Understanding the Mechanism of Drying Shrinkage in Alkali-Activated Binders: Towards Sustainable Construction Practices

Cement production for concrete is responsible for 5-8% of the global anthropogenic emissions, making it essential to search for alternative binders. This study focuses on alkali-activated materials (AAMs) as a potential replacement for Portland Cement (PC) to reduce carbon emissions. The practical implementation of AAMs in the construction...

Development of alkali-activated slag concrete for potential application in pavements using municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash aggregates

The development of an efficient and sustainable transportation system is crucial for the effective functioning of economies. Concrete, a widely used material for road construction, poses significant environmental challenges. A sustainable alternative is to use alkali-activated concrete (AAC) for road construction. However, the aggregates used in...

Usage of FBG fiber optic sensors to monitor the structural behaviour of a geopolymer concrete structural member

Geopolymer concrete, a relatively new building material has been suggested as an alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) based concretes for within the building sector, due to it having a relatively low CO2 emission during production. An issue with geopolymer concrete however, is that high amounts of early age creep, shrinkage and decrease...

Calcined clay and slag based alkali-activated materials: An experimental investigation for 3DCP

Improving freeze-thaw resistance of alkali-activated slag by admixtures

Alkali-activated material (AAM) is one of the most attractive alternatives to ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Recently, more and more research interests are devoted to durability performance. In cold areas, freeze-thaw resistance is a crucial durability factor for concrete. However, the understanding of the freeze-thaw resistance of AAMs is...

Synthesis of ceramic tiles with alkali-activated materials

The Effect of Admixtures on the Buildability of 3D Printed Alkali-Activated Materials with Glass Wool: 3D Printing of Alkali-Activated Materials

Research about alkali-activated materials or geopolymers has increased in the past decade as they are regarded as a potential replacement to cement-based materials. This is due to the fact that alkali-activated materials possess several advantages over cement-based materials, and the most important one is that they are more sustainable to the...

Utilization of alkali activated concrete in concrete revetment products

Alkali activated concrete is seen as possible contender to alleviate the environmental footprint of the concrete industry. The goal of this research is to evaluate the extend to which ground granulated blast furnace slag and calcined clay-based alkali activated concrete can be utilized in concrete revetment applications with equal performance in...

Assessment on the application of volcanic materials as precursor in alkali-activated binders

In 2016 the Paris agreement was adopted by 196 parties. The main goal of this agreement is to obtain a climate-neutral world in 2050. The CO2 emissions should decrease as soon as possible to achieve this goal. Concrete is the world's most used building material, and with good reason, it provides cheap, solid and reliable products used for over...

Effect of self healing and continuous hydration on the mechanical properties of cyclically loaded early age concrete: A case study of early age cyclic loading on a concrete bridge deck

In this research work, the possibility of self healing of surface micro-cracks under the fog curing conditions has been studied for early age concrete. Coda Wave Interferometry (CWI) technique has been implemented to detect the micro cracks in concrete caused due to the cyclic loading. 30 load cycles has been for varying load levels and it's...

Drying shrinkage of alkali-activated concrete -State-of-the-art: a research study into the mechanisms, the influencing factors, and mitigation strategies of drying shrinkage of alkali-activated concrete

Alkali-activated concrete (AAC) has emerged as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional concrete, as It is a cement-free concrete made by activating precursors (mainly low-cost, low-CO2 industrial by-products) with alkalis. AAC has demonstrated some remarkable mechanical properties and long-term performance (e.g., high strength,...

Investigation on the potential application of MSWI bottom ash as substitute material in Portland cement concrete

It has been reported that due to the rapid urbanization and economic growth the municipal solid waste (MSW) would double in volume from 1.3 billion tons per year (in 2012) annually by the end of 2025, challenging environmental and public health management worldwide. Given that, most of the MSW incineration (MSWI) bottom ash (BA) are disposed in...

Optimization of a geopolymer mixture for a reinforced cantilever concrete bench: Additional thesis project

Traditional Ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-based concrete consumes large quantities of natural resources for its production, which is<br/>highly energy intensive and has high CO2 emission. Therefore, development of the geopolymer concrete, based on use of industrial byproducts,<br/>can provide an environmentally friendly and low-carbon...

Waste Glass as Partial Binder Precursor and Fine Aggregate Replacement in Alkali Activated Slag/Fly ash System

Fast increasing of generation and release of undesirable pollutants by the industrialization raise concerns about the environmental consequences of waste disposal. Among these waste materials, non-recycled waste glass constitutes one of the majority wastes produced in many European countries and sets a major environmental issue. Although glass...

Utilization of Rice husk ash in GeoTechnology: Applicability and effect of the burning conditions

Rice husk ash is an attractive pozzolan. Due to its low cost and high activity it has a promising perspective in sustainable construction. In combination with lime, its effect in soil improvement can be equal to cement treatment but its production process consumes much less energy. The main component of the rice husk ash is silica, which is the...