete (mentioned in this study as “Control Specimens”) 20%, 25%, 30% 35% and 40% are identified as C95-H5,
as per IS 10262:2009 [18], and the design mix ratio is 1: C90-H10, C85-H15, C80-H20, C75-H25, C70-H30, C65-
1.68: 2.8 (cement: sand: blue metal jelley) with a water- H35 (for example C95-H5 means 95% of cement and 5% of
cement ratio of 0.45. The partial replacement of WPA for hyposludge waste paper ash, and similarly other replacement
cement for eight proportions, viz., 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, ratios). After dry mixing of mortar with coarse aggregates,

238 ICICE-2013
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the measured amount of water is added (Fig.2c). The molds Table 2. Cube Compressive Strength
are cast (Fig.2d) as per IS 456:2000 [19] for each of the
replacement proportions. After demoulding the specimens
after 24 hours (Fig. 2e), the samples are transferred to the
curing tank. The test to determine the compressive strength
was conducted for the specimens at 3,7 and 28 days; and
the split-tensile and flexural strength tests were carried out
at 28 days.

Fig.2 Casting of Specimens

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Compressive, Split and Flexural Strength
The compressive strength for control specimens (M35
concrete) and test specimens (cast with hyposludge as partial
replacement to cement) have been determined at 3,7 and 28
days, and presented in Table 2 and Fig.3. It was observed
from Table 2 and Fig.3 that as the WSA is replaced for cement
at 5%, the compressive strength of concrete at 28 days has
increased by a marginal value of 3% i.e., from 42.15 N/mm2
(i.e., for M35 grade controlled concrete) to 43.44 N/mm2
(for 5% WSA replaced concrete). But at WSA replacement
of 10% for cement, the compressive strength of concrete at
28 days has decreased by 11.7%, i.e., from 42.15 N/mm2 to
37.72 N/mm2. Beyond this percentage replacement, i.e., for
WSA replacement (for cement) of 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%,
35% and 40%, the compressive strength of the test specimens
has drastically reduced to 28.29 N/mm2, 22.26 N/mm2, 21.87
N/mm2, 19.52 N/mm2, 17.33 N/mm2and 11.89 N/mm2, and
not reaching the even the minimum strength of 35 N/mm2
needed for M35 grade. Based on these results, it can be
inferred that the optimum value of WSA replacement for
cement in M35 grade concrete can be taken only at 5%.
Fig. 3. Cube Compressive Strength Vs. % Replacement
As far as the split-tensile test results (as shown in Table 3
and Fig.4) is concerned, it was found that an increased value
is seen at 5% and 10% WSA replacement (for cement) of
3.932 N/mm 2 and 3.762 N/mm 2, when compared to the
results of the control specimens of 3.53 N/mm2. Beyond the
replacement percentage, there is a downward trend in the
split-tensile values of 3.314 N/mm2, 2.569 N/mm2, 2.47 N/
mm2, 2.334 N/mm2, 1.688 N/mm2 and 1.565 N/mm2 for WSA
replacement of 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35% and 40%
respectively.
From Table 3 and Fig.5, a similar trend was seen in flexural
strength results of 11.5 N/mm 2 and 10.875 N/mm 2 for
concrete beams, which were cast using WSA replacement
of 5% and 10% respectively, and the values are noticed to
be higher than the control specimens, which had a flexural
strength of 10 N/mm2. For WSA replacement of 15%, 20%,
25%, 30%, 35% and 40% respectively, the flexural strength
seem to decrease, i.e., from 10 N/mm2 (for control specimen)
to 9.4 N/mm2, 9.3 N/mm2, 8.45 N/mm2, 7.88 N/mm2, 6.65
N/mm2 and 5.75 N/mm2 respectively.

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Table 3. Split-tensile and Flexural Strength of Concrete
Fig. 4. Split-Tensile Strength Vs. Replacement
Fig. 5. Flexural Strength Vs. Replacement
4 CONCLUSION
Man, for his life upgradation process and personal gains, is
utilising and draining all the natural resources that is
available for his present living, and slowly transforming the
earth into a living hell without even realising that he is
creating a permanent harm for his own future generations.
This paper has brought-out experimental investigation on
replacing cement with 5% waste paper ash (generated from
paper industries) in M35 grade concrete and the results are
encouraging. The sustainable concrete produced through the
waste replacement technique suggested in the present study
can solve the land-fill problems as well as reduce the use of
natural resources in production of concrete, which will
ultimately lead to decrease in CO2 emissions.
The present authors further recommend that similar
experimental studies of cement replacement in concrete can
240
be done with the wastes generated from other manufacturing
sectors in order that we can convert the wastes into
sustainable and energy efficient construction materials that
will mitigate the ill-effects, and save our earth.
REFERENCES
[1] S. Chakroborty, N. Iyer, P. Krishna, S. Thakkar, “Assessment of
civil engineering inputs for infrastructure development”, New Delhi:
Indian National Academy of Engineering, 2011.
[2] F. Pacheco-Torgal and J.A. Labrincha, “The future of construction
mateials research and the eventh UN Millennium Development
Goal: A few insights”, Construction and Building Materials, Vol.40,
pp.729-737, 2013.
[3] F. Pacheco-Torgal and S. Jalali, “Earth construction: Lessons from
the past for future eco-efficient construction”,
Construction&Building Materials, Vol.29, pp.512-19, 2012.
[4] L. Gustavsson, A. Joelsson and R. Sathre, “Life cycle primary energy
use and carbon emission of an eight-storey wood-framed apartment
building”, Energy and Buildings, Vol.42, pp.230-242, 2010.
[5] P. O. Akadiri, P. O. Olomolaiye and E. A. Chinyio, Multi-criteria
evaluation model for the selection of sustainable materials for
building projects, Automation in construction, Vol.30, pp.113-125,
2013.
[6] M. V. Madurwar, R.V. Ralegaonkar and S.A. Mandavgane,
“Application of agro-waste for sustainable construction materials:
A Review”, Construction and Building Materials, Vol.38, pp.872-
878, 2013.
[7] S. S. Sharipudin, A. R. M. Ridzuan and H. M. Saman, “The Effect
of FRCA and WPSA on the Strength Properties of Foamed
Concrete”, Jurnal Intelek, vol. 6, issue. 1, pp.105-110, 2010.
[8] S. Subramanian, “Sustainability - Challenges and solutions”, The
Indian Concrete Journal, December, pp.39-50, 2007.
[9] I. Z. Bribian, A. V. Capilla, A. A. Uson, Life cycle assessment of
building maerials: Comparative analysis of energy and
environmental impacts and evaluaton of the eco-efficiency
improvement potential, Building & Environment, Vol.46, pp.1133-
40, 2011.
[10] A. M. Torkashvand, N. Haghighat and V. Shadparvar, “Effect of
paper mill sludge as an acid soil amendment”, Scientific Research
& Essays, Vol. 5(11), pp. 1302-06, 2010.
[11] R. Srinivasan, K. Sathiya and M. Palanisamy, “Experimental
Investigation in developing low cost concrete from paper industry
waste”, The Bulletin of the Polytechnic Institute of Jassy,
Construction. Architecture Section (Romania), pp. 43-56, 2010.
[12] G. Fava, M. L. Ruello and V. Corinaldesi,”Papermill Sludge ash as
supplementary cementitiousmaterial”, Journal of Materials in Civil
Engineering (ASCE), vol. 23, no. 6, pp.772-776, 2011.
[13] M. S. H. B. M. Sani, F.B. Muftah and M.A. Rahman, Properties of
Waste Paper Sludge Ash (WPSA) as Cement replacement in Mortar
to support Green Technology Material, Proceedings of the 3rd
Intrnational Symposium and Exhibition on Sustainable Energy and
Environment (ISESEE), June 2011, pp.94-99.
[14] S.A. Balwaik and S.P. Raut, “Utilization of Waste Paper Pulp by
Partial Replacement of Cement in Concrete”, International Journal
of Engineering Research and Applications, Vol.1 No.2, pp.300-309,
2011.
[15] J. Pitroda, L.B. Zala and FS. Umrigar, Innovative Use of Paper
Industry Waste (Hyposludge) in Design Mix Concrete, International
Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology, Vol.4 No.1, pp.31-
55, 2013.
[16] IS 12269-1987, Specification for 53 Grade Ordinary Portland
Cement, September 1993, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi,
India.
[17] IS 383:1970, Specification for Coarse and Fine Aggregates from
Natural Sources for Concrete (Reaffirmed 1997), Bureau of Indian
Standards, New Delhi, India
[18]IS 10262:2009, Recommended Guidelines for Concrete Mix Design,
Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India
[19]IS 456:2000, Plain and Reinforced Concrete Code of Practice, Fourth
Revision, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

An Innovative Method of Replacing River Sand by

Quarry Dust Waste in Concrete for Sustainability
Dr. P.B.Sakthivel, C.Ramya, M.Raja
Abstract— In the construction industry, there is a high demand for natural river sand, especially in the production of concrete, which
creates major sustainablility issues. The best way to deal with these environmental concerns is to use waste or recycled material, as
substitute for natural river sand. This paper deals with replacement of sand used in concrete as fine aggregates by the waste generated by
the stone quarry industry. This study has made an attempt to partially replace quarry dust in place of sand in M35 grade concrete. On
experimentation, it was found that the partial replacement of sand with 10% of quarry dust has given the optimum results. Therefore, this
study recommends that if partial replacement of sand with quarry dust upto 10% in M35 grade of concrete is done, the effective waste
management can contribute towards saving of our environment. Similar studies may be done with other concrete mix ratios and also
cement mortar mixes which is used for ceiling and wall plastering and tile-laying purposes.

Index Terms— Global Warming, Green Concrete, Replacement, Strength, Sustainability, Quarry Dust, Waste Material
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION In the construction industry, river sand is used as an

important building material, and the world consumption of

S
ustainability is a global concern and hence the goal of
human kind should be to create a sustainable world.
In order to achieve sustainability, methods that are to
be employed are effective utilization of currently available
resources for a prolonged period of time, minimization of
wastage of material/ energy and controlling overuse, and
ensuring that there are reserves kept for future generations
without complete exhaustion. But the man’s greed has
influenced his ownself to over-utilize, pollute and destroy
the natural resources around him without giving a thought
for future generations or for the existence of other species.
By 2050, humanity could consume an estimated 140 billion
tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year (three
times its current amount) [1]. Urban sprawl and building
construction industry are the main causes of environmental
pollution leading to severe sustainable issues. This
environmental imbalance has created a situation for the
people to focus on adoption of newer technologies and
environmentally preferable materials, which will not only
preserve the natural resources but also create a productive
environment in which human and nature can exist in
harmony. To reach this endeavor, one way is to go green,
i.e., produce green building materials for construction [1]
from the wastes that are generated by manufacturing
industries, as waste is certainly a good potential resource
and lot of energy can be recovered from it; and the
terminology ‘green’ in the present context refers to use of
sustainable materials like stone dust or recycled stone,
recycled blue metal/ gravel and other products that are non-
toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable [2].
————————————————
• Dr.P.B. Sakthivel is a Professor of Civil Engineering in the
Department of Civil Engineering, Jerusalem College of
Engineering (Affiliated to Anna University, Chennai), Tamil
Nadu, India, PH-+919840315073. E-mail:
pbs_ms@yahoo.com
• C. Ramya and M. Raja are currently pursuing Bachelor’s Degree
Program in Civil Engineering at Jerusalem College of
Engineering, Chennai, India, PH-+919444316683.
E-mail:chandramohanramya@gmail.com;
mranraja.1.5@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
sand in concrete generation alone is around 1000 million
tonnes per year, making it scarce and limited [3]. The
excessive and non-scientific methods of mining sand from
the river beds has led to lowering of water table and sinking
of bridge piers [4]. Further, it has caused environmental
degradation like removal of minerals from top-soil due to
erosion and change in vegetative properties leading to soil
infertility problems thereby affecting agricultural
productivity, change in river-courses leading to floods, and
alteration of river eco-system affecting flora and fauna.
Hence, the current focus of construction industry should be
to partially or completely replace natural sand in concrete
by waste material or a material that is obtained through
recycling, without compromising the quality of the end
product [5]. In the recent years, the construction industries
have identified some waste materials like flyash, slag,
limestone powder and siliceous stone powder [6] and quarry
dust [7] for use in traditional concrete.
Quarry dust is a kind of waste material that is generated
from the stone crushing industry which is abundantly
available to the extent of 200 million tonnes per annum [7]
which has landfill disposal problems and health and
environmental hazards [8]. The present study is an attempt
to experiment on use of quarry dust to replace sand in
concrete.
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The choice of quarry dust as replacement for sand has been
supported in the previous study (Manassa, 2010) [5] showing
that up to 20% of sand has been effectively replaced by
quarry dust in traditional concrete. Ilangovan et al. (2008)
[9] reported that the strength of quarry rock dust concrete
was comparably 10-12% more than that of similar mix of
conventional concrete. Hameed and Sekar (2009) [10]
studied the effect of crushed stone dust as fine dust and found
that flexural strength increases than the concrete with natural
sand but the values decreases as the percentage of crusher
dust increases.
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Divakar et al. (2012) [8] have experimented on the behaviour First, the ingredients, namely the sand (Fig.1a) and
of M20 grade concrete with the use of granite fines as a quarry dust (Fig.1b) are mixed together (Fig.1c). Then cement
partial replacement for sand in 5%, 15%, 25%, 35% and is added to the ingredients (sand and quarry dust) as shown
50%; and based on the results obtained for compressive, in Fig.1d. The mortar which consists of cement, sand and
split-tensile and flexural tests, it was recommended that 35% quarry dust is now added to the blue metal jelley (coarse
of sand can be replaced by granite fines. Mahzuz et al. (2011) aggregate) and thoroughly mixed, and then subsequently,
[11] have investigated on the use of stone powder in concrete the required amount of water is added, as shown in the Fig.
as an alternative of sand using three concrete mix 1e. This mix is casted into required moulds and after 24
proportions, 1:1.5:3, 1:2:4 and 1:2.5:5. When the results of
hours of setting, it is demoulded (Fig. 1f) and cured for 28
compressive strength were compared for these mixes
days in the curing tank. Slump cone tests were done to
between use of sand and stone powder, it was found that
stone powder gives higher value than sand by about 14.76%, determine the consistency and workability of control and
4% and 10.44% respectively. In another study conducted by test specimens, and there was enough workability and
Wakchaure et al, (2012) [12] using artificial sand in place consistency for both the control specimens, as well as the
of river sand, it was found that for M30 mix using artificial test specimens (which used 10% and 20% replacement of
sand, the compressive strength increased by 3.98%, flexural sand with quarry dust). But the test specimens which used
strength by 2.81% and split tensile strength by a marginal 30% and 40% of quarry dust (replacing sand) had some
value than concrete which used river sand. Seeni et al. (2012) workability and consistency issues.
[13] have made an attempt to partially replace fine aggregates
with waste material obtained from China Clay industries.
Out of the replacement percentages of 10% to 50%, the
highest strength was achieved at 30% in compressive, split
and flexural strength.
As there are very limited studies on partial replacement of
sand with quarry dust, the objective of this study is to conduct
an experimental on partial replacement of sand with quarry
dust in M35 concrete, and find out the optimum results.
3 EXPERIMENTATION
3.1 Control and Test Specimens
In this study, M35 concrete mix has been used with Ordinary
Portland Cement (OPC 53 Grade) with specific gravity of
3.14, conforming to IS 12269: 1987 [14]. The natural river
sand of specific gravity of 2.74, conforming to Zone II of IS
383:1970 [15], and quarry dust of specific gravity 2.69 have
been used for this study. The maximum nominal size of
coarse aggregates (blue metal) was 20 mm, and the sieve
specifications conform to Table 2 of IS 383:1970 [15].
3.2 Control and Test Specimens
The partial replacement of sand (‘S’) with quarry dust (‘D’)
in M35 concrete has been experimentally studied, and the
replacement steps have been shown in Fig.1. The
consumption of cement and the coarse aggregates are
maintained the same for both the controlled concrete and
the test specimens.
Based on the design mix for M35 in line with IS 456:2000
[16] and IS 10262:2009 [17], the mix ratio has been arrived
at 1:1.68:2.8 (cement:sand:blue metal jelley) with a water-
cement ratio of 0.45. In this paper, the terminologies ‘S’
and ‘D’ have been used for ‘Sand’ and ‘Quarry Dust’ 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
respectively. Adopting the above design-mix ratio, the
control specimens (S100 D0, i.e., Sand 100% and no Quarry 4.1 Compressive Strength
Dust) have been cast. Then the sand was replaced by 10%,
The cube-compressive strength for controlled concrete
20%, 30% and 40% with quarry dust, and accordingly, the
specimens and test specimens (with 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%
terminologies ‘S90 D10’, ‘S80 D20’, ‘S70 D30’, ‘S60 D40’
(respectively) have been used. The mix proportions were replacement of ‘S’ with ‘D’) have been ascertained at 28 days,
determined by conducting slump and flow table tests and and the results are shown in Table 1 and Fig. 1. From Table 1, it
using the mix ratio derived. Three tests for hardened concrete, was found that the cube-compressive strength of M35 controlled
namely, the compressive strength, split-tensile strength and concrete is 42.22 N/mm2. On 10% replacement of ‘S’ with
flexural strength were carried out at 28 days as per IS ‘D’, it was found that the cube-compressive strength has
456:2000; and the cube moulds of 150 mm size, cylinders increased by about 8% (i.e., from 42.22 N/mm2 for controlled
of 150 X 300 mm (height), and beam moulds of 100 X 100 concrete specimens to 45.55 N/mm2). On 20% replacement of
X 500 mm were used respectively. ‘S’ with ‘D’, the compressive strength has decreased by 22.4%

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(i.e., from 42.22 N/mm2 for control specimens to 32.78 N/ TABLE 2

mm2). Further replacement of ‘S’ with ‘D’ of 30% and 40%,
SPLIT-TENSILE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE @ 28 DAYS
there is a drastic reduction of about 30% and about 37% in the
compressive strength of the specimens (i.e., from 42.22 N/mm2 Identification Sand Quarry Split Tensile Strength
for controlled specimens to 29.33 N/mm2 and 42.22 N/mm2 to of Specimens (%) Dust(%) @ 28 days
26.33 N/mm2 ) respectively. (N/mm2)
TABLE 1 S100 D0 100 0 3.53
COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE @ 28
S90 D10 90 10 4.338
DAYS
S80 D20 80 20 4.196
Identification Sand Quarry Cube-compressive
of Specimens (%) Dust(%) Strength @ 28 days S70 D30 70 30 4.102
(N/mm2)
S60 D40 60 40 3.89
S100 D0 100 0 42.22
S – Sand; D – Quarry Dust
S90 D10 90 10 45.55
S80 D20 80 20 32.78
S70 D30 70 30 29.33
S60 D40 60 40 26.33
S – Sand; D – Quarry

Fig.3. Split tensile strength Vs. % Replacement

4.3 Flexural Strength
Flexural Strength of concrete was obtained at 28 days for
control and test specimens, and from the results that are
shown in Table 3 and Fig.4, it can be found that at 10% and
20% replacement of ‘S’ with ‘D’, the flexural strength are
11.2 N/mm2 and 10.6 N/mm2, showing an increase in flexural
strength of about 12% and 6% respectively, when compared
to control specimens of 10 N/mm2. For concrete with 30%
and 40% replacement of ‘S’ with ‘D’, the flexural strength
has reduced by 6.25% and 7.75% (showing values of 9.375
N/mm2 and 9.225 N/mm2) respectively.
Fig. 2. Compressive strength Vs. % Replacement
TABLE 3
4.2 Split Tensile Strength
FLEXURAL STRENGTH OF CONCRETE @ 28DAYS
Split-tensile strength for controlled concrete and all the test
Identification Sand Quarry Flexure Strength
replacements replacing sand with quarry dust were determined
at 28 days, and the ratios of cement and coarse aggregates are of Specimens (%) Dust(%) @ 28 days
not modified between controlled and test specimens. From the (N/mm2)
results shown in Table 2 and Fig.3, it can be seen that the split- S100 D0 100 0 10
tensile strength obtained for control specimen is 3.53 N/mm2,
and for replacement of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% of ‘S’ with ‘D’, S90 D10 90 10 11.2
the values have increased by about 23%, 19%, 16% and 10% S80 D20 80 20 10.6
(i.e., from 3.53 N/mm2 to 4.338 N/mm2, 3.53 N/mm2 to 4.196
N/mm2, 3.53 N/mm2 to 4.102 N/mm2 and 3.53 N/mm2 to S70 D30 70 30 9.375
3.89 N/mm2 ). According to the values obtained, the highest S60 D40 60 40 9.225
value is 4.196 N/mm2 which indicates that 10% addition of
quarry dust gives higher strength, when compared to the control S – Sand; D – Quarry Dust
specimens.

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Fig. 4. Prismatic Flexural Strength Vs. % Replacement
5 CONCLUSION
One of the ways to improving sustainability is to reduce the
human consumption of natural resources. In order to protect
the natural resources such as river sand, this study has
identified quarry dust, which is a waste product from stone
crushing industry and available almost free-of-cost, as partial
replacement for river sand. This study has brought out
positive results that quarry dust can be effectively used as a
partial replacing material upto 10% of natural river sand in
M35 concrete. The present authors would like to highlight
that this method of reducing the usage of river sand in
concrete will not only cut down the cost of construction,
but also reduce the level of illegal extraction of sand from
the river beds but also will certainly help in preserving the
natural resources and solve some sustainability issues. Also,
reusing industrial wastes such as quarry dust will bring down
the need for landfill disposal, and to a great extent, avoid
the conversion of fertile lands into dumping yards. While
recommending the application of quarry dust waste material
in concrete, the present authors recommend that future
studies may be taken up on this replacement technique in
cement mortar for wider applications in ceiling and wall
plastering and tiling work applications, and other concrete
mix ratios.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors, Dr. P.B. Sakthivel, C. Ramya and M. Raja wish
to thank the Management of Jerusalem College of
Engineering, Chennai for providing all facilities for
conducting this experiment on replacement of quarry dust
in concrete.
REFERENCES
[1] Sustainability, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability
[2] Green Building, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Green_building#Waste_reduction
[3] M. S. H. B. M. Sani, F. B. Muftah and M. A. Rahman (2011),
“Properties of Waste Paper Sludge Ash (WPSA) as Cement
244
Replacement in Mortar to support Green Technology Material” ,
3rd International Symposium & Exhibition on Sustainable Energy
& Environment (ISESEE), Vol 1, pp .1-2.
[4] M. Maheswari, and B Vidivelli,. (2010), “The use of sheet glass
powder as fine aggregatre replacement in concrete”, The Open
Civil Engineering Journal, Vol.4, pp.65-71.
[5] R. K. Dhir and M.J. Carthy (2000) “Use of conditioned PFA as
fine aggregate component in concrete”, J. Materials & Structures.
33, 38-42.
[6] J. Manassa (2010), “Use of Crushed Granite Fine as Replacement
to River Sand in Concrete, Leonardo Electronic Journal of
Practices and Technologies
ISSN 1583-1078, Issue 17, July-December ,pp. 85-96.
[7] A. K. Sabat, (2012), “A Study on some geotechnical properties
of lime stabilised expansive soil – quarry dust mixes”, International
Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Development,
Vol. .1 Issue.2, pp.42-49.
[8] Y. Divakar., S. Manjunath , and M. U. Aswath ,. (2012),
“Experimental Investigation on Behaviour of Concrete with the
use of Granite Fines”, International Journal of Advanced
Engineering Research and Studies, Vol. 1 Issue. 4, pp. 84-87.
[9] R. Ilangovan, N. Mahendran and K. Nagamani (2008), “Strength
and durability properties of concrete containing quarry rock dust
as fine aggregates”, ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied
Science, Vol.3(5), pp.20-26.
[10] M. S. Hameed and A.S.S. Sekar (2009), “Properties of green
concrete containing quarry rock dust and marble sludge powder
as fine aggregates”, ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied
Science, Vol.4(4), pp.83-89.
[11] H. M. A. Mahzuz., A.A.M Ahmed. and M.A Yusuf. (2011), “Use
of stone powder in concrete and mortar as an alternative of sand”,
African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, Vol.
5 Issue. 5, pp. 381-388.
[12] M. R. Wakchaure., A. P. Shaikh and B. E. Gite (2012). “Effect of
Types of Fine Aggregate on Mechanical Properties of Cement
Concrete”, International Journal of Modern Engineering Research
(IJMER), Vol. 2 Issue. 5, pp. 3723-3726.
[13] A. Seeni ., C. Selvamony., S. U. Kannan and M. S. Ravikumar.
(2012), “Experimental Study of Partial Replacement of Fine
Aggregate with Waste Material from China Clay Industries”,
International Journal Of Computational Engineering Research
(IJCER), Vol. 2 Issue. 8, pp. 168-171.
[14] IS 12269-1987, Specification for 53 Grade Ordinary Portland
Cement, September 1993, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi,
India.
[15] IS 383:1970, Specification for Coarse and Fine Aggregates from
Natural Sources for Concrete (Reaffirmed 1997), Bureau of Indian
Standards, New Delhi, India
[16] IS 456:2000, Plain and Reinforced Concrete Code of Practice,
Fourth Revision, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India
[17] IS 10262:2009, Recommended Guidelines for Concrete Mix
Design, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India
ICICE-2013
 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10th of May 2013

Analysis of Self-supported Steel Chimney with

the Effects of Manhole and Geometrical
Properties
Kirtikanta Sahoo, Pradip Sarkar, Robin Davis P.
Abstract— Industrial chimneys are high rise structures as compared to surroundings. Material of construction and structural support plays
a vital role for selecting which type of chimney is suitable for a particular purpose. Self-supporting steel chimneys are normally provided
for lower height case. Wind load is a predominant force in such types of structures. Analysis and design of chimney depends on various
factors such as wind force, environmental conditions, types of materials used and cross sectional area of the chimney. Manholes are
provided at the bottom in the chimney for inspection purposes. The presence of manhole reduces the area and hence the stiffness of the
chimney. In the present study investigates the stresses, deflection and mode shapes of the chimney due to the presence of an inspection
manhole. Maximum Von Mises stress, top deflection and mode shapes were calculated using finite element software ANSYS. The results
show that, the due to the presence of manhole, the stresses are increased by approximately 1.5 times and frequency is decreased by
approximately 1.12 times.
Key words — Steel chimney, Dynamic wind load, Static wind load, Von mises stress, Deflection, Mode shape, Man hole

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION As per IS-6533 Part-1:19891 , height of steel chimney is

also a function of environmental condition as follows:

T
his paper deals with the analysis of self-supported-
steel chimneys. Tall steel chimneys are presently 3
planned in compliance with various codes of ⎡ AMFD ⎤ 4
h = ⎢ ⎥⎦
practice (IS 6533 1, 2 , CICIND 3 etc.). The chimney is ⎣ 8 CV
considered as cantilever column with tubular cross section
for analysis. Wind loads, temperature loads, seismic loads
and dead loads are considered for design purpose. But apart
Where A = coefficient of temperature gradient of atmosphere
from these loads, wind load is considered as most vital load
responsible for horizontal and vertical mixing of plume, M
due to height of the structure. The effect of wind can be
= estimated mass rate of emission of pollutants in g/s, F =
divided into two components: (a) along-wind effect (b)
dimensionless coefficient of rate of precipitation, C =
across-wind effect. But the across-wind effect is most critical
maximum permissible ground level concentration of
and unpredictable. The bottom portion of the chimney is
pollutant in mg/m3, gases, m3/s, D = diameter of stack at the
constructed as conical flare for better stability and for easy
exit of the chimney in m. V = estimated volume rates of
entrance of flue gases. Design forces in a chimney is very
emission of total flueme.
sensitive to its geometrical parameters such as base and top
diameter of the chimney, height of the flare, height of the Also, inside diameter of the chimney shell at top as per
chimney and thickness of the chimney shell. Height of the IS 6533 (Part 1): 1989 is given by:
chimney is goverened by environmental conditions. As per
recommendations of the Ministry of Environment and 4Q
D = t
Forests5, Govt. of India, height of a self-supporting steel ∏ V exit

chimney should be as follows:

Where D = inside diameter of the chimney at top in m, Qt =
Quantity of the gas in m3/s, and Vexit = Velocity of the flue
⎧14 Q 0 .3 gas at exit point of chimney in m/s. However, the diameter
⎪
h = max ⎨ 6 m + TallestBui ldingheigh tinlocatio n shall be so chosen that velocity of the flue gas at exit point
⎪30 m of chimney will not exceed 30m/s, under any circumstances.
⎩
As per IS 6533 (Part 2): 19892 there are some limitations
Where Q= total SO2 emission from the plant in kg/hr and h for the proportions of the basic dimensions from structural
= height of the steel chimney in m. engineering considerations as follows
———————————————— a. Minimum outside diameter of the unlined chimney at
the top should be one twentieth of the height of the
• Kirti Kanta Sahoo, Ph.D. Student, National Institute of
Technology, Rourkela, Orissa 769008 India PH-09937195845. cylindrical portion of the chimney.
E-mail: sahoo.kirti@gmail.com b. Minimum outside diameter of the unlined flared
• Pradip Sarkar, Asso. Professor, National Institute of Technology, chimney at the base should be 1.6 times the outside
Rourkela, Orissa 769008 India. PH-06612326.E-mail: diameter of the chimney at top.
sarkarp@gmail.com
With these parameters, the basic dimensions of the Chimney
• Robin Davis P., Asst. Professor, National Institute of Technology,
Rourkela, Orissa 769008 India. E-mail: robind@nitrkl.ac.in
are checked to understand the code limitations. A lot of 66
of chimneys are considered for the present study.
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2 ANALYSES OF THE SELECTED CHIM-

NEYS
2.1 Effect of Geometry
From the discussions in the previous section it is apparent
that top-to-base diameter ratio and height-to-base diameter
ratio are the two essential factors that characterize the
geometry of a self-supporting chimney. For the selected
Chimneys top-to-base diameter ratio and height-to-base
diameter ratio varies with constant thickness and flared base
diameter. Fig. 1 presents the different parameters of the
selected chimneys according to code limitations. This figure
shows that the selected chimneys cover wide range of
geometry.

