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Although flame retardants are very effective in reducing the fire hazard of polymeric materials, their presence may be detrimental to mechanical strength. Hence, in order to have a holistic improvement of performance properties, a new approach has been developed wherein biochar is used to host a naturally-occurring flame retardant (lanosol). The issue of loss in mechanical strength of a polymer host is alleviated by the use of biochar. Three different doping procedures were investigated, namely, dry mixing, and chemical and thermal-based doping, to integrate lanosol into the biochar pores. The doped biochar was used to develop wheat glutenbased blends. The mechanical and flammability properties of the blends were assessed. It was found that thermal doping was the most effective in introducing significant amounts of lanosol particles inside the biochar pores. The bioplastic containing chemically, and thermally doped biochar had equal tensile strength (5.2 MPa), which was comparable to that of the unmodified material (5.4 MPa). The thermally doped biochar displayed the lowest cone calorimeter peak heat release rate (636 kW m 2) for combustion and the highest apparent activation energy (32.4 kJ mol 1) for decomposition. Thus, for flame retarding protein-based matrices, the use of additives thermally doped into biochar is recommended to both simultaneously improve fire-resistance and conserve mechanical strength., QC 20220818

Biochar has unique physical and chemical properties, making it a viable and sustainable future generation material for a variety of applications. The applications include power generation, composite production, construction (as a reinforcement), and soil amendment. The inherent good mechanical and combustion (or fire) resistance properties of biochar are attractive, however, there are limited reports, despite its effects on bulk material properties being well-documented. Comprehending these innate properties of biochar is critical for tailoring the mechanical and fire properties of biochar-based materials and structures. Therefore, an attempt has been made in this article to garner and analyse literatures reported on the mechanical and combustion properties of biochar without being integrated with a material or structural system (e.g. composite). Biochar produced at high pyrolysis temperatures (>500 celcius) showed high fire resistance property, because of the absence of the volatile matters and development of strong C-C covalent bonds. The mechanical and combustion properties of biochar can be controlled by varying the biochar size, porous nature, and pyrolysis temperature. The information presented in this article is crucial and can be used as a guide to develop biochar-based materials and structures for mechanical and fire resistance applications., QC 20220718

By-products management from industrial and natural (agriculture, aviculture, and others) activities and products are critical for promoting sustainability, reducing pollution, increasing storage space, minimising landfills, reducing energy consumption, and facilitating a circular economy. One of the sustainable waste management approaches is utilising them in developing biocomposites. Biocomposites are eco-friendly materials because of their sustainability and environmental benefits that have comparable performance properties to the synthetic counterparts. Biocomposites can be developed from both renewable and industrial waste, making them both energy efficient and sustainable. Because of their low weight and high strength, biocomposite materials in applications such as automobiles can minimise fuel consumption and conserve energy. Furthermore, biocomposites in energy-based applications could lead to savings in both the economy and energy consumption. Herein, a review of biocomposites made from various wastes and their related key properties (e.g. mechanical and fire) are provided. The article systematically highlights the individual wastes/by-products from agriculture and materials processing industries for composites manufacturing in terms of their waste components (materials), modifications, resultant properties, applications and energy efficiency. Finally, a perspective for the future of biowastes and industrial wastes in polymer composites is discussed., QC 20220516

The use of 3D printing technology for manufacturing construction materials is gaining popularity, however, only a few studies have reported the fire behavior of such parts. In this research, the fire properties of 3D printed polylactide acid (PLA) parts with varying infill densities along with the tensile properties were analysed. The results from the fire tests showed that increasing the infill density increased the fuel load, which sustained combustion. Hence, the peak heat release rate and total heat release increased with an increment in infill density percentage. It was also observed that the increasing infill density had no effect on the flammability rating of the parts due to the constant shell thickness used for all the parts. In addition, the tensile strength and ductility of the parts increased with density as a porous part is more susceptible to failure than a solid homogeneous part., QC 20220610

This paper presents an investigation of the influence of large-scale asperities on the shear strength of four physical models of a pillar (also known as buttress web) from Kalhovd dam in Norway. The objective was to observe the structural behaviour of the pillar under design and ultimate loading scenarios and to compare results of the tests with those of nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) and standard guideline methods. Four models at 1:5 scale were prepared with different interface profiles and tested. The results from model test and the results of a benchmarking process carried out with nonlinear FEA are presented. Furthermore, the FEA was expanded to other hypothetical scenarios to extend understanding of effects of the locations and inclinations of large-scale asperities on the sliding stability of concrete dams. The results are compared with those obtained using standard design methods and estimated safety factors are presented., QC 20220309

Dam failures are catastrophic events and in order to improve safety, engineers must have good tools for analysis and an understanding of the failure process. Since there are few cases of real failures in concrete dams, which can work as validation, physical model tests are a good way of improving numerical models and the understanding of the failure process. In this article, a physical model test of the buttress from a concrete Ambursen type dam is used as a benchmark for calibrating a FE-model. The dam failure is thereafter simulated using the concept of safety commonly used in the design codes. The advantages and drawbacks of performing load- and displacement-controlled simulations are compared. A new method for performing displacement-controlled simulations, using nonlinear springs to introduce the hydrostatic pressure and ice load is thereafter suggested and tested. The proposed method gives results which corresponds to the classical methods of analysis but has some advantages. Primarily, the new method is stable and does not suffer from convergence issues as was the case with the other methods. It is also simple to introduce in most commercial software compared to classical displacement-controlled simulations., QC 20230828

The location and geometry of large-scale asperity present at the foundation of concrete gravity dams and buttress dams affect the shear resistance of the concrete-rock interface. However, the parameters describing the frictional resistance of the interface usually do not account for these asperities. This could result in an underestimate of the peak shear strength, which leads to significantly conservative design for new dams or unnecessary stability enhancing measures for existing ones. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of the location of first-order asperity on the peak shear strength of a concrete-rock interface under eccentric load and the model discrepancy associated with the commonly used rigid body methods for calculating the factor of safety (FS) against sliding. For this, a series of direct and eccentric shear tests under constant normal load (CNL) was carried out on concrete-rock samples. The peak shear strengths measured in the tests were compared in terms of asperity location and with the predicted values from analytical rigid body methods. The results showed that the large-scale asperity under eccentric load significantly affected the peak shear strength. Furthermore, unlike the conventional assumption of sliding or shear failure of an asperity in direct shear, under the effect of eccentric shear load, a tensile failure in the rock or in the concrete could occur, resulting in a lower shear strength compared with that of direct shear tests. These results could have important implications for assessment of the FS against sliding failure in the concrete-rock interface., QC 20200709