This paper presents a summary of an experimental investigation and the derivation of a bond-slip model for reinforcing steel embedded in moderately confined concrete under monotonic and cyclic loadings. Moderately confined concrete encompasses the domain between unconfined and well-confined concrete, the limits of which are defined in the paper. The proposed constitutive law adapts and extends the well-known Eligehausen-Filippou model for well-confined concrete to moderately confined concrete. It is described by an envelope curve and degradation rules. The former is obtained through a confinement index, defined in this study as a function of the amount of confining steel and concrete, distance between confining steel and the rebar, and concrete segregation effect. It is proposed to adopt the same degradation rules used for well-confined concrete. These rules are validated through statistical tests for moderately confined concrete. They are found to predict correctly the main features of reduced envelope response under increasing cycling amplitudes but to underestimate response degradation under constant cycling limits for the subsequent cycles to the first cycle. To demonstrate the validity and limitations of the proposed model, its predictions under monotonic loading are compared with experimental results and analytical predictions from other studies.

The negative environmental impacts of Portland cement as a binder in the construction industry have created a growing impetus to develop sustainable alternative binders. Various types of clay have been considered as potential cement replacements. The impact of clays as cement replacement depends on the dosage and treatment methods. This paper presents a comprehensive review to determine the effects of different types of clay on the fresh and hardened properties of concrete mixtures by analyzing the experimental database reported by the literature, including raw, calcined, modified, nano, and organo. This study intends to show the process of optimizing the use of clay in concrete, the reason behind converting raw clay to modified types, and research gaps through a comparison study between different types of clays. The present review study shows that clay-based concrete mixtures have higher thixotropy and yield stress values, improving shape stability. This results in lower early-age shrinkage of the concrete. However, the high floc strength of clay-based concrete causes a reduction in flowability. Treatment methods of raw clay, such as calcination and nano-sized clay particles, improve concrete compressive strength. General results of the previous studies highlight that all types of clay investigated positively affect the resistance of concrete to environmental attack.