This research project will help determine if and how recovered stockpiled fly ash and fluidized bed combustion (FBC) fly ash can be used as viable and high performance pozzolans for concrete. Supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) are key ingredients in today’s concrete and can vastly improve the durability and sustainability of concrete mixtures. While the demand for fly ash (the most commonly used SCM) and other suitable pozzolans continues to escalate, the supply of high-quality and economically available fly ash has been shrinking. While alternative sources of fly ash do exist (e.g., landfilled or ponded fly ash), these have not been used due to lack of guidelines and protocols to evaluate the performance of these ashes and identify necessary beneficiation procedures before they can be incorporated into concrete mixtures. This study seeks to evaluate the feasibility, performance, and beneficiation of two promising alternative sources of fly ash: recovered dry disposed (stockpiled) fly ash, and FBC fly ash. The project findings will be used to potentially develop new ACI guidelines for the evaluation and use of recovered fly ash and FBC fly ash in concrete. 

The primary objective of this project is to clarify which ACI 318 provisions should apply to the design of column-foundation connections, or whether alternative provisions should be developed for these connections. This study will conduct physical tests on representative geometries to explore the design requirements for tension, compression, and moment loading cases. The designs will be based on representative design approaches, and the results will provide direct evidence on the efficacy of those design procedures. In addition, the project will provide guidance on the use of existing ACI 318 anchoring-to-concrete provisions in a range of applications.

The main goal of the research is to understand which parameters of pumping and concrete mix design have the largest effect on the workability and air-void systems and apply the results to improved guidelines for concrete producers and contractors to assure the quality of the concrete placed in the formworks by pumping. Two main groups of parameters will be investigated: pumping parameters and concrete properties. This knowledge will enable the researchers to predict changes in concrete workability and air-void distribution.

Concrete liquid containing structures (CLCS) are primarily used for the storage of water, wastewater, and other industrial wastes. These critical facilities require careful design and detailing to optimize meeting serviceability requirements for crack and leakage control with construction and maintenance costs. Inconsistency among the design standards of CLCS and debate on the validity of some of the provisions in codes and standards stems from a lack of understanding of the behavior of these structures under static and seismic loading. The main objective of this project is to develop performance criteria for design of CLCS through full-scale experimental investigations that assures a safe, leak-resistant structure. The research program involves testing several specimens representing a segment of wall-base slab connection region with different base connection details while under liquid pressure. The results from this study will be analyzed to make code recommendations to ACI Committee 350, potentially leading to new design code standards.

CRC 91: Setting Bar-Bending Requirements for High-Strength Steel Bars

CRC 88: Proposed Specification for Deformed Steel Bars with Controlled Ductile Properties for Concrete Reinforcement

CRC 87: Part 1 Materials: Defining Structurally Acceptable Properties of High-Strength Steel Bars through Material and Column Testing

CRC 87: Part 2 Columns: Defining Structurally Acceptable Properties of High-Strength Steel Bars through Material and Column Testing

CRC 86: Seismic Performance Characterization of Beams with High-Strength Reinforcement

CRC 85: Interface Shear Transfer of Lightweight Aggregate Concretes with Different Lightweight Aggregates

CRC 82: Evaluation of Seismic Behavior of Coupling Beams with Various Types of Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete

CRC 81: Brief Historical Overview of Yield Strength Determination in ACI 318

CRC 81: Determination of Yield Strength for Nonprestressed Steel Reinforcement

CRC 80: Reexamination of Punching Shear Strength and Deformation Capacity Corner Slab-Column Connection

CRC 77: Evaluation of Seismic Performance Factors and Pedestal Shear Strength in Elevated Water Storage Tanks

CRC 74: Mitigation of Steel Reinforcement Via Bioactive Agents

CRC 71: Modeling Parameters for the Nonlinear Seismic Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Columns Retrofitted Using FRP or Steel Jacketing

CRC 67: Improved Procedures for the Design of Slender Structural Concrete Columns

CRC 65: Assessing the Impact of Green Concrete Mixtures on Building Construction

CRC 65: Lab and Field Data for: Assessing the Impact of Green Concrete Mixtures on Building Construction

CRC 61: Transverse Reinforcement Requirements in Flexural Hinges of Large Beams of Special Moment Resisting Frames Subjected to Cyclic Loading - "Big Beam" Project

CRC 54: Development of Anchorage System for FRP Strengthening Applications using Integrated FRP Composite Anchors

CRC 53 & 66: Drift Capacity of Slab-Column Connections Reinforced with Headed Shear Studs and Subjected to Combined Gravity Load and Biaxial Lateral Displacements

CRC 48: Crack control and leakage criteria for concrete liquid containing structures

CRC 43: A Study of Static and Dynamic Modulus of Elasticity of Concrete

CRC 42: CLT and AE Methods of In-Situ Load Testing

CRC 40: Formwork Pressures for Self Consolidating Concrete

CRC 26: Assessing the Deicer Salt Scaling Resistance of Concrete Containing Supplementary Cementing Material

ATC 81: BIM Strategic Plan