A lack of natural aggregates in the future is unavoidable, which generates issues for building development. For many industries, natural resources constitute a significant source of revenue. As a result, light artificial aggregate is produced to anticipate the decreasing source of natural aggregate. Production of artificial geopolymer aggregates, fly ash from the burning of coal has been proposed. This paper investigates the optimal proportion of epoxy resin and coal fly ash-based synthetic aggregates. The artificial aggregates are produced following specific gravity and compressive strength standards that may be used as a component of lightweight structural concrete (LWC). The production polymer lightweight aggregate (PLA) comes from a combination of coal fly ash and epoxy resin. The results show that PLA 50:50 to PLA 74:26 can be used for 6 hours to make structural concrete with a strength of more than 17 MPa. PLA 80:20 could achieve compressive strength with the range of 7-17 MPa. PLA 84:16 achieves a compressive strength range of 0.35 to 7 MPa and is utilized as a non-structural element. However, the flexural strength values in concrete LWC 70:30 and LWC 80:20 are higher, at 46.1% and 7.63%, respectively.

Science and technological developments in the material field have been currently dedicated to a super strong material potential based on nanotechnology. The super strong material can be created from the mixture of epoxy-resin polymer and SiO₂ (silicon dioxide) nanoparticles. Polymers exist as a nanoparticle adhesive due to nano-SiO₂, which possesses a high amorphic level, resulting in a stronger, more flexible, and stiffer combination than the current super strong material. The advantages of nanocomposite polymer using epoxy- resin and nano-SiO₂ produce strong and light products with an easier production process, utilizing local materials that can improve the following material quality. This study used four material variations, namely P30, P35, P40, and P45, combined with nanoparticles at 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%. Based on the results, the highest compressive strength level was found on the PNK 40 EH2:1N1 mixture at 53.18 MPa with 1627 kg/m3 weight density. From the X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) test results, the following mixture had the lowest amorphic phase, while Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) test results showed that the following mixture absorbed more hydrogen elements, and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observation on the following material mixture had more organized particle distribution.

Reinforced concrete wall critical zones are the responsive areas of dissipated earthquake loads. They are formed in the connection of the wall panels and the fixed restraints. The longitudinal and transversal steel reinforcements with certain spacing are designed according to the required nominal strength at the connections. Under certain conditions, the reinforcement distance becomes very tight, making working on castings using normal concrete difficult. This condition also occurs in boundary elements consisting of longitudinal and transversal reinforcements in tight spaces. A concrete material that flows easily and solidifies itself is required to avoid segregation. One type of this material is Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC). The SCC performance as a wall panel material that withstands gravity and cyclic lateral loads still require further research. This study aimed to analyze the hysteretic performance of reinforced SCC wall panels with variations of shear reinforcement in resisting cyclic lateral loads. The analysis used software based on numerical analysis. The drift ratios, hysteretic curves, stress patterns, ductility, and stiffness of the wall panels were analyzed. The SCC wall panel with ordinary shear reinforcement resisted lateral positive and negative loads of 152.32 kN and 143.09 kN, respectively. In comparison, the wall panel with boundary elements and tighter shear reinforcements could withstand the positive and negative lateral loads of 187.62 kN and 145.98 kN, respectively. The SCC wall panel reached the best ductility of 21.38 with ordinary shear reinforcement because the yield occurred faster than in other wall panels. The results showed that the boundary elements and shear reinforcements of reinforced SCC wall panels affected the performance in resisting cyclic lateral loads.

The beam-column joints are designed to have sufficient capacity under earthquake loads. This requirement needs design details of reinforcement that fulfill the seismic criteria and adequate compaction of concrete. Using Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) material can solve the difficulty of compacting conventional concrete due to the close reinforcement distance. This study aimed to analyze the behavior of the Exterior Beam-column Joints (EBJ) using SCC as materials with a variation of shear reinforcements to withstand cyclic lateral loads. The analysis was carried out using the ANSYS software and the Finite Element Method. The analysis included hysteresis curves, stress contours, ductility, stiffness, and structural strength. The performance of an EBJ without shear reinforcement (EBJ-S1 model) was compared to other EBJs using horizontal (EBJ-S2 model) and diagonal (EBJ-S3 model) shear reinforcements in the joint zones. The results showed that horizontal and diagonal shear reinforcement in the joint zones affected the performance of the EBJs in resisting cyclic lateral loads as the representative of earthquake loads. The EBJ without shear reinforcement could withstand compressive stresses of 3.33 to 17.22 MPa, while both EBJs using horizontal and diagonal shear reinforcement achieved the same compressive stresses range of 3.33 to 20 MPa. The EBJ with diagonal reinforcement performed a wider compressive area of stress contour than the EBJ of horizontal reinforcement. The EBJ-S3 model achieved the highest ductility value of 4.733 with diagonal shear reinforcements because it achieved the highest ultimate displacement of the other EBJ models.