Asian Journal of Civil Engineering

Bhaskar, Jaya Kumar; Bhunia, Dipendu; Karthik, J.; Samadhiya, Akash

doi: 10.1007/s42107-022-00446-8pmid: N/A

Masonry is a prevalent human chronicle substance used all over the globe as it offers significant advantages concerning building execution time, consumption, and costs despite being an engineered material manufactured using naturally occurring resources. In burgeoning countries, in particular India, most of the constructions are forged using masonry materials. As this system is in wide usage around the globe, it is cardinal to have cognition about the emergence of the material and the praxis of the same. The purpose of this paper was to review the evolution of masonry and brick masonry from the Stone Age (4000 BCE and 2000 BCE) to the Meghalayan Age and to discuss the details related to the manufacturing processes, composition, classification, and performance of brick masonry under various conditions including those materials that are in use along with the masonry. An efficient survey conducted concentrating on the significant discoveries and perceptions made by each researcher is introduced. A table contains insights about the strengthening process used, and parameters considered results and main observations for every method.

Haque, Md. Foisal

doi: 10.1007/s42107-022-00462-8pmid: N/A

Generally, a reinforced concrete haunched beam (RCHB) is used in the structure for increasing shear capacity at support and reduce self-weight of the structure to minimize cost. Large depth at support expresses stronger characteristics of beam. Therefore, classical strong column and weak beam theory may have violated which shows harmful effect of structure during lateral loading. However, in the present study, linear and non-linear formulae are developed for the 5-noded line elements of RCHB and parametric studies are performed under gravity loading. In parametric studies, the depth of the beam is reduced for the formation of haunch with the variations of haunch angles and lengths. Newly developed non-linear formulations are compared with the ETABS (18.1.1) which represents a good-fit of results up to a haunch angle of 7° and results vary after crossing this angle because of some consideration of present formulations responsible for these variations. Also, these formulations are compared with the Godínez-Domínguez et al. (Eng Struct 105: 99–122, 2015) experimental and numerical results which show similar variations of results like ETABS because of the same reason involved herewith. Most of the cases, forces, and displacements of RCHB are deviated from the haunch angle of 3° based on parametric studies. In addition, acceptance criteria meet when displacements of life safety and collapse preventions are 1.6 and 2.3 times of code prescribed maximum allowable displacement. The non-linear model and solution technique of present research can exhibit acceptance level of RCHB because of residual stress generation of the iterative process although results vary from ETABS and previous studies which indicates that further scope will have for the enhancement of present formulations.

Rokade, Mahadev; Gaikwad, Mahesh; Singh, Suvir; Kadam, Sachin

doi: 10.1007/s42107-022-00469-1pmid: N/A

Assessment of fire performance of concrete structures requires complete knowledge of material properties and constitutive relationships. The existing mathematical models present the behaviour of mechanical properties of concrete at elevated temperatures. Most proposed models are based on experimental test results with significant variation in incorporated test parameters namely the type of aggregates, water–cement ratio, fire scenario, rate of loading, etc., ultimately resulting in significant variation in their predicted results. This paper comprises a literature review study for compressive strength, tensile strength, maximum strain at peak stress, and initial elastic modulus of concrete under various temperature ranges to establish sensitivity among them. The studied data were distinguished based on the type of aggregates, i.e., siliceous, carbonate, and lightweight aggregates, and application of loading conditions, i.e., unloaded and preloaded. A simplified regression-based mathematical approach is used to propose a unique temperature-dependent relationship for the mechanical properties of concrete to converge the induced error resulting in a less-susceptible mathematical equation.

Albtoush, A. M. Faten; Doh, S. I.; Rahman, R. A.; Al-Momani, A. H.

doi: 10.1007/s42107-022-00470-8pmid: N/A

The construction sector is considered one of the most important engines of the national economy in any country; in addition to that, it clearly contributes to improving the quality of life of individuals. In the construction industry, project success is crucial, because it reflects positively on the growth of the national economy, in partnership with other sectors related to it directly and indirectly. However, construction projects often come with disappointment in completion within time, cost, and quality, for multiple reasons throughout the project life cycle. The aim of this study is to determine the factors that affect the success of construction projects, based on realistic project data. To achieve this goal, data were collected and analyzed from the final reports of a number of projects that had been implemented in 15 years. The result illustrates that the most significant and vital factors for the success of the construction project are: quality-related factors, cost-related factors, time-related factors, contract-related factors, and related external factors. Results help project stakeholders improve construction project performance by identifying factors that have affected project success. This allows them to take appropriate measures for every worker to ensure the success of their projects. In addition, this study contributes to the current body of knowledge by being one of the few studies that analyze project data to identify critical success factors for construction projects in developing countries.

