Foamed concrete incorporating processed spent bleaching earth (PSBE) produces environmentally friendly foamed concrete. Compressive strength, porosity, and rapid chloride penetration tests were performed to investigate the potential application for building material due to its low density and porous concrete. Laboratory results show that 30% PSBE as cement replacement in foamed concrete produced higher compressive strength. Meanwhile, the porosity of the specimen produced by 30% PSBE was 45% lower than control foamed concrete. The porosity of foamed concrete incorporating PSBE decreases due to the fineness of PSBE that reduces the volume of void space between cement and fine aggregate. It was effectively blocking the pore and enhances the durability. Consistently, the positive effect of incorporating of PSBE has decreased the rapid chloride ion permeability compared to that control foamed concrete. According to ASTM C1202-19 the foamed concrete containing 30% PSBE was considered low moderate permeability based on its charge coulombs value of less than 4000. Besides, the high chloride ion permeability in foamed concrete is because the current quickly passes through the specimen due to its larger air volume. In conclusion, incorporating PSBE in foamed concrete generates an excellent pozzolanic effect, producing more calcium silicate hydrate and denser foamed concrete, making it greater, fewer voids, and higher resistance to chloride penetration.

Steel-wood-steel connection is widely seen in many applications, such as timber structures. The stiffness of steel-wood-steel connection loaded parallel to grain for softwoods originated from Malaysia was investigated in this study. Numerical models have been developed in ABAQUS to study the stiffness connection. Softwoods of Damar Minyak and Podo have been selected in this analysis. The comprehensive study focused on the effect of bolt configurations on stiffness. Numerical analysis is carried out and the developed model has been validated with the previous study. Further investigations have been made by using the validated model. From this model, numerical analysis of the stiffness values have been made for various bolt configurations, including bolt diameter, end distance, bolt spacing, number of rows and bolts and edge distance. The result shows that the stiffness of bolted timber connections for softwood depends on the bolt diameter, number of rows and bolts, end distance and edge distance. Based on the result, stiffness increased as the diameter of the bolt, end distance, number of rows and bolts and edge distance increased. It is also discovered that the stiffness equation in Eurocode 5 (EC5) is inadequate as the equation only considered parameters which are wood density and bolt diameter. Other connection parameters such as geometry are not considered in the EC5 equation.