Development of eco-friendly concrete with low embodied energy and adequate performance for sustainable structures

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Many countries have committed to the “2030 Challenge” targeting that all new buildings and major renovations shall be carbon-neutral by 2030. To reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, it is important to account for the amount of embodied energy (EE) in materials used in these buildings. Portland cement concrete is the most widely used building material in the world. The cement industry consumes annually around 5% of the industrial energy consumption and results in about 5% of the total man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Therefore, there is a burgeoning interest in finding alternative binders to Portland cement with a lower environmental impact. Several alternative promising binders that are characterized by low EE and low CO2 emission have been developed. However, these binders are facing difficulties in getting accepted in the construction industry. This is primarily due to the lack of understanding for many fundamental questions regarding chemical and physical behaviors and performance. Secondly, there is no standard composition or performance parameter for these binders that can be incorporated into building codes and specifications.The long term goal of the proposed research program aims to develop smart, responsive eco-friendly concretes for sustainable structures and explore their physical-chemical coupled response to changes in their surrounding environment over the service life cycle. The short term goal of the program focuses on developing eco-friendly concrete with minimal EE while maintaining adequate mechanical and durability performance. Specifically, it has three objectives: (1)Minimize concrete EE based on its ingredients: Different techniques for reducing the EE of concrete mixtures including the use of alternative binder than cement and the use of recycled materials will be investigated. (2) Evaluate the performance of low EE eco-friendly concretes under field-like conditions: Ensuring adequate performance of the innovative concretes under field-like conditions and fine tuning of their mixtures to mitigate any possible drop in the performance. (3)Model low EE eco-friendly concretes performance: Intelligent predictive models that consider the interaction between concrete compositions and performance under various environmental conditions will be developed.This research program will cover several key gaps in the academic literature. It will address different techniques to produce low embodied energy concretes. This will effectively contribute to the wider use of such eco-friendly concretes in various constructional applications, with an impact on North American standards and specifications for concrete. Developing and supporting alternative sustainable technologies for producing green construction building materials with minimal environmental impact will contribute to the overall sustainability of Canada and beyond.