Influence of Volume-to-Surface Area Ratio on the Creep Behavior of Steel Fiber Ceramsite Concrete Beams

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The study is well written and achieved its stated objective. The study shows that the growth rate of creep of ceramsite concrete beams increased rapidly in the early stage of loading, gradually slowed down with the passage of time, and tended to be stable after 120 days of loading. The V/S had a significant impact on the creep of ceramsite concrete beams. The following comments need to be incorporated, i.e.,

i) Table 9 results should be clearly demonstrated and linked with the earlier studies. 

ii) The conclusion section should end with some policy suggestions related to the topic, and

iii) Future research directions should be provided for future researchers to expand this work accordingly. 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

 

The paper “Influence of the volume to surface area ratio on creep behavior of steel fiber ceramisite concrete beams” to be published in Coatings dealt with the creep behavior of concrete beams comparing the V/S between the specimens.

I do have some questions regarding the procedure:

·        Figure 3 shows two beams being subjected to the load. Does the testing was made like this, with two beams together?

·        I think it is complicated to compare the displacement of the specimens since they have different inertias and the load applied to the beams is related to the failure load -> a non-linear effect dependent on the stresses. Generally, any creep model depends on the stresses. When there is little connection between the stresses of the specimens, it might be complicated to compare the creep deflections properly. Please, explain the comparison of the beams considering the failure load and not to the stress levels to the beams.

·        Paragraph of lines 187-196: the first sentence contradicts the rest of the paragraph. Please amend.

·        There are few explanations regarding the FEM model. From where the creep parameters came from? The experimental curves? Boundary conditions – where and how are they applied to the model? Which element (element technology) is used? Linear, quadratic, reduced integration or not?

I do think these questions are on the core of the paper and must be addressed before publishing.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors have addressed the questions properly.