Fig 1:-Geometrical Parameters Distributions

2.2 Effect of manhole

Manholes are generally provided at the bottom of the
chimney for maintenance and inspection purpose. The
standard dimension of the manhole is 500mm×800mm
according to Indian standard IS 6533 (Part-2):1989. These
manholes are at generally located at minimum suitable
distance from the base of the chimney. Two chimney models,
one with the manhole and other without manhole, are
analysed using finite element software ANSYS for static
wind load. Fig 2 (a&b) presents the Von-Mises stress for
chimney model with manhole and without it. Fig 3(a&b)
presents the displacement response of the two chimneys
under static wind force. These two figures show that higher
deflection is occurred at the top of the chimney with manhole
as compared to chimney without manhole. Fig 4(a&b)
presents the fundamental mode shape of the chimney models.
Chimney without manhole is found to have higher
fundamental frequency compared to the chimney with
manhole.
Table-1 represents the difference in the parameters due to
the presence of inspection man hole in the chimney.
Fig 2:- Comparison of Von-Mises Stress

(a) Without manhole (b) With manhole

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4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In fig.1, it shows about the geometrical parameters which
affect the degn consideration. The shaded portion in the
figure represents the region acceptable by the design code
IS 6533 (Part 2): 1989. According to code, base diameter
should be 1.6 times the top diameter of the chimney. From
this relation it is obtained that the maximum limit for top-
to-base diameter ratio should be 0.625. Similarly another
limitation is minimum top diameter of the chimney should
be one twentieth of the height of the cylindrical portion of
the chimney. Hence the height-to-base diameter ratio as per
the code limitation is obtained as 18.75.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this paper was to verify the basis of design
code limitations with regard to the basic dimensions of a
self-supporting unlined flared steel chimney and the effect
of inspection manhole on the behaviour. It is established
from these analyses that maximum moment and the
248
maximum bending stress due to dynamic wind load in a self-
supporting steel chimney are continuous functions of the
geometry but it does not support the code limitations as
mentioned previously. The results show that the maximum
stress in the chimney with manhole is increased by 55.6%
as compared to the maximum stress in the chimney without
manhole. The top deflection is marginally equal. The mode
shapes of the chimney are observed to be significantly
different due to the presence of manhole. Chimney without
manhole is found to have higher fundamental frequency
compared to the chimney with manhole. This is because
manhole reduces the effective stiffness of a chimney as
evident from the modal analysis results.
REFERENCES
1. IS 6533 Part 1; 1989, “Design and Construction of Steel
Chimney”. Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi (2002).
2. IS 6533 Part 2; 1989, “Design and Construction of Steel
Chimney”. Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi (2005).
3. CICIND, Model code for steel chimneys (Revision 1-December
1999), Amendment A-March 2002.
4. N.R. Kiran, “Analysis and Design of Reinforced Concrete
Chimneys”, B.Tech Project, Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (2001).
5. Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India, Notification
dated Jul 09, 2002
6. IS 1893 Part 4; 2005, “Criteria for Earthquake Resistant
Design of Structures”. Bureau of Indian Standards, New
Delhi (2002).
7. STAAD.Pro2006 (Version 11.0). “Integrated Software for 3D
model generation, analysis and multi-material design”, Inc.
Bentley solution centres, USA (2006).
8. Mathcad, Version14.0, “Parametric Technology Corporation”,
2007.
9. K. Sahoo; P. Sarkar and A.V. Asha “Effect of Geometry on the
Design of Self Supporting Steel Chimney as Per IS 6533:1989”
, 4th International conference on Structural Stability and
Dynamics, MNIT Jaipur, Jan 04-06, 2012
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Fracture Parameters of Steel Fibre Reinforced

High Strength Concrete by Size Effect Method
K.S. Prebhakumari , P. Jayakumar
Abstract— This paper presents an experimental investigation on the fracture behaviour of high strength concrete and steel fibre reinforced
high strength concrete with particular emphasis on the size effect method. Fracture study was carried out by conducting three point
bending tests on series of geometrically similar single edge notched beams. The influence of notch size on the fracture properties of steel
fibre reinforced high strength concrete was also investigated. Various fracture parameters like the fracture energy, length of fracture
process zone, critical crack tip opening displacement and the fracture toughness were determined as per RILEM procedure. The test results
showed that the fracture parameters are sensitive to the fibre addition and the notch size. With the experimental parameters an attempt has
been made to predict the nominal strength of steel fibre reinforced high strength concrete structures.

Index Terms- Concrete fracture ,Crack tip opening displacement ,Fracture energy, Fracture process zone, Fracture toughness ,Stress
intensity factor, Size effect method ,Steel fibre reinforced high strength concrete..(Footnotes)

——————————  ——————————

1.INTRODUCTION the size effect. On the other hand, linear elastic fracture
mechanics (LEFM) exhibits a strong size effect dependence

A
lthough concrete is often considered as a brittle
material, it is actually a quasi-brittle material. Quasi-
brittle materials are incapable of purely plastic
deformation and in normal use have a fracture process zone
(FPZ) which is not negligible compared to the structure size.
Because of the inherent heterogeneity in the microstructure
of concrete that leads to significant micro cracking under
tension, a large process zone with strain stiffening behaviour
is often formed before the unstable propagation of a major
crack. As a result, fracture mechanics principles are only
applicable to large scale initially cracked concrete structures.
Design of concrete structures will benefit significantly from
fracture mechanics. It will make it possible to achieve more
uniform safety factors which will improve economy and
reliability. This is apparent in large size structures, vessels
or containments which behave in a rather brittle manner
and the consequences of a potential failure are enormous.
The experimentally observed size effect of structures can
be adequately explained by fracture mechanics. According
to the size effect law (SEL) the ultimate stress for
geometrically similar structures of different sizes depends
on the size of the structure [1]. The dependence of strength
with respect to the size of specimen is more pronounced in
structures made of cementitious materials due to their large
FPZ
Classical theories, such as elastic analysis with allowable
stress or plastic limit analysis cannot take into consideration
• K.S. Prebhakumari, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engg. College
of Engineering Trivandrum, India. PH-9447254798. E-mail:
prebha_kumari@yahoo.co.in
• P. Jayakumar, Assistant Executive Engineer, KWA, Trivandrum,
India PH-9446340693. E-mail: jayakumarkwa@ymail.com
described by the dependence of stress intensity factor (SIF)
on the crack length [2]. A deterministic size effect exists in
the strength of cracked concrete structures owing to the stress
redistribution introduced by the presence of cracks
manifested in the FPZ [3]. Usually many structures are
designed to carry service loads that are high enough to initiate
cracks, particularly when pre-existing flaws or stress
concentrations are present, such structures can have only a
limited life time and the probability of failure will be at a
low level during the whole service life. The initiation and
growth of large cracking zones up to a critical point of
instability at the maximum load leads to the failure of
concrete structures. In order to ensure the safety it has to be
predicted how fast cracks will grow and how fast the residual
strength will decrease.
Fracture mechanics design methodology is based on the
realistic assumption that, materials contain initial defects
that can affect the load-carrying capacity of engineering
structures. Defects may be initiated in the material by
manufacturing procedures or can be created during the
service life, by fatigue, environmental effects or creep. The
analysis of the component is carried out with a crack placed
in the most probable or dangerous location and determining
a characteristic quantity defining the possibility of the crack
to extend. The characteristic quantity depends on the
particular failure criterion used, and in the case of fracture
analysis, it is the stress intensity factor, KI equal to the KIc.
By this way it is possible to determine the maximum
allowable applied loads for a specified crack size, or the
maximum permissible crack size for specified applied loads.

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A typical size effect curve on a full log plot is shown in
Fig.1. The horizontal dashed line represents the failure status
according to the strength or yield criterion. The inclined
dashed line exhibits a strong size effect predicted by LEFM.
The solid curve between the two limiting curves represents
the real situation for most structures. From Fig.1 we can
observe that for very small structures the curve approaches
the horizontal line and, therefore, the failure of these
structures can be predicted by a strength theory. For large
structures the curve approaches the inclined line and,
therefore, the failure of these structures can be predicted by
linear elastic fracture mechanics.
The size effect method proposes to determine the fracture
energy and process zone length from the maximum loads of
geometrically similar beams of different sizes. Nonlinear
fracture can be characterized by two material parameters,
the fracture energy (Gf) and the effective length of the FPZ
(cf). The identification of these material parameters can be
reduced to linear regression, and the regression can be
arranged in such a way that the slope of the regression line
gives the fracture energy, Gf [4]. It is also possible to calculate
the critical effective crack tip opening displacement (CTOD)
from the above fracture parameters, Gf and cf. Fracture
behaviour of plain concrete is the basis for all the studies on
behaviour of reinforced concrete and pre-stressed concrete
structures. Fracture mechanics for concrete can be a useful
tool for the designer because of the insight it provides on
size effect which means how the size of a structural element
will affect the ultimate load carrying capacity.
2.TESTING PROGRAM
2.1MATERIALS
The main ingredients used were cement, fine aggregate,
coarse aggregate, water, super plasticizer and steel fibres.
1) Cement: Ordinary Portland Cement of 53 grade
conforming to IS: 12269-1987 was used for the study.
2) Fine Aggregate: River sand passing through 4.75 mm
250
sieve and conforming to grading zone II of IS: 383-1970
was used as the fine aggregate.
3) Coarse Aggregate: Crushed granite stone with a
maximum size of 20 mm was used as the coarse aggregate.
The properties of aggregates used for the study are shown
by Table I.
4) Super Plasticizer: Conplast SP430 a product of Fosroc
was used as the super plasticizer.
5) Steel Fibre: Straight steel fibres of 0.5mm mean
diameter and 30mm in length were used at a volume
fraction of 0.5%.
A. MIX PROPORTIONING
The high strength concrete (HSC) mix was proportioned
as per ACI 211.4R-93 [5] for a mean strength 60MPa.
After various trial mixes, the optimum mix proportion was
selected as 1: 1.55: 2.42: 0.28: 0.8% with a cement content
of 480 kg/m3. The different constituents in the order of
cement: fine aggregate: coarse aggregate: water: super
plasticizer, were proportioned as 480:745:1163:135:0.8%
for making 1m3 of HSC mix. The steel fibre reinforced
high strength concrete (SFRHSC) mix was prepared with
0.5% volume fraction of steel fibres. The fibres are
dispersed uniformly throughout the mixture and ensured
free of fibre balling as stipulated by [6]. The properties of
concrete used for the study are shown by Table II.
2.2SPECIMENS
Three point bend beam specimen provided with single
edge notch as shown in Fig.2 was used for the fracture
study. All the specimens were geometrically similar in two
dimensions as shown in Fig.3, with the same third
dimension. Details of the specimen are shown in Table
III. For convenience, the specimens were grouped into
four series as shown in Table IV. For the naming of
specimens, HSC and SFRHSC mixes were denoted by
‘C’ and ‘F’ and the two notch/depth ratios of 1/3 and 1/6
were represented by ‘a’ and ‘b’. The specimens during
casting are shown by Fig. 4.
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International Conference on Innovations in Civil Engineering ȱ

9th and 10th of May 2013

Fig. 2. Notched Beam Specimen

Fig. 5. Three Point Bending Test

Fig. 3. Series of Geometrically Similar Specimens

TABLE III SPECIMEN DETAILS

Specimen Size (mm) Notch
No Span
Depth Length Width Depth
. (l/d)
(d) (L) (b) (a/d)
1 120 400
1/3
2 140 450
100 2.5
3 160 500 Fig. 6. Fracture of HSC Specimen
1/6
4 180 550

TABLE IV SPECIMEN DESIGNATIONS

Specimen Depth (mm)
No. Series
120 140 160 180
1 Ca C1a C2a C3a C4a
2 Cb C1b C2b C3b C4b
3 Fa F1a F2a F3a F4a
4 Fb F1b F2b F3b F4b
Fig. 7. Fractured SFRHSC Specimen

2.3Test Procedure 2.4. Determination of Fracture Parameters

The crack opening displacement was measured with a linear
variable differential transformer (LVDT) and the central
deflection of the specimen was measured with a dial gauge. A The size effect law (SEL) which is applied to geometrically
typical three point bending test set up is shown in Fig.5. similar specimens of different sizes takes the form as shown by
(1).
Bf u
σN = (1)
1+ β
The procedure of evaluation of the fracture parameters as
stipulated by RILEM TC 89 FMT [7] was followed.The fracture
energy (Gf) was obtained from the slope of the regression line, A
and the elastic modulus, Ec as shown by (2). The effective length
of FPZ (cf) was calculated by (3). The critical effective CTOD
( δ c ) was determined by (4).
g (α 0 )
Gf = (2)
Ec A

g (α 0 ) ⎛ C ⎞
cf = ⎜ ⎟ (3)
Fig. 4. Specimens during Casting g ′(α 0 ) ⎝ A ⎠

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1/ 2
⎛ 32G c ⎞
δ c = ⎜⎜ f f
⎟
⎟ (4) 1.50
⎝ πE c ⎠
1.45
The equation of the generalized SEL as shown in (5) could be
obtained by making use of the above expressions of fracture 1.40

-2
parameters [8]. With known g (α 0 ) and g′(α 0 ) , the nominal

(bd/P) (MPa)
1.35
strength σ N for any size of specimen or structure can be

2
determined if Gf and cf for the material are known. 1.30
y = 0.0024x + 1.0222
1.25
1
⎛ EG f ⎞2
⎜ ⎟ 1.20
⎜ g ′(α 0 ) ⎟ 100 120 140 160 180 200
σ N = cn ⎜ ⎟
g (α 0 ) (5)
⎜ cf + d ⎟ Depth - d (mm)
⎜ g ′(α 0 ) ⎟
⎝ ⎠
Fig.9 Linear Regression Curve for Cb – Series
The elastic modulus, Ec of concrete could be obtained by the
3.TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ACI Building Code formula as in (6) from the compressive
strength of cylinders, f c' [8].
For all specimens the fracture occurred by a single crack
developed at the notch tip and progressed vertically towards the E c = 4730 f c'
load point. The HSC specimens were broken through the notch (6)
into two separate pieces (Fig.6). The fractured SFRHSC
specimens were not separated out because of the bridging up of 3.80
the cracks by steel fibres (Fig.7). The incorporation of fibres in
high strength concrete provided a better mechanical integrity
during failure. 3.60
-2
(bd/P) (MPa)

By adding fibres to a concrete mix it was observed that the

3.40
cracks were bridged across the failure plane and provided some
2

control to the fracture process and thereby the fracture energy y = 0.0068 x + 2.4778
was increased. The regression curves for the various groups of
3.20
specimens were obtained through the linear regression analysis
carried out with the experimental results. In order to evaluate the
size effect law, the experimental data were rearranged in a plot of 3.00
X = d and Y = (bd/P)2 as shown in Fig.8 to Fig.11. The slope A
100 120 140 160 180 200
and the intercept C of the linear regression equations were
established. Depth - d (mm)

Fig.10 Linear Regression Curve for Fa – Series

4.50
1.30

4.30
1.25
-2

4.10
(MPa)

-2

1.20
(bd/P) (MPa)

3.90
2

1.15
2
(bd/P)

y = 0.0086x + 2.7941
3.70 y = 0.0020x + 0.8989
1.10

3.50 1.05
100 120 140 160 180 200 100 120 140 160 180 200
Depth - d (mm)
Depth - d (mm)

Fig.8 Linear Regression Curve for Ca – Series Fig.11 Linear Regression Curve for Fb – Series

TABLE V FRACTURE PARAMETERS BY SIZE EFFECT METHOD

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f y
Regression
Gf cf δc KIc
Typ

Values
e

N/mm mm mm MPa√m
A C
Ca 0.0086 2.7941 0.0508 63.43 0.032 1.28
Cb 0.0024 1.0222 0.0778 73.33 0.042 1.59
Fa 0.0068 2.4778 0.0624 71.14 0.037 1.44
Fb 0.0020 0.8989 0.0907 77.38 0.046 1.74

For the evaluation of fracture parameters (Table V), the non-

dimensional energy release rate [ g (α ) ] and its derivative [ g ′(α ) ]
were evaluated for all the series of specimens with the appropriate
expressions for F( α ) and its derivative F′(α) . With linear elastic
fracture mechanics (LEFM), the critical stress intensity factor, KIc
which characterizes the fracture toughness of materials, could be
obtained by (7) in plane stress [2]. The nominal maximum Fig.13 Variation of Bending Stress
bending stress, (σ N ) b is obtained by (8) from the maximum
The variation of bending stress for the specimen groups and a
nominal stress, σ N [9]. comparison with the flexural strength of the HSC and SFRHSC is
( K Ic ) 2 = E c G F (7) shown by Fig.13.
3Pu l ⎛l⎞
(σ N ) b = = 1.5⎜ ⎟σ N (8)
The stress intensity factor (KI ) obtained by the analytical
2 bd 2 ⎝d⎠
The representation of the SEL in a full log plot as the variation study was compared with the experimental values and those
of nominal bending stress against the specimen size is shown by obtained by (9) and is shown in Table VI. The expression of
Fig.12. The nominal bending stress at failure was found to be geometry dependent function ‘ f ( α ) ’ recommended for the TPB
decreasing against the increase of size for both HSC and specimen [10] is given by (9a).
SFRHSC. For an increase of crack size from 1/6th to 1/3rd of the
depth of the structure, the nominal bending stress at failure was P
reduced considerably. The average reduction in strength for both KI = f (α ) (9)
b d
HSC and SFRHSC specimens was about 72% with respect to the
notch variation. The average increase of nominal bending stress where α - relative notch size ( α = a/d)
for SFRHSC against that of HSC was found to be about 7% for a - notch depth
both 1/3rd and 1/6th notch sizes. In addition the flexural strength of l - span of beam
HSC was found to be reduced by 68% and 45% by the presence
of the initial notch size of 1/3rd and 1/6th of specimen depth. A ⎛ l⎞
f ( α ) = 3⎜ ⎟ α
{1 .99 − α (1 − α )[2 .15 − 3 .93 α + 2 .7 α 2 ]} (9a)
2 (1 + 2 α )(1 − α )
3/2
similar reduction for SFRHSC was found to be 67% and 44%. ⎝d⎠

The average values of SIF were found to be increased by

around 19% for the variation of notch size from 1/3rd to 1/6th of
specimen size for HSC and an increase of 17% was observed for
SFRHSC. The experimental values were found to be over
estimating compared to the analytical results. The reason could be
due to the formation of relatively large size fracture process zone
behind the crack where the energy absorption might be more than
that envisaged by the LEFM principles.

Using the experimental parameters, the SEL for the SFRHSC

was formulated as shown by (10) and in Fig.14.

TABLE VI FRACTURE TOUGHNESS COMPARISON

KIc (MPa√m)
Series
Experimental Analytical
Ca 1.28 0.79
Cb 1.59 0.90
Fig.12 SEL Representation Fa 1.44 0.85
Fb 1.74 0.94

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REFERENCES

[1] E. E. Gdoutos, Fracture Mechanics, An Introduction, The Netherlands,

Fig.14 Size Effect Model for SFRHSC
0.8449
σN =
1 + 0.0025 d
The failure loads of specimens and structures can be predicted
by using (10) provided the LEFM function g(α) for the particular
geometry whose failure load has to be predicted is incorporated.
The model shown by (10) is applicable to the cases of geometric
similarity including the initial cracks or notches.
Springer, 2005, ch.1-12.
[2] A. H. Abdel-Reheem, and M. Mahdy, (2006), Fracture Properties and
Process Zone Length of High Strength Concrete using Size Effect
Method, Available: http://www.mans.edu.eg.
[3] B. L. Karihaloo, H. M. Abdalla, and Q. Z. Xiao, “Deterministic size
effect in the strength of cracked concrete structures”, Cement and
Concrete Research, 36, 2006, pp. 171-188.
[4] Zdenek, P. Bazant, “Size effect aspects of measurement of fracture
characteristics of quasi brittle material”, Advanced Cement Based
Materials, 4, 1996, pp. 128-137.
[5] ACI 211.4R-93, (1998), “Guide for Selecting Proportions for High-
Strength Concrete with Portland cement and Fly Ash”, Reported by ACI
Committee 211.
[6] ACI 544.3R-93, (1998), “Guide for Specifying, Proportioning, Mixing,
Placing, and Finishing Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete”, Reported by
ACI Committee 544.
[7] RILEM TC 89 FMT, “Size effect method for determining fracture
energy and process zone size of concrete”, Materials and Structures, 23,
1991, pp. 461-465.
(10) [8] Tianxi Tang, Zdenek, P. Bazant, Sungchul Yang and Dan Zollinger,
“Variable notch one size test method for fracture energy and process
zone length”, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, vol. 55, No. 3, 1996, pp.
383-404.
[9] Ravindra Gettu, Hector Saldivar and Mohammad Taghi Kazemi,
“Implications of the Size Effect Method for Analyzing the Fracture of
Concrete”, International Journal of Solids and Structures, vol. 35, No.
31-32, 1998, pp. 4121-4132.
[10] T. L. Anderson, Fracture Mechanics – Theory and Application, CRC
Press, LLC, USA, 1995, ch.1-7.

4.CONCLUSION

The following conclusions can be drawn from the experimental

study conducted.

1) The size effect method provided the fracture properties of

HSC as well as SFRHSC with the three- point bending
experimental setup on geometrically similar notched beams.
2) The fracture energy, process zone length, critical crack tip
opening displacement and the stress intensity factor (fracture
toughness) were evaluated for both HSC and SFRHSC
specimens.
3) The fracture properties of SFRHSC and HSC were similar as
the base mix was the same for the two types of specimens
and the nominal increase of the values to SFRHSC was due
to the addition of fibres.
4) For an increase of crack size from 1/6th to 1/3rd of the depth
of the specimen, the nominal bending stress at failure
reduced by 72% for HSC. A similar reduction in strength for
the SFRHSC specimens was also observed with respect to
the notch variation.
5) The average increase of nominal bending stress for
SFRHSC against that ofrdHSC wastharound 7% for
relative notch sizes of 1/3 and 1/6 of specimen depth.
6) The flexural strength of SFRHSC was reduced by 67% and
44% by the presence of the initial notch size of 1/3rd and 1/6th
of specimen depth.
7) The experimental values of the stress intensity factor were
found to be higher than the analytical values for all the test
groups.
8) The size effect law for the SFRHSC was formulated and the
nominal strength of specimens and structures can be
predicted using this model.

254 ICICE-2013
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Mechanical and Durability properties of Self

Compacting Concrete with recycled concrete aggregates
C.Sumanth Reddy, K.V.Ratna Sai, Dr.P.Rathish Kumar
Abstract: Rapid industrialization and growing infrastructural demands have created an alarmingly high risk of exhaustion of natural
resources for concrete production. The possibility of use of aggregates recovered from the disposed and demolished concrete wastes
in production of new concrete serves both the purposes of sustainability and effective waste management, considering the current
practice of landfill disposal. Self compacting concrete (SCC), with its unique ability to consolidate under its own weight, is the future
of concrete industry with its added efficiency in terms of cost and time management. This work currently explores the possibility
of using SCC produced using recycled concrete aggregates as new structural concrete. To accomplish that the mechanical and
durability properties of the concrete are studied. Three concrete grades M20, M40 and M60 are prepared with recycled aggregate
substitutions of 0%, 25%, 50% and 100% to test for compressive strength, acid resistance and water sorption. Results suggest that
as much of 25% of aggregates can be replaced without any significant consequences on the concrete produced

Index Terms: Self Compacting Conncrete (SCC), Recycled concrete aggregates (RCA), Sustainability, Durability, Water Sorption,
Commpressive strength, Structural applications.
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION of use of recycled aggregates in SCC and its use as
structural concrete by studying the durability properties

I
ndian construction industry accounts to a total of 10-
12 million tons of waste annually and over 50% of it
being concrete and masonry waste [1]. On the other
hand, housing sector projections indicate a shortage of
aggregates to an extent of about 55,000 m3 along with the
road development sector predicting a requirement of 750
million m3 [1]. In this scenario, disposing off potential
aggregates in the form of C&D waste as landfills, with
environmental and economic consequences is definitely
worth a second look. Recycling of C&D waste for recovery
of aggregates is definitely appreciated and pioneer
approach dates back to 50’s. Indian industry is also
recently incorporating this thought with plans to use the
aggregates in road construction, though still in an
elementary stage.
Self Compacting concrete is extensively recognized by its
unique ability to consolidate under its own weight. This
innovation which revolutionized the construction industry
in 90’s by its remarkable efficiency in time and economy
management is currently gaining popularity and being
used in Indian market and promises to be the future of
construction industry.
There is significant research previously available in
respect to recycling of C&D waste but only quite a few
directed at its use in structural concrete mostly because
of the importance it holds. First attempt to incorporate
recycled aggregates in structural concrete was given by
RILEM but it included ordinary concrete. The integration
marks the uniqueness of this work.
2 MATERIALS
2.1 Basic materials
Materials used in this work other than the recycled
aggregates are Cement (OPC-53, Specific gravity 3.11 and
conforming to IS 12269), Fine aggregate (River sand,
Fineness modulus 2.6, Specific gravity , conforming to
IS 383), Coarse aggregate (properties mentioned in Table
1), Fly ash was employed to function as binder (Class F,
Specific gravity 2.05) and silica fume (conforming to IS
15388). Super Plasticizer used was an SNF (Sulphonated
Napthalene Formaldehyde) condensate based high range
water reducing admixture from Fosroc.Though some
inconsistencies were observed whilst using SNF based
plasticizer in terms of retention of fresh properties over
very long durations, this work being presented was
completed on the assumption that type of plasticizer does
not significantly affect the hardened properties of
consequent concrete.
2.2 Recycled aggregates
Recycled aggregates used in this work were obtained from
an old concrete water tank (possibly 20-30 years old based
on the recovered amount) and the aggregates were used
in a raw and unprocessed stage. The aggregates were
used in an air dry stage to evade any kind of
inconsistencies due to initial moisture content.

• C.Sumanth Reddy, 3 rd year Undergraduates, Dept of Civil The properties of aggregates were primarily ensured to
Engineering, National Institute of Technology,Warangal, satisfy all the requirements as per RILEM guidelines. The
India, Ph : 91-9866906307, E-mail:
properties are given in Table 1
sumanthreddy018@gmail.com
• K.V.Ratna Sai, 3rd year Undergraduates, Dept of Civil Since durability properties of concrete were of primary
Engineering, National Institute of Technology,Warangal, interest and it is known that composition of cement
India.
influences the consequent durability of concrete
• Dr.P.Rathish Kumar ,Associate Professor, Dept of Civil
Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, produced, certain important properties of cement are
India tested and mentioned in Table 2
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Table 1: Physical properties of coarse aggregates Table 3: Fresh properties of mixes

Property 0% 25% 50% 100% Mix Slump T50 (s) V funnel V5 J ring
RCA RCA RCA RCA (mm) time (s) time (s) (mm)
(H flow)
Bulk Density 1.46 1.44 1.39 1.28
30MPa 680 1.58 8.28 9.26 1
Specific gravity 2.78 2.72 2.68 2.55
50MPa 720 4 8.4 10 3
Angularity Index 10.31 11.35 12.09 13.99
70MPa 700 3.4 8.0 10.6 4
Water absorption 1.00 2.10 3.52 5.68
EFNARC
Crushing Index 22.77 23.00 24.21 28.16
limitations 650-800 2-5 6-12 V+ (0-3) 10
Table 2: Properties of cement 3 grades of concrete were finalized for testing and are
Property Value Limits denoted by Mix-A (30MPa), Mix-B (50MPa) and Mix-C
(as per IS 12269) (70MPa). The mix designs employed for obtaining the
Fineness 320 m2/Kg Min 225 desired properties are mentioned in Table 4.
m2/Kg Table 4: Mix design proportions of mixes
Autoclave
expansion 0.10% Max 0.80%
Total loss on
ignition
(% by mass) 1.3% 4.0%
Total Chloride
(% by mass) 0.011% Max 0.1%

3 MIX DESIGN
Nan Su method of mix design is considered as the base of
desired mix throughout this work. However, small changes
were adopted to the mix design based on aggregate
packing as suggested by H.Bouwers. The void ratio of
different proportions of coarse – fine aggregate were
valued and the proportion which ensured minimum void
ratio was employed. The results are presented in Fig 1.
Fig 1: Void ratio variation v/s % sand content
Proportioning of other materials was made as per Nan Su
method and trial mixes were prepared and tested for
required fresh and compressive strength properties (with
natural aggregate). The fresh properties observed for final
confirmed mixes are presented in Table 3. The fresh
properties were ensured to conform to EFNARC
guidelines.
Optimal percentage of aggregate as obtained from our
aggregate tests (55%-45%) was used and slightly
readjusted based on results obtained from trial mixes. The
aggregate sizes in case of Mix – B and Mix – C are slightly
varied from the common aggregate properties mentioned.
The maximum sizes of aggregates in these cases are varied
and readjusted as suggested by compressive packing
model [7]. The maximum sizes are finalized to 16mm and
12.5mm respectively.
4 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
The experimental part of this work was primarily focused
on estimating the consequences of utilizing recycled
concrete aggregates in SCC as a structural concrete. The
most common factors influencing the performance of
concrete were also to be analyzed in order to enhance
them. The assumption made was that the concrete should
be strong and durable to be used as structural concrete
and testing was focused to this alone. To determine the
compressive strength, concrete cubes of standard
15x15x15 cm were cast and cured respectively for 28, 56
and 90 days. To estimate the porosity and capillarity, viz
to get an idea of crack potential, sorptivity test was
conducted on concrete cube specimens by water proofing
the side faces of cube and allowing only 5-10mm of the
cube to be in contact with water.
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
5.1 COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH
The results of compressive strength testing conducted
after curing periods of 28, 56 and 90 days are depicted in

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Fig 2, 3 and 4. The overall performance also was above

92% and above the target strength aimed at, suggesting
that as much as 100% replacement can be entertained
from a strength requirement perspective. Thus we can
conclude that concrete with any amount of replacement
can be utilized if a structure is just needed to deliver in
terms of strength.
The failure of RCA to attain compressive strength as that
of natural aggregates may be ascertained to the use of
aggregates in raw, unprocessed form since the
investigation of failure plane suggest that it was the much
weaker old mortar – new mortar inter transition zone (ITZ)
that the plane traversed in most cases as shown in Fig 6.
Fig 3: Relative strength performance in 50Mpa
Thus we can conclude that use of recycled aggregates
with any amount of processing will yield better results
proving that results are consistent with previous work [8]
[9].

