To cope with the problem that the setting time and hardening time of high-belite sulphoaluminate cement (HBCSA) is too fast and not easily controlled, three common retarders, citric acid (CA), β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), and borax (B), were selected and compounded with polycarboxylate superplasticizer (PCE). Based on the cement slurry fluidity, fluidity loss, setting time, and mechanical properties of cement mortar, combined with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Zeta potential tests, the interaction and mechanism of different retarders and high-belite sulphoaluminate cement were studied. The results show that β-CD and CA can significantly delay the hydration process of HBCSA cement, effectively improve the fluidity loss, and make the dispersion more stable, but the strength of cement mortar decreases, which is not conducive to the development of strength. However, the addition of B has no obvious retarding effect on the HBCSA cement, and the dispersibility of the cement paste decreases. In microscopic tests, XRD and SEM tests verified that the combination of retarder and PCE had a certain inhibitory effect on the early hydration of HBCSA, and the zeta potential indicated that the addition of retarder would interact with PCE to improve the fluidity loss of HBCSA. In addition, when the retarders CA and B were, respectively, compounded with β-CD, the two would have a synergistic effect. The retardation effect is more obvious, and the time interval between the initial and final setting is shorter, which is more controllable. The initial fluidity is also improved under the auxiliary plasticization of cement paste by β-CD.

This paper studies the influence of the characteristics of the near‐fault ground motion on the seismic responses of the structure with energy dissipation devices including soil‐structure interaction (SSI). A ten‐story reinforced concrete frame rested on soft site is introduced, and the viscous dampers added in the frame are designed. The numerical analysis method of the soil‐structure system with viscous dampers is established through ANSYS program. In addition, the response spectra of the main characteristics of the near‐fault ground motion, like hanging wall effect, velocity pulse‐like effect, and forward‐directivity effect, are investigated carefully to learn the features of spectra energy distribution. And then, the dynamic time‐history analysis is performed on the SSI system with and without viscous dampers subjected to the selected near‐fault ground motion. The study reveals that the seismic responses of the structure subjected to near‐fault ground motion with hanging wall effect are obviously larger than those of the footwall effect, indicating the distinct hanging wall effects on the structural dynamic responses. In addition, the performance of the structure with viscous dampers is more influenced by the ground motion containing fling‐step effect than that with forward‐directivity effect. Moreover, the influence of the horizontal component of forward‐directivity ground motion on the seismic responses of the structure is more obvious than that of parallel component ground motion. Consequently, the hanging wall effect, velocity pulse, and horizontal component in forward‐directivity effect of the near‐fault ground motion have distinct influence on the seismic responses of the structure with energy dissipation devices considering SSI effect, providing insight towards the performance‐based seismic design of buildings rested at the near‐fault sites considering the seismic SSI effect.

In this study, the effects of fly ash (FA) on the setting time, compressive strength, and hydration evolution of calcium sulphoaluminate (CSA) cement-based materials with high water content were investigated, targeting the design of a modified high-water material to delay excessively rapid setting time and enhance later-age strength. This was investigated using a combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared resonance (FTIR) spectroscopy, and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The results showed that the setting time of the high-water materials was delayed by increasing the FA content, with 15% being the optimal dosage for the setting time. A 5–10% content of FA is conducive to the development of later-age compressive strength and has a slight adverse effect on the early-age compressive strength of high-water materials. The microscopic test results show that FA mainly acts as a microaggregate in the early-age hydration process, whereas in the later-age hydration process, it promotes gypsum consumption and C₂S hydration to form ettringite. The incorporation of FA effectively promotes ettringite formation in CSA cement-based materials with high water content. Therefore, the addition of FA can enhance the overall performance of high-water materials to a certain extent, and the long-term strength development of the material can satisfy engineering requirements.

In this paper, General Particle Dynamics (GPD3D) is developed to simulate rock fragmentation by TBM disc cutters under different confining stress. The processes of rock fragmentation without confining pressure by one disc cutter and two disc cutters are investigated using GPD3D. The crushed zone, initiation and propagation of cracks, and the chipping of rocks obtained from the proposed method are in good agreement with those obtained from the previous experimental and numerical results. The effects of different confining pressure on rock fragmentation are investigated using GPD3D. It is found that the crack initiation forces significantly increase as the confining stress increases, while the maximum angle of cracks decreases as the confining stress increases. The numerical results obtained from the proposed method agree well with those in previous indentation tests. Moreover, the effects of equivalent confining stress on rock fragmentation are studied using GPD3D, and it is found that rock fragmentation becomes easier when the equivalent confining stress is equal to 15MPa.