Reinforced concrete wall construction formed with OSB:First published use in the United Kingdom and acknowledged by Terry Pawson Architects as the source of inspiration for the internal concrete finish of the 2010 Carlow VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art.

The artefact was published in the following :

Bennett, D., (October 2007), Architectural Insitu Concrete, RIBA Publishing, London, , ISBN 124-3671-245, pp 101-103

Bennett, D., (2008), Concrete Elegance Four, London, Concrete Centre and RIBA Publishing, pp cover, c, 4, 9-12 & back.

Stacey, Professor M., (2011) Concrete: a studio design guide, London, Concrete Centre and RIBA Publishing, pp74-75.

Arching action strength enhancement in laterally-restrained slab strips

The behaviour and ultimate load capacity of laterally-restrained reinforced concrete slabs can be considerably enhanced by the development of arching or compressive membrane action. This paper presents a simple method for predicting the enhanced ultimate load capacity of laterally-restrained slab strips. The method is based on deformation theory and utilizes an elastic-plastic stress-strain criterion for concrete. The loads carried by bending and arching action are calculated separately and then added to give the total ultimate load capacity. A simple equivalent strip approach, based on a three-hinged arch analogy, allows for the degree of lateral restraint. The method of prediction has been validated by correlation with a wide range of test results from various sources.

Monitoring the development of microcracks in reinforced concrete caused by sustained loading and chloride induced corrosion

Chloride-induced corrosion of steel in reinforced concrete structures is one of the main problems affecting their durability and it has been studied for decades, but most of them have focused on concrete without cracking or not subjected to any structural load. In fact, concrete structures are subjected to various types of loads, which lead to cracking when the tensile stress in concrete exceeds its tensile strength. Cracking could increase transport properties of concrete and accelerate the ingress of harmful substances (Cl ^-, O₂, H₂ O, CO₂). This could initiate and accelerate different types of deterioration processes in concrete, including corrosion of steel reinforcement. The expansive products generated by the deterioration processes themselves can initiate cracking. The success of concrete patch repairs can also influence microcracking at the interface as well as the patch repair itself. Therefore, monitoring the development of microcracking in reinforced concrete members is extremely useful to assess the defects and deterioration in concrete structures. In this paper, concrete beams made using 4 different mixes were subjected to three levels of sustained lateral loading (0%, 50% and 100% of the load that can induce a crack with width of 0.1mmon the tension surface of beams - F _0.1) and weekly cycles of wetting (1 day)/drying (6 days) with chloride solution. The development of microcracking on the surface of concrete was monitored using the Autoclam Permeability System at every two weeks for 60 weeks. The ultrasonic pulse velocity of the concrete was also measured along the beam by using the indirect method during the test period. The results indicated that the Autoclam Permeability System was able to detect the development of microcracks caused by both sustained loading and chloride induced corrosion of steel in concrete. However, this was not the case with the ultrasonic method used in the work (indirect method applied along the beam); it was sensitive to microcracking caused by sustained loading but not due to corrosion. © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group.

A new performance based method for design and maintenance of reinforced concrete structures

Best concrete research paper by a student - Research has shown that the cost of managing structures puts high strain on the infrastructure budget, with
estimates of over 50% of the European construction budget being dedicated to repair and maintenance. If reinforced concrete
structures are not suitably designed and adequately maintained, their service life is compromised, resulting in the full economic
value of the investment not realised. The issue is more prevalent in coastal structures as a result of combinations of aggressive
actions, such as those caused by chlorides, sulphates and cyclic freezing and thawing.
It is a common practice nowadays to ensure durability of reinforced concrete structures by specifying a concrete mix and a
nominal cover at the design stage to cater for the exposure environment. This in theory should produce the performance required
to achieve a specified service life. Although the European Standard EN 206-1 specifies variations in the exposure environment,
it does not take into account the macro and micro climates surrounding structures, which have a significant influence on their
performance and service life. Therefore, in order to construct structures which will perform satisfactorily in different exposure
environments, the following two aspects need to be developed: a performance based specification to supplement EN 206-1
which will outline the expected performance of the structure in a given environment; and a simple yet transferrable procedure
for assessing the performance of structures in service termed KPI Theory. This will allow the asset managers not only to design
structures for the intended service life, but also to take informed maintenance decisions should the performance in service fall
short of what was specified. This paper aims to discuss this further.

Simulating reinforced concrete members. Part 2: displacement-based analyses

A companion paper described the partial-interaction localised properties that require the development of pseudo properties. If the quantification through experimental testing of these pseudo properties could be removed by the use of mechanics-based models, which is the subject of this paper, then this would: (a) substantially reduce the cost of developing new reinforced concrete products by reducing the amount of testing; (b) increase the accuracy of designing existing and novel reinforced concrete members and structures, bearing in mind that experimentally derived pseudo properties are only applicable within the range of the testing from which they were derived; and (c) reduce the cost and increase the accuracy of developing reinforced concrete design rules. This paper deals with the development of pseudo properties and behaviours directly through mechanics, as opposed to experimental testing, and their incorporation into member global simulations. It also addresses the need for a fundamental shift to displacement-based analyses as opposed to strain-based analyses.