Abbagana Mohammed

Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University · Civil Engineering Programme

Cement is the main binder in the production of concrete for construction activities. Unfortunately, the continuous use of cement results in severe environmental and energy concerns. An established way of reducing carbon footprints and the energy demands associated with cement production is the use of supplementary cementitious material (SCMs). Most...

Cement is the main binder in the production of concrete for construction activities. Unfortunately, the continuous use of cement results in severe environmental and energy concerns. An established way of reducing carbon footprints and the energy demands associated with cement production is the use of supplementary cementitious material (SCMs). Most...

Over-dependence on virgin resources has been a major topic of social and political debates as the world's population and urbanization continue to rise. The high rate of rural-urban migration and changes in standard of living habits give rise to rapid economic activities that have an enormous impact on the gradual increase in waste generation and co...

This study predicts mechanical properties of waste copper wire fiber reinforced concrete (WCWFRC) using response surface methodology. Plain concrete shows little resistance to tensile loads. Micro cracks due to drying shrinkage propagate easily to macro cracks under applied loads and cause brittle failure. This deficiency can be improved by additio...

An excellent all-weather road is essential in providing reliable transportation services that comprise social and economic development elements. However, in most cases, the road has to be constructed on a soft foundation soil where large deformations usually occur, which causes increases in maintenance costs and leads to interruption of traffic ser...

Concrete has low tensile strength, narrow ductile range and low crack resistance. Micro cracks in the concrete propagate quickly under loading, leading to brittle behaviour of the concrete. These cracks expose steel reinforcement to agents of corrosion. Adding steel fibres reduces the damage, but over a long period, the steel fibres corrode. This s...

The purpose of this study is to assess the Embodied Energy (EE) and Carbon IV Oxide (CO 2) emissions saving potentials of Corn Cob Ash (CCA) as partial replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) in concrete. Cement manufacture is energy intensive and contributes considerable amount of CO 2 emissions into the atmosphere. Globally, Concrete is the...

This research predicts the strength properties of concrete containing Calcined Black Cotton Soil (CBCS) using response surface methodology. Cement production requires large amount of energy and emits greenhouse gases that have negative impact on the environment. Utilization of CBCS as cement replacement in concrete will reduce these negative impact...

This study investigates the performance of concrete containing metakaolin (MK) and ground scoria (GS) as partial replacement of cement. Environmental issues associated with cement production necessitate the need to replace part of cement with materials that have less environmental impact. Experimental plan was designed using 5% MK and GS contents o...

This research is part of a series of studies being conducted to evaluate the behavior of high performance concrete (HPC) containing mineral admixtures. A face-centred cubic central composite response surface design was used to investigate the effects of corn cob ash (CCA) on the compressive strength of high performance concrete at 3, 7, 28, 56, and...

This study analyzes the Embodied Energy (EE) and Carbon IV Oxide (CO2) emission of Sandcrete Blocks (SCB) and Compressed Earth Bricks (CEB) houses. Energy and CO2 are emitted in the process of manufacture, transportation and construction of buildings materials. These energies and carbon dioxide are embodied in the materials. Thus, an exploratory re...

Cement manufacture is energy intensive and contributes a considerable amount of CO 2 emissions into the atmosphere. In this study, Corn cob ash (CCA) was used as the blending agent with cement in concrete. The experimental plan was designed to carry out compressive strength, flexural strength, density and water absorption tests on grade 30 concrete...

Sustainable development has been in the forefront of debates because of the far reaching effect of climate change on this earth. This is principally due to the activities of industries that pollute the atmosphere and use up non-renewable resources to fuel our growth and development. As a consequence of this, it has become necessary for all major co...

The cost of highway accidents in terms loss of lives, injuries and road closures is a major strain on the Nigerian economy. It has therefore become pertinent to explore the causes of such accidents from a road condition perspective with a view to limiting their frequency and degree of severity. Three federal roads in Bauchi State were considered...

A laboratory study on the influence of modified proctor (MP) and standard proctor (SP) compactive effort on expansive black cotton soil (BCS) specimens treated with up to 8% ordinary Portland cement (OPC) admixed with up to 20% waste glass (WG) by dry weight of soil were undertaken. The soil was classified as A-7-5(13) and CH according to the Ameri...

