This book examines the state-of-the-art on plants and fibres as building materials for low cost construction, emphasizing their use, properties, fabrication, new procedures and future developments. It makes available research results on new techniques for fibre reinforcement and their use in concrete, stabilized clay and other matrices. Procedures for making vegetable fibres and wood-based building materials in developing countries are also analysed.
This book presents the latest research development on fibre reinforced cementitious materials, especially those related to ageing and durability. The book forms the Proceedings of the International Symposium held at Sheffield in July 1992, the latest in a series of RILEM symposia on this subject, organised by RILEM Technical Committee 102-AFC Ageing and Durability to Fibre Cement Composites.
Eco-efficient Construction and Building Materials provides essential reading about materials for the construction industry in the twenty-first century. It covers the latest findings in the field, especially the toxicity aspects, embodied energy, construction and demolition wastes, the use of wastes in concrete, masonry units, materials reinforced with vegetable fibres, earth construction, the durability aspects, and also the importance of nanotechnology to the development of more environmentally-friendly materials. Based on more than nine hundred references, Eco-efficient Construction and Building Materials is of fundamental importance to academics, engineers and architects who are dedicated to the creation of a greener and more holistic construction industry.
Increased environmental and energy concerns have renewed global interest in raw earth as a building material. Low-energy requirements, low-cost, high availability at construction sites, and favorable engineering properties make (EBMs) an attractive alternative to conventional cement-based construction materials. Though the use of native binders to improve soil properties has garnered attention in recent literature, the available knowledge has not been covered in a single document. This book highlights the key soil properties that determine the mechanical performance of earthen building materials, importance of unsaturated soil mechanics in the engineering behavior of earthen building materials, the different types of stabilizers used to improve the engineering performance of earthen building materials including the use of select native binders, the characteristics of compressed earth blocks stabilized with cement and cement + wood ash additives and the improvement in the engineering properties of adobes stabilized with plant fibers and cow dung.
Durability and Life Prediction in Biocomposites, Fibre-Reinforced Composites and Hybrid Composites focuses on the advanced characterization techniques used for the analysis of composite materials developed from natural fiber/biomass, synthetic fibers and a combination of these materials used as fillers and reinforcements to enhance materials performance and utilization in automotive, aerospace, construction and building components. The book presents key aspects of fracture and failure in natural/synthetic, fiber reinforced, polymer based composite materials, ranging from crack propagation, to crack growth, and from notch-size effect, to damage-tolerant design. Written by leading experts in the field, and covering composite materials developed from different natural fibers and their hybridization with synthetic fibers, the book's chapters provide cutting-edge, up-to-date research on the characterization, analysis and modelling of composite materials. - Contains contributions from leading experts in the field - Discusses recent progress on failure analysis, SHM, durability, life prediction and the modelling of damage in natural fiber-based composite materials - Covers experimental, analytical and numerical analysis - Provides detailed and comprehensive information on mechanical properties, testing methods and modelling techniques
Sustainable and Nonconventional Construction Materials Using Inorganic Bonded Fiber Composites presents a concise overview of non-conventional construction materials with a strong focus on alternative inorganic bonded fiber composites and their applications as construction components. It outlines the processing and characterization of non-conventional cementitious composites, which will be of great benefit to both academic and industrial professionals interested in research, development, and innovation on inorganic bonded fiber composites. The book gives a comprehensive review of the innovative research associated with building components based on inorganic bonded composites. Exploring both natural fibers as reinforcing elements and alternative inorganic binders based on agricultural and industrial wastes, this book also considers the performance and applications of fibrous composites as construction materials and components. - Dedicated to analyzing recent developments in inorganic fiber composites research - Discusses the broader subjects of processing, characterization, performance, and applications of non-conventional construction materials
This book is mainly based on the results of the EU-funded UE-FP7 Project EnCoRe, which aimed to characterize the key physical and mechanical properties of a novel class of advanced cement-based materials incorporating recycled powders and aggregates and/or natural ingredients in order to allow partial or even total replacement of conventional constituents. More specifically, the project objectives were to predict the physical and mechanical performance of concrete with recycled aggregates; to understand the potential contribution of recycled fibers as a dispersed reinforcement in concrete matrices; and to demonstrate the feasibility and possible applications of natural fibers as a reinforcement in cementitious composites. All of these aspects are fully covered in the book. The opening chapters explain the material concept and design and discuss the experimental characterization of the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of the recycled raw constituents, as well as of the cementitious composite incorporating them. The numerical models with potentialities for describing the behavior at material and structural level of constructions systems made by these composites are presented. Finally, engineering applications and guidelines for production and design are proposed.
This book sheds light on recent advances in sustainable construction and building materials with special emphasis on the characterization of natural and composite hydraulic mortars, advanced concrete technology, green building materials, and application of nanotechnology to the improvement of the design of building materials. The book covers in detail the characterization of natural hydraulic lime mortars, a decade of research on self-healing concrete, biocomposite cement binding process and performance, development of sustainable building materials from agro-industrial wastes, applications of sugarcane biomass ash for developing sustainable construction materials, oil-contaminated sand: sources, properties, remediation, and engineering applications, oil shale ash addition effect in concrete to freezing/thawing, connection node design and performance optimization of girders, functionally graded concrete structures, cumulative tensile damage and consolidation effects on fracture properties of sandstone, key performance criteria influencing the selection of construction methods used for the fabrication of building components in the Middle East, fly ash as a resource material for the construction industry, degradation monitoring systems for a building information modeling maintenance approach, durability of composite-modified asphalt mixtures based on inherent and improved performance, and bitumen and its modifiers.
