INFLUENCE OF STEEL FIBRE ON CONCRETE
Advancements in technology enhances not only human comforts but also damages the environment. Use of steel fibre has become popular and safe now. Today the construction industry is in need of finding cost effective materials for increasing the strength of concrete structures. Hence an attempt has been made in the present investigations to study the influence of crimpled steel fibre concrete at a dosage of 0.8 % volume of concrete. Experimental investigation was done using M20 mix and tests were carried out as per recommended procedures by relevant codes. The study parameters of this investigation included compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength of conventional and fibre reinforced concrete. The results indicated that the compressive, split tensile and flexural strength of fibre reinforced concrete is increased by 32.14%, 52.38%, 12.68% respectively when compared to the conventional concrete.
Effect of Foundry Sand and Steel Fibres on the Strength Characteristics of Pavement Quality Concrete
The world’s second largest road network of almost 3.5 million Km consisting of both paved and unpaved surfaces is in India. Roads in India are presently constructed not with the right choice of material. Bitumen and concrete are the two major types of materials used in road construction in the country. Construction of concrete roads in the country is of very small share. There is growing interest in the construction of concrete pavements, due to its high strength, durability, better serviceability and overall economy in the long run. The thrust nowadays is to produce thinner and green pavement sections of better quality, which can carry the heavy loads. The high strength steel fibre reinforced concrete is a concrete having compressive strength greater than 40MPa, made of hydraulic cements and containing fine and coarse aggregates; and discontinuous, unconnected, randomly distributed steel fibres. The present study aims at, developing pavement quality concrete mixtures incorporating waste foundry sand as partial replacement of fine aggregate as well as steel fibres. The aim is to design of slab thickness of PQC pavement using the achieved flexure strength of the concrete mixtures for different percentage of steel fibres and replacement of fine aggregates with waste foundry sand are reported. It is found out the maximum increase in flexure strength and compressive strength is for 30% waste foundry sand and 1% Steel fibre. Due to this increase in the flexural strength it is possible to achieve a savings in cost of Pavement Quality Concrete construction. In this study it has been observed that with 30% replacement of fine aggregates with foundry sand and addition of 1% steel fibres, the maximum saving of 21.14% in cost per kilometre has been achieved for the 8.5m wide PQC carriageway by calculating the thickness required for the PQC slab as per IRC: 58-2002.
Ten Years of Public Interest Disclosure Legislation in the UK: Are Whistleblowers Adequately Protected?
Purpose The purpose of this article is to assess the operation of the UK’s Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA 1998) during its first 10 years and to consider its implications for the whistleblowing process. Method The article sets the legislation into context by discussing the common law background. It then gives detailed consideration to the statutory provisions and how they have been interpreted by the courts and tribunals. Results In assessing the impact of the legislation’s approach to whistleblowing both in the UK and elsewhere, the author draws upon empirical research. Conclusion The author concludes that PIDA 1998 has not adequately protected whistleblowers and makes 12 recommendations for change. Despite the European Commission’s acknowledgement that whistleblowers can play a part in the fight against corruption, the author notes that common standards for their protection still seem a long way off.