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A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Materials, and Repair & Renovation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 20812

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yue-Ling Long

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Guest Editor

School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: FRP–concrete–steel composite structures; steel–concrete composite structures; concrete-filled steel tubes; stainless steel structures; bamboo structures; cross-section instability
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Prof. Dr. Zhenhao Zhang

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Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Interests: dynamic reliability; structural reliability; stochastic process; random vibration; uncertainty analysis
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Dr. Ying Qin

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Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Interests: steel and composite structures
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Dr. Zhiliang Zuo

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Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510000, China
Interests: high-performance steel–concrete composite
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Dr. JinJing Liao

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Guest Editor

School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China
Interests: FRP; UHPC; FRP-confined concrete; CFST; anti-blast structures; offshore structures
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Building engineering is an ancient industry that can be dated back to thousands of years ago. However, building materials are always new subjects as they evolve with the development of science and technology. Although traditional building materials (e.g., timber, bamboo, masonry, concrete, and steel) still dominate the building industry, new materials, such as fibers, composites, 3D printing materials, and materials with ultrahigh strength, have also emerged as alternative solutions for new or existing structures with special requirements (e.g., high-rise, long span, or in corrosive environments) that are hard to satisfy with traditional building materials Furthermore, graphene, bio-inspired materials, and other potential building materials have brilliant prospects for the building industry, which may lead to fundamental revolutions in building engineering in the future.

This Special Issue provides an open forum to discuss the mechanical performance of traditional, new, and potential building materials. The topics include, but are not limited to, the above examples; all traditional, new, and potential materials in building engineering are welcomed. The scope covers static (e.g., compression, tension, and bending) mechanical behaviors, resistances against dynamic actions (e.g., impact, fatigue, and seismic), the ductility performance of the building materials, and the corresponding structural members investigated by a variety of techniques (e.g., analytical, numerical, and experimental methods).

Dr. Yue-Ling Long
Prof. Dr. Zhenhao Zhang
Dr. Ying Qin
Dr. Zhiliang Zuo
Dr. JinJing Liao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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

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

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

Keywords

traditional building materials（steel, concrete, masonry, timber, bamboo, etc.）
composite materials and fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs)
potential building materials (graphene, bio-inspired materials, etc.)
ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC)
three-dimensional printing materials
concrete-filled steel tubes (CFSTs)
static and dynamic performance
cross-section instability
structural reliability
numerical simulation

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Research on the Performance of Traditional, New and Potential Building Materials: 2nd Edition in Buildings (7 articles)

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 4422 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Simulation Analysis of the Full-Section Immersed Tube with the Post-Pouring Belt under Hydration Reaction

by Ping-Jie Li, Ming-Jie Chen and Wen-Huo Sun

Buildings 2023, 13(9), 2377; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13092377 - 19 Sep 2023

Viewed by 785

Abstract

To study the force and deformation characteristics of a full-section immersed tube with post-pouring belt under the action of hydration reaction, the numerical model of full-section immersed tube with post-pouring belt was established by using MIDAS FEA (V2013) finite element analysis software, and the stress, cracking and deformation of the segment of the post-pouring belt were analyzed. The results show that under the action of hydration reaction, the concrete reaches the highest temperature at about 36 h, which appears at the roof of the tube gallery in the immersed tube, and the bottom steel plate expands rapidly initially, and subsequently shrinks gradually. The outer surface of the post-pouring segment concrete is stretched, and the internal region is under pressure, and as the internal temperature of the concrete cools down, the bottom plate starts to contract. The steel bar connection between the post-pouring belt and the surrounding immersed tube segment will increase the risk of cracking in the bottom plate of the full-section immersed tube. When only the steel bars in the bottom plate are connected, the maximum tensile stress of the immersed tube bottom plate will increase by 16.0% compared to the no connection case. If the steel bars of the immersed tube’s web and roof are also connected, the maximum tensile stress will increase by over 20%. By connecting the steel bars, the peripheral tube section plays a certain role in limiting the transverse deformation of the post-pouring belt and constraining the reinforcement of the bottom plate and web (and roof) can reduce the transverse deformation of the immersed tube to a great extent, reducing the proportion by over 10%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Performance of Traditional, New and Potential Building Materials)