Fig 4: Relative strength performance in 70Mpa

Fig 2: Relative strength performance in 30Mpa

The performance variation seems to be increasing with
the grade of concrete suggesting that caution is essential
when dealing with use of recycled aggregates in higher
grade concretes.
Fly ash is considered responsible for the significant
strength development after 28 days and since the
performance of RCA based concretes is improving with
age of curing, it can possibly be deduced that the
performance of RCA concrete is enhance by the use of Fig 5: Failure plane of concrete under compression
mineral admixtures, in this case, Fly ash. The conclusion that performance of RCA concretes is
The relative variation has increased as expected and enhanced in the presence of mineral admixtures may
conforming to previous conclusion but there has been a possibly be because recycled aggregates have a higher
significant improvement in the overall performance incase water absorption capacity and hence in the initial mix itself,
of 70MPa concrete. The total % reduction in strength has significant water is absorbed by recycled aggregates
reduced by a very great margin. This possibly could be acting as water storage reservoirs and supplying the
considered as the influence of presence of silica fume in required moisture at a later stage to suffice for hydration
the mix. The density of concrete specimens in this case of fly ash. However convincing this might be, it still needs
was higher than usually observed in case of 30MPa and to be verified and concluded.
50MPa suggesting that it is might be a consequence of 5.2 WATER SORPTION
the micro filler effect [10] of silica fume.
This test was employed with the hope of obtaining a

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holistic view of internal characteristics of concrete like its
porosity and crack potential. The experimental setup was
such that it ensured the only ingress of moisture into
concrete specimen was through capillary action and
measuring the increase in weight would represent the
internal structure of concrete. Though several factors are
believed to influence the internal character of concrete,
this approach is known to give superficial information
about the same and hence no sincere conclusions can be
drawn from this result alone without further testing. The
water sorption results after 28 days exposure are
summarized in Table 5.
Table 5: Capillary water sorption results for all mixes
We can observe that the overall performance incapacity
reduced as the grade of concrete increased. This might be
because as the concrete grade increased, so is the
denseness and compactness of inner concrete, thus
suggesting a lower value of capillaries as observed. This
is observed slightly in conformity to work by Khatib [11].
Performance in terms of percentage replacement of
recycled aggregates suggests that the increase in recycled
aggregate content leads to higher capillaries in the internal
structure. Two reasons which could be possible for this
are firstly, the weakened old mortar – new mortar ITZ
which has led to formation of higher number of capillaries
thus enabling higher water absorption and this might be
significant because of use of unprocessed aggregates.
The other reason for this could be that since recycled
aggregates created a moist atmosphere inside the concrete
to enable reaction of fly ash, depriving themselves of their
water absorption capacity initially, the availability of water
through capillaries provided an external source of
replenishment and hence water absorption of recycled
aggregates may also be a cause for higher sorptivity value.
Further analysis of these results considering the water
absorption capacity and strength development due to late
hydration and the relative performance and allowing a
slack of about 25%, we could conclude that as much as
25% of natural aggregate could be replaced with RCA
without detrimental effect however, the slack of 25% was
based on an assumption. Further research is necessary to
arrive at a final conclusion on this subject and also
employment of effective testing procedure would ease
the analysis.
258
6 CONCLUSIONS
• In terms of pure strength requirement alone, no
stringent conditions are necessary in regard to the
percentage replacement of recycled aggregates, thus
making it easy in case of non-structural concretes.
• The processing of recycled aggregates play a crucial
role in determining the strength and durability of
consequent concrete and a direct relationship can be
established between them.
• RCA concrete performance deteriorated with increase
in grade of concrete suggesting that caution is to be
exercised when using RCA for higher grade concretes.
• Enhancement of properties due to addition of mineral
admixtures is revolutionary and can be used to optimize
in order to get ideal mix at higher percentage
replacement of RCA.
• Considering a cursory analysis of water sorption
results, it can be concluded that it is safer to replace
as much as 25% of aggregates with RCA without
significant effects in developed concrete.
7 REFERENCES
[1] Construction and Demolition waste, Solid waste management
manual, Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India,
2010, Chapter-4, Pages 57-63
[2] Hyungu Jeong (2011). “Processing and properties of recycled
aggregate concrete”, MS thesis, University college of Illinois,
Urbana.
[3] RILEM TC 121(1994), “Specifications for concrete with
recycled aggregates”, Materials and Structures, Pages 557-
559.
[4] Nan Su, K.C.Hsu (2001). “A simple mix design method for
self compacting concrete”, Cement and concrete research,
Pages 1799-1807
[5] Brouwers H.J.H. and H.J. Radix (2005). “Self-Compacting
Concrete: Theoretical and experimental study” Cement and
concrete Research, volume 35, Pages 2116-2136
[6] EFNARC (2002), “Specifications and guidelines for Self
compacting Concrete”,
[7] Ratish Kumar & et al. (2012). “Mix Design methodology
for fibrous self compacting concrete based on Compressive
Packing Model (CPM) “, Cement Wapno Beton, Vol 5,
Pages
[8] Montgomery D.G (1998), “Workability and compressive
strength of concrete containing recycled concrete
aggregate”, Proceedings, Sustainable construction: Use of
recycled concrete aggregate, Thomas Telford, Pages 289-
296
[9] Winkler A & Mueller H.A (1998), “Recycling of fine
processed building rubble material”, Proceedings, Sustainable
construction: Use of recycled concrete aggregate, Thomas
Telford, Pages 157-168
[10] Koichi Maekewa & et al. Multi Scale modelling of Structural
concrete, Taylor and Francis publications, Page 97
[11] Khatib J.M. & et al (2011), “Water absorption by capillary
action of Self compacting concrete containing fly ash”,
International seminar on Innovation and valorization in
civil engineering and construction materials.
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Simplified Analysis of Reinforced Concrete

Framed Structures for Progressive Collapse
Ayush Singhania, Vikas Khatuja, Vikram Singh Thakur, Dr. C.B.K. Rao
Abstract—Significance of designing structures to resist progressive collapse has been recognised following the collapse of several
structures, such as that at Ronan Point in 1968 and the collapse of World Trade Centre in 2001, where the consequences were
deemed unacceptable relative to the initial damage. Progressive collapse requirements, however, must be incorporated into a
structure without substantial increase in the cost of the structural system. This paper illustrates how progressive collapse analysis
can be done and design criteria economically incorporated into typical structural systems. A variety of research efforts in the past
decades have attempted to quantify aspects of robustness (such as redundancy) and identify design principles that can improve
robustness. Only very few standards like British Standard, Eurocode and GSA incorporated clauses for the robustness (or integrity)
of structure. In this paper, a six storey building is considered and simplified analysis is done by removing one column at a time as
per GSA standard. Modifications to GSA clauses have been proposed by introducing dynamic increase factor for simplified analysis.
Also, modification in factor of safety is suggested while analysing models with removed columns. Strain rate effect is also
considered to make the progressive collapse resistance design economical. Also, this study illustrates the inherent ability of
seismically designed RC beam column frames to resist progressive collapse.

Key Words– Alternative load paths, Building design, Progressive collapse, Robustness of structure, Reinforced concrete, structural
integrity, demand-capacity ratio.
——————————  ——————————

1.INTRODUCTION resulted in progressive collapse. The Skyline Plaza (March,

1973), a large complex located in Virginia, was another

R
obustness of a building is the characteristic which
defines the structure’s strength in terms of integrity
and redundancy. This characteristic of a structure
makes it resistant to progressive collapse. Progressive
collapse is defined as the situation where local failure of
primary structural component(s) leads to the collapse of
adjoining members, which in turn leads to additional
collapse. Hence, the extent of total damage is
disproportionate to the initial damage. Another way of
describing progressive collapse is that it is a chain reaction
or propagation of failures following damage to a relatively
small portion of a structure. However, the term
disproportionate collapse is used when the collapse is
out of proportion to the event that triggers it. Basically, a
disproportionate collapse is always a progressive collapse
but a progressive collapse is not always a
disproportionate one.
This phenomenon was first realized after the progressive
as well as disproportionate collapse of the Ronan Point
apartment tower in England in 1968. The building had
load bearing walls without any structural frame. A small
explosion led to the failure of a load bearing wall which
————————————————
• Ayush Singhania are currently pursuing Bachelor’s degree
program in Civil Engineering at National Institute of
Technology Warangal, India, PH-+919966579994. E-mail:
ayush.xiolt@gmail.com
• Vikas Khatuja is currently pursuing Bachelor ’s degree
program in Civil Engineering at National Institute of
Technology Warangal, India, PH-+919642621990. E-mail:
vikas.krish22@gmail.com
• Vikram Singh Thakur is currently pursuing Bachelor’s degree
program in Civil Engineering at National Institute of
Technology Warangal, India, PH-+919849154310. E-mail:
vikrampagalhai@gmail.com
• Dr. CBK Rao is currently Professor in Civil Engineering
Department, NITW, E-mail: raocbk@gmail.com
ICICE-2013
case of such collapse. In midst of construction, one
apartment building and the parking garage adjoining it
collapsed.
The root cause of the failure was premature removal of
the form work triggering shear failure around a number of
columns on the 23rd storey which led to the failure of 23rd
storey followed by 22 nd and so on causing progressive
collapse. WTC is another important example of
progressive collapse. Once the columns were destroyed
by the plane crash, the alternative load paths were formed
through the trusses. The columns were probably near,
but not over, their ultimate load capacity. However, the
fires proved fatal as the structural steel began to lose its
strength at high temperature and after sometime, a
complete structural collapse occurred.
2. CODES AND STANDARDS
Prevention of progressive collapse became one of the
unchallenged imperatives in structural engineering after
such accidents. And, code-writing bodies and
governmental user agencies attempted to develop design
guidelines and criteria that would reduce or eliminate the
susceptibility of buildings to this form of failure.
British Standard Code (BS 8110-1 1997 & BS 8110-2 1985)
and Eurocode (EN 1992-1-1: 2004) have similar guidelines.
They suggest designing the structure for accidental load
and if not, then avoiding the situation where damage to
small areas of a structure or failure of single element may
lead to progressive collapse. The layout of the building is
checked to identify any key elements, the failure of which
would cause the collapse of more than a limited portion
close to the element in question. This key element design
must be taken into consideration. Elements other than
key elements are provided with vertical ties in accordance
with the code provisions.
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Although there is no explicit mention of redundancy or
alternate load paths in the American Code, it states to
improve redundancy (ACI: 318-02). But U.S. General
Services Administration (GSA Progressive Collapse
Guidelines for New Federal Office Buildings and Major
Modernization Projects 2003) and American Society of
Civil Engineering (ASCE 7-02 Section 1.4) are two bodies
which provide design guidelines for progressive collapse.
3. IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRITY
A building with interior core wall for lateral load resistance
and ordinary moment resisting frame for gravity loads, for
example, may have a very limited ability to redistribute
loads and prevent progressive collapse. Gravity load
designed structures are incompetent to develop alternate
load path after the removal of a vertical loadbearing
member. As illustrated in Fig. 1(a), lack of continuous
bottom reinforcement in the beam over the removed
column will cause brittle failure of the resulting two-bay
beam. Buildings having special moment resisting frames
(SMRF) for their lateral systems Fig. 1(b), however, can
provide both the ductility and the capacity required to
prevent progressive collapse.
Figure 1: Response of a ‘missing column’ scenario: (a)
gravity load design, (b) seismically designed.
4. MODEL STUDIED
The GSA progressive collapse guideline provides a
detailed methodology and performance criteria needed to
assess the vulnerability of new and existing buildings to
progressive collapse. For typical structural configurations,
framed structures shall consider the instantaneous loss
of a column for one story above grade located near the
middle of the long side of the building; near the middle of
the short side of the building; and at the corner of the
building. A separate analysis must be performed for each
case.
260
To avoid an overly conservative design under normal
service-load conditions, it is recognized that full live load
is unlikely. Thus, in the GSA guidelines, live load is
reduced to 25% of the full design live load. Multiplying
the load combination by a factor Dynamic Increase Factor
(DIF) of 2 is the GSA’s simplified approach to account for
amplification in the response from dynamic effects that
can occur when a structural element is violently removed
from a structure. In addition, strength increase factors are
applied to the properties of construction materials to
account for strain rate effects and material over-strength.
To determine expected material strengths, the concrete
compressive strength f c2 and the yield strength of the
reinforcing steel fy are increased by a factor of 1.25.
But the DIF recommended by GSA is overly conservative
(as found in the study done in paper [14]) and hence a
value of 1.5 can be considered.
To evaluate the results of a linear elastic analysis, the
concept of demand-capacity ratio (DCR) is used in this
paper. The DCR for structural components is defined as
(Eq. 1)
Where,
QUD = demand in component or connection/joint
(moment, axial force, and shear) determined from the
analysis; and
QCE = expected ultimate, un-factored (ö = 1.0) capacity of
the component or connection/joint (moment, axial force,
and shear).
5. VALIDATION OF MODEL
A study “Approximations in Progressive Collapse
Modeling”, ASCE [11] is done to compare the different
models. Structural models that can be utilized for studying
progressive collapse are broadly classified as
macromodels and micromodels. The emphasis in the former
is on generalized strain and/or generalized stress behaviour
(for example, curvature and/or bending moment behaviour)
as opposed to point wise constitutive response in the
latter. Continuum finite-element models are examples of
micromodels. Macromodels, on the other hand, utilize a
combination of shell, beam-column, and discrete spring
finite elements to simulate the overall response of a
structure. Four models were studied namely, a detailed
micromodel of the full 3D system, termed M1; a model of
the full 3D system composed of macroelements for beams,
columns and connections and shell elements for the slab,
termed M2; a 3D micromodel of a single frame in the
system, termed M3; and a macromodel of the frame
modeled in M3, termed M4. Model M1 is the most
sophisticated, whereas M4 is the least complicated. From
this study it is concluded that a 3D linear elastic model
(M2) gives fairly good results and hence can be used as it
saves a lot of time. For this purpose ETABS software [10]
is used for analysis purpose.
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The 3-D ETABS model of the building is shown in Fig. 2,

and material property and loads applied data are
summarized in Table 1 and 2.
The structure is designed for Zone IV with a damping
ratio of 3% is assumed. The progressive collapse design
criteria, as well as the element removal procedure, followed
the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA)
“Progressive Collapse Analysis and Design Guidelines
for New Federal Office Buildings and Major
Modernization Projects.” [7]. Few changes are made on
the procedure given in GSA such as, the DIF is 2 according
to the GSA, but research [14] has shown that this will
produce an overly conservative design and hence a DIF
of 1.5 is assumed.
Beam cross-section: 300mm X 500mm
Column cross-section: 400mm X 400mm

TABLE 1
Material Properties

TABLE 2
Load applied

Figure 2: Model building (a)3-D model, (b) Plan.

6. MODEL BUILDING
The model considered for the study is a six storey RC
frame structure serving the purpose of Educational
building consisting of classrooms. The structure consists
of three 5m bay on one direction and two 6m bay in another Zone IV: Severe earthquake
direction with a gallery of 3m in between them. Typical intensity D: Damping ratio
floor-to-floor height is 3.5m. Live load of 4 kN/m and
superimposed dead load of 2 kN/m are assumed in the R: Response reduction factor Z: Zone factor
analysis. Soil Type-II: Medium stiff soils I: Importance
When performing a static analysis, the vertical load case factor
applied to the structure in the accidental case is as follows:
Load = DIF (DL + 0.25LL) (Eq. 2)

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7. ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

In this paper three models are presented. Firstly, 3-D model
of the structure with no column removed [case A] (Fig.
2.a), secondly 3-D model of the structure with next to
corner column removed [case B] (Fig. 3) and thirdly a 3-D
model of the structure with corner
column removed [case C] (Fig. 4), these models are
developed based on the guidelines given by the GSA and
analysis is done using ETABS software. All the other
possible member failures are also considered for checking
the progressive collapse, but these three are found to be
the critical once and hence only these three are presented
in this paper. The maximum moments are found when no
column is removed (i.e., case A) and compared with the
maximum moment in the same members in case B and case
C. The loading condition for case A is according to IS
1893-2002 (i.e. Load = FS (DL + LL)), whereas in case B
and case C loading is considered as per Eq. 2. In the
loading condition for case B and C, the working Factor of
Safety (FS) is not considered as in case A to calculate the
design load out of the working load, as these are accidental
cases.
The dynamic increase factor (DIF) factor of 1.5 is
considered in case B and case C to compensate for the
dynamic condition developed when the member is
removed abruptly and hence simplifying the analysis by
doing static analysis instead of dynamic analysis.
The moments developed in member a, b, c and d (as marked
in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4) in all the three cases are compared
(table 3). This comparison clearly shows the increase in
the amount of moment in the beams. The ultimate capacity
of beam is calculate by increasing the characteristic
strength of the material. This increase factors are applied
to account for strain rate effects and material over-strength
and compared to the moment obtained from the above
analysis. This comparison shows that only in two beams
(a and c) the moment is comparatively higher whose
moment ratios are much higher than 2 as shown in table 3.
Fig. 7 also shows these beams in red colour. The elastic
design of the structure is done in the software to get
design to prevent progressive collapse. The reinforcement
is altered for the most critical situation and generalised
for all the floors. The study shows that there is an increase
of only 13% of total steel used in the structure.
Total volume of steel used without considering = 3.89 m3
design for progressive collapse
Total volume of steel used considering = 4.398 m 3
design for progressive collapse
Percentage increase in the steel = 13%

Figure 3: 3-D model and plan of the structure with next to

corner column removed (ETABS)

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The stress distribution on the slab and bending diagram

of beams and columns are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 for
case B and case C respectively. It can be clearly seen that
the stresses on the slab are comparatively higher on the
slab around the removed column than those on the normal
condition. But it is clear that the failure of slab takes place
only when the beam fails and since the beam is prevented
from failure, the slab will also be safe.
Columns are analysed by calculating the DCR value
according to Eq. 1. The DCR value of the columns are
shown in Fig. 7(a) and Fig. 7(b) for case B and case C
respectively. The section chosen are those containing
members with highest DCR values, in rest of the sections
the DCR values are within acceptable range.
8. CONCLUSION
This study illustrates the inherent ability of seismically
designed RC beam-column frames to resist progressive
collapse. The analysis shows that a building designed for
zone IV is capable of generating an alternate load path to
transfer the loads if a vertical member fails, since all the
columns are having acceptable DCR values. The high
moments generated on the beams are at the beam-column
junction and hence design can be done to prevent
collapse. The elastic design, to prevent progressive
collapse, results in an increase of 13% of total steel used
in this structure, which is negligible to the total cost of
the structure. This is an economically efficient solution
which will prevent collapse. Hence, progressive design
can be done in all important structure to prevent loss of
the property with small investment. The analysis in this
paper prevents the design from being overly conservative
by considering a dynamic increase factor of 1.5 and not
considering the working factor of safety in the accidental
cases. This study will be valuable to engineers involved
in the selection of structural systems for projects that
require progressive collapse mitigation.
TABLE 3
Maximum Bending Moment and Shear Force on the
beam a, b, c and d.

Figure 4: 3-D model and plan of the structure with corner

column removed (ETABS)

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Figure 5: Case B (a) stresses on slab, and (b) bending Figure 6: Case C (a) stresses on slab, and (b) bending
moment of elevation section 1. moment of elevation section 1.
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Figure 7(a): DCR values in case B (elevation section 1) Figure 7(b): DCR values in case C (elevation section A)

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REFERENCES Structural Safety (JCSS), 2007 Taylor & Francis Group,

London, ISBN 978-0-415-45211-3.
1. BS 8110 (Part 1-1997 and 2-1985)
10. ETABS Plus Version 7.18, Extended 3-D Analysis of Building
2. Eurocode EN 1992-1-1: 2004 Systems, Computers and Structures, Inc., Berkeley, CA.
3. American Code ACI 318-02 11. Yasser Alashker, Ph.D; Honghao Li; and Sherif El-Tawil,
Ph.D., Approximations in Progressive Collapse Modelling,
4. Indian Standard code: IS 456: 2000
JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING ASCE /
5. IS 1893: 2002 SEPTEMBER 2011
6. IS 875 (Part 1, 2, etc) 12. David Stevens, Brian Crowder, Doug Sunshine, “DoD
Research and Criteria for the Design of Buildings to Resist
7. Progressive Collapse Analysis and Design Guidelines for Progressive Collapse”, JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL
New Federal office Buildings and Major Modernization ENGINEERING ASCE 2011.
Projects, U.S. General Services Administration(GSA), Nov.
2000. 13. H. S. Lew, “Design Guidelines for Progressive Collapse
Mitigation”, The ACI-IBRACON International Conference,
8. STEVEN M. BALDRIDGE AND FRANCIS K. HUMAY, April 25-27, 2004, São Paulo, Brazil.
Preventing Progressive Collapse in Concrete Buildings,
International Concrete ASCE. 14. Aldo McKay, Kirk Marchand, Manuel Diaz, “Alternate Path
Method in Progressive Collapse Analysis: Variation of
9. T.D.G. Canisius, J.D. Sørensen, J.W. Baker, Robustness of
Dynamic and Nonlinear Load Increase Factors”
structural systems – a new focus for the Joint Committee on

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Toughness of Ferrocement Confined

Reinforced Self Compacting Concrete
(FCRSCC) Under Axial Compression
VikasKhatuja, Vikram Singh Thakur,Ayush Singhania,Dr.C.B.K. Rao
Abstract -In this paper, stress-strain diagrams for self-compacting concrete confined with ferrocement shell in addition to lateral
tie confinement is presented, based on the experimental results of 102 cylinders of diameter 150mm and height 300 mm. Increase
in the toughness of concrete confined with ferrocement shell and lateral tie confinement is found to be linear and a constitutive
relation is presented.

Key Words–Compression, Confinement, Confinement Index, Ferrocement, Self-compacting Concrete, Specific surface factor,
Stress-Strain curves.

Notations-

Tc = Toughness for concrete confined with lateral ties only

Tuc = Toughness for unconfined concrete
Tcf = Toughness for specimens with ferrocement shell in addition to lateral ties
Sf = Specific Surface Factor [12]
Ci =Confinement Index [13]
——————————  ——————————

confinement of SCC with a ferrocement shell used as a

1. INTRODUCTION supplementary confinement over and above the traditional
tie confinement. It is understood that the ductility of

T
heconstruction of modern structures calls for the
attention of the use of materials with improved
properties in respect of strength, stiffness,
toughness and durability. The typical methods of
compaction and vibration of normal concrete generates
delays and additional costs in concrete. This has
necessitated the research and development of a Self-
Consolidating Concrete with better Performance. It is
known that framed structures must undergo large inelastic
deformations to survive a major earthquake to dissipate
energy by ductile behaviour of structural members. Much
of this energy is dissipated in plastic hinges that are formed
at predetermined locations. It can be seen that higher the
degree of indeterminacy of the structure the more will be
the concrete strain of failure and consequently rotation
capacity required increases at the first hinge that will form
in the structure. The necessity of confining concrete by
providing closely spaced circular stirrups to ensure
adequate ductility is well established [2]. The present
study focuses on understanding the behaviour of
————————————————
• VikasKhatujais a graduating student ofCivil Engineering
Department at National Institute of Technology Warangal,
India,PH-+919642621990.
E-mail: vikas.krish22@gmail.com
• Vikram Singh Thakur is an undergraduate student ofCivil
Engineering Department at National Institute of Technology
Warangal, India, PH-+919849154310. E-mail:
vikrampagalhai@gmail.com
• Ayush Singhania is a graduating student ofCivil Engineering
Department at National Institute of Technology Warangal,
India, PH-+919966579994. E-mail: ayush.xiolt@gmail.com
• Dr. C.B.K. Rao is a Professor of Civil Engineering Department
at NITW.\E-mail:raocbk@gmail.com
concrete improves the rotational capacity of the structure,
which will enhance the structural performance during the
earthquakes, blasts and foundation settlements [3]. The
critical sections in statically indeterminate structures at
which the first hinge forms are incidentally the sections
having maximum shear force. The stirrup reinforcement
provided has to take care of shear and simultaneously
provide confinement, however it is established that only
stirrup reinforcement provided beyond that required for
resisting shear failure will only provide confinement.
Hence considering the practical minimum spacing that
can be provided at critical sections there is a limitation to
the quantity of confinement that can be provided by
stirrups. This limitation in confinement offered by ties
necessitates the requirement of additional confinement at
critical sections in reinforced concrete elements [7],[ 8],[
9], and [10]. The additional confinement can be provided
by ferrocement shell (casing). Such a concrete can be
termed as Ferrocement Confined Reinforced Self
Compacting Concrete (FCRSCC). The complete stress-
strain curve of the material in compression is needed for
the analysis and design of structures made of this material.
In this investigation, the complete stress-strain curve for
ferrocement-confined self-compacting concrete has been
developed based on experimentation conducted on 150 x
300mm cylindrical specimens tested under axial
compression. Review of literature revealed that the
requirements of confining steel increases with the increase
in strength of concrete [4], [5]. Further, it is established
that the behaviour of normal strength concrete and
concrete of higher strength is different [6].IS 456 – 2000
[11], defines concrete of strength between M30 to M50 as

