Faculty Publications
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Item Effect of Electrolyte Lignin and Fly Ash in Stabilizing Black Cotton Soil(Springer US, 2015) Lekha, B.M.; Goutham, G.; Ravi Shankar, A.U.Subgrade is one of the important layers of any pavement. It must be able to support loads transmitted from pavement structure without excessive deformation under adverse climatic and traffic conditions. In this investigation, laboratory studies were carried out to evaluate the influence of a commercial electrolyte lignin stabilizer (ELS), fly ash (FA) and a combination of both, on black cotton (BC) soil procured from North Karnataka region in India. Basic geotechnical and engineering properties like unconfined compressive strength (UCS), California bearing ratio (CBR), etc. were determined for both untreated and treated soil. Dynamic repeated load test was conducted to examine the fatigue behaviour of the soil. Durability of the soil was checked by wet-dry (WD) and freeze-thaw (FT) cycle tests, and swelling properties by free swell index test. From the studies, it was observed that consistency limits, dry density, UCS and CBR values were improved for treated soil, with curing periods of 1, 7 and 28 days. Weight loss in FT test was less than 14 % for 12 cycles, which ensures that the stabilized soil has become durable. But none of the samples were observed to be withstanding above five cycles in wet-dry test. Soil stabilized with ELS and FA showed better results compared to soil with only ELS. Swelling was reduced to a great extent with 28 days curing period for the former one. From the experimental results, it can be concluded that this chemical can be used as a stabilizer for existing BC soil in site to enhance its subgrade strength. © 2015, Springer New York.Item Air-cured Alkali activated binders for concrete pavements(Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering, 2015) Palankar, N.; Ravi Shankar, A.U.; Mithun, B.M.The present study focuses on the possibility of use of alkali activatedbinders for use in concrete pavements. Alkali Activated Slag Concrete (AASC) and Alkali Activated Slag Fly ash Concrete (AASFC) are prepared and the properties are compared with Ordinary Portland Cement Concrete (OPCC). The Ground Granulated Blast FurnaceSlag (GGBFS) and Fly Ash (FA) are blended in the ratios 100:0, 75:25, 50:50 and 25:75 as binder and activated using strong alkaline solution. Trial mixes are carried out to identify the optimal Activator Modulus (Ms) for each combination of GGBFS and FA. The mix design for the optimal activator modulus is optimised to achieve sufficient strength for Pavement Quality Concrete (PQC) and the fresh and mechanical properties are studied in detail. The results indicate the properties of AASC and AASFC are similar or slightly better than conventional OPCC and satisfy the minimum strength requirements for concrete pavements. The application of alkali activated binders will minimise the environmental hazards occurring from augmented OPC production, along with effective utilisation of industrial waste materials and conservation of natural resources. © Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering.Item Durability studies on eco-friendly concrete mixes incorporating steel slag as coarse aggregates(Elsevier Ltd, 2016) Palankar, N.; Ravi Shankar, A.U.; Mithun, B.M.The present study discusses the durability performance of alkali activated concrete mixes containing steel slag as coarse aggregates. Steel slag aggregates, a waste product obtained from iron and steel industry are incorporated as coarse aggregates in alkali activated slag concrete (AASC) and alkali activated slag fly ash concrete (AASFC) by replacing traditional natural aggregates. The mix design for AASC and AASFC mixes are optimised to obtain sufficient strength for structural purposes and then steel slag coarse aggregates are incorporated at different replacement levels (0%, 50% and 100% by volume of total coarse aggregate content). Durability properties such as long term ageing performance, water absorption, volume of permeable voids, resistance to sulphuric acid attack and resistance to magnesium sulphate attack are studied in detail and compared with conventional Ordinary Portland Cement Concrete (OPCC). The ecological and economical analysis of concrete mixes is also carried out. It was found that the AASC and AASFC mixes displayed better durability performance as compared to OPCC. The inclusion of steel slag aggregates slightly reduced the durability performance of AASC and AASFC mixes. The AASC and AASFC with steel slag aggregates displayed lower energy requirement and lower production cost as compared to OPCC, thus proving it to be eco-friendly. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Item Investigations on Alkali-Activated Slag/Fly Ash Concrete with steel slag coarse aggregate for pavement structures(Taylor and Francis Ltd. michael.wagreich@univie.ac.at, 2017) Palankar, N.; Ravi Shankar, A.U.; Mithun, B.M.The present investigation is conducted to evaluate the effect of steel slag coarse aggregates on mechanical properties and fatigue behaviour of Alkali-Activated Slag Fly Ash Concrete (AASFC) mixes. AASFC mixes were prepared with steel slag coarse aggregates by replacing natural coarse aggregates at various replacement levels (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% by volume). Various mechanical properties and fatigue performance were tested and compared with conventional Portland concrete. The incorporation of steel slag aggregates resulted in decrease in mechanical strength of AASFC mixes. The fatigue lives of AASFC mixes containing steel slag were found to be lower than AASFC with