Sustainable handling of iron ore tailings is of prime concern to all stakeholders who are into iron ore mining. This study seeks to add value to the tailings by utilising them as a replacement for aggregates in concrete. A concrete mix of grade 40 MPa was prepared in the laboratory with water–cement ratio of 0.5. The concrete were cured for 1, 2, 3, 7, 14 and 28 days. The properties of the concrete such as workability, durability, density, compressive strength and indirect tensile strength were tested. A controlled mix of concrete was also prepared in similar way using conventional materials and the results were compared with the tailings concrete. It was found that the iron ore tailings may be utilised for complete replacement for conventional aggregates in concrete. The iron ore tailings aggregates concrete exhibited a good mechanical strength and even in the case of compressive strength, there was an improvement of 11.56% over conventional aggregates concrete. The indirect tensile strength did not improve against the control mix due high content of fines in the tailings aggregates but showed 4.8% improvement compared with the previous study where the conventional fine aggregates was partially replaced by 20% with iron ore tailings

In the recent past, geotextile reinforcement with wraparound ends has been recommended to strengthen foundation soil to enhance the effectiveness of using the reinforcement. This study investigated the effects of reinforcement geometrical parameters—namely, land width occupied by reinforcement and lap length of the ends of reinforcement, which were not investigated in detail in the past—on the bearing capacity of the foundation soil. The soil considered was sandy in three different states of denseness, defined in terms of relative density as 50, 70, and 90%. The numerical model was developed using the typical elements in PLAXIS-3D software. The model was used to critically analyze the reinforcing mechanisms for improved bearing capacity caused by wraparound ends. The results showed that the bearing capacity increased by approximately 120% when reinforced with a geotextile reinforcement using the wraparound reinforcement technique, whereas this improvement was approximately 45% with the reinforcement only without wraparound ends. It was also found that the wraparound technique can be highly beneficial in a location of limited land width for foundation construction.

Masonry construction is popular around the world, but the use of mortared masonry presents numerous challenges. In recent decades, masonry construction systems incorporating interlocking masonry units have been proposed to eliminate mortar. The interlocking between masonry units can be achieved using specially shaped units. This paper presents a comprehensive experimental study to determine the behaviour as well as basic material properties of one such semi-interlocking mortarless masonry. The experiments included testings of ungrouted masonry units, prisms, and wallets. In addition, masonry prisms and wallets with grouted cores were also investigated to study the effect of grouting. A detailed description of the construction procedure is explained. The failure mechanisms, maximum strengths, force–displacement relationships, and modulus of elasticity of the samples are obtained and contrasted with the relevant results from the literature. Finally, recommendations are made that may assist material model development required for micro- and macro-modelling of mortarless masonry. The new information generated in this research will enable better understanding of the behaviour and properties of semi-interlocking mortarless masonry and will be useful for validating numerical models in future research.