Abstract. Concrete is a heterogeneous composite material made up of cement, sand, coarse aggregate and water mixed in a desired proportion to obtain the required strength. Plain concrete does not with stand tension as compared to compression. In order to compensate this drawback steel reinforcement are provided in concrete. Now a day, for improving the properties of concrete and also to take up tension combination of steel and glass fibrereinforced polymer (GFRP) bars promises favourable strength, serviceability, and durability. To verify its promise and support design concrete structures with hybrid type of reinforcement, this study have investigated the load-deflection behaviour of concrete beams reinforced with hybrid GFRP and steel bars by using ATENA software. Fourteen beams, including six control beams reinforced with only steel or only GFRP bars, were analysed. The ratio and the ordinate of GFRP to steel were the main parameters investigated. The behaviour of these beams was investigated via the load-deflection characteristics, cracking behaviour and mode of failure. Hybrid GFRP-Steel reinforced concrete beam showed the improvement in both ultimate capacity and deflection concomitant to the steel reinforced concrete beam. On the other hand, finite element (FE) modelling which is ATENA were validated with previous experiment and promising the good result to be used for further analyses and development in the field of present study. IntroductionFibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites were first developed during the 1940's for the military and aerospace applications [1]. The characteristics of FRP include high resistance to corrosion, lightweight, high strength-to-weight ratio, high tensile and impact strength, fatigue resistance, nonconductive and magnetically neutral [2]. As a result, FRP have been successfully used in many construction applications such as chemical and waste-water treatment plant, underwater structures, bridges, substation reactor bases, airport runways, laboratories and water tanks [3]. The other application is to strengthen the structurally deficient beams or columns with FRP sheets or plates [4]. Today, applications of FRP in the building industry have realized the increasing popularity in Malaysia. As proven, many construction projects are using FRP water tank to replace the conventional water tank that facing steel corrosion problems. In fact, cost of manufacturing these products is quite high compared to the conventional materials. Hybrid composite beam (HCB) is a structural member, utilizing several different building materials with dissimilar attributes. Furthermore, the hybrid composite beam is a sustainable technology that combines the strength and stiffness of conventional concrete and steel. In this report, we investigated

Abstract.The study was carried out to the determine performance of passive wall cooling panels by using Phase Change Materials as a cooling agent. This passive cooling system used cooling agent as natural energy storage without using any HVAC system. Eight full scale passive wall cooling panels were developed with the size 1500 mm (L) x 500 mm (W) x 100 mm (T). The cooling agent such as glycerine were filled in the tube with horizontal and vertical arrangement. The passive wall cooling panels were casting by using foamed concrete with density between 1200 kg/m 3 -1500 kg/m 3 . The passive wall cooling panels were tested in a small house and the differences of indoor and outdoor temperature was recorded. Passive wall cooling panels with glycerine as cooling agent in vertical arrangement showed the best performance with dropped of indoor air temperature within 3°C compared to outdoor air temperature. The lowest indoor air temperature recorded was 25°C from passive wall cooling panels with glycerine in vertical arrangement. From this study, the passive wall cooling system could be applied as it was environmental friendly and less maintenance.

Bamboo regained popularity as a reinforcement for concrete, especially in simple construction because of its high in tensile strength. Bamboo’s material that has a fast reproduction which increases its suitability to use as a sustainable source especially in construction works. However, when bio-based materials in general, and bamboo in particular, are expected to be used in construction, the sensitivity to moisture and their durability are usually questionable. Physical and mechanical properties bamboo should be improved by treated with chemical to prevent the bamboo from insects, pesticides and ensure the longevity of bamboo. Bamboo fibres are mainly used as a natural reinforcement in concrete that can minimize energy consumption, protect non-renewable natural resources, reduce pollution and maintain a healthy environment. Therefore, this study was to review and collect data for physical and mechanical properties of concrete containing bamboo as a natural reinforcement. The addition percentages of bamboo fibres 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0% and 2.5%, used in the research were evaluated. Overall, the bamboo fibres as reinforced concrete for 1.0% to 1.5% are the best ratio of mix designation that have significant increase in compressive and tensile strength that tested and reviewed after 28 days of curing. Meanwhile, the density test for concrete is shown lower compared to the British Standard of steel as reinforced in concrete. The treated bamboo that used chemical treatment were improved the bonding strength and reduced water absorption more than 50% compared to the untreated bamboo. Form the review that have been done, bamboo as reinforces in concrete are suitable for lightweight construction building.

Abstract. This paper focus on the effect of alkaline treatment by using sodium hydroxide on the tensile properties of paddy straw fibers strengthened with polypropylene resin. Two types of paddy straw fibers were used which are MR219 and MR220. The paddy straw fibers were prepared in two conditions as untreated and treated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at 5% for 24 hours and then dried at 80°C for another 24 hours. For sampling process, these fibers were weighted according to 5% and 10% mass fraction. A total of 16 samples were prepared for this study based on ASTM D638 and tensile test was conducted by using ASTM D5083. The result showed that paddy straw fiber treated with NaOH had gain higher ultimate tensile strength compared to untreated paddy straw fiber where the highest ultimate tensile strength for the fibers is recorded at 10% of MR219 fiber with value of 2.0230 kN and 3.677 mm displacement were recorded. The highest strain were recorded by the same fibers with an average value of 5.253% and obtained the Young's modulus up to 1110 MPa. However, the Young's modulus which has been obtained by the same fibers was decreased with the percentage difference of 40%.

Abstract. The construction technology now has become more and more advanced allowing the development of new technologies or material to replace the previous one and also solved some of the troubles confronted by construction experts. The Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composite is an alternative to replace the current usage of steel as it is rust proof and stronger in terms of stiffness compared to steel. Furthermore, GFRP bars have a high strength-to-weight ratio, making them attractive as reinforcement for concrete structures. However, the tensile behavior of GFRP bars is characterized by a linear elastic stress-strain relationship up to failure and, therefore, concrete elements reinforced with GFRP reinforcement exhibit brittle failure without warning. Design codes encourage over-reinforced GFRP design since it is more progressive and leads to a less catastrophic failure with a higher degree of deformability. Moreover, because of GFRP low modulus of elasticity, GFRP reinforced concrete members exhibit larger deflections and wider cracks width than steel reinforced concrete. This aims of this paper is to developed 2D Finite Element (FE) models that can accurately simulate the respond on an improvement in the deflection of GFRP reinforced concrete beam externally strengthened with CFRP plates on the tension part of beam. The prediction of flexural response according to RCCSA software was also discussed. It was observed that the predicted FE results are given similar result with the experimental measured test data. Base on this good agreement, a parametric study was the performed using the validation FE model to investigate the effect of flexural reinforcement ratio and arrangement of the beams strengthened with different regions of CFRP plates.