New Materials in Civil Engineering

Pijush Samui, Dookie Kim, Nagesh R. Iyer, Sandeep Chaudhary

• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780128189610
• eBook ISBN: 9780128190753
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Materials Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

New Materials in Civil Engineering provides engineers and scientists with the tools and methods needed to meet the challenge of designing and constructing more resilient and sustainable infrastructures. This book is a valuable guide to the properties, selection criteria, products, applications, lifecycle and recyclability of advanced materials. It presents an A-to-Z approach to all types of materials, highlighting their key performance properties, principal characteristics and applications. Traditional materials covered include concrete, soil, steel, timber, fly ash, geosynthetic, fiber-reinforced concrete, smart materials, carbon fiber and reinforced polymers. In addition, the book covers nanotechnology and biotechnology in the development of new materials.- Covers a variety of materials, including fly ash, geosynthetic, fiber-reinforced concrete, smart materials, carbon fiber reinforced polymer and waste materials- Provides a "one-stop resource of information for the latest materials and practical applications- Includes a variety of different use case studies

1

An overview of cementitious construction materials

Nagesh R. Iyer, Fellow, Indian National Academy of Engineering, Dean & Visiting Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad, Dharwad, India

Abstract

This chapter aims to provide an overview of different types of new materials used in construction engineering. However, the candidate materials and/or their composites/derivatives considered in this chapter are cementitious in nature. Other virgin materials such as bricks, different mud/clay forms, timber/wood, and steel are not considered. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce different civil engineering materials that have potential to be employed considering the various engineering attributes such as durability, sustainability, enhanced performance, reduction of use of natural resources, and low embodied energy and the way forward. The reader is introduced to the new materials and no attempt is made to provide a treatise on each one. The concepts introduced also give insight into the challenges and scope for innovation that exist. The extraction, production, transportation, utilization, and recycling of construction materials have impacts on the environment, sustainability, and built environment. An overview of several different materials available for construction is provided. Also, mention is made of recent and relevant technologies or processing methods with reference to their suitability. This chapter examines features of the materials that show promise from the point of view of sustainability concerns. Some of the attributes such as strength, ductility, fracture toughness, fatigue resistance, durability, and resistance to abrasion and corrosion, and service life are also reported.

Keywords

Concrete; high-performance concrete; fiber-reinforced concrete; polymer concrete; self-compacting concrete; lightweight concrete; ultrahigh-strength concrete; bacterial concrete; steel concrete composite

1.1 Cement and concrete

1.1.1 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce different engineering materials of construction that have potential to be employed [1–3]. Considering various engineering attributes such as durability, sustainability, enhanced performance, reduction of use of natural resources, and low embodied energy, and the way forward, the reader is introduced to the new materials, however no attempt is made to provide a treatise of each material. The concepts introduced also give insight into the challenges and scope for innovation that exist. The extraction, production, transportation, utilization, and recycling of construction materials have impacts on the environment, sustainability, and built environment. Generally, investment and rate of growth of infrastructure act as one of the key indicators of economic growth and prosperity of any country. There are reports of structures having suffered severe degradation. Investigations have revealed that most of the distress, damage, or degradation are due to the combined effects of aggressive environments, and increased live loads or altered function from the original/intended design. Civil engineers face challenges of restoring the original design life, and preserving and maintaining retrofitted structures [1] through technological interventions. After water, concrete is the most commonly used building material in the world. Concrete has been through different stages of development; the earliest was conventional normal-strength concrete (NSC). Cement, water, fine aggregates, and coarse aggregates are the four key ingredients to developing the concrete mix matrix. For faster and leaner RCC construction of civil engineering infrastructure use of concrete with very high compressive strength is the preferred solution today. Civil infrastructure referred to here is concerned with urban infrastructure, development of smart cities, high-rise buildings, and long-span bridges, etc. In the next stages of development, (1) high-strength concrete (HSC), (2) high-performance concrete (HPC), and (3) ultraHSC (UHSC) have been successfully developed and deployed. It may be noted that HSC has compressive strength over 50 MPa, whereas HPC and UHSC have exhibited compressive strengths of over 100 MPa and high tensile strength (more than 10% of the compressive strength). There are also reports of achieving over 140 MPa compressive strength. The range of applications of such UHSCs is far and wide. To substantiate, successful uses have been reported in the construction of strategic sectors (for example, blast shelters, impact-resistant structures, nuclear structures, etc.), high-rise buildings, structures/infrastructures in coastal areas for corrosion resistance, pavements, etc. In cases where one wants to achieve higher axial compressive strength, the water–cement ratio is reduced. This is done by adding a water-reducing agent or superplasticizer (SP). In contrast to NSC, two other ingredients, namely, admixtures and additives, are added to the mix. Silica fume (SF), fly ash (FA), and blast furnace slag are preferred as admixtures. These are waste materials and are industrial by-products. Therefore, HPC is considered as a green HPC (GHPC). Considerable studies were reported on the behavior and applications of HPC toward the end of the 20th century. UHSC thus has a clear advantage and is preferred in a wide range of engineering applications such as, to improve strength, deformability, and toughness of UHSC, short steel fibers are introduced during mixing to restrain cracks. Introduction of steel fibers in the matrix improves the toughness and deformation of UHSC, thereby avoiding high brittleness [2,3].

Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is an energy-intensive material and is also associated with high CO₂ emissions. Stricter regulations and proactive actions of major cement manufacturers have reduced the emission levels and experiments on alternate fuels to replace coal are on-going. The best way to reduce the carbon footprint is to use supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) like FA, ground slag, rice husk ash, metakaoline, etc. The use of SCMs not only reduces the OPC content in concrete, b...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• List of Contributors
• 1. An overview of cementitious construction materials
• 2. Computational intelligence for modeling of pavement surface characteristics
• 3. Computational intelligence for modeling of asphalt pavement surface distress
• 4. Expanded polystyrene geofoam
• 5. Recycling of industrial wastes for value-added applications in clay-based ceramic products: a global review (2015–19)
• 6. Emerging advancement of fiber-reinforced polymer composites in structural applications
• 7. Fiber-reinforced concrete and ultrahigh-performance fiber-reinforced concrete materials
• 8. The superplasticizer effect on the rheological and mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete
• 9. Trends and perspectives in the use of timber and derived products in building façades
• 10. Dynamic response of laminated composite plates fitted with piezoelectric actuators
• 11. Functional nanomaterials and their applications toward smart and green buildings
• 12. Production of sustainable concrete composites comprising waste metalized plastic fibers and palm oil fuel ash
• 13. Alkali-activated concrete systems: a state of art
• 14. Porous concrete pavement containing nanosilica from black rice husk ash
• 15. Porous alkali-activated materials
• 16. Lightweight cement-based materials
• 17. Development of alkali-activated binders from sodium silicate powder produced from industrial wastes
• 18. Innovative cement-based materials for environmental protection and restoration
• 19. Comparative effects of using recycled CFRP and GFRP fibers on fresh- and hardened-state properties of self-compacting concretes: a review
• 20. Corrosion inhibitors for increasing the service life of structures
• 21. Use of fly ash for the development of sustainable construction materials
• 22. An innovative and smart road construction material: thermochromic asphalt binder
• 23. Resin and steel-reinforced resin used as injection materials in bolted connections
• 24. Swelling behavior of expansive soils stabilized with expanded polystyrene geofoam inclusion
• 25. New generation of cement-based composites for civil engineering
• 26. Potential use of recycled aggregate as a self-healing concrete carrier
• 27. Self-healing concrete
• 28. Equations for prediction of rubberized concrete compressive strength: a literature review
• 29. Influence of cobinders on durability and mechanical properties of alkali-activated magnesium aluminosilicate binders from soapstone
• 30. Fly ash utilization in concrete tiles and paver blocks
• 31. Problems in short-fiber composites and analysis of chopped fiber-reinforced materials
• Index