natural coarse aggregates. Two-parameter Weibull distribution was used for statistical analysis of fatigue data and it was observed that the fatigue data of concrete mixes can be approximately modelled using Weibull distribution. Steel slag aggregates reported acceptable performance in AASFC mixes for its use in pavement quality concrete. © 2015 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.Item A Study on Elastic Deformation Behavior of Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete for Pavements(Springer, 2019) Chandrashekar, A.; Palankar, N.; Durga Prashanth, L.; Mithun, B.M.; Ravi Shankar, A.U.The present study discusses the experimental investigation of steel fiber-reinforced concrete slabs on ground under wheel load with the objective of understanding the stress behavior when subjected to central and edge wheel loading. The steel fiber-reinforced fly ash concrete slabs of 900 mm × 900 mm, 150 mm thickness were investigated in this study. Strain gauges and data acquisition system were used to measure the strains at the center and the edge of the slab under the action of the load. The load versus strain relationship under central and edge loading for reference concrete and steel fiber fly ash concrete showed a linear variation even up to the pressure of 2.5 MPa, which is much beyond the conventional tyre inflation pressure of 0.8 MPa. The load versus strain graphs clearly signify the higher modulus of elasticity of fly ash steel fiber-reinforced concrete. The stresses were calculated using IITRIGID software and ANSYS software and were found matching significantly. The value of modulus of elasticity of fly ash steel fiber-reinforced concrete (FS) using ANSYS model for experimental values of load and strains measured was approximated to 34,000 N/mm2 and was found to closely match with the experimentally obtained modulus of elasticity. No significant effect of Poisson’s ratio of concrete on load–strain characteristics was observed within the range 0.15–0.2 of concrete. © 2019, The Institution of Engineers (India).Item A study on initial setting time and the mechanical properties of AASC using the PS ball as fine aggregate(Springer, 2019) Talkeri, A.H.; Ravi Shankar, A.U.India is the second largest producer of cement in the world with an annual production of 455 Million Tonnes (MT) which is expected to reach up to 550MT by 2020. In India, the increased demand for cement in the construction industry is required to meet the needs of infrastructure development. However, the production of Portland cement releases significant amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere. Therefore, it is necessary to look for sustainable solutions for concrete production by the use of supplementary cementitious materials. The alternative replacement for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) can be Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS), Fly-ash, Silica fume, Rice-husk ash, which is the various industrial by-products. In this present work, an attempt was made to develop Alkali Activated Slag Concrete (AASC) using Precious Slag (PS) ball as fine aggregate. The development of AASC was made with GGBS as the principal binder. Mixes were developed with binder content 443 kg/m3, Sodium Silicate (SS)/Sodium Hydroxide (SH) ratio of 1 and their performance when exposed to ambient temperature were studied. Alkali binder ratio (0.3) with 8, 10, 12 and 14M NaOH was selected for all the AASC mixes. The test results showed that the slump values for the different mixes satisfying the MoRTH guidelines for concrete pavements. The AASC mixes have higher compressive strength ranging between 41–64 MPa. The fatigue life of the AASC mix was has improved by the addition of PS ball, at the higher concentration of NaOH. © 2019, Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering. Production and hosting by Springer Nature.Item Stabilisation of lithomargic clay using alkali activated fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag(Taylor and Francis Ltd. michael.wagreich@univie.ac.at, 2020) Amulya, A.; Ravi Shankar, A.U.; Praveen, M.A suitable ground improvement technique is essential in order to confront the problems associated with lithomargic clay for road construction. The efficacy of alkaline solutions such as sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate along with class F fly ash and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) as additives to improve the properties of lithomargic clay is examined. The different mixes are prepared by replacing the soil with 20%, 30%, and 40% of GGBS and fly ash. The Maximum Dry Density (MDD) obtained from the soil replaced with 40% GGBS and for the soil replaced with 30% fly ash. An activator modulus of 1.25 is kept constant for the varying sodium oxide dosage at 2, 3 and 4 per cent. The Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of the alkali-activated soil cured for 3, 7 and 28 days is determined and compared with the UCS of the soil replaced with fly ash and GGBS at both standard and modified proctor densities. The different mixes are tested for the durability, California Bearing Ratio (CBR). The soil is replaced with GGBS and fly ash does not pass the durability test while the alkali-activated mixes with 4% sodium oxide dosage is found to be durable. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.Item Strength and Durability Characteristics of Cement and Class F Fly Ash-Treated Black Cotton Soil(Springer, 2021) Chethan, B.A.; Ravi Shankar, A.U.This paper analyses improvement of the strength and durability characteristics of black cotton (BC) soil treated with cement and Class F fly ash for pavements. The increase in cement dosage (3–14%) improved the UCS, but the specimens could not resist WD durability cycles. In order to improve, industrial by-product Class F fly ash was used in addition to the cement. Different combinations of cement (10, 12, and 14%) and fly ash (10, 15, 20, 25, and 30%) replacements were evaluated for strength and durability characteristics. The higher dosage of fly ash reduced the plasticity with uniform distribution of cement cluster formations, leading to higher UCS. The soil mixes with (cement + fly ash) stabilizer combinations (10 + 30), (12 + 30), (14 + 25), (14 + 30) were stable against WD test with soil loss < 14%. Mix with (14 + 25) stabilizer showed a maximum retained UCS of 3.6 MPa at 2.9% moisture content (MC) after 12 WD cycles. However, most of the mixes showed high resistance to the FT test. The retained UCS of FT tested specimens was more due to low variations in moisture content. Mix with (14 + 30) stabilizer showed a maximum retained UCS of 2.6 MPa at 23.3% MC after 12 FT cycles. The soil samples with high cement and fly ash contents, with 90 days curing, can exhibit significant strength and more resistance to WD and FT cycles with soil loss < 14%. After drying, severe damage to WD specimens was observed due to the drastic absorption of water during the wetting cycle. Durable samples showed good plunger penetration resistance with an expansion of < 2%. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed the formations of cemented interclusters. CSH formed resulted in strength improvement, as observed from XRD patterns. The 7 days cured WD specimens did not exhibit any volume expansion on soaking, thawing in water. A maximum volumetric shrinkage of 3.2% on drying and 1.91% on freezing was observed for stabilized soil. Hence, the stronger and durable stabilized soil mixes with high volume stability can be used for pavements. © 2021, Indian Geotechnical Society.Item Alkali activated slag-fly ash concrete incorporating precious slag as fine aggregate for rigid pavements(Chang'an University, 2022) Talkeri, A.; Ravi Shankar, A.U.This study aims to develop the alkali activated slag-fly ash concrete (AASFC) using precious slag (PS) ball as the fine aggregate. The slag-fly ash proportion, sodium silicate/sodium hydroxide (SS/SH) ratio and sodium hydroxide concentration are the prime variables. The fresh concrete properties like workability, setting time and the hardened concrete properties of AASFC developed under ambient curing were analyzed and similar way by replacing with fly ash (FA). The sodium hydroxide concentration of 8 M, 10 M and 12 M, SS/SH ratio of 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0, alkaline liquid to binder ratio of 0.35 and variation in slag-fly ash proportion as major inputs for mix design. The test results showed that, the fresh state of AASFC blend has a shorter setting time of 12–16 min, because of calcium mineral from the FA, the workability and setting time of AASFC mix was enhanced by the addition of the tri-sodium phosphate as a retarder. At the higher SS/SH extent, the workability and setting time exaggerated, whereas the increased FA content and sodium hydroxide concentration had a greater influence on the fresh state of concrete. Also, the sodium hydroxide concentration, SS/SH ratio and slag-fly ash proportion are the most inducing parameters on the workability, setting time and strength parameters of AASFC. © 2021 The AuthorsItem Effect of Flash Flood and Weather Changes on Unconfined Compressive Strength of Cement- and Fly Ash-Stabilized Black Cotton Soil Used as Road Materials(Springer, 2023) Chethan, B.A.; Ravi Shankar, A.U.Stabilized soil naturally undergoes variation in moisture content and temperature during seasonal weather changes. In this investigation, the influence of these weather changes on unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of black cotton (BC) soil stabilized with ordinary Portland cement (43 grade) and class F fly ash was studied. Cement dosage was varied from 3 to 10%, along with different combined dosages of (cement + fly ash) (where fly ash < 32%) for stabilizing various mixes. The UCS specimens were cured for 0 (immediately after preparation) 3, 7, 28, 60, and 90 days in a desiccator and subsequently submerged for 24 h in water to ensure saturation. The flash flood effect was evaluated in terms of strength reduction by correlating UCS of saturated specimens (UCSs) with UCS of desiccator-cured specimens. The stabilized materials’ resistance to wetting–drying (WD), freezing–thawing (FT) durability tests and subsequent UCS retained over time were determined. The UCS values increased substantially at higher cement and fly ash contents and with the curing period, whereas a notable reduction in UCSs values was observed for saturated samples. However, the samples with high cement and fly ash contents exhibited low moisture susceptibility with lesser strength reduction. The UCS and UCSs values are linearly correlated with R2 values > 0.9. All the specimens were intact with improved volume stability at higher cement and fly ash dosages during saturation and drying. Mixes with high cement and fly ash dosages shown improved resistance to WD cycles, whereas at a low dosage, most of the mixes failed during the second wetting cycle due to a drastic absorption of water after the first drying cycle. All FT specimens were intact with considerable strength retained after 12 cycles exhibiting a minimal mass loss. The formation of hydration products has justified the strength gain as observed from scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDAX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) plots. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering.