The determination of strength properties i.e., compressive strength (CS) is essential to estimate the load at which the concrete members may crack especially in aggressive environment. The paper reports an experimental investigation on deterioration of used engine oil (UEO) soaked concrete with respect to its strength properties. Also, it is found that this deteriorating effect is lessened with partial replacement of silica fumes (SF). The CS analysis was done with a water-concrete ratio of 0.49 with nine percentage replacements of SF (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45) with water curing and UEO soaking. The soaking in two different liquids was essential in order to throw light on the detrimental effects of UEO on the CS of concrete. The results of the experiments showed that 20% replacement of SF in concrete was optimum to attain maximum CS. A mathematical model based on Abrams’ law has been developed to evaluate the strength characteristics of concrete subjected to UEO soaking. The developed model facilitates the prediction of CS based on curing time in water and soaking time in UEO and also the quantity of SF used. The accuracy of the developed model is evaluated and good agreements with the ground truth values are found.

Sugarcane bagasse ash (SBA) is a solid waste obtained from the boilers of sugar factories after the combustion of sugarcane bagasse. Sugarcane bagasse ash mainly consists of amorphous silica and can be used as a supplementary cementitious material in the production of concrete. In the present study, the physical properties of sugarcane bagasse ash, namely, particle size distribution, surface area, specific gravity, morphology and chemical properties like elemental composition of SBA and ordinary Portland cement (OPC) have been investigated. The microstructural observations were made using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Elemental compositions were analyzed and images coupled to microanalysis by Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The microstructure observations and elemental characterization of cement concrete matrix was also carried out after 28 days of curing. Blended cement concrete specimens were prepared using SBA up to 30% in regular intervals of 10% by weight of pure Portland cement, coarse and fine aggregate, tap water and superplastisizer. SEM results indicates that substitution of SBA particles by Portland cement produces dense matrix as compared to control mix and EDS analysis shows fluctuations in calcium and silica concentrations as the cement replacement level increases in the blended cement concrete.

The determination of strength properties i.e compressive strength, flexural strength and splitting tensile strength is essential to estimate the load at which the concrete members may crack especially in aggressive environment. The paper reports an experimental investigation on deterioration of used engine oil (UEO) soaked flyash concrete with respect to its strength properties and effective automation of classification of data sets returned by the SEM test on the same set of samples. In the former part, concrete cube ,beam and cylinder specimens with fly ash admixture as partial replacement of cement by 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35% and 40% were subjected to water curing and then to UEO soaking. Gradual decrease in the strength properties of concrete specimens with respect to time was observed. An attempt has been made to study the permeation properties like soroptivity with the addition of fly ash in concrete. The SEM analysis of test results was in good agreement to this. An attempt was made to automate this analysis phase using correlation coefficient and Support Vector Machines (SVM). It was found that the latter achieved better results in terms of performance.

The unparalleled rate in population explosion and advancements in technology has created alarming impacts on the society. This has urged the need for vigilant and efficient data mining of these phenomena. Petroleum being an indispensible part of life has escorted to several detrimental results. Air and water are the major elements which fall prey to this. The present study involves rigorous scrutinizing with statistical analysis of test data carried out on water samples collected from petrol pumps and automobile service stations for the determination of nature of configuration. The samples were collected at regular time intervals and at the fixed place irrespective of the weather and climatic conditions that prevailed. The haphazardness or fuzziness of the amount of contamination present in water recipients due to petroleum products is being evaluated using regression analysis and the runs test. It is found that organic and inorganic chemicals are more in the collected sample that leads to chemical oxygen demand (COD) and the same was reduced using activated rice husk as an adsorbent. A case study involving its harmful effects on concrete is accessed via Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) tests.