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standard concrete. Two grades of concrete have been
tested. The effect of two variables Confinement Index and
Specific Surface Factor that control the behaviour of tie
and ferrocement confinement respectively are introduced
and their effect on a major parameters namely toughness,
and the stress-strain curve is studied.
2. OBJECTIVE
The experimental work is aimed to study the behaviour of
confined SCC with ferrocement skin and prepare stress
strain curve for FCRSCC.
3. MATERIALS AND MIX DESIGN
The program consisted of developing highly compatible
SCC and Ferro cement layering with certain controlled
variations. The primary materials used in the process are
Cement (ASTM type -1, sp.gr 3.10), Fine aggregate (sp gr
2.64, Table 3), coarse aggregate (sp gr 2.53, Table 2), Fly
ash (Class Fsp gr 2.04), Silica fume, Mild steel are used for
ties and Galvanised Iron wire mesh, and their mechanical
properties are given in TABLE 4.
Mix design has performed for two grades of concrete,viz.
30 and 70MPa,as per EFNARC space guidelines and two
mix proportions are given in Table 1. The preparation of
mortar in Ferro cement confinement has been arrived by
trials as 1:1 cement and sand, with addition of 10% Fly
ash and replacement of cement by 8% silica fume to
improve the strength of mortar. The water cement ratio
was fixed at 0.382 throughout the process. Sulphonated
Naphthalene Formaldehyde condensate based Water
reducing plasticizer was used in appropriate proportions
to ensure desired workability of the mix.
Galvanised woven wire mesh of square grid fabric was
used in ferrocement. 0.4 mm and 0.56 mm nominal diameter
galvanised iron wires were used as longitudinal
reinforcement.6 mm nominal diameter mild steel were used
as lateral reinforcement.
4. MIX DESIGN
The mix designs for SCC were developed based on
literature (Nan Su, 2001), however the aggregate
percentages were decided from minimum void ratio testing
(H. Bouwers, 2005). The mixes were designed for target
strengths of Mix-A (30Mpa), Mix-B (70Mpa). Several
numbers of trials were conducted in order to ensure that
the mixes conformed to EFNARC properties (EFNARC,
2002). The final mix designs for both the target strengths
are given in Table 1.
TABLE 1:
MIX DESIGNS FOR 2 TARGETS
268
*
Maximum size of aggregates varied
TABLE2 :
Grading of coarse aggregate with fineness modulus
equal to 7.27
TABLE3 :
Grading of fine aggregate with fineness modulus equal
to 2.94
Maximum sizes of aggregates in Mix B are reduced in
order to obtain maximum packing accordingly as per
Compressive Packing Model.
5. PARAMETERS OF STUDY
In order to achieve the objective, it is proposed to
considertwo mixes of concreteviz. mix A,mix B as stated
above, variation of volume of lateral ties, and ferrocement
mesh reinforcement.6 mm diameter mild steel is used for
lateral ties and spacing of lateral ties has been taken as
75mm, 100mm, 150mm, 300mm. Zero, 2 layer, 4 layer of GI
wires mesh viz. P and Q are adopted for
ferrocementreinforcement. Specimens are designated
representing the parameters. Specimen designated AP2R5
stands for A for mix A, P for mesh P,2 for two layer of GI
wire mesh,R5 for fivenumber of lateral ties i.e. spacing of
75 mm between the lateral ties. The variables in the study
were the specific surface factor (Sf) [12],which controls
the behaviour of ferrocement and the confinement index
(C i)[13], which controls the behaviour of tie-confined
concrete.
The specific surface factor (Sf)[12], is the product of the
specific surface ratio and the yield strength of mesh wires
in the direction of the force divided by the strength of
plain mortar. The specific surface ratio is the ratio of the
total surface area of contact of reinforcement wires present
per unit length of the specimen in the direction of the
application of load in a given width and thickness of the
Ferrocement shell to the volume of mortar. The confinement
index (Ci)[13],is a parameter which controls the behaviour
of tie confined concrete. The parameters included in the
confinement index are the strength, spacing and dimension
of lateral ties, strength of concrete and core dimension of
the specimen [10].
Toughness(T)[17]indicates how much energy a material
can absorb before rupturing. The capacity of energy
absorbing (toughness) is determined by calculating the
area under experimental stress–strain curves like shown
in figure 1
6. PREPARATION OF SPECIMENS
Reinforcement cage consist of lateral ties and longitudinal
bars and ferrocementmesh. Longitudinal bars of 3.45 mm
GI wire are used in order to form skeleton in longitudinal
direction.
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Fig 1: The typical stress–strain curve for determining
toughness
7. CASTING OF SPECIMENS
The prepared cage of reinforcement was kept in the moulds
and spacing bars of 10 mm are placed to obtain uniform
cover of 10 mm. First, cover was filled withcement mortar
and compacted and then core concrete was filled.
Specimens were demoulded 48 hours after casting and
then cured. Total 102 specimens were casted, of 34
parameters specifications, 3 specimen of each parameter.
8. TESTING
The cured specimens were capped with plaster of Paris
before testing, to provide a smooth loading surface.
Tinius–Olsen testing machine of 1810kN capacity was
used for testing the cylinders under axial compression.
From the studies of previous investigators who worked
on concrete confined with ties, it was observed that the
cover concrete spalled off at about 90% of the ultimate
load. Specimens are tested under uniform strain rate and
strains are measured using compressometer.
The test was continued until the load dropped to about
60 to 70percentage of the ultimate load in the post-ultimate
region for both confined and unconfined concrete
specimens are recorded.
Fig 2: Specimens at various stresses
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Fig 3: Testing of specimens
9.EXPERIMENTALSTRESS-STRAIN CURVES
The general behaviour of the specimens under axial
compression is explained in detail in the earlier paper [15].
The core area was considered to calculate the stress, since
in most of the specimens; the cover startedspalling off
beyond the peak load. Even in the earlier investigations
[16], the core area was considered to calculate the stress.
Stress-strain curves were drawn for the three companion
specimens of a set with the same origin and the average
curve was taken to represent the set. Such average curves
for all the specimens with a common origin are presented
in Fig. 4.Area under stress strain curve of the specimens
is calculated and is given in Table 6.
The toughness, varied linearly with specific surface factor
for the same level of tie confinement. The prediction
equations for the same are shown below. Fig. 5 represents
the curve.
10. BEHAVIOUR OF TEST SPECIMENS UN-
DER LOAD
(A) The load increased gradually in the initial stages up
to about 75% of the peak load and thereafter the
increase in load decreased till the ultimate load was
reached.Test was continued until the peak load
dropped to about 0.65 times the peak load. After
reaching the peak load, strain continued to increase
with very little reduction in stress. This phenomenon
of increase in strain at a constant stress shows that
the FCRSCC has a very good ductility.
(B) In FCRSCC fine vertical cracks appeared on the
surface of the specimen at about 70% to 80% of the
peak load.
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C) With the increase in load, the number ofcracks 11. CONCLUSIONS

increased and the width of cracks increased at a
The following conclusions can be drawn from the
reduced rate compared to that ofspecimens with
experimental investigations on FCRSCC:
lateral tie reinforcement only. The behaviour of all
the FCRSCC specimens up to 70% of the peak load 1. A Ferro cement shell, with high particle strength
of the confined RCC specimens was about the same. mortar between Ferro cement layers is an effective
Beyond the peak load, the mesh wires started bulging way of providing additional confinement of concrete
and the mortar cover over the mesh reinforcement in axial compression and has the advantage over
started spalling. The extent of spalling became severe lateral tie confinement of improving material
only after the load dropped to about 0.70 to 0.80 performance under large deformations.
times the peak load. The extent of spalling and the
2. The additional confinement with the Ferro cement
rate of decrease of load after the peak depended
shell improved the toughness, ultimate strength, the
upon the specific surface factor (S f ) of the
strain at ultimate strength and the ductility of
ferrocement shell if the confinement index was same.
concrete increases with the increase of confinement.
The higher the specific surface factor (Sf), the lower
the rate of decrease of load and the extent of spalling 3. The major advantage of FCRSCC over FCRC is that
was observed. tie with spacing about 7.5cm can also easily be
provided due to good passing ability of SCC which
(D) Mesh P and mesh Q were tested on mix A.Both mesh
results in improvement of ductility of concrete .
P and mesh Q had given ductile failure but failure of
specimens with mesh Q is more ductile than mesh P. 4. With the increase of specific surface factor toughness
of specimens with Ferro cement shell confinement
(E) Mesh Q was tested on mix A and mix B. In FCRSCC
varies linearly [14], [15].Variation depends on two
mix B brittle failures [14] were observed more than in
parameters namely Sf and Ci(see Fig.5).
FCRSCC mixA.
(F) High bulging is observed in cylinders having 300mm
spacing between tie at centre of cylinders.

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Fig 4: The stress-strain curves of various comparisons of confined ferrocement (Designation of specimens as per Table 5).

TABLE 4:
Mechanical Properties of Longitudinal Steel (G.I.
Wires),Lateral Steel and Mesh Wires.

Fig. 5Toughness Curve

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REFERENCES
1) ACI Committee, 363, 1984 ‘State of the Art report on High
Strength Concrete’, ACI Jl. 81(4), July-Aug, pp 364-411.
2) Sheikh, S.A., 1982 ‘A comparative study of confinement
models’, ACI J, 79(4), pp 296-305.
3) Paulay, T &Priestely, M.J.N., 1992 ‘Seismic design of
reinforced concrete and masonry buildings’, John Wiley &
Sons, New York.
4) Yong, Y.K., Nour, M.G., and Nawy, E.G., 1988‘Behaviour of
laterally confined high strength concrete under axial loads’,
ASCE, JSD, Vol.114, No.2, Feb, pp 332-351.
5) Razvi, S.R., and Saatcioglu, M., 1994 ‘Strength and
deformability of confined high strength concrete columns’,
ACI Struct. Jl. 91(6), pp 678-687.
6) Diniz, M.C., Sofia and Dan M. Frangpol, 1997 ‘Reliability
bases for high strength concrete columns’, ASCE JSE,
123(10).
7) Balaguru, P, 1988 ‘Use of Ferrocement for confinement of
concrete’, Proc. Third Int. Conf. On Ferrocement, Roorkee
(India), pp 296-305.
8) Ganesan, N and Anil, J., 1993 ‘Strength and behaviour of
RC columns confined by Ferrocement’, Jl. Of Ferrocement,
23 (2), pp 99-108.
9) Walliuddin, A.M., and Rafeeqi, S.F.A., 1994 ‘Study of
behaviour of plain concrete confined with ferrocement’, Jl.
Of Ferrocement, 24(2), 139-145.
274
10) Seshu,D.R., 1995 ‘Behaviour of concrete confined with
ferrocement shell in addition to rectangular stirrups and its
application in flexure of RC structures’, Ph.D thesis submitted
to Kakatiya University, Warangal (India)
11) IS 456 – 2000, ‘ Indian Standard Code of Practice for
Plain and Reinforced Cement Concrete’, New Delhi.
12) Rao, C.B.K., and Rao, A.K., 1986 ‘Stress-strain curve in
axial compression and Poisson’s Ratio of Ferrocement’, Jl.
Of Ferrocement, 16(2), 117-128.
13) Reddy,S.R., 1974 ‘Behaviour of concrete confined with
rectangular binders and its applications in flexure of
reinforced concrete structures’, Thesis submitted to J.T
University, Hyderabad (India) for Ph.D degree.
14) Kumar, G.R., 1998 ‘Improvement in the flexural behaviour
of prestressed concrete sections confined with lateral ties
and Ferrocement shell in critical zones’, Ph.D. thesis
submitted Kakatiya University, Warangal (India)
15) Kumar, G.R., 2001 ‘Behaviour of high strength concrete
confined with ferrocement shell in addition to lateral ties’,
Jl. Of Ferrocement 31(2), pp 213-222.
16) Pessiki, S., and Pieroni, A, 1997 ‘Axial load behaviour of
large scale spirally reinforced high strength concrete
columns’, ACI, SJ, 94(3), pp 304 – 314.
17) METIN HUSEM”and SELIM PUL “Investigation of
stress–strain models for confined highstrength concrete”
S¯adhan¯aVol. 32, Part 3, June 2007, pp. 243–252. ©
Printed in India.
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Different Techniques of Seismic

Control of Structures
Ch.Avinash, K.Dharmateja, T.P.Balaji, K. Jagadeesh Reddy, Dr. P Saha
Abstract- Earthquake is one of the most destructive natural calamities of the world. Unlike other natural calamities earthquake
cannot be predicted. Earthquake cannot be prevented but with proper care we can reduce the damage due to it. Hence knowledge of
different seismic control techniques are essential in today’s world. The aim of this paper is to discuss the different seismic control
techniques available and the comparison among them. Base isolation is one type of seismic control technique which isolates the
base or footings from the super structure so that effect of earthquake force will reduce substantially to super structure. They are
three types of seismic control devices are there namely passive control device (like High damping rubber bearing, lead rubber
bearing, friction pendulum systems etc., ), semi active control device (like magneto-rheological damper, smart dampers) and active
control devices(like Hydraulic activators etc.,). Passive control devices does not require any external power source to operate, it
will work on its own mechanism, semi active devices will require small amount of external power to operate, without it will act as
a passive control devices. Active control devices totally depend on external power. Out of the these control devices passive control
devices are most reliable though their efficiency is less as compared to active or semi active control devices.

Index Terms- Earthquake, Seismic control, Structural response, Passive control device, Semi active control device, Active control
device, Hybrid control device, high damping rubber bearing, lead rubber bearing.

——————————  ——————————

1. INTRODUCTION: columns, as soft supports, to provide energy absorption

through columns yield. However, yielded columns has

S
eismic base isolation has been used with increasing
popularity to protect structures, together with their
occupants, secondary systems and internal
equipment, from the damaging effects of earthquakes.
Seismic isolation is the separation of the structure from
the harmful motions of the ground by providing flexibility
and energy dissipation capability through the insertion
of the so-called isolators between the foundation and the
superstructure. It is not a long time since the first
application of the isolators. The first base-isolated
building in the United States was built in 1985 [1],
although the seismic base isolation idea is more than a
century years old. A century ago, in Japan, a small wooden
house was built on ball bearings [2], while another
building was base-isolated by means of several layers of
timber logs in the longitudinal and transverse direction [3].
In 1906, an isolation system was patented [4], in which a
building is placed on a rigid plate, supported on spherical
bodies of hard material. In 1909, in England, another patent
was applied [5], in which a building is separated from its
foundation with a layer of sand or talc. The Imperial Hotel
in Tokyo, constructed in 1921, was intended to float on
an underlying layer of mud. The building was founded
on an 8 ft thick layer of firm soil under which there is a
60–70 ft thick layer of soft mud. The soft mud acted as
isolation system and the building survived the
devastating1923 Tokyo earthquake [5] and [4].Attempts
were made in the 1930s to protect the upper floors of
multi story buildings by designing very flexible first-story
————————————————
• Ch.Avinash, K.Dharmateja, T.P.Balaji, Jagadeesh Reddy are
students of Civil Engineering in K L University, Guntur, AP,
India.
• Dr. P Saha is Professor in Civil Engineering Department in K
L University, Guntur, AP, India, E-mail:
drpsaha@kluniversity.in
greatly reduced buckling load, proving the concept to be
impractical [6]. To overcome the inherent dangers of soft
supports, many types of roller-bearing systems have been
proposed. This type of bearings offers incomparable
structure-foundation decoupling. However, they are very
low in damping and have no inherent resistance to lateral
load, and therefore some other supplementary mechanisms
are needed in parallel, to provide wind resistance and
energy-absorbing capacity [7].Parallel to such
development, the flexibility of natural rubber was also seen
as another solution for increasing
The system flexibility in 1968, a reinforced concrete
building was founded on 54 hard rubber blocks in
Macedonia. These rubber blocks are un-reinforced and
bulge sideways under the weight of this concrete
structure. Owing to having the same stiffness of the
isolation system in all directions, the building bounces
and rocks back and forth [8] and [9]. The subsequent
development of laminated rubber bearings, to make the
vertical stiffness times the horizontal stiffness, has made
base isolation a practical reality. However, these bearings
lack damping and re-centring mechanisms. Later, a large
number of isolation devices were developed, and now
base isolation has reached the stage of gaining acceptance
and replacing the conventional construction, at least for
important structures. The lead rubber bearing (LRB) was
invented in the 1970s [10], [11] and [12], and this allowed
flexibility and damping to be included in a single unit. In
the early 1980s developments in rubber technology lead
to new rubber compounds which were termed high
damping rubber (HDR), [13]. However, both LRB and HDR
isolation systems still lack buffer, effective re-centring
mechanism, as well as aptitude for low mass structures. In
addition, they undergo bearing area reduction as moved
laterally, which imposes restrictions on the height/width

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and deformation/height ratios. An alternative way to
enhance the damping mechanism of the isolation system
is to take the advantage of friction-based isolation bearings
in which a sliding surface is used to incorporate isolation
and energy dissipation in one unit [14]. Zeya’s [15], in
1986, introduced an isolation system, namely the friction
pendulum system (FPS), which uses friction to dissipate
the transmitted energy to the structure and provides
restoring mechanism by gravity. Principally, a building
supported on FPS isolators exhibits uplift and behaves as
a simple pendulum having a constant vibration period,
which represents a severe practical difficulty [16]. Another
drawback is the increase of the sliding friction coefficient
as sliding velocity increases (a characteristic of Teflon,
the interface liner).So far, the existing isolation systems
are based on well-known and accepted physical
principles, but are still having some functional drawbacks.
To go straight, there is a need to an isolation bearing that
incorporates: (1) the incomparable structure–foundation
decoupling offered by rolling–bearings; (2) the vertical
stiffness of elastomeric bearings; (3) the efficient restoring
mechanism and buffer provided by FPS; (4) the efficient
damping of FPS, LRBs, and HDRs.
2. TYPES OF DEVICES:
2.1. PASSIVE CONTROL DEVICES:
A Passive Control system does not require any external
power source. Passive control devices impart forces that
are developed in response to the motion of the structure.
[17]
Figure 1: Passive control device
2.1(a) Viscous Fluid Damper
The cross-sectional details of an orifice VFD is shown in
Figure 2. It consists of a stainless steel piston and an
accumulator. It is filled with silicon oil and the piston may
contain a number of small orifices through which the fluid
may pass from one side of the piston to the other. A fluid
viscous damper dissipates energy by pushing fluid
through an orifice, producing a damping pressure, which
a force. [18]
Figure 2: Viscous Fluid Damper
276
2.1(b) High Damping Rubber Bearing
HDRB is one type of elastomeric bearing consisting of
thin layers of high damping rubber and steel plates built
in alternate layers as shown in Figure 3. The vertical
stiffness of the bearing is several times the horizontal
stiffness due to the presence of internal steel plates.
Horizontal stiffness of the bearing is controlled by the
low shear modulus of elastomer while steel plates provide
high vertical stiffness as well as prevent bulging of rubber.
[20] The ideal force-deformation behaviour of the bearing
is also shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: HDRB
2.1(c) Lead-Rubber Bearing
This is another type of elastomeric bearings consisting of
thin layers of low damping natural rubber and steel plates
built in alternate layers and a lead cylinder plug firmly
fitted in a hole at its centre to deform in pure shear as
shown in Figure 4. The steel plates in the bearing force
the lead plug to deform in shear. This bearing provides an
elastic restoring force and also, by selection of the
appropriate size of lead plug, produces required amount
of damping. The force-deformation of the bearing is also
shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: LRB
Lead rubber bearings (LRB), one of the conventional base
isolation devices, used by Park et al. (2003) to control the
seismic response of the benchmark cable-stayed bridge.
Total numbers of 24 LRBs were placed in 8 locations
between the deck and pier/bent, 3 at each location. The
properties of the LRB are determined using the bilinear
model of characteristic curve of the LRB. The effective
stiffness coefficient, eff k, is obtained with reference to
shear force versus displacement hysteretic loop. They
considered the values of elastic stiffness, e k = 35710 KN/
m, plastic stiffness, p k = 3139 KN/m and effective stiffness,
eff k = 3970 KN/m. It is observed from the Table 2.6, that
LRBs are effective to reduce base shear and base moment,
but it has little control over deck shear and moment. Also
large deck displacement is produced by this control
system.
2.1(d) Friction Pendulum System
The FPS is a frictional isolation system that combines a
sliding action and a restoring force by geometrical
properties. The FPS isolator, shown schematically in
Figure 5, has an articulated slider that moves on a stainless
steel spherical surface. As the slider moves over the
spherical surface, it causes the supported mass to rise
and provides the restoring force for the system. [20] The
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natural period of the FPS depends on the radius of
curvature (rc) of the concave surface. The ideal force-
deformation behaviour of FPS is also shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: FPS
2.1(e) Resilient-Friction Base Isolators
The R-FBI consists of a set of concentric layers of Teflon
coated plates in friction contact with each other with a
central rubber core and/or peripheral rubber core as shown
in Figure 6. It combines the beneficial effect of friction
damping with that of the resiliency of rubber. The R-FBI
provides isolation through the parallel actions of friction,
damping and restoring force. The ideal force deformation
behaviour of R-FBI is also shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: R-FBI
2.1(f) Visco-Elastic Dampers
The visco-elastic dampers have steel sheets and BRC
sheets laminated alternately resulting in a multiple number
of layers in which is the force supplied by the device and,
in addition to the terms present in the viscous damper, is
the linear stiffness coefficient, the difference between the
displacements and of the two nodes linked to the damper.
Such a device can be obtained by mounting the previously
presented viscous damper in parallel with a spring device
supplying an elastic reaction. However, commercial
devices are on the market, they consist of metallic and
elastomeric components which supply visco-elastic
response. Bontempi et al. (2003) examined the response
of the benchmark cable stayed bridge with visco-elastic
dampers .
Figure 7: Visco-elastic damper
2.1(g) Passive Friction Dampers
He et al. (2001) conducted a numerical study using four
passive friction damper installed at the connection
between deck and tower considering ìNof each damper
equals to 2000 KN where ì the coefficient of friction is
and N is the normal force in the friction damper. Numerical
results shown in Table 2 suggest that to get a significant
response reduction more number of damper units to be
installed between the connection of deck and tower/piers.
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2.2. SEMI-ACTIVE CONTROL DEVICES:
Semi active devices will require small amount of external
power to operate, without it the Semi active control device
will act as a Passive control device.
Figure 8: Semi-active control device
2.2(a) SMART DAMPERS
Jung et al. [9] investigated the performance of smart
dampers (e.g., variable orifice damper, controllable fluid
damper, etc.) with clipped-optimal control algorithm
(device configuration [4 4 4 4 2 2 2 2]). The proposed
control design employs 5 accelerometers, 4 displacement
transducers and 8 force transducers as sensors, total of24
smart dampers as control devices, and the controller has
30 states. Optimal values of weighting parameters for the
primary controller in the proposed design are for case1,
deck displacement coefficient (qd) = 6.7x103, overturning
moment coefficient (qom) = 6.6x10-9 and for case 2, deck
displacement coefficient (qd) = 6.7x103, moments at deck
level coefficient (qmd) = 1.4x10-8.In the case of the Mexico
City earthquake, the results of case 1are slightly better
than those of case 2.For the Mexico City and Gebze
earthquakes, the deck displacement increases significantly
as compared to the uncontrolled case. These results verify
that smart damping strategies have nearly the same
effectiveness as the active control system. Figure 4 shows
the graphs of J6, J7, and J9 values variation given by
researchers using different semi- active devices and
control algorithms. The semi–active device which gives
the lower evaluation criteria is the best one compared to
other semi- active devices as it reduces the structural
response of bridge more than the others. Mainly, the
device which gives the lowest values of J6 (Deck
displacement at abutment), J7 (Normalized base shear) &
J9 (Normalized Overturning Moment) is the best one
compared to other semi- active devices as they are more
critical for the stability of the bridge.
2.2(b) Magneto-Rheological Fluid
MR fluid is composed of oil and varying percentages of
iron particles that have been coated with an anticoagulant
material. When not activated, MR fluid behaves as
ordinary oil. When exposed to a magnetic field, micron-
size iron particles that are dispersed throughout the fluid
align themselves along magnetic flux lines. This
reordering of iron particles can be visualized as a large
number of microscopic spherical beads that are threaded
onto a very thin string. One can picture this thin string
stretching from one magnetic pole to the other and
perpendicular to each paramagnetic pole surface. In this
analogy, the spherical beads represent iron particles and
the string represents a single flux line. One can picture
many of these strings of beads placed closely together
much like the bristles of a toothbrush. Once aligned in
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this fashion, the iron particles resist being moved out of
their respective flux lines and act as a barrier to fluid.
When MR fluid is used in the valve mode, the areas where
the MR fluid is exposed to magnetic flux lines are usually
referred to as “choking points”. MR fluid restricts the
flow of fluid from one side of the piston to the other when
the fluid is in the vicinity of the “choking points”. Varying
the magnetic field strength has the effect of changing the
apparent viscosity of the MR fluid. The phrase “apparent
viscosity” issued since the carrier fluid exhibits no change
in viscosity as the magnetic field strength is varied. Upon
exposure to a magnetic field, the MR fluid as (a whole)
will appear to have undergone a change in viscosity. As
the magnetic field strength increases, the resistance to
fluid flow at the choking point’s increases until the
saturation point has been reached. The saturation point 6
is the point where any increase in magnetic field strength
fails to yield an increase in damper resistance. This
resistance to movement that the iron particles exhibit is
what allows us to use MR fluid in electrically controlled
viscous dampers. [19]
Figure 9: Magneto-Rheological Fluid
2.2(c) Oil Damper:
Oil damper as the semi-active control, the maximum
damping force generated by one oil damper is limited to
2000 KN, and it can be realized by an actual damper. A
total of 25 oil dampers are placed on each floor, the same
number as viscous damping walls, to control the building.
Twenty acceleration sensors are placed on all floors which
are used to perform feedback control of the system. We
also tried to use only five acceleration sensors on the 4th,
8th, 12th, 16th, and20th levels and compared the results
with the control performance when using 20 sensors.
2.3. ACTIVE CONTROL DEVICES:
An Active control system is one in which an external
source, that apply forces to the structure in a prescribed
manner. These forces can be used to dissipate energy in
the structure.
Figure 10: Active control device
2.4. HYBRID CONTROL DEVICES:
The common usage of the term ‘Hybrid control’ implies
the combined use of active and passive control systems.
278
CONCLUSIONS:
The response of the structure with no dampers was
dramatically improved with the addition of damping control
systems.
It was found that Semi-active systems provide a larger
reduction in response than the passive systems.
Power requirements for semi active systems are negligible
as compared to that of active system.
REFERENCES:
[1] Zayas VA, Low SS, Mahin SA. “The FPS earthquake resisting
system.” Technical report. Experimental report no.
UCB=EERC 87/01.EERC. Berkeley: University of
California; 1987.
[2] G.W. Housner, L.A. Bergman, T.K. Caughey, A.G. Chassiakos,
R.O. Claus, S.F. Masri, :”Structural control: Past, present,
and future” J Eng Mech, ASCE, 123 (1997) [special issue].
[3] Izumi M. “State-of-the-art report base isolation and passive
seismic response control”. IX conference on earthquake
engineering, Vol.8.1988.p.385–96.
[4] I.G. Buckle, R.L. Mayes. “Seismic isolation history:
Application and Performance— A world review”. Earthq
Spectra, 6 (1990), pp. 161–201
[5] J.M. Kelly “Seismic base isolation”: Review and bibliography
Soil Dyn Earthq Eng, 5 (1986), pp. 202–216.
[6] C. Arnold, F.Naeim.”Architectural considerations”. The
seismic design handbook (2nd Ed.) (2001), pp. 275–326.
[7] F. Naeim, J.M. Kelly “Design of seismic isolated structures—
from theory to practice”. John Wiley & Sons (1999).
[8] Staudacher K. “Integral earthquake protection of structures
iv: Full base isolation and seismic mass analogy”.
Technical report. Eidgenossische Technische
Hochschule(Zurich),Inst. Für Baustatikund Konstruktion,
Bericht 134. Basel (Switzerland): Birkhauser Verlag; 1982.
[9] D. Jurukovski, Z. Rakicevic. “Vibration base isolation
development and application”. Tenth European conference
on earthquake engineering, Balkema, Rotterdam (1995),
pp. 667–676.
[10] W.H. Robinson, A.G. Tucker. “A lead–rubber shea
damper”Bull New ZelandNatlSocEarthqEng, 10 (3) (1977),
pp. 151–153.
[11] W.H. Robinson, A.G. Tucker. “Test results for lead–rubber
bearings” for the William M. Clayton building, Toe Toe
bridge, and Waiotukupuna Bridge Bull New Zealand Natl
Soc EarthqEng, 14 (1) (1983), pp. 21–33.
[12] R.G. Tyler, W.H. Robinson “High-strain tests on lead-rubber
bearings for earthquake loadings”. Bull New Zealand Natl
Soc Earthq Eng, 17
(1984), pp. 90–105.
[13 C.J. Derham, J.M. Kelly, A.G. Tomas.”Nonlinear natural
rubber bearings for seismic isolation”.NuclEng Des, 84 (3)
(1985), pp. 417–428.
[14] N. Mostaghel, M. Hejazi, J. Tanbakuchi. “Response of
sliding structures to harmonic support motion”. Earthq
Eng Struct Dyn (1983); 11: 355–366
[15] Al-Hussaini TM, Zayas VA, Constantinou MC. “A Seismic
isolation of a multi-story frame structure using spherical
sliding isolation systems”. Technical report. NCEER-94-
0007. Buffalo (NY): National Center of
Earthquake Engineering Research; 1994.
[16]P. Murnal, R. Sinha. “A seismic design of structure–equipment
systems using variable frequency pendulum isolator”.
Nuclear Eng Des,231 (2004), pp. 129–139.
[17] G.W.Housner, L.A.Bergman “Structural Control: Past,
Present, and Future” Journal of Engineering Mechanics
123(9)(1997)pp:897-979.
[18] P. Mendis, T. Ngo, N. Haritos, A. Hira, B. Samali and J.
Cheung, “Wind Loading on Tall Buildings” EJSE Special
Issue: Loading on Structures. (2007)
[19] G.Yang, B.F. Spencer Jr. , J.D. Carlson , M.K. Sain.”Large-
scale MR fluid dampers: modeling and dynamic
performance Considerations”.
Engineering Structures.24(2002) pp309-323.
[20] Purnachandra Saha and R.S.Jangid.”Comparative
Performanc of Isolation systems for Benchmark Cable-
Stayed Bridge”. International Journal of Applied Science
and Engineering,6(2008)pp111-139.
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
9th and 10 th of May 2013

