Polydopamine assisted transformation of ZnO from nanospheres to nanosheets grown in nanoporous BiVO4 films for the improved photocatalytic performance

This work demonstrates the fabrication of nanoporous BiVO4/ZnO nanosheets heterostructures grown on stainless steel mesh. The ZnO nanospheres were used as precursors for ZnO nanosheets, and the number of ZnO...

Construction Technology of Precast Pier Foundation Filled with Demolished Concrete Lumps

Applying of demolished concrete lumps (DCLs) in the pier foundation is an effective way to improve the efficiency of construction waste resource utilization. Fifty-two cylindrical specimens with the size of ∅ 250 mm × 500 mm were fabricated by mixing of DCLs with the fresh concrete (FC) and used to investigate the influence of two key factors, the gradation of the DCLs and the height setting of layered “steel mesh,” on the uniaxial compression and flexural strength properties of the compound concrete specimens. Results indicate that the layered “steel mesh” in the specimens can restrain the settlement and segregation of the DCLs and improve the compressive and flexural strength of the specimens significantly. Normally, there are two types of failure damage mode of the test pieces, the failure of the interface between DCLs and the FC and the fracture failure of the DCLs. When the stress level is below 0.5, the test piece is in the elastic stage. Crack development occurs when stress level further increase to 0.7–0.9. The pieces with the layered pouring height of H2 and the DCLs of R3 present the optimum compressive strength and flexural strength and also best construction effect.

Structural Behavior of Ferrocement Concrete Plates Subjected to Flexural and Dynamic Loadings

Ferrocement is one of the structural materials, widely used due to its advantages from its particular behavior such as mechanical properties, and impact strength. This paper deals with the impact studies and energy absorption properties of ferrocement slabs. For these studies, 11 different ferrocement slabs of size 50 mm X 500 mm X 25 mm were cast with alteration in the combinations of mesh layers and test results are analyzed to find the different crack patterns .The test specimens were loaded by 3.10 kg under its height 1.20 m in the center of plates. The ferrocement plates were divided into 4 groups reinforced with steel mesh, steel mesh with steel bars, percentage of rubber and fiber. The impact energy at initial cracking stage and at failure was determined for all the slabs. Results of reinforced ferrocement plates emphasized that increasing the number of the steel mesh layers in the ferrocement forms increases the first cracking load, ultimate load and energy absorption. Using steel bars with steel meshes led to higher energy absorption than that obtained when using mild steel bars only. Using rubber and fiber achieved high impact energy.