Development of High Performance Concrete Using Supplementary Cementitious Materials

Abstract

Extensive use of concrete for the development of infrastructure starts consuming the newlinenatural resources available to us. This has given a thought to the engineering newlinecommunity that its impact on environment should have been least and also it should newlineutilise man made waste materials as its constituent. Also it must provide a longer newlineserviceable life to the infrastructure. The approaches to reduce the environmental newlineimpact of concrete include: optimized calcinations and grinding process of raw newlinematerials, new concrete proportioning method and use of new high range water newlinereducer and reactive binders which control the hydration behaviour. In this context, newlinethe environmental impact and sustainability of concrete was improved in this work newlineby the use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) combined with a newlineconcrete mix proportioning tool developed. Replacement of cement as a binding newlinematerial with SCMs reduces the threat of its disposal as well as economise the newlineproduction of durable concrete. newlineEstablished benefits of using low and high volume fly ash in concrete and look out newlinefor similar waste materials in conjunction with it, was the first step to start this newlineresearch work. The high end technology, scan electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray newlinediffraction (XRD), assisted in carrying it further. Cementing efficiency of other newlineSCMs, available as a by product of industry or a processed product, was utilised in newlineblending cement to produce durable concrete. The process of hydration for providing newlinestrength to the concrete was relooked through these technologies. newlineMix proportioning methods, material characterisation were extensively explored to newlinearrive at the constituents of the concrete mix. The fresh as well as hardened newlineproperties of the concrete mix were measured in the laboratory. The obtained values newlinefurther analysed through high end technology to correlate with the investigated newlinehardened properties. The deterministic models of mix proportioning of the newlineconstituents were confirmed with laboratory findings.