A study on shear strength of sand reinforced

with glass fibres
Shivanand Mali and Baleshwar Singh
Abstract— Scarcity of suitable land and unavailability of good quality construction soil lead to the implementation of various
ground reinforcement techniques. Among the various reinforcement techniques,fibre reinforcement is achieving more attention in
geotechnical engineering. This is beneficial due to the absence of predefined planes of weakness and strength isotropy over
conventional reinforcement. In the present study, a series of direct shear tests have been carried out to investigate the shear
strength behaviour of a fine sand reinforced with glass fibres. The influence of various parameters such as fibre contentand relative
density on the strength behaviour of the sand-fibre mixes has been studied. The test results indicate that the initial stiffness, peak
shear strength and dilatancycharactersticsof the sandare affected by the fibre reinforcement.
Index Terms— Direct shear test, Glass fibres, Reinforced sand, Shear strength, Apparent cohesion, Dilation.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION dry state introduces an apparent cohesion intercept,

which remains almost unchanged by an increase in water
The primary purpose of reinforcing soil is to increase its content.The peak friction angle was found to be a function
shear strength thereby increasing its bearing capacityand of the relative density of sand for both reinforced and
reducing its settlement and lateral deformation. Soils can unreinforced cases.
be reinforced either by incorporating continuous
reinforcementinclusions within the soil mass in a defined Thedirect shear test results of [8] indicated that adding
pattern or by mixing discrete fibres randomly with the linen fibre in silty-sandsoil results in an increase in
soil. The influence of various types of fibres on the shear unconfined compressive strength, California bearing ratio
strength of soils has beeninvestigated by several values, peak friction angle and cohesion values.
researchers through triaxial tests and direct shear tests. Furthermore, adding linen fibres have the dual benefit of
increasing the stiffness (modulus of elasticity) and the
From triaxial tests, Gray and Al-Refeai [1]observed an ductility ofthe reinforced soil.
approximate linear increase in shear strength of an uniform,
medium-grained sandwith increasing amounts of fibres Only limited information has been reportedin the literature
(up to 2% by weight), beyond which the increase in on soils reinforced with randomly distributed glass fibres.
strength approached an asymptotic upper limit, governed This paper presents the results of a direct shear testing
mainly by confining stress and fibre aspect ratio. Various program to investigate the shear strength behaviour of a
other studies from triaxial tests indicate that stress–strain– fine sand reinforced with glass fibres.
strength properties of randomly distributed fibre-
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
reinforced soils are a function of fibrecontent and aspect
ratio, and also of the relative size of the soil grains and 2.1 Materials
fibre length [2], [3], [4].
The sand was collected from the nearby bank of
From direct shear tests, Gray and Ohashi [5] observed Brahmaputra River. The physical properties of the
that the inclusion of discrete fibres as reinforcement in Brahmaputra sand are tabulated in Table 1, and the grain
cohesionless soils reduces the loss of post-peak stress. size distribution is shown in Figure 1. According to Indian
In other words, the inclusion of fibres makes the strain- Soil Classification System, the sand is classified as poorly
softening less pronounced, and any failure less dramatic. graded sand (SP). Synthetic glass fibres of 20 mm
Thus, the ultimate strength of the fibre-reinforced soil is length(Fig. 2.)were obtained from a local supplier.
greater than that of unreinforced soil.Ola [6] reported from TABLE 1
direct shear tests that fibre reinforcement increases the Physical properties of Brahmaputra sand (BS)
peak strength of laterite sand and modifies the
stressdeformation behaviour in a significant manner by Property / Size range Value
limiting the amount of post-peak reduction in shear Specific gravity, Gs 2.67
resistance. Similarly, thedirect shear test results of [7] Gravel (> 4.750 mm) (%) 0
suggested that the fibre inclusions to a sandy soil in the Sand (0.75 – 4.750 mm) (%) 98.5
———————————————— Coarse sand (2 – 4.75 mm) (%) 1.18
• Shivanand Mali is currently pursuing masters degree program Medium sand sand (0.425-2 mm) (%) 16.1
in the Department of Civil Engineering in Indian Institute of Fine sand (0.075 –0.425 mm) (%) 81.2
Technology Guwahati, India, E-mail: mali@iitg.ernet.in Uniformity coefficient, Cu 1.68
• Baleshwar Singh is currently Associate Professor in the
Department of Civil Engineering in Indian Institute of Coefficient of curvature, Cc 0.024
Technology Guwahati, E-mail: baleshwar@iitg.ernet.in Soil classification SP

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2.2 Methods
For preparing test specimens, first the required amounts
of sand and fibres were mixed together in a dry state. To
prevent the segregation of fibres during mixing, a minimum
amount of water (6% by dry weight of sand) was then
added. All mixing was done by hand and proper care was
taken to prepare a homogeneous mix. The compacted
specimens were of 35 mm in height and 60 mm in plan area.
Three fibre contents (0.5%, 0.75%, and 1%) by dry weight
of sand were used along with three different relative
densities (50%, 65% and 82%) of the sand.
The designations used for the specimens are: BS for
Brahmaputra sand, F for glass fibres, and BS+F for sand-
fibre mixes, respectively. In the mix designation, the fibre
content by weight is indicated by the numeral prefixed
before the symbol F. For example, 1%F indicates that 1%
by weight is fibre content and the remaining is soil.
Fig.1. Grain size distribution ofBrahamputra sand
Fig.2. Glass Fibres
The direct shear tests were carried out in accordance with
Indian standard procedure[9].The type of test was
unconsolidated and undrained (UU). A shear box of 60
mm × 60 mm in plan and 40 mm in depth was used in the
tests. The tests were performed at vertical normal stresses
of 50, 100 and 150kPa in order to completely define the
shear strength parameters. The tests were carried out at a
constant displacement rate of 1.20mm/min. Both the
shearing load and the vertical displacement were recorded
as functions of the horizontal displacement. The testswere
continued up to 20% strain. Each test was repeated at
least twice to ensure reproducibility.
280
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Test results include shear stress vs. horizontal
displacement and vertical displacement vs. horizontal
displacement plots for sand-fibre specimens tested at
normal stress levels of 50, 100, and 150 kPa. These plots
have been analyzed to investigate the effect of fibres on
stress-strain behaviour, volume change behaviour, and
shear strength parameters.
3.1 Stress-Strain Behaviour
The shear stress–horizontal displacement curves
obtained from the tests for the reinforced sand with 50%,
65% and 82%relative densities and at a normal stress of
100kPa are shown in Figs. 3-5 together with those for
unreinforced sand.The general form of the stress-
displacement curves of fibre reinforced specimens is
similar to that of unreinforced specimens except for an
increase in the slope of the stress-displacement curve at
small displacements.
Fig.3. Variation of shear stress with horizontal strain for
various BS+F mixes at 50% relative density (100 kPa normal
stress)
Fig. 4. Variation of shear stress with horizontal strain for various
BS+F mixes at 65% relative density (100 kPa normal stress)
The results indicate that for the same normal stress, the
shear stress at failure increases with fibre content. The
improved behaviour of reinforced sand is on account of
sand-fibre interfacial friction and apparent cohesion
induced due to moistening of the sand-fibre mix. As the
fibre content increases, the contribution of the interfacial
friction becomes larger.
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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIONS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
Fig. 5. Variation of shear stress with horizontal strain for various
BS+F mixes at 82% relative density (100 kPanormal stress)
The tests results also show that with increase in relative
density, both the shear strength and stiffness of the
reinforced sand have increased which is attributed to more
dense packing and higher sand-fibre interfacial friction.
3.2 VolumeChange Behaviour
Figure 6-8 show the horizontal displacement vs. vertical
displacement response of the reinforced sand with
different relative densitiesat a normal stress of 150 kPa.
Fig.6. Variation of horizontal displacement with vertical
displacement for BS+F mixes at 50% relative density(150
kPanormal stress)
Fig.7. Variation of horizontal displacement with vertical
displacement for BS+F mixes at 65% relative density
(150kPanormal stress)
The tests indicate that the presence of fibres consistently
inhibits the tendency for dilation in fibre-reinforced sand
at all normal stresses. The decrease in the dilatancy is
more for specimens reinforced with a higher percentage
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9th and 10 th of May 2013
of fibres. This result is similar to the results of direct shear
tests [5].With increase in relative density, the trend of
horizontal displacement to vertical displacement remains
the same but dilatancy is observed to be increasing in the
case of both unreinforced sand and reinforced sand.This
observed characterstic of increase in dilatancy is due to
the ductile nature of the sand-fibremix.
Fig.8. Variation of horizontal displacement with vertical
displacement for BS+F mixes at 82% relative density (150
kPanormal stress)
3.3 ShearStrength Parameters
Figures 9-11show the shear stress to normal stress plots
of the reinforced sand with different relative densities.
The results have shown the variation of shear strength
parameters with fibre content and relative density.The
values of cohesion and angle of internal friction are
tabulated in Table 2. It is observed that for any mix, both
the strength parameters increase with relative density. At
any relative density, these parameters also increase with
fibre content. This is attributedto greater contributions
from sand-fibre interfacial friction, mobilisation of tensile
resistance, and apparent cohesion induceddue to
moistening of sand fibre mix.
Fig.9. Shear stress vs. normal stress plots for various BS+F mixes
at 50% relative density
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Fig.10. Shear stress vs. normal stress plots for various BS+F mixes
at 65% relative density
4 CONCLUSIONS
The shear stress to horizontal strain response of the fine
sand modified bythe addition of glass fibres has been
studied. The increase in fibre contentreduces the tendency
for dilation in reinforced sand at any relative density. The
addition of fibres to the sand specimens results in
substantial increases in the measured values of the
cohesion and friction angle. The findings of this study
have practical significance as a ground improvement
technique, with respect to the use in subgrade,
embankment and other applications.
REFERENCES
1. H. Gray and T. Al-Refeai, “Behavior of Fabric versusFiber
Reinforced Sand,”J. Geotech. Engg.,vol. 112, no. 8, pp.
804–820, 1986.

2. H.Maher andH. Gray, “Static Response of Sands Reinforced

With Randomly Distributed Fibers,” J. Geotech.
Engg.,vol.116, no. 11, pp. 1661–1677, 1990.

3. L. Michalowski and A. Zhao, “Failure of Fiber-Reinforced

Granular Soils.” J. Geotech. Engg., vol. 122, no. 3, pp.
226–234, 1996.

4. M.S.Nataraj and K.L.McManis,”Strength and Deformation

Properties of Soils Reinforced with Fibrillated
Fig.11. Shear stress vs. normal stress plots for various BS+F mixes Fibers,”GeosyntheticsInternational, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 65–
at 82% relative density 79, 1997.
TABLE 2
5. H. Gray and H.Ohashi,”Mechanics of Fiber Reinforcement
SHEAR STRENGTH PARAMETERS FOR DIFFERENT
MIXES IN DIRECT SHEAR TEST(UU) in Sand,”J. Geotech. Engg.,vol. 109, no. 3, pp. 335–353,
1983.
RD Mixes C (kPa) ϕ (degree)
6. A. Ola, “Stabilization of Lateritic Soils by Extensible Fibre
50% BS 1.66 23.6 Reinforcement,” Engineering Geology, vol. 26, pp. 125-
BS+0.5%F 1.86 26.6 140, 1989.
BS+0.75%F 2.05 27.5 7. J. Lovisa, S. Shukla, and N. Sivakugan, “Shear Strength of
BS+1%F 2.35 28.2 Randomly Distributed Moist Fibre Reinforced Sand,”
65% BS 2.54 26.1 Geosynthetics International, vol. 17, No. 2, 2010.

BS+0.5%F 2.64 28.8 8. S.V. Krishna Rao and A.M.A. Nasr, “Laboratory Study on
BS+0.75%F 2.65 29.6 the Relative Performance of Silty-Sand Soils Reinforced
with Linen Fiber,”Geotech. & Geol.Engg., vol. 30, pp. 63-
BS+1%F 2.65 30.1
74, 2012.
82% BS 2.72 28.9
9. IS: 2720-Part 13, “Method of Test for Soils: Direct Shear
BS+0.5%F 2.71 31.4
Test,” Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 1986.
BS+0.75%F 2.72 32
BS+1%F 2.75 33.1

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9th and 10 th of May 2013

Improvement in Properties of Subgrade Soil

by Using Moorum and RBI Grade 81
B.M.Patil, K.A.Patil
Abstract- The life of road depends on strength of the subgrade soil and traffic density. The subgrade soil is not uniform throughout
the alignment of the road. Generally the poor subgrade soil having soaked California Bearing Ratio (CBR) value less than 2% is
replaced by good quality subgrade material. This paper deals with the improvement in various properties of subgrade soil by using
soil stabilizer and locally available poor materials. The additive like RBI Grade 81is used to improve the properties of subgrade soil.
The cost of construction of road increases, if only RBI Grade 81 is used as a stabilizer. The CBR value of subgrade soil can be
improved by using moorum with RBI Grade 81and cost of construction can be reduced to certain extent. From CBR test, it is found
that the soaked CBR value of soil is improved by 476.56% i.e. 2.56% to 14.76% by stabilizing soil with 20% moorum and 4% RBI
Grade 81. The various mixes of soil: moorum: RBI Grade 81 for the different proportions were tested for maximum dry density
(MDD), optimum moisture content (OMC) and soaked CBR value.
Index Terms— CBR, MDD, Moorum, OMC, RBI Grade 81TM, Soil stabilization, Subgrade soil

——————————  ——————————

1. INTRODUCTION Aykut Senol et. al [6] based on their experimental work

quantified the effect of fly ash stabilization on four different

F
or the construction and maintenance of rural roads types of soft subgrades encountered using locally
catering to low volumes of traffic, local soil is not available fly ash in Wisconsin. For improvement in
only the cheapest but also the highly versatile road engineering properties of soils, a combination of lime and
material [1]. The locally available black cotton soil is not
fly ash is beneficial for lower plasticity and higher silt
suitable as a subgrade material due to low CBR value and
content soils. The lime alone works well to stabilize clayey
swelling characteristics. The CBR value of soil can be
properties of soft subgrades such as unconfined compressive
improved by adding chemical stabilizers, such as RBI
strength and CBR was investigated. Raju Sarkar et. al [7]studied
Grade 81, Bio- enzymes, Terrazymes etc. To improve CBR
physical properties and geotechnical characteristics of pond
value and enhance swelling characteristics, RBI Grade 81
ash collected from different thermal power plants. The
and moorum can be used. These additives can also help
variability in the properties of pond ash is due to several reasons,
to reduce the crust thickness of roads due to which
such as type of coal, degree of pulverization of coal, changes in
construction cost can be reduced. Pradeep Muley et. al
[2] based on their study found that quality of local moorum coal supply, chemical, mineralogical and geotechnical aspects
has been improved by adding stone dust. This are important in assessing its behavior when used in geotechnical
investigation deals with mechanical stabilization of engineering applications.
moorum with mixtures of stone dust. D S V Prasad et. al 2. MATERIALS USED
[3] carried out the study and the results of CBR test for
moorum reinforced with different percentage of waste 2.1 Soil
plastics, soaked CBR value were increased from 8.0% to The soil sample is collected from Lasur station to
16.42% with 0.30% of waste plastics and there after Amantpur wadi road located in Aurangabad district of
decreases. Kolay, P.K. et. al [4] based on there experimental Maharashtra state, India. The various properties of soil
study, reported that the maximum dry density for pond were tested and are given in table1.
ash sample is found to be increased while the optimum
moisture content decreases with increase in the pond ash TABLE 1
content. Joel H. Beeghly [5] carried out the studies by BASIC PROPERTIES OF SOIL
using lime with coal fly ash in stabilization of soil subgrade
and granular aggregate base course. It is observed that
UCS and CBR value improved considerably as compared
to lime use alone.

• B.M.Patil ,Research scholar, Dept. of Civil Engineering,

Government College of Engineering, Aurangabad (M.S.),
India 431005 and Faculty Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering
College N- 6 CIDCO Aurangabad, 431003 (M.S.) India,
Email. bmpatil3335@rediffmail.com
• K.A.Patil , Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering,
Government College of Engineering, Aurangabad (M.S.),
India 431005,Email. Kapatil67@gmail.com

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2.2 Moorum
The weathered rock fragments which are gravely and non
plastic in nature is locally called as moorum. The granular
moorum is collected from Amantpur wadi area and tested
in the laboratory for soaked CBR test. The properties of
moorum used for experimental studies are as given in table
2.
TABLE 2
PROPERTIES OF MOORUM
Sr. No. Properties of
Moorum Value
1 Maximum dry density% 1.78
2 Optimum moisture content % 10.21
3 Soaked CBR % 8.14 Fig.2. Effect of RBI Grade 81 on CBR and OMC of soil
From the table 3, it is observed that the MDD for mix of
3. EXPERIMENTATION
soil: RBI Grade 81 for proportion 98:2 is 1.45 g/cm3 and the
The Standard Proctor Test is carried out on the untreated OMC is 26.16%. Similarly the MDD for mix of soil: RBI
and treated soil samples as per IS: 2720-1980 (Part VII) Grade 81 for proportion 96:4 is 1.46 g/cm3 and the OMC is
and values of MDD and OMC were found out. The soil 26.67%. It is also observed that the MDD and OMC of mix
was treated with moorum and RBI Grade 81 for different soil: RBI Grade 81 for proportion 98:2 is less as compared
proportions tested for soaked CBR value, MDD and OMC. to MDD and OMC of untreated soil.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.2 Effect of Moorum on MDD and OMC of soil
4.1 Effect of RBI Grade 81 on MDD and OMC of soil The MDD and OMC of mix of soil: moorum for proportion
of 100:00, 90:10, and 80:20 was found out and the results
The Standard proctor test was conducted on untreated are given in table 4. The MDD for mix of soil: moorum for
soil, the values of MDD and OMC were found to be 1.43 proportion 90:10 is 1.51 g/cm3 and OMC is 23.20 g/cm3.
g/cm3 and 25.80% respectively. The Standard Proctor test The results shows that the MDD of soil increases as the
was also carried out on mixes of soil: RBI Grade 81 for percentage of moorum increases. Also the OMC of soil
proportions 100:0, 98:2, 96:4 and MDD and OMC, were reduces as the percentage of moorum increases in the
found out. The obtained results are given in the table 3. soil.
TABLE 3 TABLE 4
EFFECT OF RBI GRADE 81 ON MDD AND OMC OF EFFECT OF MOORUM ON MDD AND OMC OF SOIL
SOIL
Soil : Moorum: MDD OMC Soaked CBR
Soil : RBI MDD OMC Soaked g/cm in % value 3

Grade 81 g/cm3 in % CBR

value 100:00 1.43 25.80 2.56

100:00 1.43 25.80 2.56 00:100 1.78 22.43 8.14

98:2 1.45 26.16 4.89 90:10 1.51 23.20 2.41

96:4 1.46 26.67 8.79 4.3 Effect of Moorum and RBI Grade 81 on MDD and
OMC of soil
The maximum dry density of mix of soil:moorum: RBI Grade
81 for proportion of 100:0:0. 88:10:2, 78:20:2 was found
out and the results are given in the table 5. The results
shows that the MDD for mix of soil: moorum: RBI Grade
81 for proportion 88:10:2 is 1.61 g/cm3 and OMC is 24.76%.
Similarly the MDD for mix of soil: moorum: RBI Grade 81
for proportion 78:20:2 is 1.64 g/cm3 and OMC is 26.44%.
From the figure 3, it is also observed that the dry density
of treated soil with moorum and RBI Grade 81 increases as
compared to untreated soil. The MDD for mix of
soil:moorum: RBI Grade 81for proportion of 100:0:0.
88:10:4, 78:20:4 was found out and the results are given in
the table 5. The MDD for mix of soil: moorum: RBI Grade
81 for proportion 88:10:4 is 1.47 g/cm3 and OMC is 26.87%.
Fig.1. Effect of RBI Grade 81 on CBR and MDD of soil Similarly the MDD for mix of soil: moorum: RBI Grade 81

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for proportion 78:4:20 is 1.49 g/cm3 and OMC is 24.76%.The poor subgrade soil is treated with 20% moorum, the CBR
results shows that the dry density of treated soil with value increased to 2.84%. The total pavement thickness
moorum and RBI Grade 81 increases as compared to to carry traffic of 2msa with 20% moorum treated subgrade
untreated soil. Also the moisture content of treated soil soil is 630mm. The poor subgrade soil treated with 20%
with moorum and RBI Grade 81 is decreases as compared moorum and 2% RBI Grade 81, the CBR value increased
to untreated soil. to 4.56% and the total pavement thickness to carry traffic
of 2msa is 515mm. The poor subgrade soil, if treated with
TABLE 5
20% moorum and 4% RBI Grade 81, the CBR value
EFFECTS OF RBI GRADE 81 AND MOORUM ON MDD
increased to 14.76% and the total pavement thickness
AND OMC OF SOIL
reduced to 300.
Soil : Moorum: MDD OMC Soaked CBR
TABLE 6
g/cm in % value
EFFECT OF RBI GRADE 81 AND MOORUM ON CBR
88:10:2 1.61 24.76 3.4 VALUE OF SOIL
86:10:4 1.47 26.82 10.23
78:20:2 1.64 26.44 4.56
76:20:4 1.49 24.76 14.76

Fig.3. Effect of moorum and RBI Grade 81 on MDD,

OMC and CBR value of soil
4.4 Effect of Moorum and RBI Grade 81 on soaked CBR
value of soil
The CBR test is conducted in the laboratory on soil,
moorum and RBI Grade 81 for various proportions. The
obtained results are given in table 6.The modified soil
obtained by mixing soil: RBI Grade 81 in the proportion of
98:2 and 96:4. For these modified soil mixes the soaked
CBR value were found to be 4.89% and 8.79%,
respectively. Similarly by mixing of soil: moorum: RBI
Grade 81 in the proportion of 90:10:0, 88:10:2 and 86:10:4, Fig.4. Effect of RBI Grade 81 and Moorum on CBR
the soaked CBR value were found to be 2.41%, 3.40% and value of soil
7.95% respectively. The effect of moorum and RBI Grade
81 on CBR value of soil is as shown in figure 4. As per The construction cost of the pavement initially more due
IRC-37-2001[8], the total pavement thickness to carry to more cost of RBI Grade 81 but it reduces the
traffic of 2 msa, with CBR value of subgarde soil 2.56 % is maintenance cost by 20% to 30%. The important
660mm. If the same soil treated with 2% RBI Grade 81, its advantage of use of reduced amount of moorum is to
CBR value increases to 4.89%. Hence the total pavement save natural materials and protects the environment.
thickness to carry traffic of 2msa with 4.89% CBR is
520mm. Therefore the total thickness of pavement is CONCLUSION
reduced by 21%. If the poor subgrade is treated with 4% 1. For mix of soil: RBI Grade 81 in the proportion of
RBI Grade 81, the CBR value increased to 8.79%. Therefore 100:0, 98:2, 96:4 the soaked CBR values are found to
the total pavement thickness is reduced to 390mm. If the be 2.56%, 4.89%, and 8.79% respectively.

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2. For mix of soil: moorum: RBI Grade 81 in the proportion
of 100:0:0, 90:10:0, 80:20:0, the soaked CBR values are
found to be 2.56%, 2.41% and 2.84% respectively.
3. For mix of soil: moorum: RBI Grade 81 in the proportion
of 88:10:2 and 86:10:4 the soaked CBR values are found
to be 3.40%, 7.95% respectively.
4. For mix of soil: moorum: RBI Grade 81, the proportion
of 78:20:2, 76:20:4 the soaked CBR values are found
to be 4.56%, 14.76% respectively.
REFERENCES
[1] Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) Soil Survey,
National Rural Roads Development Agency. Annexure 5.1
[2] Pradeep Muley, Dr. P.K. Jain “Experimental Studies on
Utilization of Moorum as Hard Shoulder Material”
International Science and Technology Vol.2 (9), 2010, 4896
– 4901.
[3] D S V Prasad, G V R Prasada Raju, M Anjan Kumar,
“Utilization of Industrial Waste in Flexible Pavement
Construction” EJGE Vol. 13, Bund. D 2009
286
[4] Kolay, P.K1. Sii, H.Y2. and Taib, S.N.L.3 “Tropical Peat Soil
Stabilization using Class F Pond Ash from Coal Fired Power
Plant”, International Journal of Civil and Environmental
Engineering 3:2 2011.
[5] Joel H. Beeghly “Recent Experiences with Lime –Fly Ash
Stabilization of Pavement Subgrade Soils, Base and Recycled
Asphalt”2003 International Ash Utilization Symposium.
Centre for Applied Energy Research University of Kentucky’
paper #46
[6] Aykut Seno la,, Tuncer B.Edi lb , Md.Sazzad Bin- Shafiqu ec ,
Hector A. Acost ad, “ Soft subgrades stabilization by using
various fly ashes”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling
46 ( 2006) 365-376.
[7] Raju Sarkar, S.M.Abbas, J.T.Shahu, “Geotechnical
Characterization of Pond Ash Available in National Capital
Region Delhi” International Journal of Earth Sciences of
Engineering ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 04. No.06 SPL,
October 2011, pp 138-142.
[8] IRC: 37- 2001: Guidelines for the design of flexible
pavements (Second Revision)
[9] IRC: SP: 72-2007 “Guidelines for the design of flexible
pavements for low volume rural road”.
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OD Matrix Estimation from Link Counts

Using Artificial Neural Network
Remya K P, Samson Mathew
Abstract— The estimation of origin-destination (OD) matrix is the most important part of any transportation planning problem.
The conventional estimation techniques based on surveys are soon becoming outdated as they are time consuming and are highly
expensive. In the case of a developing country, such changes occur at a very fast rate, and constant updating of the OD matrix by
the conventional methods becomes almost impossible. The easily available data which represents the travel pattern is the link
counts. This can be used for the estimation of the OD matrix. Considering the highly dynamic, large scale, complex and uncertain
nature of many transportation systems,Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are recently considered as an efficient tool in solving
numerous transportation problems. Attempts are made here to make use of the potential of the ANN for OD matrix estimation.
The link selection procedure used for the model is the K and L link selection method. A model is developed based on the certain
assumptions and constrains of the estimation problem. The developed model is applied on two hypothetical networks and the
resulting OD matrix is statistically compared to the target OD matrix. Based on the results obtained, the developed model fits fairly
well.

