ENGG4005 Research Proposal Assignment Help

Introduction

The purpose of the research proposal is to deeply understand the research topic on utilizing and understanding the mechanism of drinking water treatment sludge for mitigating the Alkali-Silica reaction in cement composite. Alkali-Silica reaction is considered to be the primary issue usually seen in concrete or in the cement composite (Beglarigale & Yazici 2014). Alkali-silica reaction is also known as concrete cancer, which takes place in concrete (or in cement). It is basically a reaction of swelling that takes place inside the concrete which expands over the specific time duration, due to highly alkaline cement and reactive non-crystalline silica (Nowasell 2016). At the point when water for example, two molecule of hydrogen and one particle of oxygen absorbs, the hydroscopic gel swells and change in volume parameters takes place which expands the altered aggregates and forms soluble and viscous gel sodium silicate (Guo et al. 2018). Due to which it exerts intense pressure in siliceous aggregate and resulting into loss of concrete strength and/or also cause micro fractures which acts as cause of failure (Latifee 2016). 

Not only this, there are many other several inducive agents which affects and cause the reaction responsible for the Alkali-silica reaction and needs to overcome the effect. So, it is necessary to understand the current scenario of researches in the field of civil that have been done on mitigating the Alkali-silica reaction (ASR) effects which holds the significant role towards the betterment for the society and for greener and sustainable infrastructure. To undergo the process, treatment sludge will be imported from the water treatment plant of happy valley, South Australia. And also, materials like aggregates, glass sand and paper will be used towards the mitigation process of Alkali-silica reaction (ASR) effects. 

Significance of Research 

Although numerous researchers have already investigated the Alkali-silica reaction and its effect of ground-granulated blast furnace slag, but the impact of supplementary cement materials on alkali-silica reaction especially in South Australia have been limited. There is also a lack of research on the information about using combination of fibers and groun-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) for reducing the Alkali-silica reaction in cement. There is a role of GGBS in reducing the expansion and detrimental effects of Alkali-silica reaction in the cement so that its exposure can be reduced and cement’s quality can be enhanced (Beglarigale & Yazici 2014). Moreover, there is also a knowledge gap on the aggregation of moisture in the cement content that increases the ASR whilst reducing the quality of cement. Using the previous research on GGBS, fiber , aluminium and water treatment to control the moisture content in cement will be used for this study for improving cement quality in South Australia. Moreover, use of drinking water treatment will be tested for reducing the ASR in concrete structures in the samples obtained.   

Problem Statement 

There is still knowledge gap present about the mitigating process of the ASR condition as the knowledge about the actual cause of the ASR development or the alkali aggregation is still not clear among the experts. Thus, the future research focusing on this aspect should be conducted. Moreover, gas evolution and the negative effect over mechanical properties regarding the porosity of the concrete structures should also be addressed before the implementation of the alternate mitigation strategies. Many effects and variations may be observed in concrete during Alkali-silica reaction effect like cracking critical structural failure which leads to the demolition of structure. In 1930s, Thomas E Stanton studied for the very first time the expansion of concrete in California due to the reaction of cement and aggregate and later in 1940 he published the article. This reaction is due to the interaction of chemicals between alkali-hydroxides usually derived from cement and reactive particles present in aggregates. Alkali-silica reaction produces numerous chemicals known to be alkali-aggregate reactivity. The reaction generally takes in between 5-12 years but has many exceptions. The equation shown below is the idealised in form. (Hay & Ostertag 2018)