R, Manigandan; Kumar, Manoj; Shedge, Hrishikesh N.

doi: 10.1007/s42107-022-00473-5pmid: N/A

This article describes experimental and numerical analyses of eccentrically loaded over the axially loaded circular concrete-filled double-skinned steel tubular (CFDST) short columns. Tests on circular CFDST short columns under eccentric and concentric loading were conducted to assess their responses to the frequent intensity of 5–30 mm at the interval of each 5 mm eccentric loading conditions with constant cross-sectional proportions and width-to-thickness ratios of the outside and internal tubes. The non-linear finite-element analysis of circular CFDST short columns of eccentrically loaded over the axially loaded was performed using the ABAQUS to predict the structural behavior and compare the concentric loading capacity over the various eccentric loading conditions. The comparison outcomes show that the axial compressive strength of the circular CDFST short columns was 2.38–32.86%, lesser than the concentrically loaded short column with the inner circular section. Also, the influence of computer simulation employed is more efficient in forecasting the experimentally examined performance of circular CFDST stub columns.

Ujong, Jesam Abam; Mbadike, Elvis Michael; Alaneme, George Uwadiegwu

doi: 10.1007/s42107-022-00474-4pmid: N/A

In this research study, the investigation of building details on the construction project cost and duration using artificial neural networks (ANNs) which possesses the ability to generalize complex input–output relationships between given datasets was carried out. From relevant literature review, expert judgment, and extensive field survey, system database were generated with six input factors, namely, activities count (Act.), building area (BA), foundation type (FT), floors number (storey), class of clients and contractors, and two output parameters (duration and cost). The results obtained indicated higher cost and duration variations for the projects given to sole and mini-contractors compared to medium and multi-companies because of inadequate technical advancements and resource personnel to coordinate and manage the construction project activities to prevent cost overrun. The bidding cost and negotiation fees were also observed to effect the choice of contractors’ class recruited for the construction job as the clients with higher financial capacity such as government and cooperate organizations negotiated and hired the multi and medium companies. Feed-forward back-propagation network was used in the smart intelligent modeling development in MATLAB using Levenberg–Marquardt training algorithm and mean squared error (MSE) performance criteria to achieve (6-22-2) optimized network architecture. Using loss-function parameters (mean absolute error, MAE and root mean squared error, MSE and multiple linear regression, MLR) statistical method, the developed ANN-model prediction performance was evaluated. The computed results showed good correlation between ANN model and actual results with average R2 of 0.99995 better than MLR result of 0.6986; also, MAE of 0.2952 and RMSE of 0.5638 were calculated which indicates a robust model.

Al Hamadani, Said; Al Alawi, Mubarak; Al Nuaimi, Ali

doi: 10.1007/s42107-022-00475-3pmid: N/A

This study aims to review the concept of constructability and evaluate the level of implementation of constructability practices in the construction industry in Muscat Governorate. One hundred and ninety questionnaires were distributed, and 85 complete responses were received, including 10 from owners (12%), 64 from consultants (75%) and 11 from the contractors (13%). The results showed that owners, consultants, and contractors recognize, support, and practice constructability efforts. 45% of the respondents said that constructability efforts typically begin in preconstruction planning, which shows a positive awareness that constructability efforts must start at the earliest stage of a project’s life cycle. In addition, 60% of the respondents indicated that they performed constructability by following a constructability procedure during the design stage. All the respondents agreed that constructability implementation obstacles continued to exist in construction projects in Muscat and the cost and time associated with the implementation of constructability review practices are the most dominant obstacles. Although constructability has been recognized in Muscat’s construction industry, the level of constructability awareness and improvement in cost and time estimation and quality requirements are developing.