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16 pages, 4918 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Electrochemical Accelerating Leaching Behavior of Plastic Concrete for Cut-Off Walls

by Lina Zhou, Cailong Ma, Zhenhao Zhang, Shuangxin Sun, Xuanchi Liu and Jinjing Liao

Buildings 2023, 13(4), 937; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13040937 - 1 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1712

Abstract

Plastic concrete is a ductile material with a low elastic modulus (1000–3000 MPa), good flexibility, a and strong ability to adapt to the surrounding soil deformation. Hydraulic concrete mainly serves in a watery environment, so the leaching behavior of plastic concrete is crucial and cannot be neglected. Meanwhile, improving the crack resistance and effect of anti-seepage is also a primary task for cut-off walls. In this paper, in order to investigate the mechanical performance and leaching behavior of plastic concrete, a uniaxial compressive strength test was performed on plastic concrete specimens of a specific age (28 days) and different percentages of replacement cement by single bentonite (40%, 50%, and 60%) and bentonite (30%) together with clay (10%, 20%, and 30%), and the compressive strength, elastic modulus, pH value of the leaching solution, ultrasonic transmit time, electrical resistivity, and calcium ion dissolution concentration of plastic concrete have been evaluated. Moreover, the quantitative relationship between pH value and calcium ion concentration change was built through the electrochemical accelerating leaching method. According to the results, adding 40–60% soil materials can entirely meet the compressive strength (2–7 MPa), elastic modulus (below 3000 MPa), and relative permeability coefficient (below 1 × 10⁻⁷ cm/s) of plastic concrete used for cut-off walls while the compressive strength and elastic modulus of plastic concrete with 30% replacement cement by bentonite would be higher than 7 MPa and 3000 MPa, respectively. The leaching resistance of plastic concrete can be improved by more than 30% by adding bentonite coupled with clay, and three representative zones were observed through SEM and energy spectrum analysis, and Ca/Si molar ratio decreased by 30% after leaching. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Performance of Traditional, New and Potential Building Materials)

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14 pages, 4235 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Simulation of the Dynamic Responses and Impact-Bearing Capacity of CFDST Columns under Lateral Impact

by Jin-Long Guo, Shuang Pan, Xiao Guo and Zheng-Yu Wu

Buildings 2023, 13(3), 805; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13030805 - 18 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1434

Abstract

The concrete-filled double steel tube (CFDST) has been more and more widely used in infrastructure due to its greater moment of inertia compared to the ordinary concrete-filled steel tube (CFST). With the increase in collision accidents occurring in recent years, the research on CFDST under impact needs more attention. To study the dynamic responses of CFDST columns under lateral impact, the finite element package ABAQUS was used to simulate the impact force and mid-span deflection of the column under the coupling action of axial force and lateral impact based on the comparison of experimental data in the literature. The influence of hollow ratio, axial compression ratio, slenderness ratio, impact energy, and material strength on the dynamic responses of the CFDST column are studied. The results show that with the increase in the hollow ratio from 0.3 to 0.8, the residual mid-span deflection of the CFDST column decreases by 77.9%. The mid-span deflection shows an increasing trend following a decreasing one with the axial compression ratio increasing. With the increase in the slenderness ratio from 30 to 60, the plateau impact force decreases by 62.5%, and the residual mid-span deflection increases by 240.5%. The practical formulas for the impact-bearing capacity and residual mid-span deflection of the CFDST column are suggested with high accuracy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Performance of Traditional, New and Potential Building Materials)

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12 pages, 19163 KiB

Open AccessArticle

In-Plane Shear Behavior of Unreinforced Masonry Wall Strengthened with Bamboo Fiber Textile-Reinforced Geopolymer Mortar

by Roneh Glenn D. Libre Jr., Julius L. Leaño Jr., Luis Felipe Lopez, Carlo Joseph D. Cacanando, Michael Angelo B. Promentilla, Ernesto J. Guades, Lessandro Estelito O. Garciano and Jason Maximino C. Ongpeng

Buildings 2023, 13(2), 538; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13020538 - 15 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2308