Index Terms— Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Link Counts, Link Selection, Network Assognment, OD Matrix Estimation,
Transportation Planning, Travel Demand.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION and adaptive tools to capture and learn significant

structures in data. Their computing abilities have been

O
rigin–Destination (OD) travel information is
necessary in transportation planning of any
urban area. The knowledge about trip flows is
usually organised in the form of two dimensional matrices
called the OD matrices whose cell values represent the
travel demand between each given origin (row) and
destination (column) zone. One of the most crucial
requirements for the transportation planning is to arrive
at the traffic pattern between various zones through OD
matrix estimation.
In developing countries, changes in the land-use and
economic state of affairs require momentous
transportation planning. Traditional four stage process
of estimating OD matrix is through a large scale sampled
surveys. But in situations of financial constraints these
surveys become impossible to conduct. And by the time
the survey data are collected and processed, the O-D
data obtained becomes obsolete. The estimation of OD
flows from traffic counts can be considered as the inverse
process to that of assignment.
2 ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS AS
AN OPTIMISATION TOOL
Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are a functional
abstraction of the biologic neural structures of the central
nervous system. They are powerful pattern recognizers
and classifiers. They operate as black box, model-free,
————————————————
• Remya K P is currently pursuing masters degree program in
Transportation Engineering and Management at National
Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India.
E-mail: remyasreeraman@gmail.com
• Samson Mathew is a professor at National Institute of
Technology, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India. E-mail:
sams@nitt.edu
ICICE-2013
proven in the fields of prediction and estimation, pattern
recognition, and optimization. They are suitable
particularly for problems too complex to be modelled and
solved by classical mathematics and traditional
procedures.
There is no technique in trip distribution that is universally
applicable, so attempts to develop alternative ways are
always needed. This includes the adoption of approaches
from other disciplines. Neural Networks are one of them
and are proposed as an alternative method. ANN is
characterized by its important properties, such as learning
algorithm, activation function, number of layers, number
of nodes inside each layer, and learning rate. The neural
networks provide superior levels of performance when
compared with unconstrained conventional models.
3 ESTIMATION OF OD MATRICES FROM
LINK COUNTS
Traffic counts contain information concerning trip
activities, which could be used to estimate or at least
update OD matrices. Measurement of link volume can be
made relatively inexpensively, and when automatic traffic
counters are used, very little manual labour is required.
Several methods have been developed so far for the
estimation of OD matrices from traffic volume on selected
links in a network.
3.1 Gravity Based Models
The Gravity Model assumes that each trip interchange
value is based on the levels of productions and attractions
at the trip origin and destination, and on a factor that
represents the special separation of each OD pair. In these
models the entries of the OD matrix are assumed to be
functions of the traffic counts, measure of travel cost or
impedance and other parameters.
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3.2 Entropy Maximisation and Information Minimisation
Models
In these models, the probability of a particular trip
distribution occurring is assumed to be proportional to
the number of states or entropy (disorder) of the system.
The OD matrix which can arise in the greatest number of
ways or in other words, the one with which the maximum
entropy is associated is estimated as the most likely trip
matrix.
The information available in the traffic counts in the links
is insufficient to determine a complete trip matrix. In the
information minimisation approach, the trip matrix that
adds as little information as possible to the knowledge
contained in the traffic counts is estimated
3.3 Statistical Models
These models attempt to estimate the trip tables directly
from the prior information based on statistical techniques.
Traffic volumes and target OD matrix are assumed to be
generated by some probability distributions. An estimate
of the OD matrix is obtained by estimating the parameters
of the probability distributions. The commonly used
generalised least square based method is an example of a
statistical model.
3.4 Equilibrium Models
This approach uses mathematical programming
techniques associated with the equilibrium traffic
assignment methods to estimate a trip matrix in a congested
network. This approach is based on the traffic assignment
following Wardrop’s first criterion, which states that the
traffic distributes itself on alternate paths in such a way
that no driver could save his travel time or travel cost by
changing over to alternate paths.
3.5 Gradient Based Solution Techniques
In this technique, the target OD matrix is taken as an initial
solution to the OD matrix estimation problem. The target
OD matrix is adjusted or changed to reproduce the traffic
counts by iteratively calculating directions based on the
gradient of the objective function.
3.6 Multi Objective Programming Model
In this model, the objective programming formulation for
the estimation problem is interrupted as a problem that
has two types of objectives – one of which is to satisfy
the traffic counts constrains and the other to search for a
solution as close as possible to the target OD matrix.
4 PROBLEM DEFINITION
The important criterion in the estimation of OD matrix using
traffic counts is the assignment technique used.
Availability of multiple routes with unequal travel costs
between any pair of zones increases the complexity of the
OD estimation problem. Given observed link volumes, Va,
on a set of the links, a õA, and traffic proportions,pij, the
OD matrix can be determined by solving (1)
(1)
Where, Tij is the total trips from zone I to zone j in a
network of n zones. The equation system is normally under
specified. There are many more elements in the OD matrix
than the number of links on which the traffic counts are
288
collected. Thus prior information and/or assumptions
about the travel behaviour are needed in order to find a
unique OD matrix. The important prior information required
for the training of the neural network is the target OD
matrix. The distance between the target OD and the
estimated OD is minimised subject to flow constrains.
The problem for the estimation of OD matrix can be defined
as in (2)
(2)
Subject to the constrains tij and va are greater than zero. In
(2) superscript e and t are the estimated and target values
for trips tij and link volume va for a study area of n zones
with m links of known volume.
The assumptions made are – 1. The traffic is assigned
onto the network by all or nothing assignment. 2. The
intra-zonal trips are neglected. 3. The links are prioritised
based on their importance in the network. From the
prioritised links the links covering at least forty percent
of the OD pairs are assumed to be known.
5 SELECTION OF LINKS
In real life situation it is not possible to collect volumes
from all the links in the network. Also, the link volumes on
all the links may not be independent, giving rise to linearly
dependent set of equations. So the link volumes are
collected on selected links. The amount of information
supplied by volume counts on different links will be
different. Thus, selection of appropriate links for collecting
volume counts considerably affects the accuracy of the
estimated OD matrix. The links are to be selected in such
a way that maximum information regarding the trip matrix
is obtained from the minimum number of link volume
counts.
The experimental study was done using the K and L link
selection technique. The procedure is based on two indices
called K and L indices. The L index is defined as the
volume carried by each link per unit OD interchange carried
by it. The link with the highest L index is chosen as the
first link for taking volume count. The K index for the rest
of the links is calculated by multiplying the L index to the
number of additional OD interchanges covered by
selecting that link. The link with the highest K index is
selected as the next highest link. The K index is calculated
after selecting each link. The procedure is continued to
obtain the links in their order of importance in the network
6LEVENBERG-MARQUARDT
ALGORITHM
In mathematics and computing the Levenberg-Marquardt
(LM) algorithm, also known as the Damped Least-
Squares method, provides a numerical solution to the
problem of minimizing a function, generally nonlinear, over
a space of parameters of the function. These minimization
problems arise especially in least squares curve fitting and
nonlinear programming. The algorithm interpolates
between the Gauss-Newton algorithm and the method
of gradient descent. The LM algorithm is more robust than
the Gauss-Newton, which means that in many cases it
finds a solution even if it starts very far off the final
minimum. For well-behaved functions and reasonable
starting parameters, the LM algorithm tends to be a bit
slower than the Gauss-Newton algorithm. The LM
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algorithm can also be viewed as Gauss-Newton using with non-negative edge path cost/distance, producing a
a trust region approach. The LM algorithm is a very shortest path tree. This algorithm is often used in routing and
popular curve-fitting algorithm used in many software as a subroutine in other graph algorithms.
applications for solving generic curve-fitting problems.
7.2 Selection of Links
The LM algorithm is used for training the neural networks.
The links in the network are prioritised as per the K and L
This algorithm was chosen as it was clear from the literature
link selection procedure. On applying the link selection
that it performs better for the estimation of the OD matrix
procedure, the links of the network based on their order
than the other algorithms available for the training of the
of importance in the network is obtained. The number of
neural networks. It is the fastest back-propagation
OD pairs covered by each link is found out and number of
algorithm in the neural networks, and is highly
links of top priority which covers around 40% of the OD
recommended as a first-choice supervised algorithm,
pairs is assumed to have known volumes.
although it does require more memory than other
algorithms. 7.3 Training the Neural Network
Like the quasi-Newton methods, the LM algorithm was As a computation technique based on iterative processes,
designed to approach second-order training speed the neural network model estimates the outputs by
without having to compute the Hessian matrix. When the minimizing the deviation between model outputs and the
performance function has the form of a sum of squares target values. This process is called training or learning.
(as is typical in training feed-forward networks), then the
The neural network is a two layer network consisting of
Hessian matrix, H can be approximated as in (4)
one layer of input neurons, two layers of hidden neurons
H = J TJ (4) and one layer of output neurons. The transfer function
The gradient, g can be computed as in (5) used is the log-sigmoid function. For training the neural
network LM algorithm is used. The performance of the
g = J Te (5)
neural network is measured using MSE (Mean Squared
Where, J is the Jacobian matrix that contains first Error).
derivatives of the network errors with respect to the
8 STUDY NETWORKS
weights and biases, and e is a vector of network errors.
The Jacobian matrix can be computed through a standard Two hypothetical networks were selected for the study.
back-propagation technique which is much less complex
The network is shown in figure 1. The network consists
than computing the Hessian matrix.
of 6 centroids connected with 18 unidirectional links.
The LM algorithm uses this approximation to the Hessian
The network is shown in figure 2. The network consists
matrix in the (6) in a Newton-like update
of 15 centroids and 43 nodes connected with 102
xk+1 = xk – [JTJ + μI]-1 JTe (6) unidirectional links.
When the scalar μ is zero, this is just Newton’s method,
using the approximate Hessian matrix. When μ is large,
this becomes gradient descent with a small step size.
Newton’s method is faster and more accurate near an error
minimum, so the aim is to shift towards Newton’s method
as quickly as possible. Thus, μ is decreased after each
successful step (reduction in performance function) and
is increased only when a tentative step would increase
the performance function. In this way, the performance
function is always reduced at each iteration of the
algorithm.
For the neural networks, back-propogation is used to
calculate the Jacobian Jx of performance with respect to Fig. 1. Hypothetical Network 1 used in the study
the weight and bias variables x.
The adaptive value m is increased by a specified value
until the change above results in a reduced performance
value. The change is then made to the network and m is
decreased by specified values. When m is large the
algorithm becomes steepest descent, while for small m
the algorithm becomes Gauss-Newton. The LM algorithm
can be considered a trust-region modification to Gauss-
Newton.
7 ESTIMATION PROBLEM
7.1 Shortest Path Estimation
The shortest path between the various centroids is found
using Dijkstra algorithm. It is a graph search algorithm that
solves the single-source shortest path problem for a graph Fig. 2. Hypothetical Network 2 used in the study

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9 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
The developed model was tested on the selected hypothetical
study networks. The resulting OD matrix and the link volumes
were compared based ion statistical techniques. The values
obtained for both the study networks are shown in Table 1.
8 CONCLUSION
The results analysed for the estimation of OD matrix on
hypothetical networks selected from the literature show
that the developed neural network model fits good in the
analysed scenarios. The experiments on the hypothetical
networks were subject to several assumptions and
constrains. The model can be used for other scenarios
having characteristics similar to the scenario for which
the model was developed. The use of artificial neural
network for the estimation of OD matrix from link volumes
needs to be studied and experimented to a greater extent
to fully utilise the potential of the artificial neural networks.
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[15] Torgil Abrahamsson, “Estimation of origin-destination matrices
using traffic counts – A Literature Survey”, Interim Report,
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 1995
[16] Samson Mathew, “Estimation of origin-destination matrices
from observed flow – A Multi-objective Optimisation
Approach”, Ph.D. Thesis Report, REC Calicut, 1992
[17] Cascetta Ennio, “Estimation of trip matrices from traffic counts
and survey data : A Generalised Least Square Estimator”,
Transportation Research Part B, no 18, pp 289–299, 1984
[18] Van Zuylen H. J., Willumsen L. G., “The most likely trip
matrix estimated from traffic counts”, Transportation
Research Part B, no 14, pp 281–293, 1980
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Application of ASTER DEM in Watershed

Management as Flood Zonation Mapping in
Koyana River of the Western Ghats.
V. M.Shinde, P. K. Deshpande, M.B.Kumthekar.
Abstract— Most of the natural hazards result from the potential for extreme geophysical events, such as floods, to create an
unexpected threat to human life and property. When severe floods occur in areas occupied by humans, they can create natural
disasters that involve the loss of human life and property plus serious disruption to the ongoing activities of large urban and rural
communities. Flood hazards results from a combination of physical exposure and human vulnerability reflected by key social-
economic factors such as the number of people at risk in the floodplain or low-lying zone, the extent of flood, and the ability of
the population to anticipate and cope with hazard. In the present study flood level mapping of Koyana river basin has been carried
out along with the ASTER GDEM based layers derived in ILWIS software developed by ITC, Netherlands. Also, the present effort
tries to co-relate the output from ASTER DEM analysis with the flood hazard related information generated from various other
RS and GIS data sources.

Index Terms— Aster, FCC, DEM, Georeferance, Geocoding, GIS, GPS, Koyana, LANDSAT, NDVI.

——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION higher than the DEMs generated from the interpolation of

the contours from S.O.I. toposheets, are emerging as a

T
he Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and
Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital
Elevation Model (GDEM) was developed jointly by
the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) of
Japan and the United States National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA). The ASTER GDEM was
contributed by METI and NASA to the Global Earth
Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and is available
at no charge to users via electronic download from the
Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC)
of Japan and NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active
Archive Center (LP DAAC). The ASTER GDEM is in
GeoTIFF format with geographic lat/long coordinates and
a 1 arc second (approximately 30 m) grid. Here the effort
has been made to derive many GIS layers like extracted
contour, drainage, various slope maps for the slope
analysis, flow direction map and flow accumulation map
and moreover by using the ASTER GDEM as base, the
stereo pairs of satellite imageries have also been extracted.
This extracted information can efficiently be used for
further hydrographic calculations and applications. The
area selected for this basic data generation belongs to
the part of Koyana River, which is the important right
tributary of Krishna River in its upper basin of western
Maharashtra. Aster GDEM, having the accuracy level
• V. M. Shinde is currently working as a Assistant Professor at
Rajarambapu Institute of Technology Sakharale, Shivaji
University Kolhapur, India, PH-09850882169. E-mail:
vaibhav.shinde@ritindia.edu
• P.K.Deshpande is currently working as a Associate Professor
at Walchand College of Engineering Sangli, Shivaji University
Kolhapur, India, PH-09422402122. E-mail:
p73122@yahoo.com
• M.B.kumthekar is currently working as a Professor and Head
at Government College of Engineering Karad , Shivaji
University Kolhapur, India, PH-09422039224. E-mail:
kumthekarmb@yahoo.com
ICICE-2013
very effective tool for a planning engineer for the decision
making at strategic levels especially in the areas of
watershed management,flood or landslide hazard zonation
mapping and it’s vulnerability assessment, infrastructural
development planning etc. The present effort tries to co-
relate the output from ASTER DEM with the flood hazard
related data generated from IRS 1D PAN data.
2 STUDY AREA
The Koyana River, fifth order perennial stream basin which
is about 119 km. in length. The basin is developed in the
uppermost reaches of the drainage system of the Koyana
River, in Satara district of Maharashtra and is included
with in the survey of India topographic sheet no.47G/11.
The study area is lying between the latitude 170 01’ 55.71N
730 01’39.10E and longitude 170 17’ 23.83N 730 39’ 53.26E
The Koyana River collects its water from the Koyana Dam
Constructed at Deshmukhwadi, Tal-Patan, Dist-Satara.and
it’s tributaries Kera, Morna and Wang. Also from the
Sahyadri ranges on both side of Koyana river and drains
in an area of about 120sq.km.The important townships
present in the area are Helwak, Yerad, Patan, Navarasta,
Marali Diwashi, Malharpeth, Navdi, Mhopre, Tambve,
Supne, Karad etc. The area under study experiences
semiarid to sub humid climate. During the period from
June to October it receives heavy rainfall, the annual
rainfall being in excess of 2000 mm in Patan Tahsil and the
rainfall amount drops to less than 600 mm in Karad Tahsil.
The summer is dry with maximum temperature reading up
to 38p C to 40p C.
Fig.No.1. Location of the Study Area.
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3 OBJECTIVES
In the present study flood level mapping of Koyana river
basin has been carried out along with the ASTER GDEM
based layers derived in ILWIS software developed by
ITC, Netherlands. Flood zonation map, with the help of
available flood level map from Koyana dam authority, has
also been generated. ASTER GDEM is in GeoTIFF format
with geographic lat/long coordinates and a 1 arc second
(approximately 30 m) grid. Here the effort has been made
to derive many GIS layers like extracted contour, drainage,
various slope maps for the slope analysis, flow direction
map and flow accumulation map and moreover by using
the ASTER GDEM as base the stereo pairs of satellite
imageries have also been extracted. The generated stereo
pairs are displayed in the form of anaglyphs that help in
easy on screen planning or other digitization operations.
This extracted information can efficiently be used for
further hydrographic calculations and applications.
4 METHODOLOGY OF GENERATING
LAYERS
The methodology adopted for the flood hazard zonation
mapping in the study area, includes the various
geoinformatical tools comprising geographical information
system (GIS) technology and the satellite remote sensing
(RS) techniques. The guideline provided by NNRMS
course (Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Four calidas
road Dehradun). Study materials and the guidelines
provided by the Koyana authorities have been adopted
for present study. The generated RS layers have been
interpreted by the conventional photo recognition
elements or image interpretation keys along with the
generated GIS data base for the decision making i.e. related
to the flood management and mitigation techniques.
4.1 Preparation of the base map
The survey of India topographic map in 1:50000 scales
with 20m contour interval in a digital format have been
used as the basic source of the spatial information of
study area. The manually prepared flood level map
provided by the Koyana dam authority has also been
used as a base map after converting the same into digital
format. The Landsat seven TM data has been procured
from the web source for band four (0.77-0.90μm), band
three (0.63-0.69μm) band two (0.52-0.60μm) as the same
spectral resolution is used in the creation of standard
false colour composite imagery (Std.FCC)
The 5.6m spatial resolution pan data has been purchased
from National Remote Sensing Center, Balanagar, and
Hyderabad in standard IRS data format. Instead of the
conventional method of interpolating the digitized contour
and getting the DEM. To avoid or to minimize the
cartographic errors, 1m DEM of the study area has been
procured from web source. It has been generated by the
aster RADAR; the microwave based active remote sensing
system.
The mobile handset having the offline GPS facility has
been specially procured for the ground truthing of web
based and generated RS&GIS layers. It has been found to
be equally effective tool in comparison with the routine
GPS handset available in the market.
4.2 Preparation of Thematic layers
The topographic maps those were in the tiff. Format have
been ‘imported via geogateway’ tool in the ILWIS
environment and after making their colour composite the
required sub map were extracted and with the help of glue
292
operation, maps were glued in a single georeference.
WGS84 related co-ordinate system have been assigned
to the map with the help of tie point having known co-
ordinates. Koyana River has been digitized from the
generated base map. The flood level map provided by the
Koyana authority have also been imported and glued in a
single georeferance by the same way as that of
topographic map. Geocoding and Georeferencing of this
map was carried out from the reference of earlier base
maps.
H.F.L. for 2,55,000 cusecs discharge from Koyana dam
segment has been digitized in the value domain and thus
segment available flood data was brought in the digital
format. ASTER Radar 1m DEM has been used for further
analysis. A sub map of ASTER data was extracted that
covers both Krishna and Koyana river basins up to Karad
city fig.no.2. It has been found thatafter overlaying the
2,55,000 cusecs H.F.L.on ASTER DEM it covers more or
less the elevation of 600m.Keeping this in mind a 600
contour was extracted from ASTER DEM by the slicing
operating. ASTER DEM was sliced for elevations below
600 and elevation above 600.The generated sliced raster
data was vectorized to be converted to a polygon map
again a polygon map was converted to a segment layers
that was edited in value domain, all unwanted segments
were deleted and only the 600 contour from Koyana dam
to Karad was retained and given the value of 2, 55,000
cusecs as H.F.L. map Fig.No.4. This layer matches with
the layer provided by Koyana authority from the same
layer a polygon boundary map was digitized along the
river banks to define the polygonal study area.
Fig.No.2. Digital Elevation Model of Krishna and Koyana
River. Basin.
ASTER DEM was operated for fill sink so as to get the
continuous flow direction and flow accumulation maps.
Flow direction map was prepared by the ILWIS command
and from the generated flow direction map the flow
accumulation map was prepared .Each pixel in a flow
accumulation map indicate the total no. of pixels from the
rainfall data. The total volume of water (assuming zero
percolation loss) can be calculated. The area below 600
R.L. was used after converting it to polygon and raster to
extract the DEM through the boundary of study area and
the extracted DEM was used for further analysis. After
applying df dx and df dy filters the East-West and North
South slopes were extracted respectively and with help of
standard command slope percentage map, slope map in
degrees and slope aspect map and slope shape map were
prepared. Anaglyph of PAN data shows 3d model of the
study area, derived from Aster DEM.
Fig.No.3.Flood hazard Zonation Map.
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Fig.No.4 High Flood Level at 255000 cusecs.
The slope percentage map was sliced to get the IMSD
slope classification and slope degree map was sliced to
get the Youngs slope classification of the banks of Koyana
River. Slope aspect map was sliced into eight conventional
directions and slope shape map was sliced to obtain the
concave, convex straight slope data. A LANDSAT 7TM
data having 30m spatial resolution has been used to obtain
a standard FCC & further land cover analysis. The three
bands viz. band four( 0.77-0.90μm),band three(0.63-0.69μm)
band two(0.52-0.60μm) imported seperated in the ILWIS
environment after ensuring the proper geocoding,
georeferanceing and the WGS 84 co-ordinate system to
this image data. A standard false colour composite was
prepared by Ilwis command a polygon boundary of study
area was added on the FCC to get the lower left and upper
right co-ordinate that are useful for the sub map
exctraction. From the fullscreen of the Landsat seven TM
data the required submaps were extracted Fig. No.5. A
segment of mainstream of Koyana River was digitized with
the help of Landsat standard FCC.
Fig. No.5. Spreading of water in case of dam Failureon
Landsat TM Data.
A beautiful technique of band ratioing was used in the
supervised classification of Landsat data as a part of band
ratioing technique. The three pseudo-NDVI’s (Normalised
differ are Vegetation Index map). Three NDVI’s were
created b using band 4-band 3, band3-band2, and band4-
band2 combitations. A sample sets was prepared by
training the pixel of FCC for water vegetation and barren
land. The same sample set was used to classify the mapset
of NDVI’s and thus the land cover map has been prepared
after the supervised classification. The operated ILWIS
command. IRS 1D pan data procured from NRSC was
imported after converting it into ILWIS data format. A
new co-ordinate system was assigned to the pan data
which is related to the co-ordinate of Landsat of Landsat
seven and aster data. After adding the layer earlier H.F.L
segment, the totally new flood levels were digitized for 2,
55,000 cusecs and for 2200 cusecs, 93000 cusecs.
It is assumed after the past experience that during the
heavy rainfall the 93000 cusecs discharge from koyana
dam along with additional discharge of tributary like
Kapana, Kera, Morana and Wangna discharge flows
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9th and 10 th of May 2013
without any spill out from the narrow flood plains around
the mainstream therefore the additional segments for 2200
plus tributaries discharge and 93000 plus tributeries
discharge were digitized. Flow accumulation map was used
to calculate the additional discharge from each confluence
point of tributary with Koyana mainstream. Thus the flood
level segment map becomes ready for further analysis.
The flood level map, prepared in value domain was
interpolated and digital flood discharge model was created
Fig.No.3. If IRS 1D pan or any geocoded, georeferanced
high resolution satellite data is overlain on flood discharge
model then only with a single click at any specified point
on the imagery the discharged value in cusecs for which
the same point to on the ground shall be inundated is
displayed. This map can be easily be used for the zonation
of flood level. Here in the present study the flood
discharge model has been sliced into eight flood hazard
zones .This layers along the interpretative aspect of the
satellite data can be used for the assessment of degree of
hazard and vulnerability condition along both the banks
of Koyana River.
5 INTERPRETATIONS AND ANALYSIS OF
GIS LAYERS
Koyana basin has steep abutements slopes on both the
banks.
Both the banks are marked by steep hills form Koyanagar
to Karad.The main stream has been developed, eroding
the compact massive basaltic rocks .Therefore there is no
chance of chaning the course of river, as that of river
of north India. Most of the agricultural lands are developed
after leveling. The considerable foothill slopes. The main
stream volume and depth is considerably large with respect
to the cusecs discharge from dam. This itself minimizes
the flood hazard. Flood hazard is limited to certain area of
Helwak, Patan and the near bank villages before Karad
in extrem monsoon conditions though; the dam discharge
and the contribution from tributaries are too high. The
river is not much flood prone because of the high carrying
capacity of the river itself. Flood related constructions
like, gabian wall, retaining wall, increasing height of
bridges, counterfort retaining wall (near Patan) etc. may
help to reduce the vulnerability at the particular few places.
6 CONCLUSION
The use of flood models can help to prevent undesirable
side effects of the developments and can assist in
implementing effective mitigation measures. This could
help in avoiding the event like a flood turning into a
disaster because of unwise land use. Further more the
visualization power of flood simulation will help to bridge
the gap between scientific community and responsible
authorities. For non experts it is usually hard to imagine
what could be the extent of a potential of flood. Simulation
can be a valuable communication to visualize the flood
hazard in terms of magnitude, area affected and return
intervals. The integration of flood hazard, the vulnerability
and value of the various land use units into flood risk
assessment is crucial. However, it can be safely stated
that high resolution images will play a key role in the
flood risk analysis. The effort were made for flood
forecasting, flood plain zoning and disaster preparedness
for the settlement in Koyana river basin through the
remote sensing data interpretation and GIS data base were
generated after vector digitization and raster analysis.
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It is attempted to demonstrate the utility of RS and GIS
technique in flood risk assessment study especially in
areas which are having steep relief inaccessible from
conventional survey point of view. In this project the study
of Koyana river basin is carried out. Koyana river basin is
having very high relief and the river is flowing through
straight slope. After the Patan volume of the Koyana River
mainstream george is large enough so that the most of the
flood discharge through Koyana dam is carried without
causing the flood condition. The slope maps created in
the GIS environment have indicated that the steeper slope
are very common on the both the bank of Koyana river
with high basaltic rock outcropping.
It is also observed from the DEM, which is generated
after superimposing the contour, confirmation from the
ground truthing field checks, and also from the verification
of the past records that, Sangamnagar Bridge gets
submerged every year at 30000 cusecs discharge from the
Koyana dam, which paralyses the normal life of that area
and disturbs Konkan borne traffic on SH-78. It is required
to construct bridge which will non-submersible during
the flood. When discharge from the Koyana dam is more
than the 90000 cusecs then flood situation is created in
and around the Patan town. If the discharge is further
increases which disturbs normal life, hence to avoid the
damages due to flood and spreading of the water in the
Patan, it is necessary to construct sound retaining
structures like gabbion wall, retaining wall etc. At Nisre it
is also observed erosion of soil strata on the bank of the
river due to flashing flood, it is necessary to provide
protective measures such as gabbion wall and pitching of
the river bank. Karad is an important city in western
Maharashtra; It is an educational hub with increasing
industrial and commercial activities. It is also gateway to
Konkan and hence Karad has its own important position
on the map of India. However Shukrawar peth area of
Karad observes the floods even as the small discharge of
1, 42,000 cusecs. It is likely the river bank of Koyana and
Krishna will get eroded due to flashing floods; to avoid
these type of the damages it is necessary to construct the
retaining structures such as gabion wall in the Shukrawar
peth and Somwar peth of Karad.
It is observed that ASTER GDEM is an effective tool for
many applications and has potential benefits in planning
against flood disaster management and mitigation. ASTER
GDEM is having the accuracy level higher than the DEM
generated from the topographic map, and emerging as a
very effective tool for a planning engineer for the decision
making at strategic levels especially in the areas of
watershed management, hazard zonation mapping and it’s
vulnerability assessment, infrastructural development
planning etc. This work is an attempted to co-relate the
output from ASTER GDEM with the flood hazard related
data generated from IRS 1D PAN data. LANDSAT 7 TM
data is very much useful for supervised classification of
study area by creating the sample sets. Supervised
classification clears the idea about how much vegetation,
barren land and water body was inundated during the
flood. Young’s classification is most standard slope
classification so far used by the civil engineer.
India in the recent years have made of significant
developments in the area of disaster management. New
culture of preparedness, quick response, strategic thinking
and prevention is ushered. The administrative frame work
is being streamlined to deal with various disaster efforts
are also being made to make disaster management a
294
community movement wherein there is greater
participation of the people. However, a lot more needs to
done to make disaster management a mass movement in
near future. Considering all the factors above disaster
management plan for Patan tahsil is prepared with due
discussion of Tahsildar Patan.
It is a need to understand the long and short term
implication of floods and to plan accordingly requires the
analysis combined data on metrology, topography, soil
characteristics, vegetation, hydrology, settlement,
infrastructure, transportation, population, social
economics and material recourses.
Ultimately, properly coordinated disaster management plan
with the help of all new technologies and information
systems can surely reduce loss of lives, property etc. to
minimize and give an up hand in flourishing the economy
of the country.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors express sincere thanks to the authorities from
Government College of Engineering, Karad for permitting
to undertake this study. Authors also expresss sincere
thanks to the officer, engineers and especially Mr. Deepak
Modak, Chief Engineer Koyana Dam Project, for the kind
Co-operation.
REFERENCES
[1] Anisoara Irimescu, Vasile Craciunescu, Gheorghe Stancalie,
Argentina.Nertan, “Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques for Flood
Monitoring and Damage Assessment. Study Case in Romania” pp.1-9
(BALWOIS 2010 - Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia - 25, 29 May 2010).
[2] Archana Sarkar, R.D. Singh and A.K. Lohani “Living with Floodplain
Rivers – Indian Scenario” pp.1-8 (National Institute of Hydrology,
Roorkee-247667, India).
[3] Flood Impact Analysis using GIS “A case study for Lake Roxen and
Lake Glan-Sweden” 2005-08. ) pp.32-48 (Master Thesis).
[4] G.Venkata Bapalu, Rajiv Sinha, “GIS in Flood Hazard Mapping: a
case study Of Kosi River Basin, India”) pp.1-3. (Map Middle East
2005)
[5] H. P. Samant, “Flooding potential zonation using conditional
probabilities – A case study on Mumbai’s monsoonal flooding”
pp.1-4. (Map Malaysia 2006).
[6] Joy Sanyal and Xi Xi Lu, “Application of GIS in flood hazard
mapping: a case study of Gangetic West Bengal, India”
pp.1-2. (Map Asia 2003).
[7] Kshirsagar Pradeep Jaywantrao, “Application of RS and GIS in Disaster
Management of High Relief Bank of Western Ghat”. pp.1-10,132-
133. 2006-07
[8] Kulapramote Prathumchai and Lal Samarakoon, “Application of
Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques for Flood Vulnerability and
Mitigation Planning in Munshiganj District of Bangladesh” pp.4-9
(2008).
[9] Mukesh Vyas, “Advantages of LiDAR in Flood Modelling and
Important Parameters for LiDAR” pp.1-3 (Map India 2008).
[10] Mr. Falak Nawaz, Mr. Mohammad Shafique, “Data integration for
flood risk analysis by using GIS/RS as tools” pp.1-4 (Map Asia
2003).
[11] Ping Chen, Soo Chin Liew, Hock Lim, “Flood detection using
multitemporal Radarsat and ERS SAR data” pp.132 (ACRS 1999).
[12] R.K.Khanna, C.K.Agrawal, Pravin Kumar, “Remote Sensing And
Gis Applications In Flood Management” pp.2-10 (Central Water
Commission 2007)
[13] T.P. Kafle, M.K. Hazarika, K.G. Shrestha, “Integration Of Remote
Sensing And Gis With Flood Simulation Model For Flood Hazard
Mapping In The Bagmati River, Nepal” pp.257-266 (November
2006, Phuket, Thailand)
[14] Yang Cunjian Zhou Chenghu Wan Qing, “Deciding the flood extent
with RADARSAT SAR data and image fusion” pp.1-5 (ACRS 1999).
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Assessment of Surface Water Chemistry of

Jakkur Lake, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
M. Inayathulla and Jai M. Paul
Abstract— The hydrochemical investigation in the present study is restricted to the major ions concentrations, distributions, their
relative abundance and the pattern of the variability in water chemistry. On the basis of the water chemistry an evaluation of
surface water for domestic and irrigation uses is established. Six water samples were collected from various locations of Jakkur Lake
for a period of one year at 30 days intervals. The samples were analysed for various water quality parameters such as pH, Electric
Conductivity, Total dissolved solids, Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Bicarbonate, Carbonate, Sulphate, Nitrate and
Chloride. It is inferred from Piper trilinear diagram that the water is mixed type. Besides, suitability of water for irrigation is
evaluated based on sodium adsorption ratio, Residual Sodium Carbonate, Stiff diagram, sodium percent, salinity hazard and USSL
diagram. The study points out that water from the study area are within the excellent irrigation water class with permissible salinity
hazard and are suitable for irrigation purposes.