Obaid, Ahmed Hatif; Jaafer, Abdulkhaliq A.

doi: 10.1007/s42107-022-00467-3pmid: N/A

The aim of this study is to propose a new, sustainable, and effective method for the construction of jack-arch slabs. The main idea of this method is to produce lightweight precast ferrocement elements in the form of sandwich panels to be used in the jack-arch slab between the steel I-section beam. In this study, eight specimens were manufactured and tested under three-point loads. The specimens are made of two ferrocement layers of 15 mm in thickness, separated by core material prisms (200 × 100 × 100) mm. Two different core materials are used; these are styropor or cellular concrete block (thermostone). The precast ferrocement sandwich slab has a section depth of 130 mm (15 mm for each ferrocement layer and 100 mm for the prisms). One of the specimens is made of clay brick and gypsum mortar to represent a traditional jack-arch slab and is employed as a control. The remaining seven specimens are ferrocement sandwich composite slabs. The ferrocement laminates consist of four layers of steel wire mesh embedded in a high-flowable cement mortar of 68 MPa compressive strength. The main variables considered in the study were the type of core material (styropor or cellular concrete), span length, section depth of the slab, and shear connectors. The results regarding the ultimate loads and ductility showed that all precast ferrocement sandwich slab specimens had a higher than the control by (471.23–1216.89%) and (60.55–205.50%), respectively. Using steel wire of 3 mm diameter as shear connectors improved the ultimate loads and ductility by (863.01–1216.89%) and (96.33–205.50%), respectively, over the control specimen. The ultimate load and ductility index are improved by 77.48 and 14.28% when section depth is increased from 130 to 160 mm, respectively. Ferrocement sandwich composite slab specimens have higher flexural strength and modulus than the control specimen by a range of (579.16–1231.25%) and (65.05–247.91%), respectively. The reduction in weight of the sandwich slabs compared to the traditional jack arch reached 43.13% for the styropor core material. The modes of failure showed that the ferrocement sandwich slabs have a ductile behavior. According to the encouraging results of the study, the proposed ferrocement sandwich slab can be used as an alternative to the traditional brick-work slab.

Varghese, Biju P.; Sahoo, Dipak Kumar

doi: 10.1007/s42107-022-00471-7pmid: N/A

Regarding provision of service openings in RC deep beams, the approach of researchers so far has been to predefine the shape and size (area) of opening and impose it upon the member. As a result, the beam wherein the opening interfered with the internal load path used to suffer loss of strength depending on the extent of such interference. On the contrary, this study aims to demonstrate that openings suitably configured to ensure optimum width to the interior diagonal struts can increase the member strength via enhancement of strength of the diagonal struts without incurring higher beam soffit deflection. Simply supported single-point centrally loaded RC deep beams with a variety of openings were numerically examined and experimentally tested to decide an opening configuration that would enhance the strength of the two interior struts. Among the different openings investigated, beams with star opening proved to be the best by resisting an average normalized experimental peak load of 432 kN with a beam soffit deflection of 1.21 mm, as against 377 kN and 1.79 mm in case of solid beams, respectively, suggesting that an ideal opening configuration from strength point of view should follow the profile of the interior struts. Accordingly, a parametric numerical analysis was carried out with a simple triangular opening system from which it was concluded that openings ensuring an aspect ratio of about 2–3 for the diagonal struts would considerably enhance the strut strength and therefore the beam strength, without incurring higher beam soffit deflection.

Shamivand, Abbas; Akbari, Jalal; Allahyari, Parastoo

doi: 10.1007/s42107-022-00472-6pmid: N/A

Among the methods for evaluating the nonlinear performance of structures, pushover analysis is an appropriate alternative instead of direct time history analysis. To accurately extract the capacity curve of a structure, according to the loading regulations/protocols such as FEMA-356 and ATC-40, lateral loads are incrementally applied to the structure in experimental tests until the structural failure occurs. Because of the cost and time-consuming nature of experimental tests, proposing mathematical/analytical methods could be the appropriate tools to predict the capacity curves of a system. The present study proposes a new method to find the capacity curves of cantilever steel beams based on mathematical formulations, structural analysis, and material properties. The reason to select a simple beam in this study is to shed more light on the unknown aspects of the system’s behavior. Therefore, in this research, the effect of axial load is ignored to clarify the nonlinear behavior of complicated systems such as frames. The strains, stresses, and other responses corresponding to large geometric deformations have been extracted in two cases with and without strain hardening by considering changes in the behavior of materials. The proposed method has been verified using the finite-element method with Abaqus software. The results indicate that the proposed method has acceptable accuracy and could be applied in the pushover analysis of steel structures.