Abstract

Old structures that are made of adobe or brick walls are usually unreinforced and not designed for lateral forces. In-plane loads applied to unreinforced masonry walls (URM) are the usual cause of damage and failure of old buildings. In this research, small unreinforced brick masonry wallettes, 350 mm × 350 mm and 50 mm in thickness, are strengthened using bamboo fiber textile and plastered to the face of the walls using short bamboo fiber-reinforced geopolymer mortar. The wallettes are subjected to diagonal shear tests as described by ASTM E519 to investigate the in-plane shear performance of the strengthening method. The performances of 5 wallettes strengthened on one-side with mortar only, 5 wallettes on both-sides with mortar only, 5 wallettes with textile plastered on one-side only, and another 5 wallettes with textile plastered on both-sides, are compared to 5 control specimens without any strengthening. It is observed that the wallettes strengthened on one side and both sides with textile yield an increase in shear of about 24% and 35% in average, respectively. Failure modes show that the usual failure for URM is running bond failure and for strengthened URM is columnar failure. The implications of the results can be used in developing textile-reinforced geopolymer mortar systems to strengthen URM walls. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Performance of Traditional, New and Potential Building Materials)

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16 pages, 4119 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Prediction of Failure Modes and Minimum Characteristic Value of Transverse Reinforcement of RC Beams Based on Interpretable Machine Learning

by Sixuan Wang, Cailong Ma, Wenhu Wang, Xianlong Hou, Xufeng Xiao, Zhenhao Zhang, Xuanchi Liu and JinJing Liao

Buildings 2023, 13(2), 469; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13020469 - 9 Feb 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2919

Abstract

Shear failure of reinforced concrete (RC) beams is a form of brittle failure and has always been a concern. This study adopted the interpretable machine-learning technique to predict failure modes and identify the boundary value between different failure modes to avoid diagonal splitting failure. An experimental database consisting of 295 RC beams with or without transverse reinforcements was established. Two features were constructed to reflect the design characteristics of RC beams, namely, the shear–span ratio and the characteristic value of transverse reinforcement. The characteristic value of transverse reinforcement has two forms: (i)

λ_{sv, f_{t}} = ρ_{stp} f_{sv} / f_{t}

, from the China design code of GB 50010-2010; and (ii)

λ_{sv, f_{c}^{'}} = ρ_{stp} f_{sv} / f_{c}^{'}^{0.5}

, from the America design code of ACI 318-19 and Canada design code of CSA A23.3-14. Six machine-learning models were developed to predict failure modes, and gradient boosting decision tree and extreme gradient boosting are recommended after comparing the prediction performance. Then, shapley additive explanations (SHAP) indicates that the characteristic value of transverse reinforcement has the most significant effect on failure mode, follow by the shear–span ratio. The characteristic value of transverse reinforcement is selected as the form of boundary value. On this basis, an accumulated local effects (ALE) plot describes how this feature affects model prediction and gives the boundary value through numerical simulation, that is, the minimum characteristic value of transverse reinforcement. Compared with the three codes, the suggested value for

λ_{sv, f_{c}^{'}, \min}

has higher reliability and security for avoiding diagonal splitting failure. Accordingly, the research approach in this case is feasible and effective, and can be recommended to solve similar tasks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Performance of Traditional, New and Potential Building Materials)

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17 pages, 2550 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Determination of the Target Reliability Index of the Concrete Main Girder of Long-Span Structures Based on Structural Design Service Life

by Zhenhao Zhang, Hesheng Li, Jun Xiong, Fuming Wang, Leijun Wei and Lu Ke

Buildings 2022, 12(12), 2249; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12122249 - 16 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2381

Abstract

This article studies the quantitative relationship between the target reliability index and the design service life for concrete main girders of cable-stayed bridges. A resistance degradation model of the concrete components is established by quantifying the effects of concrete carbonation and steel corrosion. It is assumed that the dead load and the live load are time-invariant with the distributions of normal and extreme type I, respectively, while the resistance is considered as time-variant with the distribution of lognormal. The standard values of the most unfavorable moment under dead and live loads are calculated by ANSYS, its mean value and standard deviation are further obtained using the statistical parameters suggested by the Unified Standard for Structural Reliability Design of Highway Engineering. The mean and standard deviation of resistance are obtained using the target reliability index value provided in the code above. The resistance value and reliability index at different times in a certain design service life can be obtained through the resistance degradation model. The result shows the reliability index decreases exponentially during the service life of the structure. For different design service years, different initial resistance values and initial reliability indexes can be deduced. Based on this, the target reliability index values considering the design service life are suggested. In the example analysis, the target reliability index of the concrete main girder of a cable-stayed bridge with a design service life of 100 years is suggested as 6.24. This research provides references for the design of concrete main girders of cable-stayed bridges. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Performance of Traditional, New and Potential Building Materials)