Index Terms— Correlation, Hydrochemistry, Irrigation water quality, RSC, SAR, Surface water, USSL.

——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION 2 STUDY AREA

W
ater quality analysis is one of the most important
aspects in surface water studies. The hydro
chemical study reveals quality of water that is
suitable for drinking, agriculture and Indus trial purposes.
The chemistry of surface water is altered by the material
through which they pass through. Residual sodium
carbonate (RSC) can be used as a criterion for finding the
suitability of irrigation waters (Sadashivaiah c. et. al,
2008)[1]. It was observed that the criteria used in the
classification of waters for particular purpose considering
the individual concentration may not find its suitability
for other purposes and better results can be obtained
only by considering the combined chemistry of all the
ions rather than individual or paired ionic characters.
Chemical classification also throws light on the
concentration of various predominant cations, anions and
their interrelationships. A number of techniques and
methods have been developed to interpret the chemical
data.
The objective of the present work is to discuss the major
ion chemistry and to classify the water in order to evaluate
the water suitability for domestic and irrigation uses and
its suitability for municipal, agricultural and industrial uses
of Jakkur Lake water of Bangalore. In this case the methods
proposed by Piper [2], Back and Hanshaw [3]. Wilcox [4]
and USSL (US Salinity Laboratory) classification have
been used to study critically the hydrochemical
characteristics of Jakkur lake water.
————————————————
• Dr.M. Inayathulla, Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering, UVCE, Bangalore University, Bangalore – 56,
India, PH-0919035860363. E-mail:
drinayath@gmailmail.com
• Jai M. Paul, PhD Research Scholor, Department of Civil
Engineering, UVCE, Bangalore University, Bangalore – 56,
India, PH-0919632251238. E-mail:
jaimpaul@rediffmail.com
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For the present study, an urban surface water body of
Jakkur Lake of Bangalore city was selected. Jakkur is
located at latitude 13o042 N and 77o362 E and is in the
North-East corner of Bangalore city and eastern side of
NH-4, the same is seen in SOI topo sheet No. 57G/12. The
average depth of annual rainfall for the study area is 811
mm.
3 METHODOLOGY
The water samples were collected from different locations
of Jakkur lake. One liter of water samples were collected in
polythene bottles for a period of one year at 30 days
intervals.
Various physical parameters like pH, EC and TDS were
determined at the site with the help of digital portable
water analyzer kit (ELICO PE-138). Calcium (Ca 2+ ),
Magnesium (Mg2+), Chloride(Cl-), Carbonate (CO32-) and
Bicarbonate (HCO 3-) by volumetric titration methods.
Nitrate (NO 3-) and Sulphate (SO42-) were estimated by
turbidity method. While Sodium (Na+) and Pottassium (K+)
determined by Flamephotometry (Elico CL 378). To
evaluate the data quality, the accuracy of the water analysis
was checked with the anion-cation balance.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The maximum minimum and average data showed in Table
1. All results are compared with standard limit
recommended by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) [5],
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)[6] and
WHO[7]. The principle of the anion-cation balance is that
the sum of cations and sum of anions are equal because
the solution must be electrically neutral. In electrically
neutral solution, the sum of the cations should be equal
to the sum of anions in meq/L. Based on the
electroneutrality, analysis of water samples with a percent
balance error <5% is regarded as acceptable (Fetter,
2001)[8]. The analysis result of all the samples is within
the acceptable range of the reliability check of
electroneutrality. The cations anions balance results are
found to be reliable as the balance does not deviate from
the 5% criterion.
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4.1 Hydrochemical Facies of lake water
4.1.1 IAH Classification of water
The concentration of cations and anions are incorporated
in Table 2. Classification of water depends on the principle
of the IAH (International Association of Hydrogeologist,
1979). Total equivalents of cations and anions were taken
as 100% and ions more than 20% (meq/L) were evaluated
for the classification.
4.1.2 Hill-Piper Diagram
One method of comparing the results of chemical analyses
of ground water is with a trilinear diagram (Figure 2). This
diagram consists of two lower triangles that show the
percentage distribution, on the milliequivalent basis, of
the major cations ( Mg++, Ca++ and Na+ plus K+) and the
major anions (Cl -, SO42- and CO3 2- plus HCO3 -) and a
diamond shaped part above that summarizes the dominant
cation and anion to indicate the final water type. This
classification system shows the anion and cation facies
in terms of major-ion percentages. The water types are
designated according to the area in which they occur on
the diagram segments.
The cation distribution indicates that the samples range
in composition form predominantly sodium/potassium to
mixed cation. In the anion triangle (triangle on the right),
all the samples plotted towards the Cl- corner indicating
chloride type water. The diamond diagram shows that most
of the groundwater samples fall in the field of mixed Ca2+ -
Mg2+ - Cl- - Na type of water. It is also observed from the
piper plot that groundwater in the region is alkaline earths
(Ca++ & Mg++) significantly exceeds the alkalis (Na+ & K+)
and the strong acids (SO4— & Cl-) exceed the weak acids
(HCO3-).
Figure. 3 Stiff diagrams of major ion analyses of water
4.1.3 Stiff Diagram
The major ion analyses of water from the study area were
plotted in the form Stiff diagram[9]. Cations are plotted on
the left of the axes and anions are plotted on the right in
units of milliequivalents per liter (meq/L). The waters of
the study area are classified into three water type namely
Cl-Na-HCO3-Mg, Cl-Na-Mg-HCO3 and Cl-Na-HCO3-Ca.
The stiff diagram agreed with the above mentioned water
facies types. The high Cl-HCO3 concentration is due to
the entry of sewage in to the lake or weathering of
carbonate rocks exposed in the study area.
4.2 Groundwater Quality for Irrigation Purposes
The concentration and composition of dissolved
constituents in a water determine its quality for irrigation
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use, several chemical constituents affect water suitability
for irrigation from which the total concentration of the
soluble salts and the relative proportion of sodium to
calcium and magnesium. Moreover suitability of water for
irrigation is depended on the effect of some mineral
constituents in the water on both the soil and the plant.
The following parameters were used to judge the
suitability of the water for irrigating crops.
4.2.1 Total Dissolved Solids
Regarding to the TDS content the water is considered
satisfactory when it contains lesser than 1000 mg/L, fair if
it contains between 1000 to 2000 mg/L, and inferior when
if salinity exceeds 2000mg/L. The TDS values below 2000
mg/L in all sampling stations hence lake water is
considered suitable for irrigation uses.
4.2.2 Electrical Conductivity
The most significant water quality guideline on crop
productivity is the salinity hazard as measured by electrical
conductivity (EC). The primary effect of high EC water is
the inability of the plant to compete with ions in the soil.
The EC values of samples in the study area varying
between 925 ì S/cm and 2189 ì S/cm and falling in high
salinity zone.
4.2.3 Residue Sodium Carbonate (RSC)
The RSC is a valuable parameter that has a great influence
on the suitability of irrigation water. The RSC significantly
influence the pH, EC and SAR of the irrigation water. The
samples of the study area have RSC between -3.0 meq/L
to 0.2 meq/L, indicating good quality water for irrigation
purpose. Continuous use of waters having RSC more than
2.5 meq/L leads to salt build up which may hinder the air
and water movement by clogging the soil pores.
4.2.4 Sodium Percent (Na%)
It is the ratio of Na in epm in water to the total cation epm
multiplied by 100. Irrigation water with Na% > 60% may
result in Na accumulation and possibly a deterioration of
soil structure, infiltration and aeration. Wilcox
(1995)[4]classified water based on Na% as good (20 – 40
Na %), permissible (40-60 Na%) and doubtful (60-80 Na%)
. The values of the all collected water samples ranged
from 40.9 to 56.6 % and fall under the category of
permissible.
4.2.5 Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR)
SAR is an important parameter for determination of
suitability of irrigation water. The SAR values <10 is
classified as excellent for irrigation. Values 10-28 are
Figure. 4 USSL classification of groundwater
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TABLE 3
Correlation matrix of water samples
moderate and >28 are hazardous. The highest value of
SAR value of present study is 4.5 (Table 2), indicating
that water is excellent for irrigation purposes.
When the SAR and specific conductance of water are
known, the classification of water for irrigation can be
determined by graphically plotting these values on the
US salinity (USSL)[11] diagram (Figure 4). All the samples
in the study area grouped within the C3S1 class.
4.3 Correlation Anaysis
Correlation analysis is useful for interpreting groundwater
quality data and relating them to specific hydro geological
processes. These tools are quite useful in characterizing
and obtaining first hand information of the groundwater
system than actually going through complex methods and
procedures. The degree of linear association between any
two of the water quality parameters is measured by the
simple correlation coefficient (r). Correlation matrix for
different water quality parameters along the significance
level (2 tailed) is shown in Table 3. It is observed that the
significant correlation between EC and HCO3, TDS, Cl, K
and Ca. There is also good correlation between HCO3 and
Cl, K and Ca and between Cl and Na, K and Ca.
5 CONCLUSION
The study has thrown light on the hydrochemistry, quality
and suitability for irrigation purposes. It is noticed that
there is a good correlation between EC and HCO3, TDS,
Cl, K and Ca. There is also good correlation between HCO3
and Cl, HCO3 and K, Ca and between Cl and Na, K and Ca.
Characterisation of the water using Piper trilinear and Stiff
diagrams has indicated three water facies types namely
Cl-Na-HCO3-Mg, Cl-Na-Mg-HCO3 and Cl-Na-HCO3-Ca.
In addition, all the water from the area are within the
excellent irrigation water class with permissible salinity
hazard and are suitable for most crops on most soils.
298
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are grateful to DST and CWRDM, Calicut,
India for financial support and to Dr. Shahul Hameed A,
Senior Scientist and Head, Isotope Hydrology Division,
CWRDM, Calicut for his valuable suggestions.
REFERENCES
[1] Sadashivaiah C., Ramakrishnaiah C.R, and G. Ranganna
(2008),Hydrochemical Analysis and Evalation of
Groundwater Quality in Tumkur Taluk, Karnataka State,
India; Int. Journal of Environmental Research and Public
Health, 5(3), 158-164.
[2] Pipper A.M (1953), A graphic procedure I the geochemical
interpretation of water analysis, U.S. Geol. Survey
Groundwater Note no. 12.
[3] Back M, Hanshaw B.B (1965), Advances in hydro science,
In chemical Geohydrology, Academic Press, New York, Vol.
11, p-49
[4] Wilcox L. V (1948), The quality waterfor irrigation use,
U.S Dept. Agric. Bull, 1962, 40.
[5] BIS 10500, 1991: Specifications for drinking water, Indian
Standard Institutions (Bureau of Indian Standards), New
Delhi.
[6] ICMR Manual of standards of quality for drinking water
supplies (1975). ICMR, New Delhi.
[7] WHO (1992). International Standards for Drinking Water.
World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
[8] Fetter C W (1990), Applied Hydrology, New Delhi, India:
GBS Publishers & Distributers.
[9] Stiff Jr.., H.A, (1960), The interpretation of chemical water
analysis by means of patterns, J. Petrol. Technol, 3, 15-16
[10] APHA (1995): Standard Methods (18 Ed.) for the
examination of water and waste water, APHA, AWWA,
WPCE, Washington DC.
[11] USSL (1954), Diagnosis and improvement of saline and
Alkali soils, Handbook 60, Department of Agriculture,
Washington,D.C.
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Desertification, the global environmental problem

and it’s impact on food & water resources
Er. S. Venkateswara Rao, Dr. P.G. Sastry, Dr. Vaishali Ghorpade
Abstract— Desertification is a global environmental problem as critical as climate change and has a great impact on food and
water resources in the world. If we do not rehabilitate the degraded lands and stop the march of the deserts, there will be a severe
shortage of ‘Water resources’ in the world to an extent of 40 percent forecast by the year 2030. For India, the annual water
demand is expected to increase to almost 1500 cubic kilo- meters by the year 2030, against a projected availability of 744 cubic
kilo- meters, a deficit of 50 percent. The shortage of water will have an adverse effect on food production and the world may
also experience unprecedented mass migrations. Aroud the World about 50 million people may be displaced within next 10 years
as a result of desertification.

The present paper gives an assessment of desertification threats in the world and the innovative ideas for adopting sustainable
practices to stop The desertification, for saving the earth from global warming resulting to climate change.

Index Terms— deforestation, great green wall project, over- cultivation, over- grazing, salt problem, terrace cultivation, zero
net land degradation
——————————  ——————————

1 INTRODUCTION billions by 2050, according to the FAO report.

The sands across the world are crawling, turning vast
stretches of land into desert every year. Their relentless
march invading villages, farm lands and water bodies
has made millions of people ecological refugees across
the world. These observations are made by Dr. Mansour
N’Diaye, Chef De Cabinet of the United Nations
Convention to combat Desertification (UNCCD) on the
eve of World Day to combat Desertification (WDCD)
observed on June 17, 2012.The day’s slogan is ‘ Healthy
soil sustains your life. Let us go land degradation neutral’.
The WDCD is being observed every year since 1995 to
promote awareness relating to international cooperation
to combat desertification and the effect of draught. [1]
The recent REPORT of United Nations Food &
Agriculture Organization (FAO) named ‘State of the
World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and
Agriculture’ called for an immediate remedial action to
improve the efficiency of land and water systems around
the globe which are now facing a concrete risk of gradual
breakdown of their productive capacity. The world’s most
significant non-renewable resource is fertile soil which
is the peel of productive land. Each year about 12 m. ha.
of land, the area 3 times size of Switzerland, are lost due
to desertification.
It is a challenging task of providing sufficient food for
the world’s population which is expected to reach nine
————————————————
• Er. S. Venkateswara Rao [Executive Engineer/ retired in
Irrigation department] is a research scholar pursuing Ph. D
(Civil Engineering) in Jawaharlal Nehru Technological
University, Anantapur of Andhra Pradesh (India) PH
04023732191, E-mail : sweerao@yahoo.co.in
• Dr.P.G. Sastry is the Director & Head (L&D) Ramky Group,
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (India) PH 04027634985 E-
mail :pgsastry@yahoo.co.uk
• Dr.Vaishali Ghorpade is the Associate professor of Civil
Engineering,JNTU College of Engineering, Anantapur,
Andhra Pradesh (India) PH09440497939 E-mail :
ghorpade-vaishali@yahoo.co.in
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Desertification is a global environmental problem as
critical as climate change and has a great impact on food
and water resources in the world. If we do not rehabilitate
the degraded lands and stop the march of deserts, there
will be a shortage of ‘Water resources’ in the world forecast
to an extent of 40 percent by the year 2030. [2]
2 THREAT OF DESERTIFICATION
Desertification is a type of land degradation in which a
relatively dry land region becomes increasingly arid,
typically losing it’s bodies of water as well as vegetation
and wildlife. It is caused by a variety of factors, such as
climate change and human activities. Desertification is a
significant global ecological and environmental problem.
The most widely accepted definition of desertification is
that of Princeton University Dictionary as ‘ The process
of fertile land transforming in to desert typically as a result
of deforestation, drought or improper/ inappropriate
agriculture’. [3]
Desertification is a phenomenon where the land gets
degraded so that it cannot be used for growing plants,
trees or cultivation. Usually the land degradation is seen
in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions of the world.
Desertification is an environmental problem which adds
to and worsens the impact of climate change. This is not
just an ecological problem but also leading to shrinking
of food and water resources. Against the projected global
deficit of water to an extent of 40 percent, it is even
projected more as 50 percent in India by the year 2030.
Due to increasing population and higher levels of food
consumption especially in urban areas, the global level of
food production need to be increased by 70 percent after
40 years.
The major deserts in the world are expanding at an
alarming rate. Deserts in China, Mangolia and Africa are
invading the surrounding regions. The drought in the
horn of Africa affecting 15 million people is a tragedy that
illustrates why desertification, land degradation and
drought matter not only for Africa, but for global
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community. In India, the deserts in western part are
expanding in to arid and semi arid lands. The dry lands
are becoming sand dunes every year. [4]
The recent study on the rate of warming of earth published
in ‘Science’ shows the earth is on track of becoming the
hottest which is warmer than most of the past 11,300 years.
The statistics show the earth is heating up every year for
the past 100 years and average temperatures now highest
in the last 2000 years. The warming up of earth is because
of global land degradation and draught increasing very
fast. [5]
The other effects of desertification include disasters such
as sand storms that wipe out habitable lands, vanishing
of aquifers, reduction of bio diversity etc., If we do not
rehabilitate the degraded lands and stop the marching of
deserts, there will be global shortage of food and water
including mass migrations. The United Nations
Convention to combat Desertification (UNCCD) is setting
a sustainable development goal of ‘Zero net land
degradation’ by 2030.
Land degradation directly affects 1.5 billion people every
year. Action is required to avoid increasing loss of land,
highlighting the efforts to secure long term sustainable
land management. Sustainable development goals before
every country for zero land degradation and effective
steps required to check desertification with allocation of
needed funds for rehabilitation measures for degraded
lands are the prioritized items in the world. Countries
should come together to formulate various programs to
stop desertification.
3 CAUSES OF DESERTIFICATION
Dry lands occupy approximately 40-41 percent of earth’s
land area and are home to more than 2 billion people. It
has been estimated that some 10-20 percent of dry lands
are already degraded, the total area affected by
desertification being 6 -12 million sq. kms, that about 1-6
percent of the habitants of dry lands live in desertified
areas, and that a billion people are under threat from further
desertification. The immediate cause is the removal of
most vegetation. This is driven by a number of factors,
alone or in combination, such as draught, climate shifts,
tillage for agriculture, over grazing and deforestation for
fuel or construction material.
The Sahara is currently expanding south at a rate of up to
8 km per year. Across Africa, desertification and draught
are causing problems in places like Ethiopia, Eritrea,
Somalia, Zambia & Zimbabwe. [6]
Desertification is a long process involving issues like
deforestation, over-grazing, over-cultivation, logging,
300
increase in population, industrialization and poor land use
practices. The dry climate and long spells of draught with
heavy winds add to the expansion of deserts. According
to the statistics, two billion people are effected by
desertification and degradation of land. 41 percent of land
mass all over the world is prone to desertification.
4 URBANIZATION IN THE WORLD
4.1 Impact of urbanization
Linear infrastructure projects like roads and power lines
as a urban growth development can also have negative
effects in the world. A range of ecological impacts on the
natural areas include habitat loss and fragmentation,
spread of invasive alien species, fires, animal mortality,
disruption of animal corridors, increase in pollution and
social impacts like insecurity among tribals.The water
bodies in the form of lakes in urban areas are becoming
the victims of encroachments under urban development.
During the last few decades, the natural forest cover all
over the world has declined due to loss, degradation and
conversion. Safeguarding the remaining forests is critical
for threatened biodiversity, watersheds, minimizing of
conflicts among people & wildlife.
4.2 Deforestation
Deforestation is one of the main causes of global warming.
Huge mature trees are cut down for timber and this is a
serious problem in the rain forests. Not only are animals
driven from the habitats, but without the lush tree canopy,
the soil begins to dry out. Since the trees add water vapor
to atmosphere, the air becomes drier too. Also trees absorb
the harmful green house gases that contribute for global
warming. But without the trees, these gases continue to
enter the atmosphere at a higher rate.
5 POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO
DESERTIFICATION
The critical issues to tackle the desertification that require
the attention include deforestation, over-cultivation &
over-grazing.
To tackle the issue of deforestation, replanting of trees
especially in shelter belts can help stabilization of soil
and cut down on erosion by wind and rain. Make sure
water is not evaporated on the surface which wastes water
and increases its salinity.
The issue of over-cultivation can be eliminated by good
farming practices like proper crop rotation, use of manure
as a fertilizer.
Over-grazing can be minimized with fencing of young
trees to prevent grazing by animals. Rotational grazing
with frequent moving of live stock to new areas to avoid
permanent damage to plants & soils is another solution.
Creation of void layers of gravel and sand at certain
depths of soil to trap the salt from reaching the surface
will also help prevention of salt problem.
Terrace cultivation being practiced in north eastern part
of China is yielding positive results with slow pace of run
off.
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6 REHABILITATION OF DEGRADED
LAND
The UN General Assembly high level meeting of Sept.
2011, on addressing desertification, land degradation and
draught in the context of sustainable development and
poverty eradication, brought together the world political
leaders who stressed the prioritized effort for land
degradation neutral world.
The degraded land can be rehabilitated with the following
techniques.
• Agro-forestry and farmer managed natural
regeneration
• Small community initiatives like closure of degraded
lands for grazing, curtailing farming
• Growing plants/ trees of fast growth
• Raising tall trees that serve as barriers against winds/
sand storms
7 GREAT GREEN WALL PROJECT
7.1 Transformation in Africa
In Africa several countries have come together to form a
12000 square kilo-meter great green wall extending from
Senegal to Djibouti with the participation of local
communities.Seasons are shifting across the region and
in Senegal, the rainy season supposed to start in July (or)
August is now does not start until September. Decreased
rain alongwith over grazing of land is causing an increase
in deserts across the Senegal. Roughly 40 percent of Africa
now effected by desertification and according to the
United Nations, two third of Africa’s arable land could be
lost by 2025 if this trend continues.
Senegal is one of the 11 countries in the Sahel region of
Africa. The Great green wall is to plant a wall of trees, 9
miles wide and 4300 miles long across African contingent.
African leaders hope this wall trap the sands of sahara
and halt the advance of desert. The trees are surrounded
by a firewall and a metal fence to keep out trees eating
goats. 2 million trees are planted in Senegal each year.
Labourers plant Acacia saplings in the sand along with
animal manure for fertilizer. These trees produce Arabic
gum used in local medicine and a fruit that can be eaten
by animals. For this project to succeed, it was crucial that
plants also provide benefits for people liing there. Great
green wall is a development project aimed at helping rural
people besides improvement in rain fall & recharge of
water table.
Total of 1.8 billion dollars from World bank and another
108 million dollars from the global environment facility
are being used for this project which is more related to
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9th and 10 th of May 2013
agriculture, rural development, food security and
sustainable land management with planting of trees. In 10
to 15 years, this region is expected to be transformed in to
a forest. [7]
7.2 Success story of China
In China deserts comprise 27 percent of total land and the
country’s great green wall project is on a massive scale
with gradual yielding of positive results.
The great green wall, also known as green great wall is
a series of human planted forest strips, designed to hold
back the expansion of the Gobi desert. It is expected to be
completed around 2050 at which point it is planned to be
2800 miles (4500 km) long. China has seen 3600 sq. km of
grass land overtaken every year by the Gobi desert. Each
year dust storms blew off as much as 2000 sq. km of top
soil and the stroms also are increasing in severety each
year. These storms also causing threat to agricultural
ativities in near by countries like Japan, North Korea and
South Korea. [8]
The project started in 2003, has two parts. Use of arial
seeding to cover wide swaths of land where the soil is
less arid, and offering of cash incentives to farmers to
plant trees and shrubs in aeas that are more arid. The wall
will have a belt with sand tolerance vegetation arranged
in checker board pattern in order to stabilize the sand
dunes. A gravel platform is next to vegetation to hold
down sand and encourage a soil crest to form. The trees
should also serve as a wind break from dust storms. China
making gains in battle against desertification, but has long
fight ahead. [9]
8 CONCLUSION
Desertification poses one of the greatest environmental
challenges today and constitutes a major barrier in meeting
basic human needs in dry lands. Desertification is land
degradation that effects biological productivity as well
as livelihood of millions of people. Efffective fighting of
desertification helps reduce global poverty and contribute
to meeting millennium development goals endorsed by
the governments of United Nations in September, 2000
which aim at to improve human well being relating to
poverty, hunger, child & meternal mortality, ensuring
education to all, controlling deceases, tackling gender
disparity and ensuring sustainable development. [10]
Long term measures and investment are required to fight
against desertification with the basic objective to preserve
land and soil. Rehabilitation of about two billion hectares
of degraded land is possible with a committed effort. ‘Zero
net land degradation’ can be achieved when over a period
of time, non-degraded land remains healthy and already
degraded land is progressively restored. Such approach
can ensure food security, alleviate rural poverty and
hunger and build resistance to major environmental
challeges.The desertification and land degradation of
ecosystem services in dry lands need to be checked which
are threatening the future improvements in human well
being.
The summarized techniques as enumerated above include
agro- forestry and farmer managed natural regeneration,
initiatives like closure of degraded lands for grazing,
curtailing farming, fast growing plant cultivation, raising
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tall trees to serve as barriers against winds and sand storms
etc., For a sustainable economic development, anti-
desertification measures are to be prioritized throughout
the world.
We cannot treat the vital resources land and water as
infinite but conservation techniques need to be followed
as cautioned by U.N Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO). The countries should earmark certain share of their
annual budgets for the efforts of success of anti-
desertification program. On the similar lines of Africa &
China’s ‘great green wall’ projects, the other countries
should make efforts to tackle the desertification, the global
environmental problem.
The world day to combat desertification 2013 is being
observed on 17th June, with a theme ‘Draught and water
scarcity’ and this years slogan is “Don’t let our future
dry up”. The slogan embodies the message that we are all
responsible for water and land conservation and
sustainable use. There are innovative solutions to these
serious natural resource challenges. The Engineers and
other technicians should propagate this concept through
various forums to tackle the challenges of future ‘water
and food shortages’ facing the world community.
9 HELPFUL HINTS :
9.1 Plates
[1] ‘Desertification’ as critical as climate change [2]
Planned grazing- a solution for desertification [3]
Replanting of trees to combat desertification
302
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to appreaciate and thank all those people
in the World who are making untiring efforts to tackle the
desertification, the global environmental problem. Their
struggle is the inspiration to authors in preparing this
paper.
REFERENCES
[1] Extracts from UN Convention to combat Desertification on
the eve of 2012 World day (June 17) to combat
desertification.
[2] Desertification is nearly as critical as climate change (Report
in The Hindu/ 18th June, 2012)
[3] Google Dictionary [2012]
[4] Desertification in India, Africa & China (Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia)
[5] Extracts from Nature conservation foundation, Mysore,
India (Report in The Hindu/ 13th February, 2013)
[6] Hunger is spreading in Africa, The Christian science monitor
( August, 2005)
[7] The guardian, Senegal begins planting the great green wall
against climate change ( July, 2012)
[8] World changing, change your thinking, Alex Steffen (
December, 2003)
[9] The guardian, ( January, 2011)
[10] Greenfacts, facts on the health and environment (Digest
2005) by the Millen nium Ecosystems Assessment (MA)
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Factors influencing the Prediction of

Resistance in a Meandering Channel
Saine S. Dash, Kishanjit K. Khatua, Prabir K. Mohanty
Abstract— Flow in a meandering channel is a complex mechanism which is very crucial for its analysis for different investigators
in the field of river hydraulics. Accurate scientific analysis helps to predict different flow variables of a meandering channel. In a
meandering channel the flow properties are found to be affected by different geometric, surface and flow parameters. In the present
work, an experimental investigation has been done to analyse the important parameters affecting the flow behavior in a meandering
channel. Emphasis has been made to analyse the dependency of flow resistance in term of Manning’ n of a meandering channel.
The factors influencing for predicting the roughness coefficient of a meandering channel are non-dimensionlised and its dependency
with different parameters are presented.

