Bendable Concrete

Bendable concrete also known as Engineered Cementitious Composites abbreviated as ECC belongs to the class of ultra-ductile fiber reinforced cementitious composites, characterized by high ductility and tight crack control width. This material is capable of exhibiting considerably good flexibility. An ECC has a strain capacity of near about 3% and thus acts more like a ductile metal. A bendable concrete is reinforced with micromechanically designed polymer fibres and also some amount of steel fibres as per requirement.

Conventional concretes are almost unbendable and have a strain capacity of only 0.1% making them highly brittle and rigid. This lack of bendability is a major cause of failure under strain and has been a pushing factor in the development of an elegant material namely, bendable concrete also known as Engineered Cementitious Composites abbreviated as ECC.

A bendable concrete is reinforced with micromechanically designed polymer fibres. ECC is made from the same basic ingredients as conventional concrete but with the addition of High-Range Water Reducing (HRWR) agent to impart good workability. Coarse aggregates are not used in ECCs. The content of finer materials in ECC is relatively high. Cementitious materials, such as fly ash, silica fume, blast furnace slag, silica fume, etc. may be used in addition to cement to increase the plasticity index of the mix. Additionally, ECC uses low amounts, typically 2% by volume, of short, discontinuous fibres. ECC incorporates super fine silica sand and tiny Polyvinyl Alcohol-fibres covered with a very thin (nanometer thick), slick coating (thermoplastic/teflon/antifriction type coating). This surface coating allows the fibre to begin slipping when they are over loaded so that they do not fracture, this prevents large cracks. Thus an ECC deforms much more than a normal concrete but without fracturing.

ECC has proved to be 50 times more flexible than traditional concrete, and 40 times lighter, which could even influence design choices in skyscrapers.

The excellent energy absorbing properties of ECC make it especially suitable for critical elements in seismic zones.

Self Compacting Concrete

Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) is defined as a category of High Performance Concrete that has excellent deformability in the fresh state and high resistance to segregation, and can be placed and compacted under its self weight without applying vibration. SCC was first developed in Japan in mid 1980.
It has found applications in reinforced concrete sections containing congested reinforcements. Poor quality of compaction of concrete, in congested locations, has often been a shortcoming of traditional concreting. In such condiyions, SCC, which flows under its self weight and does not require any external vibration for compacting, has revolutionized the concept concrete placement. This has helped in new creative forms of design of concrete structures also.

Trenchless Technology

Trenchless technology is a relatively new term that describes the installation of conduits beneath the ground without open-cutting. The is being used since the mid of the 1980s. However, some of the methods referred to as trenchless methods are not new for a civil engineer. For example, auger and slurry boring have been used since the early 1940s and pipe jacking has been used as early as the 1900s. These methods are referred to as boring techniques or horizontal earth boring techniques. Many new trenchless techniques have been introduced till date. Most of these methods will require excavation for shafts, shaft locations usually can be selected to avoid or minimize disruption to nearby facilities. The maximum use of this technology is coming in crossing across the roads.
It is anticipated that the use of trenchless technology will continue to increase because of its inherent advantages of minimizing disruption to society and reducing environmental impact. Another driving force behind this increase is the benefit of avoiding or minimizing the handling, treatment, disposal of contaminated soil in voluminous amount. In many situations, these techniques have become cost-effective alternatives to traditional open-cutting methods.

Avoid potholes due to water-logging on road at medians

If you see water logging on road near the kerb of the median due to blocked cross channels what you can do? 1. Clean the channel 2. Make the channel wider so that it doesn't clog easily and 3. Best remove the median altogether and level the area, cover it with gravels and instead of theek RCC kerb provide only W Beam crash barrier.

This will help you get rid of yearly damage and save annual maintenance costs. The saved cost can help further the project to help build something new.

Potholes :- Formation, Prevention and Repair of Potholes on Bituminous Road

Try to understand in best possible way what potholes are:-

A pothole is a structural failure in a road surface, caused by failure primarily in bitumen pavement due to the presence of water in the underlying soil structure and the presence of traffic passing over the affected area.
Introduction of water to the underlying soil structure first weakens the supporting soil. Traffic then fatigues and breaks the poorly supported asphalt surface in the affected area. Continued traffic action ejects both asphalt and the underlying soil material to create a hole in the pavement.
Traffic then fatigues and breaks the poorly supported asphalt surface in the affected area. 
Continued traffic action ejects both asphalt and the underlying soil material to create a hole in the pavement.
Reference for above https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pothole here you will find the following topics :-
1 Costs to the public
2 Formation
3 Prevention
3.1 Survey of pavements
3.2 Drainage
3.3 Preventative maintenance
3.4 Utility cut management
4 Repair
4.1 Materials
4.2 Throw-and-roll repair
4.3 Semi-permanent repair
4.4 Spray-injection repair
4.5 Edge seal repair
4.6 Efficacy of repair methods
5 Reporting
6 Pothole art
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

For five different methods of potholes repair refer http://thenewswheel.com/5-kinds-pothole-repair/ 

For you tube video on how potholes are formed refer to thi s link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXeIfl5jbcw or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNyg0CttU8Y

For video on repairing potholes refer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9-_ZhyYHiA

Have scientists discovered cure for potholes? Read it here  https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/4/15544156/potholes-self-healing-materials-infrastructure-transportation

The research is on to do it for once and for all a road we never go back to for repairs.......I  wish we could free ourselves from old repeat / repair old works and think of something new , like going for a trip in space or to moon!! or just make a time machine...

In short how potholes happen and how to get em fixed - refer http://gizmodo.com/why-potholes-happen-and-how-to-get-them-fixed-1603033301

It is being discussed not just in India but the world over and news channels have taken a cue from foreign media ? is it? Refer it here https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/12/potholes-britain-roads-repairs

A quick pictograph below to get it down the memory lane fast:-
If any of the phtos are your copy right , kindly inform me on the mail so, i can remove them , my e mail is vinayksingh4@gmail.com