Various geostatistical and deterministic techniques were used to analyse the spatial variations of groundwater depths. Two different geostatistical methods of ordinary kriging and co-kriging with four semi-variogram models, spherical, exponential, circular, Gaussian, and four deterministic methods which are inverse distance weighted (IDW), global p...

The study investigates the suitability of using waste glass (WG) as admixture to cement stabilized black cotton soil (BCS) for roads, fills and embankment. The soil was classified as A-7-5 and CH according to the American Association of State Highway and Transport Officials (AASHTO) and the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) Classifications....

The failure of masonry brick units is usually characterised by fracture of the brick. This is as a result of the energy release mechanism of the material. Understanding the energy release mechanism of brick fracture should help in understanding the mechanics of the fracture formation in composite masonry. In this paper, the fracture energy of full...

This paper is a presentation of compressive strength testresults on plastered straw bale block. Guinea corn – straw fiber were baled and plastered with mortar into straw bale blocks of fibers with an average of 6mm thickness, 11.2% moisture content, and baled at a density of range between 0.161-0.190 kg/ mm 2. The fiber blocks were subjected to ver...

Small scale modelling of structures is normally employed as a means to study the structural behaviour of engineering structures in order to predict the real behaviour of such structures under various conditions of loading as well as under the influence of extreme weather events like flooding, earthquakes, severe wind storms etc. But in order to use...

The challenge in the teaching of basic engineering fundamentals to students of engineering has become a topical issue and main issue to engineering institutions and the civil engineering industry at large. To this end, three rules are proposed to aid in the determination of reactions for simply supported beams of varying configurations; namely a si...

The cost of highway accidents in terms loss of lives, injuries and road closures is a major strain on the Nigerian economy. It has therefore become pertinent to explore the causes of such accidents from a road condition perspective with a view to limiting their frequency and degree of severity. Three federal roads in Bauchi State were considered fo...

Mortars provide the continuity required for the stability and exclusion of weather elements in masonry assemblies. But because of the heterogeneity of the mortar, its mechanism of behaviour under different load effects is dependent on the properties of the constituents of the mortar. The aim of paper is to determine the effect sand grading for vari...

This work reports on an investigation into the use of cowdung ash(CDA) as Supplementary Cementitious Material(SCMs) in concrete . Cement was replaced with cowdung ash (CDA) up to 30% at 5% interval. Setting times (initial and Final) and slump test were carried out on the fresh cement/CDA blended paste and concrete respectively. A total of 105mm cub...

This paper presents part of a research into the small scale modelling of masonry. Small scale testing of masonry has been carried out by many authors, but few have attempted a systematic determination of the parameters that affect masonry at a small scale. The effect of increasing mortar strength and different sand gradings under compression were i...

The sustainability of our sources of energy has been in the front burner of recent because of the climate change debate - that emissions from fossil fuel based industries are mainly responsible for the greenhouse effect, which has resulted in a change in the global weather pattern. Consequently, various industries including the building industry ha...

This paper discusses the effect of scale or size effect on the structural behaviour of masonry under compression. Small scale modelling has been employed as a means to understanding masonry structural behaviour over the years, because testing prototype masonry structures is both costly and difficult to control in terms of instrumentation. An experi...

The aim of this paper is to systematically determine the effect of scale on masonry structural behaviour under various loading conditions. Small scale models have been employed to understand masonry structural behaviour over the years, because testing prototype masonry structures is both costly and challenging to undertake in a controlled laborator...

Model studies are increasingly being employed to understand the structural behaviour of masonry structures. But the reliability of the model studies depend on the understanding of the effect of scale or otherwise on the constituents that make up the masonry assembly; the brick units and mortar. Compressive strength, tensile strength and flexural st...

This paper presents an experimental comparison of brickwork behaviour at prototype and 1/6 th model scales under compressive loading. Two different specimen formats were tested for both prototypes and models; a three brick high, standard triplet and a 2 brick by 6 courses high wallette specimen. The prototype brick used is a solid, wire cut brick....

This paper presents an experimental comparison of brickwork behaviour at prototype and sixth model scales under compressive loading. Prototype and sixth scale wallette specimens are tested under compression with a view to determining and comparing their compressive strengths and stiffnesses. The normalised compressive strength for the prototype and...