Escuela de Politécnica Superior

This paper presents a methodology applied to teaching of subjects related to structural design and analysis, as well as strength of materials, during the second year of our University studies program. The aim of this methodology is to improve the students’ understanding of the structural behaviour from the very early stages of their college education process. Students take part in a workshop that fosters their involvement within all the stages of the process of the structure design, such as characterization of the material to be used, analysis of different theoretical models based on theoretical courses, structure numerical simulation using an ad-hoc mobile app, building the model, test their model in the laboratory and drawing up conclusions explaining the model collapse.

Unlike conventional concrete materials, Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) use a micromechanics-based design theory in the material design process. Recently, the use of nanoparticles in various concretes and mortars has increased. This study used nanocalcite to investigate the mechanical, microstructural fractal analysis of environmentally friendly nanocalcite-doped ECC (NCa-ECC). This paper investigated the effects of nanocalcite (NCa) with different contents (0.5, 1, and 1.5% by mass of binder) on the mechanical properties of engineered cementitious composites (ECC). For this purpose, compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), and flexural strength tests were conducted to investigate the mechanical properties of the ECC series. In addition, SEM analyses were carried out to investigate the microstructural properties of the ECC series. The content of nanocalcite improved the mechanical and microstructural properties of the nanocalcite-modified ECC series. In addition, the 1 NCa series (1% nanocalcite modified to the mass of the binder) had the best performance among the series used in this study.

As the human population grows and technology advances, the demand for concrete and cement grows. However, it is critical to propose alternative ecologically suitable options to cement, the primary binder in concrete. Numerous researchers have recently concentrated their efforts on geopolymer mortars to accomplish this objective. The effects of basalt fiber (BF) on a geopolymer based on fly ash (FA) and basalt powder waste (BP) filled were studied in this research. The compressive and flexural strength, Charpy impact, and capillary water absorption tests were performed on produced samples after 28 days. Then, produced samples were exposed to the hightemperature test. Weight change, flexural strength, compressive strength, UPV, and microstructural tests of the specimens were performed after and before the effect of the high temperature. In addition, the results tests conducted on the specimens were compared after and before the high-temperature test. The findings indicated that BF had beneficial benefits, mainly when 1.2 percent BF was used. When the findings of samples containing 1.2 percent BF exposed to various temperatures were analyzed, it was revealed that it could increase compressive strength by up to 18 percent and flexural strength by up to 44 percent. In this study, the addition of BF to fly ash-based geopolymer samples improved the high-temperature resistance and mechanical properties.