When geotechnical engineers are faced with cohesive clayey soils, the engineering properties of those soils may need to be

improved to make them suitable for construction. The aim of this paper is to study the effect of using lime, natural pozzolana or

a combination of both on the geotechnical characteristics of two cohesive soils. Lime or natural pozzolana were added to these

soils at ranges of 0-8% and 0-20%, respectively. In addition, combinations of lime-natural pozzolana were added at the same

ranges. Test specimens were subjected to compaction tests and shear tests. Specimens were cured for 1, 7, 28 and 90 days after

which they were tested for shear strength tests. Based on the experimental results, it was concluded that the combination limenatural

pozzolana showed an appreciable improvement of the cohesion and internal friction angle with curing period and

particularly at later ages for both soils.

Self-desiccation is the major source of autogenous shrinkage and crack formation in low water-binder ratio (w/b) concretes

which can be reduced by internal curing. In this paper performance of high strength self consolidating concrete (HS-SCC) with

w/b of 0.28 and 0.33 including autogenous shrinkage, drying shrinkage, compressive strength, and resistance to freezing-thawing

was investigated. Then, for the purpose of internal curing, 25% of normal weight coarse aggregate volume was replaced with

saturated lightweight aggregate (LWA) of the same size and its effects on the material properties was studied. Two modes of

external curing, moist and sealed, were applied to test specimens after demoulding. Autogenous shrinkage from 30 minutes to 24

hours after mixing was monitored continuously by a laser system. The initial and final setting time were manifested as a change

of the slope of the obtained deformation curves. Shrinkage after initial setting was 860 and 685 microstrain (&mu&epsilon) for 0.28 and 0.33

w/b mixtures, respectively. The saturated LWA reduced these values to 80 and 295 &mu&epsilon, respectively. By LWA Substitution the 28-

day compressive strength of 0.28 w/b mixture was reduced from 108 to 89 and 98 to 87 MPa for moist and sealed cured specimen,

respectively. The corresponding values for 0.33 w/b mixture was 84 to 80 and 82 to 70 MPa. Shrinkage of 0.28 w/b mixture

without LWA after moist and sealed cured specimen dried for 3 weeks was about 400 &mu&epsilon. Shrinkage of moist and sealed cured

specimen containing LWA was reduced 9% and 25%, respectively. On the contrary for 0.33 w/b mixture an increase was noticed.

Freezing-thawing resistance was improved by sealed curing, decreasing w/b and substituting LWA.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of vibration on the curing and compressive strength of lightweight air-trapped

soil (ATS). ATS is manufactured by mixing cement with water and sand and injecting bubbles into the mixture. It is light as

compared to regular soil, can reduce the weight on the ground, and has high fluidity. If ATS is used at construction sites with

many vibration sources, such as pile driving, blasting, and construction machinery, the effect of vibration needs to be seriously

considered. If a road is expanded using ATS to reduce traffic congestion, the ATS quality may decrease because of vibration

generated by traffic moving on the road. In particular, because ATS contains many air bubbles and needs time for curing, the

effect of vibration can be greater than expected. Therefore, the effect of vibration on ATS was evaluated during the curing process

by conducting unconfined compression tests on samples prepared with different values of variables including vibration velocity,

starting vibration time, and mixing ratio. Vibration velocities of 0.25 and 0.50 cm/s did not greatly affect the strength. However,

vibration velocities of above 2.50 cm/s significantly affected the decrease in strength, and the starting vibration time also had a

clear effect on specimens cured for less than 2 hours.

Efflorescence formation is an important soundness issue to be considered with alkali-activated cements. In this study, the impact of activator type on the efflorescence formation severity and methods of efflorescence reduction in alkali-activated phosphorus slag cement are investigated. Different alkaline activators including NaOH, KOH and liquid sodium silicate of different silica modules (Ms = SiO2/Na2O) were used for alkali-activation of phosphorus slag. Additions of high alumina cements (Secar 71 and 80) and application of hydrothermal curing condition at 85 °C for 7 h with different pre-curing times (1, 3 and 7 day) in humid environment (relative humidity of 95 %) and 25 °C were used for efflorescence control in alkali-activated phosphorus slag cement. Sodium containing activators resulted in more severe efflorescence formation compared with those of potassium containing activators. Also presence of liquid sodium silicate intensified efflorescence formation. Based on the results obtained, application of an optimum pre-curing stage in humid environment before hydrothermal curing regime stabilizes the cement matrix and improves the effectiveness of hydrothermal conditions.

Pre-cast concrete products are sometimes manufactured in 2 cycles per day with one mold for the purpose of productivity improvement and so forth. In such a case, from the point of view of securing early-time strength which is required at the time of demolding, it is necessary to increase steam curing temperature and then the likelihood of temperature cracking becomes a concern. Moreover, self-compacting concrete (hereinafter refer as “SCC”) is increasingly used to which ground granulated blast-furnace slag is added, in consideration of environment surrounding a plant or operation environment. One choice then is to admix expansive agent in order to prevent cracking due to autogenous shrinkage. However, there is some possibility that high temperature curing required for 2 cycles per day production likely enhances cracking due to expansive agent admixing. In this study, the cause of cracking of large-sized pre-cast concrete products with high amount of expansive agent, in comparison of 1 cycle per day and 2 cycles per day productions was investigated.

As the result, it was confirmed that high temperature steam curing and early demolding of 2 cycles per day production promote thermal stress cracking in contrast to 1 cycle per day production, and at the same time, un expected cracking along main reinforcement is caused by excess expansion due to inappropriate curing of expansive agent.

This paper outlines the effects of curing conditions on the strength and hydration products of lime activated slag cement. The slag cement was prepared by activating the ground granulated blast furnace slag with lime and plaster of Paris. The curing of mortar specimens was done at temperatures of 27⁰, 45⁰,60⁰,75⁰C and the compressive strength of specimens were determined after curing periods of 3,7, 28, 56 and 90days. The curing temperature is found to influence both the early and later age strengths. For the present test conditions the highest 90days compressive strength was found to be 47.63MPa for the specimen cured at temperature of 60⁰C. Further, the developed strength in mortar specimens were correlated with the hydration products and microstructure using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope results. Generalized reduced gradient technique is adopted to find the optimum curing temperature for the given raw material composition and this is found to vary marginally on curing period. 

Compressive strength is as one of the most important properties of concrete and mortar that its measurement may be necessary at both early and later ages. Prediction of compressive strength by a proper model is a fast and cost-effective way for evaluating cement quality under various curing conditions. In this paper, a logarithmic model based on the results of an experimental work conducted to investigate the effects of curing time and temperature on the compressive strength development of chemically activated high phosphorous slag content cement has been presented. This model is in terms of curing time and temperature as independent variables and compressive strength as dependent variable. For this purpose, mortar specimens were prepared from 80 wt.% phosphorous slag, 14 wt.% Portland cement, and 6 wt.% compound chemical activator at Blaine fineness of 303 m2/kg. The specimens were cured in lime-saturated water under temperatures of 25, 45, 65, 85 and 100 ºC in oven. The model has two adjustable parameters for various curing times and temperatures. Modeling has been done by applying dimensionless insight. The proposed model can efficiently predict the compressive strength of this type of high phosphorous slag cement with an average relative error of less than 4%.