Index Terms— Meandering channel, Manning’s n, Sinuosity, Longitudinal Slope, Reynolds’ number, Froude’s number, Aspect
Ratio
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION
1. Sinuosity of meandering channel

A
meandering channel is author of its own geometry.
In case of meandering channel there is a huge
scope in scientific investigation because of these
morphological parameters and its major governing factors
is of fundamental importance in river control and
regulation. Meandering river exhibits complex plan form
pattern in meander bend. In order to describe the effect
of morphological features on a high sinous meandering
river evolution, it is of great importance to describe the
parameter effects on the hydro dynamics of the flow. For
a straight channel, it is assume that the mean velocity
across along the centre line of the channel where as for
a meandering channel the maximum velocity occur the
inner bank and occurance of the mean velocity deviates
from its centre line. These factors are all influenced by
discharge, sediment load and valley slope. The flow
resistance in river channel is a complex phenomenon for
a meandering channel. The degree of complexity arises
from a large no. of parameters. There parameters to gain
resistance affect the flow structure and flow variable of
meandering channel ([1] and [2]). Estimate of the energy
dissipation due to all sources, such as bed friction,
planform/bend losses, expansion/contraction losses and
other interaction losses is the one of the method of
solution for meandering channel. Such a hydromechanics
approach has been attempted by [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], and
[8].
From the literature it is found that at least five major
parameters which include geometric conditions,
roughness conditions and flow conditions etc. influence
the prediction of the flow behavior, conveyance and
roughness for a meandering channel. The non-
dimensional parameters can be summarised as:
————————————————
• Saine S. Dash, M.tech in civil engg. , National Institute of
Technology Rourkela, India, PH-8763070010. E-mail:
sainedash@gmail.com
• Kishanjit K. Khatua, Asso. Prof in civil engg. , National
Institute of Technology Rourkela, India, PH-0661-2462307.
E-mail: kkkhatua@yahoo.com
• Prabir K. Mohanty, P.hd in civil engg. , National Institute of
Technology Rourkela, India, PH-0661-2462307. E-mail:
prbr.mohanty@yahoo.com
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2. Aspect ratio
3. Froude’s number
4. Reynolds’ number
5. Longitudinal slope
These parameters are investigated in the context of their
influence on roughness on meandering channel. In the
present study, a step has been taken to investigate the
influence of different parameters affecting the prediction
of roughness of a meandering channel. High quality data
are also obtained involving velocity, discharge
observation, employing three meandering channel
geometries. The influence of these conditions on
prediction of roughness is presented and also com-
parision has been made to find the affect of these
parameters with increasing and decreasing of values.
2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
For carrying out investigation in meandering channels,
experimental setup was built in Fluid mechanics and
Hydraulics Laboratory of NIT, Rourkela. A meandering
channel having trapezoidal main channel (bottom width
0.33m,depth 0.065m and side slope 1:1) Pl. see Fig1 was
fabricated inside a steel tilting flume of around 15m length.
The main channel is a sine generated curve of one and
half wave length and is preceded and followed by a
straight portion jointed with a transitional curved portion
in order to have proper flow field developed in the test
reach which is at the second bend apex of the central
curve .Water was supplied to the flume from an
underground sump via an overhead tank by centrifugal
pump (15 hp) and recirculated to the sump after flowing
through the meandering channel and a downstream
volumetric tank fitted with closure valves for calibration
purpose. Water entered the channel bell mouth section
via an upstream rectangular notch specifically built to
measure discharge in such a wide laboratory channel. An
adjustable vertical gate along with flow straighteners was
provided in upstream section sufficiently ahead of
rectangular notch to reduce turbulence and velocity of
approach in the flow near the notch section.
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At the downstream end another adjustable tail gate was
provided to control the flow depth and maintain a quasi-
uniform flow in the channel. A movable bridge was
provided across the flume for both span wise and stream
wise movements over the channel area so that each
location on the plan of meandering channel could be
accessed for taking measurements.
Point velocities were measured along verticals spread
across the main channel and also at a no. of horizontal
layers in each vertical, point velocities were measured.
Measurements were taken from left edge to the right edge
of the main channel bed and side slope. The lateral spacing
of grid points over which measurements were taken was
kept 4cm inside the main channel. Velocity measurements
were taken by pitot static tube (outside diameter 4.77mm)
and two piezometers fitted inside a transparent fiber block
fixed to a wooden board and hung vertically at the edge
of flume the ends of which were open to atmosphere at
one end and connected to total pressure hole and static
hole of pitot tube by long transparent PVC tubes at other
nds. Before taking the readings the pitot tube along with
the long tubes measuring about 5m were properly
immersed in water and caution was exercised for complete
expulsion of any air bubble present inside the Pitot tube
or the PVC tube. This was done to prevent the presence
of a small air bubble inside the static limb or total pressure
limb as same could give erroneous readings in piezometers
used for recording the pressure. Steady uniform discharge
was maintained in each run of the experiment.
Fig. 1. Geometrical setup of pitot tube and structure of
Meandering channel
304
Please see Table.1 for the hydraulic parameters considered
in the experimental runs
TABLE 1
HYDRAULIC PARAMETERS OF EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Item Description Experiment channels
1 Channel type Meandering
2 Flume type 4.0m×15m×0.5m long
3 Geometry Trapezoidal (sideslope1:1)
4 Nature of surface bed Smooth & rigid bed
5 Channel Width 33cm at bottom and
46 cm at top
6 Bank full depth 6.5cm
of channel
7 Bed slope of the
channel 0.0011,0.00165
8 Sinuosity 1,1.11,1.31
3 RESULTS
The variation of roughness co-efficient has been found
out for three meandering channels of different sinuosity.
The variation of roughness co-efficient in terms of
Manning’s n are plotted for different aspect ratio in fig 2-
(1). It is seen that, as sinuosity increased, Manning’s n
also increased for the low sinuosity channel and straight
channel (channels- 1 &2) the Manning’s n isfound to be
decreased with flow depth but for meandering channel of
higher sinuosity, the flow resistance are found tobe
increase in aspect ratio. Further it is seen that for high
sinuosity channel, Manning’s n is found to remain
constant. This may be due to the reason that at lower
depth the meandering channel exhibits the higher energy
loss due to bend affect but in higher depth of flow, the
effect of bend loss diminishes. Point gauge
Next, the mean velocities of the meandering channels are
calculated for each depth of flow. Then the Reynolds no
vs. Manning’s n are plotted for all the channels and
presented in fig 2-(2). From the fig 2-(2) it is seen that
Manning’s n decreases with Reynolds no for lower
sinuosity channel but for higher sinuous channel
Manning’s increase with Reynolds number. Because for
straight channel and low sinuous channel the loss of
energy is less for higher depth of flow but higher sinuous
channel, Manning’s n increase with Reynolds number.
The reason of the results may be considered as similar to
the results of figure 1 i.e. Manning’s vs. Aspect ratio.
In the third case, we tried to find the effect of gravity on
evaluation of resistance of a meandering channel.
Therefore, Mannings, n values are plotted with different
Froudes no. Here in this fig Froude’s no vs. Manning’s n
are plotted for all the flow channels. From fig 2-(3) it is
seen than Manning’s n decreases with Froude’s no for
both lower sinuous channel as well as higher sinuous
channel. This may be due to that Froude’s number is
directly proportional to mean velocity and at the same
time Manning’s n is inversely proportional to mean
velocity. Due to this reason Manning’s n decreases with
successive increment of Froude’s number.
Similar to the previous cases, the variation of Manning’s
n is tested for channels of different sinuosities. Therefore
in fig 2-(4) the rela-tionships between Manning’s n and
sinuosity for different aspect ratios is plotted. In this case,
it is clearly seen that when sinuosity increases, Manning’s
n substantially increases for a constant aspect ratio. The
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reason may be that velocity of the flow gradually

decreased with increased sinuosity. It can be stated that,
increase of sinuosity is found to have direct effects to
decrease the values of Manning’s n, for a constant
geometry of a meandering channel.
Finally we have tested the variation of Manning’s n with
longitudinal slope in fig 2-(5). It is a well known fact that
the conveyance is mainly affected by longitudinal slope.
Attempt has been made now to see the variation of
roughness coefficient with respect to the longitudinal
slope. Due to absence of different slope data, in the present
work data of [7] has been analysed with our experimental
data. From experimental data, it was clearly noticed that
when slope increase s the gravity component increase,
so during force increase which subsequentlty reduces
the roughness coefficient, therefore the Manning’s n
found to bed decrease, but in higher slope means greater
than 0.001 it is found from fig 2-(5) it is clearly show that
roughness value in-creases. This reason may be that the
higher value of slope, the formation of turbulence, eddies,
starts producing more loss of energy, so increasing the
value of Manning’s n.

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4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
a) From the literature study, it is seen that the
roughness coefficient of a meandering channel
varies from channel to channel and flow depth to
flow depths. They are found to be function of
geometric parameter and flow parameter.
b) Experiments were conducted in meandering
channels (Sinuosity range, (1-4.11) to study the
effects of different parameters to predict the
roughness of a meandering channel.
c) The variation of Manning’s n is found to be mostly
dependent upon the non dimensional parameters
such as (i) geometric parameters like aspect
ratio,slope and sinuosity (ii) flow parameters like
Reynolds no, Froude’s no.
d) Manning’s n is found to increase with aspect ratio
for higher sinuos channel but decrease for low
sinuous channel.
e) It increases with Reynold no, Frouds no and
sinuosity but decreases with aspect ratio. A pecuiliar
behavior regarding the variation of Manning’s n with
slope is noticed. It decreses for lower value of slope
than increases with increase of slope.
5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to acknowledge thankfully the
support received by the second author from DST India,
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under grant no.SR/S3/MERC/066/2008 for the research
project work on compound channels at NIT, Rourkela
REFERENCES
[1] Chang, H. H., “Fluvial processes in river engineering.” John
Wiley and Sons, New York, N.Y. 1988.
[2] Rozovskii, I. L.,”Flow of water in bends of open channels.”
Acad. of Sci. of the Ukraine, available from Off. Of Tech.
Services, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 1961.
[3] Toebes, G.H., and Sooky, A.A., “Hydraulics of Meandering Rivers
with Flood Plains”, Journal of the waterways and Harbor Div.,
Proc. of ASCE, Vol.93, No.WW2, May, Pp. 213-236.,1967.
[4] Ervine, D. A., and Ellis, J. “Experimental and computational
aspects of overbank floodplain flow” Trans. Roy. Soc. of Edin.
Pp.315-325, Dec. 1987.
[5] James, C., and Wark, J. B. “Hydraulics manual for meandering
compound channels” Final report EX 2606, Hydraulics
Research, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England. 1992.
[6] Greenhill, R. K., and Sellin, R. J. “Development of a simple
method to predict discharges in compound meandering
channels.” Proc. L C.E., Water Maritime and Energy, 101(1),
37-44 , 1993.
[7] Shiono K, Al-Romaih J.S, Knight D.W. “Stage-discharge
assessment in compound meandering channels” Journal of
Hydraulic Engg., ASCE, 125(1), Pp. 66–77, 1999.
[8] Khatua K.K., Patra K.C., “stage–discharge prediction for
meandering channels”, Int. J. Comp. Meth. and Exp. Meas.,
Vol. 1, No. 1 80–92, 2013.
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Experimental Analysis of Energy Dissipation in

Small Diameter Nitinol wires
Chandra Mouli Vemury, Scott Renfrey
Abstract— This paper presents the methodology and findings of the experimental research carried out on small diameter Nitinol
wires at Newcastle University. Among all compositions of Shape memory alloys (SMA), Nitinol is understood to be the most suited
for use in the design of building and bridge structures subjected to earthquake loading conditions. The shape memory effect and
superelasticity demonstrated by Nitinol lends to higher energy dissipation capability of this alloy and hence is suited for cyclic
dynamic loading conditions. A series of static and cyclic dynamic tests were developed and conducted on Nitinol wires of 1mm,
0.5mm and 0.25mm diameters to assess their basic mechanical properties and energy dissipation capabilities. The results from
these experiments agree with the trends suggested in the literature and show that smaller or thinner the diameter of a Nitinol wire
greater is its energy dissipating capability.

Index Terms— Earthquakes, Energy Dissipation, Nitinol, Shape memory, Superelasticity, Re-centering, Hysterisis
——————————  ——————————
1 INTRODUCTION A series of static and cyclic-dynamic tests were conducted
on small diameter Nitinol wires at Newcastle University

N
itinol belongs to family of smart materials called and this paper will present findings from the experiments
Shape memory alloys (SMA), also known by the carried out by the authors.
name Shape memory materials. As a result of the
phase transformations experienced by SMA, they have 2 NITINOL AND ITS PROPERTIES
the ability to undergo large deformations, yet, return to Nickel-Titanium based alloys, due to their superior
their undeformed shape. The recovery of the original mechanical properties, have wider applications in
shape occurs when the material is subjected to a change earthquake resistant design of building and bridge
in temperature or removal of stress. The two features of structures. These alloys are also known by various other
SMA, such as Nitinol, that are relevant in their application names such as Nickel-Titanium, Titanium-Nickel, Tee-nee,
in Seismic Resistant Design are Shape Memory Effect and Memorite, Tinel, and Flexon. These terms represent a
Super Elasticity. Over the last few decades, SMA have family of alloys within which the properties of each is
been found to have numerous applications in fields such characterised by its exact compositional make-up,
as medical surgery, aerospace and mechanical industries, processing history and tertiary additions. Some of Nitinol’s
electronics and communication engineering and sports metallurgical and engineering properties have been listed
industry. The ability of SMA to recover large deformations in Table 1. The behaviour of Nitinol and other Nickel-
makes these materials ideal in the design of damper Titanium alloys is sensitive to the percentage of titanium
elements for earthquake resistant structures. in the compound.
Some of the known compositions for shape memory alloys Table 1. Composition and Engineering Properties of Nitinol
are Ni-Ti, Cu-Al-Ni, Au-Cd, Mn-Cu, Ni-Mn-Ga and Fe-
based alloys. Among all of the SMA, Ni-Ti based alloys Nitinol Description
have wider applications due to the better ductility and Nickel composition 55.0%-55.5% by wt
strength and absence of grain-boundary fracture [1]. Titanium 44.5%-45.0% by wt
Binary Nickel-Titanium alloys are commonly addressed Microstructure Very fine twinned
as Nitinol. A number of investigations have been carried martensite
out into the stress-stain and damping characteristics of Possible additions O2, Fe, Al, Cr, Co, V,
SMA wires and bars [2], [3], [4], [5]. A prevalent finding Pt, Pd, Zr, Hf, Nb, Cu
from these studies is that the equivalent damping increases
Austenitic phase structure B2 or CsCl
with a decrease in diameter of SMA bars or wires. It has
Martensitic phase structure Monoclinic
been found that wires tend to have better energy
dissipation characteristics than bars [2], however little Density 6.45 to 6.5 g/cm3
research has been conducted to see if this trend continues Ms range <-200oC to +100oC
as the diameter of an SMA wire decreases below 1mm. Elastic Modulus for martensite 40 GPa
Elastic Modulus for austenite 75 GPa
————————————————
• Mr. Chandra Mouli Vemury is a Teaching Fellow in Civil 2.1 Shape Memory Effect
Engineering at School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences,
Newcastle University, United Kingdom, PH-
SMA, when subjected to shear strain while below its
00441912227886. E-mail: chandra.vemury@ncl.ac.uk Temperature Transformation Range (TTR), exhibit stress-
strain behaviour characterised by a large hysteresis loop.
• Mr. Scott Renfrey is a Graduate Structural Engineer at Gawn
Associates, Cambridge, United Kingdom. E-mail: At these temperatures, the microstructure of the material
scott@gawnassociates.com is fully martensitic and the hysteresis occurs due to the

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twinning deformation of Martensite. The strains achieved
in this stage are not permanent. Upon heating the material
to a temperature above TTR it reverts to the austenitic
crystalline structure and the strains developed will be
eliminated. This process of reverting to the original shape
of the SMA is called Shape Memory Effect.
2.2 Super Elasticity
When an SMA in its stable austenitic phase is subjected
to elastic loading up to a threshold stress it undergoes a
stress-induced transformation from Austenite to
Martensite. The transformation takes place at a reduced
value of modulus as found in the cases of plastic yielding.
The increase in deformation is proportional to the increase
in volume of Martensite within the material. The path of
stress-strain curve follows a stress plateau during its
journey to full martensitic transformation. Martensite is
stable only in the presence of applied stress and so the
unloading of the SMA causes reverse transformation. The
SMA will return to its original undeformed shape upon
full removal of the applied loads. This property of the
SMA is very useful in the design of damping devices and
is called Superelasticity.
3 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
A number of properties possessed by SMA make them
ideal materials in the design of energy dissipating devices
such as damper elements. These dampers improve the
ductility of the structure without comprising its strength
during a seismic event. It has been found that Nitinol
wires tend to have better energy dissipation characteristics
than bars [2], however little research has been conducted
to see if this trend continues as the diameter of an SMA
wire decreases below 1mm. This investigation was aimed
at providing an improved understanding of the behaviour
of Nitinol wires of diameter less than 1mm when subjected
to cyclic dynamic loading.
This study involved tests on Nitinol wires of three different
diameters in order to characterise their basic mechanical
properties and also their energy dissipation caracteristics.
One of the sample-diameters used in this research is 1mm.
This choice was made to allow for comparisons to be
drawn with previous research [2], [3], [6], [7], [8] and to
validate the results. The other two sample-diameters of
0.5mm and 0.25mm were chosen to offer a range below
1mm. Nitinol was chosen as its properties relevent to
energy dissipation are all high relative to other commonly
used SMA [9]. Also, Nitinol was used in tests conducted
by Dolce & Cardone (2001), DesRoches et al. (2004) and
Zhang & Zhu (2007) and offers a large scope for
comparison. Nitinol is also mass produced due to its use
in the medical and aerospace industries, making it easily
available and economically viable for testing.
3.1 Static Testing Procedure
A static test procedure was developed to identify several
important properties of the wires such as the plastic and
ultimate failure loads, the stress-strain relationships
resulting in the Young’s modulus and the transition curve
and key phase-transition points for each diameter wire.
Due to the difficulties associated in measuring the strain
of the samples until failure, an equation was generated to
get the relationship between the extension measured by
the Instron Unaxial Tensile Strength (UTS) machine and
the strain experienced by the sample. In the static test,
308
Nitinol wire samples were subjected to incremental tensile
load using an Instron UTS machine. The load application
continued until the wire samples reached plastic
deformation. The load history, corresponding strain and
axial displacement were recorded. This procedure was
repeated on a total of 9 samples, three sets of equi-
dimensional 3 wires. The point of plastic deformation
identified on the stress-strain graph corresponds to the
instance when the gradient changes from very small to
high, it is where the sample leaves the martensitic phase
and is known as the martensitic finish point (Mf). In order
to verify this phase change point, an additional
‘superelasticity’ test was conducted where the wires were
loaded until an extension of 10-20% below the suspected
Mf extension level and then released, with the permanent
elongation recorded. The wire was then loaded to 10-20%
above the suspected Mf extension and then relaxed with
the elongation again recorded.
3.2 Cyclic Dynamic Testing Procedure
The cyclic dynamic testing procedure used in this study
simulates the forces experienced by a structure during an
earthquake event. These tests establish the load-unload
characteristics of the wires and from this the energy
dissipation can be evaluated. A 5kN S-Type transducer
load cell was attached to a GDS Large Diameter Cyclic
Triaxial Testing System (GDS LDCTTS). Samples of 1mm,
0.5mm and 0.25mm diameters were cyclically loaded and
unloaded at ± 10mm amplitude for 100 cycles. Two samples
of each diameter size of the wire were tested at 0.5Hz and
the third sample for each diameter size of the wire was to
be tested at 1Hz and 2Hz. These frequencies (0.5Hz, 1Hz
and 2Hz) are consistent with the frequencies of known
earthquake events.
3.3 Static Test Results
As shown in Fig.1. the ultimate failure strains for the 0.25,
0.5 and 1mm wires were 10.7%, 11.2% and 9.3% and the
ultimate failure stresses were 1556.42MPa, 1342.71MPa
and 1012.78MPa respectively. Research by DesRoches,
et al (2004) suggests that Nitinol wires could have ultimate
tensile strengths in the range of 895-1900 MPa. Similarly,
the findings of Janke et al. (2005) states 700-2000MPa as
the range for ultimate tensile strength of Nitinol. All of the
samples tested fell within this range, suggesting that the
results comply with the findings of previous research.
F ig. 1. Stress vs Strain Relationship under Static
Test
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The results for the ultimate tensile strength show that the respectively. The 0.5mm wire took 22.7% more stress than
thinnest wire could take more stress before ultimate failure the 1mm wire and the 0.25mm wire took 20% more stress
(Table. 1). There appears to be a negative correlation than the 0.5mm wire before deformations became plastic.
between the thickness of the wires and the amount of The strain values at the elastic limit point also increase as
stress required to reach ultimate failure, meaning a thicker the wires get smaller, with an average elastic limit strain of
wire reaches that stage under less stress. A study 10.1%, 9.9% and 9.3% being recorder for the 0.25, 0.5 and
conducted by Norwich and Fasching (2004) into the 1mm wires respectively. Dolce and Cardone (2001)
fatigue effects of Nitinol wires produced the ultimate suggested that the Young’s modulus for the austenitic
tensile stress values of 1680 MPa for 0.25mm wire and section (E1) should be between 30-70 GPa, this is the case
1620 MPa for 0.5mm wire. for all the different diameter wires tested. However, no
relationship or trend can be identified between the
Table. 1. Phase transition points for 0.25mm dia Nitinol different diameter wires; it is believed that this is due to
wire the curvature in the stress-strain relationship in the early
austenitic phase. This curvature is indeed caused by the
Phase transition points Stress Strain
slack in the loading application system. Although attempts
(MPa) (mm/mm)
were made to remove this slack by applying a pre-
Test Start 87.59 0.00 tensioning force of 12N it appears this was not sufficient.
Martensitic Start (Ms) 492.32 0.0085 Table. 3. Phase transition points for 1.0mm dia Nitinol wire
Martensitic Finish (Mf) 590.11 0.068
Phase transition points Stress Strain
Elastic Limit 1491.23 0.101
(MPa) (mm/mm)
Failure Point 1556.42 0.107
E1 (GPa) 47.6 Test Start 17.96 0.00
E2 (GPa) 1.6 Martensitic Start (Ms) 489.11 0.012
E3 (GPa) 27.3 Martensitic Finish (Mf) 556.21 0.072
E4 (GPa) 10.9 Elastic Limit 1012.78 0.093
E3/E1 (d” 0.5) 0.57 Failure Point 1012.78 0.093
E2/E1 (d” 0.1) 0.03 E1 (GPa) 39.3
E2 (GPa) 1.1
These results also show that the thinner wire withstood E3 (GPa) 21.7
higher stress. The variations in the ultimate tensile E4 (GPa) N/A**
stresses could be due to variations in alloy compositions, E3/E1 (d” 0.5) 0.55
Norwich and Fasching (2004) used a slightly different
E2/E1 (d” 0.1) 0.03
composition of Nitinol wire (Ti 55.9 Ni 44.1) compared to
the one used in this study (Ti 55.8 Ni 44.2). Also, some The martensitic Young’s modulus for the wires was found
sample failures occurred near the top of the sample as to be 27.3, 25.6 and 21.7 GPa for the 0.25, 0.5 and 1mm
opposed to the middle of the span, this suggests additional wires respectively. These values are consistent with the
shear stresses were induced by the holding mechanism results obtained by Dolce & Cardone (2001) and the value
and therefore the ultimate tensile strength is likely to be suggested by Janke et al. (2005). The martensitic Young’s
lower than it should be in this study. modulus also appears to decrease as the diameter of the
wire increases. This must mean that a thinner wire exhibits
Table. 2. Phase transition points for 0.50mm dia Nitinol less strain as a load is applied during the martensitic phase.
wire Under seismic loading conditions, a higher Young’s
Phase transition points Stress Strain modulus cycle will enclose more area and hence dissipate
(MPa) (mm/mm) more energy. Therefore the initial static test suggests that
the smaller diameter wires should dissipate more energy.
Test Start 49.70 0.00
3.4 Cyclic Dynamic Test Results
Martensitic Start (Ms) 520.54 0.010
Martensitic Finish (Mf) 550.32 0.072 The cyclic stress-strain curves for the wires tested
Elastic Limit 1242.23 0.099 generally fit the schematic stress-strain cycle for a
superelastic SMA [2], [3], [4]. All of the graphs show that
Failure Point 1342.71 0.112 high strains can be achieved, nearly 12% for the 0.25mm
E1 (GPa) 52.0 wires, however when unloaded there are no “residual
E2 (GPa) 0.5 deformations” demonstrated by the fact all lines return to
E3 (GPa) 25.6 their start point dissipating energy in the process [4]. This
E4 (GPa) 7.7 superelastic property means that a SMA passive damper
E3/E1 (d” 0.5) 0.49 could help re-centre a structure bringing it quickly back
to its original position after displacements caused by a
E2/E1 (d” 0.1) 0.01
seismic event [9]. The inverse transformations follow a
The trend of the thinner wire achieving higher stress similar shape to the forward transformation however the
values before ultimate failure continues to be true when amount they are ‘off-set’ coupled with the distances
also looking at the elastic limit failure, where the average between the transformation start and finish points affects
elastic limit stress values were 1491.23MPa, 1242.23MPa the area contained within the hysteresis loop which is the
and 1012.78MPa for the 0.25, 0.5 and 1mm wires amount of energy dissipated by the wire.
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Fig. 2. Stress vs Strain Relationship under Cyclic Test
for 0.25mm Nitinol wire
The óFs is highest for the 0.25mm wire at around 600MPa,
it decreases as the wires get thicker with the value at
270MPa and 100MPa for the 0.5mm and 1mm wires
respectively. Similarly the óFf is much higher for the 0.25mm
wire at 1100MPa compared to around 500MPa for the larger
diameter wires. The difference between the åFs and åFf is
also much greater for the 0.25mm wire at 0.11mm/mm
compared to 0.61mm/mm for the 0.5mm samples and
0.077mm/mm for the 1mm samples. The distance between
the inverse and forward transformation (load and unload
lines) is the greatest for the 0.25mm wire and appears to
get smaller as diameter increases. This suggests that the
0.25mm stress-strain cycle encompasses the largest area
and hence dissipates the greatest energy.
Fig. 3. Stress vs Strain Relationship under Cyclic Test
for 0.50mm Nitinol wire
Fig. 4. Stress vs Strain Relationship under Cyclic Test for
1.00mm Nitinol wire
310
3.5 Energy Dissipation
The energy dissipated by the Nitinol wires during cyclic
loading was calculated by simplifying the forward and
inverse transformation lines into a polynomial expression.
It was decided that a fourth order (x4) polynomial gave
sufficient detail. The raw values for energy dissipated in
ascending order of diameter are 99.87MPa, 57.9MPa and
22.56MPa. These values must be scaled for each test and
are therefore divided by the strain energy in the system
multiplied by 4", giving Equivalent Viscous Damping
values of 3.69%, 0.54% and 0.39% in ascending diameter.
This clearly shows that the smaller the diameter the more
energy dissipation and damping occurs.
Repeat cyclic test conducted by Dolce and Cardone (2001)
on Nitinol wire samples “with a diameter between 1-2mm
found the equivalent damping to be of the order of 5-
7%”. This is of a similar order to the values achieved in
this study. Similarly, DesRoches, et al (2004) found the
equivalent damping of a 1.8mm wire to be 6.88% for a 6%
strain cycle which again is of a similar order to the values
achieved by this study. This study’s results may be lower
due to the use of Differing percentage strain cycles, strains
derived from extensions, experiments conducted at
different frequencies and the simplification of hysteresis
loops for area calculations in this study.
Fig. 5. Equivalent viscous damping on a log scale
Fig. 5 shows that as the number of cycles increased from
1 to 91 the material’s ability to dissipate energy worsens,
this could be important when designing dampers for
seismic regions out of SMA as the amount of damping
would reduce with each cycle. If the damper was designed
with the energy dissipation values of the wire for the first
cycle, after several cycles the damper could fail as the
damping capabilities could decrease significantly.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Nitinol wires are found to have high energy dissipating
capabilities. This characteristic of the shape memory alloy
qualifies it to be an ideal material seismic resistant design
of building and bridge structures. The authors have
identified a gap in the body of research available on Nitinol
wires. A series of static and cyclic dynamic testing
procedures were developed and implemented on Nitinol
samples of three different diameter-sizes. The execution
of the two separate testing regimes has allowed a number
of comparisons to be made across the samples studied
and with the literature available in the public domain.
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Firstly, there appears to be a relationship between the
amount of energy dissipated and the diameter of the wire
under loading. The thinnest wire dissipated the most
energy and this remains true when it is converted into a
damping value relative to the strain energy within the
system. The trends identified correlate with previous
research [2], [4], [10], however the values obtained for
equivalent viscous damping appear slightly lower than
literature suggests due to likely errors and limitations
within the methodology used. It is suggested that the
higher damping capabilities of thinner wires mean that
bundles of smaller Nitinol wires would generate more
desirable damping results if used in a hyteretic passive
damper.
All the wires tested experienced a decrease in their
damping capabilities as the number of cycles increased.
The largest increase was experienced by the 0.25mm wire
which fell from 3.69% to 2.47%, over a 33% decrease in
energy dissipation. The 1mm wire appeared to stabilise
after a number of cycles as expected however the 0.25 and
0.5mm did not it is therefore expected that they would
after more than 100 cycles. If Nitinol wires were to be
used in the design of seismic dampers, this decrease in
damping capabilities must be anticipated and accounted
for perhaps through large safety factors or taking the
damping characteristics of the metal once it has stabilised.
The austenitic Young’s modulus of the wires all lay
between the expected range of 30-70GPa and the
martensitic Young’s modulus generally fit the rule that it
should be half the austenitic Young’s modulus [3], [4]. A
trend was identified that the thinner the wire the greater
the martensitic Young’s modulus, which fits with the
theory that thinner wires provide greater damping. The
superelastic nature of Nitinol wires of various diameters
were confirmed through the cyclic test where all inverse
transformations resulted in no “risidual deformations”.
If used in a seismic damper this superelastic quality would
provide the structure with “re-centering” capabilities,
meaning the building would be “brought back to its
original position” by the SMA damper [3], [4], [9]. The
authors, however, recognise that there is need for extended
research on smaller diameter Nitinol wires subjected to
varying conditions of temperature, heat treatment and
higher frequencies of loads.
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9th and 10 th of May 2013
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank Dr. Sean Wilkinson, Dr.
Mohamed Rouainia, Mr. Joe Hinchliffe and Dr. Gaetano
Elia for their guidance and contribution to this
experimental research. This work was made possible by
the financial support extended by the School of Civil
Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University.
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