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17 pages, 5763 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Investigation on the Response of Elliptical CFT Columns Subjected to Lateral Impact Loading

by Yingtao Wang and Shaohua Hu

Buildings 2022, 12(11), 1847; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12111847 - 2 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1789

Abstract

This study reports an experimental investigation on the impact behavior of elliptical concrete-filled steel tubular (CFT) columns subjected to lateral loading. A total of five CFT columns, including one circular cross-section and four elliptical cross-sections, were tested using a horizontal-impact-testing system. The influences of the impact velocity, the impact times, and the cross-section geometry on the dynamic response of the elliptical CFT columns were analyzed. The experimental results have shown that the specimens withstood the global displacements without the buckling of the steel tubes. The strain rates of the steel tubes in this paper were small. The impact velocity had significant influences on the impact load-time histories and energy absorption. Meanwhile, the impact times had little influence on the impact force and displacement at the same impact velocity. Circular CFT columns have the highest ductility and impact-energy-absorption capacity. Based on the finite element analysis software ABAQUS, the finite element models of the elliptical CFT columns under impact loads were established. The simulation results were in good agreement with the experimental results. Finally, the mechanical mechanism of the elliptical CFT columns under lateral impact was analyzed by the finite element model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Performance of Traditional, New and Potential Building Materials)

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16 pages, 3958 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Permeability Prediction Model Modified on Kozeny-Carman for Building Foundation of Clay Soil

by Jian Chen, Huawei Tong, Jie Yuan, Yingguang Fang and Renguo Gu

Buildings 2022, 12(11), 1798; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12111798 - 27 Oct 2022

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 3256

Abstract

Clay soil is a common building foundation material, and its permeability is very important for the safety of foundation pits and the later settlement of buildings. However, the traditional Kozeny-Carman (K-C) equation shows serious discrepancies when predicting the permeability of clay in building foundation treatment. Therefore, solving the application of K-C equation in clay is a problem faced by the engineers and scholars. In this paper, the influence of clay mineralogy on pore structure and permeability is analyzed, and then the effective e (e_eff) and effective SSA (S_eff) are proposed. Based on the e_eff and S_eff, the permeability prediction model modified on Kozeny-Carman is built. Then, seepage experiments are conducted on two types of clay samples to test this prediction model; at the same time, the MIP combining freeze-drying methods are used to obtain the S_eff and e_eff. Through the discussion of the test results, three main conclusions are obtained: (1) there are invalid pores in clay due to the influence of clay mineral, this is the reason for which K-C equation is unsuitable for clay; (2) the e_eff and S_eff can reflect the structural state of clay during seepage; (3) the results of the permeability prediction model in this paper agree well with the test results, which indicates that this prediction model is applicable to clay. The research results of this paper are significant to solve the academic problem that K-C equation is not applicable to clay and significant to ensure the safety of building foundation pits in clay areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Performance of Traditional, New and Potential Building Materials)

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Review

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20 pages, 2234 KiB

Open AccessReview

Research Status on the Application Technology of Early Age Carbon Dioxide Curing

by Lei Zhang, Xiaoxiong Zha, Jiaqian Ning and Wentao Li

Buildings 2023, 13(4), 957; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13040957 - 3 Apr 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2418

Abstract

Curing early age concrete (hereinafter referred to as EAC) with CO₂ as a new method for capturing and storing CO₂ can not only result in energy savings and emission reductions, but can also improve the performance of early age concrete and shorten the curing time, which leads to various application prospects. In this paper, we collect the existing research results at home and abroad to explain the reaction mechanisms of early age CO₂-cured concrete (hereinafter referred to as EACC); summarize the effects of external factors such as carbonation time, CO₂ pressure and concentration, and intrinsic factors (such as the active admixture, the water/cement ratio, and the water content) on the carbonation effect of early age CO₂; detail the existing theoretical and numerical models of EACC; investigate the technology of EACC in four fields, i.e., precast concrete, cast-in-place concrete, recycled concrete, and fibre-reinforced concrete; and summarize the problems faced by existing research in application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Performance of Traditional, New and Potential Building Materials)

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